"Your faith in your friends is yours!"

I have always wanted to know what Palpatine means when he shouts this back at Luke's accusation of his overconfidence.

(It should be noted that Palpatine does not refute that he is overconfident.)

Palpatine doesn't know anything (or almost anything) about the character of Princess Leia, Han Solo, and the rest of Luke's companions.

I figure that he means either:

1. Your friends aren't going to matter because they will soon die.

or

2. He is making a general statement about the nature of "friendship" in general, and that Luke's close companionship with the main characters of the OT is a flaw in him. (This goes along with the whole "Bury your feelings. They could be made to serve the Emperor" thing.)

And, it is eventually his friends (Leia) that is used as the lever that pushes Luke dangerously close to the Dark Side.

 

Palpatine as I see it, talks about both the Rebellion and friendship in general. To him there is no such a thing as friendship, there is only the way of the Sith (Power, fear & treachery).

 

He means the Rebels in general are doomed to fail in their mission.

 

Basically, by going off to face Vader and the Emperor, Luke is leaving the whole battle to be decided by Han, Leia, Lando, Wedge, etc. Palps is saying that it's foolish of Luke to trust this task to them, and he was sorta right to a certain extent, considering that the Rebel fleet pretty much got shredded by the Death Star.

 

What do you mean he does not know about them?

Han Solo: A smuggler who has been chased by bounty hunters for years, constantly under the skin of the empire who prior to his actively joining the rebellion have been trying to catch him in the act of smuggling.

Princess Leia: Daughter of the ambassador of Alderan. I am pretty sure that the Emperor was aware of her growing up. She also became a political figure in her home world (effective politicians know everyone, especially those that rely upon the will of the force to coerce others to follow their will). Suspected by Darth Vader of being part of the rebellion even before the plans to the Death Star were beamed to her ship.

The Emperor probably knew more about Han and Leai than he knew about Luke.

And besides, the Emperor's statement didn't have much to do about character, but by his knowledge that he had the pitiful band vastly overwhelmed and had his troops just slaughtered the rebel band without mercy, the death star would not have been destroyed.

 

I am sure he knew of them. But when you are the Sovereign Ruler of trillions of sentient beings, one or two Rebels aren't constantly at the front of his mind.

He had ALOT of things to deal with and I doubt he had had much contact with Leia.

 

I would say squashing the rebel alliance was foremost on Sids mind.
He has had no serious challenge to his authority until them and the rebels
have continuously gained support during the saga so of course he is
paying attention to them. Given this he would know who their leader(s) is/are.
I am sure he is much more acquainted with intel on Leia than he is on Han of
course.

 

Note Palpatine also tells Luke his "friends on the Endor moon will not survive". It's highly unlikely Palpatine knows exactly who is on the moon - he only knows of Luke's presence through Vader - and so here he's equating "friends" with the Rebellion in general.

 

The emperor did not know much about Han? Vader sure did. He knew to go after the falcon in ESB. He also knew to round up bounty hunters who could help aid in the chase of him. I am sure that by ROTJ, the Emperor and Vader had done extensive research into the leaders of the rebellion.

the proper counter actually would have been that the Emperor may not have been aware that Han had been rescued....

 

I don't think the Emperor did "research."

I don't really get the impression that he was an active war leader. The Emperor was basically the highest level of authority, but most of the battle with the Rebels was happening in the Outer Rims, and its execution was almost surely delegated to his Moffs and his Pit Bull Vader.

Darth Vader had reason, however, to know of and search for Han. Han was part of the small clique located around his Public Enemy #1 Luke Skywalker.

To the Emperor of the Galaxy, most Rebels would have been little more than Gnats. Luke was the only one who captured Palpatine's attention.

I mean, look at Palpatine's call to Vader in ESB. He said, "We have a new enemy, Luke Skywalker!"

Well, hello! You have been fighting a Civil War with the Rebellion!

But, he doesn't consider any of it a threat, he only considers a new Jedi a threat.

Vader was different because he was basically Commander of the Military Forces and it was his job to know who was who and what was what. The Emperor, however, most likely sat around and meditated on the Force all day, and ordered people around on his peaceful Imperial Center, little concerned with a Civil War that was confined to the Boondocks of the Galaxy.

 

I always took it that Vader didn't know Luke wasn't onboard the Falcon. And even if he wasn't onboard, Vader would find it easier to follow a ship with the unique design of the Falcon rather than guessing what X-Wing Luke was flying. Capture the Falcon with Luke onboard would be a bonus, but if he wasn't onboard then he could easily use the occupants as bait to trap Luke.

 

The emperor does not do research?

Then how does he figure out that Anakin Skywalker bore a son?

The emperor does not take part in the daily operations of running the government and quasing the rebellion?

But wasn't he the one who let the plans to the Death Star leak to the rebellion, and wasn't he the one who set up the trap for the rebellion.

This man personally ran two wars in an effort to become supreme ruler of the galaxy. He craves power and will do anything to stop anyone who stands in his way. As Yoda said, "don't underestimate the emperor."

This man is a Sith lord, it sounds like you are equating him to our current government leaders

 

I think he knows enough about them to know that their loss would infuriate Luke and drive him towards the dark side. He's essentially using his friends against him.

 

its really quite simple. Luke trusts that his friends will complete the mission on Endor. Luke does not know that the emporor knows that his friends are on Endor and has sent troops to see to it that they will not succeed. Luke has faith in his friends and turned himself in- his weakness.

 

It's his compassion and love of his friends that could bring Luke to the Dark Side. In fact, that was what almost happened in TESB. He went to rescue them when he was unprepared, when Yoda and Ben told him that it wasn't necessary, and that, in the end, it was his friends who rescued him.

 

It was obviously a retort to "Soon I'll be dead and you with me." "It was me who..." "Your overconfidance is your weakness"

I don't think he meant any specific friends. I'm guessing that the people of the rebellion were all pretty friendly towards each other (Pre New Republic). I can't see ambition, greed, and underhandedness to be the dominant traits in a group of people whom are just a ragtag bunch on the run that most likely will find themselves killed sooner or later. It's easy to assume a small group like the Rebel alliance with one common goal would all consider each other "Friends."

I think by lumping the whole alliance in as his "Friends" the Emperor also would be suggesting that Luke was about to be friendless. This would give Luke a choice.....be all alone or make new more sithly friends.

Carnage