Dark science laboratory

"The First Order was just the beginning. I will give you so much more."
"You'll die first."
"I have died before. The dark side of the Force is a pathway to many abilities some consider to be unnatural."

―Darth Sidious and Kylo Ren^[2]

The dark science laboratory^[4] was located in the cavernous Sith Citadel on the planet Exegol. The Sith Eternal, a Sith cult loyal to the Sith Lord Darth Sidious, used the laboratory for genetic experimentation.^[2] Stricken with an obsession for obtaining immortality, Sidious had long considered bioengineering and cloning technology as potential routes along the path towards eternal life. To that end, the Dark Lord of the Sith tasked his underlings with the harrowing mission of creating and sustaining an organic being powerful in the Force which would act as a sufficient vessel to house Sidious' dark essence.^[5]

In the process, the Sith Eternal coupled technology and the occult to bring forth unnatural embodiments of the dark side. Numerous strandcasts were spawned within the unholy machinery of the laboratory,^[5] yet many resulted in disfigured abominations, unsuitable to carry out Sidious' plans. Much trial and error eventually had yielded a semi-successful case—the Force-sensitive entity known as Snoke, whom Sidious later installed as the puppet ruler of the First Order in his stead. Snoke served his purpose as Sidious' proxy, training the young Ben Solo in the ways of the dark side of the Force. Several cloned copies of Snoke were kept within the lab, housed in tubes of nutrient-rich fluid tended to by Sith cultists.^[6]

This article is a stub about a general location. You can help Wookieepedia by expanding it.

Behind the scenes

The Sith Citadel lab first appeared in the 2019 film Star Wars: Episode IX The Rise of Skywalker, the third installment of the Star Wars sequel trilogy.

Later on, in 2022, the location appeared in the video game LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga, where you can play a short minigame titled "Build-a-Snoke" in which you align three different body parts to fit Snoke's attire, and once it's completed you unlock Snoke as a playable character. In a cutscene, the infamous Jar Jar Binks can be seen inside of a clone vat, waving to Kylo Ren.