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An in-depth look at: Sidious' Death


Aurbere

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So here is the third installment of An in-depth look. The previous two seemed to do fairly well so I think I'll continue the series with an in-depth look at Sidious' death.

 

There's been some grumblings around the forums about this topic. The usual thing I hear is "If this guy's so powerful, how'd he get killed by a half dead man?". So I thought I would shed some light on the subject using this forum series. I will also cover Sidious' final death as well.

So let's put ourselves in Sidious' shoes.

 

Sidious was the most powerful being in the galaxy. His Empire spanned the entire galaxy and he had crushed the Jedi Order underfoot. His mighty Death Star was almost complete. He had an entire legion of his best troops planet-side to destroy the insignificant rebel forces that planned on destroying the shield generator. His Imperial Fleet was about to crush the insignificant Rebel fleet that dared to stand against him. And here was the son of Skywalker, writhing in pain. The last of the Jedi was about to fall to the Sith. He would make sure Skywalker suffered at his hand. The Emperor was invincible and no one could touch him.

 

But he failed to realize that the same emotion he used to turn Anakin to the Dark Side would be his undoing. Darth Vader's love for his son gave him the strength to turn away from the Dark Side and destroy the Sith. Caught completely unaware by this treachery, the Emperor is hurled into a reactor shaft and, within seconds, his body is destroyed. His overconfidence was his weakness.

 

But this wasn't the end of the mighty Darth Sidious. The great Sith Lord had one last card to play. Hidden away, a secret cloning lab held several clones of the Emperor. His energy then transferred to one of these bodies and the once dead Sith Lord returned with more power than ever. By the time the Emperor returned to the galactic stage, the son of Skywalker had become a Jedi Master with power that would rival the Sith Lord. But even Luke Skywalker could not stop the ultimate manifestation of the Dark Side and it would take some time for the jedi to defeat him. Their final confrontation would see the end of Darth Sidious. When his body was destroyed by Han Solo, his spirit attempted to possess the newborn Anakin Solo, only to be intercepted by the dying Empatojayos Brand. His spirit bound to the dying Jedi could only curse the Skywalker's as his spirit was dragged to the depths of the Force. Darth Sidious was dead.

 

As the epitome of the Rule of Two and the greatest Sith Lord to exist, Darth Sidious commanded the Dark Side like none before him and will always be remembered as the greatest Sith Lord to ever exist. But how did he die? His spirit was 'stuck', lor lack of a better word, with Brand. There was nothing more he could do as the process of essence transfer could not be stopped. Beforehand he would transfer to clone bodies, but the rest of his clones were gone. The clones had no personality- no essense- to re-write, allowing easier possession. But the possession of a living subject would require time and since Brand didn't have that kind of time, his spirit was taken with Brand's into the depths of the Force.

 

I hope this clears things up for those of you who maybe didn't see it this way. And for those who did know about all of this, I hope it was an interesting read.

 

If anyone has any suggestions for a future thread, feel free to message me.

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So here is the third installment of An in-depth look. The previous two seemed to do fairly well so I think I'll continue the series with an in-depth look at Sidious' death.

 

There's been some grumblings around the forums about this topic. The usual thing I hear is "If this guy's so powerful, how'd he get killed by a half dead man?". So I thought I would shed some light on the subject using this forum series. I will also cover Sidious' final death as well.

So let's put ourselves in Sidious' shoes.

 

Sidious was the most powerful being in the galaxy. His Empire spanned the entire galaxy and he had crushed the Jedi Order underfoot. His mighty Death Star was almost complete. He had an entire legion of his best troops planet-side to destroy the insignificant rebel forces that planned on destroying the shield generator. His Imperial Fleet was about to crush the insignificant Rebel fleet that dared to stand against him. And here was the son of Skywalker, writhing in pain. The last of the Jedi was about to fall to the Sith. He would make sure Skywalker suffered at his hand. The Emperor was invincible and no one could touch him.

 

But he failed to realize that the same emotion he used to turn Anakin to the Dark Side would be his undoing. Darth Vader's love for his son gave him the strength to turn away from the Dark Side and destroy the Sith. Caught completely unaware by this treachery, the Emperor is hurled into a reactor shaft and, within seconds, his body is destroyed. His overconfidence was his weakness.

 

But this wasn't the end of the mighty Darth Sidious. The great Sith Lord had one last card to play. Hidden away, a secret cloning lab held several clones of the Emperor. His energy then transferred to one of these bodies and the once dead Sith Lord returned with more power than ever. By the time the Emperor returned to the galactic stage, the son of Skywalker had become a Jedi Master with power that would rival the Sith Lord. But even Luke Skywalker could not stop the ultimate manifestation of the Dark Side and it would take some time for the jedi to defeat him. Their final confrontation would see the end of Darth Sidious. When his body was destroyed by Han Solo, his spirit attempted to possess the newborn Anakin Solo, only to be intercepted by the dying Empatojayos Brand. His spirit bound to the dying Jedi could only curse the Skywalker's as his spirit was dragged to the depths of the Force. Darth Sidious was dead.

 

As the epitome of the Rule of Two and the greatest Sith Lord to exist, Darth Sidious commanded the Dark Side like none before him and will always be remembered as the greatest Sith Lord to ever exist. But how did he die? His spirit was 'stuck', lor lack of a better word, with Brand. There was nothing more he could do as the process of essence transfer could not be stopped. Beforehand he would transfer to clone bodies, but the rest of his clones were gone. The clones had no personality- no essense- to re-write, allowing easier possession. But the possession of a living subject would require time and since Brand didn't have that kind of time, his spirit was taken with Brand's into the depths of the Force.

 

I hope this clears things up for those of you who maybe didn't see it this way. And for those who did know about all of this, I hope it was an interesting read.

 

If anyone has any suggestions for a future thread, feel free to message me.

 

I name you, historian on the swtor website!!!

 

All hail the historian!

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Thak you both! :)

 

I'm glad that these threads are getting positive feedback. Thank you. :)

 

I'd like to note that I don't so research for these threads. Everything is based off of my knowledge of Star Wars and the Star Wars canon. So to have great feedback on these threads tells me I'm doing something right. Thank you again.

Edited by Aurbere
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Very well written and informative, good work my friend.

 

Thank you very much. I try to keep this thread series informative.

 

*You have earned the rank of Historian on the SW:TOR forums!*

 

Thank you good sir!

Edited by Aurbere
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This was a Very Nice and informative read - I know very little about post ROTJ Star Wars so I learned a few things here :)

 

One Thing that I've always found Interesting - is that people always use Sidious killing Vader with Force Lightning as proof of Vader's Extreme Vulnerability to it - However the Scene itself to me Shows Vader has a bit of RESISTANCE to it....

 

There is not One person that I have seen - that is actually HIT by Sidious' Lightning - that is not immediately Stunned, Knocked Back or Writhing in Agony ASIDE from Vader..... Even Yoda or Mace (Who was killed by it too - the ROTS novel seems to Indicate that Mace Was dead from the lightning before the impact of the fall)

Vader manged to pick Sidious up - Walk with Him While Receiveing a Constant barage of Lightning and then Throw him Down the Shaft....

Anybody else in that Situation would have Probably Spasmed (lost all control of thier motor functions) and Dropped Sidious as Soon as the lightning Touched them - Yes Vader died afterwards but Many would been killed Instantly by the Lightning itself long before that......(to even tell their Son that he redeemed them :p)

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This was a Very Nice and informative read - I know very little about post ROTJ Star Wars so I learned a few things here :)

 

One Thing that I've always found Interesting - is that people always use Sidious killing Vader with Force Lightning as proof of Vader's Extreme Vulnerability to it - However the Scene itself to me Shows Vader has a bit of RESISTANCE to it....

 

There is not One person that I have seen - that is actually HIT by Sidious' Lightning - that is not immediately Stunned, Knocked Back or Writhing in Agony ASIDE from Vader..... Even Yoda or Mace (Who was killed by it too - the ROTS novel seems to Indicate that Mace Was dead from the lightning before the impact of the fall)

Vader manged to pick Sidious up - Walk with Him While Receiveing a Constant barage of Lightning and then Throw him Down the Shaft....

Anybody else in that Situation would have Probably Spasmed (lost all control of thier motor functions) and Dropped Sidious as Soon as the lightning Touched them - Yes Vader died afterwards but Many would been killed Instantly by the Lightning itself long before that......(to even tell their Son that he redeemed them :p)

 

Exactly. Even Yoda was knocked back from the blast of Sidious' Force Lightning. Granted the Lightning coursing through Vader wasn't the most powerful Lightning he could summon, but it was enough to torture Luke Skywalker. Had Vader been weak to Lightning, it would have no doubt killed him. He was already weakened from the duel with Luke Skywalker, the Lightning would have killed him had he been weak to it.

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Exactly. Even Yoda was knocked back from the blast of Sidious' Force Lightning. Granted the Lightning coursing through Vader wasn't the most powerful Lightning he could summon, but it was enough to torture Luke Skywalker. Had Vader been weak to Lightning, it would have no doubt killed him. He was already weakened from the duel with Luke Skywalker, the Lightning would have killed him had he been weak to it.

 

Hm? Wasn't it stated, that Sidious amped up his force lighting to full power? Or that he turned up the intesity when he was picked up.

 

"Now young Skywalker...you will die."

 

*Zap, zap, zap*

 

Then he gets picked up while still blasting the full force of his lighting.

Edited by Wolfninjajedi
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Hm? Wasn't it stated, that Sidious amped up his force lighting to full power? Or that he turned up the intesity when he was picked up.

 

"Now young Skywalker...you will die."

 

*Zap, zap, zap*

 

Then he gets picked up while still blasting the full force of his lighting.

 

I'm not sure. Although he didn't have a whole lot of time to react. Hence him not doing anything, like Force flight, to escape the reactor shaft. Perhaps he believed that his Lightning would stop Vader. I don't think it is confirmed if he turned up the intensity or not. It doesn't really matter though. Vader survived the Lightning blast anyway.

 

EDIT: I did some quick research on the Star Wars wiki and it didn't say whether or not his lightning increased in power or not. But it doesn't really matter. The fact remains that the Lightning didn't knock him back or kill him outright like many before him.

Edited by Aurbere
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I'm not sure. Although he didn't have a whole lot of time to react. Hence him not doing anything, like Force flight, to escape the reactor shaft. Perhaps he believed that his Lightning would stop Vader. I don't think it is confirmed if he turned up the intensity or not. It doesn't really matter though. Vader survived the Lightning blast anyway.

 

EDIT: I did some quick research on the Star Wars wiki and it didn't say whether or not his lightning increased in power or not. But it doesn't really matter. The fact remains that the Lightning didn't knock him back or kill him outright like many before him.

 

Hm, don't the more powerful blasts of lighting shown the victims skeleton? Did so with Mace and Anakin, so that could imply that he turned up the volume. But anyway, ya regardless Vader survived from the throne room all the way down to the hanger bay on a moon sized battle station.

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So this whole cloning lab thing is that considered canon or expanded universe non canon. i only heard of the clone bodies things a few years ago and have always wondered.

 

The rebirth of Darth Sidious is considered canon as it was cleared by George Lucas. It is in the realm of C-canon which is just below the movies and TCW. Anything in books or comics that doesn't infringe upon the movie canon is C-canon.

 

To put it simply, the rebirth is canon.

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Hm, don't the more powerful blasts of lighting shown the victims skeleton? Did so with Mace and Anakin, so that could imply that he turned up the volume. But anyway, ya regardless Vader survived from the throne room all the way down to the hanger bay on a moon sized battle station.

 

Vader survivng that blast shows how strong he really is and that he isn't really weak to Lightning. Then to have to make his way from the throne room to the hangar bay shows his incredible fortitude.

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The rebirth of Darth Sidious is considered canon as it was cleared by George Lucas. It is in the realm of C-canon which is just below the movies and TCW. Anything in books or comics that doesn't infringe upon the movie canon is C-canon.

 

To put it simply, the rebirth is canon.

 

It wasn't only cleared but suggested by George Lucas that Emperor Palpatine comes back, before that they were going to do Vader, but as I said, Lucas denied it and suggested Palpatine instead, which they immediately went with.

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It wasn't only cleared but suggested by George Lucas that Emperor Palpatine comes back, before that they were going to do Vader, but as I said, Lucas denied it and suggested Palpatine instead, which they immediately went with.

 

Having Palpatine come back is a much better idea than having vader come back. Vader was redeemed so there is really no chance of him coming back for some quest for revenge. Palpatine's rebirth makes more sense.

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The rebirth of Darth Sidious is considered canon as it was cleared by George Lucas. It is in the realm of C-canon which is just below the movies and TCW. Anything in books or comics that doesn't infringe upon the movie canon is C-canon.

 

To put it simply, the rebirth is canon.

 

Only in the EU is it canon. He is killed and gone forever in the film universe.

 

"Once Vader dies, he doesn't come back to life, the Emperor doesn't get cloned and Luke doesn't get married." - Lucas, 2008

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Only in the EU is it canon. He is killed and gone forever in the film universe.

 

"Once Vader dies, he doesn't come back to life, the Emperor doesn't get cloned and Luke doesn't get married." - Lucas, 2008

 

That's why it is C-Canon. Which is the EU.

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Vader survivng that blast shows how strong he really is and that he isn't really weak to Lightning. Then to have to make his way from the throne room to the hangar bay shows his incredible fortitude.

 

Maybe it is also because he was aiming the lightning at Luke, and when Darth Vader picked him up, he was not able to redirect the full power to Darth Vader, actually Vader just took the lightning zapping around everywhere. However this doesn't mean that it isn't a great effort that he still survived all the way to the hangar.:eek:

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Maybe it is also because he was aiming the lightning at Luke, and when Darth Vader picked him up, he was not able to redirect the full power to Darth Vader, actually Vader just took the lightning zapping around everywhere. However this doesn't mean that it isn't a great effort that he still survived all the way to the hangar.:eek:

 

I'll have to watch ROTJ again, but again, Vader surviving even a small amount of lightning in his condition shows that he isn't vulnerable to it.

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