Emperor Palpatine's True Identity

I think the (in-universe) general public's perception is that Palpatine is a figurehead who parties in his palace while Mas Amedda makes the decisions. Recall how Amedda pushed emergency powers upon the "reluctant" Palpatine.

 

Palpatine was always the ever so humble and reluctant. Seems he just retreated from public life and played up his injuries and disfigurement. Its possible those burns left him in terrible pain. I can't imagine he really likes his new look.

 

We've heard a couple times though that things in the Core aren't bad. The Tarkin novel established that it's really the Outer Rim that's being oppressed and stripped of resources and Pablo had mentioned that the Core worlds look the other way because they blame the independent systems of the Outer Rim for the Clone Wars. Filoni had once made the remark that he's not sure people (in the Core) would really care that Palpatine is a Sith, because "the trains run on time."

Tarkin also, I believe, mentioned that he's a figure that people are curious about in that he mysteriously withdrew from the public eye.

It's hard to really know what people think of him now, 5 years BBY, because things change. 5 years after the end of the Clone Wars (Tarkin), he's a reclusive figure that people remember fondly. Rebels takes place 9 years later, and things could have changed, but we won't know unless the show tackles that subject one way or another. Return of the Jedi takes place another 9(?) years after Rebels, and by then he is a hated figure, clearly not believed to be a passive individual, but someone whose death is celebrated, even by those in the Core (even on the capital world).

The big thing that during that time frame is the destruction of Alderaan, but if people hate Palpatine for it, then they clearly believe him to be responsible, not some injured, helpless guy that has left real power in the hands of Mas Amedda.

So opinion has changed regarding him over time. And how people regard him in Rebels hasn't really been established, at all. We know that people hate the Empire, and we see the Rebels fight it in the Outer Rim, but we never learn of how they intend to take the fight into the Core and against the Emperor, or if they even do. I'm hoping that as the show gets closer to the events of Rogue One, with the formation of the Rebel Alliance, and senators throwing in their support to the Rebel Alliance, that the show begins to establish that there are people in the Core (like Bail) that hate Palpatine and how they intend to transform the fight of people like Kanan, Hera, etc. from a local fight in the Outer Rim, to a Galactic conflict to topple Palpatine.

But regardless, I hope they don't keep Palpatine a reclusive figure for the duration of the show. By the time of ANH, he dismisses the Senate, and as things ramp up in the conflict with the Rebels, he may start to make public appearances again (speculation) to try and stir patriotic sentiment against their coup.

 

Star Wars Battlefront: Twilight Company tells us that the Rebels launched a big push into the Inner Rim right after the Battle of Yavin - but eventually it stalled and they were forced to retreat. The protagonists' plot begins around about the time the withdrawal from the Inner Rim is complete - they're there to cover the retreat.

 

Yea, but Coruscant was punished after the war, the capital shifted to Mom Mothma's homeworld and now the new capital planet is elected by a government I don't think many people supported. I can't imagine that sits well with upper classes or just the blue collar classes. I think one still has to accept a good majority believed in the Empire which was still the Republic just militarized and with a permanent head of state. The Senate was already corrupt before the events of TPM, and their effectiveness and purpose never seemed all that clear to being virtually highly supportive of Palpatine(ROTS applause and Palpatine's statements regarding the Jedi having to wipe out all the Senators).

 

I think a lot of people supported the New Republic because it worked pretty well until the First Order showed up.

 

The First Order mimics Hitler's rise to power in badly defeated , demilitarized and repressed post WWI Germany suffering under the Allied Treaty of Versailles and the Weimar Republic.

 

I actually think you would have at least 1/2 the galaxy saying they did not want to be part of either New Republic or Imperial Remnants.