Yet another Palpatine story from yours truly. Star Wars still isn't owned by me (it would be great if it was though). Therefore I am obliged to say that I am not making any money off of this. Please leave a review!
They say (whoever they are) that the first casualty of war is the battle plan. And in most cases this is true enough. Recent events of the last few years however have been an exception to this unspoken rule of life.
In the end it was all too easy.
When I had first ascended to the rank of Sith Master I had expected it to be at least somewhat arduous for myself to carry out the final phase of the Grand Plan. But it wasn't. Everything fell snugly into place without difficulty. Nothing at all deviated from the plan even slightly. I had hoped for something more of a challenge. I had expected a game of cat and mouse with the Jedi, staying just one step ahead, just out of reach while the Order's finest knights were hot on my trail, searching for clues to solve the mystery of the elusive Sith known only as Darth Sidious.
Look at me, whining like some spoiled youngling who didn't get things exactly his way. I should be satisfied with what I have. And I am satisfied, for I now have everything I could ever want: unlimited wealth, power, and knowledge. Vengeance is mine, and my enemies have paid the price for their lack of vision. But I can't help but be surprised, and I admit, disappointed by the ease with which I have attained all of this.
The Jedi, by their very nature, are inferior to the Sith. They cowered before the awesome might of the Darkside like children who fear the dark of night. They refused to recognize that might makes right in this universe and that the strong alone deserve to rule. For over a thousand years they have resided in their precious temple, secure in the knowledge of their self-perceived invincibility. Pride goeth before a fall it would seem.
Yes, the Jedi had grown proud, proud and arrogant. Not that they would ever admit it, even to themselves. But their countless perceived victories had led them to greatly overestimate their prowess. They had spent the last few centuries decaying along with the rest of civilization, attempting to maintain the status quo in a galaxy where change is both constant and unstoppable.
They were like gods amongst men once, dispensing wisdom to those who asked for it and smiting those who would defy them and the Republic they loved. Legends were told of the great Jedi of old. Songs were sung of their greatness. They truly were a force to be reckoned with.
So how could such godlike beings fall?
Simple, they started believing their own propaganda.
No enemy could defeat them. Pirates, criminals, dictators, Mandalorians, Sith, none could defeat the champions of the light. Each defeat of their enemies subconsciously reassured them of their superiority and the inevitability of their final triumph. But they forgot that war isn't merely about how many battles an army wins. War is about shattering the enemy's resolve and ability to continue the fight. In this their failure was complete.
In our wars with the Jedi the Sith were destroyed again and again. But like a phoenix from the ashes a new generation would arise after the defeat of the last a few centuries later, wiser, angrier, and more determined than ever to destroy the Order we loathed so greatly. In a way, the defeat of Sith lords past only helped to achieve my ultimate victory. The Jedi had indeed become as arrogant as the Sith they had opposed all those millennia ago. The very idea of defeat became impossible for them to even comprehend.
They were the Jedi Knights, the very symbol of good. And good always triumphs over evil after all.
Such a disconnect from reality I had never seen before or since in my entire life! Oh well, their loss, my gain.
So secure in their power were they that the Jedi didn't even notice their abilities diminishing. To be sure their aptitude with the sword remained exceptional and their proficiency with telekinetics was still awe inspiring, but their mental capacities waned more and more. They could not perceive the Darkness encroaching in upon them, threatening to swallow them whole. It became more and more difficult for them to look into the future or see into the hearts of men, allowing the agents of the Sith to lay the groundwork for their ever increasing control over the Republic.
They had become so used to things inevitably working out in their favor that the concept of failure became completely alien to them. And because they had been so victorious in the past they saw no reason to change. They saw no reason to modify their strategy, alter their behavior, or improve themselves or their tactics. They believed that they had reached the pinnacle of perfection and that there was no other way for them to go. Their way was the right way, and if it worked so well they would stay with it.
As the lower class rabble would so quaintly put it "If it ain't broke don't fix it". This had become their philosophy. The Jedi became stuck in their ways, rigid and inflexible, unwilling and unable to adapt, a pathetic relic of a bygone era.
Their point of view became more and more close minded and narrow as they became more dogmatic. On issues such as attachment what started off as theories became good ideas. These good ideas then became practice. These practices became then rules. These rules then became law. These laws then became tradition, and then these traditions became dogma not to be questioned, but to be accepted on faith alone as being infallible.
And that is the main reason why the Jedi fell. They believed themselves and their little traditions to be infallible. To them they were on the side of the angels, and therefore they could do as they pleased, for they were truly wise and incapable of making mistakes.
Such arrogance! It is truly delicious to watch that pathetic ramshackle order finally collapse under the weight of its own ego, for despite all of its power the Jedi were mortal beings who, by nature, are flawed.
To believe oneself to be beyond error is the height of conceit.
The Sith Order as it is now, with myself leading it is unbound by such narrow dogmatic views. We do not shackle ourselves to meaningless traditions and narrow ways of thought. The Sith will do anything and everything to gain and maintain power. And while I am still mortal, and therefore fallible, I do not intend to remain that way. I shall in time gain eternal life and attain godhood, becoming omniscient and therefore infallible.
In a way, the fall of the Jedi Order is the culmination of a thousand year joke. The ancient Sith Lords and their Empires from Naga Sadow to Kaan's Brotherhood of Darkness had been undone by their arrogance. The old Sith had been blinded by their perceived greatness, undone by their rashness and unwillingness to recognize and rectify their flaws. The ancient Jedi had been patient and calculating, meditating on their mistakes while seeking guidance and self-improvement. But in the last thousand years the roles have been reversed. The Jedi gained the flaws of the old Sith while the Sith had gained the greatest strengths of the old Jedi. I find this most amusing. For some reason though I doubt the Jedi find it all that funny.
I am reminded of a report that Lord Tyranus had given me shortly after the first Battle of Geonosis. The good Count had told Kenobi everything, that there existed another Dark Lord named Sidious who held great influence over the Senate. Of course Lord Tyranus never mentioned that this Dark Lord happened to be mild mannered Supreme Chancellor Palpatine, but it was irrelevant. Kenobi refused to believe him.
I'm sure he voiced Tyranus's revelations to the Jedi Council, but I wouldn't be surprised if they completely dismissed it out of hand. After all, how could a measly Sith Lord get past them, the great and powerful Jedi Order, to gain such influence in the government they served?
The Jedi assumed things, incorrect things. They assumed that should the Sith ever return that they would return with a roar. They could not perceive the Dark Lords altering their tactics. Instead of conquering worlds and slaughtering innocents as the Jedi expected the Sith had gained power and influence from the shadows through subtlety and manipulation. The Jedi had spent centuries preparing for a war that they expected would be exactly like the wars of old. But the Sith had changed. No longer would we fight our battles directly.
Through proxies and misdirection the Sith have attained control over the galaxy, intervening in the open only when all else failed. We adapted. We recognized our flaws and changed. (The fifth or sixth time is the charm after all).
The Jedi stagnated, unwilling to improve themselves because they saw themselves as being beyond improvement, beyond reproach.
They have since paid the price for their failure. If only they could have all been made to see the magnitude of their failure before the clones cut them down. But I am satisfied to see that the point has been driven home into at least one of their number.
Grand Master Yoda.
If any one being is responsible for the Jedi's decline into mediocrity Yoda is certainly it. Yoda was infallible in the eyes of the Jedi. His actions were principle, his word was law. His views of the universe were colored by the ways of the Jedi who had come before him. In his eyes their way was the right way and therefore the only way. Anyone who deviated from this straight and narrow path was wrong. And so Yoda molded the Order in his own image. The narrows views he held became the narrow views of his followers. And if the most powerful and wise Jedi in the Order did not see any impending danger on the horizon then there was no danger at all. And if there was no danger one could lower his guard.
And so Yoda and his Order became so assured of their own authority that they lowered their guard. The Darkside took advantage of their lax attitudes. The Sith were and are constantly vigilant against any threat that could rise to challenge their supremacy.
It was this vigilance, this patience, this willingness to adapt that allowed the Sith to achieve their rightful victory. After millennia of battle between the Light and the Dark the Dark has finally ascended to supremacy. At long last the Jedi are no more. Those few that survive, Yoda included now hide themselves in the desolate wilds of the Outer Rim, humbled and fearful of the Sith.
I wonder, my little green friend, as your loyal clones, who you treated as friends and family, slaughtered your men, women, and children, as they assaulted your temple and systematically annihilated twenty five thousand years of history, forever ridding the galaxy of your kind, how did you feel?
How did it feel to realize that everything you fought for came to absolutely nothing?
How did it feel to sense the death of everything you held dear?
How did it feel to have your arrogant self-image of superiority shattered?
How did it feel to recognize that your traditions, dogmas, and philosophies were completely invalidated by my victory?
How does it feel to be completely outsmarted?
How does it feel to lose?
And how does it feel for you to know that it was I, Darth Sidious, Dark Lord of the Sith, Galactic Emperor Palpatine I, Supreme Ruler of the Galaxy, who finally beat you?
You needn't answer old friend, that look in your eyes as we dueled in the Senate said it all.
I would say that you were a worthy opponent, but if there is one thing mother actually managed to teach me properly it was not to lie (when I don't need to of course).
You were never in the same league as myself. Despite possessing centuries of wisdom and experience you weren't even playing the same game as I was. Despite all of your power you were a pawn in the game that was the Sith Grand Plan. The same can be said for the rest of the Jedi. Not that it matters for you anymore.
Between the Dark and the Light the game is over.
It really was all too easy.