Star Wars has revealed new secrets of Emperor Palpatine's backstory, helping explain how he gained power in the Old Republic. The Star Wars prequel trilogy may have told the story of the Empire's birth, but there's a sense in which it actually misses the full scale of the Sith plot. After all, there's a reason the Jedi refused to believe Count Dooku when he claimed the Senate had already been compromised by the Sith in Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones; it meant the Republic had already fallen to the dark side.

That's why you can't cut Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace out of the prequels; it's the story of how Palpatine became Chancellor of the Republic. The Sith had won the moment a Dark Lord took office as Supreme Chancellor; the rest was inevitable, a result of the dark side now dominant. But how did Palpatine get into this position? The new Star Wars: Complete Locations drops some important clues.

Naboo Made A Perfect Power Base For Palpatine

Everything Played To His Advantage

The planet Naboo may look beautiful, but it is the homeworld of Star Wars' greatest villain. What's more, according to Star Wars: Complete Locations, the city of Theed - Naboo's capital - was his place of birth. Naboo's politics taught Palpatine how to claim power.

Supreme Chancellor Palpatine's shuttle hovers over the elegantly domed buildings of Theed, his home city and the capital of Naboo. From this vantage point Palpatine can ire the city's unified, harmonious style, the result of extensive rebuilding after the upheavals of the ancient past. Theed's sophisticated culture has produced many able and ired galactic politicians, not least of whom is Palpatine himself, who learned much about the mechanics of government and the subtleties of power during his early years here. Naboo's reputation for peace and tolerance in the moral wilderness of the galaxy's rim lent Palpatine credibility as a young politician. The Naboo now feel secure in a galaxy ruled by this willful individual, however remote and inscrutable he has become.

It's interesting to note that Naboo has a reputation for peace and tolerance, when that actually hides deep division between the Naboo and the Gungans. We see that in The Phantom Menace, when Pé appeals to the Gungans, and is initially rebuffed. This, perhaps, was one key thing Darth Sidious learned; that reputations can serve to conceal harsh truths.

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Our Take On Star Wars' Latest Palpatine Revelations

We Want To Know So Much More About Naboo's Past

I love this new detail. It fits in perfectly with what we already knew of Emperor Palpatine's backstory, and it helps weave Naboo into the overarching Star Wars story. We always knew this planet felt important; it's Pé's homeworld, after all, and Palpatine's as well. What's frustrating, though, is that even this feels like a teaser of more information to come; what are the ancient conflicts alluded to, for example? There's so much more for Star Wars to reveal.