Why Would Palp Kill Plagueis BEFORE Learning The Secret?

There was never any secret to overcome death. Sith are selfish so they pretend things to gain power. Palpating foind out and killed his master only to do the same thing.

 

Your last theory probably has the most validity

 

Because Plagueis never learned it and Palpatine assumed/figured out that he never would.

 

I think Palpatine did learn this trick but not in the way that I think you are suggesting. What he said in ROTS was that Plagueis could keep others from dying but not himself. He never said that Plagueis learned the secret to immortality. He also went on to say that Plagueis taught his apprentice everything he knows, so one can assume it included this trick.

This plays into the later part of the film where Anakin is found still alive despite being roasted like a marshmallow. The only reason he is still alive is because of Palpatine. I also think Vader could not have survived from that point on, even with his suit, if not for Palpatine. That is why at the end of ROTJ he tells Luke that "nothing can stop [him from dying] now," with the implication being now that Palpatine is dead. This is also what makes Vader's decision to kill Palpatine a self-sacrifice to save his son. The self-sacrifice part of it is the only thing that truly redeemed him IMO.

 

I don't remember where I read it (maybe it was in Tarkin) but I remember Palpatine musing on how Plagueis wanted power over life and death, while Palpatine was far more concerned with Influence. I don't know if Palpatine was even all that concerned with Plagueis's powers, to be honest.

 

Different people have different goals.

You can become immortal in name.
Great (and not so great) men and women throughout history are essentially immortal.
We all know who Cleopatra is.
She died some 2000+ years ago.

If what @cawatrooper says is true (and I'm inclined to believe it) then Palpatine might have been more interested in that than physical immortality

 

Or . . . it is possible that Palpatine was lying to Anakin.

 

If I understand what you mean, Vader was alive from RotS to RotJ only by the grace of Palpatine (and not due to his equipment). If I'm correct, then that is a strong idea that I had not thought about, before you wrote it. Great point that ties the Palp assert "Plagueis could keep others from dying but not himself" and the inevitable death of Vader (and so, his suicide) once Palp is dead.

All depends on the cost. Would you want to become immortal if the price to pay is to live your eternity deaf, mute, blind and screwed in a bed?

Now the Dark Plagueis novel is not canon, this seems to be far the best answer...

 

Do you mean Anakin?

 

No no, I actually mean Vader, from the very moment Palpatine leans over him on Mustafar, to the moment Vader throws Palpatine in the DS2 well.

 

Early ROTS drafts had Palpatine mention that he killed Plagueis because he believed living forever was not the true way of the Sith. There has been no outright confirmation that Sheev wants to, or doesn't want to live forever yet.

There is also the possibility of how difficult the ability is. For example, knowing a recipe doesn't necessarily mean you have the aptitude to create it to the same standard as professional chefs. Perhaps Palpatine knew the ingredients but not the amounts?

 

Theory: Palpy learnt the secret, killed his boss, then pretended not to know the secret to keep the secret only for himself, because Sith are kinda selfish like that....

 

keep in mind that, considering Senator Palpatine is around 55 in TPM (IRL: actor Ian McDiarmid was 55 y-o by the time TPM was filmed), that means The Emperor is about 91 by the end of RotJ (TPM is 32 BBY and RotJ is 4 ABY, that means 36 years between). That man is rather well preserved

 

I guess it was part of his master plan.

 

Plague is was never going to REALLY tell anyone his secrets. He's a sith so he's very selfish by keeping the ultimate power to himself. Palpating, being so arrogant, assumed he had been taught everything so he killed his master to prevent him from ever revealing anything to anyone else. And since only Jedi can really unlock the true secret to immortality then maybe plageuis plageuis was never really a real sith

 

I always just thought old Palpy didn't have a clue whether stopping death was a thing. People are dispensable to him and manipulation was second nature to him also. So he manipulated a weak, dumb, silly, floppy haired, scruffy lookin, nerf herding Anakin (very easily) with the oldest trick in the book - Tell a person you can stop people dying so they'll help you destabilise an entire galactic senate to instate a dictatorship and achieve unlimited power - that old trick.