on today's Star Wars legends lore video
we look at the Yuuzhan Vong and try to
figure out whether Palpatine created a
militarized Empire as a means to protect
against a forthcoming invasion
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many Imperial or Palpatine sympathizers
have long argued that Palpatine was
actually good and that all of his
actions in Star Wars legends were done
for the purposes of preparing the Star
Wars galaxy for an eventual Yuuzhan Vong
invasion hey guys this is Eckhart's
letter today we'll be looking at that
theory and trying to figure out whether
it has any merit with direct references
to Star Wars legends works if we really
want to look at this issue the first
question we need to answer is whether
Palpatine actually knew about the
Yuuzhan Vong invasion before his death
the answer to that can be found fairly
clearly in the novel the outbound flight
the outbound flight details and
ultimately failed Republic project
bearing the same name which had been
created in order to bypass the unknown
regions and the hyperspace disturbance
at the edge of the Star Wars galaxy in
order to find out what's beyond and
perhaps eventually settle another galaxy
the book deals fairly heavily with the
chess the machinations of Darth Sidious
and the Jedi Council during the time of
the Republic before the Clone Wars there
are a few passages worth note here all
which detailed conversations between one
of Darth Sidious closest aides and
Thrawn in order to convince the Rahn to
strike out against the outbound flight
project Sidious as aide says this
Palpatine is on a plane far different
from the ones where beings like you and
I exist what's important right now is
that Lord Sidious has access to
information sources that the Jedi don't
have throne responds by asking and what
do these sources tell him there's an
invasion coming a massive assault force
of dark ships shadowy figures and
weapons of great power based on organic
technology of a sort we've never seen
before
we believe these far outsiders as we
call them already have a foothold at the
far edge of the galaxy and even now have
scouting parties seeking information on
worlds in people's to conquer he
continues saying no one else in the
Republic has knowledge of this with the
exception of the Jedi version who has
disappeared in the Unknown Regions and
presumed to be among the far outsiders
throughout understand this point and
this is in part why he agrees to attack
the outbound flight he says well a
single prisoner can only give hints of
their origin an entire ship full of them
can provide all that would be needed for
a successful invasion this made it clear
that Palpatine knew about the Yuuzhan
Vong invasion before even the time
the Clone Wars not only that but it
seems like he acted in some measure to
protect the galaxy against the Vong
although admittedly wiping out a large
contingent of Jedi Knights and masters
was likely also a very attractive
possibility however at least at this
point as Supreme Chancellor there's no
denying that he recognized a problem
that the galaxy was not prepared for it
is admittedly unclear how Palpatine
gained knowledge of the Yuuzhan Vong but
it is worth noting that he was the one
who personally approved the outbound
flight project unless he gained
information about the Vong between the
approval of the project and the order of
its destruction it seems like the
killing of Jedi was at least equally
important as protecting against the Vong
on the other hand it should be noted
that by the end of the book throne
reveals that the chest do have knowledge
of the Yuuzhan Vong and have actually
fought successfully against them on at
least one occasion
later when throne was exiled by the
chest and presented to the Empire
Palpatine recognized that his tactical
knowledge of the Vong could be of use in
the upcoming invasion still what we've
talked about so far kind of avoids the
question we've established that
Palpatine did in fact know about the
Vong and makes sense given that he is a
powerful ruler that he would want to
protect the galaxy however it was
protection of the galaxy really his key
motivation for militarizing the republic
in converting it into an empire and in
universe texts called myth Romney rotary
considered a Patriots perspective are
used that very point saying that all
Palpatine's efforts were in order to
protect the galaxy from the eventual
invasion however in my opinion that text
is without real basis first off I think
it's clear that many of Palpatine's
actions perhaps even most don't actually
forward the possibility of protecting
instant invasion sure it makes sense to
build a powerful fleet and perhaps even
Death Star super weapons however what
does not make sense is the subjugation
of people the removal of individual
rights and the destruction of the Jedi
Order who were perhaps the greatest
weapons against the Vong the second and
in my opinion more definitive point is
that Palpatine's motivations and really
the motivations of all Sith are clearly
spelled out in the Plagueis novel
Palpatine wanted extraordinary power
concentrated totally in himself because
he believed he was a divine to being
deserve to lead the galaxy his main and
ultimate motivation for converting a
democratic republic into and militarized
Empire was the subjugation of people and
the concentration of all power into
himself Palpatine was evil there's no
denying that he killed for pleasure
before he even became a Sith Lord
ascribing his actions to a desire to
protect the galaxy is a misunderstanding
of his character he desired power and do
whatever possible to gain it and to not
lose it changing his agenda to
protecting against the Vong also retcons
the Star Wars story in a way that
misunderstands the artists original
intention it is true that some of the
actions of Palpatine would have
protected the galaxy from a Yuuzhan Vong
invasion however that was not his
purpose it was more of a pleasant
secondary effect the presence of the
Vong really had no impact on the way he
formed the Empire and he likely would
have done the exact same thing had the
long not even been a consideration if
anything he likely saw the thong as a
benefit an excuse to further militarize
the government gaining more power for
himself behind a common enemy as he did
with the Jedi and during the Clone Wars
to summarize although Palpatine was
aware of the Yuuzhan Vong in creating
the Empire he was fulfilling his own
interests not trying to protect the
galaxy in fact he did several things
which actually weakened the galaxy and
negatively affected their chance of
preparing for a Yuuzhan Vong invasion
that however is just my opinion down in
the comments I'd like you to answer the
following questions did Palpatine think
the Vong were a real threat and in
creating the Empire was Palpatine's
chief goal in protecting against a long
invasion if it wasn't his chief goal do
you think it was at least on his mind
also don't forget to post your ideas for
future videos speaking of in the past
few days I've been putting my video
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anyway thank you so much for watching
guys as always this has been at car
clutter may the force be with you
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