Plagueis and Palpatine
Feb. 12th, 2019 10:48 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
unspeakablehorrorOne thing I've seen is people referring to both Plagueis and Palpatine as chessmaster type villains, which, while understandable, is a position I actually disagree with.
Palpatine is a chessmaster.
Plagueis is an evil scientist.
Both of them have overlaps in their capabilities and interests, but performing experiments and making discoveries is a very different thing than strategizing how to deal with intelligent opponents. So they're both very thinky villains, but they're not thinky in the same way.
To Plagueis, what was important was his science experiments. It's not that he can't or doesn't strategize against others, but that's not his speciality. Rule of Two Sith are expected to master all abilities they might need to use, and they generally have a number of skills, but it's clear that they have areas of particular interest that they focus on. Plagueis was interested in science. Sure, he could do politics, though he preferred some entertainment during the process via ridiculously over-the-top parties, but for him it was only a means to an end, like dueling. Possibly slightly less painful to him (though perhaps if he could have partied during his duels, he would have found that more agreeable as well). Towards the end of his life he reluctantly re-enters politics in order to enact the Sith Evil Plot to Ruin Everything. But I mean, his last act is to get super drunk and beg Palpatine to chill out with the political speeches, so I really don't think he was excited about that lol. Probably told himself he was gonna build the biggest Evil Lab of Evil once the Sith took over everything and just live there while his Apprentice runs the government.
Palpatine, meanwhile, shows every indication of enjoying political machinations. He loved outsmarting his opponents dead. In fact, he loved politics all the way up until he won. Then it began to bore him because a chessmaster without a challenging opponent doesn't enjoy the game anymore. There's evidence from the Book of Sith that he spent more time in Sith Alchemy after that, which I suppose would be like some sort of Bio-Engineering. So I guess he kind of merged the biological interests of Plagueis and the engineering interests of Tenebrous in a way. He also got more into the military side of things after the Rebellion became considered a plausible threat, presumably so he could employ his chessmaster abilities in that venue--but that did not turn out as well for him.
So, basically, I feel Plagueis and Palpatine were very different in this respect.
Palpatine is a chessmaster.
Plagueis is an evil scientist.
Both of them have overlaps in their capabilities and interests, but performing experiments and making discoveries is a very different thing than strategizing how to deal with intelligent opponents. So they're both very thinky villains, but they're not thinky in the same way.
To Plagueis, what was important was his science experiments. It's not that he can't or doesn't strategize against others, but that's not his speciality. Rule of Two Sith are expected to master all abilities they might need to use, and they generally have a number of skills, but it's clear that they have areas of particular interest that they focus on. Plagueis was interested in science. Sure, he could do politics, though he preferred some entertainment during the process via ridiculously over-the-top parties, but for him it was only a means to an end, like dueling. Possibly slightly less painful to him (though perhaps if he could have partied during his duels, he would have found that more agreeable as well). Towards the end of his life he reluctantly re-enters politics in order to enact the Sith Evil Plot to Ruin Everything. But I mean, his last act is to get super drunk and beg Palpatine to chill out with the political speeches, so I really don't think he was excited about that lol. Probably told himself he was gonna build the biggest Evil Lab of Evil once the Sith took over everything and just live there while his Apprentice runs the government.
Palpatine, meanwhile, shows every indication of enjoying political machinations. He loved outsmarting his opponents dead. In fact, he loved politics all the way up until he won. Then it began to bore him because a chessmaster without a challenging opponent doesn't enjoy the game anymore. There's evidence from the Book of Sith that he spent more time in Sith Alchemy after that, which I suppose would be like some sort of Bio-Engineering. So I guess he kind of merged the biological interests of Plagueis and the engineering interests of Tenebrous in a way. He also got more into the military side of things after the Rebellion became considered a plausible threat, presumably so he could employ his chessmaster abilities in that venue--but that did not turn out as well for him.
So, basically, I feel Plagueis and Palpatine were very different in this respect.