Question: Who are all the hooded figures surrounding the Sith throne?
Question: How did Palpatine come back? Cloned? Or somehow survived the Death Star explosion, which seems unlikely.
Chosen answer: According to the novelization, Palpatine sensed Vader's internal conflict and created a clone as a backup in the event that Vader betrayed him. When Vader threw him down the shaft, Palpatine transferred his consciousness into the clone's body.
Answer: It is not said exactly how he came back. He says that he had died before which presumably is him dying in ROTJ. The most we get is the reference to Sith ability that some consider unnatural.
It is not said how he came back, but I get the idea that he was using the Force to keep himself alive. At least that's the message I was getting when I saw that Palpatine's fingers were wilted away. And I thought that the power he was using was urging his life to go on, but his physical appearence was being dragged behind.
Answer: The line "The dark side is a pathway to many abilities some consider to be unnatural" is a direct reference to Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith, in which Palpatine says the same line verbatim to Anakin. Recall that a major plot point to that prequel is that the Sith have long been rumored to have found a method to cheat death. This film strongly suggests that Palpatine had indeed discovered this method. The film doesn't go into specifics. My understanding is the novelization says his body is a clone. Going by his appearance in the film (blank eyes; body manipulated by machine), it suggests to me that he is a reanimated corpse.
Question: If Palpatine wanted Rey alive, as he says to her on Exegol, why did he repeatedly order Kylo to kill her earlier in the movie?
Answer: Palpatine has been manipulating Rey and Kylo Ren from the very start, bringing the pair together and instigating fights between them. He is trying to make Rey stronger so that when he takes over her body, she will be powerful. Palpatine can partially see the future and knows that Kylo will not be successful in actually killing Rey, but that their constant fights will cause the two to grow more powerful. Because he can see part of the future, he knows that eventually Rey will triumph over Kylo and "kill" him, and then come to confront him directly. He doesn't count on Ben Solo coming back to face him which winds up being his undoing.
Answer: Not just earlier in the movie, but in the trilogy itself since he is technically also behind Snoke. Yeah I wondered the same. For that matter, why does he not clue her in of his whereabouts but just hopes (what a very Jedi thing to do!) she'll just find the thing that leads it to him? Feels like a plot hole but I didn't bother sending it because I am sure some answer for it will come in the expanded universe or whatever. Of course one could just say it's the Sith way and if Kylo managed to kill her it would completely erase the very last Jedi and erase anything good remaining in Kylo, making the victory of the Dark Side complete. And likewise, if Rey kills him (which she does, in a way!) that will make the Dark Side in her stronger. Curious enough, notice how Kylo wants them both to go to Palpatine, to kill him, instead, so Palpatine's order is meant to make him do something he does not want to.
Answer: Emperor Palpatine is a lying bastard. Earlier he wanted her dead because he feared her power. Now that she's actually showed up in the flesh he's trying to flatter her to convince her to join with him (literally in this case). The Emperor is the Star Wars version of Satan/Lucifer; his word is worth less than nothing.
Question: How did Luke and Leia know that Rey was Palpatine's granddaughter?
Answer: They felt it through the force. It's kinda like a signature. They feel each other's powers and recognize it. Both have met the Emperor and they felt similar powers inside Rey.
When did Leia meet the Emperor?
She was a senator and her father (Bail Organa) introduced her to him when she was younger.
Answer: Off screen between Episode 3 and Rogue One.
Question: Is it just me or does Poe seem a bit more strict and tense in this movie? I understand it was a war but I just wanted to check?
Answer: He seems a little more tense than the last two movies, but I think it's in keeping with the story. A lot was happening - Palpatine was back, there was an invasion in the planning, etc. It'd make sense for him to be tenser than usual.
Question: How does Rey get Luke's original (Anakin's) lightsaber? Twice, no less. The first time when Maz Kanada says "a story for another time", a time which never came, apparently. Then it's destroyed in TLJ in the fight with Kylo Ren, then she gets it back again...somehow, in this movie.
Answer: In TLJ you see her pick up both halves. It was then repaired between movies, with the prop showing modifications where it was fixed.
Chosen answer: According to StarWars.com: Rey took the broken pieces with her to Crait. The lightsaber's shattered pieces reunited themselves as she continued down the Jedi path.
If you look closely, the lightsaber has been repaired after being broken in Last Jedi. There is a new middle piece joining the two broken pieces together.
At the end of "The Last Jedi", when the remaining Resistance fighters leave Crait, there is a close-up of Rey's hands holding the broken pieces of the saber, meaning that she took them with her.
Question: If Rey was powerful enough to realise that Chewbacca was still alive on another spaceship (remember that they were in space and the ship was probably a far distance away), why did she have no clue that he wasn't on the cargo ship right in front of her (the one her and Kylo accidentally blew up)?
Answer: At this point Rey had just been involved in a test of power versus Kylo Ren - she was probably far too stressed at the time so couldn't determine whether Chewbacca was onboard or not.
True. However she may have been more baffled by the blue lightning strike that she just cast.
Question: In one of the earlier lightsaber fights, I am sure that I saw either Chewy or some other wookie type creature crossing the set in the background. No one else with me saw it, but I am sure that I did...anyone else?
Answer: Which lightsaber fight? Can you please be more specific?
Answer: I saw that also. It looked more like someone that was caught on camera trying to stay low and get off the set.
Question: How could the Allegiant General know for sure that General Hux was the spy? Was there something that revealed Hux?
Answer: He saw through the trick that Hux was pulling, being shot in a non-vital spot. He probably did not know 'for sure' but it's a scene that has the purpose to depict him as astute and ruthless. Let's say chances were very high that Hux was the spy (high ranking, with a disdain for the Supreme Leader, and now he conveniently lets the prisoner escape) and he had such disregard for human life that he had no second thoughts about a slim chance of murdering an innocent - and in best case scenario, incompetent - officer.
Question: If the Emperor had ordered Ochi, the Jedi Hunter, to recover Rey as a child then he would have known how to go back to Exegol - why then would he need to find another Sith Way Finder and end up on Pasaana?
Answer: That assumes that Ochi received the order to find Rey from Palpatine in person on Exegol. Evidently Palpatine gave his orders to Ochi remotely and Ochi had to find his way to Exegol just like everyone else.
Question: Is there a Wilhelm scream in this movie?
Answer: Sound designer Matthew Wood said they retired the Wilhelm scream after The Force Awakens, and that a new scream sound would make an appearance from Rogue One onwards. He didn't give any detail but Metaflix theorised the new scream was from WALL-E, although ABC News said sources told them the new audio easter egg was a scream by George Lucas recorded for American Graffiti.
Question: What was the gift to Chewie at the end?
Answer: I believe you are talking about the medal. That is one of the medals from the end of A New Hope (Star Wars) that was given to Luke and Han. Presumably it is Han's medal.
Answer: It's a medal similar to the ones Han and Luke received at the end of "A New Hope." Whether it's a new one, or Leia was in possession of one or both the medals that belonged to Han and Luke respectively is unknown.
It is Han's medal which Leia had saved. It says so in the novelization.
Answer: It's a group of Sith cultists known as the Sith Eternal. They have been based on Exegol for many years.