Page 75 - Star Wars Insider #188

The Emperor

• • •

In the 1970s and 1980s,
the tyrannical ruler of the Star
Wars galaxy had no further
appellation. Though his surname
“Palpatine” was mentioned in the
novelizations, as was his former
offi ce of senator, few but the most
ardent fans paid it much regard.
The characters in the trilogy only
referred to him by his royal title,
and the fi lms did not delve into
who he was or where he had
come from. The Emperor was
simply the Emperor: the baddest
of the bad guys, the devil of the
dark side, the ultimate symbol of
evil in the universe.
The prequel trilogy, however,
demystifi ed the saga’s greatest
villain, depicting Palpatine not as
a one-dimensional monster, but
as a multi-faceted character. First
introduced as the senator from
Naboo in Star Wars: The Phantom
Menace (1999), Palpatine’s
evil stems from a very human
ambition for power and the
decisions he makes to acquire it.
“What these fi lms deal with is the
fact that we all have good and
evil inside of us and that we can
choose which way we want the
balance to go,” writer-director
George Lucas told interviewer
Bill Moyers at the time of the
fi lm’s release. Lucas is saying that
evil is not a raw, elemental force:
it is a choice. And Palpatine’s
choices are nothing less than
steps in a master plan to control
the galaxy.