Palpatine did something similar to Luke Skywalker’s projection trick in Star Wars: The Last Jedi decades earlier, but his methods were much less effective. In The Last Jedi, the Resistance sees the mythical Luke Skywalker as their last bastion of hope, especially in the face of Kylo Ren’s vengeance-fueled tirade. In one last effort to help them, Skywalker projects himself through the Force halfway across the galaxy, saving the remaining members of the Resistance and reaching his nephew’s soul in the process. The effort is Herculean, and while Luke Skywalker becomes one with the Force as a result, this emotional scene proves a distinct difference between Luke and Palpatine.
Palpatine has always been ten steps ahead of his enemies. He not only uses his Force powers to maintain his grip on the galaxy, but his tactics have always been steeped in deception, as well. Darth Sidious lies not only to his enemies, but his allies, too, and it was a key component in how he twisted and manipulated Anakin Skywalker to embrace the dark side. Anakin is not the only Jedi Palpatine used his tricks on – Ezra Bridger, a young Jedi whose affinity for the Force was discovered years after Order 66, was singled out by Palpatine as a threat to the Empire. And, 34 years before Luke Skywalker Force-projected himself across the galaxy, Palpatine used a similar method to change Ezra’s fate.
