Welcome, ladies and gentlemen! A little information about me: I was born in 1972, an art school graduate, and currently the owner of my own architectural rendering business. I've been a Star Wars fan since 1980, and while I've been collecting things concerning the GFFA since that time, it blossomed with the new wave of Star Wars publishing that began in 1991. My collection of books alone now fills two large bookshelves. I used to collect toys and action figures as well, but that's really slowed down in recent years. I still went to the midnight Toys'R'Us opening for the Revenge of the Sith toys. Why? For the experience.

I've been making my own chronologies and encyclopedias since the early 1990s. In fact, I ended up having a very small hand in the Star Trek Chronology, since the book's writers put my name in the Acknowledgements section. My baby in recent years, which rose out of my interest in All Things Palpatine (I had a few TFN forums with that title), has been an in-universe biography of the Emperor and a history of his Empire, in the manner of William Shirer's Rise and Fall of the Third Reich and Edvard Radzinsky's Stalin. But these were things I did for myself; I had no real means to share them with anyone but my friends.

In September 2005, that changed: I took notice of the Wookieepedia. Late one evening (7 September 2005), I decided to dip my feet in the site and start writing. For one day, I was known only as 67.8.87.158, mostly throwing up facts about Ulric Tagge, until I figured out how to name myself on this thing. Now I'm identifiable (and I used my real name because I hate pseudonyms even when I have to use them), and hopefully here to stay, ready to use my book collection for the common good. The rest of the prominent writers have made me feel welcome, and we're all here for a common goal.

What's the goal? At the outset, just an online encyclopedia. But I think that the Star Wars Wikipedia has a tremendous potential beyond that. It can surpass the official site's Databank by a wide margin, because there are far less limits on entry size, so we have here a place to include literally every known fact, no matter how obscure, about a given subject. Who knows? Eventually, the writers may be coming to us for research!

My current work - for obvious reasons - is on the Palpatine page, giving it more beef and more description, and expanding it by a significant amount. My first page from scratch, which, even on a site that allows anyone to edit it, is still 95% all mine, is the Beilert Valance page. I also did a lot of work on the Marcellin Wessel page. Servants of the Emperor get big attention from me, but Valance was such uncharted territory that I felt I could get in on the ground floor. It's slow going, what with a job, a girl, and a lot of time away from the computer, but I'm doing it!

Contents 1 Life-Changing Update 2 Experiments 2.1 Written Works 2.1.1 The Paths to Power 2.1.2 The Dark Side Compendium 2.1.2.1 The Book of Anger 2.1.2.2 The Weakness of Inferiors 2.1.2.3 The Creation of Monsters 2.2 Character inspiration 2.2.1 Inspiration for the character in real life 2.2.1.1 Julius Caesar and Augustus Caesar 2.2.1.2 Napoleon Bonaparte 2.2.1.3 Adolf Hitler 2.2.1.4 Richard Nixon 2.3 Character development 2.3.1 Development of the character for Star Wars (1973-1977) 2.3.1.1 circa January-March 1973 2.3.1.2 May 1973 2.3.1.3 May 1974 2.3.1.4 November 1976 2.3.1.5 August 1977 2.4 Palpatine and Luke Skywalker 2.4.1 Mala Mala 2.4.2 Imperial Communiqué #87341.36a

Life-Changing UpdateEdit

Of course I must announce, with the most profound joy I have ever felt, that on 19 November 2006, I was wed to the former Yvette Janet Smith. I have been given the most significant gift anyone can claim: I am no longer alone. And that's just good stuff. :)

ExperimentsEdit

First: User:Erik Pflueger/Erik's very own Palpatine prototype article (in progress)

Admiral Motti is to serve as my chief aide and protector. He will have direct command of the four Sector Groups assigned to my jurisdiction. The man's record shows that he believes in strength, and only strength. Only power is reality to him, and power is typified by technology. I fear that he is nothing if not overrated.[1]

Palpatine: Did you ever hear the tragedy of Darth Plaguies "the wise?" Skywalker: No. Palpatine: I thought not. It's not a story the Jedi would tell you. It's a Sith legend. Darth Plagueis was a Dark Lord of the Sith, so powerful and so wise he could use the Force to influence the midi-chlorians to create life. He had such a knowledge of the dark side that he could even keep the ones he cared about from dying. Skywalker: He could actually save people from death? Palpatine: The dark side of the Force is a pathway to many abilities some consider to be unnatural. Skywalker: What happened to him? Palpatine: He became so powerful, the only thing he was afraid of was losing his power, which eventually, of course, he did. Unfortunately, he taught his apprentice everything he knew, then his apprentice killed him in his sleep. Plagueis never saw it coming. It's ironic he could save others from death, but not himself.

Written WorksEdit

From the very beginning of his political career, Palpatine was a prolific writer and political theorist. Even at the height of the New Order, and in exile in the Deep Core, he found time to continue his writing, though as he progressed, casting aside more and more of his benevolent facade, his work progressed from being political and military to a full-fledged multi-volume magnum opus on the practice of the dark side of the Force.

The Paths to PowerEdit

Palpatine completed and published his political text, The Paths to Power, in the middle of his first elected term as Supreme Chancellor (30 BBY). It topped the best-seller lists for some time.

The Dark Side CompendiumEdit

The Book of AngerEdit

The first volume, The Book of Anger, deals with the use of emotion to control the Force. He considered anger to be the most potent emotional form. With anger, a Jedi could call upon the dark side, harnessing it for great power and destruction.

Palpatine knew from his own experience with Sith teachings that the best way to unlock the dark side potential in a Force-wielding student was through the student’s rage. The Book of Anger outlined this proposal in an intriguing and perhaps even logical fashion, asserting that by exploring one’s anger, one could ultimately learn to conquer it, thus taming the power of the dark side - instead of being tamed by it. He wrote:

Many claim to have found serenity, and through serenity to have overcome anger. Such arrogance is astounding. These fools have never faced their anger, and thus have no idea whether they have truly overcome it or not. True calm is only achieved through testing the limits of one’s anger and passing through unscathed. The capacity for this ability lies within everyone, though most fear to test their own strength, and are thus considered at best weaklings, and at worst irresponsible.

Palpatine taught that anger and rage, mixed with intelligent control, called upon the dark side with a very fine level of control, and could even kill from a great distance:

I have learned that anger and will, joined together, are the greatest power. I have learned to meditate upon anger and will with clarity and precision, and I have learned to open the hidden reservoirs of dark side power. Anger concentrated by will in the vital center of the body creates a portal through which vast energies are released – the energies of the dark side of the Force. Standing watch with the mind, in my meditation of anger, I have slain my enemies from great distances, through the dark side power that permeates the galaxy. I have created lightning, and unleashed its destructive fire. Using this knowledge, I can unleash the dark side energies that are all around us, even to shatter the fabric of space itself. In this way, I have created storms.

The Weakness of InferiorsEdit

In addition to attempting to lure the unwary with his views on using strong emotions, Palpatine sought to indoctrinate future darksiders with his own vision of the "natural order" – the superiority of the gifted, the trained, and the powerful. In typical fashion, he called this discussion The Weakness of Inferiors, a book devoted entirely to another insidious perspective on how "those of great strength" must guide "those of low capability" through life, by whatever means necessary. He wrote:

Inferiors continually endanger their own lives and the lives of others through poor decisions, reckless behavior, and simple inability to engineer the reality of their ambitious dreams. They are like children, crying in frustration because they do not comprehend their own limitations. They need structure – to be shown their place in the existing social structure. It is left to the wise and powerful to provide that structure in order for civilization to survive and thrive in the galaxy. Those who cannot – or will not – accept that peace and order are far more important than their own selfish desires must be removed from society before they can inflict any lasting damage.

The second book teaches control, without violence, over the innocent, the ignorant, and all "inferiors." Palpatine's main philosophy is quoted below:

1.) All power comes from outside the weak. The weak have never been known to believe in themselves or in their ability to wield power. 2.) The face of authority. The weak live as in a dream. All their thoughts, actions, and urges are governed by the face and the voice that controls this dream. The face and voice they have learned to obey. The face and voice of Authority. 3.) The law of fear. A consequence of the first two tenets is that the weak live in fear. The mere suggestion of violence from one in authority is enough to inspire their obedience. How can one who doesn’t believe in his own powers stand against the power of another? It is impossible. 4.) The weak do not understand the Force. The Force is the ultimate means to gain authority over the weak. The weak do not understand the Force. The weak do not sense the Force, therefore how can they understand or use the Force? So it is that the weak are at the mercy of those who know and use the power of the Force. The proper use of the Force can inspire awe and obedience in the weak. It has been said that anyone who knows the ways of the Force can set himself up as a king on any world where only he knows the ways of the Force. Any Jedi could do this. But the Jedi, fools that they are, adhere to a religion in which the Force is used only in the service of others. How shortsighted of them. Is that not why they lost the galaxy to the dark side?

It was exactly this sort of thinking laid the foundation for the Empire, and with this volume Palpatine hoped to lay the groundwork for future empires, modeled on his own. The Weakness of Inferiors suggests that by reading the book, the reader has somehow been made the custodian of galactic civilization, and that by applying Palpatine's teachings the reader can bring peace and order to the galaxy. Most sentient beings would agree that peace and order are necessary – but they might not recognize the arrogance of imposing their own vision of "peace and order" on others.

The Creation of MonstersEdit

Palpatine died his final death (11 ABY) before he could complete this third volume on the ancient arts of Sith alchemy, but it is complete enough for most purposes. The Creation of Monsters provides not only detailed schematics for Sith alchemical apparatus, but guidelines and advice on how to avoid the pitfalls of tinkering with the physical compositions of living, independent creatures. He wrote:

Conquer the temptation to create specimens that are superior in every way. The danger of such monstrosities being turned against you is too great. Instead, focus on instituting controlling weaknesses into each and every beast you construct. Make it strong where you are weak, but weak where you are strong. It must have a fatal flaw that you – and only you – know how to exploit. And always, without fail, be prepared to destroy your most valued creation, or be prepared to be destroyed by it.

Note that while Palpatine was specifically speaking of alchemical monstrosities, his advice could easily apply to the instruction of Force-users in the ways of the dark side. Certainly Palpatine knew exactly how to take advantage of the vulnerabilities of his few students, and it was only his overconfidence that sealed his fate at Endor, and later Onderon.

Character inspirationEdit

Inspiration for the character in real lifeEdit

Julius Caesar and Augustus CaesarEdit

Lucas cited the Roman military commander and noble Gaius Julius Caesar (102/100-44 B.C.), and his nephew, Gaius Julius Caesar Octavianus (63 B.C.-14 A.D.), who during a traumatic period of upheaval and civil war did away with the Roman Republic and established the Roman Empire, which would dominate Europe for the next thousand years. From the DVD commentary for Revenge of the Sith:

Lucas: After the Senate in ancient Rome kills Caesar, they turn around and give the Empire over to his nephew and make him Emperor.

Napoleon BonaparteEdit

Lucas also cited the Corsican military commander Napoleon Bonaparte (1769-1821), who used his success in battle to gain popular support and gain control of France. From the DVD commentary for Revenge of the Sith:

Lucas: With the French Revolution, after they’ve gone to all this trouble to have a revolution and get rid of the king and all the people in power, eventually they turn the democracy over to Napoleon and make him the Emperor.

Adolf HitlerEdit

Lucas also cited the Austrian politician and demagogue Adolf Hitler (1889-1945), who levered himself into power in the German Republic in a way that most closely resembles Palpatine’s own road to power in the Galactic Republic. After serving in the German army during World War I, Hitler, then an army spy, was ordered to observe a meeting (1919) of the insignificant German Workers’ Party (DAP), found himself attracted by their ideas, and joined them himself. In a very short time his natural gift of oratory (he had been trained in speech after the war as an army morale officer) elevated him to a leading role in what came to be called the National Socialist German Workers’ Party (NSDAP) or Nazi Party. Popular support enabled him to oust the rest of the party leadership and assume absolute control (1921), becoming its new leader or Fuehrer. After a brief prison sentence (1924-1925) for his involvement in an uprising against the Bavarian state government (1923),

Richard NixonEdit

Though the period of history in which Lucas began to assemble the elements of the Star Wars story – the 1960s and early 1970s – impacted that story in many ways, one major historical influence, which has often been cited as having particular relevance to the character of Palpatine, was the tumultuous presidency of Richard Milhous Nixon (1913-1994). In fact, Lucas has specified, then and long after the fact, that Nixon was the foundation for his exploration of history to find precedents for the Emperor. From the DVD commentary for Revenge of the Sith:

Lucas: When I first started making the film [the first Star Wars], it was during the Vietnam War, and it was during a period when Nixon was going for a third term - or trying to get the Constitution changed to could go for a third term - and it got me to thinking about how democracies turn into dictatorships. Not how they’re taken over where there’s a coup or anything like that, but how the democracy turns itself over to a tyrant.

From a Lucas notation dating to the spring of 1974:

The Empire is like America ten years from now, after: Nixonian gangsters assassinated the Emperor and were elevated to power in a rigged election; created civil disorder by instigating race riots, aiding rebel groups, and allowing the crime rate to rise to the point where a “total control” police state was welcomed by the people, then the people were exploited with high taxes, utility and transport costs, gangsters, a cartel made up of power companies, transport companies and crime organizations. Other companies had to pay bribes to stay in business.

Lucas did not exactly guess right concerning how the United States would develop ten years after he set pencil to paper; by 1984, no further heads of state had been assassinated, though there were several close calls; elections had been conducted unchanged and unhindered; race riots had ended and been replaced by a more measured form of racial dialogue; the underground revolutionary groups of the 1970s had calmed down and were generally seen as a thing of the past; crime increased in some areas and sharply decreased in others. The American people had never clamored for a totalitarian police state, nor had any major candidate proposed one; instead, Ronald Reagan had campaigned to reduce the size and influence of government, and won election by a wide margin. Rather than being raised to new heights, taxes were actually being lowered by a significant amount. Power – in the form of oil – had actually lowered in price. Transport companies were restructuring to meet competition from foreign car markets. In short, America in 1984 was largely the same as in 1974.

Still, Lucas cannot be faulted for failing to predict the future of the United States accurately; he was doing what all science-fiction writers did; extrapolating forward from the political situation as they then understood it. The Galactic Empire as he then envisioned it was just like the 1970s, only more so, just as the Emperor as he envisioned the character was like Nixon, only more so. Such events as a dictatorship imposed by corporate interests and criminal organizations on a frightened and weary populace did seem possible in the chaotic time in which he was writing. Radical changes such as those that really impacted America between the 1970s and the 1980s simply could not have been anticipated.

Character developmentEdit

Development of the character for Star Wars (1973-1977)Edit

circa January-March 1973Edit

From the very beginning of the writing process on Star Wars, George Lucas had a character in mind that would eventually develop into the character of Emperor Palpatine as is presently known. One of the earliest documents to be found in the Lucasfilm archives – quite possibly the earliest – regarding the project (then not yet even called Journal of the Whills, [Part] I) is a paper dating to early 1973, a roster of names he compiled to potentially use in the story, many of which were not used. At the very top of this list is the name "Emperor Ford Xerxes XII" (Xerxes was a historical Persian king who was assassinated by his own son), soon after changed to "Alexander Xerxes XII," then "Emperor of Decarte."

May 1973Edit

Mentions of the Emperor character are quite sparse in the original fourteen-page story synopsis for what Lucas then called The Star Wars, though there is a single mention of a similar character, the Sovereign, who occupies a similar function as the ruler of the Empire, the very first mention of the government that would become the antagonist of the Star Wars saga. But at this point in the development of the story, the Sovereign/Emperor ruled over an Empire located not in a distant galaxy and time, but in our galaxy circa 3200 A.D. From the story synopsis:

It is the thirty-third century, a period of civil wars in the galaxy. A Rebel princess, with her family, retainers, and the clan treasure, is being pursued. If they can cross territory controlled by the Empire and reach a friendly planet, they will be saved. The Sovereign knows this, and posts a reward for the capture of the princess.

The wording of this quotation in the treatment betrays the strong influence of Japanese film director Akira Kurosawa (1910-1998) on Lucas’s thinking at the time he was writing it. The quotation from the synopsis is itself a near-exact paraphrase of the opening paragraph of a review (1965) by Donald Richie of Kurosawa’s film The Hidden Fortress (1958), the film that established the framework for the Star Wars treatment. From Richie’s book The Films of Akira Kurosawa:

It is the sixteenth century, a period of civil wars. A princess, with her family, her retainers, and the clan treasure is being pursued. If they can cross enemy territory and reach a friendly province they will be saved. The enemy knows this and posts a reward for the capture of the princess.

The use of Kurosawa and Richie in this treatment offers a possible hint at the way he was then imagining what the ruler of the Empire – in this case, the Sovereign – was like. His romanticized galaxy in the 3200s was likely to bear at least a partial resemblance to a romanticized version of Japan in the 1500s. In the sixteenth century – the period of his country’s history Kurosawa believed to be the most interesting – Japan was ruled, just as it is today, by a hereditary sovereign, the Emperor (though his powers today are constitutionally regulated), who was then believed to be a literal descendant of the sun goddess Amaterasu Omikami and thus a divine figure. In theory, the Emperor possessed absolute temporal and spiritual power, but in practice, he was sequestered in his palace, ruling little more than the proceedings in his court, while his advisors – and, more importantly, the many feuding warlords or daimyo, held the actual power in the country. The potential influence of Japanese history on the story synopsis strongly hints that the long-held description of the Emperor as a charismatic but powerless figurehead, a front for more powerful but secretive advisors who rule in his name behind the scenes, had its origins at this point.

May 1974Edit

The rough draft of The Star Wars introduces its version of the Emperor in the second sequence. This is a character named either Cos Dashit or Cos Dashhat (alternately named either Son Hhat or Son Hhut in the July 1974 first draft), who as ruler of the New Galactic Empire (as described in this draft) is not just the Emperor, but also lord of Alderaan (at this time identified as the Imperial capital world rather than as the doomed world sympathetic to the Rebels) and consul of the Supreme Tribunal. Emperor Dashit is physically quite different from Emperor Palpatine. The rough draft describes Dashit as he stands on a rostrum, flanked by his henchmen and accompanied by a figure that could have been the predecessor of Tarkin:

On the huge, austere platform stands the dark COS DASHIT, Lord of Alderaan, Consul to the Supreme Tribunal, and ruler of the Galactic Empire. He is a thin, gray-looking man, with an evil mustache, which hangs limply over his insipid lip. Standing at rigid attention on his right are several generals, dressed in the black and gray uniform of the realm. Five members of the Supreme Tribunal sit off to the side. On the emperor’s left stands CRISPIN HOEDAACK, newly appointed Governor of the Aquilaean System, a young, treacherous man with stone-cut, angular features and piercing gray eyes.

In the story, Dashit stands on a huge austere platform overlooking the Plaza of the Daders, a location within the floating Imperial capital that resembles nothing so much as a glass canyon. Taking place within the plaza is a parade of a thousand Imperial troops, arranged in a hundred rows of a hundred men each. Also participating in the parade are giant Imperial air tanks (precursors of the Trade Federation MTTs and AATs deployed on Naboo in The Phantom Menace), floating two to three feet off the ground. A quartet of Imperial fighters flies low in formation over the plaza and executes an impressive barrel-roll maneuver. The great red banner of the Empire flaps in the breeze. Finally, Dashit gives a speech, in which his amplified voice is carried throughout the plaza as it speaks of the coming Imperial conquest of the Aquilaean system:

Dashit: Upon this battle stands the survival of the Galactic Empire. Upon this battle depends the life and long continuity of our civilization. Not since the Jedi Rebellion has our destiny been placed in such a balance. This is to be the most magnificent campaign of all! Never have you been called without doing something to be remembered, something notable and striking. The conquering of the Aquilaean System, the last of the Independent Systems, and the last refuge of the vile, outlawed sect of the Jedi, will have such important and lasting consequences that I can’t but consider it as an epoch in history.

Thus Dashit, like Palpatine after him, was portrayed as a quite capable and engaging public speaker in the manner of the real-life charismatic dictator Adolf Hitler (in fact, to give the scene the proper sense of power and grandeur, Lucas planned to use Triumph of the Will (1935), Leni Riefenstahl’s propaganda film of the 1934 Nazi Party rally in Nuremberg, as reference). Had it been executed on film as written with a sufficient budget, it would have been an impressive display of Imperial pageantry.

In this draft of the story, an Imperial victory on Aquilae would have been two-fold: the last source of dissent against the Empire would have been eliminated, and the Empire would also acquire the liquid distillation of the living brains of Aquilae’s thirty-three greatest scientific minds and the ability to clone new and fully-restored versions of all of them, giving the Empire a tremendous scientific and technological edge. In the end, as with Naboo in The Phantom Menace, the conquest of Aquilae is foiled, but it is never said what happens to Dashit after this debacle.

November 1976Edit

The name Palpatine appeared in print for the first time in the foreword to the Star Wars novelization, ghostwritten for Lucas by experienced science fiction writer Alan Dean Foster and published six months before the release of the film. Though Foster was a very capable writer and no doubt altered the dialogue to suit his prose style (a practice that was allowed to continue up to 2005 with Matthew Stover’s novelization of Revenge of the Sith), it has to be assumed that Lucas contributed additional material and personally proofread the text prior to publication, so is likely that the name of Palpatine was Lucas’s invention, not Foster’s.

Aided and abetted by restless, power-hungry officials in the government, and the massive organs of commerce, the ambitious Senator Palpatine caused himself to be elected President of the Republic. He promised to unite the disaffected among the people and to restore the remembered glory of the Republic. Once secure in office he declared himself Emperor, shutting himself away from the populace. Soon he was controlled by the very assistants and bootlickers he had appointed to high office, and the cries of the people for justice did not reach his ears. Having exterminated through treachery and deception the Jedi Knights, guardians of justice in the galaxy, the Imperial governors and bureaucrats prepared to institute a reign of terror among the disheartened worlds of the galaxy. Many used the Imperial forces and the name of the increasingly isolated Emperor to further their own personal ambitions.

So at this point, Palpatine was conceived as an ambitious and corrupt senator, a Nixon-like politician who had recruited ambitious government officials and numerous commercial concerns to elevate himself into high office, first by arranging his own election as president, and then by consolidating his position to the point where he could declare himself Emperor. He appointed the bureaucrats and governors who had been his allies as his advisors, only to find that they were even more ambitious and unscrupulous than he was. Seeking to control the galaxy behind the scenes using Palpatine as their figurehead, they isolated him and ruled in his name, using their wide discretionary powers to pursue their own personal agendas. This interpretation lasted up to and through the release of the film.

August 1977Edit

The unforeseen and unprecedented success of the film changed everything, including his interpretation of Palpatine’s character. Previously, all the information about the nature of the Star Wars universe was strictly in Lucas’s head, or else scribbled on lined yellow notebook pages few were ever likely to see. Suddenly, numerous merchandising deals were underway, including a sequel novel by Foster, Splinter of the Mind's Eye (1978), and a monthly series from Marvel Comics, and it became paramount that information about this universe be provided to the people who would be writing those stories, to keep everyone involved on the same page.

Lucas sat down with Carol Titelman, a member of his staff, to get what was in his head on record, and uniquely, he did so by a form of role-playing in which assumed the role of a particular character and answered questions regarding that character’s background, homeworld, personality, et cetera. There were three such recording sessions. In the session of particular relevance to this discussion (5 August 1977), Lucas assumed the persona of Princess Leia Organa and used that to explore not only Leia's character, but also the politics and history of the Star Wars galaxy as he then envisioned it. Though this material was somewhat changed over the years, a lot of what he dictated in 1977 held up in 2005, including the then-recent change of the title of the Republic's chief of state from "President" to "Chancellor" (though many writers in the Expanded Universe remained uninformed of this change for decades). He said to Titelman:

"In the Old Republic, all the systems sent their representatives to the Senate. It wasn’t an Imperial Senate; it was a Republican Senate, which made the decisions that control-led the Republic. There were 24,372 systems in the Galactic Senate. The Senate would vote in a Chancellor or an overseer who would work for four years as the leader of the executive branch of the Republic. You were only supposed to be able to run for one four-year term – you were only eligible for one term. "What happened was that one of the Chancellors began subverting the Senate and buying off the Senators with the help of some of the large intergalactic trading companies and mining corporations and intergalactic power companies. Through their power and money, he bought off enough of the Senate to get himself elected to a second term, because of a crisis. By the time the third term came along, he had corrupted so much of the Senate that they made him Emperor for the rest of his life. "Giving the Emperor that title for life and doing away with the elective process was all done with a lot of rationalizing. Many in the Senate felt that having elections and changing leaders in the time of an emergency disrupted the bureaucratic system. And the bureaucracy was getting to be so big that changing leaders made it impossible to have any effect on the system and make it work – moreover, the bureaucracy was running amok and not paying attention to the rulers. So they reasoned that the Emperor could bring the bureaucracy back in line. So the Emperor took control of the bureaucracy. The Galactic Senate would meet for a period that was similar to a year, but after it became the Imperial Senate, the meetings were less and less frequent until finally the meetings were only once a year, and they were very short. "With the bureaucracy behind the Emperor, it was impossible and too late for the Senate to do anything. He had slowly manipulated things; in fact, it was he who had let the bureaucracy run amok and therefore had blackmailed the Senate into doing things because he was the only one who had any power over the bureaucracy. It was so large that there was no way to get things done, but he knew the right people; the key people in the bureaucracy were working for him and were paid by the companies. "When he became Emperor, a little over half the Senate as it turned out was not involved, was not corrupted – and they reacted strongly against this whole thing. There was a rebellion in terms of the Senate against the Emperor; they tried to oust him legally and have him impeached. But many of the Senators who were fighting the Emperor at that time mysteriously died. The Jedi Knights were alerted immediately and they rallied to the Senate’s side. But there was a plot afoot and when the Jedi finally rallied and tried to restore order, they were betrayed and eventually killed by Darth Vader."

A separate portion of this same transcript depicts Lucas, still in character as Leia Organa, describing the way in which Darth Vader, then still described as a separate person from Annikin Skywalker (as the first name was then spelled), betrayed the Jedi Order. He continued:

"When the Jedi tried to restore order, Darth Vader was still one of the Jedi. What he would do is catch the Jedi off guard and, using his knowledge of the Force, he would kill the Jedi without them realizing what was happening. They trusted him and they didn’t realize he was the murderer who was decimating their ranks. At the height of the Jedi, there were several hundred thousand. At the time of the Rebellion, most of them were killed. The Emperor had some strong forces rally behind him, as well, in terms of the army and the Imperial forces that he’d been building up secretly. The Jedi were so out-numbered that they fled and were tracked down. They tried to regroup, but they were eventually massacred by one of the special elite forces led by Darth Vader. Eventually only a few, including Ben and Luke’s father, were left. Luke’s father is named Annikin."

This was a very detailed account for late 1977, and though not every detail would survive unchanged in the prequel films (Republic membership would be measured by sectors, rather than systems, and its sector membership would count to 1,024 sectors rather than 24,372 systems, though given the fact that the math would average out to more than twenty-three inhabited systems per sector, the figure could still be realistic) a great deal of it remained intact.

Palpatine and Luke SkywalkerEdit

Vader told him only that he was searching for the pilot who had destroyed the Death Star, but had not found him.

Mala MalaEdit

This mystery was solved in dramatic fashion when Palpatine received in his personal audience chamber a diminutive near-Human female mercenary with the unlikely Wookiee name of Mala Mala. This derelict, with a burned and scarred body and only droids for company, had penetrated the Imperial City security perimeter, survived the downing of her ship by the perimeter patrol, evaded his stormtroopers and walked the corridors of his Palace unhindered. She was finally captured in the sewers beneath the Palace. It is not known just why Palpatine deigned to grant her an audience, without even guards in attendance, except possibly, as would often be cited in their discussion, because it amused him to do so.

It quickly became apparent that it was in his interest to hear her out. Mala had been part of a mercenary group led by a certain Ban Papeega and employed by none other than his own apprentice, Lord Vader. Papeega had found and captured a Rebel pilot on Centares, and under interrogation this pilot had revealed that the name of the pilot that had destroyed the Death Star, the pilot Vader had been seeking so fervently, was Skywalker. Furthermore, immediately upon hearing the name, Vader slaughtered the entire group, save for Mala, to make certain no one knew the secret but himself. Mala alone had been able to escape Vader's blade, even though he believed her dead as well. Determined to avenge herself and her comrades, she had decided to go to the one being in the galaxy more powerful than Vader: his master. And all she wanted in return for what she knew was a new ship to replace her crashed one, and parts with which to assemble new droid companions. Palpatine agreed and sent at once for an entire bin of droid components; when it arrived, Mala sat herself on top of the alloyed pile like a mother nuna minding her chicks.

Palpatine was impressed and amused by Mala. She was obviously resourceful and tenacious. He offered her the chance to serve him; there was always a need for capable agents, and he had much to offer her: a new name, perhaps even a new and better body (any opportunity to practice Ashka Boda’s method of transferring consciousness was evidently welcome). But Mala steadfastly refused his advances, proudly but respectfully, well aware of who she was dealing with.

Palpatine: Is this really all you want in return? Mala: I have to build some new friends, my Emperor. This is all I need. Palpatine: I'm quite amused with your spirit, little one. And getting here wasn't an easy task, either. Would you like to join me, Mala Mala? I could offer you so much more. A new body, perhaps, even better than your original one? You don't have to be a derelict with a Wookiee name forever. Mala: I thank you, my Emperor. But I've got my revenge, a new ship and this. As it happens, I like my name. Also, I prefer winning with the cards I've been dealt, not with a stacked deck. As I said, my Emperor, I thank you. Palpatine: I see. You do realize where you are and whose word your life depends on, do you? Why should I let your insolence go unpunished? Mala: Because it amuses you to do so? Palpatine: Quite. Well, played, little one!

There is no way to ascertain what Palpatine’s thoughts were upon hearing this news. A certain amount of imagination is required to supplement a very meager historical record. Just hearing the name Skywalker would have sent him on a certain path of thought. The surname Skywalker was not common, and it can be safely assumed that Palpatine would have either known, or made an effort to learn, how many others had it. Knowing that answer, there could have been little other conclusion for him to draw, other than that this unnamed Skywalker, the Rebel pilot, was the son of his apprentice, the former Anakin Skywalker.

Imperial Communiqué #87341.36aEdit

Palpatine was never one to make decisions or draw conclusions without having all the facts at hand. What Mala had told him was fascinating, and it did have a ring of truth to it, but able as she was, she was still only a mercenary, and a most eccentric one at that. Her information was valuable, and cheaply purchased, but it needed to be confirmed by other sources. For that, it was a simple matter to call upon his many intelligence services – Imperial Intelligence, the ISB, the Inquisitorius, even his Hands. With nothing to hone in on, there would have been little or nothing they could have done to find out who the boy was until he had surfaced in some fashion. But now that he had, and now that he could supply them with an extremely rare surname, it was a far simpler matter. Palpatine turned to Ysanne Isard’s fiefdom, Imperial Intelligence, and commanded the bureau to learn everything that it could about a Rebel operative, named Skywalker, and prepare a top-secret dossier for his perusal. When the bureau concluded its investigations, a certain Major Herrit, an Intell officer who performed numerous investigative tasks for both Palpatine and Vader, submitted a brief but very telling primary report, supplemented by nine additional reports. The report read in full:

TO: His Imperial Majesty, Emperor Palpatine FROM: Major Herrit, Imperial Intelligence REGARDING: Luke Skywalker, Wanted For Crimes Against the Empire Your Imperial Majesty: Here is the information you requested concerning the Rebel operative known as Luke Skywalker. Currently, Skywalker is wanted for the following crimes: high treason, espionage, conspiracy, breaking into a top secret Imperial facility, liberating a known criminal, breaking out of a top secret Imperial facility, and destruction of Imperial property (see Imperial File #634191.58f). His involvement in the Tatooine and Yavin affairs are enough to warrant his execution, but his actions against the Empire have not stopped with his part in the destruction of the Death Star. Since that time there have been not less than three separate Rebel incidences in which Skywalker played a major role (see Imperial Files #312485.34a through .91f). Skywalker is a Human, 1.72 meters tall, with a medium build and blond hair. He is a young male, barely out of his teens, who appears to have worked on a farm prior to his Rebel activities (but that could be a cover story; see Imperial File #312485.34a). Some of our sources suggest that Skywalker was part of a Rebel cell on Tatooine, under the command of Jedi fugitive Obi-Wan Kenobi (see Imperial File #312485.36cc), but this has not been confirmed. This Rebel has shown exceptional piloting and starfighting abilities, and all indications are that it was his shot that destroyed the Death Star. He has also been seen wielding a lightsaber. Lord Vader insists that Skywalker is strong with the Force. As we do not know what the Force is, our agents have no way to test this. Requests to Lord Vader to describe the Force have been refused. (I must once again respectfully request that you tell Lord Vader to stop killing my agents. The Empire has put a lot of time and money into their training. If he doesn’t want to talk to them, can’t the man just say no like anybody else?) Luke Skywalker is frequently accompanied by a Corellian smuggler named Han Solo, a Wookiee called Chewbacca, an astromech and protocol droid (model numbers unknown), and the traitorous Princess Leia Organa. There seems to be a strong tie among these individuals, and they have been known to engage in dangerous activity to aid one another. For more information see Imperial Files 13474.8c, 469140.33j, and 067431.47h.

Palpatine learned much from Herrit’s report: that the Rebel pilot’s name was Luke Skywalker; that he bore a general physical resemblance to Anakin Skywalker; that he was likely born in the general time frame of Padmé Amidala’s death; that he had lived on Tatooine, Anakin’s former homeworld, on a farm owned by a family to whom Anakin had been related by marriage; that he shared with Anakin exceptional piloting skills; that he had been in close contact with Obi-Wan Kenobi and had likely been exposed to Jedi teachings from him; that he and Kenobi had been aboard a freighter that had escaped the Tatooine blockade, and that Vader had later reported captured near Alderaan; that he had been involved in liberating Leia Organa from the Death Star’s detention cells; that he was again aboard the freighter when Vader had allowed it to escape in order to track it to the Yavin system; that he was involved in the Rebel defense at Yavin; that it was likely he who fired the shot that had destroyed the Death Star. If Palpatine had had any doubts after hearing Mala Mala’s testimony, this report cleared them away.

Any one, or even several, of these facts could have been the result of mere coincidence; all of them combined could never be, certainly not to Palpatine, who never believed in coincidence. With the crystal clarity only available in hindsight, he would presumably have reached the obvious conclusion: Padmé Amidala had given birth to a son before she died, and the birth was covered up. Many apparently insignificant and unconnected facts now seemed to lend credence to this conclusion; Vader had injured Padmé on Mustafar, but not killed her – his first words after being revived on Coruscant were to ask where she was and if she was safe and well, after all. In fact, there had been no confirmation of her death until the body, reportedly still pregnant, had been delivered to Naboo, and no one had ever said who had delivered it. But Palpatine recalled that as he had arrived in the Mustafar system to save Vader, he had seen a small starship leaving the Mustafar system as he arrived, a vessel that must have carried Padmé and Kenobi aboard, off to bear the child in secret before she died, before she was brought to Naboo. As a son of Naboo himself, he knew well that custom dictated that the body of the deceased be cremated within two days of death, meaning that it was destroyed without first being examined in order to confirm the child was still there; such matters were considered deeply private. As for the boy being found on Tatooine, Kenobi had obviously fled there after crippling Vader, which meant that wherever the boy had been born, Kenobi had brought him there, to live on that farm in the company of family, while he remained close. It all made perfect sense.

But certain facts in Herrit’s report stood out for him against others. Of particular interest to him was likely that this Skywalker was believed to be Force-sensitive, and that Vader knew this; not only knew it, but insisted on it to others – that is, to others, but not to his own master, which can only mean that Vader wanted it kept secret from him (the person Vader had spoken to about Skywalker was likely someone he would have believed trustworthy but would actually have been a well-inserted source of Herrit’s that Vader did not know about). Considering the lengths Palpatine had heard Vader had gone to just to silence everyone who had even heard the name, there could be little doubt of it.

All of this reasoning inevitably led Palpatine to the question of why Vader was being so secretive on this matter. Had Skywalker possessed only marginal potential in the Force, there was little for Vader to lose by telling him, regardless of the boy’s familial relationship to Vader. Instead, Vader was carefully guarding all knowledge of Skywalker’s existence, as if that very knowledge was a devastating trump card. Vader would only do so if be believed that Skywalker was extremely powerful. And as the second generation of Darth Plagueis’s decades-old experiment, it could not be otherwise. All the potential that Anakin Skywalker had possessed, before it had been squandered away on Mustafar, would have to be intact in his son; all that, and perhaps even more.

Tarkin: Our third parties, whom we'll threaten, are the entire population of her home planet. Vader: Alderaan is one of the foremost of the inner systems. The Emperor should be consulted. Tarkin: Do not think to challenge me! You're not confronting Tagge or Motti now! The Emperor has placed me in charge of this affair, with a free hand, and the decision is mine! And you will have your information that much sooner. Vader: Just so. Tarkin: I'm glad you agree. The Empire is vast, and even a weapon as magnificent as the Death Star can only be in one place at a time. A major part of this station's value is as a deterrent. We must prove to the galaxy that we are prepared to use it at the slightest provocation. Vader: If your plan serves our purpose, it will justify itself. Tarkin: The stability of the Empire is at stake. A planet is a small price to pay.

Dekeet: I still do not understand why all vessels and vehicles, even troops, under my authority have to display this ridiculous-looking star badge. Kaine: Consider it instant recognition, Governor. And reputation as well. The next time some pirate or criminal tries to make off with one of your merchant ships, who will respond? Not just Imperial forces under Governor Dekeet, but the combined might of the Pentastar Alignment. Those who defy us will soon remember us. And as for the symbol of the Pentastar as a badge, I must commend you for your excellent choice of words, Governor. A badge, after all, represents authority and organization. Our authority. Not those usurpers in this poorly misguided New Republic. Systems will soon respect us. They will have to respect us. Requoran: But tell me Kaine, what about this alliance of forces? Combined military forces are quite understandable, considering the times. But what good is political unity? The Velcar Free Commerce Zone is quite stable, I can assure you. Kaine: Ah, but for how long, Gregor? How long before the New Republic sends its representatives all the way to Entralla, or even your homeworld of Capza? The New Republic is still merely the Rebellion, thinly disguised as an official entity. They are outlaws, and they will continue to think and do as such. In the Pentastar Alignment, there will be no tolerance for any Rebel insurrection. Besk: Don't forget, Raquoran, this New Republic has some queer ideas about alien rights. They believe the Velcar Free Commerce Zone exists only to exploit defenseless ailens. I'll wager they can't wait to hatch some liberation plot for the Entymals that work the gas mines around Bextar. Gas mines that my Amber Sun Industries run - and are supposedly under your protection. Requoran: Where they shall remain, good woman. Besk: ...Until they fall back into alien hands. Kaine: Enough, both of you. Remember. The New Order has never fallen. Only the Emperor. If no one will accept the responsibility of enforcing Imperial laws and doctrine, then we shall. The Emperor may be dead, but the Empire lives on! Otro: We must all stand together, or be swept aside. Kaine: Exactly, sir. Otro: And what about you, Grand Moff Kaine? Kaine: In what respect? Otro: Come come now. I've read this treaty of yours. Is this an alignment of power, or just another excuse to declare yourself Emperor Kaine? I have known, long before Palpatine's death, of your wish to be transferred to the Imperial City and serve the Emperor by his side. Now it can be assumed that you wish not to serve beside the Emperor, but in his place? Kaine: I have no desire for such a title, nor the position. An Emperor rules alone, and he is gone. But even an Emperor cannot do what our combined strength and resources can, and that is rebuild the Empire...

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