A Continued Deception

I once heard about there being a discarded idea for the original trilogy that the Emperor wasn't evil and it was actually just like, his advisors and and such who were evil (and Darth Vader, obviously).

Now, I think this would have been a terrible idea, and substantially worse than what Lucas actually ended up going with, but it gave me an idea that does interest me.

What if Palpatine was exactly the same, but if, because of the enormously positive propagranda for him during the Clone Wars, and because he had and has a lot of charisma, there were people who thought that he was actually a good guy. Like "oh, Palpatine's the best leader we ever had, such a good and brave man--this Empire business must all be Mas Amedda's fault" or something like that.

Obviously people like Obi-Wan and Yoda would know, but very few other people would have.  Obi-Wan's message doesn't even explain why the Republic became the Empire, so it's possible that even some Jedi might not have worked out that it was Palpatine himself who had it in for them, and not someone else who was advising him.  It might even be that some of the Jedi who became  Inquisitors came to him willingly because they thought they could fix things if they 'rescued' him from the Sith who must be holding him hostage or something.  It seems that not many people knew that Darth Vader was Anakin Skywalker, or that Palpatine was a Sith himself.  Even after he offed the Jedi, Palpatine seemed to prefer to perpetuate the subterfuge that he was just an ordinary guy and not a Sith Lord.  So only select people in the Empire would likely know the truth.

I just think that could be an interesting twist, for example if some of the Neo-Republicans in the Rebellion think they can fix the issue by appealing to Palpatine and it's the Separatists in the secret Rebel meeting who have to be like, no, that sounds like the worst idea ever.  Or what if Luthen had to be like "Oh, yet another Rebel cell that wants to try to 'rescue' the Emperor again.  Can I afford to tell them that won't work?"

Engaging the Voices

Me, after an ambiguous social interaction...

Mean Voice in My Head: They definitely hate you now.

Me: But why do they hate me? Is it for trash reasons or good ones?  And what is your evidence that this is the reason for them responding in that way?

Mean Voice: ...

Me: Well, I need to go cook some food now but I'll let you think about that and you can get back to me later!