Palpatine's Rise to Power

This is a trailer-style compilation video illustrating Darth Sidious's brilliant rise to power and the seduction of Anakin Skywalker to the dark side. Clips are from all six movies but mostly Episode's I-III, there are also some pictures from the Expanded Universe in there.

Hope you enjoy :)
(I recommend headphones when watching this video)

UPDATE: The Expanded Universe images in this video are no longer officially canon since the Disney takeover :(. However, in my little world I still consider most of the EU or "Legends" content that happens before Episode VI as "pretty much valid." Also, if Episode VIII reveals that Snoke is indeed Darth Plagueis, I might have to change the title of this video!

[phantomninja]

Say what you want about the prequels, but Ian McDiarmid's portrayal of Palpatine was amazing. Fantastic actor and you can really see him having fun while portraying the future Emperor.

[darthroden]

7:14 That was always the part that got me. He declares the Republic dead, and himself Emperor, takes away their freedom....and they actually cheered him for it. That was the moment you realize just how brilliantly he manipulated everything.

[hartsickdisciple]

The greatest villain in cinema history is a politician.

[LightgreenLP]

Palpatine literally planed out like a 40 year long plot and EVERYTHING happened just as he planned it. Pure genius. He's the best villain in cinema history.

[DrEight-dgxt]

Remember when everyone bashed the prequels but nobody bashes them anymore since the Disney trilogy came out

[holdenrohloff]

Palpatine was playing a game of chess, but he was controling both sides of the board. Ether way, he wins.

[underlordd]

The way it all ties up at the end of episode 3 is the most badass thing i have ever witnessed.

[jesseg]

He manufactured the war, the assassination attempt on Padme to bring Anakin and her together. He was evil beyond imagination.

[ProBreaker]

The best part of all this, is the fact that he is supposedly one of the most powerful force users ever, but he never uses that power in anything other than self defense. He manipulated the entire senate into becoming a galactic empire, and he did it all without a lightsaber. All other sith has tried destroying the republic and jedi by using force, and all he did was say a few words, corrupt a jedi and hire a bounty hunter, well played Sidious, well played

[lewissimpson]

Me as a child: Appreciating him as a powerful Sith and great with the force.

Me as an adult: Appreciating him as a skilled politician who rose to the top via cunning and manipulation.

[spentlizard]

Snoke doesn't even compare. Palpatine was such an elaborate, Machiavellian-type character that calmly manipulated events in his favor, whereas this Snoke guy just shows up out of nowhere, seizes power, and then dies.

[hungrydrummerjoey]

I actually enjoy the Prequels the most out of all 3 sagas. There's more of a complex side of politics as compared to the black and white in the original trilogy, and this perfectly captures how a cunning politician pulled all the strings leading up to the war. The argument that the politics are boring is old. You can't have a war without politics. Also these politics led to some of the best battles in the entire series with the Jedi and Clones.

[BLK_MN]

Can we all just appreciate the dedication this actor had for the role of Darth Sidious? 3 movies over the course of decades and he stayed in complete consistent character the whole time.

[thomasmoore]

how could you leave out Padme's quote  "so this is how liberty dies, with thunderous applause"

[matt]

This 7 minute and 54 second video was better than all of the Disney movies combined

[NickWright]

This was incredibly well done! Funny. As a kid, I didn’t have a clue wtf was going on politically. I just knew there were tons of bad guys to be killed and awesome fights to come with that lol

[fayenwolf]

Them: "I didn't like all the politics."

Me: War involves politics genius.

[sheevpalpatine]

Quite easy when the whole Jedi council is extremely inattentive

[LookingTheBest]

The fact that 90% of us know Palpatines' first name, even though it was never revealed in cinemas, says a lot about the Universe George built.

[morbius]

By the time the Jedi were aware the man who had been running the Republic for a decade was the Sith Master they had been seeking, it was far too late. All that time, all throughout the Clone Wars and for years beforehand, he had been playing both sides against the middle. Every maneuver, every stratagem fit perfectly into place. The galaxy was his, and nobody could stop him. The Emperor always has been and always will be the greatest villain in movie history, manipulative on a level that even Machiavelli couldn’t have imagined possible. Ian McDiarmid IS Palpatine, and nobody else will ever do the character justice.