Character Analysis: Sheev Palpatine

[aegisflashfire]

let me start out by saying I have not read the Darth Plaguis book so I'm basing most of my analysis of him mostly from Ep. I-Ep. VI & Most books through the NJO + some Comics.

So a little background first:
A) I was a theater major for a while, so character analysis is something I have a little practice at. What are the sources that we (as an audience or an actor) can determine information about a character
1- What the character says
2- What the character does
3- What other say about the character
4- What the character looks like


I believe that Star Wars is ultimately about good vs. Evil. No big deal, Good vs. Evil is a common trope. But there are lots of kinds of evil, and lots of kinds of good. For the purposes of Star Wars (in the 'modern' era) the Evil is personified in the Emperor aka. Darth Sidious, aka Sheev Palpatine. So to tell a good story about good and evil I have to have a grasp on the man who makes that evil. Even if I want my players to never really come face to face with that evil, I want that evil to HAVE a face.

So what do we know about Palpatine? I'm going to do this by stating some things as bald assertions, (some of which are obvious, some of which are not), and and then pointing out my observations that lead me to these conclusions. And then I hope to make statements about how that means we portray him.

A) Palpatine is a Sith Lord who never was part of the Jedi order.
-Palpatine never 'fell to the dark side' as say Dooku or Vader did. He was a total unknown to the Jedi and corrupted from the beginnings of his initiation into the Jedi arts.
What this means: Without a Fall there can be no redemption. While not all stories of fall require the opportunity for redemption, (cf. Lucifer) nearly all stories of redemption require that the character have been good at one time.

B) Palpatine is also Darth Traya. This sounds strange, and I don't mean to imply that he is the same person as Kreia from KOTORII. (or that she is somehow resurrected in him or he has her spirt) No, but Kreia's statement : "There must always be a Darth Traya, one who holds the knowledge of betrayal, who has been betrayed in heart, and will betray in turn." is incredibly telling. Also Shaak Ti's statement, "The Sith always betray one another... but I'm sure you'll learn that soon enough."
Palpatine betrays Dooku and seeks to supplant him with Vader. Palpatine betrays Vader and seeks to supplant him with Luke. Palpatine betrays the Republic. Palpatine betrays the Jedi. Palpatine betrays Mara Jade. Palpatine Betrays General Grevious.
What this means: Palpatine is rarely an in-your-face enemy. He is a puppet master. He pulls the strings, only engaging in combat when the stakes are high enough. He appears to be your friend, or master, but in the end the targets must realize they're being betrayed... preferably only a moment before its too late.

c) Palpatine prefers a hands on control of the situation. Throughout the Clone Wars we see Palpatine issuing direct orders to both sides instead of working through intermediaries. He continually consolidates power in a select group of people he has as his inner circle. He pulls power from the senate and puts the Regional governors with absolute authority over whole sectors. He has Hands that get involved directly in small conflicts that he could easily delegate.
What this means: Even if the players never see Palaptine it should be clear that Palpatine is the one in control. This may mean that you have to do more cut-scenes to see him pulling the strings. This will help give a grander scale to the conflict.

d) Palpatine plays the long game. Palpatine's plans for Anakin don't come to fruition for 20 years. He plan to take over the Republic goes on at least 15 years, and probably far longer than that. It is stated that Palpatine is aware of the Yuzhaan Vong nearly 40 years before they arrive en masse. His militarization of the republic is one aspect of this. (The Republic had no army leading up to the Clone Wars)

e) Palpatine always has a backup. Palpatine builds 2 Death stars. He grooms multiple Hands such as Mara Jade. He has Darth Maul while working to create Darth Vader (and then Darth Tyranus) Palpatine kept dozens of storehouses around the galaxy, including alternate cloning facilities.
What this means: Just when the players defeat the super weapon, they realize there is another one... another Goldeneye Satellite, another Machine for Jodi Foster to travel in.

f) Palpatine directly manipulates those around him. Its stated in the Heir to the Empire books that Palpatine uses the force to directly improve the morale and motivation of his troops. He uses the force to 'push' Anakin to the dark side.
What this means: Those exposed to the Emperor in person are likely to fall prey to his personal corruption. This can be by temptation or by rising rage that the Emperor is instilling.

g) Palpatine loves super weapons. duh. But still. Death Stars, Sun Crushers, Eclipse class Star Destroyers, World Devastators, Galaxy Guns, Force Storms, etc. Maybe he's compensating for something...
What this means: Darth Sidious is not afraid of technology and understands that both it and the Force are tools that grant power. He is likely to have others in the bank, so if you want to run a campaign, some new superweapon is as good a starting point as any.

h) Palpatine is an innovator and inventor and Practitioner of Sith Alchemy: This is mostly straight from the comics (dark Empire I, II III) but also the creation of Anakin too. Sidious uses the Force in ways that no one else does. He continues Plagious's work in creating life. He creates Crystal beasts (rancors infused with dark energy), he learns to transfer his consciousness to a new body, and creates Force Storms. He institutes the Rule of One.
What this means: Palpatine's use of the force does not have to follow what has been seen by anyone else. He can use the force in ways that are not documented in the rules. Don't be afraid to give him new powers or have him create something unseen (though relating it to what has is probably good)

ui) Palpatine relies heavily on Fareseeing.
How many times does he make reference to what he has seen in his visions, particularly in Ep IV-VI?
What this means: Palpatine is likely to be 2-3 steps ahead of your PCs and they'll believe it. As a GM you have to make it appear is as he anticipated their moves (sometimes this means fudging things a little. A stormtrooper squad that was waiting for the PCs even if there is no chance they tripped an alarm) - This is good in a way, it gives you the chance to have that firefight the PCs worked SO HARD to avoid.

j) Palpatine is an opportunist.
Sometimes things take Palpatine by surprise. Even his farseeing isn't perfect. But he's adaptable enough to take advantage of things when he can. We see this some in the Clone Wars and some in Old Republic era. (Palpatine didn't foresee the Chiss or Thrawn or the Yuzhaan Vong, but he capitalized on those bits of information as soon as they came his way.
What this means: if the players DO get the drop on the situation, Palpatine will still find ways adapting and twisting it to suit his own goals

k) Palpatine is overconfident.
We hear Luke and Mon Mothma both describe him this way. And he is arrogant about his visions.
What this means:To stay true to the character he should probably make a mistake or two and those mistakes should be grounded in overconfidence.

l) Palpatine doesn't throw away anything.
Palpatine saves Luke's hand after its cut off. He clones Jorus C'Boath, and any number of other useful 'tidbits' from around the galaxy.
What this means:This packrat mentality means that he very likely has virtually limitless stores of ancient artifacts or valuable materials could show up were, say an old storehouse be discovered.




m) Palpatine is not a speciest:
The EMPIRE is speciest, but Palpatine is not. Those he vests with the most power are not necessarily human. His master was a Muun, and his closest aides included Darth Maul, Mas Ammeda, Grand Admiral Thrawn, and a number of force adepts from various species.
What this means:
The enemies working directly as agents of Palpatine have no requirement on them that they're human.


n)Palpatines Likes to taunt beaten foes.
Speaks again to arrogance, but torturing Luke instead of killing him outright is what cost him the Battle of Endor.


o) When the chips are down Palpatine gets involved personally. Palpatine rescues Vader from Mustafaar personally, and confronts the two most deadly Jedi in the order in one on one combat (Windu & Yoda). Palpatine interrogates the would-be leaders of the new Rebellion personally and engages Starkiller in one-on-one combat. Palpatine works to corrupt Luke and puts himself in the middle of a battle.
What this means: Odds are your PC's arent important enough to warrant Palpatine actually engaging them in combat



p) Palpatine Knows about the Yuzhan Vong long before they arrive
Its at least strongly suggested that Thrawn and the Chiss are well aware of an incoming alien invasion force and Palpatine seems pretty convinced that the unarmed republic has no chance of standing up to them. His goals in the Clone War do not seem to be the destruction of military production facilities (indeed, the militaries of both sides are significantly advanced--- its almost like he built a crucible to see which would be most effective Clones or droids and then went with that for the backbone of his new army.
What this means: Palpatine wants to build up Imperial war machine--even if he doesn't need that much to defeat the rebellion. He doesn't attempt to exterminate non-humans; he mostly just wants them working for him. His evil needs to be about Control rather than extermination. (though sometimes its necessary if they're a threat to your control, such as the Faleeen were.)
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[cheshire]

This is some interesting analysis with a few good ideas as to what you can do with the character in a campaign. Thanks for posting it.
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[shootingwomprats]

Me likey!

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[cynanbloodbane]

[aegisflashfire]

[Kytross]

I thought it said Shave Palpatine.

Well done sir, well done.

Don't forget he is the only Sith to take control of the galaxy and eliminate the Jedi.

The brilliance lay especially in not attacking the Republic. The Jedi could sense attacks, the Separatists bore no ill will so their plans were not easily deduced by the Jedi until after they had a substantial army.

[Zarn]

I think that's pretty much spot on. It also dovetails somewhat with an idea I've been toying with, where there's a limited number of Darth titles, and that they tell something about the modus operandi of the Darth wearing that title. i.e., a "Darth Treya" will always betray, a "Darth Vader" will always be a dark holy warrior, a "Darth Maul" will always be an attack dog, a "Darth Sion" will always be fueled by pain, and so on.

I do have one quibble, though.

[Whill]

[Jerrod Owex]

This is very good work! You must really like the character to put so much work into this. It actually helps me a bit with something I want to do for Star Wars giving insight into why he does what he does, and even sometimes why he does what he does WHEN he does it.

Do you have plans to do this with other characters too or was this a one time deal with Palpatine?

[crazydanny1]

That was great! Hands down! Lots of info and very good insight into the character.

My only problem with it is now that EU content is considered "Legends", how much will change with Ep. VII?

Otherwise, I'm impressed.
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[Whill]

[DougRed4]

Found it interesting that they're now clarifying that Palpatine/Sidious killed Darth Plagueis before the events of TPM, though they've still kept it fairly vague as to the exact time.
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[garhkal]

Surprised i never saw this thread before.. If the creator is still around, i give him mad props for some very cool indepth look at palpy...

And for his first name, the first time i heard it (saw it), i always thought they were trying to go for Shiv (like the blade folks use in prisons to shank others), then someone suggested it was more akin to shave (shaving!), someone else thought it was more like She -ve..
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[DougRed4]

I didn't know where to put that link; I was actually looking for ones that I'd recently seen that spelled out that it was Legends that Plagueis was killed during TPM (but couldn't find them).

For years I've found some of the later assigned first names, like Sheev and Wilhuff and others, a bit off-putting and strange.
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Currently Running: Villains & Vigilantes (a 32-year-old campaign with multiple groups) and D6 Star Wars; mostly on hiatus are Adventures in Middle-earth and Delta Green