Exegol
In The Rise of Skywalker, Emperor Palpatine resides on Exegol, a dark and stormy planet hidden in the Unknown Regions. The name "Exegol" suggests the Latin prefix ex, meaning "out," and "ghoul," a term for an evil ghost or spirit. "Exegol," then, could be taken to mean something roughly like "the ghoul outside."
It is appropriate that ex is part of Exegol's name, as the planet is located outside the known galaxy. There is also an apt poetic symmetry to the fact that Palpatine is hiding on Exegol in The Rise of Skywalker, the final episode of the nine-part Skywalker Saga, given that in the first episode, The Phantom Menace, he was hiding on Coruscant, at the very center of the galaxy. At the beginning of the saga, Palpatine is corrupting and undermining the galaxy from inside; at the end of the saga, Palpatine is attacking the galaxy from outside.
A ghoul is an evil spirit or phantom, which makes Exegol a fitting name for the lair of Palpatine, who is referred to in The Rise of Skywalker's opening crawl as "the phantom Emperor." Ghouls are particularly associated with cemeteries and graveyards, likely because the word "ghoul" – as opposed to more general terms for ghosts and malevolent spirits – connotes the act of feeding on dead bodies. Exegol is a dead, forbidding planet with no sign of naturally occurring life. With its stormy weather and ominous ancient statues, it has the atmosphere of a spooky graveyard – and it is home to Palpatine, an evil, undead creature who feeds on the lives of Rey and Ben Solo.
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