We all know Chancellor Palpatine was the last Supreme Chancellor of the Galactic Republic, but who was the guy in charge before Palpatine when he was Senator in Ep. 1?
Not to turn this too political, but George Lucas apparently told his actor, Terence Stamp, to think of Valorum as the saga's equivalent of Bill Clinton, beset by the skulduggery of vested interests that were determined to upend him from office. This was shortly before the Monica Lewinsky scandal broke, and after the right had already been gunning for Clinton for some time (he was in his second term when cameras rolled on TPM). Valorum also evokes to me, an avid fan of the classic 19th Century novel "Moby-Dick", that story's Bulkington, who is only in the story very briefly, but seems to be a moral alternative to the maniacal Ahab, rather as Valorum is the short-lived "good" alternative to Palpatine, lost to the pages of history. This page gives a brief summary of Bulkington: http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-104610469.html P.S. "ad valorem" is a Latin phrase that means "in proportion to the value". Therefore, Finis Valorum = End of Proportionality/Balance.
I remember him (GL) talking about this on the DVD commentary, I believe. I like your analysis of the Valorum character as well. Essentially a good man dragged down by the greedy ambitions of not only Palpatine but many of the other members of the bureaucracy that allow Palpatine's rise to power.
List of Chancellors between 100 BBY and 19 BBY (as per Wookieepedia): Palpatine/Darth Sidious, former senator of Naboo: 32 BBY to 19 BBY - declared himself Emperor Finis Valorum of Coruscant: 40 BBY to 32 BBY - removed by a vote of no confidence Kalpana: 48 BBY to 40 BBY Frix: 52 BBY to 48 BBY - served for a single term Thoris Darus of Corulag: 60 BBY to 52 BBY - many blame him for the decadence of corruption taking a hold in the Senate Vaila Pecivas: 68 BBY/64 BBY to 60 BBY - her term was noted as having a particular lack of style
