Overall story arc

Rating: 5/10 (25 February 2007)

I think a lot of people, even die-hard fans, weren't aware of the fact that even though the story lines for Phantom Menace, Attack of the Clones, and Revenge of the Sith didn't seem relevant to each other, they were all connected so that the eventual takeover of Palpatine would be so subtle as not to alert the Jedi to what he was doing. Palpatine foresaw what was to happen. He knew how to blind the Jedi by the seemingly-disconnected way he controlled everything that happened. The whole situation with moving the Trade Federation to blockade the planet Naboo was all a ruse to reveal that the Supreme Chancellor was a lame-duck and persuade Queen Amidala to propose getting rid of him, so that when the time was ripe, Palpatine would end up looking good in the eyes of the Senate and they would vote him in. He ultimately knew that the Queen wouldn't sit idly by and would want to go back to Naboo to reclaim her planet. She did so and his plan went into motion. As for Darth Maul, I think he was just meant to be a minor plot point. He doesn't really need motivation other than "He's a Sith. Siths hate the Jedi. They want to be in control and the Jedi won't let them." Then, in Attack of the Clones, Palpatine once again maneuvered the situation by having the leader of the opposition to creating an army for the Republic be put out of the way. He had Count Dooku persuade the Trade Federation and others to hate the Republic and merge into a great army against it. The Republic would have no choice but to create an army of it's own to defend itself. And the clone army from Kamino was ready just in time. All this under Palpatine's knowing and watchful eye. With Amidala, the opposition leader to the army, out of the way, the bureaucrats and Palpatine slyly convinced Jar Jar Binks to propose giving the Supreme Chancellor emergency powers to create this army, in Amidala's name. Palpatine had to have known that the Separatist droid army could've been usurped by the Republic to defeat the Sith. So, he started a civil war, created an army of clones under his control, ultimately, and destroyed anyone who could've been used to destroy him, except the Jedi. Purging the Jedi and becoming Emperor was, thus, the point of Revenge of the Sith. He convinced the Senate that the Jedi tried to murder him and take over the Republic. After persuading Anakin Skywalker of this and to join him on the dark side, it was easy for Palpatine to use Anakin's knowledge of the Jedi to destroy the temple and every Jedi in it. Then he sent Anakin to destroy the Separatist leaders. And to "protect" society, Palpatine proposes that the Republic become a Galactic Empire and he, their Emperor. So, in short, Palpatine was the villain of the entire trilogy. He slowly and methodically got the power he wanted and destroyed anyone who could've destroyed him. I'm not much on the dialogue as a lot of people have said before, but the story was brilliant and extremely subtle.