Chancellor Palpatine, Darth Sidious or the Emperor it matters not what you call him, he is the greatest character throughout Star Wars.
A master in so many facets of life, Darth Sidious is also as good as it gets when it comes to the mastery of the Dark Side.
Follow me as I detail the life of Palpatine and his path to the overlord of the galaxy.
Early Life
Born as Sheev Palpatine to an aristocratic family on Naboo, he was always an oddball who stayed away from other kids.
He continued to live a life of luxury and nobility as a young teenager but was never concerned with material things except rare artifacts.
Rare Sith artifacts to be exact…
The best way to describe the adolescent Palpatine is indifferent. He was very often on his own and consumed by thought as if his mind was always wandering, planning for something.
It wasn’t until he met Hego Damask who of course would later reveal himself to Palpatine as the Sith Lord Darth Plagueis.
Palpatine’s relationship with his family, especially his father, was already strained to begin with but now that he had a mentor in Plagueis, things began to deteriorate further.
The breaking point finally took place when Palpatine’s father sent him away to Chandrila in hopes to break his forming bond with Damask.
However, Palpatine severely fought this and inevitably ended up murdering his mother, father and siblings as he, for the first time, called upon the Dark Side
This would begin his twisted path of evil.
Living the Double Life
Shortly after murdering his family, Palpatine began his apprenticeship under Darth Plagueis and was thus given the title, Darth Sidious.
Living a double life, Palpatine entered politics and started his ascension to what would be a lengthy and fruitful political career.
Hego Damask was one of if not the most wealthy and influential individuals in the galaxy.
Through Damask’s status and reputation, it was Palpatine who reaped the benefits as the two planned and pooled their resources in order to attain the right path in which the duo desired.
Palpatine and Plagueis devised a strategy in which they planned on ruling the entire galaxy as Palpatine being the Chancellor and the face of their partnership as Plagueis would be the one pulling the strings behind the scenes.
Separate Ways
What makes Palpatine so great is he does what he wants, no matter what the circumstances.
Subsequently after Chancellor Valorum’s uncanny timing of being ousted from the Chancellorship, Palpatine is nominated and eventually chosen as Valorum’s successor.
Later that same night, as Plagueis and Palpatine get together to celebrate their plans coming to fruition, Palpatine decided this was the perfect time to end his partnership with his master.
Palpatine allowed Plagueis, who was celebrating their victory through drinking wine, to get inebriated.
As Plagueis was drifting into a deeper incapacitated state, Sidious began to mercilessly attack him with his force lightning.
But he didn’t stop there. No in fact Darth Sidious began toying with Plagueis, allowing him to regain his ground and then ‘zap him again.
On his Own
As Palpatine slowly began to realize that he could carry out the Grand Plan by himself, it was only a matter of time till Palpatine forever silenced his master.
After that point, Chancellor Palpatine slowly pressed the Republic into a state of fear and paranoia allowing him to gradually strip the freedoms of the people and further cement himself as a force and eventual Emperor.
Why is he the Greatest?
Sidious is the master of all manipulation…ever! The mix of his intelligence, his perseverance and vision are nothing short of prophetic.
His plans for himself played out almost exactly to his intentions.
We’re not talking about some small thing coming true here. No, we’re talking about a man who had aspirations to reach the pinnacle of leadership and twist and contort that seat of power into something much more dark and twisted…and achieve it!
I just love his attitude through it all.
He doesn’t fear anyone or anything. He knows he is going to succeed because it’s going to happen, what he wants to occur, will.
It’s as simple as that.
He was a leech in the side of justice that continued to fatten itself off of the trust and benevolence of others until his power was so great, that everyone, one way or another, paid in blood.
That was the Emperor, a man fashioned from pure evil itself, thrust into everyday society, with hell to pay.
But his power doesn’t just stand on ceremony and titles, no not at all.
I think it’s safe to say that Darth Sidious is the most powerful Sith Lord of all time as well.
His adeptness in the force was so insanely powerful, he didn’t even need physical advantages at all and yet, he still had the advantage!
In fact, it’s nothing short of mind-numbingly incredible the way he fights Darth Maul and Savage Opress in the Clone Wars show as well as Yoda in Revenge of the Sith.
His abilities to use the force to augment his body, gave him superhuman strength.
The likes of which were fed through his Dark Side power supply thus making him an opposing force physically.
In the end, the Emperor had it all going for him.
The one thing he could not crack was a father-son bond that unavoidably sentenced the Emperor to his doom.
-Sith Pacify out
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