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[BocoDragon]

Let's step back and ask ourselves a question so basic about the nature of Star Wars that most of us have never thought to ask:

Why did Palpatine found the Empire?

What was his whole motivation that kicked off the central struggle of the entire core Star Wars saga?

Was it for Palpatine to live like a king? Wealth and women? It doesn't look like he enjoys the fruits of being a ruler at all. He sits in big sparse throne rooms with no earthly delights and only the company of guards. And I think it goes without saying that Palpatine is a very sexless character. He displayed no romantic affections as a Senator (he is an older man, but still no history of a love life evident). And as an old Emperor it's not hard to imagine that evil has shrivelled his manhood away. He's uninterested in power for the sake of sex.

I'm sure there is some Sith wisdom of having power for power's sake... But that's not enough for me. Is it the enjoyment of commanding the fates of millions? Is it just some old Sith ambition?

But why? What does Sheev get out it?? ... That's what I'm asking.

Is it there a motivation for the Empire that is implied on screen that I may have forgotten or missed? Was there a motivation in the old EU? I seem to remember some third party information that he formed the Empire to be able to head off the invasion of the Vong. I'd love to hear about that, even if it's no longer canon.

I always wondered if there were some ultimate motivation for the creation of the Empire that we have yet to discover. You need the galaxy under total control in order to do..... Something. Birth a Sith God or something? (I play too many jRPGs) Maybe the new films will explore that.

 

[nhlducks35]

Unlimited power

 

[BocoDragon]

Unlimited power

In order to do what? or feel gratification in what way?

We never see him getting pleasure out of commanding the Empire around. Everything is a means to an end to ensure that the Death Star is operational and in place. Everything seems to be a struggle for control... But I don't know why he wants control.

 

[xxracerxx]

He wanted women, so he followed the procedure:

First you get the money, then you get the power, then you get the women.

 

[Leynos]

It's a silly movie with a need for a baddie. Simple as that.

 

[XenodudeX]

To rule the galaxy. Why is this even a question?

 

[DragonSworne]

Because the prequels are terrible movies and should be de-cannonized.

 

[BocoDragon]

It's a silly movie with a need for a baddie. Simple as that.

That's obviously the real answer. But you know, these fictional mythologies eventually evolve and give meanings to questions like these.

I guess I'm asking... Is Palpatine's motivation known to us? Or is it as of yet unknown?

 

[Dictator93]

To achieve his final form

 

[watershed]

Because he's evil. Star Wars is a super simple morality play. Some characters are simply good, others simply bad. Then our protagonists experience conflict. Simple, classical storytelling.

 

[The Silver]

In order to do what? or feel gratification in what way?

We never see him getting pleasure out of commanding the Empire around. Everything is a means to an end to ensure that the Death Star is operational and in place. Everything seems to be a struggle for control... But I don't know why he wants control.

He's a sith, hes just following the "religion" he was indoctrinated in, kill the jedi and control the galaxy.

 

[danm999]

Movies and EU in Star Wars seem to portray Sith creed as advocating power and domination for its own sake, repeated by almost every Dark Lord in the history of the Galaxy.

Of course prepping the Galaxy for the Vong is interesting but a total retcon.

 

[Escape Goat]

What do all men with power want? More power.

/TheOracle

 

[jstripes]

Unlimited power

This.

Why does Trump want to be President? He's already got tons of money. He's already got women. He wants to be the boss of the USA.

 

[Sectorseven]

With the army of the republic and the will of the people on his side, he could ensure the Jedi would never rise to power again. Restructuring into an empire and ultimately building the death star meant no one could question his authority. If you recall, the Jedi were still attempting to reign him in even after he acquired his wartime powers. Also it probably saved him paperwork.

 

[BocoDragon]

To rule the galaxy. Why is this even a question?

So he can sit on a throne and look miserable?

He's not living it up as a king. He doesn't have a palace full of concubines. He doesn't display Sado-maschistic tendencies of finding pleasure in controlling others.

There's a motivation missing.

 

[Solid Samus]

in doing so he establishes order and control over the galaxy in such a way that it better enables the purging of jedi ideals, and any remaining living jedi, from the galaxy. he believes unwaveringly in the dark side of the force and wants to spread its influence. the creation of a sith-controlled empire allows for these things - and had been the goal of the sith long before palpatine, though there's little mention of that in the movies.

 

[Crimsonlink]

He wanted immortality since his Master Darth
Plageius or however you spell it could control midi whatevers to prolong his life. In the EU verse he had clones made of himself in case he died, which were sabotaged btw.

Creating the Empire let him experiment and find the answers he was looking for while keeping the jedi near the brink of extinction.

 

[Brakke]

He's a sith, hes just following the "religion" he was indoctrinated in, kill the jedi and control the galaxy.

No you're missing it. "Control" isn't an end. He's clearly constructed structure in which he has the ability to enforce basically any policy he wants to... but what policies does he want to pursue? And why?

Take it from the other side: why is there a Rebellion? What are the Rebels rebelling against? What was the Empire forcing them to do that they didn't want to do?

 

[NeoGiff]

So that WAAANNNNCE MOOOOAAAHHHH THE SITH WILL RUUUUUULE THE GALAXYYYYYY.

 

[boiled goose]

He thought that the Sith ideals are better. So he wanted to make the world better.


Sith allow for more individuality and freedom.

also, they can resurrect the dead.

 

[Angry Grimace]

For the Evulz of it all. Really. The Sith just want to do bad stuff because its bad.

 

[Chariot]

This.

Why does Trump want to be President? He's already got tons of money. He's already got women. He wants to be the boss of the USA.

Shouldn't we be glad that Trump didn't plan a deathstar yet?

 

[davepoobond]

so he could blow up planets

 

[MattKeil]

In order to do what? or feel gratification in what way?

We never see him getting pleasure out of commanding the Empire around. Everything is a means to an end to ensure that the Death Star is operational and in place. Everything seems to be a struggle for control... But I don't know why he wants control.

Palpatine's usurpation of complete galactic control is the ultimate realization of the most basic teaching of the Sith.


Peace is a lie, there is only passion.

Through passion, I gain strength.

Through strength, I gain power.

Through power, I gain victory.

Through victory, my chains are broken.

The Force shall free me.

 

[Lord of Castamere]

So he can sit on a throne and look miserable?

He's not living it up as a king. He doesn't have a palace full of concubines. He doesn't display Sado-maschistic tendencies of finding pleasure in controlling others.

There's a motivation missing.

Were Hitler and Stalin fucking all the women?

 

[BocoDragon]

Because he's evil. Star Wars is a super simple morality play. Some characters are simply good, others simply bad. Then our protagonists experience conflict. Simple, classical storytelling.

I see merit in that response.

But a central theme of the Star Wars saga is that you fall to evil through the pursuit of understandable human motivations (ie saving your wife from death)

What's Sheev's motivation for falling to evil?

He's a sith, hes just following the "religion" he was indoctrinated in, kill the jedi and control the galaxy.

Of course it could just be that. Indoctrinated to evil. Like someone raised in ISIS.

 

[Ishida]

Because the prequels are terrible movies and should be de-cannonized.

How do the prequels affect the question in any way?

 

[Rabbi_Vole]

For the title.

Dick-shit Palpitine doesn't quite roll off the tongue.

 

[Chris R]

To prepare the Galaxy for the Yuuzhan Vong obviously.

 

[Sectorseven]

No you're missing it. "Control" isn't an end. He's clearly constructed structure in which he has the ability to enforce basically any policy he wants to... but what policies does he want to pursue? And why?

Take it from the other side: why is there a Rebellion? What are the Rebels rebelling against? What was the Empire forcing them to do that they didn't want to do?

I believe the empire was confiscating planetary resources and imposing taxes at their leisure, among other things. They could and did kill pretty much anyone who even thought about complaining. It was long speculated by fans that the empire had a disdain for non human races and treated them accordingly.

 

[- J - D -]

"In Revenge of the Sith, McDiarmid played a darker interpretation 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." He admitted, "I've been trying to find a redeeming feature to Palpatine, and the only one I've got so far is that he's clearly a patron of the arts because he goes to the opera.""

 

[Solid Samus]

What's Sheev's motivation for falling to evil?

legacy. in establishing the empire, he's seeing to it that the ultimate goal of thousands of years of sith teaching comes into fruition. he's enabling a more thorough extermination of the jedi and their beliefs, and dismantling the order that allowed them to continue their teachings. he's giving himself the means by which to extend the influence of the dark side of the force throughout the galaxy, which in turn, only makes the living sith more powerful and capable.

well that's his motivation for establishing the empire far as I know anyways. i don't know and don't really care what brought him to the dark side to begin with, because in either trilogy he's already too far gone in all likelyhood and has given himself completely to the dark side.

 

[Rabbi_Vole]

Whyyyy are they called midichlorians? There's nothing artificial or electronic about them.

 

[Spieler Eins]

I prefer the times when the emperor was just some mysterious, corroded by evil being, instead of some dude whose face was burnt by Samuel Jackson.

 

[BocoDragon]

Were Hitler and Stalin fucking all the women?

Actually... was Stalin not? I never asked.

I think Hitler had ideological motivates to power. Sheev does not.. Or he hasn't stated them.

There could be some Sith motivation.... Keeping the inferior light side forces down for the Galaxy to operate properly?

so he could blow up planets

I would actually like that answer.

What if the Death Star was sold to the Imperial officers as a tool of political control... But It was really just the ultimate form of evil weapon in the universe, and Palpatine got his rocks off using it?

 

[Abounder]

At last we will have our revenge. That's about it from the movies but I'm sure the animated series went into more detail (artifacts?). Maybe the new prequels like Rogue One will get into more background for old Sheev, pehraps he's an agent of chaos ala Joker

 

[neogaffer1]

there was a fan theory about how there's some darker evil or some shit outside of the republic that palpatine saw and realized that a unified empire was needed to combat it. apparently in the old eu after the new republic is formed that other evil comes in and rekts shop, destroying coruscant and a bunch of other planets and enslaving a shitton of people and something about an uprising and i don't fucking know

tl;dr shit's gonna get fucked and palpatine wants to prevent that

 

[ghst]

sick of paying taxes.

 

[BocoDragon]

No you're missing it. "Control" isn't an end. He's clearly constructed structure in which he has the ability to enforce basically any policy he wants to... but what policies does he want to pursue? And why?

Take it from the other side: why is there a Rebellion? What are the Rebels rebelling against? What was the Empire forcing them to do that they didn't want to do?

These are questions that I'd love to know Lucasfilm has been asking themselves recently.

sick of paying taxes.

So he's like L. Ron Hubbard?

I'd believe it.

 

[Chariot]

sick of paying taxes.

This is now my head canon.

 

[Monocle]

Palpatine wanted dominion over the galaxy. His rule was all about enforcing order according to Sith ideals, which essentially amount to social Darwinism. The Empire was meant to be an eternal galactic dictatorship ruled by Palpatine.

A lot of the Extended Universe stuff is no longer canon, but there are still hints in the prequel trilogy that Palpatine was chasing immortality.

 

[danm999]

Palpatine's usurpation of complete galactic control is the ultimate realization of the most basic teaching of the Sith.


Peace is a lie, there is only passion.

Through passion, I gain strength.

Through strength, I gain power.

Through power, I gain victory.

Through victory, my chains are broken.

The Force shall free me.

Yep. In many ways the code of the Sith is a complete rejection of Jedi neutrality in the Old Republic, but it's also a hybrid of older philosophies like that of the Mandalorians that there is something innately worthy in the fight itself. I really don't think it's any coincidence that the Republic fought a huge war against the Mandalorians and the people leading that war turned into Sith based on what they saw and turned on the Republic.

That the Galaxy requires some sort of Darwinism to keep itself heathy in the Sith mind, on a societal level. You even see this in interpersonal relationships with the Sith. Killing your Master is seen as a necessary and meritous action - so long as you succeed - even though it's obviously supremely politically disruptive that the Sith fight each other. That way it is the strongest in charge.

 

[Strangelove77]

For reasons beyond our comprehension.

-George Lucas, probably

 

[MattKeil]

Actually... was Stalin not? I never asked.

I think Hitler had ideological motivates to power. Sheev does not.. Or he hasn't stated them.

There could be some Sith motivation.... Keeping the inferior light side forces down for the Galaxy to operate properly?

Power. The power to crush any opposition, to enforce Sith teachings upon the entire populace, and to gain the complete freedom to enact one's will upon any being in existence. The Sith are about gathering power to oneself and the use of power for selfish or self-interested reasons.

This is made very clear in both trilogies, and Vader subscribes to a similar ideology, as he relates to Luke while trying to tempt him into an alliance in Empire Strikes Back. "Join me, and together we can end this destructive conflict, and bring order to the galaxy!" A true believer and practitioner of the Sith believes that only the Sith deserve to rule, and only the Sith can bring proper order to the galaxy. And the Sith Lord that accomplishes the rule of the galaxy will have achieved the ultimate expression of the Sith philosophy.

"The Force will free me." Palpatine has the freedom to do anything he wants, unopposed. That's the point. That's why. Honestly the "Unlimited power" answer, while glib, was pretty much correct.

 

[Madness]

In order to do what? or feel gratification in what way?

We never see him getting pleasure out of commanding the Empire around. Everything is a means to an end to ensure that the Death Star is operational and in place. Everything seems to be a struggle for control... But I don't know why he wants control.

Why do dictators want to rule? History has shown most are eventually toppled in violent rebellion against them. Because it's the power. We don't get to see what Palpatine did with the power, mostly because the original trilogy lacks in that area since Lucas hadn't thought of it then and because it wasn't important to the story of Luke.

Literally ruling the galaxy as an emperor. Think of the lure of that, especially as a Sith lord. It's hard to see why because these days a lot of people question the purpose of life, but then what's the pleasure in anything? Why be a Jedi Knight or Master? What do you get? Why do we go to university, to get a job to earn money to spend on arbitrary consumer goods, risk our health etc.

 

[Sectorseven]

Take it from the other side: why is there a Rebellion? What are the Rebels rebelling against? What was the Empire forcing them to do that they didn't want to do?

Well you can see with Cloud City the Empire just showed up, took over everything and said Lando Should be happy they weren't doing even worse.

 

[shadyspace]

Was it an EU thing or some fan theory that it was to amass military might in the face of an upcoming threat from a neighboring galaxy or something?

 

[BocoDragon]

At last we will have our revenge. That's about it from the movies but I'm sure the animated series went into more detail (artifacts?). Maybe the new prequels like Rogue One will get into more background for old Sheev, pehraps he's an agent of chaos ala Joker

That's a really good point. That is one of the only lines to maybe address the motivation .

Just being an old Sith vs Jedi beef still just pushes the question of "why" backward. Why did they beef before? And what does Sheev personally get out of Sith payback?

(Btw I love how we've all embraced "Sheev")

 

[Toxi]

With a first name like Sheev, I'm not surprised he became a ruthless evil dictator.