Palpatine: Genius or not?

We all know that Palpatine maneuvered his way into becoming Emperor. I was wondering whether he was just a tactical/political genius, he used the force to make sure what he wanted to happen happened, or GASP

He was seeing force visions which were telling him what to do and how to achieve his goals which would imply that he was in fact doing the will of the force.

Maybe he was imposing his will on the Force to see how to change the future to shape it to his will (a new Dark Side ability?) but then how would Endor have happened.

-The Rebel Gungan

 

He was a genius AND he used the Force to secure his victory.

 

Sidious is to genius, as Krayt is to loser.


Beast

 

Palpatine was definitly a genius. I mean I am sure he used his Force abilities to help his push, but to be able to put all those events into motion from start to finish without anythign really stepping in his way... definitly a genius.

 

I always kinda thought that, while he did many great things, many of the steps in the plan had been in play for a very long time, hundereds of years. I was under the impression that the sith that came before him had been working on the idea and that he was the one that put it into play. Not to say he sas an intelligent man, but, it wasnt all his doing.

 

Must agree, there. His was the culmination, the end product of a thousand years of work by the Sith, of rotting the Jedi from within. Bane started it, and Palps finished it.

 

QFT

to me he's like the last guy in an 8 man relay race... he couldn't have been in position to win without the others doing their parts, but he was the fastest guy on the team.

 

All of the above.

 

Sidious is a genius with big brass balls, it had to have taken a serious mastery of the darkside of the force to hide his presence to the likes of Yoda & Windu, to base his operations in the heart of the galaxy & right under the noses of 10k+ Jedi while still using the force to occasionally forsee the future & do whatever else he did. He had learned to eventually cheat death......& then those Force Storms that torn thru space & consumed starships like a Vorksker tears thru meat, that it truly unlimited power. Too bad he lived in a fairy tale world governed by the unwritten rule that states Evil Never Wins.

 

Palpatine-genius, yes, but too arrogant for his own success. Anakin's downfall in ROTS was essentially his love for family. In ROTJ, Palpatine either forgot Vader's shatterpoint or neglected to look for it while he tortured his son.

 

Luke: "Your overconfidence is your weakness."

Palpatine: "Your faith in your friends is yours."


And yet....who was it that got thrown down a reactor shaft by his protege?

 

LeeKenobi:Genius or not?

Genius.


Beast

 

Yeah, his ability to turn lemons into lemonade is uncanny. Things often went against what he had forseen but he managed to turn them into victories nonetheless. He thought that Queen Amidala would be "Easy to manipulate". Suddenly she has some wild idea to rile up the Gungans and take back Theed. Surely a loss, right? Nope. He keeps Nute Gunray out of jail and in control of the TF and Gunray becomes more his servant. A pair of Jedi Masters are looking to unveil the Sith and one places an order for a Grand Army of the Republic. One of the Jedi discovers him. Not good, right? Wrong. He turns said Jedi, has him kill the other, covers up the cloning facility and his plans are given a big push.

I'm pretty sure that most of how things unfolded were not according to Palpatine's original plan...he was just genius enough to revise those plans according to the actions of his enemies.

 

Ah, so you agree that Sifo did, in fact, place the order for the army.

 

I don't remember that part....but if he forsaw Vader/Luke overthrowing him, why the hell did he get them together again?!?! Sith's are dumb sometimes

 

he had a whole lab full of clones on Byss... he had a chance to turn Luke (future always in motion and all that) which was worth quite a risk... and if the worst happened he'd just transfer to a clone.

 

That is the Canon explanation, isn't it? That one has been kicked around so much I may have messed it up.

 

That's what Sidious tells Dooku. I'm not at all convinced.

 

So the only thing that is Canon is that Palpatine told Dooku that Sifo had ordered the army? It is up to us if we believe it?

Awesome. DARTH WHO FLOW WALKED AND ORDERED THE ARMY TO BE CREATED! I KNOW IT!

 

But someone just had to go and make sure Palpatine was lying when he said he'd had any prior experience and knew that would work because someone just thought that the illusion of Anakin's sacrifice being for anything other than his son's safety was more important than perpetuating the character trait that Palpatine never gambled with less than a full deck. Thank you very much, Leland Chee.

"Sifo Dias"?

 

Darn you. That was my second "Time to make crap up" idea.

 

Genious? Maybe - certainly smart enough to get to where he is, but I would classify him more as a master manipulator. He persuaded people...prodded them...pushed them in the "right" direction that resulted in his coming into power. Later, he was smart enough not to let any of his "staff" grow too powerful, but in the end, his paranoia about the Rebel Forces led him into the very trap he feared the most - his death at the hand of his pupil.