Greetings,

Darth Sidious is amazing and has been added to my list of heroes. Seriously, he is my hero. Really, think about everything he had to do to get his plan to work.

Phase 1 - Get elected Senator of Naboo. There must have been considerable political eduacation and general pampering needed for people to believe he was qualified. While he got all this, he would have to keep up his Sith training, etc. Before getting elected he would also have had to hold other offices, where a clean record would be needed. Not easy for a Sith. He more than likely also had to train Darth Maul.

Phase 2 - Keep a good-looking political profile while in office. How easy can it be for someone consumed by the dark side of the force to contain himself? Really, look at Anakin. He went ballistic when things went wrong, but Sidious always kept his cool. Also there's his Schizophrenia. Yes, I believe that Darth Sidious has at least a bit of Schizophrenia. He had to hold onto multiple personalities while in office: A) the Senator B) the Dark Lord. When you have to be in character for that long, you're going to get attached. And then you might have your little freudian slip every now and then.

Also in Phase 2, what about his training and Darth Maul? What if he was spotted? Really, Sidious is THE MAN.

Phase 3 - Lure the Seperatists and Count Dooku. How easy could it have been to grab a Jedi Master, who had been brainwashed all of his life by the Jedi that the Jedi are correct? Dooku exhibited no signs of hatred, no signs of anger, and all signs of coolness. He never once acted truly dark. Dooku would have to truly and fully believe in Darth Sidious. And what could he believe in after leaving everything he believed in all his life?

Phase 4 - Manipulate nearly impossibly dictated events so that Anakin would became his best friend. Really. How on earth (wait a second...) could it have been predicted that Qui-Gon would run into a little slave boy on Tatooine that would just happen to be "The Chosen One"?* Then he would have to slowly manipulate Anakin's views until they were just right and then SNAP. Not to mention he would have to keep a good eye on Anakin and learn his weaknesses! If he did, how did he plan for Anakin to fall in love like that? Maybe that was just luck on his part. And what's with all that crap about killing Skywalker in the Clone Wars?!?

The rest is easy and was mostly Dooku, such as Dooku impersonating Syfo Dias and making a clone army and then manipulating events so that Obi-Wan would find the army.

Well, that's my opinion of Sidious: AMAZING.

Mountain Zew

*A little theory about Ani: What if Sidious never intended to Qui Gon to find Anakin? Maybe he planned to ditch Darth Maul an pick him up later. It's not beyond possibility that this was a setback. Also there's Sidious trying to kill him off in the Clone Wars. Maybe Sidious didn't know Anakin was the Chosen One until just before Episode III and then he began his manipulations...

EDIT:
PS. Uh, if anybody noticed that I just magically appeared back in the hyperspace blogs. I did. I'm not sure why. I didn't renew my account and for reason I have one. Maybe I should check the credit card... but I'm not complaining. Good to be back!