More importantly use force to meddle with your mind, read your thoughts and emotions and manipulate you behind the scene with propaganda specifically designed for you :)
Palps actually wasn't a villain in eyes of imperial citizens. He was a simple man who stood against jedi with their unnatural might and survived. So his apperance reminded only about his great deed in defeating jedi. He was like a veteran who has given his health for the citizens of the galaxy, not like evil dark wizard. Less than 100 people knew he was gifted in the force like a jedi.
@@CassandraPantaristi , those who we see in films are actually 0,00000000000000000000000000000000000000000001% or infinitely less of Galactic Empire's population (Empire had around 5 000 000 sentient species in it) . It is like showing Taliban supporters celebrating their win and tell that all of the world's population supports Taliban and happy about their win. From EU we can learn that 50% of galaxy's population wanted Empire back and another 20% didn't mind if Empire would be restored.
The Republic was a disaster, full of crime and corruption, with a lot of worlds barely having any work or rule of law, so most people liked the empire as it was a clear improvement. It was just political militants and a few worlds that had privileges removed that opposed the empire and supported the guerrillas. So yeah Palpatine's image was very positive through his reign.
"Your highness, the Council of Concerned Corrusant Citizens has been sending in petitions asking for greater funding for infrastructure and to improve the local highway system in sector 5...They also say that raising local sales taxes by .025 credits, public schools would be able to provide higher test scores for students." The Emperor wrings his hands. "Yes, yes, excellent. The Prophecy has foretold this."
My understanding is, once he reformed the Republic into the Empire, he mostly ruled from the shadows while Mas Amedda did most of the public stuff such as presiding over the Senate. Palpatine personally addressing the Senate like in Bad Batch is a rare occasion. I think he mostly pursued Sith stuff behind the scenes and let Mas Amedda do most of the day-to-day governing.
Exactly, my guess is the Senate and very few ever saw his face, and those that did stayed in line and excepted it as the dude commands the entire military. My guess is when addressing the public he used holograms to appear like his old self, like we see him appear to Ezra in Rebels. Just another mask. But really he doesn't care to much if his masks fail, if people see him for who he really is, he rules with absolute authority and loyalty of most of the Empire, and unlike Earth EMperors and dictators like Stalin and Hitler, Palpatine not only has the military might to enforce his will, but also the power of the Dark Side it's self to remind those who serve him WHY he rules unchallanged. SO much that he was only beaten when his guard was down from shocking Luke and his apprentice Vader came up behind him and killed him, his own arrogance was his undoing in the end, as he claimed he had forseen how things would go, his arrogance at knowing how things will play out (My guess is the Force basically lied to him) he was caught off guard. But I gotta say, Palpatine's look is awesome, not because he has a cool iconic look like Vader, but because he has a very basic look compared to what you'd expect of an Emperor, plus the amazing facial look they gave Ian and his iconic memorable way of how he played Palpatine, enhanced later by the Prequels, making Palpatine a very instantly recognizable character.
@@TheZamaron No, he hasn't. TCW is nowhere near as good as people believe it to be, especially in comparison to the old Clone Wars Multimedia Project (a.k.a. the 2003 microseries, Dark Horse comics and novels). Rebels is a mediocre kids show that pillages from the EU sometimes. The Mandalorian is a dull, boring western that gradually had to fall back to TCW/Prequel/OT/EU memberberries to attract an audience, until Season 3 broke the camel's back.The Bad Batch is also a mediocre retcon fest, same for Filoni's Tales of the Jedi (not to be confused with the original EU visual novels set in the Old Republic).
4:27 - I think Palpatine appeared rarely in public for a while after his facial "scarring", but then he stopped making public appearances, and once people forgot about the scarring, he appeared as a kindly old man in public holograms. I actually think this is brilliant, as it illustrates the real-world fact that the public quickly forgets, or just doesn't care enough to notice or speak up.
It's also a reflection of real-life dictators, who often tried to hide their physical defects. Stalin was known to deliver speeches while standing on a box to hide the fact that he was only 5'3", and to have his photos airbrushed to remove his facial scars. Kim Jong Il also went to ridiculous lengths to hide how short he was, and even Franklin Delano Roosevelt (while nowhere near as bad as the previous two examples) worked closely with a compliant media to hide his paralysis.
In the canon Tarkin novel, it is said that basicly noone saw him during the Empire's first years, even people like Tarkin only saw him after a considerable time.
@@ChozenBardoUmbra He went to the beaches of Scarif and it was while vacationing there that he decided to make it the Empire's top-secret research facility.
@@ChozenBardoUmbra He also colonized a deep-core planet called Byss, and used it for all his Sith Alchemy projects, as well as a storehouse for his clones, Sith artifacts, and the thousands of lightsabers he collected from the Jedi killed in the Great Purge. It was also a lovely planet with multiple tranquil lake chains, and was known to the public as the Emperor's personal retreat. Which made it so *heartwarming* when he offered to let the survivors of Alderaan settle there at his expense. So he could siphon their life energy to fuel his Sith Alchemy. Palpatine was a master both the Dark Side and the Side Hustle.
In the Timothy Zahn novel "Allegiance," it is described how Palpatine, even in his black robe, looks and acts the part of a stern but kind grandfather towards his (brainwashed) followers like Mara Jade. I can totally believe that Palpatine intentionally chose the simple black robe to present himself as different to the decadent Republic. Also, simple does not equal austere. That robe is probably very expensive, plus occasionally one catches a glimpse of a large amulet or chest ornament. Palpatine looks refined, but in a different manner.
Many national leaders have taken a "parental" role over their people. I'm British, and we all used to think of Elizabeth Windsor as some kind of "national grandma". Palpatine portraying himself as your Imperial Grandpa makes perfect sense.
It's also worth noting that the more red robes Palpatine wore during his empire declaration speech were traditional sith Robes passed down from master to apprentice. Further nailing how clueless the republic was of the siths infiltration.
@@GreaterGrievobeast55 In the Republics defense. It had been 1000 years since anything approaching a Sith Empire and Order were truly in the galactic scene. And they were rather nice robes regardless.
Basically, after he formed the Empire he barely was part of actually leading it. Like you said, it just became evil. Palpatine formed the Empire with the principales and teachings of the Sith, those with power shall truely be free and rule. This is why the chain of command was so important in the Empire. It's a pyramid where the lower levels listen to the levels above them and everyone in that pyramid is trying to climb it at the cost of others, like a true sith would. This is where Vader comes in. Palpatine is the spiritual creator of the Empire, Vader is It's physical enforcer. It's his job to show any in that pyramid that he and most importantly the Emperor are at the top. They hold all the power and their will is above all. He kept everyone in check. It didn't matter that Palpatine never showed himself in public or on any broadcast, everyone knew; He IS the Emperor. The one above alle. Any who doubt that suffer the consequences. So Palpatine also didn't care much for rulling, he had UNLIMITED POWER. He prefered to keep himself busy, finding and studying ancient Sith texts and rituals. This is why the Empire fell so easely when Palpatine and Vader died. Now there was no higher power, no enforcer who held everything together. Now everyone in the pyramid of the Empire tried to get on top, no matter the cost
Tarkin was basically one fo the few Palpatine and Vader respected enough, and had enough influence, that I bet if he survived EP 4 and survived the deaths of Vader and Palpatine, Tarkin would have become the defecto leader with very little challange, Tarkin was one of the few people Palpatine actually listened too and never punished for speaking their mind, and who Vader had enough repsect for that Tarkin could actually command Vader somewhat. Heck Palpatine even told Vader that of all the officers Tarkin was never to be punished or killed, he was that influental and respected.
@@r32guy85 Many Imps were, at least those we see in high ranks. Only about 20 had passed since Ep 3 by the time of Ep 4. Long enough tof Rep officers to joint the Empire and if survive get promoted by the time they're around 40 or older.
I love the scene in rebels when Ezra and Sabine overheard a communication between the Emperor and a minion. Their eyes went wide as plates when the Emperor spoke. Their blood looked chilled.
And the scene in the Bad Batch when the Emperor appears before the senate and he just exudes this terrible charisma, this tiny, hunched man in a simple black cloak, who commands presence and awe, just by the power of his voice
Now imagine that but even worse and that’s the life of an average citizen of the Empire. Much like the Imperium of Man your average Joe wouldn’t even know what the Emperor would’ve looked or sounded like, much less his real name of Sheev Palpatine. He isn’t like an egotistical dictator who’s face is slathered over every factory and school, he rules from the shadows wearing a modest, shadowy cape.
Imagine giving a f*ck about Disney canon and even worse, Rebels... No thanks, I'll just stick to Palpatine reborn and Imperial warlord era, Yuuzhan Vong, Black Fleet Crisis ect....
You hit the nail on the head. The Emperor looks like an evil witch - because he is. Much like the small weird being Yoda, who is actually a powerful wizard aswell. Both conform to stereotypes of the heroes' journey story tropes, which Star Wars is clearly structured after. Just read a few fairy tales and compare.
I think Palpatine's "modest" cloak is meant to demonstrate his interests. Palpatine is defined by his lust for power, and he sees true power in the higher force of, well the Force. He consider politics as merely a means to an end, his Sith identity as Darth Sidious his true personality. The politician is merely a mask. That's why in the prequels when he keeps a tight grip on his true self, he dresses more elaborately and colorfully like you'd expect from actual emperors
One note: Palpatine is kinda based on the fall of the Roman republic too, and even though most emperors were monarches, the Roman empire was actually not really a monarchy or at least the emperor tried their best to disassociate themselves from a monarchy since Romans really hated monarches ever since they overthrown them in favor of the republic. This came in many forms including dressing very modest compared to all other emperors across history and using titles such as Augustus, Imperator and Caesar instead of the Latin word for king which is Rex.
Augustus unlike Palpatine, didn't replace the Republic with an Empire to rule because of tyranny, but for stability and stop Rome from falling into chaotic anarchy and civil war. The Republic was already dysfunctional before Augustus and Julius Caesar were born, it started with Sulla with harsh policies. Julius Caesar was the catalyst for the establishment of the Empire, even though he would never live to see it.
Rome had a king through most of its history. There were several kings in the Roman republic and later empire. Rome as a state was bigger than the kingdom of rome or any other though, so kings operated under republican or imperial law as vassals.
I think this should also Talk about the Eternal Emperor Valkorion and the foil to Palpatines design. Emperor Valkorion looks like a true emperor a powerful and mighty man with beautiful armor. Also the scariest part of him is he looks like an elderly grandfather or uncle that would bring you great gifts, but in reality he is a fearsome monster that cares only about himself.
A strong contrast indeed, his voice is less harsh as well. I remember hearing him in the trailers for the eternal empire stuff very well, it instantly caught my attention.
He looked like a pretty normal senator dude in phantom menace, clone wars & revenge of the sith until Mace Windu botched him with the purple saber so he had to hide himself with the obnoxiously evil hooded robe. Your dad is the man, like father like son.
Thanks, Cole. As you can imagine, I was pretty popular back in 1977 among all the cool kids. Everybody just wanted to take a ride in my groovy droid. That said, I agree with your opinion about Palpatine. He didn't become all-powerful looking like Gollum's grandpa. Palpatine started as an unctuous, simpering Mike Pence wannabe, who cajoled and insinuated his way to the top of the heap. Even if Mace Windu hadn't given him that extreme makeover, Palpatine would still have risen to the position of Emperor. I can picture Ian McDiarmid in the later films without the makeup and still being just as terrifying, perhaps even more so, because those horrible things he says would be coming out of the mouth of outer space Mike Pence. Brrrrrrr! I don't want to say that George Lucas did not trust his audience to be able to recognize good vs. evil without the assistance of 20 lbs of wrinkled latex, but it is interesting that the story decides it must reveal Palpatine's true evil visage as if he had been wearing the false face all along and it is only after his fight with Mace that we see the character without his mask. It is also telling that despite looking and sounding like the most evil creature in the Galaxy, his followers do not recognize it, despite the ugliness staring them in the face. Thank god that never happens in our galaxy!
ANd I LOVE that, Palpatine in the Prequels blended in so well with other Senators and among the people of COruscant, yet Ian's permormance and unique look made Palpatine instantly noticable, he did such a good job making Palpatine seem kind, wise, and fatherly, and SIdious menacing, eerie, and mysterious. He's basically playign 2 different characters, but that's the point, Palpatine is supposed to be a false mask for Sidious. He was already amazing in EP 6, but the Prequels despite their flaws only improved Palpatine to be even better. Sad EP 9 fucked it up and made him just another villain who we're unsure of being completly dead.
Fun fact: Windu didn't do any damage to him, nor did he distort his looks. Palptaine looked rotten for years by that point thanks to his exposure to the dark side. He used a sith technique called "sith mask" to make his appearance seem normal to others. That's a spell he maintained at all times and when Windu reflected his lightning back into his face, he let the spell melt away, further shocking Anakin and spurring him on to stop Windu as he thought Palpatine has suffered such damage from him.
I mean he was never a real Emperor as he had no regal blood. He was just a dictator. (George Lucas draw influence from Napoleon's life in this specific topic).
cult leaders tend to be highly charismatic and even good-looking. religious leaders on the other hand tend to be old, decrepit men in robes or other traditional clothing. so go figure
In truth, Palpatine never existed. Only Sidious. The Shadow. A Black Hole in the Dark Side. Crafted to be the ultimate expression of the Dark Side, an Avatar, if you will. To see him is to see the Dark itself. Imagine the chill that would run up your spine in his presence. Quite horrifying.
So and what is considered Legends at this point. Non-canon Star Wars, Palpatine had a two-fold prong for creating the empire. First it was of course rule everything the evil and be the culmination of the Sith rule of 2. The second reason is a little bit more ambiguous. Palpatine knew that a threat from outside of the known Galaxy was coming and it was coming very soon. I think in the books it killed 7.1 trillion life-forms. Palpatine believe that the Galaxy stood a better chance of surviving under the force of a unified empire then one mired down in the bureaucracy of a republic. You're portrayals of mythology and archetypal imagery are 100% correct. Excluding any legend's content you are hitting the nail on the head.
@@michaelwright3332 In a sense, Sidious never existed. Only the Shadow truly existed. Sidious was the mask he showed to Maul, Dooku, and Vader. Even to his own master. A Shadow blanketing the galaxy.
@@michaelwright3332 That threat was the Yuuzhan Vong and he was right. A centralized empire with an autocratic leadership would be better suited to battling an outside threat.
@@factfiend1000 Your description fits Darth Nihilus better than Sidious. Sidious was human and has a face, whereas Nihilus was described as a wound in the Force that feeds off the Force energy of all things. I really wished we saw Darth Nihilus in live action.
I want to add something to that: In the german version of Star Wars the word emperor is translateted with the word "Imperator" (except in the original version of episode 4). But the word "Kaiser" is the word usually used for an emperor, while the word "Imperator" is almost never used for it. Because of that the word "Imperator" is almost exclusivly used for emperor Palpatine in Star Wars.
That's not true..Kaiser is the German translation for Emperor and they used it in Episode 4. Imperator is a title based on Roman military success. 'mainly in the later Roman Republic and during the late Republican civil wars, imperator was the honorific title assumed by certain military commanders. After an especially great victory, an army's troops in the field would proclaim their commander imperator, an acclamation necessary for a general to apply to the Senate for a triumph. After being acclaimed imperator, the victorious general had a right to use the title after his name until the time of his triumph,[citation needed] where he would relinquish the title as well as his imperium.'
Great take on one my fav villians! I heard originally George Lucas wanted a more haughty and aristocratic emperor (like the historical ones you described and somewhat like Clive Revell's original portrayal of him in the hologram sequence). It was Ian McDiarmid's idea to have him be chillingly wicked, and his performance won Lucas over.
No one will be able to play Palpatine like Ian McDiarmid. I believe that Ian picked the design he did because it's reminiscent of the ancient Celtic druid wardrobe.
Why not? In RotS, he successfully convinced the Senate, and by extension the rest of the galaxy, that he looks like a villain because of an unsuccessful assassination attempt by the traitorous Jedi. Now that I type this, the Jedi being scapegoated does indirectly explain the snide remarks against Vader. After all, he’s using the powers from that dead, traitorous religion.
True, but doesn't the Empire know that Vader is a Sith Lord, not a Jedi? Almost everyone in the Republic knew Dooku was a Sith during the Clone Wars, after all.
@@AtlasTorment No, the viewers and a select few knew Dooku was a sith, specifically the Jedi council and maybe a few unfortunate people who got on Dooku's bad side since the sith had been extinct for a thousand years. However most of the galaxy just knew him as an ex-jedi who had philosophical qualms with the order and chose to use his influence to lead the confederacy. Similar with Vader, people didn't know he was a sith. They just assumed he was an ex-jedi or some other force-based enforcer like the inquisitors.
@@AtlasTorment They certainly knew his title, but I don't think they knew sith lore. At least, if I remember correctly, that was swept under the rug. Recall how Tarkin tells Vader he's all that was left of his religion.
Palpatines robes clearly look like your average traditional attire in star wars. Also their simplicity makes it look like he is trying relate to the common man. However it would have been nice to see palps in a white suit tbh.
Palpatine couldn't care less about relating to the common man. He just sees fancy clothes as a petty and meaningless thing to worry about. And honestly, I agree with him. The man may be Satan himself, but he's right about people's pointless obsession with fashion.
Very interesting perspective, I never thought about it that way before. It's crazy how much Palpatine because synonymous with the word "emperor" that he was what I immediately thought of. Also I love the idea of Darth Biden. "Did you ever hear the tragedy of... y'know, the thing?"
The old world meets the high tech world is what set Star Wars apart from other sci-fi movies and TV of the time. Its that familiar look of the ancient world you saw in history books and paintings melded perfectly with a futuristic high tech world. But Darth Vader was just too cool he's a 6 foot 6 inch black clad 1⁄2 man 1⁄2 machine space wizard with a lazer sword and the ability to choke people without touching them! What more could you want in a tragic villain. My biggest problem is that Vader can sense Kenobi on the Death Star but captures Leia and the Force doesn't alert him to her being his offspring? That just annoys me because he can sense the force being strong with Luke at the end of Episode IV!
It does puzzle me that Vader didn’t notice that Leia was Force-sensitive when interrogating her, although my understanding of why he didn’t realize she was related until he realized what Luke was hiding is that he had no reason to suspect that she was family, and may not have even been certain that Leia was adopted!
It's certainly a plot hole, but it can be explained at least somewhat in that Leia never actively used the force. Luke did, specifically at the Battle of Yavin. He also didn't instinctively know Luke was his son, he had to be told.
@JohnGeorgeBauerBuis The strength of a person's presence in the force correlates to how strongly that person is connected to it. Leia never even tried to connect with the force and knew nothing about it, so her presence was on par with a normal person. Vader also can't tell someone is related through force sensitivity. While he could sense Luke's strong connection to the force, he had to be told luke was his son. He didn't know on his own.
It’s actually no plot hole. Leis isn’t heavily force sensitive in old canon she has more strength in the force then the average Joe but for a Jedi more on the weaker end Also remember that until episode 6 they weren’t supposed to be Siblings. In the Old EU pre Disney I remember she did get some basic Jedi training but as said she was really adept or particularly strong. Disney of course changed that to the worse
Most people already addressed this but I want to add that Vader knew Obi-Won because he had been close to him in the past and know his signature or sense (if that is how to put it). Think of it like a dog knowing your sent. Vader had NEVER been around Leia or Luke.
What is interesting about A New Hope is that the Emperor wasn't fully fleshed out. In one deleted scene an Imperial Family is even mentioned. Early concepts by George Lucas seemed to be that the Emperor was a figure head controlled by the Imperial military, but this was changed by Episode V. As a sidenote Vader is referred to as a Sith in a deleted scene by the officers in that meeting before he and Tarkin show up and they're complaining about his presence.
"There is no way that this man is under any delusions about which side he's on" is one of my favourite things about palpatine. He knows he's evil, he knows hes a piece of shit, and He absolutely *loves* it. He does evil shit becauee its fun, and cackles the whole time while doing it
Like Baron Vladimir Harkonnen. People like this exist but they rarely get into high positions. Most evil people think they're the heroes. Schiklgruber thought of himself as carrying out another Teutonic crusade. Djugashvili spent his free time in his last years watching John Wayne movies, I kid you not. Saloth Sar saw himself as bringing the truest paradise to the Khmer.
Canonically, he uses to wear his black hoodie while being in the senate, and all important people and citizen of coruscant (which is the planet where the senate is) knows that image of him, but outside that, he uses a filter that makes him look like a normal person in the rest of the galaxy, just like in rebels. (So basically, you’re right)
Well he's primarily a Sith lord, the Sith aren't known for looking glamourous but the whole design is to look like evil itself, from death/ grim reaper, the witch from snow white, a shadow entity. His lack of glamour is also a Jedi trait, in fact the only thing that aesthetically separates him from Jedi is the flashy lightsabre that he possesses which has it's own story. The whole putting the hood up seems to be a way of focusing the divination of the force, we see obi-wan do this too. I love the way he's presented, it's an example of less is more. His bright yellow eyes surrounded by darkness with pale skin is perfect, truly one of the most terrifying villains to see on screen.
In the early days of the Empire Palpatine would meet with senators and diplomates fairly often. Depending on whom he was meeting he might hide his foul appearance like he did in the days of the Republic. But as time went on and challanging his power became harder he started to stop hiding his true face but also began meeting with politicans a lot less. Most of the time he left the political stuff to his closest confidants while he spent his days experimenting with the Dark Side, scheming, writing books, reading poetry, listening to opera, getting drunk and having fun with his harem. Yes, Palpatine fucks, enjoy that visual.
Yeah OP, your replies are being deleted. The same thing happened to me when I was the original poster in another comment section. I can what you said in my notifications, but not in the actual comment section. Not sure why UA-cam does this. If you're posting a link, maybe that's it. Just tell me the name of the source in that case.
He looks more like the evil court wizard that manipulates the king rather than an emperor. That's because he's not supposed to have any redeeming quality whatsoever, not even strength or charisma.
Congratulations by portraying Peter II, Emperor of Brazil 🇧🇷- he was one of the most excellent and kind human being ever governed somewhere. But, a technicality: D. Joao VI, king pf Portugal, wax bestowed the title of Emperor of Brazil just as an honour on the terms of the Independence after the war.
Hey man, great video! It's a perfect combination of film, myth, politics and morality. As pointed out, I think the galaxy knew his scars to be from Mace's assassination attempt, like imagine a president got his arm blown off from a bomb, it wouldn't hurt his public image. People would gladly accept a deformed strongman if he can end the war and bring order. To be honest I feel like Biden is actually a good example, I wouldn't let that guy drive me to the airport, but in times of trouble it is better than the alternative. Keep it up!
The witch comparison you used actually does describe the Emperor at his core. When we first meet him in ROTJ, he’s in his not-so-secret secret lair and he attempts to cast a dark spell on Luke, convincing him to kill his father
Meanwhile, on the other side of the coin, we have the *_God-Emperor of Mankind_* looking like every embellished statue of an emperor decorated in gold, and just about the same size as one.
A very interesting video, hadn't really thought about this myself. When it comes to Palpatine, he is a Sith first and Emperor second. He will ensure that his unlimited power is secure and have threats to it eliminated, mainly by Vader, but outside of that he won't really care about the Empire, being Emperor is merely a mask he wears just like he did as Chancellor. He is more focused on expanding his knowledge and understanding of the Dark Side than he ever is in governing the Empire His dark robes represent not his role as Emperor, but as that of Dark Lord of the Sith, it is without pretense.
I was a bit disappointed that, in the RotS, he became so soon the witch-like Emperor known from the RotJ. I would have liked to see him longer as he was before the assassination attempt: well-dressed, charismatic and sophisticated on the outside, but hiding the deepest abyss of the dark side on the inside. That dichotomy was, in my opinion, the most powerful way to express the evil of Palpatine. It manifested the best in how he enticed Anakin to join the dark side.
In the films, we mostly see Tarkin and Imperial officers doing Palpatine's work. You can also see a bunch of guys in stupid outfits in the background of ROTJ. They're the Imperial Ruling Council, and they handle much of the day-to-day operations of the Empire. Your average Imperial has no idea what Palpatine really looks like. Holonet broadcasts and propaganda pieces depict him as he was during his time as Chancellor. When you said he looks like a witch who should be off doing magic in a cave rather than managing an Empire, you hit the nail on the head. Palpatine left most of his duties to the Ruling Council, regional Governors and Moffs like Tarkin, and Mas Amedda, former Vice Chair of the Senate while he attempted to peer further into the secrets of the Dark Side. P.S. Read Star Wars: Lost Stars. Its portrayal of the Empire is, without exaggeration, the best I've ever seen. I'd honestly put it on the level of Matthew Stover's novelization of RotS, and anybody who's read that book knows that saying something is as good as it is high praise.
It also plays into how the devil (whom Lucas has equated Sidious to) displays himself as an angel and not the horned demon he is when he attempts to tempt someone.
I think it would also work if Palpatine was controlling the Empire from behind the scenes, like Voldemort (who also wore a black robe!) and the Ministry of Magic.
4:54 thanks so much for including this cause it genuinely made my day And your assumption is spot on cause if he pulled that off, I'd absolutely love it for like 2 days and then start wondering wtf is going on
Aside from torturing Jedi survivors for kicks and giggles he mainly spent time studying dark side lore to increase his power. He did not spend a lot of time governing. George Lucas made him as a purely evil being beyond redemption akin to the devil.
For the most part, Palpatine lets Mas Ameda handle the senate, while Vader deals with most of the military(in fact, it was Vader's idea and initiative to strangle imperial officers because at first, he was treated with severe distrust and some would even plot to kill him because they did not understand who Vader is to emperor and that made them want to kill him, and Palpatine was present during a conference when Vader was formally introduced to the Empire), however, he does make select appearances when needed, will deal with officers directly if it's something he doesn't trust Vader to do, and Vader comics establish that at least during Empire's early years, he still personally dealt with senators to further his goals. Rebels also establishes that he has an entire deepfake hologram(you can see it's how he presented to the public at large because it's footage of him used for the empire day celebration that is broadcasted galaxy wide), looking more like his episode 1 self, having slick back hair, white regal robes, what you'd expect the emperor to wear, and he uses it for public outings or dealing with lesser underlings if needed. He never really stopped ruling the empire as we've seen in the prequels, but i think over the years, as the machine of the empire started churning more and more, he was able to take more of a backseat and his deepfake holograms, and dealing with imperials became more scarce as he relied more on mas ameda, tarkin and vader to do his bidding, and those 3 likely would have met him on regular basis still. Officers treating Vader like they do in ep4 is usually a consequence of them having no context on who he is, and people on the death star would likely think they're important enough to bully him around since they can't grasp someone being beyond their hierarchy, and utter arrogance is a trait shared by vast majority of the imperial officers.
Yeah I always liked how if you forget everything you know about the Emperor and Star War in general, he is visually amusing and unique in his setting. The ruler of a high tech and sophisticated dressed empire in space is an evil wizard who wears black robes. It's how contradictory that looks which is pretty cool
It may be worth noting that (historically speaking) Emperors often had far less power than people realised. Often it was the nobles, shoguns or other such below them who really ran things because they controlled the military. Moreover, there were often rules that further limited an Emperor's power (e.g. in Imperial Japan when if the government was united on a particular policy, the Emperor was forbidden from intervening in said policy). The point being, Emperors have often been more akin to spiritual leaders. The image and idea of the Emperor is important, but they're rarely the ones running the show and making the day-to-day decisions. In the case of Palpatine, this probably would have suited him perfectly, allowing him to pull the strings while remaining largely in the shadows. Apart from anything else, it could even keep him popular even when very unpopular decisions are being made - because people's ire is instead directed to the public-facing politicians or military leaders who appear to be making those decisions. People might even hope that such terrible policies will be brought to the attention of the good and noble emperor who would surely intervene if he only knew!
Yeah in Legends Palpatine was bored to death with the Empire. He thought he should "Rule the empire by force" like a Warrior King. He said he now understood and respected Darth Plageuis and why he was so bored with politics himself. And instead sought the power of the Sith.
The lack of regality plays into what I see as evoking the principate of the roman emperors where they played more into being the first citizen protecting the roman republic rather then Dominus ruling as a King of Kings or Diodachi monarch off in the east. And as we saw in the prequels that was absolutely what he was going for.
Fun fact the original Star Wars actually has a deleted scene that refers to Vader as a Sith Lord so the idea of the Sith has been floating around since then.
When I first saw ROTJ in 1983, I expected just what you said - some regal, perfectly-dressed dude with a crown and medals up the @ss. When he finally does appear, I looked, and (I'm discounting the ESB quick moment as I probably had forgotten it by then), I am in shock as I think, "What the Hell is this? THIS old, prunefaced crone in old robes walking with a cane is the EMPEROR??? I can't believe that!!!". But, by the end of the film, I BELIEVED. And since then, I wouldn't have it any other way.
Traditionally, the old EU portrayed Palpatine as rarely appearing in public and ruling through advisors. Adding to the fantasy vibes, the advisors he takes to the Death Star in ROTJ wore costumes influenced by the vestments of Catholic bishops.
This is what made him unique among emperors in fiction. From what I know, Palpatine was originally not even going to be force sensitive, but still being able to call the shots, which I think is not only uninteresting, but wouldn't make sense, seeing how if Vader was the only force sensititve, nothing would be stopping him from just killing the emperor. There were people that outranked Vader like Tarkin and Tarkin only survived because Palpatine commanded Vader to obey Tarkin. Palpatine was so enigmatic, most folks just knew him as The Emperor and he became a commanding force, so much so that people hardly ever referred to him by name. It's more interesting that he just has a simple robe. Doesn't even wear fancy stuff. Palpatine was more about just power itself rather than flaunting wealth, so he never looked ostentatious. The rest of the empire didn't even know he was force sensitive and only a select few even knew that he was Darth Sidious and very force sensitive. They all initially thought Vader was the last of the Jedi religion. This made him stand out among the other emperors and unlike the others, he actually used real power to subjugate others.
i'd think, once the Sith (re)take power, they'd have no need to hide anymore. Yes, the Sith/Imperials are about deception and treachery and backstabbing but simultaneously they are very open and transparent about what the fuck they're doing. The all-black is very fashionable, the red sabers bring lots of attention although red also means "danger" or "stay away" In my mind, Sith are literally the dictionary definition of Pride - just as much as they're the definition of Anger or Wrath or... well... Power. Sith are proud, prideful - a long, vast history of ruling and running empires both from the backgrounds/shadows and from the forefront. What did Jedi run? Nothing, they're just a bunch of monks. The Sith *run shit*, and openly whilst the Jedi hide in drab beige or brownish robes. Once O66 happened, the remaining Jedi Survivors started dressing more casually, more like smugglers or kids trying to seem cool with their vests and side-belts. Jedi Survivors started hiding their sabers and using more blaster-pistols.
@@zogwort1522 To me he looks like a wicked Celtic druid. Similar but yea. I don't think that Palpatine would be one of the most recognizable characters in Star Wars had he looked like a modest and traditional emperor like say the German Kaisers with medals on his chest, the formal uniform and the style of facial hair. The black robe along with the face he has, made the character have staying power in the public consciousness.
Palpatine looks how an Emperor is SUPPOSED to in my opinion. Also, he was referenced as Palpatine in the novelization of the original trilogy, even though that name was never mentioned on screen. The Return of the Jedi novel in particular covered the basic storyline of the prequels, as part of Luke and Obi-Wan's conversation on Dagobah.
You mentioned television, so I'll cite that Sidious essentially masked his grotesque and repulsive appearance over the course of the Imperial Era. When presented on the HoloNet News and other channels broadcasting his appearance, he is a charmed and well-dressed man. Also depicted clandestinely within Rebels. His attire consisting of white robes and golden lavishes - which harkens to that of a priest within our reality or even the depictions of angels, which very visceral juxtaposition. Within the mythos his appearance is akin to his Grand Admirals, which implies their colour scheme of those Imperial uniforms essentially conveyed that individuals who manned such posts were admirals of the Emperor, not just his Galactic Empire. Irrespective, he was not particularly afraid to dawn ceremonial Sith robes for the proclamation of the New Order considering the fact he informed the reasoning of his disfigurement to the Senate, in addition to his preference of wearing red chancellary robes for his political appearances during the waining years of the Republic Era.
such a refreshing and clean ''review '' of Darth Sidious ,aka Emperor Palpatine ! Sharp ! it was my first look at your channel and already you got me get subscribed...again ,nice one ! cheers from Romania .
This is a really good video and I enjoyed it thoroughly. To be frank, I thought this channel would have 10x the amount of subscribers it actually has. I was shocked when I saw the actual number.
In the book Wedge's gamble his appearence to the general public is explained. They view him as a wounded warrior who rescued them. While saving them from the Jedi he was badly injured and scarred. That is the sacrifice he made for them.
And even after all that, there are all those sithheads all over the SW fandom, who believe that the empire was "efficient" and that the emperor was doing the right thing
Honestly that's a fucking wild reading to point out from A New Hope, as if that was the only one. Imagine for a second the Empire and Vader if Star Wars had continued that direction, with it being just another dime-a-dozen evil fascist stand in, with this one random Dark Wizard following his religion of Evil in future-samurai armor acting as a sort of mercenary for it. Knowing Vader is the Emperor's Right Hand gives him a very specific vibe once we know that fact, but that would lead to a whole different dynamic whenever he's on screen.
As someone who is big into the EU: No, but that's the thing: Palpatine didn't preside over the bureaucratic machine, nor meet with senators dressed like ANYTHING - he never did such. Palpatine very rarely appeared in person, in fact he never even visited the first Death Star, and the fact that he was going to be aboard the second one was a shock to even the highest-ranked officers aboard it. Palpatine didn't need to be present the be felt, as he ruled through fear, and was the poster child for Machiavellian rulership. When he wanted to speak with someone, he'd more often do it over hologram. The person who'd appear before the senate was usually Sate Pestage, in his role as President of the Senate. Part of why Palpatine did this was to give the times he did showed up extreme weight - for him to enter any room was for him to bring his full authority with him. As Robert Greene said, "Too much circulation makes the price go down: The more you are seen and heard from, the more common you appear [...] it will make you more talked about, even more admired. Create value through scarcity."
The only reason all those real world emperors had to dress nice was because they couldn't shoot lightening out of their fingertips.
More importantly use force to meddle with your mind, read your thoughts and emotions and manipulate you behind the scene with propaganda specifically designed for you :)
@@Dark_VoiceHey, that last one sounds familiar… *cough cough * Google!
I can confirm firsthand that Napoleon could shoot lightning out his fingers no I will not elaborate
@@daverapp Sounds legit, I'll take your word for it.
Marcus Aurelius probably could, all considering
Palps actually wasn't a villain in eyes of imperial citizens. He was a simple man who stood against jedi with their unnatural might and survived. So his apperance reminded only about his great deed in defeating jedi. He was like a veteran who has given his health for the citizens of the galaxy, not like evil dark wizard. Less than 100 people knew he was gifted in the force like a jedi.
So then why were the citizens cheering after the deaths of Palpatine and Vader if not many people knew that Palpatine was evil?
@@CassandraPantaristi , those who we see in films are actually 0,00000000000000000000000000000000000000000001% or infinitely less of Galactic Empire's population (Empire had around 5 000 000 sentient species in it) . It is like showing Taliban supporters celebrating their win and tell that all of the world's population supports Taliban and happy about their win.
From EU we can learn that 50% of galaxy's population wanted Empire back and another 20% didn't mind if Empire would be restored.
The Republic was a disaster, full of crime and corruption, with a lot of worlds barely having any work or rule of law, so most people liked the empire as it was a clear improvement. It was just political militants and a few worlds that had privileges removed that opposed the empire and supported the guerrillas.
So yeah Palpatine's image was very positive through his reign.
Yeah
@@Nerthos Sounds like Galactic Empire propaganda lol.
I love the idea of a serious and professional Imperial officer having to deliver a report to the Emperor who is just a cackling warlock.
"Your highness, the Council of Concerned Corrusant Citizens has been sending in petitions asking for greater funding for infrastructure and to improve the local highway system in sector 5...They also say that raising local sales taxes by .025 credits, public schools would be able to provide higher test scores for students."
The Emperor wrings his hands. "Yes, yes, excellent. The Prophecy has foretold this."
@@jaycaesar868 Alright, you win lmao
@@jaycaesar868where can I buy your books
Brilliant@@jaycaesar868
My understanding is, once he reformed the Republic into the Empire, he mostly ruled from the shadows while Mas Amedda did most of the public stuff such as presiding over the Senate. Palpatine personally addressing the Senate like in Bad Batch is a rare occasion. I think he mostly pursued Sith stuff behind the scenes and let Mas Amedda do most of the day-to-day governing.
Exactly, my guess is the Senate and very few ever saw his face, and those that did stayed in line and excepted it as the dude commands the entire military. My guess is when addressing the public he used holograms to appear like his old self, like we see him appear to Ezra in Rebels. Just another mask. But really he doesn't care to much if his masks fail, if people see him for who he really is, he rules with absolute authority and loyalty of most of the Empire, and unlike Earth EMperors and dictators like Stalin and Hitler, Palpatine not only has the military might to enforce his will, but also the power of the Dark Side it's self to remind those who serve him WHY he rules unchallanged. SO much that he was only beaten when his guard was down from shocking Luke and his apprentice Vader came up behind him and killed him, his own arrogance was his undoing in the end, as he claimed he had forseen how things would go, his arrogance at knowing how things will play out (My guess is the Force basically lied to him) he was caught off guard. But I gotta say, Palpatine's look is awesome, not because he has a cool iconic look like Vader, but because he has a very basic look compared to what you'd expect of an Emperor, plus the amazing facial look they gave Ian and his iconic memorable way of how he played Palpatine, enhanced later by the Prequels, making Palpatine a very instantly recognizable character.
This only goes for Disney. In the old EU, Palpatine had a lot more ministers than just Mas Amedda, such as Sate Pestage, who outlived him for a while.
@@TheZamaron Your guess is just an attempt at coping with how poor Disney Star Wars is written and how inconsistent the hack known as Dave Filoni is.
@@yrooxrksvi7142 I know Disney has been sucking. But Dave has done some good stuff.
@@TheZamaron No, he hasn't. TCW is nowhere near as good as people believe it to be, especially in comparison to the old Clone Wars Multimedia Project (a.k.a. the 2003 microseries, Dark Horse comics and novels). Rebels is a mediocre kids show that pillages from the EU sometimes. The Mandalorian is a dull, boring western that gradually had to fall back to TCW/Prequel/OT/EU memberberries to attract an audience, until Season 3 broke the camel's back.The Bad Batch is also a mediocre retcon fest, same for Filoni's Tales of the Jedi (not to be confused with the original EU visual novels set in the Old Republic).
4:27 - I think Palpatine appeared rarely in public for a while after his facial "scarring", but then he stopped making public appearances, and once people forgot about the scarring, he appeared as a kindly old man in public holograms. I actually think this is brilliant, as it illustrates the real-world fact that the public quickly forgets, or just doesn't care enough to notice or speak up.
It's also a reflection of real-life dictators, who often tried to hide their physical defects. Stalin was known to deliver speeches while standing on a box to hide the fact that he was only 5'3", and to have his photos airbrushed to remove his facial scars. Kim Jong Il also went to ridiculous lengths to hide how short he was, and even Franklin Delano Roosevelt (while nowhere near as bad as the previous two examples) worked closely with a compliant media to hide his paralysis.
Hermit robe looks not as formal as a navy uniform.
Sounds like modern day America
@@officialthomasjames Same could be said of any 1st world country.
In the canon Tarkin novel, it is said that basicly noone saw him during the Empire's first years, even people like Tarkin only saw him after a considerable time.
Can't blame him for taking a vacation after a lifetime of planning to destroy the Jedi, I wonder if he went to Hawaii.
@@ChozenBardoUmbra Damn, he travelled far into the future many, many galaxies away just to enjoy a vacation in Hawaii.
@@ChozenBardoUmbra He went to the beaches of Scarif and it was while vacationing there that he decided to make it the Empire's top-secret research facility.
@@ChozenBardoUmbra He also colonized a deep-core planet called Byss, and used it for all his Sith Alchemy projects, as well as a storehouse for his clones, Sith artifacts, and the thousands of lightsabers he collected from the Jedi killed in the Great Purge.
It was also a lovely planet with multiple tranquil lake chains, and was known to the public as the Emperor's personal retreat.
Which made it so *heartwarming* when he offered to let the survivors of Alderaan settle there at his expense.
So he could siphon their life energy to fuel his Sith Alchemy.
Palpatine was a master both the Dark Side and the Side Hustle.
That is a bit different from what we see in the comics where we see Tarkin talking to him within the first year of the Empire
In the Timothy Zahn novel "Allegiance," it is described how Palpatine, even in his black robe, looks and acts the part of a stern but kind grandfather towards his (brainwashed) followers like Mara Jade. I can totally believe that Palpatine intentionally chose the simple black robe to present himself as different to the decadent Republic.
Also, simple does not equal austere. That robe is probably very expensive, plus occasionally one catches a glimpse of a large amulet or chest ornament. Palpatine looks refined, but in a different manner.
One thing to note is his cane is made from worshyrr tree wood. Which I imagine is not something the Wookies easily part with. The man has style.
Many national leaders have taken a "parental" role over their people. I'm British, and we all used to think of Elizabeth Windsor as some kind of "national grandma". Palpatine portraying himself as your Imperial Grandpa makes perfect sense.
It's also worth noting that the more red robes Palpatine wore during his empire declaration speech were traditional sith Robes passed down from master to apprentice. Further nailing how clueless the republic was of the siths infiltration.
@@GreaterGrievobeast55 In the Republics defense. It had been 1000 years since anything approaching a Sith Empire and Order were truly in the galactic scene. And they were rather nice robes regardless.
Only certain Jedi like Yoda would have recognized them, and they weren't around to tell anyone about it.@@theliato3809
Basically, after he formed the Empire he barely was part of actually leading it. Like you said, it just became evil. Palpatine formed the Empire with the principales and teachings of the Sith, those with power shall truely be free and rule. This is why the chain of command was so important in the Empire. It's a pyramid where the lower levels listen to the levels above them and everyone in that pyramid is trying to climb it at the cost of others, like a true sith would. This is where Vader comes in. Palpatine is the spiritual creator of the Empire, Vader is It's physical enforcer. It's his job to show any in that pyramid that he and most importantly the Emperor are at the top. They hold all the power and their will is above all. He kept everyone in check. It didn't matter that Palpatine never showed himself in public or on any broadcast, everyone knew; He IS the Emperor. The one above alle. Any who doubt that suffer the consequences. So Palpatine also didn't care much for rulling, he had UNLIMITED POWER. He prefered to keep himself busy, finding and studying ancient Sith texts and rituals.
This is why the Empire fell so easely when Palpatine and Vader died. Now there was no higher power, no enforcer who held everything together. Now everyone in the pyramid of the Empire tried to get on top, no matter the cost
Tarkin was basically one fo the few Palpatine and Vader respected enough, and had enough influence, that I bet if he survived EP 4 and survived the deaths of Vader and Palpatine, Tarkin would have become the defecto leader with very little challange, Tarkin was one of the few people Palpatine actually listened too and never punished for speaking their mind, and who Vader had enough repsect for that Tarkin could actually command Vader somewhat. Heck Palpatine even told Vader that of all the officers Tarkin was never to be punished or killed, he was that influental and respected.
A very interesting analysis. I had never even considered why an emperor was wearing a cloak.
@@TheZamaron tarkin was also a republic officer before the empire was formed so it would make sense
@@r32guy85 Many Imps were, at least those we see in high ranks. Only about 20 had passed since Ep 3 by the time of Ep 4. Long enough tof Rep officers to joint the Empire and if survive get promoted by the time they're around 40 or older.
As echoed within supplementary material, he is the emissary of the Emperor.
I love the scene in rebels when Ezra and Sabine overheard a communication between the Emperor and a minion. Their eyes went wide as plates when the Emperor spoke. Their blood looked chilled.
And the scene in the Bad Batch when the Emperor appears before the senate and he just exudes this terrible charisma, this tiny, hunched man in a simple black cloak, who commands presence and awe, just by the power of his voice
Now imagine that but even worse and that’s the life of an average citizen of the Empire. Much like the Imperium of Man your average Joe wouldn’t even know what the Emperor would’ve looked or sounded like, much less his real name of Sheev Palpatine. He isn’t like an egotistical dictator who’s face is slathered over every factory and school, he rules from the shadows wearing a modest, shadowy cape.
Imagine giving a f*ck about Disney canon and even worse, Rebels...
No thanks, I'll just stick to Palpatine reborn and Imperial warlord era, Yuuzhan Vong, Black Fleet Crisis ect....
@@SlaaneshM30 Meh.
@@SlaaneshM30cry about it
You hit the nail on the head.
The Emperor looks like an evil witch - because he is. Much like the small weird being Yoda, who is actually a powerful wizard aswell. Both conform to stereotypes of the heroes' journey story tropes, which Star Wars is clearly structured after. Just read a few fairy tales and compare.
Interesting journey paragraph
I think Palpatine's "modest" cloak is meant to demonstrate his interests. Palpatine is defined by his lust for power, and he sees true power in the higher force of, well the Force. He consider politics as merely a means to an end, his Sith identity as Darth Sidious his true personality. The politician is merely a mask. That's why in the prequels when he keeps a tight grip on his true self, he dresses more elaborately and colorfully like you'd expect from actual emperors
One note: Palpatine is kinda based on the fall of the Roman republic too, and even though most emperors were monarches, the Roman empire was actually not really a monarchy or at least the emperor tried their best to disassociate themselves from a monarchy since Romans really hated monarches ever since they overthrown them in favor of the republic.
This came in many forms including dressing very modest compared to all other emperors across history and using titles such as Augustus, Imperator and Caesar instead of the Latin word for king which is Rex.
Agreed. Even the name Palpatine has an almost latin sound to it.
Augustus unlike Palpatine, didn't replace the Republic with an Empire to rule because of tyranny, but for stability and stop Rome from falling into chaotic anarchy and civil war. The Republic was already dysfunctional before Augustus and Julius Caesar were born, it started with Sulla with harsh policies. Julius Caesar was the catalyst for the establishment of the Empire, even though he would never live to see it.
Rome had a king through most of its history. There were several kings in the Roman republic and later empire. Rome as a state was bigger than the kingdom of rome or any other though, so kings operated under republican or imperial law as vassals.
@@zogwort1522 Cos he's da shit, obviously.
Though that changed quickly during the 3rd and 4th centuries.
I think this should also Talk about the Eternal Emperor Valkorion and the foil to Palpatines design. Emperor Valkorion looks like a true emperor a powerful and mighty man with beautiful armor. Also the scariest part of him is he looks like an elderly grandfather or uncle that would bring you great gifts, but in reality he is a fearsome monster that cares only about himself.
Swtor?
@@SaffronicSaffron yes
A strong contrast indeed, his voice is less harsh as well. I remember hearing him in the trailers for the eternal empire stuff very well, it instantly caught my attention.
Valkorion speaks elegantly. Palpatine’s voice is raspier than even Darth Vaders
Palpatine feels like he should be Valkorian's servant (by pure aesthetics anyway).
He looked like a pretty normal senator dude in phantom menace, clone wars & revenge of the sith until Mace Windu botched him with the purple saber so he had to hide himself with the obnoxiously evil hooded robe. Your dad is the man, like father like son.
Thanks, Cole. As you can imagine, I was pretty popular back in 1977 among all the cool kids. Everybody just wanted to take a ride in my groovy droid. That said, I agree with your opinion about Palpatine. He didn't become all-powerful looking like Gollum's grandpa. Palpatine started as an unctuous, simpering Mike Pence wannabe, who cajoled and insinuated his way to the top of the heap. Even if Mace Windu hadn't given him that extreme makeover, Palpatine would still have risen to the position of Emperor. I can picture Ian McDiarmid in the later films without the makeup and still being just as terrifying, perhaps even more so, because those horrible things he says would be coming out of the mouth of outer space Mike Pence. Brrrrrrr! I don't want to say that George Lucas did not trust his audience to be able to recognize good vs. evil without the assistance of 20 lbs of wrinkled latex, but it is interesting that the story decides it must reveal Palpatine's true evil visage as if he had been wearing the false face all along and it is only after his fight with Mace that we see the character without his mask. It is also telling that despite looking and sounding like the most evil creature in the Galaxy, his followers do not recognize it, despite the ugliness staring them in the face. Thank god that never happens in our galaxy!
ANd I LOVE that, Palpatine in the Prequels blended in so well with other Senators and among the people of COruscant, yet Ian's permormance and unique look made Palpatine instantly noticable, he did such a good job making Palpatine seem kind, wise, and fatherly, and SIdious menacing, eerie, and mysterious. He's basically playign 2 different characters, but that's the point, Palpatine is supposed to be a false mask for Sidious. He was already amazing in EP 6, but the Prequels despite their flaws only improved Palpatine to be even better. Sad EP 9 fucked it up and made him just another villain who we're unsure of being completly dead.
Fun fact: Windu didn't do any damage to him, nor did he distort his looks. Palptaine looked rotten for years by that point thanks to his exposure to the dark side. He used a sith technique called "sith mask" to make his appearance seem normal to others. That's a spell he maintained at all times and when Windu reflected his lightning back into his face, he let the spell melt away, further shocking Anakin and spurring him on to stop Windu as he thought Palpatine has suffered such damage from him.
@@stephenweihs5949 Did Palpatine ever come across as a miserable, simpering, delusional worm??! 😄
Palpatine is a mostly reclusive leader, but when he comes out in public he looks exactly like this. But not during his time as chancellor.
Emperor Palpatine looks like a cult leader than an emperor. And I love it! No wonder he's so iconic!
Not an incorrect description considering how he ran the imperial high command.
I mean he was never a real Emperor as he had no regal blood. He was just a dictator. (George Lucas draw influence from Napoleon's life in this specific topic).
cult leaders tend to be highly charismatic and even good-looking. religious leaders on the other hand tend to be old, decrepit men in robes or other traditional clothing. so go figure
In truth, Palpatine never existed. Only Sidious. The Shadow. A Black Hole in the Dark Side. Crafted to be the ultimate expression of the Dark Side, an Avatar, if you will. To see him is to see the Dark itself. Imagine the chill that would run up your spine in his presence. Quite horrifying.
This. Exactly this. Even Palpatine, The emperor was just another face for The SHADOW of what it was.
So and what is considered Legends at this point. Non-canon Star Wars, Palpatine had a two-fold prong for creating the empire. First it was of course rule everything the evil and be the culmination of the Sith rule of 2. The second reason is a little bit more ambiguous. Palpatine knew that a threat from outside of the known Galaxy was coming and it was coming very soon. I think in the books it killed 7.1 trillion life-forms. Palpatine believe that the Galaxy stood a better chance of surviving under the force of a unified empire then one mired down in the bureaucracy of a republic.
You're portrayals of mythology and archetypal imagery are 100% correct. Excluding any legend's content you are hitting the nail on the head.
@@michaelwright3332 In a sense, Sidious never existed. Only the Shadow truly existed. Sidious was the mask he showed to Maul, Dooku, and Vader. Even to his own master. A Shadow blanketing the galaxy.
@@michaelwright3332 That threat was the Yuuzhan Vong and he was right. A centralized empire with an autocratic leadership would be better suited to battling an outside threat.
@@factfiend1000 Your description fits Darth Nihilus better than Sidious. Sidious was human and has a face, whereas Nihilus was described as a wound in the Force that feeds off the Force energy of all things. I really wished we saw Darth Nihilus in live action.
I want to add something to that:
In the german version of Star Wars the word emperor is translateted with the word "Imperator" (except in the original version of episode 4). But the word "Kaiser" is the word usually used for an emperor, while the word "Imperator" is almost never used for it. Because of that the word "Imperator" is almost exclusivly used for emperor Palpatine in Star Wars.
Which is a bit weird since "Imperator" is actually where the word "Emperor" comes from, while "Kaiser" actually comes from "Caesar".
That's not true..Kaiser is the German translation for Emperor and they used it in Episode 4. Imperator is a title based on Roman military success.
'mainly in the later Roman Republic and during the late Republican civil wars, imperator was the honorific title assumed by certain military commanders. After an especially great victory, an army's troops in the field would proclaim their commander imperator, an acclamation necessary for a general to apply to the Senate for a triumph. After being acclaimed imperator, the victorious general had a right to use the title after his name until the time of his triumph,[citation needed] where he would relinquish the title as well as his imperium.'
@@ravanpee1325 So in the German translation of Star Wars, he is Kaiser Palpatine?
@@CassandraPantaristi Just in Episode 4 "New Hope" when they talk about the dissolution of the Senate, in 5 and 6 it's the "Imperator"
@@ravanpee1325 Oh
Great take on one my fav villians! I heard originally George Lucas wanted a more haughty and aristocratic emperor (like the historical ones you described and somewhat like Clive Revell's original portrayal of him in the hologram sequence). It was Ian McDiarmid's idea to have him be chillingly wicked, and his performance won Lucas over.
No one will be able to play Palpatine like Ian McDiarmid. I believe that Ian picked the design he did because it's reminiscent of the ancient Celtic druid wardrobe.
Why not? In RotS, he successfully convinced the Senate, and by extension the rest of the galaxy, that he looks like a villain because of an unsuccessful assassination attempt by the traitorous Jedi. Now that I type this, the Jedi being scapegoated does indirectly explain the snide remarks against Vader. After all, he’s using the powers from that dead, traitorous religion.
True, but doesn't the Empire know that Vader is a Sith Lord, not a Jedi? Almost everyone in the Republic knew Dooku was a Sith during the Clone Wars, after all.
@@AtlasTorment No, the viewers and a select few knew Dooku was a sith, specifically the Jedi council and maybe a few unfortunate people who got on Dooku's bad side since the sith had been extinct for a thousand years. However most of the galaxy just knew him as an ex-jedi who had philosophical qualms with the order and chose to use his influence to lead the confederacy. Similar with Vader, people didn't know he was a sith. They just assumed he was an ex-jedi or some other force-based enforcer like the inquisitors.
@@bobbirdsong6825 Ah, I see. Thought they knew he was a Sith mostly because everyone calls him "Lord Vader" most of the time.
@@AtlasTorment They certainly knew his title, but I don't think they knew sith lore. At least, if I remember correctly, that was swept under the rug. Recall how Tarkin tells Vader he's all that was left of his religion.
He looks like the emperor that other emperors actually work for. They dress like they are just well decorated soldiers.
That's because they are just well-decorated soldiers. Palpatine was more like a monk.
@@HolyknightVader999 😃
And almost like the grim reaper.
@@need-to-know- Well, he did kill the Republic. So he was Death, in a way.
So true
@@HolyknightVader999He's like the Pope, but evil. In medieval times the Pope frequently held more power than any king.
That's because he's not an emperor.
He's THE Emperor.
Palpatines robes clearly look like your average traditional attire in star wars. Also their simplicity makes it look like he is trying relate to the common man. However it would have been nice to see palps in a white suit tbh.
He looks pretty much like average Jedi. Problem is with face
Palpatine couldn't care less about relating to the common man. He just sees fancy clothes as a petty and meaningless thing to worry about. And honestly, I agree with him. The man may be Satan himself, but he's right about people's pointless obsession with fashion.
Very interesting perspective, I never thought about it that way before. It's crazy how much Palpatine because synonymous with the word "emperor" that he was what I immediately thought of.
Also I love the idea of Darth Biden. "Did you ever hear the tragedy of... y'know, the thing?"
The tragedy of the malarkey
It would be rad if Biden dressed as The Emperor.
And appropriate.
Actual Dark Brandon moment lmao.
@@Brainwashed101 "Listen here, Jack...everything that has transpired has done so to my design!"
It would be rad if Biden could dress himself.
@@haljordan777 He is living a more fit life than the last guy.
The old world meets the high tech world is what set Star Wars apart from other sci-fi movies and TV of the time. Its that familiar look of the ancient world you saw in history books and paintings melded perfectly with a futuristic high tech world. But Darth Vader was just too cool he's a 6 foot 6 inch black clad 1⁄2 man 1⁄2 machine space wizard with a lazer sword and the ability to choke people without touching them! What more could you want in a tragic villain. My biggest problem is that Vader can sense Kenobi on the Death Star but captures Leia and the Force doesn't alert him to her being his offspring? That just annoys me because he can sense the force being strong with Luke at the end of Episode IV!
It does puzzle me that Vader didn’t notice that Leia was Force-sensitive when interrogating her, although my understanding of why he didn’t realize she was related until he realized what Luke was hiding is that he had no reason to suspect that she was family, and may not have even been certain that Leia was adopted!
It's certainly a plot hole, but it can be explained at least somewhat in that Leia never actively used the force. Luke did, specifically at the Battle of Yavin. He also didn't instinctively know Luke was his son, he had to be told.
@JohnGeorgeBauerBuis The strength of a person's presence in the force correlates to how strongly that person is connected to it. Leia never even tried to connect with the force and knew nothing about it, so her presence was on par with a normal person. Vader also can't tell someone is related through force sensitivity. While he could sense Luke's strong connection to the force, he had to be told luke was his son. He didn't know on his own.
It’s actually no plot hole.
Leis isn’t heavily force sensitive in old canon she has more strength in the force then the average Joe but for a Jedi more on the weaker end
Also remember that until episode 6 they weren’t supposed to be Siblings.
In the Old EU pre Disney I remember she did get some basic Jedi training but as said she was really adept or particularly strong.
Disney of course changed that to the worse
Most people already addressed this but I want to add that Vader knew Obi-Won because he had been close to him in the past and know his signature or sense (if that is how to put it). Think of it like a dog knowing your sent. Vader had NEVER been around Leia or Luke.
What is interesting about A New Hope is that the Emperor wasn't fully fleshed out. In one deleted scene an Imperial Family is even mentioned. Early concepts by George Lucas seemed to be that the Emperor was a figure head controlled by the Imperial military, but this was changed by Episode V. As a sidenote Vader is referred to as a Sith in a deleted scene by the officers in that meeting before he and Tarkin show up and they're complaining about his presence.
"There is no way that this man is under any delusions about which side he's on" is one of my favourite things about palpatine. He knows he's evil, he knows hes a piece of shit, and He absolutely *loves* it. He does evil shit becauee its fun, and cackles the whole time while doing it
Like Baron Vladimir Harkonnen.
People like this exist but they rarely get into high positions. Most evil people think they're the heroes. Schiklgruber thought of himself as carrying out another Teutonic crusade. Djugashvili spent his free time in his last years watching John Wayne movies, I kid you not. Saloth Sar saw himself as bringing the truest paradise to the Khmer.
Canonically, he uses to wear his black hoodie while being in the senate, and all important people and citizen of coruscant (which is the planet where the senate is) knows that image of him, but outside that, he uses a filter that makes him look like a normal person in the rest of the galaxy, just like in rebels. (So basically, you’re right)
A character in a position of power that rejects the humiliation of bowing down to pointless decorum signals that he is confident in his hold on power.
Well he's primarily a Sith lord, the Sith aren't known for looking glamourous but the whole design is to look like evil itself, from death/ grim reaper, the witch from snow white, a shadow entity. His lack of glamour is also a Jedi trait, in fact the only thing that aesthetically separates him from Jedi is the flashy lightsabre that he possesses which has it's own story. The whole putting the hood up seems to be a way of focusing the divination of the force, we see obi-wan do this too. I love the way he's presented, it's an example of less is more. His bright yellow eyes surrounded by darkness with pale skin is perfect, truly one of the most terrifying villains to see on screen.
In the early days of the Empire Palpatine would meet with senators and diplomates fairly often. Depending on whom he was meeting he might hide his foul appearance like he did in the days of the Republic. But as time went on and challanging his power became harder he started to stop hiding his true face but also began meeting with politicans a lot less. Most of the time he left the political stuff to his closest confidants while he spent his days experimenting with the Dark Side, scheming, writing books, reading poetry, listening to opera, getting drunk and having fun with his harem. Yes, Palpatine fucks, enjoy that visual.
Can I have a source for this? Particularly for Palpatine having a harem?
Yeah OP, your replies are being deleted. The same thing happened to me when I was the original poster in another comment section. I can what you said in my notifications, but not in the actual comment section. Not sure why UA-cam does this.
If you're posting a link, maybe that's it. Just tell me the name of the source in that case.
@@faded9581 It is the wookieepedia article about Roganda Ismaren, particularly the Legends version of the character
4:49 as the emperor once said "oh i look like i have a scrotum for a face! What should i call myself darth syphillis!?"
-his majesty emperor palpatine
He looks more like the evil court wizard that manipulates the king rather than an emperor. That's because he's not supposed to have any redeeming quality whatsoever, not even strength or charisma.
Ian McDiarmid is chock full of charisma.
Congratulations by portraying Peter II, Emperor of Brazil 🇧🇷- he was one of the most excellent and kind human being ever governed somewhere.
But, a technicality: D. Joao VI, king pf Portugal, wax bestowed the title of Emperor of Brazil just as an honour on the terms of the Independence after the war.
The people of Brazil even gave him the sobriquet “O Magnânimo”. The Magnanimous.
Hey man, great video! It's a perfect combination of film, myth, politics and morality. As pointed out, I think the galaxy knew his scars to be from Mace's assassination attempt, like imagine a president got his arm blown off from a bomb, it wouldn't hurt his public image. People would gladly accept a deformed strongman if he can end the war and bring order. To be honest I feel like Biden is actually a good example, I wouldn't let that guy drive me to the airport, but in times of trouble it is better than the alternative. Keep it up!
He looks more like an evil wizard dude than an emperor.
The witch comparison you used actually does describe the Emperor at his core. When we first meet him in ROTJ, he’s in his not-so-secret secret lair and he attempts to cast a dark spell on Luke, convincing him to kill his father
Meanwhile, on the other side of the coin, we have the *_God-Emperor of Mankind_* looking like every embellished statue of an emperor decorated in gold, and just about the same size as one.
"...the Third Reich, probably the evilest empire in living memory."
The Mole Man Empire: "Are we a joke to you?"
I love that this video is an elaborate exposee on the fact that Palpatine is rocking the contemplating-my-orb fit
Idk I'd probably vote for a sith lord
A very interesting video, hadn't really thought about this myself.
When it comes to Palpatine, he is a Sith first and Emperor second. He will ensure that his unlimited power is secure and have threats to it eliminated, mainly by Vader, but outside of that he won't really care about the Empire, being Emperor is merely a mask he wears just like he did as Chancellor. He is more focused on expanding his knowledge and understanding of the Dark Side than he ever is in governing the Empire
His dark robes represent not his role as Emperor, but as that of Dark Lord of the Sith, it is without pretense.
none of the public knew he was scarred and wore a sith outfit they saw him as he was in ROTS before the mace fight on most empire memorabilia
2:08 the term Sith was in the script at one point. A cut scene that is available even includes the word being used by someone in the meeting room.
Palpatine only became emperor so he could come to work wearing a bathrobe.
Joe Biden looks like the emperor rn
Palpatine walked so the God Emperor could run/sit imprisoned on a throne
I was a bit disappointed that, in the RotS, he became so soon the witch-like Emperor known from the RotJ. I would have liked to see him longer as he was before the assassination attempt: well-dressed, charismatic and sophisticated on the outside, but hiding the deepest abyss of the dark side on the inside. That dichotomy was, in my opinion, the most powerful way to express the evil of Palpatine. It manifested the best in how he enticed Anakin to join the dark side.
You should watch Clone Wars, if you haven't already, if you want more of that.
If Count Dooku had somehow overthrown Palps and become Emperor, he could've pulled off the noble ruler look perfectly.
i remember a conversation with a friend a fe years back: villains, from dracula to vader, have better fashion sense, because it's a sign of arrogance.
The costume designers: My lord, is this design... regal?
Ian McDiarmid: I will make it regal!
In the films, we mostly see Tarkin and Imperial officers doing Palpatine's work. You can also see a bunch of guys in stupid outfits in the background of ROTJ. They're the Imperial Ruling Council, and they handle much of the day-to-day operations of the Empire.
Your average Imperial has no idea what Palpatine really looks like. Holonet broadcasts and propaganda pieces depict him as he was during his time as Chancellor.
When you said he looks like a witch who should be off doing magic in a cave rather than managing an Empire, you hit the nail on the head. Palpatine left most of his duties to the Ruling Council, regional Governors and Moffs like Tarkin, and Mas Amedda, former Vice Chair of the Senate while he attempted to peer further into the secrets of the Dark Side.
P.S. Read Star Wars: Lost Stars. Its portrayal of the Empire is, without exaggeration, the best I've ever seen. I'd honestly put it on the level of Matthew Stover's novelization of RotS, and anybody who's read that book knows that saying something is as good as it is high praise.
'there's no mention of the Sith' and this reminds us how straight to the point the original was.
4:38 He apparently hides behind a force illusion when trying to make a good impression on someone, as shown in Rebels.
It also plays into how the devil (whom Lucas has equated Sidious to) displays himself as an angel and not the horned demon he is when he attempts to tempt someone.
I think it would also work if Palpatine was controlling the Empire from behind the scenes, like Voldemort (who also wore a black robe!) and the Ministry of Magic.
4:54 thanks so much for including this cause it genuinely made my day
And your assumption is spot on cause if he pulled that off, I'd absolutely love it for like 2 days and then start wondering wtf is going on
The Sith robes actually look regal but yeah, the grim reaper outfit definitely doesn't look at all like what the commander in chief would wear
Really cool and kinda fresh video, in definetly gonna check out the rest of your Channel👍
Heinrich Hammler was a face of true evil yet even he wears a badass uniform.
In Revenge of the Sith he made the narrative that the jedi tried to kill him and thats why he looks the way he does.
Aside from torturing Jedi survivors for kicks and giggles he mainly spent time studying dark side lore to increase his power. He did not spend a lot of time governing. George Lucas made him as a purely evil being beyond redemption akin to the devil.
For the most part, Palpatine lets Mas Ameda handle the senate, while Vader deals with most of the military(in fact, it was Vader's idea and initiative to strangle imperial officers because at first, he was treated with severe distrust and some would even plot to kill him because they did not understand who Vader is to emperor and that made them want to kill him, and Palpatine was present during a conference when Vader was formally introduced to the Empire), however, he does make select appearances when needed, will deal with officers directly if it's something he doesn't trust Vader to do, and Vader comics establish that at least during Empire's early years, he still personally dealt with senators to further his goals.
Rebels also establishes that he has an entire deepfake hologram(you can see it's how he presented to the public at large because it's footage of him used for the empire day celebration that is broadcasted galaxy wide), looking more like his episode 1 self, having slick back hair, white regal robes, what you'd expect the emperor to wear, and he uses it for public outings or dealing with lesser underlings if needed.
He never really stopped ruling the empire as we've seen in the prequels, but i think over the years, as the machine of the empire started churning more and more, he was able to take more of a backseat and his deepfake holograms, and dealing with imperials became more scarce as he relied more on mas ameda, tarkin and vader to do his bidding, and those 3 likely would have met him on regular basis still.
Officers treating Vader like they do in ep4 is usually a consequence of them having no context on who he is, and people on the death star would likely think they're important enough to bully him around since they can't grasp someone being beyond their hierarchy, and utter arrogance is a trait shared by vast majority of the imperial officers.
Yeah I always liked how if you forget everything you know about the Emperor and Star War in general, he is visually amusing and unique in his setting. The ruler of a high tech and sophisticated dressed empire in space is an evil wizard who wears black robes. It's how contradictory that looks which is pretty cool
It may be worth noting that (historically speaking) Emperors often had far less power than people realised. Often it was the nobles, shoguns or other such below them who really ran things because they controlled the military. Moreover, there were often rules that further limited an Emperor's power (e.g. in Imperial Japan when if the government was united on a particular policy, the Emperor was forbidden from intervening in said policy).
The point being, Emperors have often been more akin to spiritual leaders. The image and idea of the Emperor is important, but they're rarely the ones running the show and making the day-to-day decisions.
In the case of Palpatine, this probably would have suited him perfectly, allowing him to pull the strings while remaining largely in the shadows. Apart from anything else, it could even keep him popular even when very unpopular decisions are being made - because people's ire is instead directed to the public-facing politicians or military leaders who appear to be making those decisions. People might even hope that such terrible policies will be brought to the attention of the good and noble emperor who would surely intervene if he only knew!
you have to consider: the attempt on his life left him scarred... and deformed.
This is brilliant, please continue making videos
Yeah in Legends Palpatine was bored to death with the Empire. He thought he should "Rule the empire by force" like a Warrior King. He said he now understood and respected Darth Plageuis and why he was so bored with politics himself. And instead sought the power of the Sith.
I think Mon Mothma mentioned the emperor's name once in Return of the Jedi.
Fun fact:In a deleted scene from A New Hope, Darth Vader is called a Sith Lord
The lack of regality plays into what I see as evoking the principate of the roman emperors where they played more into being the first citizen protecting the roman republic rather then Dominus ruling as a King of Kings or Diodachi monarch off in the east.
And as we saw in the prequels that was absolutely what he was going for.
Fun fact the original Star Wars actually has a deleted scene that refers to Vader as a Sith Lord so the idea of the Sith has been floating around since then.
Awesome video! I've never really thought about this, it makes a lot of sense, such a genius design
Palpatine is named in the RotJ novelization. Which was the first real book (that is, book without pictures) I ever read at age 7 in 1983....
When I first saw ROTJ in 1983, I expected just what you said - some regal, perfectly-dressed dude with a crown and medals up the @ss. When he finally does appear, I looked, and (I'm discounting the ESB quick moment as I probably had forgotten it by then), I am in shock as I think, "What the Hell is this? THIS old, prunefaced crone in old robes walking with a cane is the EMPEROR??? I can't believe that!!!". But, by the end of the film, I BELIEVED. And since then, I wouldn't have it any other way.
He looks like religious leader with undisputed authority on everything.
Dont forget, he is also a space wizzard and his appearance i's not a surprise.
Traditionally, the old EU portrayed Palpatine as rarely appearing in public and ruling through advisors. Adding to the fantasy vibes, the advisors he takes to the Death Star in ROTJ wore costumes influenced by the vestments of Catholic bishops.
This is what made him unique among emperors in fiction. From what I know, Palpatine was originally not even going to be force sensitive, but still being able to call the shots, which I think is not only uninteresting, but wouldn't make sense, seeing how if Vader was the only force sensititve, nothing would be stopping him from just killing the emperor. There were people that outranked Vader like Tarkin and Tarkin only survived because Palpatine commanded Vader to obey Tarkin.
Palpatine was so enigmatic, most folks just knew him as The Emperor and he became a commanding force, so much so that people hardly ever referred to him by name. It's more interesting that he just has a simple robe. Doesn't even wear fancy stuff. Palpatine was more about just power itself rather than flaunting wealth, so he never looked ostentatious. The rest of the empire didn't even know he was force sensitive and only a select few even knew that he was Darth Sidious and very force sensitive. They all initially thought Vader was the last of the Jedi religion.
This made him stand out among the other emperors and unlike the others, he actually used real power to subjugate others.
He looks like an evil monk. Which he is, in a way.
I would say Palpatine does look like the Roman emperors in the garb of the pontifex maximus. But yes, he is an evil wizard so the robes are fitting.
i'd think, once the Sith (re)take power, they'd have no need to hide anymore. Yes, the Sith/Imperials are about deception and treachery and backstabbing but simultaneously they are very open and transparent about what the fuck they're doing. The all-black is very fashionable, the red sabers bring lots of attention although red also means "danger" or "stay away"
In my mind, Sith are literally the dictionary definition of Pride - just as much as they're the definition of Anger or Wrath or... well... Power. Sith are proud, prideful - a long, vast history of ruling and running empires both from the backgrounds/shadows and from the forefront. What did Jedi run? Nothing, they're just a bunch of monks. The Sith *run shit*, and openly whilst the Jedi hide in drab beige or brownish robes. Once O66 happened, the remaining Jedi Survivors started dressing more casually, more like smugglers or kids trying to seem cool with their vests and side-belts. Jedi Survivors started hiding their sabers and using more blaster-pistols.
@@zogwort1522 To me he looks like a wicked Celtic druid. Similar but yea. I don't think that Palpatine would be one of the most recognizable characters in Star Wars had he looked like a modest and traditional emperor like say the German Kaisers with medals on his chest, the formal uniform and the style of facial hair. The black robe along with the face he has, made the character have staying power in the public consciousness.
I read somewhere in wookieepedia that for most of the republic’s history the chancellors were jedi. So the jedi did have government power.
Palpatine looks how an Emperor is SUPPOSED to in my opinion.
Also, he was referenced as Palpatine in the novelization of the original trilogy, even though that name was never mentioned on screen. The Return of the Jedi novel in particular covered the basic storyline of the prequels, as part of Luke and Obi-Wan's conversation on Dagobah.
You mentioned television, so I'll cite that Sidious essentially masked his grotesque and repulsive appearance over the course of the Imperial Era. When presented on the HoloNet News and other channels broadcasting his appearance, he is a charmed and well-dressed man. Also depicted clandestinely within Rebels. His attire consisting of white robes and golden lavishes - which harkens to that of a priest within our reality or even the depictions of angels, which very visceral juxtaposition. Within the mythos his appearance is akin to his Grand Admirals, which implies their colour scheme of those Imperial uniforms essentially conveyed that individuals who manned such posts were admirals of the Emperor, not just his Galactic Empire.
Irrespective, he was not particularly afraid to dawn ceremonial Sith robes for the proclamation of the New Order considering the fact he informed the reasoning of his disfigurement to the Senate, in addition to his preference of wearing red chancellary robes for his political appearances during the waining years of the Republic Era.
such a refreshing and clean ''review '' of Darth Sidious ,aka Emperor Palpatine ! Sharp ! it was my first look at your channel and already you got me get subscribed...again ,nice one ! cheers from Romania .
Maybe dressing with a mantel and a hoodie is a luxury in future
6:04 Pretty much everyone who has worked on Star Wars has said that it's a fairytale, and I agree.
The nice dressed Palpatine you showed from Rebels was a flashback to his younger self before he was disfigured.
It makes sense, because he’s not an emperor, he’s a creepy old wizard.
This is a really good video and I enjoyed it thoroughly.
To be frank, I thought this channel would have 10x the amount of subscribers it actually has.
I was shocked when I saw the actual number.
In the book Wedge's gamble his appearence to the general public is explained. They view him as a wounded warrior who rescued them. While saving them from the Jedi he was badly injured and scarred. That is the sacrifice he made for them.
0:03
You can’t hear images.
Star Wars wasnt about Nazis. It was about Vietnam and America is the Empire. Lucas said so in multiple interviews.
I imagine a bunch of decaying psionic god-like bones sitting on the big shiny yellow chair.
That's the other space emperor
In Star Wars Rebels, Palpatine appears to Ezra via hologram as a kindly-looking grandpa in a white robe.
And even after all that, there are all those sithheads all over the SW fandom, who believe that the empire was "efficient" and that the emperor was doing the right thing
That's called having fascist sympathies.
@@MouldMadeMind I mean, no argument from me here, I'm just baffled by the community which sort of accepts this sort of thing
Star Wars is a sci-fi fantasy, like it’s got like sci-fi, futuristic technology in it, but fantasy themes, stories, and characters
Honestly that's a fucking wild reading to point out from A New Hope, as if that was the only one. Imagine for a second the Empire and Vader if Star Wars had continued that direction, with it being just another dime-a-dozen evil fascist stand in, with this one random Dark Wizard following his religion of Evil in future-samurai armor acting as a sort of mercenary for it. Knowing Vader is the Emperor's Right Hand gives him a very specific vibe once we know that fact, but that would lead to a whole different dynamic whenever he's on screen.
He’s a Sith First, emperor second.
As someone who is big into the EU: No, but that's the thing: Palpatine didn't preside over the bureaucratic machine, nor meet with senators dressed like ANYTHING - he never did such. Palpatine very rarely appeared in person, in fact he never even visited the first Death Star, and the fact that he was going to be aboard the second one was a shock to even the highest-ranked officers aboard it.
Palpatine didn't need to be present the be felt, as he ruled through fear, and was the poster child for Machiavellian rulership. When he wanted to speak with someone, he'd more often do it over hologram. The person who'd appear before the senate was usually Sate Pestage, in his role as President of the Senate. Part of why Palpatine did this was to give the times he did showed up extreme weight - for him to enter any room was for him to bring his full authority with him.
As Robert Greene said, "Too much circulation makes the price go down: The more you are seen and heard from, the more common you appear [...] it will make you more talked about, even more admired. Create value through scarcity."
Later on, Palpatine hide his true appearance after the Empire was fully established.