PT Why Anakin as the new apprentice?

Palpatine stated his belief that Darth Vader would become more powerful than Yoda and even himself, then why choose him as an apprentice? I understand the Sith are all about obtaining greater power but in keeping with the rule of two, if Darth Vader reached his full potential then he would have destroyed the emperor pretty quickly. This would have negated Palpatine's quest for power and ended his rule of the galaxy very quickly. Ordinarily, I would understand the Sith mentality to obtain the strongest apprentice possible but in Palpatine's case it would have just undone his hard work.

So why Darth Vader?

 

It is a little confusing, but perhaps it was Palpatine's hatred of the Jedi that made him want to transform their most gifted student into a Sith Lord. As selfish as Palpatine was, I think he also wanted a strong Sith to succeed him, thus he chose Anakin. On top of that, Palpatine is a master manipulator. He would probably hold back Vader at first and when Palpatine was ready to die or unlocked immortality, Vader's power wouldn't be an issue.

 

That's going to happen anyway, eventually. At least he would have the person with the greatest potential under his wing/control and serving the Sith cause, instead of being a Jedi.

 

[/quote]It is a little confusing, but perhaps it was Palpatine's hatred of the Jedi that made him want to transform their most gifted student into a Sith Lord. As selfish as Palpatine was, I think he also wanted a strong Sith to succeed him, thus he chose Anakin. On top of that, Palpatine is a master manipulator. He would probably hold back Vader at first and when Palpatine was ready to die or unlocked immortality, Vader's power wouldn't be an issue.[/quote]



Oh I see! Well that makes perfect sense. I guess he could have also foreseen his death or foresee Darth Vader being disloyal to him in the near future before the event had occurred.

Thanks!

 

Palpatine knows that Vader will one day reach the point where he will kill him, just as he did with Plagueis and undoubtedly he did before him. And so it goes. When the time comes, Vader will either be up to the task or not. When Luke comes along and Vader suggests turning him, he sees that in Luke, he can get a nice replacement for Vader. One who has not been grievously injured and is capable of reaching his full potential.

 

Maybe because of all the "ZOMG!! Anakin is the chosen one!" talk that was going around. Palp's went for the most gifted.

 

Why? Because what better way to prevent your biggest threat from defeating you than to make said threat your servant? Palpatine planned to keep Vader on a tight leash. Vader may be the more powerful, but Palpatine made sure to orchestrate it such that he had more power over him. He ran the show and pulled the strings

 

It's better to have the Chosen One as a Sith than a Jedi.

 

I think it is safe to say that Palpatine had no intention of dying. He is extremely arrogant. Kind of like how Palpatine convinced Anakin that they would discover the ability to cheat death, I'm sure Palpatine would withhold secrets or outright lie/mislead Anakin in order to maintain leverage over him. Dooku tells his apprentice Savage in TCW that the wise master does not reveal all of his secrets at once. So long as there was something Palpatine had left to teach or so long as there were secrets he withheld, then he has leverage over Vader. But in the end, Sidious obviously never learned immortality, and so perhaps he thought that with a powerful apprentice to help him, he would learn the secret, at which point Vader's strength becomes irrelevant, if he cannot kill Palpatine.

 

He want's Anakin/Vader's strength, and uses him to build his Empire (the shot of DV being put together on the Imperial symbol). Darth Vader hunts down and destroys the remaining Jedi, which were not all destroyed during Order 66. First, the Jedi and clones could not ALL be in pitched battle conditions when the order is given, ala Ki Ada Mundi, Plo Koon, and so on, nor could they be right in position to be shot in the back like Aalya Secura. (I know the Kanan comic goes into this a little bit too). I think a good number got away, impossible to say how many, but probably at least a hundred and likely quite a few more.

Eventually the Empire will institute its Inquisitor program, but for a long time post Order-66, when the highest number of powerful Jedi would be "at large," in my opinion I think it is clear that DV was out hunting them down. This is why it always gets me when people talk about a "weak" or "reduced" Anakin/Vader post-Mustafar, I just don't see it presented like that in the films at all. Maul revealed himself and took out a Jedi Master before getting killed (I'm not subscribing to what Clone Wars did with the character, though I like the show in other ways), Dooku lasted through 'til the end of the Clone Wars as an open opponent to the Jedi as head of the Separatists before going down (hard to say how long CW were, I know current sources say over three years). But Vader is operating as point-man, going up against Jedi and various and sundry, for ~23-24 years, and goes out like a champ by taking down the Emperor and turning from the dark side. I've read on posts that people say how disappointed Sidious was by the weakened Post-Mustafar Vader--the look on Sidious's face after DV does that "force earthquake" does not look disappointed to me. I'm sure Sidious would have found and replaced someone who was "crippled" or "lesser."

(PS, I know many of these statements come from GL, and people cite that like it's the end of all debate. I'm only talking about what the films actually present us, which is where I feel like the most interesting and profitable analysis happens.)

I think Palpatine wanted Anakin because he was the strongest, to say "$#@!@ you Jedi, I have your chosen one," and because they really did agree about many things and have a mentor-type bond.

 

A lot of good answers here.

One thing to consider is a point TFN poster DarthNerdling made in a pretty extensive essay - that Palpatine knew Anakin was destined to kill him, and therefore Palpatine actively sought to subvert the Jedi prophecy by turning their greatest asset into their greatest weakness. And Palpatine was assuring the Sith line would strongly continue - if Anakin eventually kills him and becomes the Master the powerful Sith Empire is bound to continue, if Vader can't kill him then the Sith are still ruling the galaxy.

Additionally I feel the extent of Palpatine's plan in the PT is commonly underated. If you look at the PT scripts, the war starts, endures, and ends completely when he desires. He knows Anakin better than anyone, molds him and plays Anakin's strengths and flaws to his will. Not only is Anakin the most powerful potential apprentice, but he is arguably the best choice because it is in his nature to value people over principles, by ROTS he is possibly the most likely to respond to the dangled promise of greater power out of most Jedi.