Showdown on Coruscant

"It's treason, then."

- Supreme Chancellor Palpatine

The Duel in the Chancellor's Office was a lightsaber duel fought in the Supreme Chancellor's Suite in 19 BBY. The duel began after Anakin Skywalker informed Mace Windu that Supreme Chancellor Palpatine had revealed his identiy as a Sith Lord to him. Windu then gathered a team of Jedi Masters consisting of Kit Fisto, Agen Kolar, and Saesee Tiin and attempted to arrest Palpatine in his own Suite. Palpatine was at first polite to the group, but when they insisted on arresting him, he dropped his facade, lit his lightsaber, and lunged at them in a violent fury. All but Windu quickly fell to the Dark Lord of the Sith and the two masters of the Force clashed. Windu cornered Darth Sidious, Palpatine's true identity, as Skywalker arrived in the room.

Skywalker pleaded with Windu not to kill the Chancellor. Sidious fired a volley of Force lightning at the Jedi Master, who deflected it back at him. The electric currents flowing through Sidious exposed the almost reptilian features of his true form; one ravaged by years of using the dark side of the Force. Windu raised his blade to strike and Skywalker panicked, cutting off Windu's sword arm with his lightsaber. The writhing Sidious blasted Windu with another torrent of lightning and sent him through the window into the streets of Galactic City. Skywalker was ashamed of himself and what he had done, and knew that the Jedi would never allow him to remain with the Order now; out of options, he knelt before Darth Sidious and was dubbed his apprentice, Darth Vader.

Prelude
"He won't give up his power. I've just learned a terrible truth. I think Chancellor Palpatine is a Sith Lord."

- Anakin Skywalker to Mace Windu



Anakin Skywalker was plagued with prophetic visions of his wife, Padmé Amidala, dying in pain during the birth of their child in his dreams. He confided this in his friend Supreme Chancellor Palpatine, seeking advice. Palpatine invited Skywalker to a show at the Galaxies Opera House so they could talk. While they sat in Palpatine's private box, he told Skywalker a Sith legend, "The Tragedy of Darth Plagueis the Wise," informing him that Plagueis had learned the ability to save others from death by manipulating midi-chlorians. He took a Sith apprentice and taught him everything that the Sith Lord, himself, knew. His apprentice, wanting to usurp Plagueis's power, killed the Dark Lord in his sleep. Skywalker was curious of this power and believed he could use it to save Amidala. When Palpatine finally revealed himself to be Darth Sidious, Plagueis's former apprentice and current Dark Lord of the Sith, Skywalker was torn between his desire to learn Sidious's power and his duty as a Jedi to turn him in.

After giving up on killing Sidious on sight, Skywalker informed Jedi Master Mace Windu of Palpatine's true identity, though he was greatly conflicted about doing so. Sensing his internal conflict, Windu sent Skywalker to the High Council Chamber and took a squad of Masters&mdash;Kit Fisto, Agen Kolar, and Saesee Tiin&mdash;to arrest Palpatine.

Sidious expected a showdown, and was well prepared for it; he sensed both the conflict of Skywalker in the Council chamber as well as the approach of the Jedi Masters onboard a gunship. Sidious also recovered his lightsaber from its resting place within a neuranium sculpture, hiding the hilt in the sleeve of his robe. When the Masters scattered  the Red Guards beyond the office's outer doors, the Sith Lord triggered a concealed recording device&mdash;audio only. The Jedi burst into Sidious's private office, where Master Windu declared the Chancellor under arrest. However, the Sith Lord ensured the audio recording would show him as the victim, with the Jedi appearing unduly aggressive towards the seemingly innocent Chancellor.

The duel
"In the name of the Galactic Senate of the Republic, you're under arrest, Chancellor." "Are you threatening me, Master Jedi?" "The Senate will decide your fate." "I am the Senate." "Not yet."

- Mace Windu and Palpatine



Accusing them of treason, Sidious activated his lightsaber and lunged at the Jedi. In a moment of distraction, Agen Kolar was stabbed by Palpatine in the stomach. Saesee Tiin  attempted to strike the Dark Lord from behind as Kolar fell, but was cut down as Sidious swung around to face him. With two Jedi dead, Sidious immediately engaged Fisto and Windu in battle. Fisto's use of Form I allowed him to defend himself for a limited time, but he was ultimately cut down, leaving only Windu to contend with the Dark Lord.

Sidious drove Windu back along the corridor to his public office, where Windu rallied and pulled Sidious into a bladelock. As their battle took them towards the center of the office, Anakin Skywalker's Jedi airspeeder touched down outside. The young Jedi felt as though he could not bear to let Sidious meet his death at the hands of the Jedi; at least, not before teaching Skywalker the secrets of Darth Plagueis to save Amidala from death.

As Skywalker approached the office, Sidious unleashed a rapid series of unsuccessful attacks against Windu. Sidious was driven back by Windu with a steady, offensive march. Fighting their way across the office, their missed attacks managed to shatter the office window. As they moved out onto the now wind-blown ledge, Sidious attacked, but Windu parried, and the two rounded on one another. The duelists then started a flurry of bladework, which ended when Windu kicked the Chancellor, causing him to drop his lightsaber. Sidious fell to the ground, scurrying back against the window frame, with the Jedi Master's blade at his throat&mdash;and at that moment, Skywalker arrived.

Skywalker's intervention
"Anakin. I told you it would come to this. I was right. The Jedi are taking over!!"

- Palpatine to Anakin Skywalker

With the Dark Lord disarmed, Windu again declared that Sidious was under Jedi custody. However, having arrived too late to see the Sith Lord's intent, Skywalker saw only a helpless Chancellor cowering before Mace Windu. Sidious claimed the Jedi were in rebellion, while Windu declared the ultimate defeat of the Sith.



In response, Sidious hurled Force lightning at the Jedi Master, only for it to be deflected back by his lightsaber. The redirected current flowed through Sidious, injuring him and revealing his true form, one shriveled by a lifetime of using the dark side. The Chancellor begged for mercy and claimed he was too weak to continue fighting. He called out to Skywalker for help while Windu pleaded with him not to trust the Sith Lord. Skywalker's conflict reached its boiling point as he watched his friend suffer. Eventually, the lightning subsided, leaving an "exhausted" and "frail" Darth Sidious lying on the floor.

After witnessing Sidious's incredible power, Windu decided he had to destroy the Dark Lord once and for all. Skywalker pleaded with him to spare Sidious, stating he must go before the Courts. Windu refused, believing that Sidious's influence would sway their decision in his favor. Windu raised his blade to deliver the killing blow, and Skywalker reacted in a moment of despair, cutting off Windu's sword hand. Sidious instantly blasted Windu with Force lightning, killing the Jedi Master and Force-push him out of the window.

Skywalker fell to his knees in shock at his participation in Windu's murder. Sidious congratulated him, telling him that he was ready and that he would help him find the secrets to save Amidala's life, cautiously admitting that cheating death was a power only his Master achieved, thus admitting he did not actually know the secret to stopping death. Inwardly, Skywalker was surprised and enraged by the deception. But with no other option left, he fell to his knees—resigned to his fate. While hoping he and his new Master could discover the secret of immortality together, he no longer saw Sidious as a friend worth defending, rather merely a necessary evil worth tolerating until the time was right to take his place.

Aftermath
"Safety, security, justice and peace!"

- The chant announcing a new Galactic Empire

Though horrified at what he had done, and what he was becoming, Skywalker knew there was no turning back from his dark path now and pledged himself to Sidious in order to learn the power to cheat death. Sidious named his new apprentice Darth Vader and tasked him with the sterilization of the Jedi Temple. Sidious also issued Order 66 to every clone trooper in the Grand Army of the Republic ordering them to eliminate their Jedi commanders and marking all Jedi as enemies of the Republic. The Great Jedi Purge had begun.

Vader stormed the temple, leading the 501st Legion, and proceeded to kill almost every Jedi within its walls. The Temple was set ablaze and reduced to ruins while all of Galactic City watched. Sidious traveled to the Senate Rotunda and delivered a speech that declared that the Republic was no more, and in its place was a new Galactic Empire.

Behind the scenes


This lightsaber duel was a focal point of Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith as it explains how Darth Vader, an antagonist from the original trilogy, joined the Sith, and why Palpatine's face is deformed in Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi. This is also the first and only time all four colors of lightsaber blades shown in the any of the Star Wars movies have been in the same scene together (red, blue, green and violet).

Palpatine's comment: "I am the Senate" is very similar to King Louis XIV's comment: "I am the state."

In the novelization, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Mace Windu, and Shaak Ti all claimed that the arrest team consisted of "four of the greatest swordsmen the Jedi Order has ever produced"&mdash;a fact less obvious in the movie for Kolar, Tiin, and Fisto. Kenobi further proposed that if Palpatine could take down the four Jedi Masters all by himself, then even Yoda and Kenobi together would not be enough to defeat the Dark Lord. Responding to the question of "Mace brought the B team to arrest Palpatine" in The Making of Star Wars Revenge of the Sith, George Lucas replied that one would have to be either Mace or Yoda to compete with Palpatine, and that if Anakin had suffered none of his injuries, he could have beaten the Emperor. The same book implies that actor Samuel L. Jackson sincerely believed Windu, his character, had overpowered Palpatine, even during the lightning struggle.

According to the screenplay of Episode III, Dar Wac, the Chancellor's Rodian aide, originally had a cameo appearance before the Jedi entered Palpatine's office. This was either dropped or never filmed. However, the screenplay stated it was Windu who was being forced onto the ledge after the window was broken, which contradicts the novelization. The screenplay also indicates Mace attempted to defend himself with his only hand after he was betrayed by Skywalker.

In the novel, a debate between Palpatine and Windu before the duel reflected that although the audience knew Palpatine the Sith Lord was behind everything and was ultimately responsible for the war, the Jedi never had any hard evidence of Palpatine's crime to legitimize their arrest attempt. Even the knowledge of Palpatine's true identity depended solely on the words of an emotionally unstable Anakin Skywalker. Windu failed to explain why the "philosophical difference" between the Jedi and the Sith would lead to the arrest of Palpatine, which played to the Sith Lord's plan in the secret audio recording, thus undermining the support of the Jedi in the Senate.

Star Wars: The Ultimate Visual Guide named this conflict as Showdown on Coruscant in one of its captions.

The activation of the Jedi Masters' lightsabers was digitally confirmed by Imperial agents in the audio recording presented in the novelization. However, the activation of Palpatine's lightsaber was neither recorded nor analyzed. Whether Palpatine's subordinates altered the recording, his lightsaber had a special modification, or he applied a trick with the Force was unclear. Unlike the movie, Palpatine did not "demonstrate" his lightsaber right in front of the Jedi in the novel.

Differences between versions
Throughout the battle, the lightsaber hilt Palpatine uses alternates between his lightsaber's and Skywalker's due to the fact that he was originally going to use Anakin's lightsaber against the Jedi. Skywalker was scripted to be present throughout the duel at first, but the battle was re-choreographed at the last minute and Anakin was scripted to arrive at the exact moment Palpatine lost his weapon. Skywalker's lightsaber hilt remains visible in some shots of the finished film though, making this one of many lightsaber bloopers found throughout the Revenge of the Sith movie.

In the novelization of Revenge of the Sith, there were a few differences from the film's interpretation. Windu contacted Yoda before and after receiving the truth from Skywalker: the members of the arrest team and their action were both approved by the Grand Master. During the engagement, Windu sent Saesee Tiin and Agen Kolar to the Chancellor's desk to block the way to the door. Firstly, Sidious tricked Tiin by asking him to read his mind to establish if the Chancellor was truly a Sith Lord, then used the distraction as a chance to behead the unexpecting Iktotchi. Kolar barely had time to absorb the scene before Palpatine pierced the lightsaber blade through his head, who dropped his lightsaber and collapsed. After that, the remaining two Jedi fought Sidious. Kit Fisto was beheaded from a sudden strike of Sidious's blade. Fisto's death was not described firsthand&mdash;instead Skywalker found Fisto's head on the Chancellor's table with the Nautolan's typical smile on it. The movie scene was originally scripted that way as well, but George Lucas decided it was too violent, and thus changed it.

In the novelization, there was a thunderstorm outside during the duel. Also, Anakin Skywalker arrived much earlier, and was able to watch almost half of the epic lightsaber duel between Windu and Palpatine, instead of just in time when the Jedi Master knocked down Sidious in the movie. He also arrives differently. Instead of landing his speeder on the landing deck, he brings it to hover outside the window of Palpatine's private office, smashes the window with his lightsaber and jumps through. During the deadly fight, Skywalker could sense the Force darken within the Chancellor's Office. There was no Jedi restraint there&mdash;Mace Windu was cutting loose.



The comic kept the idea of Palpatine slamming Windu on a wall with a powerful Force push, which was stated in the screenplay but absent from the movie, while the novel altered it as Palpatine attempted to push Windu out of the office after the Jedi Master broke the window. In the comic version, Skywalker arrived right at the moment the office window was broken. Instead of Palpatine's jaw, Mace kicked the right palm of the Sith Lord and knocked away the Sith lightsaber himself. Anakin ignited his blade right after Palpatine applied Force lightning. After Anakin attacked Mace, it showed Palpatine throwing Windu out of the office window with another Force push, instead of hurling him out with Force lightning.

In both the novelization and the comic, the whole duel took place in the Chancellor's public office only, unlike beginning in the Chancellor's private office as seen in the movie. Thus Palpatine could activate the recording device hidden within his office desk in the book&mdash;his private chamber has a holoprojector instead of a desk.

In the video game adaptation, instead of severing Windu's arm, Skywalker has an actual duel with Windu that ends with the Jedi Master stabbed to death and thrown out of the window.

The junior novelization omitted the whole fighting between Palpatine and the Jedi. Instead, it portrayed Anakin Skywalker's point of view, when he left the High Council Chamber for his speeder and arrived at the Office, seeing Mace Windu holding an unarmed Palpatine at blade point.

In the movie, Windu had a violet blade, Fisto and Tiin green, and Kolar blue. In the novelization, Kolar also had a green blade, while in the comic Kolar had a green blade but Tiin wielded a blue lightsaber.

Debates on the scene
There is constant debate about whether Palpatine threw the fight. One of the arguments is around Palpatine's ability to sense the approach of Skywalker, which would allow the Sith Lord to stage his defeat timely. The Episode III novelization confirmed that Mace Windu could sense the approach of Skywalker through the Force before he broke the office window, even in the heat of the lightsaber duel. Thus it is reasonable for Palpatine to have had the same experience. However, it should be noted that the novel also implied that Windu sensed the approach of Skywalker only because he was tracing Darth Sidious's shatterpoints through the Force, and the fault lines led Windu to him.

Whether it is an intentional trick from the part of Palpatine or Windu truly outsparred the Sith Lord is confirmed in neither the Episode III movie nor the novel. However, in the novelization, Windu confessed Vaapad could not overpower the Sith Lord, that Vaapad could only form a superconducting loop of energy which flowed between the two of them, making the duel an even match for infinite time. Windu claimed that it was his shatterpoint ability which allowed him to gain the upper hand. After Windu broke the office window, the Jedi Master claimed he sensed Palpatine become a pulsar of fear. When the fight moved to the ledge, the novel described Windu sensing Palpatine's hesitation for a moment and the Sith Lord decreased his speed. Windu also did not kick the jaw of Palpatine, and he sliced the Sith lightsaber in half instead of Palpatine dropping his own weapon. When Windu held Sidious at blade point, the Jedi Master explained the reason of his victory as: "You lost for the same reason the Sith always lose: defeated by your own fear." Sidious countered by screaming, "Fool! Do you think the fear you feel is mine?" and blasted Mace with Force lightning.

Another focus of the debates is the struggle of Force lightning between Mace Windu and Palpatine. In the Episode III movie, apparently Windu won the lightning struggle by forcefully pushing his blade down to overpower Palpatine with more reflected bolts. In the novel, however, Mace could sense clearly that Palpatine did not fear Skywalker, while the Jedi Master openly asked the troubled Jedi to help him take down the Dark Lord during the struggle. The novel stated that Palpatine's bolts pushed the amethyst blade back towards Mace's face, and the Jedi Master felt the struggle was beyond Vaapad, Windu had no strength left to fight against his own blade while handling the bolts with the "superconducting loop" feature of Vaapad. At the final moments in the novel, the blade bent so close to Mace's face that the Jedi was choking on ozone, and Windu admitted to Anakin that Palpatine was too strong for him. At that moment, the attack ceased, explained as "the lightning swallowed itself." In the comic, Windu did not deflect the lightning bolts back to the Dark Lord, and Palpatine's face deformed on its own. Subsequently, Palpatine ceased his attack and laid down quietly, while Mace was overpowered and fell on the ledge.

The Homing Beacon, the official StarWars.com newsletter, dedicated its one hundred and thirty-ninth issue to discuss this duel. The newsletter explained the evolution of the scene and analyzed the possibility of Palpatine throwing the fight. The author personally believed that the original "Anakin present from the beginning" version had Palpatine throw the entire fight; once the scene changed to its final version, the author doubted Palpatine's timing and the necessity to suffer a kick in the face from Windu. The author concluded that Palpatine faked when he claimed his weakness, but only George Lucas had the answer of whether the Sith Lord threw the whole lightsaber duel.



On the other hand, the Databank leaves little room for debates. In Mace Windu's entry, it simply stated the Jedi Master "had disarmed Sidious and cornered the treacherous Sith Lord" without even mentioning the subsequent lightning struggle. In Palpatine's entry, again it simply stated Windu "overpowered Palpatine the instant Anakin Skywalker came running into the offices." It described the subsequent Palpatine as "seemingly too weak to continue the lightning assault." Darth Sidious's entry is much shorter, merely stating the Dark Lord was able to defeat him with Anakin Skywalker's help.

Appearances

 * Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith
 * Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith novel
 * Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith comic
 * Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith junior novel
 * Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith game
 * Dark Lord: The Rise of Darth Vader
 * Coruscant Nights I: Jedi Twilight
 * Star Wars: The Rise and Fall of Darth Vader
 * Star Wars: Purge
 * The Last of the Jedi: Death on Naboo
 * The Last of the Jedi: A Tangled Web
 * Revelation

Notes and references
Duel dans le Bureau de Palpatine Párbaj Palpatine irodájában