Star Wars: The Acolyte official trailer

[Mordar]

This seems a better explanation to me, since my thought of "as he aged maybe Palpatine's force lightning lost its 'oomph' and didn't have the same energy" ... but then I recalled how strong 800 year old Yoda was in the force.

But maybe this is a benefit of Light Side - you grow with time, experience and serenity. Dark Side maybe looses oomph as the user becomes older and more complacent. And frankly, Sidious has probably long since lost passion because his only goal was achieved.

- M

[Grim Portent]

But maybe this is a benefit of Light Side - you grow with time, experience and serenity. Dark Side maybe looses oomph as the user becomes older and more complacent. And frankly, Sidious has probably long since lost passion because his only goal was achieved.

- M

His primary passion is cruelty, so I don't think Palpatine ever really gets weaker. I think he marinates in his own sadism and only grows more powerful over time as he expands his collection of lost Sith knowledge, Jedi relics and bits and bobs from the other Force creeds.

But Force Lightning isn't always the same, much like Force Telekinesis can be used to levitate a feather or crush a windpipe, same basic principle, different levels of force applied. Sometimes Force Lightning is a weapon, a sword to the heart, other times it's a tool of pain, a knife gliding through skin and setting nerves aflame.

[pendell]

Given that Palpatine was monologuing when he unleashed the Force Lightning, I think it's a fair conclusion that when he started zapping Luke he was using a low-power version of Force Lightning. We saw what Force Lightning can do to a man's face, but Luke still has his fresh looks; it looks like the initial blasts are intended to immobilize and to torture but not kill, not yet; first Palpatine has to get through his own Villain. It's only after he says "And now, young Skywalker, you will die" that he powers up to killing strength which WOULD have resulted in an agonizing death for Luke, except that Vader stepped in and sacrificed himself, taking the lightning meant for Luke. Whether from destroying his life support or simply from damage, these wounds were fatal to Vader, although it still took him several minutes to actually die.

It kind of suggests that Force Lightning really isn't a particular useful tool for quickly killing people; which seems odd, as the Electric Chair used to be used for executions primarily because it could kill nearly-instantaneously. For some reason the Sith never use it this way; we've never seen anyone actually killed with Force Lightning. Even Mace Windu didn't die on the spot; he had to be thrown out a window. Is this a weakness of Force Lightning vis-a-vis real electricity? Or does it tell us something about the Sith themselves?

Respectfully,

Brian P.

[Mordar]

His primary passion is cruelty, so I don't think Palpatine ever really gets weaker. I think he marinates in his own sadism and only grows more powerful over time as he expands his collection of lost Sith knowledge, Jedi relics and bits and bobs from the other Force creeds.

But Force Lightning isn't always the same, much like Force Telekinesis can be used to levitate a feather or crush a windpipe, same basic principle, different levels of force applied. Sometimes Force Lightning is a weapon, a sword to the heart, other times it's a tool of pain, a knife gliding through skin and setting nerves aflame.

I certainly agree that the lightning can be controlled over a range of power...

But I think (from movies only, no real book background) that his passion is thirst for power. Cruelty never appears to be his motivation to me, just an acceptable element of methodology. And since he has acquired his temporal power his drive is diminished.

- M

[Keltest]

I think a simpler explanation is that force lightning is a tool of torture, not a weapon. It can kill, eventually, but if you're using it that way, it's because you want to torture someone until they die, not because you're trying to kill them outright. That's what choking someone is for, or hurling them off a cliff, or out a window, or just breaking their neck.

[Mechalich]

But I think (from movies only, no real book background) that his passion is thirst for power. Cruelty never appears to be his motivation to me, just an acceptable element of methodology. And since he has acquired his temporal power his drive is diminished.

His drive isn't diminished, exactly, rather it has been redirected. Once he acquired control over the galaxy, his goals shifted from temporal power to a more spiritual need and he became obsessed with the pursuit of immortality. This is one of a very few things TRoS approaches correctly, and it's a major plot point in Rebels as well.

One of the reasons Palpatine wants Luke so bad, when he really doesn't need random minions, if that his bloodline, being traceable to Darth Plagueis' experiments, might hold the secret of immortality, with Vader's tissues too damaged to do the same.

[Errorname]

I think a simpler explanation is that force lightning is a tool of torture, not a weapon. It can kill, eventually, but if you're using it that way, it's because you want to torture someone until they die, not because you're trying to kill them outright. That's what choking someone is for, or hurling them off a cliff, or out a window, or just breaking their neck.

At the very least, Palpatine is using it to torture. Maybe a different force user would just zap you once for the instant kill, but that's not what Palpatine wants to do.

[Dargaron]

So, going back to the Acolyte after many, many pages of prequel arguments.

I wonder if Disney might try to be sneaky and have the underlying villain not actually be a sith or even an explicit dark-side user, but instead a member of another unaligned religion like the Nihil.

I'm thinking of the Cosmic Balance from the very forgettable The Truce at Bakura novel: They would see any force-user, no matter how benign, as upsetting the balance and therefore "stealing" fortune from the rest of the galaxy, so inciting a conflict between light and dark siders would be a win-win from their perspective.

[Trafalgar]

At the very least, Palpatine is using it to torture. Maybe a different force user would just zap you once for the instant kill, but that's not what Palpatine wants to do.

I always felt like RotJ force lightening was about Palpatine torturing Luke, not just killing him. A really strong force user could just snap someone's neck or stop their heart. However, if that were true, lightsabers would be a superfluous above a certain power level.

But in modern star wars, you can't have a Sith or a Jedi without a light saber.