One Thing That Caught My Attention While Watching The Phantom Menace In The Theater, A Movie I Didn't

One thing that caught my attention while watching The Phantom Menace in the theater, a movie I didn't expect to find anything new with after how many times I've seen it and analyzed it, was that Sidious mentions multiple times that he has to change his plans to fit the new circumstances. It got me to thinking about how Palpatine gets credit for his carefully crafted plans, but often times not for how flexible he is in changing them on the fly, especially in time travel fics where someone destroys one of his plans and that's the end of it. Which, I'm not advocating against, I love a good Take That Wrinkled Walnut The Fuck Down However You Gotta Do It fic and I don't want them to change! But in canon Palpatine makes note of things he's not expecting, like:

When Valorum sends the Jedi as ambassadors, it's not part of Sidious' plan: DAULTAY DOFINE: This scheme of yours has failed, Lord Sidious. The blockade is finished. We dare not go against the Jedi. DARTH SIDIOUS: Viceroy, I don't want this stunted slime in my sight again! This turn of events is unfortunate. We must accelerate our plans. Begin landing your troops. NUTE GUNRAY: My lord, is that… legal? DARTH SIDIOUS: I will make it legal. NUTE GUNRAY: And the Jedi? DARTH SIDIOUS: The Chancellor should never have brought them into this. Kill them immediately!

On the Trade Federation ship, after Queen Amidala has disappeared from Naboo, Palpatine originally planned that she would be forced to sign the treaty, and then brings in Maul to deal with this. DARTH SIDIOUS: And Queen Amidala, has she signed the treaty? NUTE GUNRAY: She has disappeared, My Lord. One Naboo cruiser got pat the blockade. DARTH SIDIOUS: I want that treaty signed. NUTE GUNRAY: My Lord, it's impossible to locate the ship. It's out of our range. DARTH SIDIOUS: Not for a Sith. This is my apprentice. Darth Maul. He will find your lost ship.

On Naboo, after Padme allies with the Gungans: NUTE GUNRAY: We've sent out patrols. We've already located their starship in the swamp....It won't be long, My Lord. DARTH SIDIOUS: This is an unexpected move for her. It's too aggressive. Lord Maul, be mindful. MAUL: Yes, my Master. DARTH SIDIOUS: Be patient... Let them make the first move.

Palpatine's plans aren't static, they adapt and change with the events that happen, just as the other characters react to new information and head in new directions for it, so too does Palpatine and I think it's interesting to note that part of what makes him such a good villain is that he has an outline for what he wants to do, he sets up the dominoes of what he needs, but even when they don't fall precisely into place, he generally gets what he wants. He originally intended that Padme would sign the treaty, the Jedi wouldn't be involved, and that would lead to a vote of No Confidence to oust Valorum, using the sympathy for Naboo as a way to boost himself into the position. But he didn't really need her to sign it and still managed to use the sympathy for Naboo to get elected, it ultimately didn't matter what happened to the planet, so long as it was in danger while he needed it to be, he could use it either way. Nor, honestly, do I think he ever planned for Anakin Skywalker's existence, he had no idea they would find such a boy on Tatooine or how useful he was going to be, that was another way he changed his plans once the opportunity arose. Or a lot of his plots in TCW--he has Cad Bane steal the list of Force-sensitive children and kidnap them, bringing them to Mustafar for some sort of program to use them probably not too unlike how he uses the Inquisitors later. That plan is foiled by the Jedi, the babies are returned to their families, and Sidious' plans fall through, but that doesn't really change the outcome. tl:dr: I don't think Palpatine gets enough credit as a villain whose plans shift and change along with the new events that happen, just as much as the heroes' plans shift and change when new things happen. Yeah, he's a great villain because he creates an impossible trap for people, but also because the thing about him is that he's incredibly charming and charismatic and he knows an opportunity when he sees one, that any one given plan might fall through, but it's not necessary to his overall plot.

Did Howard Shore's LOTR score become a deeply-ingrained part of your personality or are you normal

This.

Anakin’s choices in RotS were entirely his own—he had the physical capability and the agency to choose the Light, and every single won of his actions was a conscious choice.

But he never would’ve made the choices he did without the 13 years of Palpatine grooming him specifically to be his evil minion.

It’s possible to recognize that Anakin’s character flaws led to his Fall and that the atrocities he committed as Vader were entirely by his own will, while also recognizing that Palpatine is the one who exploited those flaws into actual homicide.

And everyone in Anakin’s life, from the Jedi Order to Obi-Wan to Padme to Ahsoka, who gets blamed for somehow failing to stop Anakin’s Fall, had absolutely no idea that they were up against The Literal Manifestation Of Evil. They saw Anakin’s flaws and reacted to them with the information they knew—that Anakin was a good man at heart with a deeply traumatizing childhood who didn’t always make the best decisions. They did not know that Anakin’s flaws had been fed and nurtured and encouraged by The Evilest Guy To Ever Evil for as long as they had known him, so of course they didn’t freak out when Anakin fucked up! They all thought Anakin was just an imperfect guy, not the victim and end game of the cunning machinations of Literal Satan!

These people didn’t always get it right, and every single character at some point misunderstood the root of Anakin’s issues and how to actually help (this is not to say that Anakin was communicating perfectly and everyone was just ignoring him, because nuance exists) and yes, sometimes those attempts to help did more harm than good, and yes, those mistakes fostered Anakin’s distrust that led to his Fall—but without Palpatine actively using every single misstep to his advantage, those mistakes would not have made Anakin turn into a homicidal maniac. It was Palpatine turning good-intentioned, well-meaning fuckups from the people in Anakin’s life, who are imperfect and have character flaws in their own right, into Sith Propaganda and repeating this constantly for 13 years.

Sorry to hijack your post, OP, but this fandom playing the blame-game while ignoring the obvious archetypal villain drives me fucking bonkers lol

“bla bla it’s the jedi’s fault” “bla bla it’s anakin’s fault” “bla bla it’s obi wans fault”

WHY ARE WE NOT BLAMING MR. EVIL MC EVIL OVER THERE. THE GUY WHO HAS MULTIPLE NOVELS DETAILING THE IMMENSE JOY HE GETS OUT OF MAKING CHILDREN VIOLENT. GUYS????

blade to blade

SITH! OBI-WAN & ANAKIN SKYWALKER | WHAT IF? STAR WARS BY ME. I always liked the idea of Obi-Wan corrupted by the dark side, so i made this. Star Wars really needs a what if show.

There is truly something to stepping away from the arguments on-line in fandom over stupid stuff (important matters still discussed, but the non-essential stuff can go) that has brought back my passion for Star Wars. I was so burned out on all the stupid fucking discourse, all the snippy vagueblogs aimed in the direction of fans like me, all the racing to the least compassionate take one could find, all the leaping to treat real people like crap over fictional characters. But I stepped back for a few months. I spent a couple more months in other fandoms. I took my time on-line down to a fraction to focus on IRL projects and recovery from family stuff. And when I wandered back into the thick of it again, I was going back with the idea that my time was more important than wasting it on stupid arguments or people who cared more about fictional characters than they do about real people. I have my friends that I vibe with, I don't need to care about what new Star Wars says or does, my only job with Star Wars anymore is to find the things I enjoy. If I don't like something, boom, it's gone from my mental landscape, it's garbage and I don't care if other people love that garbage, I don't want it in my house, it's outside now. As cliche as it is, taking time to step back, not even fully leaving, just distancing myself for awhile, then coming back with the mindset of "enjoy it or don't, I don't have to take any of this into my mental landscape of what Star Wars is to me", has allowed me to find that love again. Tell fandom to fuck off, but then you actually have to take that garbage out of your mind, too. It's garbage, you don't need to argue with it, you don't need to adapt it into your house decor, you don't need to acknowledge it beyond bagging it up and taking it outside, whether it's fandom nonsense or something stupid Star Wars itself did. Take a break, find something else to do for a month or two, and it might help you realize, oh, you can hit the bricks if something sucks. Even if you stay with the rest of Star Wars, you don't have to get into that nonsense over there, just like the movies you like, the shows you like, the books you like, and genuinely ignore the rest, it no longer exists. You can just stick with your five friends to discuss things with, you can just make your own content about the parts you do like, that's all fandom needs to be. And doing that has made me love Star Wars all over again.