I don''t get how the Emperor's throneroom could be where it seemed to be in TROS. You get the impression that it was somewhere among the innards of the piece of Death Star II that landed on Kef Bir. You see Rey making her way through corridors and across gulfs and decks until she gets there. Ok, it's a bit vague but one really got the sense that she was walking far within the structure. But - and correct me if I'm wrong here - wasn't the Emperor's throne room supposed to be found upon the top of a very high, relatively thin, tower on the surface of the DSII? Didn't Vader and Luke have to take a long elevator to get up there? Maybe it collapsed in through the decks on impact or something but that doesn't seem very likely to me and for some reason I never thought it was positioned so close to the laser focussing ring. It seems to be far enough away in the schematics... Especially if we are to imagine that this is the lower part of the focussing ring....
In addition to that, when you see the dagger's indicator pointing at the spire, it is almost on its side. Which doesn't make sense when Rey then walks around in it, the right way up. This is another one of those "Don't worry too much about that" details from Abrams.
According to the TROS visual dictionary, parts of the Death Star's north pole landed in that front section of the wreckage where Rey eventually spots the tower. As Bob Effette pointed out, you do indeed see the actual tower among the wreckage, something that I admit it took me months to notice. I do agree that the angle is messed up. But hey, maybe the antigravity is still working. There's also technically no real space for the Emperor's storehouse, but whatever.
My best guess would be multiple fragments fell to the planet. Considering the explosion that destroyed the space station, it's entirely plausible that multiple pieces would land in close proximity to each other. As far as the orientation, when Rey is inside to spire, we do see a bit of a tilt in the floor. With the amount of damage, it's possible, albeit a bit convenient, that the floor of the throne room collapsed or shifted with impact and ended up providing a bit more level platform compared to the leaning of the spire itself. However, that explanation would not explain how the floor matched up to the secret chamber. So good luck on that one.
The throne room is a TARDIS. Once you walk in the door the dimensions and gravity all exist separately from the exterior.
The secret door had some Dagobah vibes. Did Palpatine build this force room I wonder how this room works as you see your evil twin and it all feels real.
That was literally the revelatory end of the entire saga: Miserable old crone: "Rey WHO?" *cue Doctor Who theme stinger*
Decent answers here, if a little far-fetched, but hey, space wizards and all... For the last thirty or so years of my life I had assumed that the DSII was completely vaporised at the Battle of Endor so just shows how appearances can be deceiving....
@Bor Mullet more seriously, I think it would just be a matter of how deep the ocean is and then the bit where Rey is climbing up the wreckage, that could certainly make up for the elevator ride from Jedi. I don’t think that tower had anything to do with it though, his throne room is near the reactor shaft or whatever right? near the center? edit, I meant @Bor Gullet
Nope, the throne room is in the tower. Palpatine did not fall into the reactor core. As has been pointed out - and as I myself noticed just a few days ago - the dagger points to the tower, which was apparently dislodged and landed where it is in TROS. Nothing far-fetched about that, if you ask me. The artificial gravity still being active might be a little much, but I think it's perfectly acceptable in a space fantasy movie.
Good point. What IS he falling down then? What are those shafts and banks of consoles for? Why have I never questioned this before?
well, the reactor core is in the center of DS2, so I guess it must have multiple reactor shafts leading to it. one of which must lead to the tower since that’s what Vader throws him down
Yeah but why would you have a reactor shaft going up to the Emperor's personal throne room? That seems an unnecesarily dangerous design ! Is he not just falling down some kind of..........pit? That maybe he had specifically installed to hurl people down? I mean, the shaft of that tower already had to contain the elevator going up so that would make it also an unlikely place to stick in a shaft leading to the main reactor...
Oh boy let me tell you about the exhaust port on the first Death Star if you thought a reactor shaft is bad ...
Bear in mind that the DS was still under construction. They just hadn't gotten around to covering up the elevator shaft yet Seriously though, I could see old Plaps deliberately leaving that shaft open to intimidate visitors.
Two things with the second Death Star. If you've ever seen video of a real life explosion. Or an actual explosion in real life. From far away it will often look like something is completely blown to atoms. Like nothing or just tiny small bits are left. But get closer and you see huge chunks are still connected. But from far away and in the moment you'd see none of that get blown away. And the second Death Star is largely not complete. Is even half the outer most covering on the space station. When the core reactor blows up it makes sense that much of the force and energy from the blast will be directed out the open side which has the least resistance. And doing that the areas with finished skin on the Death Star could be projected away from the explosion. We never see the blast of the Death Star end. So those parts could still be in the blast could or could have been projected away faster than we can see. The completed first Death Star which is covered on all side may actually have been blown to smaller since there isn't an open side that can let out more energy. Do you think the huge waves and step coast line are a result of the Death Star wreckage landing on the moon? Is the depth of the ocean there a result of the Death Star? In the old days they said the Emperor's tower was on the north pole of the Death Star. It's the most heavily defended spot on the entire space station, with both powerful shields and a huge amount of turrets. Nothing is going through there. Those shields and defenses might actually account for it surviving the Death Star being destoryed. It also doesn't make much sense for the Tower to be on the North Pole of the Death Star. Wouldn't it take considerable time to traveling from the docking bay to the Thrown Tower. That might be an hours long journey in an elevator or some sort of train. Wouldn't flying there directly make more sense? Wouldn't having the Tower closer to the landing area / command centers make more sense. The Death Star is huge. It takes the Millenium Falcon flying at very high speeds minutes to reach the Death Star core. Palpatine falling at terminal velocity on a straight drop would fall for a lot longer than we see in the movie to reach the reactor core. We barely see him fall down the inside of the tower that is above the Death Star. The Star Wars Universe is not up to code in our universe. We see huge pits frequently with little or nothing in the way of railings or guard rails. There are safety issues everywhere.
Basically, by the time the shot pans away, he has basically reached the bottom of the shaft, which would place him at about relative to the outer casing of the Death Star's main body. All of the gangways and door he passed would lead to and from the various compartments Rey had to Spiderman her way up in order to get there after that dangerous jump from the main interior of the DSII.
As if Sidious hadn't suffered enough with his face being too close to an electrical charge, he spends his old age in a throne room where he insisted the design include that he be needlessly exposed to endless seepage, discharge and exhaust from a nuclear reactor. "It needs to exhaust somewhere. Might as well be in my bedroom and where I spend most of my waking hours".
Have you seen his face? Not like keeping it away was going to change anything for the better. Maybe it was the most efficient way to heat his sauna?
Oh c'mon please... let's not try and explain this as if it's scientifically plausible. It's one thing to claim 'sci-fantasy', which I can suspend disbelief for because it's Star Wars... it's another thing to say that it reflects the science of an explosion in 'real' life. Judging by the circumference of the dish, that's about a quarter of the DSII that is sitting there. And let's not even start on how the DSII ends up on another moon entirely. the death star and endor
I actually have never had an issue with that. It was an inbuilt design flaw done to sabotage the Death Star, as we now know. It was also very very difficult, some say impossible to reach and attack it without using the Force. Having an open shaft direct to the main reactor of your space station leading all the way to the north pole of the station and up a tower where your throne room and private quarters lay...........euh, no, that's odd.