PT Hints of Essence transfer

There are a few hints at Darth Sidious's plan of essence transfer into his apprentice which appear in the prequel trilogy. The 1st subtle clue can be found in the rule of two, their shall be only two sith a master and an apprentice one to embody power and one to crave it. It is expected that one day when the apprentice is ready they will kill their master and take his place. If you are looking to find the secret to living forever than why would you create the most powerful force user ever and plan to take them on as your apprentice if you know that eventually they will be their duty to kill you. You would only create this mega force user and take them as your apprentice if you planned to take over their body after they killed you.

In Episode III when Sidious stages the battle with Mace Windu, Sidious allows himself to be deformed by force lightning and I always thought there was a reason for this other than trying to make Anakin think he actually needed Anakin's help. I think Sidious does this to be able to hide his face so when he has to transfer to another body it will be more difficult for others to tell it is not the Emperor's body under the cowl.

Also in Episode III, just before he fights Yoda, he tells Yoda, you will not stop me, my apprentice will become more powerful than both of us combined. I always thought that this was an odd thing to say, but I think I finally understand its significance. If Sidious doesn't survive the battle with Yoda he plans to transfer his essence to his apprentice. Anakin was always Sidious's failsafe, if after the clone wars and order 66 if any surviving Jedi was strong enough or lucky enough to kill Sidious, he would transfer his essence into the most powerful force user ever and then seek his revenge on the Jedi that beat him. Of course this did not happen. Sidious doesn't lose to Yoda, and Darth Vader loses to Obi-Wan.

But I think he switches to the long view after defeating Yoda, and that is why he encases Vader in a suit and a mask which alter his voice. Think about it, almost nobody in galaxy knows what Darth Vader really looks like or sounds like. Who would know if the Emperor died and took over Vader's body, if Vader loses the mask and puts on a cowl instead. Vader goes from the back up for the grand plan to just the emergency back up. While Sidious continues to look for other options.

 

I've been thinking about this topic also.

I'm not sure Sidious takes over another person's body or if there is a huge collection of dead Sith Lords soul alive inside the current Sith Lord. When the current Sith Lord is killed all those Sith Master souls, including the Sith who was just killed transfer to the one that killed the Sith Lord, and makes them the new Sith Lord.

So it's not Darth Sidious in a new body. It's an all new Sith Lord who has in them the previous Sith Lords.

The Sith Lord wouldn't willing give up his body. To kill the Sith Lord has to earned.

If Yoda killed Darth Sidious, I'm wondering if Yoda would have become the Sith Lord. The act of killing would open Yoda to the Dark Side and open Yoda's soul to merging with the Sith.

It puts a new spin on Darth Sidious's words to Yoda about Lord Vader. Basically he sees Vader being so powerful, win or lose the duel neither Darth Sidious or a Sith Yoda would be the master very long compared to Darth Vader.

It is such a strange thing for Sidious to say "Darth Vader will be more powerful than either of us." It sounds selfless, which is not what I think of for a Sith. I never understood the motivation for that line.

 

It would also explain why the Sith Lords for thousands years were able to be so patient and die without taking power until Sidious. They transferred their essence into their apprentices and so on.

 

They could even lay low so long that galaxy largely forgets they exsisted. Or at least isn't on the alert watching for them.

It would really put the Sith on a different level than the Jedi when it comes to using the Force. Time is no longer an opostical. And the Sith wouldn't lose knowledge. They would keep build and building without loosing anything.

It also give Jedi Force Ghosts a more important role. With Exegol as an escape if the transfer didn't work, maybe the Sith couldn't be killed by the Jedi. Not without Force ghosts.