Sidious-Palpatine-Dooku-Maul

What about this theory?

Palpatine is NOT Sidious. Follow me: Sidious is after the Republic (to 'convert' it into Empire) and he needs a representative in the Senate to help him bring down the Republic (in diplomatic way) and build an Empire army. He chooses Palpatine and teaches him Sith magic. Since we know that Palpatine becomes the Emperor and he is very strong in Force, he must have some mentor to teach him. Maybe he was even Jedi oneday, who knows?!? But as Sidious goes along, he breaks the rule of having only two Siths at the time (he's a wise guy!). He thinks: 'So what, if I'm having two apprentices? As long as they don't know about each other and I'm having them on both sides!'. So at first he takes Maul and then Dooku, while still having his second apprentice, Palpatine, in charge of senate helping him raise the Empire. When republic falls, Sidious has no need for count Dooku anymore (going back to one master and one apprentice), and he orders Palpatine to wipe him out, since Palpatine is stronger in the Force. After that, Palpatine turns on his master, just as Vader did, and destroys Sidious, takes on a new apprentie, Anakin aka Vader, declares himself an Emperor and Episode IV begins...

Voila! Any comments?

Just a thought...

Yes, I have a comment. You're complicating things well beyond what they need to be. I have a feeling we'll find out that Palpatine is actually the Jedi master who was thought to be long dead. But if it IS him, why the hell doesn't Yoda or Windu recognize him? Did he undergo plastic surgery?

Buf if Palpatine IS the Jedi master, then who the hell trained him?!?!?

That's the easy answer... I can't see a newsgroup discussion for three years being all that exciting if there's no kick to the story. If there's no twist, then all we have to see in Ep.III are people saying things we know they'll say (Owen telling Anakin not to go on one of his idealist crusades, and so on). No fun at all!!!

Umm.... that question will always remain for somebody no matter HOW many Jedi clones and imposters you invent.

Plot twists shouldn't come at the expense of destroying the impact of scenes and stories that came before it.

The Palpatine scenes are deliciously creepy right now because we see all the 'heroes' interacting casually with Palpatine day to day and thinking of him as at worst, a smooth-talking opportunistic politician, who happens to be fairly effective leader. All the time, *we* know that Palpatine is not just a Sith Lord but the baddest Sith Lord of all; the SW galaxy's equivalent of Hitler. Translated to modern times, it'd be like finding out your best friend was really Osama bin Laden in disguise. It'd be creepy to think you'd been so close to evil so many times and never knew it.

Now you come and tell us Palpatine IS just a smooth-talking opportunistic politician after all, and the Emperor he becomes in ROTJ is someone completely unrelated. Instead of the dastardly Emperor, he becomes a slightly smarter Nute Gunray - an unwitting pawn in someone else's web. All these Coruscant scenes can now just be taken at face value. That's exactly the opposite of what all the other major 'identity' revelations did. They made previous scenes MORE interesting to watch because you knew now there was more going on than what was visible on the surface.

Just what the hell is the appeal of all these unnecessary clone/twin/manipulator theories anyway. We've got an elegant setup that works now - yes, we 'know' about Palptine's dual identify because we've seen the sequels first... S.F.W.. Does the fact that we know PP is really Spiderman somehow spoil the fun of watching him try to keep that secret from his family and girlfriend? How would it improve anything to learn that Spiderman was really a robot creation of PP rather than PP himself? No! And the same is true for separating Sidious and Palpatine.

Yoda is the most likely candidate, seeing as how he has 'trained Jedi for 800 years.' Any Sith training would likely come from ancient texts. If the Sith were an unbroken lineage, that would be a lot of dark side to deal with.

thus spake:

I hate to piss in your Cheerios, but today I was looking at 'The Art of Star Wars: Attack of the Clones,' and there was a short passage about Palpatine's transformation into the Emperor. There's your Lucasfilm-sanctioned answer.

Of course, on your planet, this could all be a red herring, in which case I will be back here in three years to eat some crow if you're proven correct. Just in case, I will stock up on the ketchup.

Impressive. One hell of a twist!!!

Two minor points ...

Isn't it made clear in the film that Sifo-Dyas apparently died *before* the order was made?

Not necessary to get so convoluted, since it's clear from the films that Dooku only leaves the Jedi after Maul is dead.

Finially an orginial post! It never ocured to that the shaft shifter was a more that a gratuitious CGI. However, there is 1 hole in your theory. What turns Anakin to the Sith? However the idea is very interesting there is just one thing I would change.

Anakin does help. Sidous is so focused on Palpatine he does not sence Anakin untill Anakin's lightsabe is sticking out of Sidous chest. Then the slow of life engery reverse, Sidous life force is suched into Palpatine. Then Palpatine pulls some device out of one of Sidous's pockets and turns it on, a series of strange symbols apear. Anakin ask what they are, and Palpatine tells him 'Knowledge my boy, the knowledge that will allow us to bring order to the galaxy'. Que imperial theme.