But this is a Sith Lord-the traditional rules of aging do not apply to him. At worst, he’d die of old age or ill health. Could he possibly be a peacetime leader? Could he stand the boredom? After all, he dissolved the Senate-there’s almost no one with any power left to manipulate, and manipulation was pretty much the only thing Palpatine ever seemed to enjoy.Īgain, if this were a normal empire, Palpatine’s inability to rule in the absence of threats would surely result in his overthrow. Is he a development guy? A techo-visionary? A patron of the arts? Uh, no. He, like most Sith, doesn’t seem to have any interests apart from the acquisition of power and the crushing of the opposition. The Empire of Star Wars, however, is not a normal empire, nor Palpatine a Napoleon, an Alexander, or even a Kim Jong-il. There might be a period of chaos in the interim, but soon a new emperor would emerge to maintain the hard-won order.
![once more the sith will rule the galaxy once more the sith will rule the galaxy](https://static2.thequizimages.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/Darth-Revan-48-copy.jpg)
Eventually, though, the Emperor’s time would come: death at the hands of ambitious subordinates, or as the result of ill health brought on by either old age or alcoholism. They could certainly rebel, I guess, but that didn’t go so well last time around. The Emperor’s cronies would get rich, and his chosen civilizations would prosper, while everyone else would simply subsist. Well, then what? If this were a normal empire, with a normal emperor, it would go like this: The emperor would enact policies that would, in general, enrich the peoples and corporations of the galaxy, although much of this benefit would probably hew to those peoples who fit easily into the dominant culture and to those companies that serve the Empire’s military and bureaucratic aims. At long last, order returns to the galaxy. In short order, the Rebel Alliance is crushed, and any remaining star systems brought to heel under the might of the Empire, Darth Vader, and Emperor Palpatine. Out of existence blink C-3PO and R2D2, and with them the Death Star plans.
![once more the sith will rule the galaxy once more the sith will rule the galaxy](https://i.redd.it/18104sxppsz41.jpg)
Aboard a nearby Imperial Star Destroyer, officers note the pod’s descent and, even though there are no life signs from within, decide to shoot it down-better not to take chances when Lord Vader’s around.
![once more the sith will rule the galaxy once more the sith will rule the galaxy](https://www.simonz.co.hu/poster/ep3/ep3-poster8.jpg)
Imagine this: A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away, an escape pod jettisons from an Alderaan cruiser and plummets toward the desert planet of Tatooine. Uneasy lies the head that wears the mask.