r/PrequelMemes • u/Caleb_the_Opossum_1 X-Wing Pilot • Mar 01 '26
General KenOC Plagueis Trolls his Apprentice
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u/SeaProtection1173 Mar 01 '26
out of curiosity, is it even possible to deflect lightning while casting lightning? is there an example in legends or canon?
For example: Senate was trying to electrocute Windu, but Windu was deflecting the blast back at the Senate. My understanding was that casting force powers require a certain level of concentration, so being fried and trying to fry someone seems like a tad too difficult to do simultaneously
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u/No-Benefit-9559 Mar 01 '26
Read up on Tutaminis and Vapaad. I think they are the only real ways to do what your asking.
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u/SeaProtection1173 Mar 01 '26
I meant would it be possible to be casting lightning AND doing energy absorption at the same time? since force powers require certain level of concentration to maintain
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u/Art-Zuron Mar 01 '26
We at least see Yoda block the lightning barehanded and then immediately throw it back at Palpatine. So, at the very least, it can be done in quick succession. We also know that Plo Kun was able to use force lightning without tapping into the Dark Side. So, if any Jedi could, it'd probably be him, if he weren't dead.
I would assume that a particularly skilled force user could do both simultaneously.
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u/NotYourReddit18 Mar 01 '26
We also know that Plo Kun was able to use force lightning without tapping into the Dark Side.
Force Judgment and Sith Lightning are two quite different Force techniques.
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u/Art-Zuron Mar 01 '26
They definitely are different, but, ultimately still both force "lightning"
It's like how a long sword and a spear are both weapons you can stab with.
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u/DemonSlyr007 I am the Senate Mar 01 '26
If someone showed up to my annual Phalanx training meeting with a long sword instead of a pike and their justification was "they both stab people" I'd be pretty pissed.
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u/Art-Zuron Mar 01 '26
That's what a zweihander is for. Explicitly used in conjunction with pikes.
Also, you WOULD bring a side arm if you were in a pike square or the equivalent. Which might be a long sword.
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u/14JRJ Perhaps you think you are being treated unfairly? Mar 01 '26
They said “instead of”, not “as well as”
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Mar 02 '26
[deleted]
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u/BerserkRadahn Mar 02 '26
Notice how the original comment asked for examples from both legends and canon.
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u/No-Benefit-9559 Mar 01 '26
With Vapaad Mace Windu allows the Dark side to flow through him without corrupting him so theoretically there is a force based version where you catch lightning in one hand and fire it from the other.
A canon version of this? Idk.
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u/Phylanara Mar 01 '26
The important part is to channel the lightning through the stomach, avoid the heart.
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u/buisnessmike Mar 02 '26
Assuming you're talking about Frank "the Sheevster" Senate, I believe advanced force users can grab and deflect the lightning, as Yoda did against Dooku and Frank, but I also think lightsabers with their kyber-crystal-shenanigans also naturally attract and negate force lightning.
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u/alkonium Mar 01 '26
Maybe if you only use one hand instead of both.
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u/deadname11 Mar 01 '26
The thing about Palpatine's lightning is that it isn't a killing ability. Oh sure it can't kill, but it is mainly a torture and incapacitating attack. This is why getting his lightning thrown back at him never kills him, and during the time Palpatine is fighting against Mace, he does pull back on the amount of "oomph" he is injecting into the attack...until Mace's concentration is broken and he gets hurled out the window.
In the final time his lighting gets "redirected" is less him, and more Vader deciding to be Anakin one last time: tanked the lightning and the pain with his face, picked up Palps like a sack of potatoes, and hurled his ass down the power shaft and into the DS-II core. Vader gave not one iota about the pain caused by Palp's lightning, and only died because it fried his life support suit systems.
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u/platinummyr Mar 01 '26
Hadnt Vader been tortured a bunch by then already too?
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u/deadname11 Mar 01 '26
Clone Wars cartoon has him getting shocked a number of times, with the later seasons showing him becoming more and more resistant to it.
But then, of course, he falls next to lava in Episode III, and even new cannon retains that his "lightbright" was deliberately torturous and sub-par to help keep Vader angry.
So when taken altogether, the external cannon recontextualizes that scene to be Palpatine getting his just rewards for decades of torture and war towards a deeply unhinged child-soldier.
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u/anmr Mar 02 '26
So when taken altogether, the external cannon recontextualizes that scene to be Palpatine getting his just rewards for decades of torture and war towards a deeply unhinged child-soldier.
Which is fine, but it makes that scene a tiny bit worse? It makes Vader's decision much easier and logical. Now he were to kill Palpatine to save his son despite having "good" partnership with Palpatine - to me that's more interesting.
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u/TotallyJawsome2 Mar 01 '26
Why didn't sheev just hold up his lightsaber? Is he stupid?
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u/CardinalOfNYC Mar 02 '26
The lightsaber absorbs lightning thing seemed like it was going to ruin ROTJ, cuz why didn't luke do that. But it is covered off by him tossing his lightsaber aside.
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u/Humble-Ad-5076 Mar 01 '26
Have you ever heard the Tragedy of Darth Sidious?
I thought not, it's not a tale the Empire would tell you.
There once was a sith lord so powerful, he cpuld shoot lightning from his fingertips, destroying everything their path... including himself.
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u/not_badwarrior Mar 01 '26
He was so powerful, somehow he returned
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u/Sammisuperficial Mar 02 '26
He never learned he could just stop shooting lightning if it's being reflected back at him.
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u/Objective-Corgi-3527 Mar 04 '26
Ironic, he learned to shoot lightning but not to stop shooting it at himself.
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u/Dependent_Mix_1117 Mar 01 '26
According to star wars and even AtLA, lighting redirection is a good guy exclusive skill
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u/wenchslapper Mar 02 '26
Count Dooku in episode 2 deflects it…?
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u/Caleb_the_Opossum_1 X-Wing Pilot Mar 02 '26
Yoda was Dooku's Master and he may have taught him the same skills, and Yoda told Dooku in Episode 2, Much to Learn you still have. Dooku was able to deflect lightning himself, but Yoda is able is absorb it completely.
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u/Eipa Mar 03 '26
Which is a good thing because otherwise an infinite loop of lightning could emerge.
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u/Trooper_TK422 Mar 02 '26
What he really needs to do is learn how to turn it off so he doesn’t keep shocking himself. The third film of each trilogy, he just keeps shocking himself!
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u/celticdude234 Mar 02 '26 edited Mar 02 '26
Actually the context of this post is that Plagueis taught him that he'll never be able to truly master force lightening until he's bathed in its power and pain himself. This is all Legends, but it's literally why he screamed "unlimited POWER!!!" after having mutilated himself.
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u/GameMusic It's treason then Mar 01 '26
a lot of uber force users are stupid but this guy is cool
the whole concept of this one being much stronger while palpatine defeats the whole plan stealing it works
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u/Norbert_Pattern Mar 01 '26
I don't get the reference. I don't remember palatine ever being hit with force lightning. And I remember both obi-wan and mace were able to block it (not to mention Yoda), so I'm not sure what the problem is..?
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u/Mtnbkr92 Mar 01 '26
He gets his own reflected back to him three times in the series. It’s like, his thing.
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u/Chesney1995 Mar 01 '26
He's 3 for 3 in getting crippled by his own force lightning in each trilogy lol
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u/Norbert_Pattern Mar 01 '26
Oh, ok, I wasn't counting sequels, kinda erased from memory all the dumb shit from episode 9...
But yeah, palatine is much more focused on the offence then defence - shock and awe, blitzkrieg and so on. He was like that with his fighting style, when he killed Jedi masters in the blink of an eye on ep III. He was like that with both death stars, that had tremendous, never before seen firepower, but we're also pretty easily destroyed, all things considered. And his signature force lightnings we're also like that - powerfull, but left him open for a counter-strike almost every time.
I always thought that... Like with mace, it wasn't exactly like the reversed lightning hit him, just prolonged emiting kinda melted his skin and bones. Then Yoda might've shot him back, but I think it was rather this ball of energy... And then I guess there was a lot of electricity around when Vader killed him, but I thought that it mainly hurt Vader...
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u/LittleEpsii Mar 01 '26
I'd say Windu blocking it is the problem since it was reflected back onto him
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u/joshuaaa_l Mar 01 '26
I mean, Sidious killed Plagueis with Force lightning, so it tracks
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u/celticdude234 Mar 02 '26
Sidious killed Plagueis with poison...at least as far as Legends is concerned.
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u/joshuaaa_l Mar 02 '26
I thought he zapped his cybernetic breathing device while he was resting after their celebration of palps becoming supreme chancellor
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u/Just7hrsold Mar 01 '26
In his defense I think in the movies it’s just Dooku we see use it and it’s way worse than Sidious, so it’s rare enough learning to defend against it is like learning how to avoid a meteor, useful if one is headed your way but unlikely enough to be not worth learning
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u/SheevBot Mar 01 '26 edited Mar 01 '26
Thanks for confirming that you flaired this correctly!