LogFAQs > #985112218

Charged151 posted...

The Disney Canon doesn't consider beings like Darth Nihilus / Darth Vitiate to exist, so I buy it in Disney Canon. Both of the mentioned Sith are able to kill all life on whole planets though, which is something Palpatine hasn't shown the ability to do. I don't buy it in Legends. The honor still goes to Darth Vitiate probably. As for Palpatine in Legends... Top 5 though? Sure.

Actually, Palpatine has that ability in Legends. It got pretty insane with what he could pull off. Like how he could feed off the lifeforce of everyone in the core worlds or the Byss system, or completely freeze everyone on a world with no memory so Imperials could install a hidden warship there. Hell, the Darth Plagueis novel directly addresses Vitiate as weaker than Plagueis and Palpatine both with the narrative just straight up saying at his prime, Plagueis is the strongest Sith ever (before Palpatine surpasses him)

As for the official claims Palpatine is the greatest, keep in mind official statements like "Darth Ruin created the Sith Order in 2000 BBY" (paraphrasing) were said at one point despite this clearly being incorrect considering things like the Second Jedi Schism, Tales of the Jedi comics material, KOTOR, and SWTOR happened before this. The statement regarding Darth Ruin got retconned to the "New Sith Order" to make the statement "kinda" fit.

Yeah, but these statements persist long after these were sorted. Palpatine was stated as the most powerful Sith as late as just shortly before the Disney buyout. It's one thing that's been consistent for decades in SW canon since like the 90s. This is one of those things that comes from Lucas, who clearly intended Palpatine to be the utter culmination of the Sith Order. It's something writers have rolled with.