Originally posted by: Adamwankenobi
Well, after he believed he himself killed Padme, and he had killed the jedi, all he had left was his master, who he felt he had to obey. That's good enough explanation for me.

Once again, not seeing much choice there, which is the problem. He didn't choose the dark side. He just had nothing else going for him, so why not stick around for the next 20 years?

But I agree that we saw enough dark side powers for me to be satisfied. The only thing I didn't like is that every single Force-user is seen wielding a lightsaber. Yoda and Palpatine were the last two people I'd expect to use stuff like that, yet they end up in a duel against each other using lightsabers. When I grew up on the originals, I always thought that Yoda and Palpatine were just so strong in the Force that they didn't need to resort to hacking and slashing like the rest of them. They were on an ascended plane. "It appears that this contest cannot be decided by our knowledge of the Force, but by our skills with a lightsaber." If Dooku's line has any weight to it at all, it led me to believe that the lightsaber and the Force aren't really connected. The ability to use the Force contributes to one's fencing skills, but it's not necessary. To me, it just seemed like Lucas was giving in to a lot of fans', "Ooh, lightsabers are cool!" mentality by sticking them all over the place. And, yes, they are cool, but I'd much rather see Palpatine shooting out lightning at Mace and throwing Senate chairs at Yoda than being forced into hand to hand combat. I've always felt that it seems beneath him.