Last week, an image was leaked and it was reported as being concept art of the main villain in Episode VII... A Sith Inquisitor.
Looking more machine than man in the concept art, there weren't many arguments from the fan base about this rumor since all Star Wars fans want is information about Episode VII. Especially since Disney and Lucasfilm are keeping everything on lock down as best as they can.
Over on a rumor post at Latino-Review.com, the site says their sources have told them that Emperor Palpatine is coming back as the villain behind-the-scenes (again) for the new trilogy. Although those details were not made specific, the website has previously reported that the Emperor could show up as a Sith Force ghost of some kind.
Because of their rumor report, I can safely say that there is a slight chance the concept art villain for Episode VII could very well be the Emperor looking at Vader's helmet. We all know he was last seen being thrown down into a chasm by Darth Vader at the end of Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi but the Emperor is powerful, obviously, otherwise he wouldn't have been the Dark Lord of the Sith.
Because he is so powerful, there's a chance the Emperor could have survived his fall and droids and/or his Royal Guards could have found his barely alive body and salvaged his remains. Then his body could have been taken to a place where it could be rebuilt in something more machine than man. Just like Vader before him. In fact, as Latino-Review also stated in their rumor report, if Luke Skywalker had enough time to drag Vader back to a shuttle, the Emperor's minions could have done the same with Palpatine's body before Lando Calrissian blew up the second Death Star.
Of course this is just theory right now but the concept art itself leads me to believe this could have some truth to it. Plus the fact that writer/director J.J. Abrams is such a huge Star Wars fan and this is something that would seem likely for him to do. A new twist like this in Disney's newly defined Star Wars timeline, which excludes all of the Expanded Universe stories from official Star Wars Saga canon, is definitely plausible.
Star Wars Episode VII releases in theaters on December 18, 2015.
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