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I noticed this interesting article over at T'bone SWU about Palpatine and the Sith and whether or not the galactic public at large knew he is a Sith Lord. I like his theory. We'll see if he's right once Episode III is released.

Btw, the spoiler leery had best not read the article. Some major spoilers are discussed.

Link

I'm not going to read the article (thanks for the spoiler warning BTW) but i think its common knowledge that the galaxy DIDNT know he was a sith, or even a force-user for that matter. He was just a politician who became chancellor, "saved" the republic in times of turmoil and then became a reclusive dictator--i dont think the public saw much of him after he became Emperor. The only people who knew his secret were either killed (i.e. the jedi, who i'm sure will find out when its too late) or worked for him. Yoda's line in ROTJ "dont underestimate the powers of the emperor" are a goldmine for speculation, but i think its safe to assume that he was one of the few who knew of Palpatine's true origin. Not even the Emperor's most trusted advisors--Tarkin for example--knew about his true power, other than he was an individual to be feared.

"You, my friend, are all that is left of their religion."

No one knew.

Illuminatus Primus wrote:"You, my friend, are all that is left of their religion."

No one knew.

There are clearly those like Vader that did. But the public at large, definitely not.

Luke certainly seemed surprised when Palpatine opened up the can of Sith Lightning whoop-ass.

Darwin wrote:Luke certainly seemed surprised when Palpatine opened up the can of Sith Lightning whoop-ass.

Shit Luke looked surprised when his cuffs were removed.

Well, I had always figured that Palpatine being as Sith was most likely not common knowledge. What intruigued me the most about the article, and why I posted a link is how the need to keep the secret of the sith might be a central component in the plot of EP3. Maybe I'm dense or something but the possibility never occured to me before that one of the major reasons Palpatine decided to completely wipe out the Jedi is the fear that they may reveal is true identity to the public. Or at the very least forced him to move their elimination up on his to-do list.

Interesting read. I particularly like the guy's final paragraph, though -- Lucas may absolutely suck at dialogue and directing, but damn the story is good... (hope I don't upset anyone with this remark!)