Palpatine
Sheev Palpatine is a fictional character and the main antagonist of the Star Wars franchise. He first appeared in the 1980 film The Empire Strikes Back as. He is also known by his Sith name, Darth Sidious, which was first used in the novelization of the 1999 film The Phantom Menace.
Palpatine appears in all three film trilogies in the Skywalker Saga, and is portrayed by Ian McDiarmid in all five films in which he physically appears. In the original trilogy, Palpatine is Emperor of the Galactic Empire and the master of Darth Vader. In the prequel trilogy, which chronicles his rise to emperor, Palpatine is a senator from the planet Naboo who plots to become Supreme Chancellor of the Galactic Republic. He masterminds the Clone Wars to turn the Republic into the Empire, destroys the Jedi Order, and manipulates Anakin Skywalker into becoming his apprentice, Darth Vader. In The Rise of Skywalker, the final film in the sequel trilogy, a resurrected Palpatine is revealed to be the grandfather of Rey, a Jedi-in-training who is the protagonist of the sequel trilogy. He is also the mastermind behind Snoke, whom he created to lead the First Order against the New Republic and seduce Skywalker's grandson, Ben Solo, into becoming Kylo Ren.
Palpatine's story was inspired by real-world examples of political strongmen and democratic backsliding during the rise and rule of dictators such as Julius Caesar, Napoleon Bonaparte, and Adolf Hitler. Since the release of the original trilogy, Palpatine has become a widely recognized symbol of evil in popular culture. Since the prequel trilogy, he has been a symbol of sinister deception and the subversion of democracy. In addition to the films, Palpatine appears in the series Clone Wars, The Clone Wars, Star Wars Rebels, The Bad Batch, Obi-Wan Kenobi and Star Wars: Tales. He also appears in Star Wars novels and comics.
Creation and development
Concept and writing
created the Star Wars franchise and the character Palpatine. His conceptualization of Palpatine and the role he plays in the franchise changed over time. Lucas's initial notes discuss a line of corrupt emperors, not just one. In the 1974 draft of Star Wars, the "New Galactic Empire" was led by a relatively young human named Cos Dashit. The name Palpatine first appears in the prologue of Alan Dean Foster's 1976 novelization of Star Wars, which details the Emperor's rise to power. From Return of the Jedi onwards, the Emperor became the ultimate personification of evil in the series. Though the films of the original Star Wars trilogy do not actually state the Emperor's name, the novelization of Return of the Jedi states his surname as Palpatine. He was given the first name Sheev in the 2014 novel Tarkin.During the story development of The Empire Strikes Back, Lucas decided that, with the original having only passingly mentioned the Emperor, he needed to "begin to deal with him on a more concrete level". Lucas realized, however, that the primary conflict with the Emperor would be best saved for the trilogy's third film, Return of the Jedi, because "hen you get rid of the Emperor, the whole thing is over." Discussing the character's importance to the story, Lucas stated that "In the end, the Emperor does exactly what did; he can also transform himself", referring to the ability to live after death through the Force. Although Palpatine dies at the end of Return of the Jedi, the plot point of his metamorphosis was utilized for the sequel trilogy, which Lucas had no direct involvement with.
In Return of the Jedi, the initial conception of Palpatine as a weak, isolated figurehead was superseded by his depiction as a dictatorial ruler adept in the dark side of the Force. The Emperor was inspired by the villain Ming the Merciless from the Flash Gordon comic books. The characterization of Palpatine as a ruthless politician dismantling a democratic republic to achieve supreme power was in part inspired by the real-world examples of democratic backsliding during the rise and rule of Julius Caesar, Napoleon Bonaparte, Alberto Fujimori, Ferdinand Marcos Sr., and Adolf Hitler. Other elements of the character come from Richard Nixon. Lucas said that Nixon's presidency "got me to thinking historically about how do democracies get turned into dictatorships. Because the democracies aren't overthrown; they're given away." Lucas also said, "The whole point of the movies, the underlying element that makes the movies work, is that you, whether you go backwards or forwards, you start out in a democracy, and democracy turns into a dictatorship, and then the rebels make it back into a democracy."
Lucas wanted to establish the Emperor as the true source of evil in Star Wars. Screenwriter Lawrence Kasdan noted, "My sense of the relationship between Darth Vader and the Emperor is that the Emperor is much more powerful... and that Vader is very much intimidated by him. Vader has dignity, but the Emperor in Jedi really has all the power." He explained that the climax of the film is a confrontation between Vader and his master. In the first scene that shows the Emperor, he arrives at the Death Star and is greeted by a host of stormtroopers, technicians, and other personnel. Lucas states he wanted it to look like the military parades on "May Day in Russia."
Lucas fleshed out the Emperor in the prequel trilogy. According to Lucas, Palpatine's role in The Phantom Menace is to explain "how Anakin Skywalker came to be Palpatine's apprentice" and the events that sparked Palpatine's rise to totalitarian power after being a senate representative. The film's novelization is the first time he is called Darth Sidious. His home world, Naboo, is also home to Anakin's romantic interest, Padmé Amidala, who later becomes a senator of that planet.
In the Lucasfilm-authorized Star Wars and History, Palpatine's consolidation of power is described as being similar to the first Roman emperor, Augustus. Both legitimized authoritarian rule by saying that corruption in the Senate was hampering the powers of the head of state; both pressured the Senate to grant extraordinary powers to deal with a crisis, falsely claiming that they would rescind those powers once the crisis was over; and both relied on their strong control over military force.
The director of The Rise of Skywalker, J. J. Abrams, stated of Palpatine's return from the dead that "when you look at this as nine chapters of a story, perhaps the weirder thing would be if Palpatine didn't return. You just look at what he talks about, who he is, how important he is, what the story is — strangely, his absence entirely from the third trilogy would be conspicuous".
Portrayal
When the Emperor first appeared in The Empire Strikes Back, he was portrayed by Marjorie Eaton under heavy makeup. Chimpanzee eyes were superimposed into darkened eye sockets during post-production. The character was voiced by Clive Revill. The makeup was sculpted by Phil Tippett and applied by Rick Baker, who initially used his own wife, Elaine, for the makeup tests."With Irvin Kershner| Kershner," Revill said, "you had to keep the reins tight — you couldn't go overboard. It was the perfect example of the old adage 'less is more' — the Emperor doesn't say very much. But when he finally appears, it's at a point in the saga when everyone's waiting to see him. It's the Emperor, the arch-villain of all time, and when he says there's a great disturbance in the Force, I mean, that's enough oomph!" Years later, during the production of Revenge of the Sith, Lucas decided to shoot new footage for The Empire Strikes Back to create continuity between the prequels and original trilogy. Thus, in the 2004 DVD release of The Empire Strikes Back Special Edition, the original version of the Emperor was replaced by Ian McDiarmid, and the dialogue between the Emperor and Darth Vader was revised.
Lucas and director Richard Marquand cast McDiarmid to play Emperor Palpatine for Return of the Jedi. He was in his late 30s and had never played a leading role in a feature film, though he had made minor appearances in films like Dragonslayer. Due to the large age difference between McDiarmid and his character, Lucas and Marquand had initially intended to dub over McDiarmid, but reversed course after hearing McDiarmid's distinctive voice. After Return of the Jedi, he resumed stage acting in London. In an interview with BackStage, McDiarmid revealed that he "never had his sights set on a film career" and never auditioned for the role of Palpatine. He elaborated, "I got called in for the interview after a Return of the Jedi casting director saw me perform in the Sam Shepard play Seduced at a studio theatre at the Royal Court. I was playing a dying Howard Hughes."
Palpatine's role in the prequel films required McDiarmid to portray two aspects of the same character. Recalling the initial days of shooting The Phantom Menace, McDiarmid stated, "Palpatine's an interesting character; he's conventional on the outside, but demonic on the inside — he's on the edge, trying to go beyond what's possible." McDiarmid added another layer to the character in Attack of the Clones. He said, " is a supreme actor. He has to be even more convincing than somebody who isn't behaving in a schizophrenic fashion, so he's extra charming, or extra professional — and for those who are looking for clues, that's almost where you can see them." McDiarmid reflected on the scene in which Padmé Amidala is almost assassinated:
In Revenge of the Sith, McDiarmid plays an even darker version of the character. He explained that "when you're playing a character of solid blackness, that in itself is very interesting, in the sense that you have no other motivation other than the accumulation of power. It's not so much about not having a moral center, it's just that the only thing that mattered is increasing power." McDiarmid asserted that everything Palpatine does "is an act of pure hypocrisy" and compared him to Iago, the villain of William Shakespeare's Othello.
McDiarmid noticed that the script for Revenge of the Sith demanded more action from his character than in previous films. Lightsaber combat was a challenge to the 60-year-old actor, who, like his costars, took fencing lessons. The close-up shots and non-acrobatic sequences of the duel between Palpatine and Mace Windu were performed by McDiarmid. Advanced fencing and acrobatic stunts were executed by McDiarmid's stunt doubles.
In The Rise of Skywalker, McDiarmid returned to the role onscreen for the first time since Revenge of the Sith. Ahead of the film's wide release, McDiarmid stated that Palpatine was "fairly physically impaired, but his mind is as sharp as ever".