PT What did Palpatine do as emperor and get out of it?

Once the republic became an empire, what did Palpatine do?

All we see him doing is sitting in vacant, sterile grey rooms with no entertainment, seems to me like it was boring, assuming that this was what a lot of his life was like - granted we only see a little bit.

I can't imagine a sith master wanting to spend his time doing paperwork, figuring out the economics, the education and other issues he would have to deal with as emperor.

Did he spend his time enjoying opulence with females (assuming they interest him), parties (assuming he really liked entertaining people), good food and drink, and such? Did he go visiting planets and flaunting his power, killing people willy nilly and enjoying all that the planets had to offer?

Are there any canonical sources as to what he did during his time in office as emperor? What did he really get out of it? IMO many normal people could enjoy being an emperor, but I would think that it would bore a sith master who would rather spend his time killing worthy but inferior opponents in battles, and using wits to defeat superior opponents, using brains and power to obtain wealth and to replenish wealth when it runs low, and seek new challenges. As an emperor he would be deprived of the necessity to do most of that. Until Luke came along, he had no worthy adversaries and rebellions were nothing compared to his vast army and easily crushed (excluding Rogue One of course, which gave the rebellion an unprecedented victory against the empire that would have been short lived were it not for Luke).

What are your thoughts?


EDIT: The title should be "...and what did he get out of it?"

 

While we don't see most of his twenty three years of office, Palpatine spent most of his time outside of official business searching for secrets of the dark side, particularly the key to immortality as he aged. I don't think he cared about education besides teaching young citizens to obey the Empire, he likely had officials to tend to little details like that.

I've always interpreted Palpatine as asexual, but we don't know whether he had mistresses (I'd say he thought himself above that lifestyle) and he likely enjoyed the same things such as the opera that he did during his days as chancellor. Palpatine may have entertained officials such as Xizor and Tarkin, but he likely wasn't interested in that either.
By all accounts, he obsessed with cheating death after ascending to the position of Emperor, and would often visit Korriban and the underground Sith temple on Coruscant.

He did kill for fun though, which Vader claimed was the difference between himself and Palpatine.

 

Going by the films alone, I would say Palps likely became increasingly paranoid of losing his power and becoming more brutal in protecting and keeping it. In ROTS, we know he reorganized the Republic into the Empire, and destroyed both the Jedi and the powerful guilds. In ANH, he is getting worse, dissolving the senate, putting governors in charge of their sectors, and according to a deleted scene was also taking over trade and doing away with free enterprise. Then the adoption of rule through fear of the Empire's forces and super weapons.

In ROTJ, he was just sitting there waiting for his show, the trap he set up. He wanted to have a good view of his final victory. I do not think that was his normal routine in ROTJ. Also in ROTJ, we see him discussing matters with his advisers in the throne room.

 

This is an area where Legends really knocks the ball out of the park Palpatine wanted to be immortal and eventually dark God of the universe. He left the running of the empire to trusted servants like Sate Pestage while he studied the dark side.

 

The Tarkin novel confirms that he was looking for Sith artifacts and secrets that would help him reshape reality and bring the galaxy under his control for all time - basically ultimate power.

 

Did it become public knowledge that the emperor was sith? On one hand I imagine him loving the idea of revelling in the fear of the people and their turmoil in knowing that they're ruled by am extremely evil dark force user, and on the other, him wanting it kept secret to prevent people rising against him in an attempt to assassinate him.

 

it's a good question , while I reckon he enjoyed the war and turmoil he fostered ( thus proving people's real nature ) he must also have been looking to the future and his own mortality .

I remember when I saw ROJ in '83 I actually thooght he was a bit OTT with the cackling etc. but his portrayal in the prequels actually made it work - what I mean is - he'd spent decades pretending and scheming as the consumate politician and even after he took over he mostly had to maintain that image so he only has certain times when he can let loose and just really let rip and really enjoy gloating and being evil , hence his glee when dealing with Luke and others who know what he really is .

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No.

In the Rogue One novel, Imperial Officers only believe Vader was the only Sith/Force user within the Empire. Sidious keeps his powers a secret; only a very, very small number know he is a Sith Lord.

 

I‘m not sure I understand the question. Let‘s make this reference: what Caesar did in his free time? The answer generally is: stealing moments of free time for himself and frequently not finding such. Free time (free of the job what anyone is actually doing) is the priviledge of the ordinary people. Sometimes even the slaves have more free of obligations moments than the leaders. Also in their free time people generally do what they couldn‘t do at work (for example, being with their families) or doing what they like to do. In the case of Palpatine is simple: his main interest is the power and this is what he is ‘working‘ on even out of his free time.
If you talk about entertainment, in ROTS we saw that he likes the opera but also we saw that even there he was working: he was there with his assistants, he called for Anakin etc.
By the way, I don‘t think that his everyday life changed at all when he became Emperor, he just had more effective ways to control the state compared to his days as Chancellor.
By the way, at least in the movies is never alluded that any of the Sith killed for fun. They just didn‘t hesitate to do that, but this is completely different.

 

I imagined he'd just do what any emperor would do. He would wine and dine important Imperial officials in fancy balls, conduct ceremonies, and various other activities that would remind people of who he is and that he's in charge. In secret, he would do his Sith duties by looking for more ways to make himself more powerful than he already was. As for the little details like economics and education? He probably just left it to the specific Imperial governors.

 

This is a great question. My guess is Palpatine could now focus on the Force while taking his time to establish the Empire so it could last thousands or millions of years -- an Empire which almost no one in the galaxy knew was a Sith Empire.

Everything we saw the politician Palpatine do publicly in the Prequels could be a ruse. He's playing the part of a regular but talented senator and then chancellor. All the while hiding he is a Sith Lord from the most senior members of the Jedi order. That must have taken so much energy and focus. Going to the Opera, worrying about policy, appearing in public, etc, could all be part of the character he had been forced to play. He might not do any of those things now that he is Emperor, including public appearances. An Emperor is not accountable the same way an elected official is. And his appearance after the Jedi attack give him an excuse as well.

The Sith needed to completely destroy the Jedi before they could take over the universe. This took them 1,000 years of planning and patiently gaining power while staying undetected by the Jedi. That's 1,000 years that they had to hide not just from sight but from being detected through the force. With the Jedi gone I'd think Darth Sidious was free to experiment and unlock greater power and mysteries of the force while not worrying about disturbances it made. And after 1,000 years what is another 20 years to consolidate power, establish a controllable hierarchy to run the empire, and to complete the Death Star. (Especially if Palpatine doesn't have the same concerns about time and aging regular people have) It's also possible the Emporer was waiting for the Death Star's completion before rolling out his plans. After all the Death Star wasn't build so much to destroy the Rebel Alliance as it was to be the ultimate power to control the Galaxy.

Would Palpatine ever reveal that he was a Sith Lord to the greater galaxy? He's not going to stop using the rule of two is he? So probably not.

 

It's actually kind of inconsistent about whether Palpatine supports the rule of two, but most evidence suggests he does. When Plagueis planned to eliminate it, Palpatine killed him with every intention of keeping it, and apparently considered it out of the question to have both Dooku and Vader as apprentices, and later wanted Luke to kill Vader for the same reason.
As for him revealing himself as a Sith, I don't think he thought he needed to. The general public revered him as Emperor Palpatine (obviously with exceptions) and he was evidently content with that, holding the quest for immortality to greater importance than public opinion of him.

 

I agree. Unless Palpatine started training his own Sith Army, why would he tell anyone. And if having thousands of Sith in the past always led to infighting -- then why have an army of them when two is enough. And why even bring up the name Sith.

I wonder how old Palpatine is? How did he have time to become so knowledgeable in the force while also being a politician in the public eye? He seems to be in his 50s in TPM. Yoda is over 800 years old.

Palpatine is a big planner. That's a constant in his character through each film. So he was probably planning something big. Let's say Luke didn't destroy the Death Star. What would have been next?

 

in the new canon palpatine is busy trying to coax out the secrets of the dark side so that he can have power to control reality itself. so it seems ultimate power using the dark side is the case in both old and new canon.

 

Interesting take on the asexual idea. Hmmm. Did the Sith allow "love" unlike Jedis did? Did they encourage relationships which would lead to strong emotions? You would think so going by what they follow but the again if a Sith were to get too involved with a companion it could lead to faltering as a Sith. I dunno. It did seem that Palpatine was hell-bent on the Sith lore and didnt have time for chicks. But, ya know....eventually Im sure he setup some dates

 

I know some Sith did fall in love (Caedus, Vader, Malgus, Revan) and were capable of relations. The attachments that they would feel for their lovers and others that they care about would drive their dark feelings. I've just seen Sidious as someone who is capable of neither an emotional or a sexual attachment to anyone.

 

I wouldn't be surprised if the Emperor was into sex for its own sake and kept, like, a royal harem or something, but I don't think he would ever fall in love with anybody the way Anakin fell in love with Padme. He's so much of a narcissist, I don't think anyone would ever be able to measure up to himself.

For obvious reasons, though, this is not something the films or I imagine most Disney-sanctioned Star Wars media would ever go into.

 

Maybe they can answer this in a future book or spin off?

 

I think the Sith are so selfish and self serving it would be impossible for them to be in love. All they desire is power and getting more of it. Everything else would be pointless to them. So physical pleasure would be out and any leisure activities unless it was part of a bigger plan. I'd guess Palpatine the politician maintained a few relationships to fit in. But part of being Emperor meant he didn't need to do that anymore. Really any sort of honest intimacy with someone else leaves the Sith Lord vulnerable. A Sith Lord only has an apprentice because that increases their power. What a strange relationship knowing the goal for the apprentice to someday replace the master by destroying him. So even then the two are using each other.

Being a Sith Lord would be a lonely life.

 

The thing about the Dark Side is, you get power from your anger and hate and lust for power, but in exchange, you have to let anger and hate and lust for power to take over more and more of your personality and emotions.

Somebody at Palpatine's level probably had given so much to the Dark Side that there was little left besides anger and hate and greed for power, emotionally speaking... I don't think he was able to enjoy anything much anymore, besides hurting others and relishing his power over others.

If he shared time with women (or men, or twi'leks, or whatever he was into) he probably humiliated and tortured and raped them...

 

Unlike with Caesar (presumably), being an emperor was just a means to having power. The position didn't rule his life, if e position of emperor of the galaxy began to have power over him and take control of his life, he would be the slave, not the master. Sidious wouldn't have that.

 

I always had a feeling that Palpatine wasn't ruled by the dark side. He wasn't constantly fuelled to kill and do evil, he was a mastermind who used the dark side to his own end, cunningly, as precisely as a chess champion playing against someone who was just learning how to move a knight. It was like he and the dark side's "will" and influence were symbionts, rather than one consuming and ruling the other.
With Vader, it seems that the dark side did rule over him and consumed 99% of Anakin, but I think Palpatine was fully himself, the same man he had always been, just embossed with infathomable power and blessed with a phenomenal intellect.

 

from what we hear in Tarkin, Palpatine's goal is still being God-empeor in new canon

 

Ehh, In the new canon, I do kinda think he wanted to be the only emperor the empire ever had. But, in how he's portrayed in the canon, i just think he wanted to create the most powerful Sith there's ever been through his exploration of Sith artifacts and knowledge.

Compared to the Old Canon he was training Vader to be his successor a lot more.

 

Are you suggesting that Emperor Palpatine just held grand parties and was surrounded by Twileks?

In all seriousness, I do believe Palpatine had several agendas. His primary mission, was to eliminate the Jedi, the mortal enemy of the Sith. Secondary to gain "Absolute Power!"

I do believe though, there is a certain sense of truth in his words he speaks to Padme in TPM. About the corruption, the indecision, the bureaucrats, the lack of civility. Only politics.

So in part, I believe, as Emperor, Palpatine would decide and get things done. Establish order. The Imperial Starfleet would be dispatched to various worlds and police the galaxy. He would be ceremonial figurehead, and symbol of the unity of the galaxy against the likes of the Separatists, the Hutt gangsters, the pirates and corrupt. And against the (although untrue) Jedi conspirators.

We do see Palpatine ensures his Empire polices Outer worlds, and doesn't abandon them like the Republic. So in one sense, I do believe where he states that he will ensure a "safe and secure society!" The issue was the whole Death Star thing and allowing the likes of Tarkin to have positions.

Perhaps the Emperor devotes his spare time, when he isn't making executive decisions, to the galactic version of golf? I think Robot Chicken alluded to him entertaining guests with stimulating conversation and stories about the past.

It seemed like there was an entire Starfleet and efficient machinery at work versus the bloated non effective bureaucracy of the Republic. And Lord Vader, his heir apparent, would take care of things that required a more personal touch, I suppose.

I suppose the Emperor Palpatine Foundation for Galactic Good, of which he was chair, would probably take up a lot of his time too, as he devoted himself to "a life of conscious, of purpose."