Palpatine's First Name

[Brandon Rhea]

I don't think this has been discussed here yet, so here goes.

The new novel, Tarkin, which comes out in a few weeks, has revealed Palpatine's first name. This can be seen in the Amazon.com preview, on Page 93 of the novel. The name was created by George Lucas. The Lucasfilm Story Group asked Del Rey if they wanted to reveal it in the book, and they did.

Ready for this? I'm not making this up. Palpatine's first name is….

Sheev.

Enjoy, SWRP.

 

[Ush]

omg no

 

[Kaeb]

I love it, another fine moment in a long list of perfect decisions for the franchise.

 

[Fat Possum]

 

[Blaxican]

What a dumb name.

Now, "Obi-Wan", that's a sensible and not at all esoteric name.

 

[Kaeb]

As long as it isn't said in the films, I don't care.

It is however just further proof - on top of the mountain of proof that we have already - that Lucas no longer cares about the legacy of the franchise or the impression it made upon the general public. He was an amateur filmmaker who, a couple of decades ago, had a wacky idea for a Flash Gordon rip off, and people far more talented then him moulded and mined it for an epic and cinematic space adventure story.

I don't give him much credit for Indiana Jones either, I think he gained his reputation from Star Wars and furthermore he just threw out bad ideas that other people ultimately transformed into far superior ones. That's not a good artist, that's barely even a good idea man, that's just someone who became one of the luckiest men in Hollywood history.

Ultimately, if he can be credited for anything, it's his ability to tap into the mindlessness of consumerism and reap the benefits, along with some recognizable contributions to charity.

 

[Zay]

Well I guess we know why he dropped it and went with just his last name.

 

[Kaeb]

When I was still in the cusp of rewriting the Star Wars prequels, I did toy with the idea of Palpatine (that character) revealing their name later, perhaps taking up his original family mantle of Palpatine but up until that time he goes by a different name entirely as a seemingly lowly nobleman of a distant world who occasionally became involved in the plot in seemingly harmless ways. My intention was to present various red herrings that might make the reader/viewer or whatever, think they know who Palpatine/the man behind everything is, when ultimately, it's someone far less suspicious within the context of the narrative. I even toyed with the notion of him appearing as a handsome young man, before revealing his true physical identity later perhaps.

I never did come up with a name for that alternate persona, but I can sure as shit tell you that it wouldn't have been Sheev.

 

[Latte]

I think it's hilarious. Sounds like a cross between "Steve" and "shave."

 

[Logan]

Honestly, I don't feel like I would have felt satisfied by any choice. I was fine with him just being Palpatine.

 

[Zay]

Honestly, I don't feel like I would have felt satisfied by any choice. I was fine with him just being Palpatine.

totally agree.

 

[Kaeb]

That's sort of the point.

Mystery was a central tenant of the original trilogy, of Star Wars, but Lucas over the course of the last decade or so in the mainstream, has systematically annihilated that central tenant, to the point that Palpatine is now called Sheev, which I'm pretty sure is the same name of the Indian guy that made me a sandwich at a shitty 7/11 the other day.

 

[Andrewza]

it is so bad I had to use star trek.

 

[jpchewy01]

lol

 

[The Kyzer]

Honestly, I don't feel like I would have felt satisfied by any choice. I was fine with him just being Palpatine.

I think the only names I would have been OK with would have been Roman Emperor names since the entire Republic-Empire transformation was modeled off of it.


Augustus Palpatine
Octavian Palpatine
Nero Palpatine
Sureas****notSheev Palpatine

::D:

 

[Brandon Rhea]

If Palpatine had to have a name, I would have preferred Cos, based on one of the original names for the character - Cos Dashit - from early drafts of Star Wars.

 

[jpchewy01]

Emperor Dashit, Cos the Sith are Dashit.

 

[Andrewza]

any case we all no who he was.

 

[Brandon Rhea]

Emperor Dashit, Cos the Sith are Dashit.

Go back to the quidditch field, muggle.

 

[jpchewy01]

Go back to the quidditch field, muggle.

It's a pitch. You play quidditch on a pitch.