CWBorne said:
Yeah, Lucas' original drafts refer to the good Ashla and evil Bogan parts of the Force, but they like so many other elements that more specifically defined it, were gradually dropped in succeeding version. Eventually it became the more mysterious element of the galaxy that a variety of audiences found so interesting because it was ambiguous that you could read anything into it.
In that regard its worth noting that ANH has Kenobi referring to Vader being seduced by just dark side, while the latter two films emphasize much more strongly that it was the Emperor himself who strongly lured him over, likely with his mastery of the dark side. Palpatine himself basically tells Darth that only their combined power can bring him over, and Yoda's last warning is that he cannot underestimate the Emperor's abilities.
Clearly there was a shift that as bad as the dark side was, it was much more dangerous in the hands of experienced man like Palpatine. If there was cosmic element to the Force it seemed fairly malleable enough to whims of others, which fittingly enough could suggest an interesting backstory for the Emperor:
He wanted power, discovered he had the Force within him, learned of the abilities of the dark side, and then used it in subtle ways at the political level until he managed to get Anakin on his side, and proceeded to take out the biggest potential threat there was with the Jedi. Speaking for myself, Palpatine simply being an opportunist who found an effective means to get what he wanted is far more interesting than the quasi-fundamentalist Sith the prequels portrayed him as.
i finally read the Heir to the Empire trilogy recently and not to majorly spoil anything but it is speculated in the book that the Emperor rose to power much in the same way Jorus C'baoth does (a partnership with the military at first, and that military believing they can keep him in check and under their control)
i wish Zahn had more freedom to delve a bit deeper into the Old Republic's history, Clone Wars, formation of the Empire, Emperor's rise to power. anything he had in mind would have probably been a million times better.