wetwareproblem:

pervocracy:

Realization that took me about 25 years: when Emperor Palpatine tells Luke “Strike me down with all your hatred, and your journey towards the dark
side will be complete,” he’s not saying something deep about the nature of evil and the ease of turning into the bad guy.  He’s just making a last-ditch gambit to not get his ass lightsabered.  Luke’s kind of a sucker for falling for it.

Luke’s already decided violence is an acceptable tactic, based on the dozens of nameless troopers and pilots he’s blasted into subatomic particles, so why would the Emperor be any different?  Killing the Emperor isn’t going to make Luke a different kind of killer just because he killed someone with a visible face, and it’s certainly not going to make him start blowing up planets or torturing prisoners just for funsies.  Luke could have said “Strike you down? Don’t mind if I do,” done just that, and not only would the battle have ended the same way, his dad might have survived.

(And if Vader had survived, repented, and rejoined the Light Side, but retained his influence over the Imperial military, he could have saved everyone a whole lot of grief in the coming years.)

–

The point is, sometimes when your enemies say “You’re playing right into my hands!  The harder you oppose me, the more power I get!”, they’re actually just scared and full of bullshit.  Never forget to consider that possibility.

And now I’m thinking about Palpatine as every single fourteen-year-old “Haha I got a reaction out of you, that means I won!” troll.

Thank you, OP.