StarDestroyer.Net BBS

Didn't really have any intentions of reading the novel, especially before the movie, but faced with 2 4 hour drives in one day I decided it was worth the sacrifice.

When Mace Windu fights Palpatine, two times he gets an advantage over him, first after destroying his blade, and then after channeling the force lightning through him and back at Palpatine. Were these advantages real, and did Mace really have superiority over Palpatine(possibly because of his unique emerging style since Yoda attributed the Sith's superiority to spending the past thousand years growing and preparing while the Jedi remained fairly stagnant) or were they a farce to further draw Anakin to the dark side.

I'm in a spoiler thread (hangs head, then winks)

It's entirely possible
Palpatine was overconfident in his abilities with a lightsaber (explaining why we never see it again)
Underestimated Mace
Didn't know redirecting the force was possible

OR
he might have wanted the injury as proof of the hostility of the Jedi. I mean, Mace used the force to do that

1) He needed his lightsaber to be destroyed– unless Mace was set on killing the defenseless Palpatine when Anakin came into the picture, Anakin wouldn't kill Mace.

2) Two-parter: He needed some cold, physical evidence of the Jedi betrayal– them melting the face of the Supreme Chancellor in an assassination attempt fit the need perfectly. Also, him screaming for Anakin to help him as his flesh melted went a long way towards making Anakin kill Mace instead of Palpatine. It lent a sense of urgency to the situation, and made Anakin act quickly and not think his actions through.

The novel contradicts the film. His lightsabre isn't destroyed in the film.

I thought it might have something to do with his potentially non-canon necklace thing that gives him more power, and the fact that he is not wearing it in the Mace Windu fight but does with the Yoda expalining the discrpepency.

The Guid wrote:I thought it might have something to do with his potentially non-canon necklace thing that gives him more power, and the fact that he is not wearing it in the Mace Windu fight but does with the Yoda expalining the discrpepency.

You're joking, right?

He needed Anakin to go to the dark side and defeat Mace. From a logical point of view, I still believe the reflected-lightning is just messing up his disguise, not actually melting his appearance in real time.

It can very much be that Palpatine underestimated Mace, or Mace got in a lucky shot by taking out Palpatine's lightsaber. It could also be very much likely that it was planned, in ROTJ we see that Palpatine has a good deal of foresight, and I think we can infer it served him well in the past only at the very end did it change.

Either way though, the will of the Force/prophecy was definitely on Palpatine's side at that moment.

Vympel wrote:The novel contradicts the film. His lightsabre isn't destroyed in the film.

How the hell do you know that? The movie hasn't even come out, yet.

Mace had him beat during that lightsabre fight. Once the lightning started thing started to get serious, Palpatine only faked weakness there at the end. I Anakin hadn't made his choice it could have gone either way really. Mace was an experienced Jedi, and he was able to channel the lightning through him. Palpy did not see that coming. That said his face did not melt, etc, his glamour, disguise or whatever was destroyed is all.

As far as the Yoda fight goes, it wasn't a matter of Palpatine being stronger. Palpy had the advantage during the whole fight. He just has to avoid dying, he did have hundreds of clone soldiers on duty in the Senate hall after all. If there had been no chance on interference one of them would have been killed. Yoda new that he couldn't take on the Emperor and his troops.

As a side note we all no that the Sith use artifacts to boost their power, its one of their main advantages over the Jedi. For all we no the whole cloak of the dark side could be due to some Sith alchemy, or artifact.

Honestly, all this "I have a level 55 power vase of doom! you can't roll your dice for two turns, even if you have a level 45 magik goth ring of gothicness" crap is lame. It works with Lord of the Rings, but too much artifactory just sucks donkey balls.

Shroom Man 777 wrote:It works with Lord of the Rings, but too much artifactory just sucks donkey balls.

Err. That's D&D. LotR has all of... what, three... magical items in it, only one of which the protagonists know how to use fully.

Stofsk wrote: How the hell do you know that? The movie hasn't even come out, yet.

The script has been available for some time

I was thinking about it, and Mace was holding his own by channeling the dark power that Sideous was drawing on, but he didn't get the advantage til he turned the sense of fear he felt on him. He thought it was Sideous's fear, but it was Anakin's fear that Mace would kill Sideous and he'd lose Padme(atleast according to Sideous).

Vympel wrote:

The Guid wrote:I thought it might have something to do with his potentially non-canon necklace thing that gives him more power, and the fact that he is not wearing it in the Mace Windu fight but does with the Yoda expalining the discrpepency.

You're joking, right?

I definately thought he was, but that was because I misread it as "necktie"...

Vympel wrote:

Stofsk wrote:How the hell do you know that? The movie hasn't even come out, yet.

The script has been available for some time

Yeah I know, dude. But what's on the page and what's on the screen are two different things. A week from now and it'll be here!