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Emperor
Palpatine
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At the
beginning of Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace, Palpatine
represents the planet Naboo in the Senate of the
In Star
Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones, which is set ten years after Episode
I, Palpatine is still in office as Chancellor and further manipulates events
to make the Senate grant him dictatorial emergency powers to deal with Count
Dooku's Confederacy of Independent Systems and promises to set his new powers
aside after the Clone Wars end. Palpatine was kidnapped by General Grievous at
the start of Battle of Coruscant, although this would later turn out to have
been staged.
Palpatine
attacks Yoda with Force lightning.
By the end of
the Clone Wars, with the defeat of the Confederacy, Palpatine proclaimed
himself Emperor of the galaxy, abolishing the
Palpatine
continued to consolidate his power and squash rebellions with an iron hand. In
the fourth film, Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope, he eliminates the
last threat to his absolute power by dissolving the now-Imperial Senate and
assuming complete control over the quadrillions of inhabitants of the galaxy.
Emperor
Palpatine, supreme ruler of the evil Galactic Empire
It becomes
evident by Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi that Palpatine does
indeed possess the capability to use the Force. His training with the ancient
Sith Lord, Darth Plagueis, is made clear in Star Wars Episode III: Revenge
of the Sith. It is not explained how Palpatine escaped detection as a
potential Jedi as an infant, which would have meant his being taken in to be
trained as a Jedi, being born on a Republic planet like Naboo.
Through his
servant Darth Vader, Palpatine attempts to lure Luke Skywalker to Dark Side,
but in the end his plot fails. In anger over Luke's resolve, Palpatine tortures
the young Jedi with Force lightning, taking sadistic pleasure seeing Luke
writhe in pain. Darth Vader, unable to watch his son suffer so and scarred from
the memory of his own torturous Force lightning lashing at the hands of Count
Dooku, turns from the Dark Side to once again become Anakin Skywalker. The Dark
Lord then turns against his master and casts Palpatine down a reactor shaft of
the second Death Star, where his body dissolves in a cloud of energy. With the
subsequent death of Anakin Skywalker, Palpatine's death marked the end of the
Sith Order.
Behind the
Scenes
Emperor
Palpatine and Darth Vader, along with several Royal Guards standing at
attention aboard the second Death Star
Like many
personalities in the Star Wars universe, Palpatine's character has clear
similarities to certain historical figures. Parallels to Julius Caesar,
Napoleon Bonaparte and Adolf Hitler can all be found in the Galactic Emperor's
words and actions. George Lucas has said that while writing the original drafts
of the Star Wars films during the mid-1970s, he was influenced by then-US
President Richard Nixon.
In many ways,
Palpatine is an archetypical villain, who does not appear to have any
understandable motivation. He relies on deception and manipulation to control
and corrupt individuals throughout the films, and as a result is a classically
diabolical character. As the Emperor, he appears to be a frail, weak old man,
but is actually quite supernaturally powerful. Palpatine may be viewed as the
quintessential wolf in sheep's clothing. Palpatine's motivations are more
easily explained when viewed in the context of his alter ego Darth Sidious.
The original
version of his character in Lucas's early scripts was named "Cos
Dashit" and many Star Wars fan fiction writers have quite
incorrectly adopted the name "Cos Palpatine" in their stories and web
pages -- so much so that it has become fanon. The name "Dantius Palpatine"
has also been adopted, though its origins are more ambiguous, seeming to come
from SuperShadow, a website of fraudulent Star Wars material, including
synopses for Episodes VII - IX.
Both the
middle aged Palpatine and the elderly Emperor Palpatine are played by actor Ian
McDiarmid, although the holographic image of the Emperor that briefly appeared
in The Empire Strikes Back was played by an unnamed actor (a woman with
the composite image of a lemur for the eyes) and was voiced by Clive Revill.
For the 2004 DVD release of the Star Wars Trilogy, the scene in Episode V was
re-shot with Ian McDiarmid replacing Revill as the Emperor, with new lines
recorded for both McDiarmid and James Earl Jones (the voice of Darth Vader). In
the Clone Wars cartoon series and the audio adaptation of the Dark
Empire trilogy of comic books, Nick Jameson voiced Palpatine.
The exact
origin of the name "Palpatine" is not known. It may come from the
word "palatine," meaning, "relating to a palace," which is
fitting for a supreme dictator. Some have speculated that it was named after
Leonard Harris's character in Taxi Driver, Senator Palantine (note the
difference in spelling). Another theory suggests he was named for Palatine Hill
overlooking the Roman Forum, where
Another fanon
theory about Palpatine is that he is the incarnation of the dark side itself.
This is supported in the Extended Universe "Dark Empire" series in
which the cloned Emperor tells Luke Skywalker that "I am the dark
side". This generated much further fan speculation on the psychological
nature of Palpatine; specifically that he is a being of pure evil. The reason
that Palpatine appears to lack any motivation is that the pursuit of evil is a
motive for him in and of itself. In essence every single action that Palpatine
has ever committed was done to further the cause of the greater and common
evil; in fact he may even lack free will and thus be incapable of willfully
doing any good. His desires are purely of a sadistic nature therefore he not
only commits massive genocidal acts but also has a desire to make as many
people suffer as possible.
With this in
mind it is possible that Palpatine's ultimate goal was not to maintain the
Empire forever but rather to destroy all sentient life in the galaxy and beyond
that even his goal was the virtual destruction of the light side of the Force
and thus all good in the galaxy. Much of what Palpatine did can be explained
via this theory; the construction of both death stars was meant to be
instruments for Palpatine to institute his final plan, also the seemingly
needless destruction of the planet Alderaan could have been ordered by
Palpatine in order to satisfy his impatient and limitless bloodlust.
The mysterious
Imperial Advisors seen briefly in Return of the Jedi could be part of a so
called cult of the Emperor. These advisors are Sith but not Sith in the normal
sense of the word, rather they accept Palpatine as the incarnation of the dark
side and have decided to also selflessly devote their entire lives to the
pursuit of pure evil in order to win a spot at his side in the afterlife. The
Imperial advisors have almost limitless power in running the Imperial
bureaucracy and ensure that every action is done to satisfy the Emperor. The
This
excessiveness in turn may have been the downfall of the empire because the
extreme brutality of the empire caused both the numbers of those in the rebel
alliance to swell but also created internal conflict among otherwise Imperial
loyalists. Darth Vader in fact worked secretly for years carry out coup d'état
against the Emperor and his advisors. There is evidence for this in canon, in
The Empire Strikes Back when Vader says to Luke Skywalker "join me and we
can end this destructive chaos and bring order to the galaxy", this line
might refer to the chaotic rule of Palpatine that was destroying the Empire
from within. In the later years of the empire as portrayed in the original trilogy,
especially after the dissolution of the Imperial Senate in A New Hope was
essentially a dark side theocracy where nearly all economic resources were
being used for the otherwise purposeless slaughter of billions upon billions of
people. All other government functions from healthcare, internal security,
education, social services, and other vital functions suffered and were
virtually non-existent towards the end. The Empire was on the brink of galactic
wide economic collapse and there was widespread chaos and almost anarchy
throughout the galaxy even on Coruscant itself. Typical Imperial bureaucrats
and those in the Imperial military were given virtually no compensation for
their work and even Darth Vader himself had trouble running the military with
the paltry funds he received. At the same time services decreased, taxation
also increased dramatically, but most of the money was being sent to
Palpatine's personal fund to build the second Death Star among other things.
Palpatine's obsession with the completion of the second Death Star can be shown
in Return of the Jedi when Moff Jejerrod says "But he (Emperor Palpatine)
asks the impossible, I need more men". In essence the citizens for the
galaxy were being taxed for their own suffering and death because if Palpatine's
final plan would have succeeded the second death star would have destroyed
every inhabited planet in the galaxy.
Anakin
Skywalker's role to bring balance to the force can also be explained through
this, the very existence of Palpatine (a.k.a the Dark Side incarnate) brought
the force out of balance and therefore he needed to be destroyed to put the
force back into balance and only a Jedi with the superior abilities of
Skywalker could possibly destroy Palpatine.
See Darth Sidious
From
Wikipedia
The Phantom Menace
| Attack of the Clones
| Revenge of the Sith
Star Wars: A New Hope
| The Empire Strikes Back
| Return of the Jedi
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