main
side
curve
  1. In Memory of LAJ_FETT: Please share your remembrances and condolences HERE

PT Palpatine's second lightsaber

Discussion in 'Prequel Trilogy' started by Vialco, Oct 19, 2013.

  1. Vialco

    Vialco Force Ghost star 5

    Registered:
    Mar 6, 2007
    In ROTS, Palpatine is show to have two lightsabers, the first one that he uses against Mace Windu and subsequently loses, and the second one that he uses against Yoda in their duel.

    They are indeed two separate lightsabers, as Palpatine is shown to use both in the Lawless, against Darth Maul and Savage Opress.

    Based on what we see in the Yoda fight as well as in the Lawless, Palpatine has a lightsaber hidden in each of his sleeves. However, against Mace and the posse, he only uses one of his lightsabers.

    Did Palpatine have his second lightsaber hidden up his other sleeve the entire time? If so, that gives his "defeat" at Mace's hands a lot more meaning.

    The Lawless shows Palpatine having both lightsabers on him, so it's likely that he used one blade against Mace's posse and kept the other one hidden up his other sleeve as a backup., just in case Anakin was late or didn't intervene.

    With the evidence from ROTS and now the Lawless, it seems more and more likely that Palpatine was feigning defeat against Mace. I believe that Mace legitimately disarmed Palpatine, but instead of whipping out his second lightsaber, Palpatine let Mace force him back, because he sensed Anakin approaching and wanted to turn him.

    Thoughts on Palpatine having a backup weapon hidden the entire time and not being in much danger from Mace?
     
  2. darth-sinister

    darth-sinister Manager Emeritus star 10 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    Jun 28, 2001
    The novelization explains this. Palpatine had hidden his spare Lightsaber in the antechamber, along with his main Lightsaber. It's in the artwork that you see when Palpatine reveals himself to Anakin. After the duel with Mace, Palpatine retrieves his spare. But the real reason is much more complicated. See, in 2003, Lucas filmed a different version of ROTS. A good chunk was different from the final film. In this version, Anakin's appointment to the Council is accepted without reservation from the senior Jedi Masters. Later when Palpatine finally reveals himself to Anakin, Anakin chooses to stay in Palpatine's office as opposed to going back to the Temple. Obi-wan, meanwhile, sees Darth Sidious contacting Grievous and the Confederacy leaders and telling them that they're going to Mustafar. Obi-wan recognizes Sidious as Palpatine and contacts the Temple and Yoda on Kashyyyk, to let them know of this. Mace takes the Posse to confront Palpatine, while Obi-wan goes after Grievous. When the Jedi confront Palpatine, Mace orders Anakin to stand aside and he refuses. Palpatine then stands up and takes Anakin's Lightsaber and uses it to fight the Jedi Masters. When you watch this closely, in the final film, you can see Anakin's saber instead of Palpatine's in a few shots. Anakin's saber falls in a different direction and Anakin snatches it up to cut off Mace's arm, when he's about to kill Sidious.

    Lucas changed things in 2004, after Spielberg and their friends suggested that he redo Anakin's reasons for turning and when he does turn. Palpatine's Lightsaber was added in, with a few inserts, since Anakin's not in Palpatine's office at the time the duel begins.
     
    Vialco, 11-4D, Poor Greedo and 2 others like this.
  3. Vialco

    Vialco Force Ghost star 5

    Registered:
    Mar 6, 2007
    That's interesting, never heard that before.

    I'm not sure why Palpatine would keep the backup lightsaber hidden when he retrieved the main one.

    It makes a lot more sense to have kept both on him, just in case he needed a spare weapon during the fight.

    And he's shown to keep a lightsaber up each sleeve in the Lawless. So it's likely that he still had a lightsaber at the ready, when Mace tried to kill him with the final blow.
     
  4. CT1138

    CT1138 Jedi Master star 4

    Registered:
    Sep 4, 2013
    What I can never find is a good picture of the second lightsaber. I recall pictures of the Master Replicas version, and it looked like his normal electrum version:
    [​IMG]
    Only the electrum finish had been replaced entirely by some sort of dark material.
     
  5. SlashMan

    SlashMan Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    Feb 5, 2012
    Since the second saber was an afterthought, so we shouldn't judge the Mace duel according to this. Though it's entirely plausible that he had a spare lightsaber hidden elsewhere; it didn't raise any questions when viewing the action film itself (though as a kid, one of my theories was that he actually found the discarded lightsaber).
     
    Jarren_Lee-Saber likes this.
  6. Chewbacca89

    Chewbacca89 Jedi Master star 5

    Registered:
    Oct 25, 2012
    If his lightsaber survived that fall, then does that mean Mace did too?
     
  7. SlashMan

    SlashMan Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    Feb 5, 2012
    Haha, I'm going to have to refer you to the respective 11 page thread
     
    Poor Greedo likes this.
  8. Vialco

    Vialco Force Ghost star 5

    Registered:
    Mar 6, 2007
    It makes a lot of sense for Palpatine to have kept the second lightsaber on him during the fight. This is the culmination of his master plan, he's not going to risk it just to turn the Chosen One.

    Having the other lightsaber hidden up his sleeve makes his "defeat" at Mace's hands more plausible.

    Palpatine wouldn't have risked his life and the Grand Plan in a duel with the Jedi. He would have had backups and contingencies, just in case.
     
    DARTHVENGERDARTHSEAR likes this.
  9. Darkslayer

    Darkslayer #1 Sabine Wren Fan star 7

    Registered:
    Mar 26, 2013
    Reminds me of Joker in TDK - I wouldn't risk the Battle for Gotham's soul in a fistfight with you
     
    Jarren_Lee-Saber likes this.
  10. darth-sinister

    darth-sinister Manager Emeritus star 10 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    Jun 28, 2001
    Here's proof of that.


    http://images.wikia.com/starwars/images/c/cd/AlternatePalpyDuel-RotSDeletedScene.jpg

    You can read the rest on Wookieepedia.

    He wasn't intending to lose the fight like that. When Anakin shows up, he switches tactics. He's hoped that Anakin would either come with the Jedi back there, or come in time after they've left.

    That was a different situation. He was dealing with two opponents at once that he was planning to eliminate. In ROTS, he's planning to use this to deal with the Jedi and to convince Anakin to side with him.
     
    Jarren_Lee-Saber likes this.
  11. Vialco

    Vialco Force Ghost star 5

    Registered:
    Mar 6, 2007
    The resemblance was intended. Much like the Joker, Palpatine has schemes within schemes.
     
    Darkslayer and Jarren_Lee-Saber like this.
  12. Chewbacca89

    Chewbacca89 Jedi Master star 5

    Registered:
    Oct 25, 2012
    Do you have a link to the wiki page for that alternative scene? I cant find it.
     
  13. Darkslayer

    Darkslayer #1 Sabine Wren Fan star 7

    Registered:
    Mar 26, 2013
    Nolan stole from George! Lol
     
  14. SithStarSlayer

    SithStarSlayer Manager Emeritus star 6 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    Oct 23, 2003
    [​IMG]
     
    timmoishere likes this.
  15. Chewbacca89

    Chewbacca89 Jedi Master star 5

    Registered:
    Oct 25, 2012
    I meant like the article about the alternate/deleted scene itself.
     
  16. SithStarSlayer

    SithStarSlayer Manager Emeritus star 6 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    Oct 23, 2003
    If I had THAT, you'd be reading it...
    :p

    But at least there's visual proof of the original version.
    ;)
     
    Chewbacca89 likes this.
  17. Chewbacca89

    Chewbacca89 Jedi Master star 5

    Registered:
    Oct 25, 2012
    Lol :p

    Yea I've seen that before. I was just wondering if there was more information out there.
     
  18. SithStarSlayer

    SithStarSlayer Manager Emeritus star 6 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    Oct 23, 2003
    First two drafts of the script?

    Its been a really long time since I've looked for those, lemme see what I can dig up...
     
  19. Chewbacca89

    Chewbacca89 Jedi Master star 5

    Registered:
    Oct 25, 2012
    Thanks! Don't go through too much work. I'm just interested in the topic and might post about it on my page.
     
  20. darth-sinister

    darth-sinister Manager Emeritus star 10 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    Jun 28, 2001
    The first draft of the ROTS is difficult to find online. Only the shooting script that largely matches the finished film.

    http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Showdown_on_Coruscant

    There's the info on the whole battle and the behind the scenes on the original duel.
     
    Chewbacca89 likes this.
  21. SithStarSlayer

    SithStarSlayer Manager Emeritus star 6 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    Oct 23, 2003
    I went looking through my old conversations and found that I'm missing a bunch from pre-2005.

    So, no help there.
    :mad:

    Yeah, there's only 46,000,000 places to download a copy of the fourth draft.:p
     
    Chewbacca89 likes this.
  22. darth-sinister

    darth-sinister Manager Emeritus star 10 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    Jun 28, 2001
    Still, you can find both the shooting script for AOTC on the Jedi Bendu site and Blue Harvest has the final draft, based on the revisions for the 01 reshoots.
     
    SithStarSlayer likes this.
  23. SithStarSlayer

    SithStarSlayer Manager Emeritus star 6 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    Oct 23, 2003
    Chewbacca89 likes this.
  24. Chewbacca89

    Chewbacca89 Jedi Master star 5

    Registered:
    Oct 25, 2012
    Thanks! Ill go explore. :)
     
    SithStarSlayer likes this.
  25. SithStarSlayer

    SithStarSlayer Manager Emeritus star 6 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    Oct 23, 2003
    sidssabers.JPG
    [​IMG]
    SidsSaber2.JPG
     
    Vialco and SlashMan like this.