Star Wars: The 10 Greatest Tricks Darth Sidious Ever Pulled

While characters such as Darth Vader and Darth Maul are among the most iconic movie villains of all time, the true overarching threat of the Star Wars films is Darth Sidious, aka Sheev Palpatine, aka the Emperor. Although he was a master of the Dark Side of the Force and was shown to be a capable fighter in his secret identity as the Sith Lord Darth Sidious, Palpatine’s true strength lay in his ability to wield political power to deceive and manipulate everyone around him, advancing his evil agenda.

Many of Palpatine’s most insidious tricks came when no one even suspected that he was a Dark Lord of the Sith, such as when he convinced Jar Jar Binks to vote for him in his position as Chancellor to receive emergency powers that he used to launch the Clone Wars. Other machinations came to fruition even after his enemies knew how dangerous he was, like when he lured the Rebel Alliance into a trap with the second Death Star.

Darth Sidious Was Secretly Behind The Trade Blockade Of Naboo

Operating from the shadows, Darth Sidious laid the foundation of division by secretly working with Trade Federation Viceroy Nute Gunray to set up a trade blockade around Naboo. While the plan did not go exactly as he hoped, he was still able in his role as a Republic senator to leverage the resulting political crisis to sew discontent over Chancellor Valorum’s leadership.

Although the Jedi became aware that a mysterious Sith was pulling the strings, they did not know Sidious’ identity. Since no one suspected that Senator Palpatine was in fact Darth Sidious, he was able to set up Chancellor Valorum for a devastating political defeat, thereby claiming more power for himself.

Darth Sidious Manipulated Padmé Amindala Into Removing Chancellor Valorum From Power

With the crisis on Naboo boiling over, Darth Sidious convinced Naboo’s Queen Padmé Amidala of the need for stronger leadership in the Senate. As a result, she called for a vote of no confidence in Chancellor Valorum, creating a power vacuum that Sidious, as Senator Palpatine, would fill.

Although Padmé was often a good leader in the Star Wars saga, Sidious took advantage of her naivete to further his political agenda. Had she known the truth behind that agenda, she never would have challenged Valorum. Sidious concealed his identity and intentions as a Sith long enough to destabilize the Senate.

Sarth Sidious Swayed Count Dooku To The Dark Side

After the apparent death of Darth Maul, Sidious recruited Count Dooku as his new apprentice. He used Dooku to command the Separatist movement as the Head of State of the Confederacy of Independent Systems. Eventually, he betrayed Dooku and had him killed.

Sidious took advantage of Dooku’s disillusionment with the Jedi Order and hid his true agenda from the Sith apprentice. Dooku failed to recognize that deception and treachery were Darth Sidious’ signature personality traits, and he allowed himself to become a pawn in Sidious’ game.

Darth Sidious Was Behind The Clone Wars And Manipulated Both Sides

Even though he already was at this point Chancellor of the Galactic Republic, Darth Sidious’ master plan required ascending to even greater levels of political power, and doing so meant creating a massive, galaxy-wide emergency. To achieve this, he secretly manipulated both sides of the conflict between the Republic and the Separatists. He built both armies and pushed the galaxy to war.

By starting a conflict on such a massive scale, Sidious built two powerful armies he could control, caused the Senate to make emotional decisions, and distracted the Jedi while he moved into the next phase of his plan to take over the galaxy.

Darth Sidious Manipulated Jar Jar Binks Into Giving Him Emergency Powers

When Padmé was forced to step away from the Senate and went into protective hiding after an attempt on her life (orchestrated, of course, by Darth Sidious), Jar Jar Binks assumed her role as Galactic Senate Representative from Naboo. Binks was no match for Sidious, and the Gungan was easily manipulated into calling for a vote to give Chancellor Palpatine emergency powers.

Gaining the full power of the Senate was a turning point in Sidious’ rise. The authority that Jar Jar Binks handed to Palpatine represented a crucial further step in Sidious’ climb to absolute power. Binks’ action ranks as one of the worst decisions any Star Wars character made in the prequel trilogy.

Darth Sidious Corrupted Anakin Skywalker

From very early on, Darth Sidious recognized Anakin Skywalker’s immense power as well as his emotional vulnerability. As Chancellor Palpatine, he became a close ally and confidante of Skywalker’s. Eventually, he preyed on Skywaler’s fears that something terrible would happen to Padmé Amidala, Skywalker’s wife, seducing the young Jedi to the Dark Side of the Force with the promise of unlocking the secret to cheating death.

Turning Anakin Skywalker into Darth Vader gave Sidious a nearly unstoppable second-in-command who could help him take control of the galaxy and strike fear into his enemies. Manipulating him into becoming a legendary Dark Lord of the Sith was a methodical process that ultimately paid off for Darth Sidious.

Darth Sidious Implemented Order 66 And Destroyed The Jedi

One of the most lethal and ambitious ploys that Darth Sidious ever pulled off came in the form of Order 66, a top-secret protocol he had baked into the genetic coding of every clone trooper in the Grand Army of the Republic. It allowed Sidious to turn every trooper against the army’s Jedi leaders in an instant. When Sidious finally implemented Order 66, he all but wiped out the Jedi.

Darth Sidious would have had a hard time taking on the vast and powerful Jedi forces in a direct battle. By catching them off guard and turning their presumed allies against them, he annihilated the Jedi, thus removing the greatest obstacle in his rise to ultimate power.

Darth Sidious Designed The Apparently Incomplete Second Death Star To Be Fully Operational

As the Rebel Alliance moved into to position to destroy the second Death Star before it could be completed, Darth Sidious revealed to Luke Skywalker that his friends were actually headed into a dangerous trap, because the Death Star was in fact already fully operational.

Darth Vader would unexpectedly step in and kill his master, but everything was going according to Sidious’ plan until that point, and he came close to pulling off his grand scheme. It was a brilliant bit of deception that, if not for Vader, would have led to the destruction and final defeat of the Rebel Alliance.

Darth Sidious Used Supreme Leader Snoke As A Puppet

After Sidious’ apparent death and the fall of the Galactic Empire, Supreme Leader Snoke took control of the First Order and followed in Sidious’ footsteps. He trained Kylo Ren in the ways of the Dark Side and oversaw the construction of the Starkiller base. Eventually, it was revealed that Snoke was actually a strand-cast used by Sidious to do the Sith’s bidding until the Sith Lord could make his return.

Snoke was underused in the films, but the character fulfilled his purpose by preparing the way for Sidious’ return. By using Snoke as his proxy, Sidious concealed his return while remaining an active force in the struggle between the Light and Dark Sides of the Force.

Darth Sidious Created The Final Order

By using Snoke as his puppet, Sidious avoided detection while he mounted a comeback. This allowed him to secretly construct the Final Order, a massive fleet, on Exegol. The forces of good ultimately defeated the army, but their victory came at the cost of many lives.

Returning from death undetected, and with a powerful army behind him, is an incredible achievement on Sidious’ part and an ingenious move that nearly resulted in his reclaiming his title as Galactic Emperor.

About The Author