Throughout Star Wars canon and even in Legends, we see Sheev Palpatine wield incredible power both in the political sphere and over the Dark Side of the Force. He is undoubtedly one of the most powerful Sith Lords in all of Star Wars, but just how did he become so powerful?
Here’s what you need to know.
Why is Palpatine So Powerful?
Palpatine wielded immense political power as a Senator and then Chancellor of the Republic and even rose to the position of Emperor. Furthermore, he secretly wielded devastating combat capabilities that allowed him to face off with some of the most powerful Force sensitives in canon. Here, we’ll go over how he got these formidable assets.
- His Aristocratic background
- His Formidable Intellect
- Unique Morality
- Dark Side Training and Mastery
- Prodigious Lightsaber Skills
- Unstoppable Ambition
#1 His Aristocratic Background
The first noteworthy thing about Palpatine was his heritage. House Palpatine was a noble family on his home planet of Naboo. Far from a normal upbringing, this afforded a young Sheev near invulnerability to the consequences of his actions, so much so that he actually got away scot-free after committing a double homicide as a child.
This immunity followed him throughout his youth and early in his political career.
It helped both to shape his mindset and ensure his safety from authorities until he became the authority. In the spirit of this power, he insisted his first name be dropped, as he desired only to be referred to as Palpatine.
#2 His Formidable Intellect
We see in Legends that despite a spate of expulsions from various institutions during his younger years, Palpatine still managed to finish his education, having received the best instruction available.
However, even without this top-tier education, Palpatine held a special intellect that gave him an edge in dealings with others.
That same intellect would feed into his innate feelings of superiority and cause him to double down on his self-glorifying ideology. During the period of his education, he also started to seek out and pour over Sith literature, using his family’s wealth to track down as much of it as he could.
As the Chancellor, he was exceptionally cunning, such as when he manipulated Fives into attacking him.
#3 Unique Morality
One characteristic of Palpatine that made him so powerful was his unique view of morality. Even as a child, this basically amounted to a complete rejection of morality and the expectations of others.
In Palpatine’s mind, these considerations were beneath him, and that freed him up to grasp for more power and do things others couldn’t.
His lack of a moral centre led him to seek out Sith teachings and to undermine his father’s political activities from within House Palpatine, among other things.
This latter action brought him to the attention of a prominent businessman and political financier, Hego Damask, the alter ego of the wise Darth Plagueis.
#4 Dark Side Training and Mastery
Palpatine was trained in the ways of the Sith and the mysteries of the Dark Side of the Force by Darth Plagueis, who had inherited the position of Dark Lord of the Sith in a direct succession line from Darth Bane.
This training was extensive, taking place on harsh worlds all over the galaxy and involving all sorts of physical and psychological torment.
During his training, Palpatine was forced to retell the murder of his family at his own hands over and over in excruciating detail, face starvation and debilitating cold on far-off worlds, and much more.
These trials forged a true Sith Lord out of the then merely narcissistic young boy.
Even then he still required the help of Vader and the Inquisitors to do his dirty work!
#5 Prodigious Lightsaber Skills
Palpatine was instructed in lightsaber combat as part of his training under Darth Plagueis. While the actual efficacy of Plagueis’ instruction is largely left to our imaginations in canon, the end results spoke for themselves.
Palpatine was a nearly unmatched lightsaber duelist, only bested by the unmatched Jedi Masters Windu and Yoda.
Palpatine was able to hold his own against multiple venerable Jedi Masters, but even more impressively, he held his own against multiple Sith opponents with far more aggressive fighting styles. This proficiency came from years of training in which Palpatine not only mastered all
forms of lightsaber combat but also did so ambidextrously.
#6 Unstoppable Ambition
Many Sith had similar temperaments and beliefs growing up, and some, like Dooku, even had the same noble pedigree. However, Palpatine’s ambition stood far above anything his contemporaries could muster.
This ambition drove him to go beyond the dreams of his Master and almost singlehandedly fulfil the Grand Plan that none had come close to realising in ages.
Conclusion
Palpatine’s formidable political and dark side powers play a crucial role in almost all of Star Wars media, from the original trilogy all the way to the Disney-led sequels.
In addition to his insidious personality, these traits have made him one of the most interesting and popular villains ever.
Palpatine only really finds himself overshadowed ever so slightly by his Sith apprentice Darth Vader and precious few others besides.
However, he did eventually lose to Rey, his granddaughter, and you can find out why here.
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