Why does Palpatine laugh and enjoy himself while fighting Yoda but not Mace and the Jedi Posse?

Palpatine is suprised that Yoda survived Order 66 and isnt angry about it and he seems to really enjoy hurting Yoda with force lightning until Yoda gets the better of him, later on during their duel Palpatine is laughing and having a good time again, and when he is throwing Senate Platforms at Yoda Palpatine is laughing like crazy and really enjoying his attack on the Jedi Master, But when he is faced with Mace Windu and his Jedi Posse the Sith Lord doesnt seem to be very happy at all, even after he easily defeats and kills the three lesser Jedi and has Mace Windu purely on the defensive Palpatine isnt laughing at all, only one time does he smile and thats when he points his lightsaber at Mace Windu's chest and that goes away when Windu does a lightsaber lock and evens things up, after this Palpatine just seems to be angry with Windu until Anakin shows up and choses his side, after that he is laughing and cackling again as Windu dies in pain from the betrayl of Anakin cytting his arm off allowing Palpatine to shock him to death.

Why does he take such pleasure from dueling with Yoda, the greatest lightsaber duelist in the Jedi Order and greatest force master when hes almost killed several times by him and the Jedi has survived his Order 66 ambush? kind of foolish to laugh when the stakes are that high, laughing at Windu after killing his three backup men and knowing full well that Anakin has an 80 percent chance of joining him because hes forced to chose sides and Palpatines is the most logical choice but Palpatine is all serious when the duel goes on, no laughing at all, is this because Windu was too powerfull to be laughed off because of his Vapaad Form VII that is the perfect match for the dark side or because Palpatine was worried about what would happen and he couldnt laugh at that moment because he didnt know what would happen? he laughs off Yoda who almost killed his apprentice Darth Tyranus but hes all business around Mace Windu when he scores an early victory over him by eliminating his friends so easily,this is a Jedi Master that dominates the Areana Battle on Geonosis and kills Jango Fett without much trouble and he also nearly kills General Grievious too., Palpatine is hard to figure out.

 

Because by the time he fought Yoda, he knew that he had won and the Jedi were defeated. When he fought Mace & posse, things weren't so sure.

 

He laughed at Yoda to mock and demoralize him. He savored the duel with Mace. Look at how smarmy he was after the window got shattered, he was enjoying himself until he got caught by Mace's "Timerland" squarely in his grill.

 

He wasn't just laughing more, but he was also snarling, moaning, and screaming more. He was exceptionally moody throughout that fight. When Sidious had the upper hand, he was laughing or smiling (e.g. when he throws Yoda against the wall with lightning, when he throws pods, when he first starts shooting lightning at Yoda) but when Yoda gains the upper hand, Sidious' facial expressions show his frustration perfectly (when Yoda parries one of Sidious' first swings right before it cuts back to the Mustafar duel he looks angry, when they are fighting on the podium as it rises into the senate chamber Sidious is moaning and groaning with frustration and/or is straining to hold Yoda off of him, when Yoda throws the pod back at Sidious he looks pissed, he screams when force pushed, and right before the lightning ball explodes Sidious starts screaming).

Compared with the Mace fight, he shows almost no pleasure in having killed the three Jedi with Mace, and doesn't emote as much when he is losing (he looks pretty ticked off when Mace is pushing him back toward the window, but that's about the extent of it).

As to why there is the great change between Sidious' personality in fighting Mace vs. his fight with Yoda, I can only speculate. Perhaps it was because the stakes of the Yoda fight were higher? When fighting Mace, perhaps Sidious was aware that Anakin was going to show up and so felt safe (perhaps that's why he didn't attempt to flee as he did with Yoda). But that suggests that Sidious threw the fight with Mace (which is debated). In contrast, Sidious had already thought he had won, he wasn't expecting Yoda to show up (while he knew that Mace was coming for him) and tried to flee. The stakes were higher, he was on his own, nobody was there to bail him out. Thus, when he gets the upper hand he is thrilled because if he can beat Yoda it will be over, there will be no Jedi to threaten him. While when Yoda gets the upper hand, he might be terrified because then he will be killed and will lose everything (unlike with Mace, where Anakin was there to save him). But again, that assumes that Sidious had foreknowledge that Anakin would show up and that he threw the fight accordingly.

Or perhaps it was simply part of "Palpatine's" transformation into "Sidious." "Palpatine's" personality prior to the Mace fight is significantly different than that of "Sidious'" post-Mace fight (Ian McDiarmid likens the character to Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde). Perhaps after the Mace fight Sidious lets the dark side simply overcome him and that's why his emotions are a lot more apparent than when he is the calm and collected "Palpatine."

 

I always took his laughing and snarling as a way of just mocking the whole duel. The jedi are defeated, the war is over and Sidious now has the most powerful jedi as a sith apprentice. When Yoda shows up to fight him it's kinda like that old man that fights for a dieing cause, he does it for honour and because whats right. However the shroud has fallen and now the sith rule the galaxy and even if Yoda does win the fight he'd have to destroy Vader too. It's a lost cause to fight Sidious and Yoda even knows that but he still has to try [ooooh try.]


Sidious is laughing and enjoying himself because finally he's taking the jedi head on, with their council master at the end of his blade. After years of hiding, you'd enjoy it too.

 

He has much more to be happy about when hes killed Kit Fisto,Saesee Tinn and Agen Kolar easily and is dominating his duel with Mace Windu until the Duel gets evened up by Windu, he knows Anakin will show up and probably take his side and help him out and Mace doesnt know about the Lightning yet, most sources even say that Palpatine retreated towards the window on purpose to try to force push Windu out of it but that didnt happen, he has more to be happy about but he doesnt savor the moment until Windu is killed, i did catch a grin on his face as his saber is pointed at Windu's chest though...until Windu twists him into a saberlock and he looks pissed off, i guess Windu is too tough and powerfull to be laughed at, hes survived Sora Bulq,Darth Tyranus,and Asajj Ventress and also General Grievious and hasnt been killed by any of them, only slowed down a little, anyone that can take on your best warriors and defeat them without much injury or probelms isnt someone to be laughed off like a joke, even though he has the right when he destroys the three backup men easily and could cackle while striking at him.

 

He doesn't laugh with the Jedi Posse, because he's greatly angered by them. Mace really pushed his buttons when he said that the Senate will decide his fate. Hence his change in voice, which is described as an outburst of anger. This is also the moment in which everything will either go his way or go to ruin. When he fights Yoda, he has already won and he knows it. Yoda's just delaying the inevitable. That's why he says that Yoda's arrogance has blinded him to the truth, he's already lost. That's why he takes great pleasure in his fight with Yoda, save for when Yoda proves to be resiliant. Once Yoda has fallen, Palpatine laughs hysterically even though he's hanging on for dear life. The Grand Master has fallen and his own victory is complete.

 

I saw it like this: During Sidious' duel with Mace and the Jedi, he had to look he like was focusing on the duel, trying to keep up with Mace, so that it looked like Mace was overpowering him when Anakin arrived. During the duel with Yoda, Sidious was free to laugh and scream because Anakin, now Vader, was already his.

 

Plus theres no real threat within Yoda for Sidious. If the prophecy is true, only Anakin can destroy him. Yoda's prolonging the inevitable and Sidious knows it. During the duel with the jedi posse, he knows he's taking a gamble because Anakin hasn't given himself up completely yet. There is the possibility that he took a wrong turn and Anakin actually isn't showing up to his rescue and instead he'd be taken captive/ killed.

By the duel with Yoda, Anakin is Vader and now his apprentice, he has nothing to fear because theres no longer a threat.

 

Excellent observation.

 

Even if Palpatine didn't know about the prophecy, he no longer fears Yoda's attempts to destroy him.

 

I think its probably a combination of a few things...as mentioned before, I am sure he felt that by the time he fought Yoda, even if he were to die, the Jedi were gone. Even in death, Palpatine knew he had achieved something no other Sith Lord had done...more or less wiping out the entire Jedi Order. He won, regardless of if he lived or died. Obviously, he expected to win, which explains his satisfaction about it all...what better than not only wiping out the Jedi, but to personally kill the head of the order? He had to be relishing in the thought. He hadn't issued Order 66 yet by the time Mace and posse come to arrest him, if he is defeated there, everything he did was for nothing. His plans hadn't come to fruition yet, so, he isn't going to savor the moment yet.

 

Yoda: "If so powerful you are, why leave?... At an end your rule is, and not short enough it was."

...The man tried to run. Whereas he faced down Mace, Kit, Saesee, and Agen no problem. I think if he feared anyone it was Yoda. Nobody was supposed to survive Order 66 or the attack on the Jedi temple. Yoda showing up to kill Palpatine was an unpleasant surprise. Whereas in the battle with Mace, he made no attempt to flee even though he fared more poorly in that battle. I think he felt safe against Mace because he knew that Mace was there to arrest him, not kill him, and that Anakin was going to see to it that Palpatine live. Whereas, Yoda's there to kill him and I think Sidious is horrified that he could potentially lose everything when he was so close to winning. I think that's why he was alternatively so happy/horrified; if he gets past Yoda, then the galaxy is his, if he doesn't get past Yoda, then he's dead. Whenever he gets the upper hand in the battle, he is that much closer to being autocrat of the Universe and he's thrilled; whenever Yoda gets the upper hand, Sidious is that much closer to losing his life and thus control of the Universe, and it's likely the Sith would die with him. I don't think Anakin at that point received enough training to keep the Sith Order alive.

When he hits Yoda with lightning he laughs his butt off. When Yoda force pushes him, he tries to make a break for it. I think that definitely shows his insecurity; he was going to high tail it out of there and let his troops deal with it.

 

Sidious is against the ropes during the Posse duel. He's in a really bad place, if you think about it. His apprentice is dead, he's not sure if Anakin will side with him, he still has the Seperatists to deal with (now that Grievous is out of the picture), the Jedi Council knows that he's orchestrated everything, and he's facing down Mace Windu in a close-quarters lightsaber duel. Things could be better.

By the time Yoda comes strolling in his office, he's a much happier man. Anakin has fallen to the Darkside, the Seperatists have all been dealt with, he is an Emperor, and the Jedi have been vanquished. He tries to flee from Yoda at first, but once his Darkside juices get flowing, he remembers how much fun it is to be evil!

 

I found it interesting, that both Dooku and Palpatine had such a tough time with Yoda. Dooku had to kind of distract Yoda, using Anakin and Obi-Wan in AOTC. And yes, Palpatine thought about taking off early on in the duel with Yoda, and then Yoda cut him off at the pass. Both Dooku and Palpatine I think were surprised with Yoda's power. I think Palpatine was just trying to have fun, when fighting Palpatine, which is why he was laughing. I also found it interesting when Palpatine finally had enough, in the senate chamber duel scene and just fired off a blast of lightning at Yoda. It's like he's thinking "enough is enough". He never offically really beat Yoda either. Yoda takes off, surrendering the fight for the time being, well actually it ended up being forever. That would have been a heck of a decision to make. To keep fighting, or leave.....

It was more serious with Mace. That was a laid out plan. A lot of things hinged on that plan, and Palpatine was concentrating on many things, at one time. With Yoda, there wasn't a lot of pressure. I know that sounds strange, but that's how I think of it.

 

In the first fight, he'd never actually dueled with a top-level Jedi master, and now here he was facing four of them. We know Palpatine's scared of dying. I think he was probably worried about how he'd do, and whether or not Anakin would join him or turn on him.

But with Yoda, he'd done so very well, and accomplished every goal so far. He's thinking how much he hates Yoda and how much he's longed to do this in every single meeting where he had to bow, scrape, and pretend to acknowledge Yoda as his superior in knowledge and in the Force.

And yeah, he's having fun.

 

When the emperor first fights yoda he knows he is going to loose but the next time he knows he can win. If yoda had had a lightsaber the second time they fight then the emperor would not have laughed but luckily yoda only had the force. when yoda fights with mace with him they can win. I think the fact that the stormtroopers came and started to shoot at him was the worst!

 

Palpatine may have run at first, but then he wound up whooping Yoda's ass. It is Yoda who goes into exile in the end, long before the Clonetroopers came. Palpatine contacted them after the fight was over.

 

BEcause he's nervous...and he's up against the best!!

That's what I do when i get nervous i laugh.

 

Palpatine's more like the Joker or Freddy Kruger. He laughs when he's on top and when he's afraid.

 

Sidious is elated because no matter what happens, Yoda loses . . .

. . . either the duel, which will result in his death or is humiliation . . . .

. . . or his dignity and reputation, murdering the Galactic Emperor in an act of vengeful and premeditated treason.

Also, Anakin is now fully turned, and in Sidious' mind the Sith order will carry on, no matter what happens to him.

Sidious is likely feeling rather invincible. After Yoda's force throw in the office, the diminutive green one is mostly on the defensive. He can't hardly touch Sidious.

 

This is not exactly true. Vader might have destroyed Sidious so that he could become the newly crowned Sith Master. It was up to Anakin to turn back to the light side--only then would the Sith have been destroyed.

And if you watch the Sidious/Yoda duel--Sidious looks afraid on more than one occasion. Check out his facial expression when he picks himself up from the Force push. Check out his facial expression when Yoda fires the pod back at him. Check out his facial expression when Yoda manages to deflect the lightning. He was afraid. He only started laughing when he was getting the upper hand. In the Mace duel--he was never getting the upper hand. Mace dominated him.

 

Not afraid . . . focused!

 

It's a trait amongest certain types of villians. They laugh when the odds are in their favor.

 

Palps seems a bit... unhinged. It is actually quite funny. I have not watched it in a while, but he goes from screaming in terror, to laughing with glee at the very end of the duel.

But I would not change the way it was acted out. It is meant to be OTT.