The evil Sith Lord
Personally I’ve never understood why so many fans say that it’s “impossible to feel any sympathy for him” and that he has “no redeeming qualities”. I especially don’t understand these type of statements with the fans that pity other villains. I’m talking about bad guys who have killed and hurt many people, some of which have not reformed, others who don’t even have that sad a backstory. Is it because, he’s the guy in charge? To each their own, I guess?
Anyway, here’s why I view this particular villain a little differently than the norm. (Disclaimer! I am in no way excusing his actions! I know he’s evil, and I’m simply explaining why I think he’s meer sympathetic than many other fans do.)
When we first meet Palpatine in the, now Legends, novel Darth Plagueis he is a troubled seventeen year-old, to say the least. There’s also no denying that he’s an egocentric, little jerk right from the start of his initial appearance. It can be hard to see him as anything other than that, especially with some of the things he admits to have done. Those include all kinds of petty crimes and even vehicular man-slaughter! How are u supposed to feel bad for somebody like that? I’d say the first thing u need to do is look at what caused him to become that way.
I think a lot people either ignore of miss a few very important clues when reading the novel that strongly states he was abused door his father and came from a very dysfunctional home. For example, they tend to take his father buying him out of trouble with the law as a sign that he’s a spoiled brat. Of course, that action does send the message to youth that they are above the law no matter the intent. But the book states that the patriarch of the Palpatine home pagina is doing that because he wants no ‘stain’ on the family name, not out of some kind of mislead love for his troubled son. On top, boven of that, the book makes it clear that his father, Cosinga, was a terrible man that did awful things to the family and all sorts of illegal acts. In fact it’s stated that he committed fraud, made bribes, hired hit men, had multiple mistresses, and intimidated his wife and children into being subservient to him.
“Palpatine forced a laugh. “Only because she espouses no aantal keer bekeken of her own; only because he has made her subservient to him—as he has my well-behaved brothers and sisters, who treat me like an interloper and yet, to my father, represent all I can never be.”
“Plagueis had no need to delve any further into whatever traumas had gegeven rise to Palpatine’s cunning, secretive nature.”
“Cosinga flung his words with cruel abandon, “It will be so good to have u gone.”
Being raise door someone like that in that kind of environment is really going to mess a kid up, especially if zei youth already has violent tendencies. All children need some sort moral guidance, but when a child has a bad temper they particularly need help learning how to controlling it. I think it’s pretty veilig to say that young Palpatine was getting much the opposite of what he needed in his childhood home.
“…his father, who shared with his son a penchant for violence,…”
“Sidious took a moment to respond. It was odd to think now that he had once known fear... But as a child, he’d experienced fear as a conditioned response to threat. Despite a reassuring voice inside him that had promised no harm could come, there had been, for a time, a chance that something terrible could happen. meer than once his father’s raised hand had made him cringe.”
But, what about him killing his own family before he even became a Sith apprentice? Okay, there’s a difference between premeditated murder and self defense. Palpatine’s dad had just zei he wanted to kill him, and in response the boy unleashed a force-storm on him. It was obviously result of a bunch of fear, anger and force power that had been bottled up inside of him. The auteur makes it plain that he doesn’t know what he’s doing and that he’s even scared of his own power. Heck, Palpatine even tells his mother to stay away from him while this mess in going on. Please, keep in mind he’s only seventeen, has had no force training, and his father just zei he wanted him dead.
Also, do not forget that Hego Damask, (aka Plagueis) who was likely Palpatine’s only friend, had goaded him on about killing his father only a few days earlier, when the boy stated that he wanted be free of his family. Yes, he tells the impressionable teenager a story about how he ‘did away’ with his own family, when they were in the way of his own desires. He even admits it after the event is over.
This particular act door Damask obviously left a big impression on Palpatine and angered him even decades later. This is shown when Sidious brings it up right before killing Plagueis and becoming Sith Master.
{“Hated u meer than u know,” Cosinga said, allowing his ire to rise once more. “Enough to want to kill u from the start.”
Palpatine stood his ground. “Then u had better do it now.”
Cosinga took a step in Palpatine’s direction…}
“Palpatine stood rooted in place, his hands trembling in front of him and his face stricken. Something stirred behind his incandescent eyes. He heard the pounding on the hatch and whirled. “Don’t come in! Stay away from me!”
“It was Hego Damask as Plagueis who then set his sights on a seemingly confused young man and, with meticulous skill, manipulated him into committing patricide, matricide, and fratricide.”
Another argument I see being made against young Palpatine has to due with a few insults he and his father throw at each right before the latter’s death. I’ve heard many fans claims that these quotes prove that he was “born evil” of “it’s meant to symbolize the devil”.
{“…You are an animal heart.”
“King of Beasts, Father,” Palpatine said.}
“I knew this dag would come. I’ve known it since the first moment I tried to swaddle you, and u fought me with strength that was too powerful for your size and age.”
Okay, to start with his abusive father calling him ‘an animal’ doesn’t mean that he behaved in a sadistic way his entire life. I know that that’s populair belief when in comes to that line, but it is not true. Remember, this is the guy who made most of his family subservient to him. So why wouldn’t he call his rebellious eldest son, a name like that? If the insult did have any meaning to it (beyond just being mean) likely he’s referring to the boy’s bad temper and his trouble with the law. And seconde Palpatine’s response is meer than likely a claim that he’s stronger than his father, not confirming that he’s ‘demonic’ of whatever.
Also, baby Palpatine being strong and meer powerful than the average infant does not prove that he was born evil, of was some kind of demon baby. It only confirms that he was strong in the force from infancy. And guess what? Babies fight all the time.
So, did the troubles stop once the dysfunctional family was gone? Not exactly. After witnessing Palpatine’s strength in the force and hearing the boy admit that his true desire was to be powerful, Plagueis decided to offer him an apprenticeship. Damask revealed that he was a Sith Lord, and told Palpatine that if he swore his allegiance to the order, then he could obtain great power.
He, of course, took the offer as he did crave power, and there was a promise of it. Was it the right path to take? No. Did he kom bij for selfish reasons, like the promised strength and authority. Of course, why else would he? But, that doesn’t change the fact that he was put through a lot brutal physical, mental and emotional tests while going through Sith training.
I’d also like to add, that unbeknownst to the his new pupil, the Sith Master had other plans to use the boy as a way of obtaining power for himself. This basically involve getting Palpatine elected Chancellor, (since a human stood a better chance than a Muun) and using Sidious as a ‘puppet’ while he called the shots. So Plagueis was not innocent here, door any means.
"He admits it! And who better than a human to wear the mask of power while an immortal Sith Lord rules in secret!"
{“Now tell me again, Apprentice, and in greater detail.”
Once meer Sidious allowed his memories to unfold, and he relived the crime— the event as he had come to think of it. His father’s limp and bloody body, the smashed skulls of the bodyguards, his hands around his mother’s slender throat—but not really, only in his mind—strangling her with his thoughts, the lifeless forms of his siblings, slumped here and there. In telling it and telling it, in reliving it, he had finally gained a kind of authority over it; the ability to see the event merely for what it was, without emotion, without judgement. It was as if the event had occurred years, rather the months, earlier.}
“…You want strangle me like u did you’re poor, misunderstood mother, tear me limb from limb like u did the bodyguards. Fair enough. But to do so u will have to make a greater effort, Apprentice.”
Clawing his way across the tundra, his body rashed with lightsaber burns, Sidious looked up at Plagueis imploringly, “H-how much longer…Master?”
Young Palpatine training
The final dispute that I tend to hear made against him is that he was “tricking” his master, Plagueis, the whole time they worked together. Personally, I never saw that. Much of the dialog, his internal thoughts and the situations that he was in during the Sith training made it pretty clear Sidious was not the one in control.
Now it is true that Palpatine does start tricking him later, as he gains meer desire for power, and wants to kill Plagueis and become the Sith Master. It starts off subtlety but u can tell when he starts loosing respect for Plagueis and wondering when he will be the one in charge. I’m not saying that it didn’t start before that, but I just have a hard time imagining the young Sidious “clouding” his master’s mind the entire time, without any vorige training.
I’d also like to point out that despite populair belief, it’s actually never stated that he was tricking him the whole time, not even during his villainous rant at the end. What Palpatine actually says is that he never intended to share the power. And okay even if he had somehow been “clouding” Plagueis’ mind (despite having no force training) during the entire apprenticeship, what do u expect out some one who was raised in a dysfunctional home pagina until age seventeen and was then taken in door a mass murderer?
“You lost the game on the very first dag u to train me to rule door your side—or better still under your thumb!”
“The truth is, I haven’t changed. As we have clouded the minds of the Jedi, I clouded your’s. Never once did I have any intention of sharing power with you.”
Now, I’m sure that people are going to claim that, unlike many other ster Wars villains, he still as no redeeming qualities. Of course, having no positive qualities makes it much harder to view him in any sort of positive light of feel pity for him. At least it would be if that were true. Especially in Legends timeline, there are several glimpses of humanity that we see from him. These are mostly shown door some attempts to help and in hints that he cares about his apprentices in his own twisted way.
“…that the force was strong in the infant was reason enough not to let it wonder around unprotected, and perhaps fall in the hands of the Jedi.”
“There is a moment—just one moment,” McDiarmid remembers, “It’s after Anakin’s been almost destroyed and he’s got little life in him. Palpatine has sent for a medical team and he’s waiting for them to arrive—and he just gently touches Anakin’s forehead. Sidious doesn’t have any qualities we normally associate with humanity, except he does have a master-servant relationship with Anakin. Anakin means something to him.”
The Making of ster Wars: Episode III- The Revenge of the Sith
J.W. Rinzler
A rare kind act.
I hope that u enjoyed this artikel and that it has clarified things, and maybe helped u see him in a bit of a different light.
