Why did Palpatine recruit Anakin?

Because Anakin was younger and at the time, he was just easier to manipulate. He held attachments, felt hate and anger, and he had plenty of fear. These traits did not make up a Jedi, but instead something different, possibly a Sith. Also, with Anakin’s dream with mother and her death soon after, Padmé would be a great tool to change Anakin. Palpatine basically told Anakin that the Jedi were in the wrong and couldn’t teach Anakin to save people he loved from death. Of course over time here, Anakin began to question the Jedi because of many reasons including the fact that they wanted him to spy on the Chancellor. Anakin’s love for Padmé seemed to be enough to make him desire this power and as Palpatine coverted Anakin’s trust away from the Jedi, he was easy to manipulate from there as well. He would now think that the Jeid were evil and that the Sith could help save people. yeah thats all I have to say.

 

You are all wrong. Palps recruited Anakin for one reason only his hair. Palps was upset that his once famous locks had gone gray and lifeless but seeing the young Skywalker gorgeous bands of blonde he knew he must have them. The unseen months he spent trimming and styling them left Anakin feeling uncomfortable and is the only reason Vader threw him down the shaft.

 

More like engineered him. He needed someone that was easy to mold and would not betray him. .

 

Extremely powerful and easy to manipulate.
Anakin/Vader binds himself to his "Mentor". Palps gave him a purpose to go on, even if he is messed up mentally with the Jedi as escape goats. A perfect servant for Sheeve.
The only flaws in the emperors game is, that he wasn't able to understand the deep love of Anakin to Padme that leads to his Redemption arc at the very end.

 

Yes I agree.

 

Like the Jedi, Palpatine knew of Anakin's "medi-whatever" numbers and it wasnt a stretch to assume Anakin would be the most powerful Jedi ever.
Turning Anakin to the dark side and making him the Apprentice would all but guarantee the pair would be unstoppable.

Think of it like sports... do you trade for a would be free agent for a shot at the championship now or do you wait and draft Tom Brady then reap the rewards for the next 20 years.

 

He needed a strong yet naive puppet to do his dirtywork for him.

 

Because doku was too old

 

I'm reminded of some dialogue in the Episode III novel by Matthew Stover, where Palpatine reveals to Anakin directly that Plagueis was his master. That fact alone is what cements Anakin's desire to save him from Mace, because he's been led to believe Padme is doomed otherwise.

 

I'm pretty sure I heard a theory somewhere that Palpatine wanted to transfer his essence into Anakin. He knew that Anakin would grow to be more powerful than him, and he was created for that exact reason. Palpatine was getting old, and his power was waning (that does not mean that he was weak, however).
Palpatine was always looking for a way to get more power, and before he got his limbs chopped off, Anakin was the perfect way to do that.

 

I think Palpatine recruited Anakin because he senses he is more powerful so he would rather have him on his side than against him. For example Luke by himself destroyed the Death Star and he is obviously the offspring of Ani. So put Anakin in Luke’s position with obi wan by his side it is inevitable that he could’ve destroyed everything palpatine worked for.I know it is an obvious statement.

I also believe his ego was the main action of recruiting Anakin because he most likely knew Anakin would grow to despise palpatine so he was conjuring his plan of cheating death the whole time his apprentice was doing his dirty work. It’s never going to be certain why he recruited Vader in the way he did but these are my thoughts.

 

Palpatine recruited the "Sith Experiment" as a final insult to Plagueis, the Force and anyone else who opposed him.



And yes, the child on Tatooine was originally referred to, as such.

 

This is a really cool question that I never thought about!

My initial thought was to ensure that order 66 was completed. He would need a powerful force user for that. But then I thought, "No, most of it was done by clones without much difficulty".

Then I thought it was to make sure that what he had built would endure after his death. But, I don't think he either cared what happened after his death or possibly didn't intend to die at all, by way of the dark side.

Finally, I thought that he just didn't need anyone as his enforcer, exactly like you describe. As useful as Vader was, he was also a liability. Palpatine should know this since he's the one who told Anakin the 'Tragedy' of Darth Plagueis. The dude had absolute power and an army under his control. No need for Anakin. Great post!

 

Anakin was the chick magnet. Always useful when you're forming a posse/taking over a galaxy.

 

In my opinion, the truest answer to the spirit of TPM is that Palpatine simply sensed the same things the Jedi sensed: that Anakin had much power and much fear. Powerful enough to be useful but perfectly vulnerable to the dark side.

also, since the Jedi held Anakin to be the "chosen one," his fall would constitute a philosophical/spiritual defeat of the Jedi Order. It would mean crushing the Jedi Order's greatest hope.

 

Cosinga's son was a spiteful bugger.

 

Great Post!

 

Could not have said it better myself. Anakin is a useful idiot. I hope that if we get a X going forward. They develop characters who have minds, and can think. It's almost embarrassing re-watching the films and seeing Palpy play everyone like a puppet. Hate TROS all you like, but at least Ren doesn't trust Palpatine and knows full well that he will throw him under the bus at the first opportunity.