CT Why does Darth Sidious have a light saber

When he handles lukes lightsaber he holds it awkwardly and calls it a "jedi weapon": It is something he is unfamiliar with.

Vader only had one because he was a fallen jedi and i thought that was kinda cool.

Usually i dont care much but can someone clarify this?

 

I,like you,have absolutely no idea why Sidious had a lightsabre? As you quite rightly point out he didnt seem at all familiar with The weapon in ROTJ. He knew OF them but I didnt for one minute think that he had been spinning around in the air whilst wielding his own at some point in the past. But they were all the rage in the sequels so, why not I suppose.(shrug)

 

I think the impression of his "awkward" hold of the weapon is projection onto the scene. Me, I took his handling of the weapon as almost regal, as though passed a captured prize of great value, which it might be said to represent since presumably there's very few of them left by that era in galactic history. And the full line is:

Vader: His lightsaber.
Sidious: Ah yes. A Jedi's weapon. Much like your father's. By now you must know your father can never be turned from the Dark Side. So will it be with you.

He's referring to it as a Jedi's weapon in order to press home to Luke that it, like the Jedi, like his father, are all irrelevant against the Dark Side. I didn't take from it he was unfamiliar with them or hadn't handled one before, rather than he didn't need to wield such a weapon anymore. Rather like Yoda, seeing as the two of them are rather crusty by ROTJ and who similarly has no lightsaber on show throughout the CT. By this point in the Empire's history, Palpatine's weapons are fear and manipulation. If there was a time when he needed a lightsaber, it's passed. Unlike Vader, who still uses his from time to time and who does take a workmanlike grip on Luke's weapon when it's first recovered.

 

It make's little sense for him to have one if you just look at it in terms of the saga. But looking at it from an ENTIRE Star Wars view the Sith have been using lightsabers just as long as the Jedi, it makes little sense for him to be unfamiliar with them.

It would have been cool to see a Palpatine in the PT who felt he was above the use of lightsabers and allowed Vader to do so because he was so proficient with them.

 

Says who? He just described the weapon to the audience, I'd say he's very familiar.

 

Well I'm shocked. I gotta lie down.

 

Yeah, sometimes it's hard to handle what's in front of you...

 

But does not Sidious use a red lightsaber in ROTS when he dueled Yoda?

 

I don't think he nor Yoda should have used lightsabers at all. They should have relied entirely on masterful use of the Force.

 

Sidious should've killed people just by the snap of his finger.

 

This thread is in the OT forum, but it seems to be asking a PT question when it says "Why does Darth Sidious have a light saber?". I agree with Saintheart 's answer regarding Palpatine and lightsabers in ROTJ. I used to strongly agree with those who would have preferred to not see Yoda or Sidious use a lightsaber in the PT. When those movies came out I wished they had left those two characters to be "above" lightsaber use and just use the Force. But looking back I like the way they did it, even their duel against each other... and both characters (Yoda and Palpatine) have obviously evolved to be above lightsabers at some point after the PT era.

My bigger problem is seeing Count Dooku use Force lightning. I still think that should have been reserved for Palpatine in ROTS and ROTJ.

 

I always thought the idea of Sidious having a lightsaber odd as his Force Lightning is 10x cooler for the character( ). I see him and Yoda as Masters of the Force who didn't need a lightsaber to defeat their opponents.

 

Something else to consider. The Emperor uses his lightsaber in the PT when he's in danger. Yoda is a real threat to him, as is Windu, at least until Anakin comes to the rescue.

Luke is not a threat to the Emerpor, at least in his mind. Luke has the potential to become one, but he's not on that day from the Emerpor's way of thinking. Once it becomes clear Luke won't turn, the Emperor isn't just killing Luke, he's torturing him. He could probably have killed him instantly, he didn't want to. That's why no lightsaber

 

Yeah, Yoda and Sidious should've just sat on opposite sides of the room with their eyes closed. After about twenty minutes, Yoda gets up and leaves. He calls Bail Organa to pick him up and says "into exile I must go, failed have I..."

 

Ask the ROTJ script why he doesn't, cause he sure does there. It's even up his sleeve.

 

Yes all Sith should have Lightsabers. Sidious is especially awesome with a Lightsaber in ROTS.

 

This! This makes sense

 

You mean RotS? I don't recall it being mentioned in RotJ's script, but I could be wrong.

 

I'd like the idea of combining the two, force lightening from the end of the lightsaber!!

I've also thought that the lightening would cause them to be very static and covered in fluff, attract balloons and have really really BIG hair.

 

Nah, it is. Even popped up down in saga a while back, I believe.

 

Oh, you mean the Revenge of the Jedi rough draft. I had almost forgotten about it.

 

lmaaaoooo

 

He regards it as a weapon symbolic of the Jedi Order. There's one of the books (was it "Darth Plagueis"? I'm not sure Edit: Nope, it was Sith Lord: The Rise of Darth Vader) where Sidious says that the Sith have long since outgrown the need for lightsabers, and only continue using them in order to humiliate the Jedi by beating them at their own art.

 

All Sith are trained in the lightsaber. People are taking Palps' sarcastic words a little too literally. If Luke had the saber skills to challenge the emperor in rotj, we wouldn't be having this discussion now.

 

You're all laughing about this for some reason, but that actually would have been really cool.

The implication in RotJ is clear: Palpatine sees a lightsaber as a foreign weapon. A Jedi object. For those of you claiming 'All Sith are trained in the lightsaber', this certainly didn't look to be the case in 1983.

Yoda should also not be wielding a saber. His disapproval of Luke's addiction to carrying weapons about everywhere is evident in ESB. How much time does he spend training Luke in those oh-so-important lightsaber skills? No time at all.

Jedi Masters, as opposed to Knights should be way beyond using crude and redundant artifacts like lightsabers. And I think that's what Lucas and Kasdan thought in 1983, too.