PT Do you believe that Palpatine considers himself evil?

This question is pretty straight-forward. What do you think Palpatine's opinion of himself is? Does he consider himself evil, good, or somewhere in between? Could he really believe he's acting for greater good? Is he rationalizing his behavior or does he see himself for what he is? Or perhaps does he not even believe there is such a thing as evil? What are your thoughts?

 

I highly doubt anyone physical truly sees themselves as evil and that includes Sidious. i don't consider it my place to call any physical being evil, I ain't God. I consider motives and actions evil and leave the person to God. I apply this in story and life.

 

A very philosophical question. My answer is he believes he is good. Evil people don't consider themselves evil, they believe there intentions and themselves are as good as other people. Like criminals (Not 100% of them) but most of them consider themselves normal, regular everyday people.
I believe it was the same with Palps, after all he said in ROTS "We shall have peace" basically everybody wanted the same thing, it's just that different people have different opinions in how it should be attained. The Jedi believe in freedom, Palps believes in authority.

 

I don't think so, but I'm not sure he cares.

 

"One of the issues in all of this is the bad guys think they’re good and Lord Sidious thinks he’s bringing peace to the galaxy because there is so much corruption and confusion and chaos going on and now he’s going to be able to straighten everything out which maybe true but the price the galaxy is going to have to pay for it is way too much."

--George Lucas, ROTS DVD Commentary.

 

Palpatine is either crazy or knows he is evil. The galaxy was already at peace until he came in and started a galactic war which caused the deaths of billions including the Jedi, then sat in his office and says, "And then we shall have peace". To finish the sentence, "And then we shall have peace....sooooo long as I am in charge of every living thing in the Universe. He knows he is evil, and may be touched with insanity too. But yes, he knows.

 

Hitler didn't think he was evil? Nor Napoleon. Nor Charles Manson. When one is absolute evil, they don't see the difference. It's all points of view which is what he told Anakin.

 

Then you have to sit back from the outside looking in, as we are, and ask, "Is Palptine insane like Manson or does he know exactly what he is doing and saying the right things at the right time?"

 

If he does not, I would find it quite interesting to see what he considers evil.

 

I think Palpatine believes that there isn't such a thing as good or evil.

 

He doesn't care about this good and evil business, but he knows what they mean, and he knows that by definition he is evil. Absolutely.

 

Anyone that screams UNLIMITED POWER while electrifying a man probably thinks he might be a little bit evil.

 

no more or less evil than any other Sith lord.

They are all twisted by the dark-side and taught ideology that teaches selfishness is the only way to be.

However that's not to take away any of the evil actions any of them did, they chose to accept the dark.

 

He uses the dark side, and wants power to control the galaxy. He kills jedis and turns Anakin. He is evil and knows it.

 

means to an end, someone using the dark-side doesn't mean one is evil, if that's the case Mace Windu is ******.

if that means you're evil, every leader that ever lived is.

Jedi kill Sith, killing is wrong

his opera scene suggests this is a point of view in his own opinion.

 

gl said palps doesn't consider himself evil. the end.

 

"There is no good and evil, there is only power, and those too weak to seek it."

 

"Good is a point of view, Anakin" it follows evil is a point of view to.

 

He's a psychopath (technically ASPD). He either knows he is evil and just isn't affected by it (no remorse/regret), thinks he's in the right or deserves to do those things, or he just does not care.
I believe it's the last one. I believe he is strictly worried about getting what he wants and he does not think of any moral arguments.

 

Well, in the last third of Revenge of the Sith he seems to be relishing what he is doing pretty much. So i get a strong sense he know's exactly what he's been doing for decade's is evil.

Not to mention his smile in The Phantom Menace when Queen Amidala calls for a vote of no confidence. This is not a dumb man. He know's what he's doing.

 

Yeah, his total glee in ROTS (and ROTJ, for that matter--he's more subdued, but he still seems pretty gleeful when he's taunting Luke) seems to be a key factor to me. I always tended to read it as sheer delight in doing evil, but there are a lot of other interesting ways to view it as well (as evidenced by previous posts here).

 

Well Palpatine does have the greatest week of his life in ROTS.

 

My take is Palpatine feels thinking in terms of good and evil are beneath him. He probably thinks he's too sophisticated for such simple ideas, and more important, he doesn't think there is any truth to those terms. Instead, in his mind, there are no objective moral truths. Instead, morality is a man-made concept used to justify the status quo.

Along with that, I think Palpatine has a very cynical view of human nature. For instance, if you saw one chimp kill another chimp, you wouldn't say the first chimp is evil. You'd just say that he's acting like a chimp. In the same way, Palpatine simply thinks he's acting in accordance with human nature. I think he really does believe that all people deep-down are motivated by the lust for greater power, as he tells Anakin in the Opera Scene. So, when we seek greater power, we are satisfying our most basic human impulse, and as such, he's simply doing better at that game than anyone else.

He probably also feels that other people just dress up their behavior with claims of having the ethical high ground to make their attempts to gain greater power appear more justifiable. He views the Jedi as power-hungry hypocrites, and he probably views those who accuse him of being evil as being unhappy and jealous of him because they are too wimpy to achieve what he can, not that he particularly would care that they call him evil anyway.

 

Isnt that like asking Pagans and Satanist hey guys do you think you;re evil, do you think you'd get non-biased answer from them? Pagans sacrificing humans wouldnt think thats an evil deed but just part of their religion and it somehow does good. You'd would get them accusing Christians of being evil and you'd have this big argument over whose theology or more moral, until violence breaks out . You see a little bit of this in the Opera house between Palpatine and Anakin even. Sidious would not consider the Sith evil but the Jedi. Remember when Anakin turns Sith in his mind the Jedi are evil then. Sidious is an agent of evil as Yoda would say. Sidious is Satanic. Even if he was self-aware that he was evil in universe or not, he doesn't care. This was the path he chose, or was chosen for him by his Master which case he still chose as he never turned away from it and pretty much embraced it and all it had to offer him. As a Sith Apprentice he must've been ordered to murder people without mercy or compromise, murdering innocents we learn fuels the power of the darkside user. Its doubtful he cared about the lives he took directly or indirectly, or the people it hurt. Being called evil, would also be usually something his moral enemies and detractors would describe him as. He most likely thinks of himself as a God-like being, that is above good and evil, above everyone and everything else, completely exempt from the ethics, laws, and morals of man. He chose the darkside to gain power so he can control the galaxy and every living creature in it, he's aware of the codes of morality and the laws of the Republic and chooses to break and discard it all to make his way to supreme power . Whether nor not he thinks he's evil is irrelevant as his actions are criminal and murderous and that is indeed associated with evil and good and evil are defined in the SW as based on Christianity & Western Civilization concepts and guidelines.

"Palpatine represents the devil, he represents the pure evil, the dark Lord of the Sith who is purely out to get more in his greed."- Lucas

"[Sidious] is more evil than the devil. At least Satan fell - he has a history". -Ian McDiarmid

The Gospel according to Star Wars: Faith, Hope, and the Force
By John C. McDowell


"And then of course I thought Palpatine was a pretty good character. I like the notion that he didn't have any psychological subtlety or depth, that he was just solidly evil and the dirtiest word in his vocabulary was 'friend'. I thought that was terrific." - Ian McDiarmid