Fraidy Emperor! Sheev Palpatine is the ultimate Star Wars baddie. He is why Anakin Skywalker turns to the Dark Side and is why Luke and Leia grew up without their parents or knowing about each other. He’s a twisted dude with no morals except his desire to live forever. He is like Voldemort. Anyway, this post’s objective is to determine whether our favourite cackling Sith Lord was afraid of the Skywalkers.
So, where do we begin? Oh, right. Anakin’s conception. One large piece of speculation comes from a comic issue where it is insinuated that Palpatine manipulated the Force to conceive Anakin in Shmi’s womb, hence being his father. While this isn’t 100% confirmed as accurate, it might explain the scene cut from Revenge of the Sith where Palpatine was meant to reveal to Anakin who his father was.
Anyway, let’s get to the nitty-gritty bones of the post. Was Palpatine afraid of the Skywalkers? We’d have to say yes. He was. Starting with Anakin, the family was insanely powerful in the Force. They were forces for a good while the Darth Sidious, disguised as a political figure from Naboo, wanted to rule the galaxy.
It took a boy from Tatooine to take down the droid control ship to get the attention of the Sith. Suppose that wasn’t creepy enough. It takes the same boy, now a man, to later kill him by sacrificing himself for his son. What also takes the cake here is how the former Jedi’s late wife also served as a foil.
Palpatine v. Padmé
Padmé Amidala hailed from the same planet as Palpatine and was the one who called for a Vote of No Confidence in Chancellor Valorum, which put Sheev in power. Throughout her life, she caused Palpatine a load of headaches and slight setbacks he likely compared to swatting away a fly.
Despite only being fourteen at the time, Padmé’s decision to push Valorum out of office had lasting effects. So much so that when she had to go into hiding on Naboo a decade later with Anakin as her bodyguard, she places Jar Jar in charge and well, he grants Palpatine emergency powers that he later refuses to give up.
It appears that Palpatine has Padmé killed by pulling her life force and transferring it to a crippled Vader. Of course, this is just a theory, but given the evil smirk that crosses his face, we smell more was going on here that wasn’t said.
Padmé was an obstacle that had to be removed. Though Palpatine didn’t count on the twin children, she was carrying to survive. What’s more, Obi-Wan, Yoda, and Bail agreed to separate Luke and Leia due to Sheev’s ability to sniff out a rat.
Twins v. Evil
Discovering that the rebel who put a dent in his plans was named ‘Skywalker’ would have pissed Palpatine off immensely. Moreover, it would’ve made him overly suspicious as to why someone with that last name had suddenly appeared.
However, what he likely didn’t see coming is Padmé giving birth to twins. While he wasn’t aware (at the time) that Leia was Luke’s sister, he used Leia’s son, Ben, as a weapon over the boy’s life.
Luke was more instrumental in stopping Palpatine than Leia, but she still fought the good fight. Also, Leia’s son helped bring the Emperor with the help of Sheev’s granddaughter, so we’re pretty sure he was scared.
Conclusive Answer
To conclude, was Palpatine afraid of the Skywalkers. We would have to say… yes. He was. Moreover, he singled Anakin out because he would become more powerful than him. He could not have that and needed to control the narrative.
Palpatine destroyed Anakin’s life by ripping everything he loved from him. But, he didn’t want to risk the man being happy, which meant he had more power. Therefore, his offspring would be equally as powerful.
