I've been thinking about how Palps will convince Anakin to turn from good to evil. We know it'll tie into his thirst for power, his resentment of the jedi and his desire to control the fates around him. I think there's still a jump from resentment to murdering your former friends and the destruction of everything you hold dear. When Anakin defends Palps and kills Mace, there has to have been something Palps has planted and I think it all rests on the Sith history lesson, which must come before Mace challenges Palps.

Bear with me here. I think this is interesting.

I was reading Dan Brown's book Angels and Demons about the Illuminati, and it seems they have a lot in common with the sith (obviously up to your interpretation). THe following is said in the book(paraprhased) Now it seems that "originally the Illuminati was a group of the most enlightened scholars, physicists and scientists about 500 years ago. They aimed to challenge the Church's one-sided and as they viewed it, inaccurate teachings. Naturally the Chruch felt threatened by this. Some of the Illuminati believed that science and religion (i.e what the Illuminati stood for and the Church) were not enemies but rather allies, two different languages telling the same story of symmetry and BALANCE. Heaven and Hell, night and day, LIGHT AND DARKNESS. Both science and reilgion rejoiced in God's symmetry...the endless contest of light and dark. Unfortunately, the unification of science and religion was not what the church wanted. The union would have nullified the Church's claim as the sole vessel through which man could uderstand God. So the Church tried to brand the Illuminati as heretics. members of the secret society were interrogated and tortured to reveal their members and some were murdered. The Illuminati were forced to flee. THey went underground, mixing with other refugee groups. Over the years a new Illuminati emerged. A DARKER ILLUMINATI. They grew very powerful, employing mysterious rites, DEADLY SECRECY, vowing someday to RISE AGAIN and take REVENGE against the Church."

Now imagine you're Palpatine and you want to paint the Sith in a positive light. You unveil a hidden history to Anakin, who you know already harbours deep resentment against the Jedi, who he feels are threatened by his power and are holding him back. Palps could tell him how the Sith were a noble order that challenged the authority of the Jedi and were hunted and demonised for it.

They are a byword for evil now because the Jedi have made sure of it. History is written by the winners and the Sith were wiped out by the Jedi because the Sith had discovered the true power of the force. The darkside is not something to be feared but to be embraced, because it is a part of us. A part of the force. A vital balance, but the Jedi were too afraid, too limitless and the Sith were exterminated because of it and had to go into hiding.

If he offers this information to Anakin before Mace learns the truth, it suddenly screams of absolute sense that Anakin would be faced with a dire choice. When Mace accuses Palps of being Sith, he can freely admit it. To Anakin it will seem as if those who have held him back have learned Palps's secret and are here to finish off the extermination of the Sith. Palps is already more of a sympathetic ally to Anakin than any of the Jedi. He understands him. Without him , he would not be on the council. And here are the Jedi ready to kill the one man in the Galaxy that is trying to bring order to it, and the one man who has total faith in him.

Manipulated by Palps, Anakin finally sees the "truth" Palps has told him and he makes the choice to defend Palps against the Jedi. When that decision leads him unleash his anger, resentment and hatred of the Jedi it begins to consume him, and at the same time demonstrates that the power offered by the Sith is stronger that that of the Jedi. And he still thinks he's doing it for the right reasons and will only become angrier and more hateful when those he believed closest to him don't see it that way.

Great post!

I think another key aspect to Palpatine realigning Anakin's preception of the Sith is linking his marriage to the Dark Side. By marrying Padme, Anakin has broken basic Jedi tenets and in a sense he's already part of the Dark Side.

It definitely would tie in nicely. Palps would highlight it as another form of repression.

Sidious: "Who are the Patriots? and 'La-Li-Lu-Le-Lo'"
Anakin: "'La-Li-Lu-Le-Lo'... Gotcha"

:P

I had posted this on another thread...




I think your Illuminati analogy fits perfectly. Wasn't there a BTH pic with Palps giving a History lesson? So he drops the history, makes the Sith seem like the ones that get the short end of the bargain and gives him the "together we can rule" line that gets thrown around by the sith all the time.

Great insight!

Funny thing is just yesterday I was at Barnes and Noble and picked up that same book along with a couple of Trade Paperbacks and the Medstar Duology.

Yeah, there was a BTH where Palps was giving Anakin an ancient history lesson with the aid of a frieze of mural. This has to happen before Mace arrives