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Post #1420535

Author
RogueLeader
Parent topic
Unpopular opinion: I'm glad Palpatine's return wasn't set up in TLJ.
Link to post in topic
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/1420535/action/topic#1420535
Date created
28-Mar-2021, 9:11 PM

I’ll be honest with you, man, I think you’re bending over backwards a little bit to find more intent in on-the-fly story decisions than there really was. I think it is less that Palpatine’s return was meant to come out of nowhere, and more so that it just conveniently worked out that way, at best.

Also, you could say the Opera scene could retroactively set up that Palpatine had hidden knowledge of cheating death, but at the time ROTS was made, you could equally say that Palpatine was just lying to Anakin about knowing the secrets to cheating death in order to manipulate him into doing his bidding. It is just retroactive foreshadowing.

That doesn’t make it a bad thing, though. Like any potential “hints” that Vader was Luke’s father in the original Star Wars could also be called retroactive foreshadowing.

Again, I totally see your point by saying it actually works out better that Palpatine’s return is a surprise in IX. I actually think I agree with you to an extent. But I think it is wrong to say that is was meant to work out that way. Clearly is wasn’t always the plan to bring back Palpatine, so if you feel like the reveal works out better not set up in previous films, I think it is just serendipitous and convenient, rather than intentional.