All Three Star Wars Trilogies End With Palpatine Making the Same Mistake

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Emperor Palpatine is now established as the main villain across all nine Star Wars films, though some fans weren’t happy with his reappearance in The Rise of Skywalker. However, he isn’t a flawlessly written villain. The prequel trilogy is the only one where he truly succeeds, ending Revenge of the Sith as the ruler of a newly formed Galactic Empire.

Both The Rise of Skywalker and Return of the Jedi show Palpatine being defeated. Interestingly, across all three Star Wars trilogies – including the prequels – Palpatine is consistently vulnerable to the same weakness, a flaw he never addressed. This ultimately led to his destruction.

Palpatine Could Never Control His Force Lightning

Force lightning is one of the most iconic abilities of the Sith in Star Wars, rivaled perhaps only by Force choke. While Palpatine was the first to demonstrate this power, and used it more than any other character in the films and shows, it’s surprisingly ironic that he ultimately lost control of it, leading to his downfall.

Throughout the Star Wars saga, Palpatine’s use of Force lightning consistently backfires. In Revenge of the Sith, his attack on Mace Windu leaves him scarred. Later, in Return of the Jedi, the lightning wounds him, making him vulnerable to Darth Vader. And ultimately, in The Rise of Skywalker, his inability to control the power allows Rey to defeat and destroy him.

How Did Palpatine Become The Ultimate Villain?

Okay, so let’s talk about Palpatine. Watching him, you really start to wonder how he became so powerful, especially considering how much he seemed to struggle with the Force itself. And honestly, his return in The Rise of Skywalker? It felt a little… desperate. Like the filmmakers were trying to fix things at the last minute instead of telling a story that genuinely made sense. It didn’t feel earned, you know? It just felt like a move to salvage the sequel trilogy, and it didn’t quite work for me.

Both the earlier films and the original trilogy show that Palpatine steadily gained and held onto power. Even though he wasn’t in A New Hope, the original movies quickly established him as the galaxy’s most powerful figure. The prequel films then explained how he achieved this – Palpatine wasn’t just strong, he was a brilliant and manipulative evil genius.

His unique abilities allowed him to become the most prominent villain in the Star Wars movies, even though he often struggled to control his Force lightning. Ironically, this lack of control ultimately contributed to his defeat.

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2026-05-08 16:17