How Emperor Palpatine Used Manipulation to Rise to Power in Star Wars

03 April 2023
Emperor Palpatine's ability to manipulate people around him was a crucial factor in his rise to power and his ability to maintain it. 

From his subtle guidance of conversations and popular sentiment to his masterful and patient manipulation of countless individuals, Palpatine displayed a level of commitment and follow-through that was rare among even the most formidable villains in fiction.

One of the key examples of Palpatine's manipulative tactics was his ability to get Queen Amidala to call for a vote of no confidence in Chancellor Finis Valorum in The Phantom Menace. By carefully playing his political cards just right, Palpatine was able to position himself for greater power and influence.

Another example of Palpatine's manipulative genius was his ability to pretend to be attacked by Fives in The Clone Wars. By using this incident to make a case for the inhibitor chips, he was able to deceive the Jedi and ensure that the chips stayed in place for his own purposes.

palpatine-emperor

Palpatine successfully eggs Anakin on to kill Count Dooku in Revenge of the Sith, and his line "do, it" has become a classic Palpatine quote. 

Perhaps the most important example of Palpatine's manipulative tactics was his ability to shape Anakin Skywalker into the perfect apprentice. He constantly praised Anakin, insulted the Jedi Order, and made him feel like he deserved a position on the Jedi Council. When Anakin was not elevated to the rank of Jedi Master, Palpatine was there to listen and further manipulate him. In the end, Anakin played right into Palpatine's hands and turned against the Jedi.

In "Revenge of the Sith," Chancellor Palpatine tells the story of the tragedy of Darth Plagueis the Wise to Anakin Skywalker. The speech is a pivotal moment in the manipulation of Anakin and plays a significant role in his eventual fall to the dark side.

Palpatine describes how Darth Plagueis was a Sith Lord who had the power to manipulate the Force to create life and prevent death. He was so skilled that he could even keep the people he loved from dying. However, in the end, Darth Plagueis was killed by his own apprentice, who took his power and became even more powerful than Plagueis ever was.

The tragedy of Darth Plagueis the Wise speech is a masterful manipulation tactic used by Palpatine to appeal to Anakin's fear of losing those he loves. Anakin is struggling with the fear of losing his wife Padmé to death, and Palpatine uses the story to offer a solution to Anakin's fear. He tells Anakin that with the power of the dark side, he could prevent Padmé's death and even bring her back to life.

The speech works on Anakin, who becomes obsessed with the idea of using the dark side to prevent Padmé's death. Palpatine uses this obsession to turn Anakin to the dark side and to make him his new apprentice, Darth Vader.

In the Mace Windu death scene, Palpatine pitted Anakin against the Jedi, convincing him that the Jedi were trying to take over the government, giving him a chance to escape Windu's pronounced death sentence. After Windu's death, Palpatine ordered Anakin to wipe out the remaining Jedi.

Finally, in Return of the Jedi, Palpatine laid a trap for Luke Skywalker by leveraging his feelings about his friends and pitting father against son. While things didn't work out as planned, Palpatine had set himself up to win either way.

In conclusion, Emperor Palpatine's ability to manipulate people around him was a critical component of his rise to power and his ability to maintain it. Through a combination of subtle guidance, patient manipulation, and strategic maneuvering, he was able to play countless people like pianos and achieve his ultimate goal of ruling the galaxy.

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About the author Jimmy Jangles


My name is Jimmy Jangles, the founder of The Astromech. I have always been fascinated by the world of science fiction, especially the Star Wars universe, and I created this website to share my love for it with fellow fans.

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