Who is more evil, the God-Emperor of Man or Emperor Palpatine?

Who is more evil?


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Archinist.

Active member
To sum up my opinion; would the Emperor posthumously order the destruction of the Imperium, because he was not present to rule it?

Would Palpatine slave himself to the Golden Throne, enduring ten millennia of suffering, for the Empire?

The Emperor has done many evil things, but he does them because he has to or thinks it's necessary in some way. Palpatine does evil things because he revels in it.
 

wellis

Active member
The primary difference between Palpatine & the GEoM is that Palpatine does dickish shit for the sake of dickish shit.
The GEoM on the other hand, if you offered him an alternative that could let him achieve his goals without being a dick, he'd take it.

Perhaps that makes the GEoM more dangerous, in a sense, in that he is convinced his particular way is the right way or only way, but it also shows he isn't a dick for the sake of being a dick, unlike Palpatine.
 

Bacle

When the effort is no longer profitable...
Founder
He'd probably stillbe in hiding actually.
The GEOM would have to come out when the Vong show up, or if/when some idiots let Abeloth lose from the Maw.

Palp's is evil, but lets not forget he had knowledge the Vong were coming since before the Clone Wars.
 

Husky_Khan

The Dog Whistler... I mean Whisperer.
Founder
Sotnik
Well I mean Palpatine's first goal was obviously immortality. And it was something the previous Sith Lords, Plagueis and even Tenebrous, seemed to advocate as well but unlike Palpatine they had the common Sith decency to accept their death. Clone bodies clearly weren't a workable long term solution for him sadly.

The main idea behind the Death Star (and much of the Tarkin Doctrine) of course was that the Fear would actually help keep the Empire stable. And why did he want it stable? Because Palpatine wanted to travel (with his loyal Vader) about the Unknown Regions and other areas looking for juicy lost Sith knowledge so he could increase his power. Obviously in Legends and the like he did acclaim a great deal of power poking about the Deep Core and the like. But there was still so much else to find.

But if he was busy running a galaxy (made all the more dependent on him thanks to things like Battle Meditation) then he'd never have the freedom to spend months, years or longer journeying forth into parts unknown looking for the secrets to acquiring more and more unlimited power.

But yeah it'd be interesting to see the whole Dark Empire thing come about. Was he actually fueled by dominating other people or was it just a beneficial byproduct and something that fueled his ego more then fueled him in a literal sense? A Dark Empire where he's extremely powerful (as Godlike as a force user can be with de facto immortality) and using Skywalkers and other force bloodlines as his noble lackies definitely can help keep his Imperial Empire transition into a stable Dark Empire. But... Sith also have that habit of backstabbing. It's how they evolve. As lackeys go, Vader was impressively loyal and ruthless but he was more then down with betraying the Emperor when his son showed up.

So Palpatine dominating all contenders makes sense. He doesn't need to turn everyone into a Nihilus style drone, but it'd be interesting to see what swaths of the Imperial government, military and power brokers would be so dominated as to not be a threat to him or even brook the idea of rebellion. Palpatine (both in Legends and Disney) unlike other Sith preferred manipulation, whether through fear or despair or anger or even pride in order to compel others into obedience as opposed to some sort of brute domination with force powers. So not really drones, but slaves to his will nonetheless.

And once he's attained enough power that on a personal level he's unchallenged by any of his powerful lackies (Vader and/or other Skywalker ilk) and his Dark Empire is secure through a combination of force and manipulation that there are no polities that can challenge him (like it's obvious after the Rebel Alliance is done for, he'll take out everybody else, Hutts, Black Sun, Hapes, Vong etc, then he can start resarching ways to go extra-galactic.

But again, if he's going to be spreading his Dark Empire extra galactically that'll require a lot of time away from his home, so again, nice and stable while he's gone. And honestly having servants who can think for themselves (ie Thrawn and Tarkin and the like) is probably far more preferable then a bunch of Dark Force dominated drones controlling the levers of power as he's absent. Especially since there's still other threats out there (at least in Legends you have stuff like Abeloth and A'Sharad Hett wandering about) who could take advantage of a Dark Empire inured to being slaves to any Dark Lord of sufficient power.
 

Navarro

Well-known member
To sum up my opinion; would the Emperor posthumously order the destruction of the Imperium, because he was not present to rule it?

Would Palpatine slave himself to the Golden Throne, enduring ten millennia of suffering, for the Empire?

The Emperor has done many evil things, but he does them because he has to or thinks it's necessary in some way. Palpatine does evil things because he revels in it.

I mean, the Emperor's endgame is "I get to retire, confident that humanity can defend itself without me".
 
D

Deleted member 88

Guest
Palpatine is fundamentally the Devil himself. Heck the darth Plagueis novel has him call himself the “Beast” before it was to inhabit the world.

The darkness borne and embodied in the Chommell Sector.

Palpatine may be physically human, but spiritually/metaphysically he is the dark side.

The Emperor was a Hard Man Making Hard Decisions.

Palpatine is the Dark.

Their very different characters and serve different roles thematically.
 

Hlaalu Agent

Nerevar going to let you down
Founder
Palpatine is fundamentally the Devil himself. Heck the darth Plagueis novel has him call himself the “Beast” before it was to inhabit the world.

The darkness borne and embodied in the Chommell Sector.

Palpatine may be physically human, but spiritually/metaphysically he is the dark side.

The Emperor was a Hard Man Making Hard Decisions.

Palpatine is the Dark.

Their very different characters and serve different roles thematically.

Indeed, and let it not be forgotten that Palpatine is actually more evil than an actual avatar of the dark side.
 
D

Deleted member 88

Guest
He IS the dark side.

Any interpretation of his character that doesn’t take that as its starting point fails to understand Palpatine fundamentally.
 

Bacle

When the effort is no longer profitable...
Founder
Indeed, and let it not be forgotten that Palpatine is actually more evil than an actual avatar of the dark side.
Abeloth is still worse than Palps, she just was stuck in the Maw for most of galactic history so her ability to damage people was near nil till after the NJO era.
 
D

Deleted member 88

Guest
Abeloth is evil, but more in a cyclical force of nature sort of way.

She’s pseudo lovecraftian.
 

Hlaalu Agent

Nerevar going to let you down
Founder
Abeloth is still worse than Palps, she just was stuck in the Maw for most of galactic history so her ability to damage people was near nil till after the NJO era.

Wrong character. I am thinking of the guy from the cartoon. Remember Palpatine loves no one and I was using that as a point of comparision.
 

Bacle

When the effort is no longer profitable...
Founder
Wrong character. I am thinking of the guy from the cartoon. Remember Palpatine loves no one and I was using that as a point of comparision.
Which cartoon?

Also, I think you are wrong about Palp's not loving anyone.

There are a lot of lore points that say he was in a relationship with Sly Moore, that bald woman who was at his side in many Senate scenes all the way back in Phantom Menace. She may have even had a child by Palps, depending on who you talk to/what lore you look at.
 

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