Like an overture that prepares you for the main event, the "attack" on Coruscant was the opening act of Palpatine's endgame. Little did anyone know (including his apprentice Count Dooku) that the entire objective of the assault was to set up a test for young Anakin Skywalker. By arranging his own kidnapping, Palpatine would be able to match the Chosen One with Dooku, and begin to bring the young Jedi into the fold of the Sith.

The plan as laid out to Dooku was simple: there would be a duel, and if Dooku prevailed, then Anakin was simply not worthy to be Palpatine's apprentice anyway. If Anakin prevailed, Dooku would be spared, and eventually would be brought to "justice". In reality, due to his reputation as an idealist, Dooku would eventually be a force for peace in ending the conflict and would serve in the New Order and be the head of a Sith Army. All lies, of course. Palpatine knew that if Dooku lost, he would be slain, as is the way of the Sith. Anakin would then be persuaded to take his place at Palpatine's side.

Furthermore, Palpatine was hoping Obi-Wan would get knocked off in the process, leaving the Dark Lord as the sole influence upon young Anakin. Even after Dooku's defeat, Palpatine urged unsuccessfully for Anakin to leave his former master behind. But luckily for the Jedi, that did not occur.

In slaying Dooku, Anakin had yet again succumbed to the Dark Side, and yet again looked to the Chancellor for guidance. It would take but one more step for the destiny of Anakin as a Sith to take hold, a destiny Palpatine had prepared for ever since Plagueis created the Chosen One through the Will of the Force.

Following Dooku's death, Palpatine moved to use Grievous as a figurehead and a distraction for the Jedi to buy himself time to cultivate Anakin. Once Grievous was slain, then the war would be over and Palpatine's plan would come to fruition.

At this time, the Jedi distrust of Palpatine escalated, and when Palpatine put Anakin on the Jedi Council, they accepted under the premise of using Skywalker as a spy for the Chancellor. Palpatine knew this would occur, as he had ensured that enough distrust was built between him and the Jedi to necessitate some secrecy and spying, but not enough to outright suspect him as a Sith Lord. Reluctantly, Obi-Wan was also put into the position of having to convince Anakin to spy on Palpatine. All of this served Palpatine's plans: as a father figure and one who fed Anakin's confidence, the young Skywalker's trust in the Dark Lord would increase. Additionally, Anakin would begin to distrust not only the Jedi, but more importantly Obi-Wan, who was the greatest threat to Palpatine insofar as being able to keep Anakin in the Jedi fold.

With this turn of events set in motion, Palpatine knew it was time to "discover" the location of Grievous. Palpatine also knew that the Jedi would send Obi-Wan, not Anakin, to deal with the threat due to needing Anakin to spy on the Chancellor as well as some distrust toward him. This was key, because had Obi-Wan been on Coruscant, events would almost certainly have been different.
Palpatine began feeding into Anakin's confidence, his anger at being denied the rank of Jedi Master, and his anger at being put into such an awkward position by the Jedi. And so it was that he played into Anakin's doubts about saving Padme when he revealed his true identity as a Sith Lord. Confused and bewildered, Anakin fled to inform Mace Windu of the terrible truth, which was timed perfectly to happen when Grievous was taken out by Obi-Wan.

As Mace Windu and his fellow Jedi raced to confront Palpatine, Anakin was filled with doubt. He was filled with greed. The Dark Lord manipulated him with thoughts of saving Padme through his teachings. Anakin thought he saw a compromise: he would ensure Palpatine was taken alive in order to pass on his knowledge. But it was not to be so.

When Anakin arrived, Mace had the Chancellor pinned down, and though I believe Mace could have been a match for Palpatine, there's no doubt in that instance he was acting in order to sway Anakin. Consumed by greed to save Padme and guilt over murdering Dokku, Anakin urged Mace to spare Palpatine. But that couldn't happen, and in a split decision, Anakin murdered Mace Windu, and began his journey to the Dark Side.

Palpatine was on his way to victory: through plotting and deceit he had crafted the instrument he would use to destroy the Jedi, the only real obstacle between him and the creation of the New Order. He never truly had the power to save life, that was a lie to Anakin. But he claimed he could discover that power with his new apprentice. And perhaps in some capacity he discovered the power to extend life through the Dark Side; that I will delve into detail in future installments.

But as I have theorized in past entries, only Plagueis tapped into that power, and only because he served as a conduit of the Will of the Force in order to create the Chosen One.

With his new apprentice secured, Palpatine moved to finish the Jedi off. His totally loyal clones executed the order they had been trained from birth to follow, particularly the commanders: Order 66. The remaining Jedi were wiped out, as the clones never truly followed them; they served the Republic and Palpatine, which in fact were now one and the same and may have been all along. The clones took care of Jedi in the field, and Anakin took out the Jedi Temple. Beyond Obi-Wan and Yoda, the Jedi Order was extinct for all intensive purposes. While some few survived, Palpatine knew they were of no concern.

But the Jedi were not the only path to the New Order, there was a bureaucracy to change and a populace to please. With claims of a "Jedi Rebellion", and the need for a "safe and secure society", Palpatine ordered the reorganization of the Republic into the Galactic Empire. His power base of the military, regional governors, and loyalists moved into place as the holders of power in the new government. Men like Wilhuff Tarkin now took the reigns, and the Senate became a rubber stamp, voting and supporting all of Palpatine's measures.

The Empire was born.

In this moment, Yoda and Obi-Wan hatched a desperate plan to take down the Sith before it was too late. Yoda moved against Palpatine, and Obi-Wan moved against Anakin, now Darth Vader, who had just wiped out the Separatist pawns that had faithfully served Palpatine during the Clone Wars.

The result of the duel between Anakin and Obi-Wan was inevitable. Obi-Wan's grim resolve, focus, and trust in the Force defeated Anakin's arrogance, hatred, and greed. Yet the newly anointed Sith survived, which was an unforeseen saving grace for the entire galaxy. Anakin's hatred of himself and of what he had done, as well as his inner good that Palpatine never could reach would ultimately bring down the Emperor over twenty years later. Anakin's survival, and the hard lesson he would learn in the coming years, would serve to bring down the Sith when his son Luke brought those deep buried feelings to the surface. While hope survived in the form of the survival of Luke and Leia, the greatest hope was in the survival of Anakin, a place no one would expect.

Yet the truly defining moment of this era, the true culmination of Palpatine's victory, was his duel with Yoda. In fighting Yoda, Palpatine might as well have been fighting the Jedi Order itself, because Yoda had guided the direction of the Order for the past few hundred years. In the stalemate that ensued, the truth was cast out: while the Sith had bided their time, and had adapted over the past 1000 years since Darth Bane, the Jedi had remained stagnant and dogmatic. In the moment when Yoda was cast down from the Senate pods, he realized that Qui-Gon Jinn had been right all along. The Jedi had betrayed their principles, they had betrayed the Living Force, they had failed to see the reality of their situation.

In the moment of Yoda's defeat, Palpatine's final victory was secure. The Jedi had been defeated, revenge was executed. The Dark Lord had won.




NEXT TIME: Part XIII: The New Order

In this installment I will detail the birth of the Empire, from the Emperor's speech to the new Imperial Government & military, and the pursuit of Palpatine's aims.

In general, the next few installments will look at the Empire and Palpatine's agenda as Emperor, as well as bridging the gap to my forthcoming entries on the classic trilogy era. I will also look into the curious relationship between Palpatine and Vader, the Tarkin Doctrine and the rise of the Death Star, and the first stirrings of Rebellion.

Should be fun stuff, as the era of the Empire opens up some totally new topics and represents a new direction from Palpatine's rise to power which is now over with.