When Emperor Palpatine made his first physical, on-screen appearance in Return of the Jedi, he was the culmination of all the evil in the first three Star Wars movies. Nothing and no one could stand up to his might in the Force. When he unleashed his torrent of Force lightning, it was something that Star Wars fans had never seen before, and there was nothing that Luke could do to defend himself. The Emperor was simply on an entirely different power level. Palpatine’s ultimate power was undeniable in the original trilogy, but a Quora thread has pointed out one particular thing in the prequels that almost cheapened his character -- his expertise with a lightsaber.
In Return of the Jedi, the Emperor never wielded a lightsaber. In fact, the only time that he had any interactions with one of the weapons was when Vader gave him Luke’s green lightsaber. Taking it from his apprentice, Palpatine said, “Ah, yes, a Jedi's weapon, much like your father's.” That line almost made it seem like the Emperor was unfamiliar with lightsabers, and if not that, Palpatine was totally amused by it.
That line said so much without saying much at all. Darth Vader had been around since A New Hope and was powerful with his lightsaber, but he was only the apprentice. As a commenter in the Quora thread says, “Rather than a guy who’s even better with a lightsaber than Vader, we’re encountering someone whose power is so large and so different from the Jedi’s that he finds the weapons amusing.” In other words, the fact that Palpatine was amused at seeing a lightsaber communicated that he was so far superior to Vader, and any Jedi, that he didn’t even need a weapon -- a true mastery of the dark side made lightsabers obsolete.
Later, when lightning exploded from his wrinkled fingers, it proved just how useless lightsabers could be. The electric energy coursing through Luke effectively made many fans wonder what other heinous abilities the Sith might be able to conjure. The lightning was likely only a glimpse of the unimaginable power that Palpatine could bring to bear, and Luke’s power was simply useless against it. Vader was right when he told Luke not to underestimate the Emperor.
The prequels, however, almost retconned this whole idea of a Sith’s power being different and incomparable to a Jedi’s. The Force lightning was used, reused and used again. However, there were never any of the new abilities that Return of the Jedi seemed to hint at. In fact, Palpatine became a master swordsman. Sure, he was one of the best duelists of all time, and he claimed to only use a lightsaber in a mockery of the Jedi. However, he still used them as his weapon of choice in his two major confrontations with the Jedi.
A better move would have been to have Palpatine’s fights in the prequels resemble the power that he claimed to have. Namely, not using a lightsaber and finding a way to render his adversaries’ traditional weapons useless. Maybe he could have disabled the Jedi’s lightsabers or snatched them away and used them against the Jedi. Either way, by having Palpatine wield a lightsaber, the prequels missed an opportunity to expand on Palpatine’s abilities and make the Sith’s power distinct and superior. Rather, he mimicked the Jedi and cheapened his line from Return of the Jedi that hinted at his awesome power.
0 Comments