Despair, hopelessness - often reviled, assumed to be weakening emotions, to be despised and avoided. But there was something to be said, Gregor thought as plasma rained about him, for despair, for knowing you would not be alive in another hour.
For despair, while sapping hope, could replace it with courage. Knowing that the pesky little droids and insufferable colonel with an ego a hundred times larger than himself would live due to his sacrifice allowed Gregor to hold his head up, returning shot for shot, doing all within his power to destroy the enemies of the Republic.
Treachery is the way of the Sith. Asajj Ventress knew that, still, Count Dooku's betrayal ran deep. She'd lost everything now, Ky, the promise of her Sith training, even her kin on Dathomir. It was all gone, and some nights, lying alone in the back of some sleazy cantina, strong, cold, ruthless Asajj Ventress cried herself to sleep. She had not realized just how desperate for companionship, for love, she really was, until Ahsoka Tano - of all people! - convinced her to help the former Padawan. Somehow, even after Tano was exonerated, the two women didn't split up. Both misfits, both Force-sensitive and half trained, nowhere to go, no one to turn to but each other... And so, they stayed together.
All across the galaxy, tens of thousands of clones opened fire on their Jedi generals, destroying the forces of the Light side in one terrible fell swoop.
Palpatine's last thought, as he plummeted down the shaft, was of Darth Vader, his last emotion, pure shock. I thought I had him! I thought the chains I had put on his mind would hold him forever! That Skywalker brat-