Emperor Palpatine / Darth Sidioushas a well - establish reputation asStar Wars’greatest brain , but was he really ? Palpatine is amongStar Wars’most powerful Sith , and he has proven himself as a redoubtable opponent throughoutStar Warsmovies and TV shows . In fact , even when it seemed as though theStar Warssequel trilogy was travel in a different commission , there he was again , proving he had still been behind everything all along .

Palpatine ’s resurrectionand his longevity alone suggest he has take in his vicious mastermind reputation , yet I ’m not totally convinced he was quite as brilliant as he may seem . Yes , Palpatine managed to overturn the Republic , establish and predominate an imperium , and nearly extirpate the Jedi , but there was plenty outside his ascendancy or his plans that made his ascent to power possible . Palpatine may have had an ingenious plan , but several other factors made his power grab so much easier .

Anakin’s Entire Relationship With Padmé Was A Stroke Of Luck For Palpatine

This Was Precisely What Palpatine Needed To Turn Anakin Skywalker

Anakin Skywalker ’s fall to the benighted side was key to Palpatine ’s plan , and Anakin ’s touch sensation for Padmé made that so much easier . In fact , Anakin ’s reverence about lose Padmé made him all susceptible to Palpatine ’s manipulation , and his reoccurring nightmares about Padmé die are among the mostdefining minute in Anakin ’s fall to the dark-skinned side . While opinions vary regarding how much influence Palpatine had over these fate — I , for one , believe Palpatine plant these nightmares in Anakin ’s mind — Palpatine was incredibly lucky that Anakin fell for Padmé in the first piazza .

Palpatine was improbably favorable that Anakin settle for Padmé in the first place .

Even if Palpatine did influence Anakin ’s fears about Padmé buy the farm , Palpatine did n’t directly get Anakin to fall in love with Padmé , and that ended up being the one thing that scared him enough to drive him to the dark side . Although his mother ’s dying nearly get him there , as the slaughter of the Tusken Raiders made well-defined , it was his ( possessive ) love for Padmé and unfitness to ever let her go that made Anakin uncoerced to rat the Jedi , link Palpatine , and kill younglings . In the destruction , this was really a stroke of luck for Palpatine .

Luke Skywalker in The Book of Boba Fett in the middle, Mace Windu wielding his lightsaber to the left, and Palpatine wielding his lightsaber to the right

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The Jedi Council Just Kept Making The Dumbest Decisions

The Jedi Made Countless Mistakes In The Prequels

In summation to Anakin ’s love for Padmé being rather convenient for Palpatine , the Jedi Council consistently made bewildering choices that helped Palpatine in his rise to top executive . One of these was really the choice to have Anakin go to Naboo with Padmé alone , which only bear on him further into loving her . Why they would send a youthful Jedi , specially one who already struggled with attachment and had a light calf love on Padmé , on this mission has n’t been explained , but it undoubtedly impart to Palpatine ’s plans .

Beyond this , the Jedi did n’t hesitate to rise into the Clone Wars once they started , despite being peacekeepers , andthat include accept an army of ringer under extremely doubtful circumstances . This of row run horribly awry with Order 66 , and that was made so much easier ( if not made totally potential ) by the Jedi ’s willingness to join the war . Even outside this misstep by the Jedi , the edict and especially the Jedi Council had become far too involve in political relation . All of that made Palpatine ’s path to great power so much soft .

The Jedi did n’t hesitate to jump into the Clone Wars once they begin , despite being peacekeepers .

Sidious, Tyranus, Maul, and Vader.

Palpatine Lost (Badly) As Soon As He Had A Real Challenge

Not Only Luke Skywalker But Also The Rebellion Brought An End To Palpatine’s Reign

Anakin ’s attachment to Padmé and the Jedi Council ’s legion poor decisions throughout the prequel trilogy era all made Palpatine ’s way to index quite a bit easier , which raises questions about how truly genius Palpatine was . Palpatine was still impressively strategic throughout this era , and it ’s clear that he wielded immense power , but it was n’t as though he was meeting impedance at every bit . In many ways , the Jedi and the Republic played right into Palpatine ’s hands .

In many means , the Jedi and the Republic played aright into Palpatine ’s hand .

What urinate this all the more interesting is that , when faced with true resistivity , Palpatine lose fairly atrociously . It did n’t really take all that much for Luke to defeat Palpatine , particularly because Palpatine massively underrate how much Darth Vader would feel affiliated to his son , even in light of all that had happened . Not only from a strategic standpoint but also from a physical one — Darth Vader really just pluck him up and spue him — Palpatine was n’t that hard to beat .

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Star Warshas also progressively shown how major a threat the Rebellion show to be , even early on . Palpatine had plenty of cause for business throughoutStar Wars : The Bad Batch , Star Wars Rebels , andAndor . This is n’t to say Palpatine was n’t brilliant ; he surely was . However , there ’s meaning grounds thatEmperor Palpatine / Darth Sidioushad plenty of ( accidental ) help on his path to power inStar Wars .

Palpatine in Revenge of the Sith and Jedi from the prequels in the background

Custom Image by Ana Nieves

Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker standing before the Jedi Council in Attack of the Clones

Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) looks down at his clenched fist while standing over a defeated Darth Vader in Return of the Jedi

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Emperor Palpatine/Darth Sidious

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