Palpatine’s Inspiring Speech to Darth Vader to Keep Going (Canon)

There’s a moment in Star Wars: Darth Vader (2015) #20 that hits hard, not with explosions or lightsaber duels, but with words. The kind of words that can either destroy or rebuild someone. Emperor Palpatine gave one of those speeches—to Darth Vader—after everything had gone wrong for him.

The Fall Before The Lesson

After the Death Star blew up, Vader’s life took a nosedive. The Emperor blamed him for the disaster and made sure he felt it. He stripped him of power, demoted him, and placed him under Grand General Cassio Tagge’s command. Then came the insult of having to strike a trade deal with Jabba the Hutt, the same monster who had enslaved his mother.

Things only got worse when Vader learned the truth about the pilot who destroyed the Death Star. The name Skywalker changed everything. That one word shattered whatever was left of the old order in his mind.

Now he knew Palpatine had lied to him. So he started building his own plans—quietly. While pretending to serve, Vader began eliminating everyone who threatened his position and set the groundwork for a future where his son would stand beside him, not the Emperor.

After weeks of relentless work and purging those experiments meant to replace him, Vader finally earned a summons from his master. The meeting took place aboard the massive Super Star Destroyer, the Executor.

Palpatine dismissed his guards and turned toward his apprentice. His voice was low, controlled.

“Come, my apprentice. It is time for you to understand.”

The Story Of The Sith

Standing before the stars, Palpatine began recounting the ancient past.

“A long, long time ago, there were many Sith. We rose up against the simpering light. We warred with the Jedi—and lost, as we also warred amongst our own kind. For a thousand years we have kept to the shadows, not afraid of the Jedi—but ourselves.”

The Emperor’s words carried both pride and warning. The Sith had once been countless, but their hunger destroyed them from within. That’s why the Rule of Two was created—one master, one apprentice.

He kept going.

“The dark side is powerful. It is too powerful. The weak will meekly stand in regimented order. The Sith… one master, one apprentice. No more. For generations.”

Then he paused, looking out into the endless dark of space.

“Generations building to me.”

You could almost hear the satisfaction in his voice. Every generation of Sith had been paving the way for him.

The Emperor’s Grand Design

Palpatine raised his chin, a faint smirk hidden under his hood.

“I am the first to restore the Sith to their rightful place in the galaxy. As we planned, the Jedi thought the Sith gone. We were so inconsequential. The pomp of the Jedi was insufferable. I set the galaxy aflame, my apprentice. I have purged all weakness and impurity. From the ashes, we would have a new age.”

Then he spoke of his past apprentices, dismissing them like old tools.

“I learned from the mistakes of my forebears. I used those who were not Sith to achieve my aims. And my apprentices? Darth Maul was a loss, but Darth Tyranus… he was a proton torpedo. He served his purpose and was gone.”

Palpatine stepped closer to Vader and placed a hand on his shoulder.

“I had a… superior candidate in mind.”

That candidate was Anakin Skywalker, now buried under the armor of Darth Vader.

Palpatine’s tone changed as he looked at his apprentice.

“We did it, Vader. The Jedi—destroyed. The Republic—a shattered corpse for me to resurrect as a puppet. And you, Vader—the boy transformed into the man you were destined to be.”

But then came the sting in his words.

“Your failure there jeopardized everything. There was so much more to do. In these most vital decades, I needed an apprentice with might. I sought, of course. I found candidates—but none sufficient. Some with vision but no ambition. Some fractured souls I molded to serve a smaller purpose… but all insufficient for the legacy of the Sith.”

The Emperor took a step back, his voice firm.

“For the Empire to live, Darth Vader had to live.”

Palpatine explained how he’d turned to the most brilliant minds in the Empire to rebuild what was left of Anakin Skywalker.

“I turned to scientists. The best, the boldest. The ones more akin to the Sith than their Jedi-like peers. Cylo was among them.”

That name lingered in the air. Cylo—the scientist who had created the cybernetic warriors designed to replace Vader.

Vader finally spoke. His tone was calm, but the meaning behind his words cut deep.

“If any of Cylo’s toys had succeeded, you would be making this speech to them.”

Palpatine’s eyes narrowed slightly, waiting for more.

“That does not matter,” Vader continued. “The dark side is strength. I am that strength.”

The Emperor’s lips curled slightly in satisfaction.

“You are, Vader. Cylo has run. Find him. He must be destroyed.”

The Apprentice Reforged

In that moment, the air between them changed. Vader had passed the Emperor’s test—not through obedience, but through willpower. He no longer looked broken or uncertain.

The meeting aboard the Executor ended with purpose. Palpatine had rebuilt his apprentice in spirit, but what he didn’t realize was that Vader’s loyalty had shifted. The Emperor saw control; Vader saw opportunity.

He would destroy Cylo as ordered, but now, with Luke Skywalker alive, his long game had already begun.

As the Executor drifted through the stars, both of them knew what that meant. The Sith had survived again, but not as equals. One ruled through deceit, and the other endured through power.

Someday, that power would turn back on its master.