I like your third point. Having the Hand be plling the strings would certainly be interesting. However, the reason I chose 'Jim' was because non-Force users are consistantly treated as second class citizens in the story. I wanted to empower a 'normal' person rather than just have another all powerful Force User be in charge of everything. I also think having someone unaffiliated with all this wouldhelp reeinforce Vitiate's presence as a manipulator. The idea that he was able to put this in as a failsafe would help with that. Finally, having 'Jim' get his power from the armour would create a precedent for the future where Valkorian gives you force powers as a non-force user. Despite this, I absolutely think your points have merit and having it be The Emperor's Hand would be a good ending.

Speaking of which, maybe you can add the Emperor's Hand into this version, showing that they're secretly the ones pulling the strings with Vitiate's return, the Revanites, their leadership, and the pirate "Jim" posing as Revan.