Yeah I have polarized thoughts about the novelization. It feels like Lucasfilm cannot make up its mind even after the saga is wrapped up. The same way TROS felt like a retcon of TLJ prompted by backlash, the ROTS novelization retcons controversial stuff established in the very same movie is adapted. Like Rey’s dad not being Palpatine’s biological offspring but a rogue clone of him. Or Ben and Rey’s kiss not being romantic.
On the other hand, the novel confirms stuff that we really should implement or make clearer in any fan-edit of this film, like the fact Palpatine transferred his essence to a clone, but that body is not viable enough to fully support his power (basically, “more than a clone, less than a man”).
Agreed. I don’t think it’s worth trying to explain how Palpatine survived in a fan edit, but I think even a quick line addressing whether he’s a clone or not would be worth throwing in.
Sorry if this has been brought up already, but there’s video of Ian McDiarmid saying the specific line you referenced (https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=orSF0EvYRD4&t=1099s at 18:19). I’m not an expert, but I think the audio quality there is decent enough to be placed somewhere in this (or any) edit.
I know the clip has been brought up before, and I want to say someone made a pretty good clip where they cleaned the audio up… or at least I think they did… it’s a great line tho