Palpatine's Folly: The Mistakes that Defeated Star Wars' Evil Emperor
Non-fiction - by Andrew Nickerson
In the Star Wars franchise, there is no greater epitome of evil than Darth Sideous, AKA Emperor Palpatine, the Dark Lord of the Sith. Sneaky, cunning, a fiendish swordsman, and Dark Side leviathan, this demonically manipulative figure is a puppet master who curls others around his fingers, then disposes of them when they’re of no further use. Responsible for untold deaths across nine movies, Palpatine is a galactic-level parasite whose name’s mere mention strikes fear into the hearts of all, making him one of the most famously destructive villains in entertainment history. Seeing his final end in Episode IX no doubt brought a sigh of relief to an entire galaxy…or what’s left of it following his Final Order.
However, despite the volume of hyperboles Palpatine’s accumulated, one thing can’t be denied: he’s a terrible leader. Between his ruthless arrogance, constant underestimation of others, recklessness, and cold-blooded immorality, he constantly ruins his own plans, making him his own worst enemy. To that extent, he’s no different from any other Sith since, as Anakin Skywalker says in Episode III, “They think inwards, only about themselves.” That same selfish, often paranoid approach is a contributing factor to every Sith’s death, including Palpatine’s. Let’s break his downfall into the individual points which doomed a coup, nearly killed a second (and himself) before it succeeded, and then ruined two successive empires, explaining the meaning of each failure as it happened.
1. Underestimating Padme Amidala
“Queen Amidala is young and naïve. You will find controlling her will not be difficult.” Palpatine’s prophecy about Naboo’s ruler in Episode I would come back to haunt him, courtesy of her genius plan that crushed his Trade Federation partners and nearly killed his first apprentice, Darth Maul. He did become Chancellor as a result, but his attempts to use the chaos on the planet were no longer viable.
2. Underestimating Jedi Intuition
Palpatine’s new plan was admittedly brilliant: have new apprentice Darth Tyrannus, AKA Count Dooku, use his wealth and the alias of a dead Jedi master to create an ultra-obedient clone army on Kamino, delete all mention of the planet from the Jedi archives via his old connections, and then forge a separatist movement to cause the threat of civil war that would give Palpatine emergency powers to use the army to defend the galaxy. However, the plan was almost completely undone by Dooku’s attempts to silence Padme, who was trying to stop a current bill to form such an army, through the clones’ genetic origin, bounty hunter Jango Fett. The latter’s use of a toxic dart from Kamino led the Jedi to uncover the deleted files, the clones’ existence, and the presence of Dooku on Geonosis. The resulting battle nearly killed Dooku, who was carrying the Death Star’s plans with him. If they’d been captured, the coup would have been decapitated before it got off the ground.
3. Dismissing Jedi abilities
Despite Palpatine’s confidence that he was concealed, many Jedi masters sensed his plot against them. His arrogance nearly got him killed twice in Episode III (first by Mace Windu, then by Yoda), which would’ve stopped his new empire before it started. That arrogance also enabled many Jedi to go into hiding, enabling them to continue the struggle.
4. Underestimating Galen Erso
Palpatine’s wish for a terror weapon, AKA the Death Star, led him to trust Director Crennic with creating a worthy main armament for it. Crennic didn’t realize Erso, the engineer chosen for the task, had no intention of helping the Empire. Erso feigned compliance, allowing him the leeway to plant the exposed exhaust port that would eventually destroy the Death Star.
5. Dissolving the Imperial Senate
Tarkin’s suggestion to permanently dissolve the Imperial Senate, the last true element of the Old Republic, while giving regional governors direct control over their territories and using fear of the Death Star to keep systems in line was a bold move. However, it hinged on the Death Star’s continued existence. When the Rebel Alliance destroyed the station, Palpatine could no longer maintain order, fatally weakening his control.
6. Letting Vader pursue Luke
Darth Vader’s obsession with tracking down his son led him to force the Rebel Alliance to flee Hoth. He then sent his entire fleet after the Millennium Falcon, forcing it to search in an asteroid field, severely damaging multiple ships, and set up the trap in Cloud City. The latter move earned the rebels a new ally in Lando Calrissian and was frustrated by R2’s fixing the Falcon’s broken hyperdrive so it could slip away. Because Vader wasn’t restrained and sent after the dangerously vulnerable Rebel fleet, the Alliance survived to set up the final showdown.
7. Underestimating the Ewoks
Palpatine’s attempt to trap the Alliance by letting them know the new Death Star’s shield generator was on Endor was brilliant, but his declaration to Luke that “it is quite safe from your pitiful little band” because of “the entire legion of his best troops” was premature. He clearly thought the native Ewoks were no threat, a fatal underestimation of the lovable characters who helped the Rebel strike team take down the generator and wipe out those “best troops.”
8. Not ordering the Imperial fleet to attack the Rebel fleet in tandem with the Death Star
Palpatine seems to have assumed the Rebels would sit still and let him destroy their forces with the Death Star’s super laser, courtesy of his fleet’s hemming them in. However, by not having his fleet attack, he hamstrung his own forces and prevented them from delivering any decisive blows. Lando exploited this failure by having the fleet engage the Imperial forces at point-blank range, stopping the Death Star from attacking because it couldn’t do so without hitting its own ships. Moreover, by forcing the Alliance into a place where there was no surrender or retreat, the Rebels were forced to fight at their maximum effectiveness, neutralizing Palpatine’s numbers and firepower.
9. Underestimating Luke’s effect on Vader
After rejecting Palpatine’s temptation to kill Vader and replace him, the emperor unleashed the Dark Side on him, thinking he could at least claim one victory. Unfortunately, he forgot Yoda’s Episode III prophecy: “Faith in your new apprentice, misplaced maybe.” Hearing the pleas from his dying son, Anakin broke out of the darkness and fulfilled that prophecy by killing Palpatine, even though it cost the former his life.
10. Underestimating the effect of his immoral behavior with the First Order
The cruel demonizing of the galaxy, courtesy of twisting Ben Solo into Kylo Ren and launching an entirely new empire, backfired on him when the latter tried to find piece of the route to the missing Luke Skywalker. Seeing so much evil vented on others had already created the Resistance, but on Jakku it earned it some new allies in Rey and Finn, who would go on to be among the greatest heroes of the new generation.
11. Assuming Starkiller base would achieve total domination
As horrifically potent as this latest super weapon was, the Resistance was able to destroy it, leveling the playing field and destroying an enormous amount of war materiel, officers, and First Order prestige. This battle was also where Rey’s Force power awakened, turning her into a potential new Jedi.
12. Believing Snoke would be enough to kill the Resistance and turn Rey
The Resistance suffered heavy losses in their flight in Episode VIII, but Rey’s good heart managed to briefly crack Palpatine’s hold on Ben, allowing him to ambush and kill Snoke. Holdo’s kamikaze attack destroyed an enormous part of the pursuit fleet and let Finn kill Captain Phasma, crippling the First Order’s command and control structure and costing them even more resources.
13. Underestimating Rey’s effect on Luke
When Rey left to try to save Ben, Luke was left in turmoil, which Yoda’s spirit used to finally knock some sense into his wayward former student. Luke used the Force to save the Resistance by distracting Kylo, knowing his nephew (and Palpatine by proxy) couldn’t resist the urge to fight him. The notorious trickster fell for his own tactics and failed once again.
14. Underestimating the potency of Leia and Rey’s love for Ben, the latter via their Force Diode
Palpatine’s evil will was great, but Leia’s sacrificing herself to break his hold on Kylo, combined with Rey’s confession of wanting to take Ben’s hand, permanently shattered the Sith Lord’s grip. It was also what helped Ben save Rey later by following her to Exegol, where his own love for her helped break Palpatine’s temptation to let him use her body in exchange for sparing the Resistance.
15. Not learning from his past failures using Force Lightning on a lightsaber
Eager for life, Palpatine greedily drained the Force from the Diode to make himself anew, completely forgetting he had no clones left, and chose to mock Rey when the spirits of past Jedi gave her the strength to rise. He blasted her with Force Lightning, not having learned his lesson back when first Mace and later Yoda used their lightsabers to reflect the energy back at him. Rey used two lightsabers to share the power load and finally killed the wayward Sith Lord.
As powerful as Palpatine was, he proved himself a reckless, arrogant, foolish tyrant who failed as often as he succeeded. No matter how evil he was or how much power he claimed, his defeat grew more certain with each catastrophic mistake, and his fall was one of the most satisfying defeats of a villain in the franchise’s history. His death also crushed the entire Sith population of Exegol, wiping out his fanatical followers. The galaxy will be able to sleep in peace for quite some time, with a new group of prospective Jedi (Rey, Finn, and Poe) ready to crush the Dark Side should it rise again.