Palpatine's death . . . what really happened down the shaft . . . suicide or death?

Discusison in another thread sparked off this idea. Wacky as it is, it could very well make damn sense. The question is, based on what we later know from Dark Empire, what happened down that Death Star II reactor shaft?

How Palpatine died.

Maddened with rage, his mind focused on eliminating the last threat to his authority in Skywalker, Palpatine was slow to react when his apprentice slam dunked him into the reactor core shaft. We then see him plummeting . . . and a flash of dark side fire. His death.

Or did we? Consider the facts.

1. He didn't really drop for long.
2. Why would the throne room open to the reactor core?

Now, the movie plot dictated Palpatine die that moment to so the light side would have a resurgence and triumph against its bane, and enable the movie to have a noble ending. But even maddened with rage and spewing lightning, it's hard to swallow that the old man couldn't slow his descent with the Force, despite if there were any access hatches along the shaft he could use to get out of. And despite the fact that even if he had, he might never have made it off in time. Calrissian and his cronies were busy themselves . . .

My point of the thread is that Palpatine may have committed suicide.

Only because later sources like Dark Empire---not as official as an actual movie, of course. I am dark side energy, he boasts; I have died before this way, he claims; I can make myself die any time to reclone. He does this when Skywalker confronts him, when he's about to end his life cycle for the next. Palpatine ends his life prematurely, and as the comic showed, Skywalker tried to quickly kill all clones in the room.

I say Palpatine didn't have time to slow his reactor shaft descent; in fact didn't bother to. He had just seen his loyal apprentice turn tables on him, and knew he was no match for TWO chosen ones of such Force potential.

So he exploded himself right then and there . . . and returned to Byss to plan his revenge.

If skeptical, well, why or how would he have just exploded like that? He wasn't hurt. Tumbling off walls won't kill you. And I refuse to believe he hit the reactor core---are you saying it opened right into the throne room unprotected?

It's a wild theory, isn't it? What do you think? Not that I'm saying it's official; we know what really happened that day, just that it's a cool link to events of Dark Empire from that one significant moment at Endor.

 

OK, McEwok, what have you done with Excellence?

 

Of course DE was cr@p that ruined the whole point of the movies. But it is possible. Also the Emperor liked deep pits. He probably listened to his voice echo when noone was watching. Hello hello. I am I am Emperor Emperor of the of the galaxy galaxy hahaha hahaha hahaha hahaha.

 

Makes sense. Nice theory Excellence! And i dont think Palps would want to face Luke again either, cause he was weaker in ROTJ than in DE.

Mastage: Whats has Ewok done to all of us?!

R_W: Of course DE was cr@p that ruined the whole point of the movies. But it is possible. Also the Emperor liked deep pits. He probably listened to his voice echo when noone was watching. Hello hello. I am I am Emperor Emperor of the of the galaxy galaxy hahaha hahaha hahaha hahaha.

What the hell!?

 

The Ewok has ruined our minds!

And the Emperor was like a little kid. He liked to hear his echo. That is why he had the pits. It was a joke.

 

I can't help it, after reading the NJO, I lost what dry sense of humor I had....

 

If skeptical, well, why or how would he have just exploded like that? He wasn't hurt. Tumbling off walls won't kill you. And I refuse to believe he hit the reactor core---are you saying it opened right into the throne room unprotected?

Yes. Why, because it looks cool. Dignitaries like the Emperor get to behold the awesome might of the Death Star's heart. Practical>? no. Then again how many people would fall to the core? That would require you to somehow fall over the rails. Not likely to happen on regular basis.

Anyhoo, he didn't need to fall all the way to the core. Eventually he would have just suffocated from lack of air. Probaly not how he died though. Careening into those walls can kill you, especially if you you smash into the wall head first and break your neck. Which is probaly how he died.

Also, keep in mind that those mechanical hands are pretty strong. Ever consider the idea that Vader was crushing Palpatine's internal organs while he had him? That would further prevent Palpatine from reacting.

 

And yet it didn't take long for Palpatine to explode after dropping. What killed him: hitting a reactor core that couldn't possibly have linked open and unprotected the throne room, or imploding himself in a flash of dark side energy to escape his dire predicament?

 

Yay, Excellence!! ... keep digging. If Sidious is the plotting genius we think he is, don't you think he has more up his sleeve than mere escape? Witnessing the near-end of his apprentice Darth Vader, what new luminary in the Force might Sidious have in mind? And isn't Palpatine ultimately expendable? ...

 

Maybe he hit somekind of shield. Theres got to be one too hold all the radiation and stuff back, and too keep sruff out of the reactor(like a free-falling Sith Lord )

 

DE did not ruin the point of the movies. Only if the original plan for DE had been used for the final product would it have been likely for DE to have done that. But the point of the movies is now for Vader to restore balance to the Force, which he does two fold, first by helping to concieve that which will return the Jedi and help to maintain the balance and second by killing Palpatine at Endor and allowing the light side to regain a foot hold.

 

I think that as Vader picked up Palpatine, Vader redirected Palpatine's force lightning attack into himself & Palpatine, then Vader threw him into the pit. You can still see tendrils of Palpatine's force lightning following him over the ledge into the pit, maybe it's this final force lightning attack that causes his body to explode, before hit hits the core reactor.

I liked how it's all tied into DE, evil never dies....

 

And yet it didn't take long for Palpatine to explode after dropping. What killed him: hitting a reactor core that couldn't possibly have linked open and unprotected [/]

Breaking his neck while careening against a wall? Internal Injuries from Vader's mechanical hand?

Take your pick. You ignored those options in my post.

 

My guesses are....

1. An attempt to kill Vader and Luke at the cost of his own life. Vader managed to get hit pretty hard by those Dark Side energies, maybe even interposing himself between them and Luke.

2. Palpatine lost control of his powers and exploded from the Dark Side going postal inside him.

3. The sudden re-emergence of the Light caused the massive Dark Side aura in Palpatine to rush out of him, causing his body to tear apart and reducing his power to a fraction of it's former self. It took 6 years to replentish himself after all.

 

DE did not ruin the point of the movies. Only if the original plan for DE had been used for the final product would it have been likely for DE to have done that.

What was the original plan?

Anyway, I like this theory.

-Paul

 

Matt . . .

Vader only had one hand. He had a grip enough to hoist him over and slam dunk the old man down. But it's doubtful he inflicted crushing pressure . . . or perhaps he could have; with that lightning searing into his torso, don't your hands contract into fists.

Still, what's a one-hand grips in the arm going to do to kill you? Or further conjecture that Vader did something in the Force to disrupt Palpatine's Force focus, just enough to throw him overboard.

 

It's a mechanical hand. Look at what Luke's can do in SotE.... crush a metal tabletop.

 

In shadows of the empire? When did he do that? But it's been ages since I read that book . . .

 

It's in the comic. Right after he got the hand and he's still getting used to it.

3po basically points out that if he tries to fly now he'll probaly snap the flightstick.

 

Also, Vader with his one mechanical hand managed to pick up and throw the Emperor over the railing. Vader loved killing, and probably didn't mind using his own hands instead of the Force to kill several of the people who... DISPLEASE him.

In other words, Vader's one hand probably had more strength by itself than any normal human's two hands, so he probably did crush a few organs. Mix that in with Palpatine's frailing body, the exertion he had over using the Force to zap Luke, and the fact that he probably hit whatever was stopping the radiation from leaking into his chamber, and you've got a shear death sentence.

And on the matter of why he would have a chamber that opens to the reactor core, Palpatine loved the grandoise. Plus who could resist the thought of throwing those who displeased him straight into the reactor core of your ultimate weapon? That'll put fear into the hearts of those who would argue with you...

 

Oh yeah that reminds me. In the Radio Drama Palpatine tells Vader that after Luke is dead, throw the body down the reactor shaft.

DG gets a continuity biscuit.

 

Ah. I don't have the 3 SOTE/E comics, SNES game; just the book.

 

Woo! Biscuit!