Lit The 13 Fears of Emperor Palpatine: What shocked, surprised him or truly got him to alter his plans?

The Emperor, as forseeing and unshakeable as he presents himself, is full of fear. Fear gives him power after all. But what events in galactic history during his lifetime gave him true fear? Surprised him, shocked him, got him to alter his plans? What made him leave everything be and head out in person? What got him on his toes and acting unexpected and un-premeditated?

Lets start this right in the middle in true SW fashion:

When he dissolved the Senate in ANH, it was a big move but planned for a long time coming. When the DS1 was destroyed by the Rebels though, Tarkin lost along with a plethora of top rank Imperials needing replacement, and Vader lost (1) and nowhere to be found for a month (?), then Palpatine should have panicked. But lacking his introduction till TESB and fleshing out till ROTJ, we did not see much of that so far. He felt Vader was alive, but had not found his way back yet, was that worse than loosing Vader? Fearing his betrayal? A what if Vader helped destroy the DS1 he was never too fond of given his preference of the power of the Force, and joined the Rebellion his apprentice Starkiller helped unite? That could rile up the Emperors nightmares.

Other spots in the timeline where Palpatine freaked out and got to action we know better, but the above one is my favourite untold moment regarding him in such a state. No wonder post ANH he had to test returned Vader's loyality severely with multiple other fake-apprentices, Hands, etc. before entrusting him fully with Executor and else again.

During TPM, Palpatines plan worked out to rise to power, even if altered from the original idea and fate for Naboo. Loosing Maul was nowhere near a shocker as he had other apprentices already lined up. But when during TCW Maul returned (2), threatened to reveal Palpatines gambit and throw a wrench into the plans of the fake Clone Wars by introducing a third party, Palpatine got to action personally to take down Maul and his brother and the united criminal underworld he raised, the very same he destroyed and beheaded pre-TPM so they could not pose a threat to the rising Sith's plans.
But the dead kept rising to haunt Palpatine. Ventress legacy, Maul's legacy, their origin and witches scorned and betayed, they demanded justice and Dathomir would find a special place in Palpatines nightmares once it would come to settle old scores. Preoccupied with Dooku at first mostly during the TCW though, the problem was far from gone with the massacre of Dathomir. The Empire later would have their own Dathomiri nightmares to deal with and to fear constantly guarding the world and its far from wiped out residents.
And even then the long last breath of Maul was nowhere to be silenced when Crimson Dawn, long gone from Dathomir by the time the Empire moved in, resurfaced to take its revenge right before ROTJ.

Another minor shock probably was learning that Vader's child had survived Padmé's death. The Emperor played with Vader, tested him, sent him at Luke even. But I doubt he was calm about it. The reveal of Luke (3) to them probably was more kickstarting their rivalry and attempts to outsmart each other in earnest, something which he liked, abused, but also feared and needed to make sure Vader and Luke would not ally, not until he could take over Luke's body.

Yet another fear of Palpatine was big enough to warrant big actions taken, but is lesser known to the galaxy at large. Vergere (4) and the Far Outsiders (5). Like TCW Maul, he feared her revealing his plans or identity and hunted her deep into the Unknown Regions. The Yuzzhan Vong he feared too and prepared for them in his own way, even if they are not the sole reason for his protecting the galaxy and his own power, he recognised a threat when he sees one and one as uncalculable and unknown as them certainly had to constantly be kept on his radar. Hence ExGal stations, Obersvatories, secret stashes and storehouses and all kinds of failsafes and big asteroid mining/busting battlestations.

The dreaded Unknown Regions signal Palpatine sensed like a call but Vader didn't in new canon? (6) Definitely made him worry! If it is not Snoke, his own creation, then what is it? Tor Valum? Exegol most likely, but what there specifically? Which Sith Cultist is that strong to call? Whas it the hidden mined for WBW portal calling him? I liked the theories that he feared Plagueis return, spirit or a former ally of Plagueis out and about like the mysterious loved ones Plagueis could save from death but not himself, back when we still speculated of Snoke was just that guy before being coopeted by Palpatine.

Did Palpatine fear Starkiller's going rogue and Rebel? We still do not know what happened en route to or on Dantooine with captured Vader and the Rebels as well as Boba on his trail after TFU2.


I got more up the pipeline, but first lets hear your contenders on "how to freak out Palpatine" from novels, comics, rpg, even obscure sources please!

 

You touched on it briefly, but the current Hidden Empire storyline shows Palpatine being extremely concerned about Qi'ra's efforts to open the Fermata Cage. Her re-emergence onto the galactic stage, with plans to destroy not just the Empire but specifically the Sith, was clearly not in the plan.

Spoiler

 

Not counting the part when Palpatine was not Sith yet, in Darth Plagueis novel he was quite surprised or even outright shocked when his teacher:
demonstrated his ability to resurrect;
suddenly Force-choked Palpatine;
became a target of assassination attempt, organized by the Gran;

 

From his TVTropes article:

Spoiler

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Nah even non-Sith can get to him... He learned the hard way to not underestimate Han Solo. Or his Ex, his former partner in crime Lando who looted the Emperors Yacht, or Han's ship that defies him as much as anybody else thx to L3.

PS: should we include Lego SW Palpatine in this topic? Then there would be lots more examples!!!

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In Empire's End? Han plays into Palpatine's hands, it's Brand's selflessness that gets him.

He doesn't seem afraid when he learns about Luke in Vader's Quest, more delighted at the opportunity to torment Vader, but I suppose that could just be bluster.

It's funny - it's a relatively minor incident, but the only time I can remember Palpatine seeming genuinely rattled is when Leia steals his holocron in Dark Empire.

 

A minor example, but one of the interesting things about The Phantom Menace is that he's completely blindsided by Amidala's decision to return to Naboo and take on the Trade Federation herself. As far as he was concerned, becoming Chancellor was basically the endgame, and he clearly hadn't given any serious thought to what he'd tell her after that happened, beyond stringing her along with a bunch of, shrug, what can you do? type platitudes ("I understand your concern, but unfortunately, the Federation has control of our planet...") That she might take the situation into her own hands is the last thing he expected.

It doesn't really matter, since it makes no significant difference in the outcome of his plans, but it's interesting for already showing that even he isn't infallible and can't anticipate everything, especially when it's the kind of thing he himself would never care about (i.e. caring about other people, even when "other people" is something fairly obvious like your entire world). It's a nice bit of foreshadowing to Return of the Jedi, where the idea that Darth Vader might not stand by twiddling his thumbs while his son is being tortured to death clearly hasn't occurred to him either.

 

Another comparatively small example: the scam he tries to run on Ezra Bridger in Star Wars: Rebels (forget your Jedi duties, you can just be with your family!), which Ezra ultimately doesn't fall for. It's a nice touch, because it feels like the kind of trap that was made for Anakin Skywalker. Palpatine clearly thinks he's found a winning cheat code in that if you force a Jedi to choose between doing their duty and saving their loved ones, ultimately they'll choose the latter every time, especially if they're a person with so many personal issues that revolve around their loved ones. And he's shocked when Ezra doesn't make that choice (which Anakin totally would have made).

Put that alongside the previous example, and... it becomes clear that things like love and attachment are things he just doesn't grok. He knows that they exist, he understands that they can be used to manipulate people so they'll serve his purposes, but he still doesn't really understand how they work, and he gets surprised and frustrated when it turns out that they can still make sudden turns in unexpected directions.

 

In Labyrinth of Evil, when Sidious finds out the Jedi captured Nute Gunray's mechnochair, that seemed to knock him off-balance and forced him to accelerate his plans.

 

People often have this notion of Palpatine as being static and unable to adapt to changed circumstances or thrown wrenches. This is not remotely true-Palpatine is well aware that sometimes things go wrong, or people don't act as he expects-Padme for example refused to simply surrender to the demands of the trade federation. He never had a set of overly complex plans that would fall apart with one piece that didn't fit-though Palpatine's plans did rely a lot on moving parts-time tables and specifics weren't as necessary.

I'd say Palpatine is afraid-he fears actually dying, and when he experiences Force Hell-he has even more reason to fear. Fear is rational, and normal though. Palpatine cautiously circles around a dying Plagueis-afraid that maybe, just maybe he might rise and destroy him. The fear of a predator. If you're not afraid-you're complacent.

Palpatine thinks everyone who isn't a Sith is inferior, stupid, and deserves to be destroyed or ruled. Being afraid of interlopers or dangerous third parties is not the same thing as treating any rival as an actual equal.

So Sinre is right. Mundane trivialities can still be dangerous though if not accounted for.

One of the biggest lessons from the tragedy of Darth Plagueis is well…he wasn’t afraid. Afraid of losing his power, but not afraid enough to not hold something back. He taught his apprentice everything he knew and went to sleep. You might argue the powerful have little to fear-and you’d be wrong. The powerful have much more to fear because someone wants to take their power. Plagueis forgot this, Palpatine never did.

This is especially true with Sith Lords. So I’d say Palpatine is absolutely right to occasionally feel fear or concern.

 

He seemed genuinely spooked when chased by the Zillo Beast, if only because if the chips went down and he had to defend himself, he would reveal his force sensitivity.

I also like to believe he was also quite afraid when Anakin “piloted” the Invisible Hand.

 

The final chapter of The Clone Wars: Wild Space has this gem:

 

Assuming it wasn’t just a ploy to stave off his boredom, I think Zaarin’s coup actually rattled him a bit. If the Empire won at Endor, I suspect Palpatine would have become paranoid and stayed on the Death Star II for years until his Dark Side Adepts replaced any future Zaarins.