Since the very beginning of the Palpatine’s deepest, darkest secret, I had to eat my words.

In Legend’s Star Wars: Dark Empire by Tom Veitch and Cam Kennedy, Luke Skywalker, Leia Organa, Han Solo, and Chewbacca are doing their part to help the newly formed New Republic thrive just six years after they were integral in taking down the Empire. Unfortunately, the Empire wasn’t as dead as the Rebel heroes would have hoped - nor was the Emperor. Somehow, Palpatine returned. And it wasn’t until Luke did some investigating that they discovered that he came back through advanced cloning methods and the dark side practice of essence transfer.

It seemed as though Palpatine was, indeed, immortal, so Luke Skywalker had to think up another way to defeat him. Luke decided that he’d go undercover as Palpatine’s Sith apprentice, pretending to fill the role his father, Darth Vader, once held. But the pull of the dark side was far more powerful than Luke could have anticipated, and he quickly began to fall to corruption. However, when Luke pulled himself back to the light (with the help of Leia), he understood the dark side more than he ever did before. And, more importantly, he understood Palpatine more than before.

Luke Skywalker Discovered Palpatine’s Greatest Secret: His Gleeful Demeanor is a Lie

Emperor Palpatine is Secretly Suffering

Luke Skywalker was able to sense the hidden emotions within Emperor Palpatine while serving as his apprentice, and he discovered the Emperor’s greatest secret. While Palpatine pretends to be filled with glee while committing acts of atrocious evil, he’s secretly deeply tortured, angry, and fearful. The Emperor hated that Luke saw through his facade, but at that point, the secret was out. In other words, Palpatine is more like the other Sith villains of Star Wars than I originally thought.

Throughout Star Wars lore, powerful Sith and dark siders have all had one thing in common: deep suffering. As Yoda himself explained, the end result of giving yourself over to the dark side is suffering, and while the trade-off is immeasurable power, the suffering must also remain. Most Sith accept that trade-off, as their lust for power takes priority over their personal/mental well-being. While there are plenty of examples scattered throughout Star Wars books and comics, we can more easily see that on the screen with examples including Darth Vader, Count Dooku, and Kylo Ren.

That’s why Palpatine always kind of felt like the worst Star Wars villain to me, because he was reaping all the benefits of being a Sith Lord without the aforementioned trade-off. Palpatine enjoyed every minute of the power he amassed by being as evil as possible, and while that makes him a great antagonist in the ‘pure evil’ sense, it doesn’t fall in-line with what I’ve come to understand about the Sith. But now, that’s completely changed, because Palpatine was suffering all along - he was just very good at hiding it.

Star Wars Needs to Make Palpatine’s Secret Official Canon

Star Wars: Dark Empire isn’t Canon, but This Scene Needs to Be

Star Wars canon somewhat adapted Legend’s Star Wars: Dark Empire into Star Wars: Episode IX - The Rise of Skywalker, as that film included Palpatine’s return via cloning and essence transfer. However, the movie failed to dig into who Palpatine was as a person, or as a Sith - at least, not like Dark Empire did. That means, as it stands, the version of Palpatine that’s canon is the same version that I think is the worst choice for the franchise’s ‘ultimate Sith’. Legends changed my mind about Palpatine, and now it’s time for Star Wars canon to do the same.

What’s cool about Star Wars, though, is that Legends and canon more often than not go hand-in-hand. Sure, certain details are altered, and some storylines don’t play out like others, but the spirit of each character tends to be the same. Luke Skywalker is still a hero, Han Solo is still a scoundrel, and Leia Organa is still a badass. The differences between Legends and canon don’t change that. And I’m choosing to believe the same is true for Emperor Palpatine, because I used to think that he was Star Wars’ worst villain, until one secret convinced me otherwise.