3rd November 2003, 8:42 PM
Quote:Well the Sith's had been beaten down on by the Jedi's for centuries. Palpatine saw this as his chance to gain power and destroy the Jedi for good.
Not exactly. Actually, the Sith have been hiding for millenia. See, thousands of years ago the Sith were strong... they controlled whole worlds, and there was a great war between them and the Jedi... they made the great pyramids/temples the Rebellion happens to use as a base in ANH, actually... and fortunately for the universe, the Jedis won the war. The Sith were, they though, completely destroyed... and they continued to think that for thousands of years. Meanwhile, over time the Republic's goverment slowly decayed... and when things got just bad enough, the Sith, still waiting, were ready.
Oh yeah, and there are alwasy two Sith -- Master, and Apprentice. No others... at least no others since the war. Just two at a time, a Master and his Apprentice. Palpatine has become a master, the greatest Force user in a very long time... and clearly the Sith have become good at cloaking themseleves since he can be next to Yoda and not be detected as a super strong Force user. Why is he evil? Well, we don't really know that... I wish Lucas would tell us how Palpatine became a Sith, and why, and all about how he was taught... that would be cool. There must be some reason he became a Sith... but the point is that once he did become a Sith he completley became one. His motivations became theirs of the last few thousand years: Control over the galaxy, and the destruction of the Jedi. Those are their goals... nothing more. As all Sith have wanted for a really long time.
Of course, the difference is that now the Sith can act. The galactic government is falling apart at the seams. Nothing gets done in the Senate. Large parts of the galaxy are dissafected and ripe for revolt. The political system just isn't working. And Palpatine acts...
I won't go into detail what he does of course since you can figure that out if you watch TPM and AotC. Well, and read some of the books... :)
But anyway, at the start of TPM Palpatine truly does want to fix the Galactic government... he wants to take over and make it stable and strong. And he uses the truly brilliant, and hugely complex, plan that falls into place over the course of the prequel trilogy to get that power...
WHY is he evil? Well, we don't know his whole life story so we don't really know why he became a Sith, I think... or we do and I don't remember. OB1, do you remember? But anyway, once he did become a Sith his reasons are clear. Very clear.
Stereotypical just evil man? Well... kinda. He has depth and complexity though... witness how smart he is and how he pulls off such a ridiculously complex plan to perfection!
Then, of course, the Classic Trilogy says how Palpy loses his empire. :)