[Three Syllables]
May. 24th, 2011 12:07 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ansketilTitle: Three Syllables
Disclaimer: I do not own Star Wars and am just mucking about with Palpatine.
Rating: G
Word Count: A couple of paragraphs - :P
Characters: Palpatine
Summary: Some sacrifices cost more than others.
Author's Note: This was meant to be my "Ten Things Palpatine" for![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
darth_eldritch, but instead it turned into this and I couldn't add anything else to it. A pleasant diversion while working on much longer stories. Just one of many possible explanations for the mystery that is Palpatine.
It was an archaic tradition, rooted deeply in the obscure philosophies of his people. It began with an evening’s ceremonial farewell to your family, which doubtless would have made a touching scene if he’d had any. His foreign master was utterly indifferent to rituals of the Naboo. There was the thought of perhaps of talking to several of his lecturers at the University of Theed, but they knew the course he had decided on, and it would embarrass him for them to know there was no one else. In the end, he took a walk in the municipal gardens across from his residence and said his farewells to more mundane things than family.
Then came the night spent alone, supposedly wrestling with the decision to devote himself to the service of his people above all else. In truth, he’d already faced a different, harsher vigil and this far less ancient ritual bored him. He meditated, his mind already drifting in the far-flung future.
At dawn, the civic priests came and led him through the double doors where he undressed and lowered himself into the steaming water, observing his clothes burning in the sacred braziers as he washed himself of his previous life. He stepped naked from the pool with a frown older than his years on his young face, and his sad blue eyes gave the impression he was leaving behind a great deal rather than nothing at all.
They dressed him in the heavy robes of a Prince of Theed and he told them the three syllables he had chosen. It wasn’t the more informal ceremony usual in these more modern times. He asked them to erase everything. “Are you certain?” the sacerdotal leader asked, worried about such a drastic decision. “If you do this you will be forbidden both legal and sacred union and any children you might have could only claim matrilineal descent. You will never be able to hear your birth name again without inviting the gods’ curse.” Don’t do it, the old priest’s eyes pleaded, don’t sacrifice yourself so carelessly.
“I am certain,” he answered coldly, his thin lips betraying slight amusement at the man’s words. His certificates of identity and his diplomas went into the sacred fires along with his garments; burned him free of his parents’ nobility and the damning evidence of his childhood. He had one secret name, wrapped tight around his heart like a talisman, he did not need another.
“Then we recognise you, Palpatine of Naboo, and pray you serve your people well.”
Disclaimer: I do not own Star Wars and am just mucking about with Palpatine.
Rating: G
Word Count: A couple of paragraphs - :P
Characters: Palpatine
Summary: Some sacrifices cost more than others.
Author's Note: This was meant to be my "Ten Things Palpatine" for
darth_eldritch, but instead it turned into this and I couldn't add anything else to it. A pleasant diversion while working on much longer stories. Just one of many possible explanations for the mystery that is Palpatine. It was an archaic tradition, rooted deeply in the obscure philosophies of his people. It began with an evening’s ceremonial farewell to your family, which doubtless would have made a touching scene if he’d had any. His foreign master was utterly indifferent to rituals of the Naboo. There was the thought of perhaps of talking to several of his lecturers at the University of Theed, but they knew the course he had decided on, and it would embarrass him for them to know there was no one else. In the end, he took a walk in the municipal gardens across from his residence and said his farewells to more mundane things than family.
Then came the night spent alone, supposedly wrestling with the decision to devote himself to the service of his people above all else. In truth, he’d already faced a different, harsher vigil and this far less ancient ritual bored him. He meditated, his mind already drifting in the far-flung future.
At dawn, the civic priests came and led him through the double doors where he undressed and lowered himself into the steaming water, observing his clothes burning in the sacred braziers as he washed himself of his previous life. He stepped naked from the pool with a frown older than his years on his young face, and his sad blue eyes gave the impression he was leaving behind a great deal rather than nothing at all.
They dressed him in the heavy robes of a Prince of Theed and he told them the three syllables he had chosen. It wasn’t the more informal ceremony usual in these more modern times. He asked them to erase everything. “Are you certain?” the sacerdotal leader asked, worried about such a drastic decision. “If you do this you will be forbidden both legal and sacred union and any children you might have could only claim matrilineal descent. You will never be able to hear your birth name again without inviting the gods’ curse.” Don’t do it, the old priest’s eyes pleaded, don’t sacrifice yourself so carelessly.
“I am certain,” he answered coldly, his thin lips betraying slight amusement at the man’s words. His certificates of identity and his diplomas went into the sacred fires along with his garments; burned him free of his parents’ nobility and the damning evidence of his childhood. He had one secret name, wrapped tight around his heart like a talisman, he did not need another.
“Then we recognise you, Palpatine of Naboo, and pray you serve your people well.”
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no subject
Date: 2011-05-24 01:29 am (UTC)Ahh, I LOVE IT!!!!
Excellent scenario of why Palpatine's past on Naboo is shrouded! And it fits Naboo so well!
his sad blue eyes
Such a consummate actor!!! Such feeling!
Thank you!!!
no subject
Date: 2011-05-24 01:44 am (UTC)Thank you! I imagined young Padmé going through this ceremony too, except she did it exactly as you are meant to, whereas Palpatine almost parodies it, yet it becomes more true for him than Queen Amidala.
It just makes sense to me because otherwise people would have found him suspicious.
Palpatine could cry tears of joy at the prospect of afternoon tea with Master Yoda. He's that good, lol! ;D
no subject
Date: 2011-05-24 02:12 am (UTC)Ha ha, how true, it is more fitting for Palpatine!
Exactly, and I do like his background being Naboo. Also, Naboo has been described as having customs of respecting privacy, so any other loose ends won't be as likely to be questioned.
Ha ha ha! Yea, he would! Look at the act he had to put on at the end of TPM!
no subject
Date: 2011-05-24 03:27 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-05-24 01:22 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-05-24 03:31 am (UTC)Yep, the only name Palpatine needs is the one his master bestowed upon him. And, of course, whatever term of endearment his sweet patootie Anakin calls him ^_^
no subject
Date: 2011-05-24 04:40 pm (UTC)Second time round:
Thank you - I think you can guess that this was inspired by your own brilliance. ^_^
It just seemed like the logical explanation. I have this image of Padmé and he talking about it one day and her being both awed and horrified by his actions.
Lol, poodoo!
no subject
Date: 2011-05-25 02:02 am (UTC)Aww thanks!
Palpatine and Padme, talking in the gardens somewhere on Naboo... an unlikely pairing... so wrong but oh so right... lolz
no subject
Date: 2011-05-25 12:01 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-05-25 12:15 am (UTC)(I imagine this evolved out of an old tradition of assigning second-born children to civic slavery instead of the priesthood. Then, when they grow up, the become the wise advisers of their siblings' children... Or something... part of me is convinced Naboo is some kind to bizarre dystopia, but they're so convoluted and private no one has noticed... lol, shutting up now...)
no subject
Date: 2011-05-25 12:38 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-05-25 12:47 am (UTC)I remember watching a trailer for the awful Jack Black remake and someone being loudly offended by Gulliver "putting out the fire" along the lines of "omg, how could they ruin such a classic!-?" LOL.
no subject
Date: 2011-05-25 12:48 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-05-25 12:53 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-05-26 07:56 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-05-26 08:18 am (UTC)The bit which finally broke me was the depiction of how prisoners chained to a wall upside down evacuate themselves. :/
no subject
Date: 2011-05-26 09:32 am (UTC)Unfortunately it is quite, quite early in the morning, so conversation isn't really feasible at this juncture. :(
no subject
Date: 2011-05-26 09:41 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-05-27 04:25 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-05-26 08:19 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-05-25 12:04 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-05-25 12:19 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-05-25 12:36 am (UTC)...oh dear.
no subject
Date: 2011-05-25 12:37 am (UTC)Be sure to get your man, wrap your body in a coat of tan! Keep young and be---
Date: 2011-05-29 06:07 pm (UTC)You will never be able to hear your birth name again without inviting the gods' curse.
I find it fascinating that all records will have been expunged, no family left to remember all this backstory of his, and writers such as yourself get to develop it. He's even giving up his diplomas, something he himself earned, not like any family nobility. In a way, he's self-sacrificing and
Jedi-likeliving in the Moment, as Qui-Gon espoused.How would RL be if our senators did this, forgot all about their ties and devoted themselves to their calling above all? *lives in Utopia, for awhile*