He may have have been trained as a Sith, but Palpatine

was actually a heretic – and these ten facts prove it. The Sith suffered one of their greatest defeats a thousand years before the Skywalker saga. Darth Bane, the last surviving Sith Lord, chose to reform the Sith around the Rule of Two. The Baneite Sith would spend the next millennium working in the shadows, secretly undermining the Jedi and the Republic, preparing for the day of their revenge.

Sheev Palpatine was the culmination of everything the Sith had hoped for. But Palpatine was a proud man, and he would not allow himself to be bound by the traditions and rules of the Sith. No, he was instead a Sith heretic, treating the ancient lore with disdain and using even the Rule of Two as a mere means to an end – the end being his own ascension to power. These ten shocking facts prove just how much a heretic he really was.

10

Palpatine Considered Sith Lords A Greater Threat To His Power Than Jedi

He Feared The Return Of The Sith]

Palpatine was loyal only to himself. He had no loyalty towards his apprentices – proven by the almost careless ease with which he replaced them – and he cared little for the Sith themselves. This was best demonstrated in Charles Soule and Steven Cummings’ Hidden Empire event, which saw the Emperor believe an ancient Sith was in danger of returning to the present. Unwilling to brook any interference in his plans, Palpatine led an ᴀssault to destroy the Sith – in reality a trap laid by Lady Qi’ra of Crimson Dawn.

There are other hints in Star Wars canon that Palpatine cared little for the Lords of the Sith. According to Secrets of the Sith, purportedly Palpatine’s own notes, he sensed the dark side calling him to the Sith homeworld Moraband – and refused to go there, uninterested in learning from those who he considered to have failed. In Legends, Palpatine did indeed head to the Sith homeworld, where he was rejected by the spirits of the Sith Lords.

9

Palpatine Broke The Rule Of Two When He Killed His Master, Darth Plagueis

He Killed Him In A Shocking Way

According to the Rule of Two, every Sith Apprentice must one day prove themselves in battle by defeating their master. This would ensure that every generation of Sith was stronger than the one before, helping tip the balance of the Force toward the dark side. Palpatine had other ideas, though, when he learned his own master had discovered the Force power of essence transfer. If Palpatine killed Darth Plagueis in battle, there was a risk his master’s spirit would try to possess him.

Unwilling to take this risk, Palpatine instead chose to break the Rule of Two. He did not kill Plagueis in battle, demonstrating his own vast power; instead, he killed his master in his sleep. Darth Sidious was even willing to openly acknowledge this in Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith, telling Anakin Skywalker the story of “Darth Plagueis the Wise.”

8

Darth Sidious Groomed Dooku As An Apprentice Before Maul’s Apparent Death

He Really Didn’t Care About The Rule Of Two

Palpatine really didn’t care about the Rule of Two, a fact that’s perfectly illustrated by the choices he made with his own apprentices. Tales of the Jedi revealed that Palpatine was actually grooming Dooku as a potential Sith while Darth Maul was still alive; this was because Palpatine saw Maul as only a means to an end, to be discarded when he so chose. His plans were accelerated somewhat when Maul was killed by Qui-Gon Jinn in Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace, but Maul’s replacement was always only a matter of time.

This is a technical breach of the Rule of Two. If Palpatine wanted Dooku as an apprentice, he should have pitted him against Maul, taking on whoever won – a mirror of the strategies he would later use when he had Dooku and Anakin clash in Revenge of the Sith. But Palpatine saw uses for both Dooku and Maul, and preferred to use them both for as long as possible first.

7

Palpatine Bent The Rule Of Two Throughout Darth Vader’s Life

He Sought To Replace Darth Vader

Palpatine’s plans for Darth Vader were ruined when his new apprentice fell to Obi-Wan Kenobi’s blade, but the new Emperor had learned a grim lesson from Maul; never again would he discard someone until he was sure their usefulness was at an end. Darth Sidious recruited the best scientists in the galaxy to keep Anakin Skywalker alive, transforming him into a powerful cyborg. But that doesn’t mean he was content; rather, Palpatine found it deeply frustrating to have such a flawed apprentice.

Shockingly, Kieron Gillen and Salvador Larocca’s Darth Vader (2015) run revealed the Emperor had the same scientists who saved Vader lead attempts to replace him. One notable example was a man named Cylo, who worked out how to simulate the Force using technology, and Palpatine toyed with cybernetically enhanced beings as his Darth Vader replacements. Naturally, his apprentice was far from pleased when he learned the truth.

6

Palpatine Never Intended To Pᴀss His Empire On To Darth Vader

Palpatine’s Contingencies Were About Darth Vader

In theory, Palpatine should have been training Darth Vader to one day replace him. Instead, he quite enjoyed putting Vader in his place, endlessly reminding him that he was the greater; it suited the Emperor’s ego to have the Chosen One humbled at his feet. In fact, the Emperor’s contingency was designed to ensure Vader would never inherit the Empire should he one day somehow kill his master.

As seen in Chuck Wendig’s Aftermath trilogy, Palpatine’s death triggered a series of so-called contingencies designed to bring both the Empire and the nascent New Republic to their knees. Palpatine loyalists launched a swathe of brutal attacks on the galaxy (known as Operation Cinder), and everything was designed to culminate in a battle over the skies of Jakku. That entire planet had been converted into a giant bomb, designed to wipe out both the Imperial and Republic fleets. Fortunately, New Republic spies deactivated it.

5

The Emperor Chose Not To Train A New Successor After Return Of The Jedi

A Surprising Twist In Rise Of Skywalker

Palpatine’s various contingencies worked (somehow), and he was able to rise from the ᴅᴇᴀᴅ. But even now he broke the Rule of Two, because he avoided taking another Sith Apprentice after his resurrection. He remained in the shadows, a true “Phantom Menace,” concealing his return by operating through proxies like Supreme Leader Snoke.

This makes perfect sense for Palpatine; he probably viewed apprentices as a weakness now, given he had died after Darth Vader betrayed him. But it was an unforgivable breach of the Rule of Two, because it ensured there was nobody for him to pᴀss his teachings on to. When Palpatine eventually died again, this time thanks to Rey, it was the end of the Baneite line of Sith,

4

Darth Sidious Was Willing To Learn From Sith Heretics

It’s How He Learned Essence Transfer

Darth Sidious’ quest for immortality saw him learn from actual Sith heretics – or, rather, from the spirits of Sith heretics. The most notable of these was Darth Momin, a Sith who had become so dangerous that he was hunted by fellow Sith as well as Jedi. Momin mastered the power of essence transfer, and his spirit resided within his ancient mask. Palpatine gave this mask to Darth Vader, allowing Momin’s spirit to guide the construction of Vader’s fortress on Mustafar.

But he had first drained Momin dry of the secrets he sought. Palpatine knew of essence transfer – it was the Force power his own master had cultivated – but he needed to know more from Momin. It’s striking that Palpatine claimed he never went to the Sith homeworld, and yet he learned from a heretic.

3

The Sith Forbade Blending Science & The Force, But That Didn’t Stop Palpatine

Darth Sidious’ Experiments Were Heretical

Earlier, I mentioned that Palpatine asked Dr. Cylo to fashion cyborgs as potential replacements for Darth Vader. This was actually forbidden under Sith lore; the Sith had long ago fought a cult known as the Ascendants, who used technology to simulate the Force, and they were considered too dangerous for the practice to be encouraged. Palpatine, of course, ignored these stipulations.

Darth Vader knew enough of this to react in shock when he learned of Cylo’s experiments. He called them “heresy,” a very deliberate word-choice that suggests just how dangerous he considered them to be, and took great pleasure in killing Cylo and all his cyborgs. But this was far from the limit of Palpatine’s heresy…

2

Even Palpatine Knew His Immortality Plans Were Heretical

He Proved This In The Bad Batch

Star Wars: The Bad Batch introduced viewers to the Imperial cloning facility on Mount Tantiss, where the Emperor’s scientists – such as Dr. Hemlock – attempted to figure out how to use science to clone the Force. This would have been the holy grail of the Ascendant, and Sith lore would have outright forbidden it. That didn’t stop Palpatine, and these experiments would ultimately become the key to his resurrection.

Palpatine visited Mount Tantiss in The Bad Batch season 3, episode 3, and he cautioned Hemlock that there were those who would see these experiments as abominations. In context, he seems to be referring to Darth Vader himself, hinting that his apprentice would not have approved. With good reason; this was yet more heresy.

1

Darth Maul Believed Palpatine Had Destroyed Both The Jedi & The Sith

“He Will Avenge Us”

Darth Maul met his final end in Star Wars Rebels season 3, episode 20. There, the former Sith Apprentice’s quest for vengeance on those who had wronged him took him to Tatooine, where he dueled Obi-Wan Kenobi one last time. Cut down with surprising ease, Maul’s last words were of realization; he figured out Obi-Wan was guarding the Chosen One, and he died in relative peace.

Maul’s last words were of strange hope, as he decreed that Luke Skywalker would “avenge us.“ Notice the precise word-choice there, which implies that Luke would avenge more than just Obi-Wan and Maul; rather, he would avenge the Jedi and the Sith, both of whom had effectively been destroyed by Palpatine. Maul was right, although the vengeance of Jedi and Sith upon Palpatine would be realized in a very different way to anything he imagined.