Why the Emperor is the Ultimate Star Wars character

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

The Sad Life of General Greivous

Grievous

The legendary General Grievous. Just the very name is fearsome and evil but the man? Well, he’s all of that and more.

General Grievous was the cyborg Supreme Commander of the Droid Army of the Confederacy of the Independent Systems, better known as the CIS.

Most Star Wars fans know Grievous as the merciless, temperamental leader that preyed and mutilated Jedi and clones alike. But what’s not commonly known about him is the dismal life he was literally forced to lead.

Beginnings 

Grievous was born as a Kaleesh on the planet of Kalee. His birth name was Qymaen jai Sheelal.

On his home world, he was a major hero to his people as they battled the dreaded Huk. From the beginning, Sheelal was an exceptional warrior. So much so that his people looked at him as a demigod.

Soon after he established his reputation as a hero among his people, Sheelal met a female Kaleesh, Ronderu Iij Kummar. Kummar, a sword master, became Sheelal’s love as they fought the Huk side by side.

Grief 

Unfortunately, Kummar would go on to be killed by the Huk.

Dejectedly, Qymaen jai Sheelal would go on to change his name to Grievous, signifying his forever lasting agony and despair for his lost love.

It was at this time that Grievous’s good times were behind him. The once proud leader of his people would fall down a path of horrific bereavement until the end.

Revenge

Grievous looked to the Huk with a burning passion of pure hatred. With the help from his fellow Kaleesh combatants, they managed to push back the Huk to their own planet.

The Kalee-born fighters engaged the Huk in a fierce and relentless assault on the Huk home world officially conquering them.

This is where the image of the General Grievous we know from the Clone Wars starts to come into picture.

Jedi Hatred

Backed into a corner, the Huk communed their struggles to the Galactic Republic.

In response, the Republic dispatched the Jedi to answer the Kaleesh and in turn, liberated the Huk planet and forced the Kaleesh back to Kalee.

The difference in this situation however was the fact that Kalee was now barren and desolate from war. With no food, the Kaleesh were left to starve.

Seemingly defeated, Greivous turned to the InterGalactic Banking Clan where he took a job as a enforcer to defend his people. Soon after, he learned that the Huk were back on the offensive and had attacked Kalee, Grievous departed for his home world.

The story gets worse as San Hill, IBC head, with support from CIS leader Count Dooku, planted a bomb on Grievous’s ship.

Mortally wounded, Grievous clung to life as he was approached by Hill. Given an ultimatum, Hill promised Grievous that they could rebuild him and make him a cyborg form of himself.

Angry and confused, Grievous had no choice.

After reconstruction, Grievous was introduced to the Count as a powerful weapon as a new conflict neared, the Clone Wars.

Unbeknownst Torture

After Grievous was named Supreme Commander, he was subject to relentless and inequitable treatment.

Little did Grievous know, the war was staged. Darth Sidious, the Sith Lord had manipulated both sides of the struggle with Grievous enduring times of great confusion, panic and gloom.

Grievous was meant to fail. He was secretly and confidentially put in situations to fail throughout his three years in the war.

What’s more, Grievous’s master and mentor Count Dooku, secretly despised the General. Dooku in being part of the same thought process as his master, the architect of the Clone Wars Darth Sidious, hated all creatures that weren’t human. Especially droids.

Strange enough, Grievous too had a hatred for droids but even more so than Dookus. Grievous actually still considered himself a man through these harrowing times.

Dooku harbored an intense hatred for the General and looked at him as a insufficient, weak piece of meat that was meant to plummet the galaxy further into chaos.

Grievous had the ultimate loyalty to his master yet Dooku continuously put him in situations where his hands were tied and he would fail.

General Grievous was a military genius. Someone who made all the right moves but rarely saw them play out because of the nature of the Clone Wars.

As the War raged on, The Jedi Order quickly took notice of the General as he quickly became their number one target.

It’s pretty amazing that Grievous lasted as long as he did. He was endlessly pursued by the Jedi and had dozens of close calls in which he barely escaped with his life.

End of Grievous

As the General carried out his master’s orders with flawless precision, he’d soon find out that he was doomed regardless of his actions.

It was Darth Sidious and Count Dooku’s doing who allowed Jedi Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker to enter the General’s Flagship The Invisible Hand.

What many don’t know is it was Dooku’s intention to have Grievous go down with the ship and perish. In fact, some time after the two Jedi knights confronted Dooku, Grievous attempts to contact him to no avail.

Grievous discovers from the security cameras that Dooku was bested by the combatants. If not for Grievous going against his master’s orders, he would have succumbed to the fiery mess of the battle above Coruscant.

We all know he flees to the Utapau system which ultimately is his final stand.

It was all meant to be, it was all predetermined. Which unfortunately doomed the General.

What Could have been

You never really think about it like this but General Grievous, Qymaen jai Sheelal, really had a tough life.

After his beloved was killed, everything went south and fast. He never was able to have complete control of any situation he was in from that point on.

Grievous was one of a kind. His leadership skills were unmatched, the fire in his heart burned brighter and stronger than any other and he was as fierce as anything..EVER really.

Just imagine if the Clone Wars were really a fair fight, no manipulation, no predestination, just an all out war between two sides.

The picture above pretty much sums it up with Grievous. The man is a killing machine standing at exactly seven feet and weighing in around 350 pounds.

Forget a lightsaber, the man would just tear your head off with his own claws! But you get the point.

Life was unfair to General Grievous, he never stood a chance. He didn’t start off evil but he sure ended so.

But really, can you blame him? I mean, come on. The man lost the love of his life to the invaders of his home world, was completely blown apart for just trying to return to his planet to help and was always lied and manipulated which at long last caused his death.

In the end, Grievous made to suffer.

-Sith Pacify out