Showdown on Coruscant

Beginning Events

Yoda's Foresight

Jedi Grand Master Yoda had a premonition of some version of this confrontation while in the Dark Side Cave on Dagobah near the end of the Clone Wars. Among the visions, Yoda witnessed a hooded figure swiftly killing Jedi Masters Agen Kolar, Saesee Tiin, and Kit Fisto. Shortly after, he saw the same hooded figure attacking Mace Windu with a blast of Force lightning.

The Dark Side Beckons

Not long after the Battle of Coruscant, Jedi Knight Anakin Skywalker began to have prophetic visions of his wife, Padmé Amidala, dying in agony during childbirth. Deeply troubled by these visions, he sought counsel from Grand Master Yoda, who, in typical Jedi fashion, simply advised Anakin to "let go of everything he feared to lose." Frustrated by what he felt was an inadequate response, Anakin confided his fears in his friend, Supreme Chancellor Palpatine. Soon after, Palpatine invited Skywalker to a performance at the Galaxies Opera House, claiming he had intelligence on the whereabouts of General Grievous. While in Palpatine's private box, he shared a Sith legend with Skywalker, "The Tragedy of Darth Plagueis the Wise." He specifically told Anakin that Plagueis had discovered how to use the dark side to influence midi-chlorians, a power that could create life and prevent death.

The Jedi were somewhat aware of Palpatine's increasing influence over Skywalker, leading them to try and have Skywalker spy on Palpatine, both to see if he was being influenced by Darth Sidious and mainly to disrupt their friendship. However, Palpatine had already anticipated this. Around the time Obi-Wan and Grievous fought on Utapau, the Jedi also sent Skywalker to assess Palpatine's motives based on his reaction, secretly suspecting Palpatine was involved in a plot to destroy the Jedi due to the Dark Side surrounding him. They even considered removing Palpatine from office if he was proven to have ties to Sidious, though Windu cautioned that this would require the questionable act of directly controlling the Senate to ensure a peaceful transition, which Yoda realized would be a risky deviation from the Jedi Code.

Knowing Anakin's struggles, Palpatine intended to use this revelation as a lure to draw Anakin to the dark side. Desperate to prevent his visions from becoming reality, Anakin asked Palpatine how to learn Plagueis's technique, but Palpatine simply stated that a Jedi could not teach it. Later, in the Supreme Chancellor's office, after Skywalker informed the Supreme Chancellor about Obi-Wan currently fighting General Grievous, Palpatine finally revealed himself as Darth Sidious, Plagueis's former apprentice and the 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.

The Dark Lord Unveiled

Skywalker considered killing Sidious immediately, as it was his Jedi duty to eliminate the Sith, but he couldn't bring himself to kill his friend, who implied that doing so would push Skywalker to the dark side. Leaving Palpatine's office, Skywalker rushed to the Jedi Temple and informed Jedi Master Mace Windu of Palpatine's true identity, though he was deeply conflicted. Sensing his inner turmoil, Windu sent Skywalker to the High Council Chamber and advised him to meditate on his conflicting emotions. Windu then gathered a team of Masters—the anxious Nautolan Kit Fisto, Zabrak Agen Kolar, and the Iktotchi Saesee Tiin—to arrest Palpatine in his own office.

Sidious had anticipated a confrontation and was well-prepared. He sensed Skywalker's conflict in the Council chamber and the approach of the Jedi Masters on a gunship. Sidious retrieved his lightsaber from its hiding place within a neuranium sculpture, concealing the hilt in his robe's sleeve. As the Masters scattered the Chancellor's private guards beyond the office's outer doors, the Sith Lord activated a hidden audio recording device. The Jedi entered Sidious's private office, and the chancellor told the newly arrived Jedi that their presence most likely meant that General Grievous was successfully killed, although he admitted that their arrival was much sooner than he seemingly anticipated. Master Windu declared the Chancellor under arrest in the name of the Galactic Senate. Sidious feigned surprise and pleaded for help, trying to make the audio recording sound like the Jedi were committing an unjustified act of aggression against an innocent Chancellor. He angrily reminded Windu that he was the Senate when Windu mentioned the Senate would decide his fate, to which Windu quickly reminded him that he wasn't yet.

The Clash

Accusing the Jedi of treason, Sidious ignited his lightsaber and attacked the group. In a moment of distraction, Palpatine impaled Agen Kolar through the abdomen. Despite his shock, Saesee Tiin tried to strike the Dark Lord from behind as Kolar fell, but Sidious swiftly turned and slashed him across the torso. With two Jedi Masters dead, Sidious immediately engaged Fisto and Windu. Fisto initially defended against Sidious's attacks due to his mastery of a more defensive style of lightsaber combat, but he was killed just seconds after his two companions. With his entire team gone, Windu was left to face the Dark Lord alone.

Sidious forced Windu back along the corridor to his public office, where Windu regained his footing and engaged Sidious in a blade lock. Sensing Sidious's immense power, Windu realized he had to fully embrace Vaapad, his personal Juyo variant, to survive. As their battle moved towards the center of the room, Anakin Skywalker's Jedi airspeeder landed outside. He had meditated on his turbulent thoughts in the Council Chambers, as Windu had advised, and felt he couldn't let Sidious die at the hands of the Jedi, at least not before teaching Skywalker the secrets of Darth Plagueis to save Amidala from death.

As Skywalker hurried through the halls of the Republic Executive Building, Sidious launched a series of unsuccessful attacks against Windu, who steadily pushed Sidious back into the Ceremonial Office. Windu, fully embracing Vaapad, drew on the dark side energy emanating from his furious opponent like a heat sink. Using Sidious's own power against him, Windu matched the Dark Lord blow for blow, but realized that even his mastery of Vaapad would only result in a stalemate. Windu guided the battle towards the bay window, which was shattered by their missed attacks. As they moved onto the wind-swept ledge, Sidious diverted some of his Force-powered speed to a Force-powered grip on the permacrete. The duelists engaged in a brief flurry of bladework, but Palpatine's slight decrease in speed created an opening, allowing Windu to end the exchange with a swift kick to the Sith Lord's jaw. Sidious stumbled back, dropping his weapon and flailing for balance before retreating against the window frame. Darth Sidious appeared defeated and at Master Windu's mercy, who held his blade to the Sith Lord's throat. Windu also sensed fear and believed it was the reason for Sidious's defeat. However, Sidious revealed that the fear Windu was sensing was not his own, but Skywalker's.

At that moment, Skywalker arrived, believing that only the powers of the Sith could save his wife from his visions.

Skywalker's Interference

With the Dark Lord disarmed, Windu declared Sidious under Jedi custody again. However, arriving too late to see the Sith Lord's intentions, Skywalker only saw a "helpless" Chancellor cowering before Mace Windu. Sidious claimed the Jedi were in rebellion, while Windu countered, declaring the ultimate defeat of the Sith.

Sidious then unleashed a torrent of Force lightning at the Jedi Master. Calling upon his Vaapad mastery once more, Windu barely managed to catch the lightning on his lightsaber and began deflecting it back at Sidious. Sidious and Windu accused each other of being traitors to Skywalker as he watched. The redirected current flowed through Sidious, injuring him and grotesquely deforming his face—though this may have been his true form all along, withered by a lifetime of using the dark side of the Force. He cried out to Skywalker for help while Windu pleaded with him not to trust the Sith Lord. The electrical current continued to ravage the Chancellor's body, and Skywalker's conflict reached its peak as he watched his friend suffer. Eventually, the lightning subsided, leaving Palpatine pretending to be exhausted and frail, lying on the floor. The Chancellor began begging for mercy, claiming he was too weak to continue fighting.

After Sidious stopped his attack, Windu announced he had no choice but to eliminate the Dark Lord once and for all. Having experienced the true depth of Sidious's power firsthand, Windu now saw him as too great a threat to the Republic to be kept alive. Skywalker pleaded with him to spare Sidious, suggesting a trial, but Windu refused, believing Sidious's influence would sway the Court's decision in his favor. Ironically, Mace used the same argument for killing Sidious that Sidious gave to Anakin for why Dooku needed to be killed earlier–that Sidious was too dangerous to be kept alive. Skywalker insisted that killing Sidious in cold blood was not the Jedi way. But as Windu raised his blade to strike the killing blow, Skywalker, in a moment of despair, cut off the unsuspecting Windu's sword hand. Seeing this, Sidious immediately stopped feigning weakness and unleashed a devastating barrage of Force lightning at the helpless Jedi Master, gloating about his unlimited power. After torturing him for a few moments, Sidious used the Force lightning to blast Windu out of the broken window, where he died upon impact with the streets below.

Skywalker, shocked by his unwitting participation in the Jedi Master's murder, fell to his knees. Sidious congratulated him, saying he was fulfilling his destiny and would help him find the secrets to saving Amidala's life. The Dark Lord then indirectly admitted that only his Master had achieved the power to cheat death, revealing he didn't actually know the secret to stopping death. Skywalker was surprised and enraged by this deception. He realized his new master had been manipulating him and the Clone Wars—the galaxy-wide conflict between the Separatists and the Galactic Republic—from the start. Though his loyalty to the Jedi lingered, he believed his role in Windu's death made returning impossible. Furthermore, despite Sidious's admission, he still believed joining the Dark Lord was his best chance to save Amidala. He resigned himself to his fate, knelt before Sidious, and swore an oath to be his Sith apprentice. While he hoped they could discover immortality together, Skywalker no longer saw his new master as a friend worth defending, but as a necessary evil to tolerate until he could take his place. This may not have been strictly true, as Sidious had used midichlorians to re-invigorate the gravely injured or dying in the past.

Consequences

Though horrified by his actions and transformation, Skywalker knew there was no turning back and pledged to do whatever Sidious asked in exchange for help saving Amidala. Sidious named his new apprentice Darth Vader and tasked him with the sterilization of the Jedi Temple. Furthermore, Sidious issued Order 66 to every clone trooper in the Grand Army of the Republic, ordering them to eliminate their Jedi Commanders and Generals and marking all Jedi as enemies of the Republic. The Great Jedi Purge had begun.

Vader, leading the 501st Legion, stormed the Temple and killed nearly every Jedi within its walls before being sent to Mustafar to kill the Separatist leaders. The Temple was set ablaze and reduced to ruins as all of Galactic City watched. Shortly after, Sidious went to the Senate Rotunda and presented the audio recording of Windu's attack on his life as evidence of the "Jedi Rebellion" or "Jedi Revolt," an attempt by the Order to overthrow the Republic. Republic agents digitally confirmed the activation of the Jedi Masters' lightsabers in the recording, while Palpatine's lightsaber activation was neither recorded nor analyzed. After convincing the Senate of the need for action, Sidious delivered a speech declaring the Republic gone, replaced by a new Galactic Empire.

Sidious later discovered Yoda's survival when he arrived at his office in the senate, leading to a climactic duel between the Sith Master and the Jedi Grandmaster, concurrent with a similar duel between Obi-Wan Kenobi and the newly-christened Darth Vader.

With Windu's death, some, like the Jedi Jaina Solo, believed the shatterpoint Force technique was lost. This was untrue, however. Its reputation as a lost art stemmed from the rarity of individuals able to perform it, but some like her brother, Jacen Solo, and uncle, Luke Skywalker, learned it by 41 ABY. Her uncle later taught it to her.

Production Information

Development Details

This lightsaber duel was featured in the film version of Star Wars: Episode III Revenge of the Sith and was unnamed until Star Wars: The Ultimate Visual Guide identified it as the "Showdown on Coruscant" in a caption. In the Revenge of the Sith novel, Palpatine framed the duel as proof of a Jedi rebellion against the Republic, which was further elaborated on in the 2008 reference book The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia, where Palpatine called it the "Jedi Rebellion." This duel clarifies previously unknown aspects of the Star Wars universe. 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. Ian McDiarmid, who played Palpatine, didn't enjoy filming these scenes. As a Shakespearean actor, high-speed sword fighting didn't appeal to him. He had only about five days to learn the choreography that his stunt double wouldn't perform, according to stunt coordinator Nick Gillard. Being older, he wasn't as agile as his opponents and was occasionally hit during filming. However, McDiarmid respected Samuel L. Jackson's abilities. The film's producer, Rick McCallum, was worried about the scene's outcome but was very pleased with the final result. On the other hand, Windu's actor, Samuel L. Jackson, had been anticipating this scene since he was cast. One of his requests during negotiations was for his character to die in a spectacular fashion at the end.

In the novelization of Episode III, 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"—a fact less obvious in the movie since Kolar, Tiin, and Fisto died within seconds of the duel's start. Kenobi further suggested that if Palpatine could defeat the four Jedi Masters alone, then even Yoda and Kenobi together wouldn't be enough to defeat the Dark Lord. In The Making of Star Wars Revenge of the Sith, George Lucas, the creator of the Star Wars universe, responded to the question of whether Mace Windu brought a weak group of Jedi with him for the confrontation with Palpatine by replying that "one would have to be either Windu or Yoda to compete with Palpatine," and that if Anakin hadn't been injured, he could have beaten the Emperor. The same book implies that Samuel L. Jackson sincerely believed that Windu, his character, had overpowered Palpatine, even during the lightning struggle.

According to the script for Episode III, Dar Wac, the Chancellor's Rodian assistant, was originally slated to make a brief appearance before the Jedi entered Palpatine's office. This scene was either cut or never actually filmed. Moreover, the script indicated that Windu was the one being forced out onto the ledge after the window shattered, a detail that clashes with the novel's version of events. The screenplay also suggests that Windu tried to defend himself with his remaining hand after Skywalker's betrayal.

Inconsistencies

Due to the fact that different individuals interpreted the events, variations exist among the different depictions of this duel. The movie version is the only one considered fully canon.

Throughout the confrontation, the lightsaber hilt Palpatine wields switches between his own and Skywalker's. This is because the original intention was for him to use Anakin Skywalker's lightsaber against the Jedi. Initially, Skywalker was meant to be present throughout the entire duel, but the choreography was changed at the last moment, and Skywalker's arrival was timed to coincide with Palpatine losing his weapon. Despite this change, Skywalker's lightsaber hilt is still visible in certain shots of the final film, making it one of the many lightsaber-related errors in Revenge of the Sith.

The novelization of Episode III presents several differences compared to the film's portrayal. Windu contacted Grand Master Yoda both before and after learning the truth from Skywalker; the Grand Master approved both the members of the arrest team and their actions. During the fight, Windu positioned Saesee Tiin and Agen Kolar at the Chancellor's desk to guard the door. Initially, Sidious deceived Tiin by asking him to read his mind to ascertain whether the Chancellor was truly a Sith Lord, using this distraction to decapitate the unsuspecting Iktotchi. Kolar barely registered what had happened before Palpatine ran his lightsaber through his head, causing him to drop his weapon and collapse. Following this, the remaining two Jedi engaged Sidious. Kit Fisto was beheaded by a swift strike from Sidious's blade. Fisto's death was not described directly; instead, Skywalker discovered Fisto's head on the Chancellor's table, bearing the Nautolan's characteristic smile. This was the original script for the movie scene as well, but George Lucas deemed it too violent and altered it. In the novelization, a thunderstorm raged outside during the duel. Furthermore, Anakin Skywalker arrived much earlier, witnessing nearly half of the epic lightsaber battle between Windu and Palpatine, rather than just the aftermath when the Jedi Master knocked down Sidious, as depicted in the movie. Skywalker's arrival also differs; instead of landing his speeder on the landing platform, he hovered it outside the window of Palpatine's private office, shattered the window with his lightsaber, and jumped through. During the intense fight, Skywalker sensed the Force grow dark within the Chancellor's Office. Windu, unlike his usual restraint, channeled all his power and rage into his Vaapad combat style, a lightsaber form that requires the user to embrace the fight and use their will to win, thereby enhancing their abilities. Also, in the novel, Sidious "demonstrates" his lightsaber before the battle begins, a detail absent in the movie.

The comic book adaptation of Episode III retained the idea of Palpatine using a powerful Force push to slam Windu into a wall, a detail mentioned in the screenplay but omitted from the movie. The novel changed the scene to Palpatine attempting to push Windu out of the office after the Jedi Master broke the window. In the comic version, Skywalker arrived just as the office window was shattered. Instead of Palpatine's jaw, Windu kicked the Sith Lord's right palm, knocking away the Sith's lightsaber himself, and Skywalker ignited his blade immediately after Palpatine used Force lightning. After Skywalker attacked Windu, Palpatine was shown throwing Windu out of the office window with another Force push, rather than hurling him out with Force lightning. Additionally, while Windu had a violet blade, Fisto green, and Kolar blue in the movie, Kolar wielded a green blade in the novelization and comic. Tiin used a green lightsaber in the movie, but a blue lightsaber in the comic.

In both the novelization and the comic, the entire duel took place solely in the Chancellor's public office, rather than beginning in the Chancellor's private office as seen in the movie. The novel depicted Palpatine activating a recording device hidden within his office book on his desk. In the comic version, his private chamber contained a holoprojector instead of a desk.

In the video game adaptation of Revenge of the Sith, Skywalker, rather than severing Windu's arm, accuses Windu of being a traitor to the Republic and engages him in a duel that spans the office and the outside platform. During the duel, Windu tries to dissuade Skywalker from his path, but the enraged Jedi refuses to listen to the Jedi Master, who was holding back, giving him an advantage. This resulted in Anakin knocking him out of the window to his death. In the Game Boy Advance and Nintendo DS versions of the game, upon arriving to stop Windu from killing Palpatine, Anakin fought some Separatist droids that were inside the Chancellor's suite before dueling Windu as in the other versions.

The junior novelization completely left out the fighting sequence between Palpatine and the Jedi. Instead, it presented that period of time exclusively from Anakin Skywalker's perspective; Skywalker left the High Council Chamber to retrieve his speeder, then entered the Chancellor's office and saw Mace Windu holding an unarmed Palpatine at blade point.

This entire scene was not included in LEGO Star Wars: The Video Game, although it was originally planned to be a level.

Popular Culture References

The confrontation was satirized in Robot Chicken: Star Wars Episode III, where Palpatine complains at length about his disfigured face.