Discussions Why is Palpatine so evil?

Even by Sith standards, Palpatine truly stands out as being a complete monster. I mean, he didn't have the greatest childhood, and I thought it was reasonable he killed his father, but he then goes on to callously kill his whole pathetic family to satisfy his rage. His master discontinued the Rule of Two, and genuinely grew attached to Palpatine, but in turn, Palpatine tortured him viciously, and killed him in a pathetically cowardly fashion, which in turn, is against the Sith code of strength. He betrays all of his apprentices, quite literally, and instead of being satisfied with his absolute control of the galaxy, he feels the need to commit genocide, for no reason other than for fun, as Vader once stated.

But in the end, why is he so evil? I mean, Sith are evil, but there are Sith that are just neutral-evil, or past Sith that didn't stretch out like Palpatine.

He's just a completely irredeemable monster.

 

Moving to EU Community

 

Palpatine is perhaps the most powerful Sith who has ever lived. It's his immense connection to the dark side which makes him so evil.

Plagueis wasn't exactly big on the "brave final battle with your master" thing either, didn't he kill Tenebrous by making a tunnel collapse on him?

 

He was so smart and very powerful. He even proclaimed himself The Darkside itself once I believe. I also love the fact he had used everyone as his pawn in his rise to power including his own Sith Master Darth Plagueis. This is why he and Vader are my favorite Sith Lords of all time.

 

he isn't horrible by sith standards, check out some of the older sith lords in the EU, he is abd don't get me wrong but it isn't like he is in uncharted territory.

 

I think Exar &Naga were more evil

 

Rrriiiiight.... those two are more evil than the guy who intended to mind-control the entire galaxy and have them live only to serve as his mindless battery-slaves for eternity.

 

Palpatine wasn't evil he was trying to bring order to the galaxy. Yes he used everyone around him but so did the other senators for their own agenda. He was a typical politician just because you don't agree with his tactics doesn't make him evil.

 

Again, mind controlling the entire galaxy and sucking the life out of them so he'd be immortal is evil.

Dark Empire, oh how you make things easy sometimes when Imperial apologists come about.

 

Read Darth Plagueis. Palpatine's father was a pretty bad guy... He probably had a bad childhood.

 

Hemorrhoids.

Seriously, though, Palpatine strikes me as a sociopath who can only get his rocks of by controlling people.

Sadly, there's plenty of people like this in the real world. Thankfully, they don't have superpowers.

 

It goes beyond that. IIRC Palpatine's father says right to Palpatine's face he's not sure Palpy's even human.

The implication being, of course, that it was more than being raised in a bad environment... the implication is that he was born evil.

 

Sorry, but it's been bugging me for the past few weeks so I have to say it (anyone who gets the reference gets brownie points )

He's so evil because it's just so much gosh darn fun.

 

If I had The Force I might not try to take over the world, but at the very least I'm gonna have fun getting out of moving violations. I can only imagine someone with more questionsable morals getting the Jedi Mind Trick.

 

By murdering billions, destroying worlds and just generally running over people's pets and ruining their lives. His picture is in the dictionary under 'evil'.

 

Because that's just the way he is...?

Because he enjoys being a manipulative old man who revels in mass murder and absolute power...?

 

I think that palpatine tricked himself. He probably thought he was doing it for the good of the galaxy. That being said, every famous person we view as evil thought he/she was doing good for the world. He was blinded by his own desires.

 

Exactly. As can be read in Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith: The Visual Dictionary, Palpatine regarded himself as a messiah, because he genuinely believed that a Sith government would be best for the galaxy. Both statements are true: he was evil, and yet he was convinced that his attitude was justified. In The Weakness of Inferiors, Palpatine wrote that those bereft of the Force were children wandering aimlessly, and, as a Force-user, it was his duty to rule over them so the civilization could flourish.

 

I think that's bull. I think he knew he was evil. And loved it.

 

George Lucas outright states in the documentary detailing the making of Revenge of the Sith, that "no one who is evil ever thinks of themselves as evil". He was speaking in terms of Anakin's descent to Vader when he said it, but I think it can be applied to villains like Palpatine and Dooku as well.

 

I don't think it can. That sounds more like GL's opinion on the matter, not like a statement that can be used to determine Palpatine knowing he was evil or not. There comes a point when you just know that what you're doing is wrong, but you do it anyway because you're selfish and power-hungry and plainly don't care if it's wrong or not. I think Palpatine crossed that line a long, long time ago.

 

... in a galaxy far, far away.

Sorry, couldn't help it.

I tend to think Palpatine thought of himself as a god - beyond good and evil.

 

It was his opinion on Anakin's fall to the Dark Side, that he didn't view what he was doing as evil, so he was applying it to his universe. And it was a pretty all encompassing statement so it doesn't seem like there was room for exceptions.

 

That was his own opinion regarding the matter, referring to Anakin, as you said. I doubt he meant to use that statement as 'all encompassing'; that is subjective.

I'm sorry, I'll never be convinced that Palpatine didn't know he was evil, unless GL outright states it.



... I mean, unless Disney states it.

 

Just saying, he was speaking of Anakin but used words that go far beyond Anakin or any single person, again having outright said "no one". That would logically include any evil person in the world, which includes Palpatine.