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Smugglers Rants

by: janlomona

date posted: Oct 05, 2005 10:24 AM

The Changing Face of Evil

Once secure in office he declared himself Emperor, shutting himself away from the populace. Soon he was controlled by the very assistants and boot-lickers he had appointed to high office, and the cries of the people for justice did not reach his ears
A fragment from the First Saga of the Journal of the Whills, circa 1976.
But read it carefully...
Soon he was controlled by the very assistants and boot-lickers he had appointed to high office
Doesn't that suggest something entirely different? That the original version of Palpatine Lucas envisaged wasn't a sith, wasn't the power crazed monster we have come to know.
Further...
Having exterminated through treachery and deception the Jedi Knights, guardians of justice in the galaxy, the Imperial governors and bureaucrats prepared to institute a reign of terror among the disheartened worlds of the galaxy. Many used the imperial forces and the name of the increasingly isolated Emperor to further their own personal ambitions.
This suggests that the real power in the galaxy was the Empire, not the sith. Here, the Emperor is but a figurehead, almost a pawn.
But maybe this fits the bill.
When Lucas wrote Star Wars in the mid-70's, he knew who the Jedi were. But had he yet envisaged the true details of the sith?
Kenobi refers to Vader as `Darth', almost like a surname (and no one else does this in the 6 films). This also infers that the concept of the sith wasn't fully realised.
And Palpatine's place as supreme ruler wasn't cemented either. Here he is a power-hungry politician (the aspect of which we see in the prequels), but there is little sight of the sith aspect (which is bountiful in the PT)
Interesting that, while the PT sticks so closely to the prologue of the original Star Wars novel, in that respect it should be so different.

http://blogs.starwars.com/galantesdiary/28

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Borma Feng
The Crack of Doom!

date Posted: Oct 05, 2005 10:36 AM

The bit about Palpatine being controlled by his underlings could be taken from the POV of a regular Imperial citizen. Perhaps Palpatine once more manipulates the Galaxy, giving the impression that he's become a figurehead, controlled by agents working behind-the-scenes. Naturally, his enemies within the Empire will see him as weak and vulnerable, and this will draw them out into a foolhardy attack that the Emperor will easily counter. Think the trap at Endor on a smaller, internal scale.

	mubos
date Posted: Oct 05, 2005 11:43 AM the reason obi wan calls vader "darth" is to state the fact that A) he doesnt know darth is givin to every sith, or B) he truly believes anakin is completely gone and so addresses him by the name he has been givin.

janlomona
Smugglers Rants

date Posted: Oct 05, 2005 12:27 PM

I think the truth of it is that, to a huge degree, Star Wars has been a work in progress for Lucas, despite him apparently having the legendary 9 notepads with story ideas for the 9 films on his desk.
Remember, only 20% of Menace and Clones were taken from what he wrote as the backstory way back when. Sith was 60%, but that's still just over half of what he originally envisaged. When he wrote Star Wars, Luke and Leia were not brother and sister, Vader wasn't Luke's father. Things changed as he went along.
To get the Prequels to fit so well with the OT has been a minor miracle.

	jediknight2210 Where did you dig up that old fossil?
date Posted: Oct 05, 2005 5:42 PM Nice blog. I like Borma Feng's view on it.

Darth Gehena

date Posted: Oct 10, 2005 2:07 AM

One thing to keep in mind is that by the end of Ep. 3, only Obi-wan and Yoda knew Palpatine was a Sith. As such, the galaxy as a whole had no friggin IDEA that the detached despot running the galaxy was in fact an ancient enemy of the Jedi. And yes, citizens of the Empire must have speculated that corrupt politicians ended up controlling Palpatine. Because to the galaxy, it would not make sense that the wise, benevolent Chancelor Palpatine, who fought so long and hard to preserve democracy and security, could become such a tyranical dictator.

	Darth Gehena
date Posted: Oct 10, 2005 2:10 AM Besides, I'm sure GL envisioned the Emperor as Vader's master more or less from Day 1. That is to say that GL more than likely had an idea that the Emperor was a Sith, as well as a concept of the Sith and its history.

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