Saga Who were those servants with Emperor Palpatine in ROTJ?

They came on board the Death Star II with Palpatine not the red royal guards but the ones who wore like purplish robes and their faces kind of looked like Palpatines? Who are they? Are they senators from Coruscant that sided with Darth Sidious? Or other Sith or something?

 

Basically the Emperor's entourage. 'Advisors' who really just hung around & sucked up to him.

The EU established them as being Force sensitive:

http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Janus_Greejatus
http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Sim_Aloo

However, from what little is mentioned about them in the ROTJ novelisation, it's clear that they were originally there to evoke the feeling of a decadent royal court. Just the sort of corrupt, ineffectual assistants who spend most of their time trying to stab each other in the back to gain the Emperor's attention, rather than actually doing anything.

 

They are the Emperors 'Inner Circle', or 'Advisers'. I think of them as Palpatine's Joseph Goebbels, Herman Goering, Albert Spear, etc, etc. Palpatine's functioning of government is not unlike Hitler's in that it was a dog-eat-dog hierarchy, with Palpatine in complete control and each subordinate attempting to gain his favor. In this way, since I don't believe we have ever seen the Imperial 'cabinet', these people are most likely Ministers for different ministries.

Palpatine is a dictator who doesn't dictate. As such these 'ministers' fill in these roles. This is the same way Nazi Germany was run.

 

Personal shoppers.

 

I always thought of them as certain leaders of certain systems...They wear the same type of stuff we saw in the PT. What ever it is Padme, Bail & Nute Gunray was is that not who these men are??

 

I doubt it somewhat... individual sovereignty had basically been extinguished by this time and governors ruled regions/states under the command of a centralized governmental structure. If we are to look at it through the context of Nazi Germany (obviously apart from the first two they are hypotheticals):

Palpatine (Hitler). Undisputed dictator of the state.
[image=http://images.wikia.com/starwars/images/d/d4/Palpycropped.jpg]

Sate Pestage (Goering). Head of the governmental body (Grand Vizier/President of the Reichstag), and the designated successor of the Head of State (Emperor/Fuhrer).
[image=http://images.wikia.com/starwars/images/3/32/Pestage.jpg]

Kren Blista-Vanee (Goebbels). Minister of Propaganda, responsible of the maintaining of information released to the galaxy, as well as the maintaining of a complex propaganda network.
[image=http://images.wikia.com/starwars/images/b/be/Kren_Blista-Vanee_Insider96.jpg]

Sim Aloo (Joachim von Ribbentrop). Minister of Foreign Affairs, responsible for diplomatic relations between the Empire and other realms and states.
[image=http://images.wikia.com/starwars/images/a/ad/SimAlooPortrait-CSWE.jpg]

Janus Greejatus (Franz Seldte). Minister for Labour, overseeing the Empire's vast slave system.
[image=http://images.wikia.com/starwars/images/b/bb/JanusGreejatusCrop.JPG]

Unidentified Adviser (Alfred Rosenberg). Minister for Imposed Occupation Areas, responsible for the overseeing of occupied areas under the Imperial Armed Forces.
[image=http://images.wikia.com/starwars/images/3/33/Notarsdangor.jpg]


That's the basic idea. Essentially they are part of the 'Imperial Inner Circle' which would otherwise be known as the Cabinet. They are separate from the Senate which essentially only exists within Palpatine.

 

I wondered this myself as a kid and eventually got my answer from the EU.

I was kinda disappointed with their role, but then I realized it didn't matter.

They were just there to surround Palpatine with evil, ghoulish looking associates.

 

What I always liked about those guys was that they looked very much like the senators seen in the prequels, so when I saw TPM I immediately connected the two and assumed that the guys in ROTJ were the equivalent of senators. So probably aides to Palpatine. And it looks like I was right! Nice visual connection between the prequels and the OT.

 

Very very interesting. They seem to be like branch leaders under Palpatine. Good info. So Head of Public Relations, Speaker of the Empire/Vice Emperor, Head of Foreign Affairs, Head of Labor Personal, Head of Military distribution.

 

As I said, apart from Palpatine and Sate Pestage all of those positions are hypothetical. But you get the general idea of what I mean with them being in the 'Imperial Cabinet/Inner Circle'. Each one is likely in control of a ministry or arm of government all centralized around Palpatine. Darth Vader might also have a similar position as 'Minister of the Imperial Military' or something like that.

 

Vader's official title was "Supreme Commander of the Imperial Fleet."

 

Yes, however in the same way Wilhelm Keitel was the Supreme Commander of the German Armed Forces, he was also the de facto war minister. Vader's role could hypothetically be much the same.