Palpitine and Sidious- same, clone, or other?

[scruffziller]

There have been many a debates on this subject with my SW circle. We know that physically of what we see of Sidious and Palpitine are the exact same. But is Palpitine as we know him a clone of Sidious or are they actually just the same person OR is Sidious performing the Dark side force power known as "doppleganger" in which he is able to create a physical projection of himself to be in 2 places at once??

[Fulit]

Same, same same. I swear here and now if Palpatine is shown to be a clone of Sidious, or vice versa, I will give away my entire collection to some dirty, poor kids who will break them all.

[JEDIpartner]

I think they are one and the same.

[187-Maul]

think they're the same, too

[Pendo]

They are the same! There's no way George would make them different people, is there? Then again, he did create Jar Jar Binks.

PENDO!

[Rollo Tomassi]

Other!

No wait.

***SPOILER ALERT***

Same.

Same.

Same.

Same.

Same.

Same.

I think Sidious and Palpatine are the same guy. No clones. No assistants. No Blofeld-esque reconstructive surgery on minions to confuse double o kenobi...

SAME.

[LTBasker]

I think they're clones, or maybe twins. I doubt they're the same because there is quite a bit of evidence against it but the most famous evidence that supposedly ponts to them being the same is that the same actor played them, which is some pretty bad evidence cause alot of people play the same characters, heck they only had one guy play the Coruscant Guard and then they used CGI to "clone him" in the computer when the guards aren't really supposed to be clones, they most likely just didn't feel the need to get a bunch of actors for the guards since they're mostly hidden behind the helmets.

[Lone Jedi]

They're the same. Sidious is seen walking with Maul on Palpatine's balcony at night (the same railing is seen behind Amidala during the "We muzz do something quickly..." scene). The end of the novelization gives some insight too when it says something like: even though he [Sidious] lost his apprentice, he got what he really wanted [i.e., Palpatine got elected Chancellor].

[Beast]

Originally posted by Lone Jedi
They're the same. Sidious is seen walking with Maul on Palpatine's balcony at night (the same railing is seen behind Amidala during the "We muzz do something quickly..." scene). The end of the novelization gives some insight too when it says something like: even though he [Sidious] lost his apprentice, he got what he really wanted [i.e., Palpatine got elected Chancellor].

A railing proves nothing Sidious could just take his meetings there, or it could have been a totally different apartment in the same building. And the ending of the E1 book doesn't prove they are one in the same either. Using the clone to keep an eye on the Senate, while he runs things as Sidious would be alot easier then trying to arrange all these things to fall into place, as well as training Maul.

As for the end of the E1 book is supposed to take place at the same time as what is occuring on Naboo, and Palpatine is present still on Naboo at the time. Plus Lucas himself has stated that anything that doesn't appear on film is EU. That includes the novels based on the movie. Proof of that is Obi-Wan's talk to Luke on Dagobah in the ROTJ novel. He says that Owen is his brother, and that is no longer true.

In the end it all comes down to what Lucas chooses. If he goes with Sidious leading a double life, then fine. If he goes with Sidious cloning himself, and placing that copy in the senate, thats fine to. I am glad that not everything is cut and dried and tied up with a little ribbon, just because we have seen Episode IV, V, and VI.

MTFBWY and HH!!

Jar Jar Binks

[chewie]

They are the same person. Why further complicate the story with an unecessary addition of a clone stand-in for Palpatine?