Palpatine’s Tale

Revenge of the Sith

“Did you ever hear the tragedy of Darth Plagueis the Wise?”

And so begins the most powerful conversation in the Skywalker Saga. The moment that Palpatine begins to twist the knife in his plan to make Anakin Skywalker his new apprentice and create the Galactic Empire.

Ian MacDiarmid leaves it all on the field, delivering one of the most sinister scenes in the saga. I mean, the guy pulls out three evil head turns in the space of two minutes!

It’s George Lucas’ most well written scene, with the story of Plagueis having obvious appeal to Anakin, the young Jedi fearful that his wife will die in childbirth. “He could even stop people… from dying [insert evil head turn No.2].” Palpatine knew which buttons to press and Anakin’s willingness to listen is totally earned and believable.

Jedi are meant to be stoic and while Anakin attempts to keep the barriers up to block out temptation, Palpatine’s words are simply too incisive. Once again, Jedi hubris is clouding their judgement and Palpatine’s having a field day.

Anakin: “Is it possible to learn this power?”
Palpatine: “Not from a Jedi”

And that is Palpatine’s home run hit, with bases loaded. His plan is coming to fruition and the endgame is afoot. The story of Darth Plagueis has hooked Anakin and while we can see the obvious manipulation, the Jedi are once again on the backfoot to follow the trend set out over the entirety of the Prequel Trilogy.

Oh, and the ‘bubble show’ in the background? It’s a Mon Calamari play called Squid Lake, playing in the Galaxies Opera House and it makes for a perfect backdrop to the conversation with it’s melancholy colours lighting only one half of the characters faces for the majority of the tale.