How Did Palpatine Go Unpunished After the Zillo Beast Disaster?

When I watched the Zillo Beast arc in The Clone Wars, I couldn’t stop thinking about how wild it was that Palpatine just… got away with it. I mean, he was the one who ordered the beast to be brought to Coruscant, ignored all the warnings, and then stood there when it broke loose, caused chaos, and probably killed hundreds. And yet — no real fallout. No trial, no serious blame. I dug into it more, and honestly, when you lay it all out, it makes way too much sense how he slipped away clean.

He blamed everyone else and acted like he cared

One thing about Palpatine: he always knew how to dodge blame. He didn’t need to scream or point fingers. All he had to do was look sad, give a speech about tragedy, and then quietly shift the blame onto someone else.

I can see him blaming the scientists — especially Dr. Sionver Boll. After all, she was supposed to sedate the beast and keep it under control. Or he could easily throw the Dugs under the bus, saying they forced the Republic into saving the Zillo Beast instead of putting it down. Either way, Palpatine had no problem making sure the mess never stuck to him.

And thanks to all the wartime powers he grabbed, he didn’t even have to worry about bad press. If the story got out of hand, he could just shut it down. Control the news, control the story. Simple.

He had full control over the system

By that point in the war, Palpatine didn’t just lead the Republic — he owned it. The Senate, the courts, even the Jedi Council couldn’t touch him without risking everything. When Mace Windu said, “He has control of the Senate and the courts,” he wasn’t being dramatic. It was straight-up reality.

There wasn’t a single real system left that could hold Palpatine accountable. Even if some senator or Jedi had the guts to accuse him, it wouldn’t have gone anywhere. At best, he’d crush it by calling it treason — and at worst, whoever tried to expose him would probably end up dead.

The Republic was too broken to stop him

I used to wonder why nobody even tried. But the more I thought about it, the more I realized the Republic wasn’t even capable of fighting back anymore. It was already falling apart — full of corruption, greed, and people who only cared about saving themselves.

The galaxy was so busy surviving the Clone Wars that another disaster, even one on Coruscant, just became background noise. Planets were getting bombed, armies were clashing, and whole systems were burning. One giant monster running wild didn’t stand out for long.

Plus, the Senate was full of politicians who either supported Palpatine or didn’t care enough to question him. And the Jedi were stretched way too thin to start an investigation over a loose beast. In the middle of all that, nobody was going to stop and ask, “Wait, whose idea was this again?”

He sold it like it was all for the greater good

The craziest part is how Palpatine didn’t even act guilty. He spun the whole thing like it was part of the plan. He said studying the Zillo Beast’s hide could help the Republic develop armor that would make their soldiers invincible.

At the time, with the war dragging on and casualties piling up, that probably sounded like a good trade to a lot of people. Sure, the beast caused a ton of damage, but what if it saved thousands of lives in the long run? That’s the story Palpatine wanted everyone to believe — and it worked.

Instead of getting blamed for risking the whole capital, he came off looking like a leader willing to take bold risks to win the war.