xhonzi said:
I knew my brilliant title couldn't be original. :(
In the conceipt of Dark Empire, the Emperor is tranferring his dark soul into each new clone. The clones themselves are just blank until then- you never see a living clone besides whoever is Emperor Prime. And since the transfer is done via the "magic" part of Star Wars (vice the "science" part) then Palpatine can tell us that it is in fact his own consciousness that is being transferred, his veritable quintessence and not merely a copy. So while your concerns about clone uprisings or the "is it really me?" conundrum might apply to other cloning fictions (or facts!), the author has specifically headed you off at this particular pass.
RE: The Sith Legacy
Obviously the PT makes Palpatine out to be the currnet head of the Sith order, dedicated body and soul to... whatever it is the Sith are supposed to be dedicated to... (Communism?) However, in the OT and it's associated novels and Topps trading cards, Vader only is referred to as the Dark Lord of the Sith. It is plain that Palpatine is an evil Force-Person (thank you, Boost) and that he is Vader's master... but it is not clear that he is actually a Sith. I definitely get the impression that he and Vader have some different ideas regarding the Force. As I have claimed before, I think that Vader still lives by some sort of moral code (or "ancient religion" if you will) and I don't know that I think the same of Palpatine. Is Palpatine dedicated to the Sith? Or is he dedicated to himself? Unfortunately, we were never really told what he wanted to do with all of the power he was accruing.RE: Why Palpatine would want to live forever:
So here's my thought: The Jedi live in Harmony with the Universe. The result of this clean living is that the Jedi naturally "become one with the Force" at their physical deaths and move on to a form of immortality. Their eternal reward. The evil Force-People (thank you, Boost) live in disharmony, trying to impose their will on the Universe. At their physical deaths, the Universe smothers their flame and they are destroyed forever. Their eternal punishment. BUT! If you could cheat life AND cheat death... You could have the best of both worlds. Your day of reckoning, your day of punishment, would never come.RE: Vader's sacrifice:
In my opinion, Vader's sacrifice involves all three people in the room, and what happens to Palpatine is actually the least important part. Vader saves Luke, that's the important piece. Let me ask you a question: What is Vader saving Luke from? After years of thinking it was death, as a father now I take it completely differently.I think a lot of fathers pass on qualities and traits to their kids (especially their sons) that make them proud of them. I think they also pass on weaknesses and bad habits that make them feel guilty for doing so. As a parent, one of my top priorities is to help my kids be better at the things that I am particularly bad at. I lack a certain amount of self discipline and it affects me in every part of my life. It's a quality I share with/possibly learned from/inherited from my father. I can already tell my young kids suffer from the same problem. And so I try to find ways to help them learn that now so they don't have to keep repeating the "sins of the fathers."
So, back to Vader & Luke... What is Vader saving Luke from? And does that change if Palpatine isn't permanently killed by Vader's sacrifice. Can we assume that Vader probably knew it wouldn't actually kill the Emperor? Then why did he still do what he did? I think it personalizes the sacrifice to Vader and Luke, which is awesome.
Vader knew it would kill the Emperor, because it did kill the Emperor. The Emperor's clones is just an eu story element thought up later and has no bearing on interpretation of events in ROTJ. And of course Vader was saving Luke from death.
As for Palpatine transferring himself to clones via the force, there was never any indication before then (or in any of the films) that the force could do that.