Cloning the World: Re: Palpatine's Influence

» Dedalus47 - Re: Palpatine's Influence

In response to message posted by metark:

Hmm. Interesting comments.

While I do think there is something of an anti-Christ figure in Palpatine, I'm thinking it would be a bit much to say that he somehow orchestrated Shmi's kidnapping and torture on Tatooine as some have suggested. Nor do I believe he purposefully put Anakin and Padme together for that purpose. I think he may have linked her with Obi-Wan precisely for what he said, which triggered that skeptical glance from Yoda - "I realize additional security may be a distraction for you," or something along those lines. I think it was just tweaking her a bit, as well as making him seem really concerned for her safety.

Now, while it is true Palpatine is very good at orchestrating crisis and then exploiting them for his own purposes, such as the invasion of Naboo to get elected Chancellor, or the Clone Wars to secure even more power and authority, it is also true that he is very good at rolling with the punches. He seems to have a knack for going with the situations that pop up that he perhaps didn't foresee. Like taking advantage of Amidala in TPM and telling her to call for a vote of no-confidence in Vallorum, or even getting Count Dooku as his next apprentice after he loses Maul. The count would probably have been a better choice for what he wanted to do anyway.

In line with this, I do think it's right that he felt Anakin's enormous pain over the loss of his mother in the Force. And it is perfectly reasonable that - whether Anakin confides into him about what happened or not - that he will exploit his inability to let go of things. If I were Palpatine, certainly I would go after Padme come Episode Three. And maybe he will even stage to look as if the Jedi had something to do with it, whether directly or more likely inadvertently. So while he may not have created these scenarios, I think he's certainly going to be taking full advantage of them.

-- posted by Dedalus47