Was Anakin Skywalker really indispensable to Palpatine's plans?

Assuming that Palpatine and Darth Sidious are one and the same (something not yet absolutely proven, although reasonable), was Anakin Skywalker really essential to his plans of exterminating the Jedi and taking over the Galaxy. Certainly, as Darth Vader, Anakin proved extremely useful to Palpatine/Sidious in the achievement of those goals, but Palpatine/Sidious had already had these plans in motion long before Anakin came on the scene in THE PHANTOM MENACE. What if Anakin had never existed or had never crossed paths with the Jedi? Would Palpatine's plans have worked out anyway even without Anakin?

 

I think he would've been able to do regardless. Anakin just made it easier.

 

Good question. This is the wrong place for this discussion, though. You should repost it at either:
Ep III - Non-spoilers
Ep III - Spoilers

 

Yeah, this should most likely be in the 3SA forum.




Anyways, I think Anakin WAS essential to Palpatine's plans: you can see that in the sense that he wanted little "Ani" from the first time he was noticiable in the eyes of the Jedi Council.


Would Palpatine have succeeded in wiping out the Jedi by himself? Most likely not, since not even Vader got them all (Yoda & Obi-Wan). Granted, we wouldn't know the specifics of the circumstances- perhaps Sidious's lightsaber skills would have even matched Yoda's in strength; perhaps Yoda wouldn't have been able to win.



This would also fit in with the theory of "Darth Tyranus" being Darth Vader, would Dooku not have been killed by Anakin (assuming this is so in Episode III). If you took the most logical answer to this question, you would find that Palpatine had his eyes on Anakin throughout- meaning he wanted him as an Apprentice throughout.


But then again, who knows? I'm sure more insight and light will be shed on the subject once Episode III hits the theatres, but until then all we can do is speculate...