Darth Massacrus wrote:I'm going to assume here that you are unaware that Freedon Nadd had knowledge of the Force from many worlds, including Ossus (he was a Jedi, once), Korriban (he knew the tombs well enough to guide Exar Kun through them), Ashas Ree (where he gained ownership of not only a Sith Holocron but the first Sith Holocron), and Yavin 4 (where he learned from and murdered Naga Sadow, and acquired more knowledge), in addition to Onderon and Dxun.
Freedon Nadd's knowledge of the Force is not substantially greater than that of any properly-trained Jedi Knight, except in that he had obtained some additional training in Sithian magic (your stated examples of Korriban, Ashas Ree, and Yavin IV do not represent several different traditions, but rather three separate iterations of the same tradition). Thus, his especial knowledge base consists of a single galactic backwater, the Sith Empire. It is readily conceded that this particular point was not made sufficiently clear in this author's initial post.
Even conceding that he trained on several different worlds, Freedon Nadd only ruled a single planet, whereas Palpatine of Naboo ruled billions. The King of Onderon's secular power pales into hitherto unplumbed depths of insignificance when compared to that of the Galactic Emperor.
As an aside, the fact that Nadd's ghost appeared to know its way around Korriban does not automatically imply familiarity with it from life. Obi-Wan Kenobi's ghost knew where to find Yoda's hut on Dagobah, and easily found Luke Skywalker in the swamp, but this does not imply that he went to either place before dying. Marka Ragnos's ghost appeared on Cinnagar, without his ever having been there before his death.
None of those 'skills' have ever been specified or described. That the feats he has displayed are unrivaled by anybody else is entirely an opinion and point of view, not a concrete, canonical fact.
According to the
Dark Side Sourcebook:
(Palpatine has spent decades studying the most arcane and esoteric Jedi disciplines. It is believed that he has mastered nearly all the known powers, previously unknown powers, and devises new ones at his pleasure.)
Nadd is said to "have knowledge of all Jedi and Sith Force powers presented herein as well as those abilities still hidden in ancient Holocrons and tomes," but Palpatine "has spent decades studying the most arcane and esoteric Jedi disciplines" and has "mastered nearly all the known powers, previously unknown powers, and devises new ones at his pleasure."
Freedon Nadd "has knowledge of" many powers, but this does not by any stretch of the imagination imply that he can even use them, let alone that he has mastered them; he "has knowledge" of abilities that remain generally obscure. In contrast, Palpatine "has mastered" the large majority of abilities, to include "previously unknown" (i.e., not documented in the past, the stated limit of Nadd's knowledge), and is said to create new ones as he likes.
Taken purely at face value, the two statements are grossly inequal. Nadd's description is limited to a single source ("herein"), while Palpatine's is a blanket statement ("nearly all"). If one belittles Palpatine's open-ended game ability to "devise new abilities at his pleasure" because they are not documented for the reader, what value can be placed on Nadd's "ancient Holocrons and tomes"? What compelling reason does one have for not accepting the description of Palpatine's prowess at face value? Particularly when Palpatine has a lengthy and well-documented history of manifesting the Force in many different ways, while Nadd's actually observed use remains much more modest?
The suggestion that Palpatine's displays of power are not exceptional is not a tenable position. Palpatine has been observed to move faster than the eye can detect (
Episode I Journal: Darth Maul), to have immediate knowledge of events transpiring halfway across the galaxy (
Revenge of the Sith), to telepathically project across interstellar distances ("Sleight of Hand: The Tale of Mara Jade"), to open hyperspace wormholes (
Dark Empire), to teleport matter (id.), to disintegrate a lightsaber by psychokinesis (id.), to withstand a direct blow to the head from a ton of metal and then instantaneously disintegrate the same (id.), and to disintegrate warships ranging from a 300-meter frigate to a 16-kilometer battleship in a matter of minutes (id.). Palpatine's destructive capacity can be measure in the gigaton range, without even considering his more metaphysical demonstrations of power, such as reincarnating under his own power (
Dark Empire), or repeatedly removing the soul of another being and implanting it into a new body (
Darksaber).
It is especially noteworthy that Palpatine did these things without the crutch of magical charms or sorcery, unlike the Imperial Sith, who routinely used enchantments and metaphysical tools to enhance their power and accomplish feats not otherwise within their power (the ultimate example being Naga Sadow's battleship and its mechanism for inducing stellar catastrophe).
Nadd has only ever appeared in spirit form, and then only in two comics. Comparing those appearances to the number of times Palpatine has appeared is extremely slanted. Yet, the powers Nadd did display during those appearances are nothing short of remarkable, in contrast to your belief.
Whereas before you dismiss the exceptional nature of Palpatine's powers -- a simple matter of Palpatine being the only person to have displayed feats on such a scale -- because it is mere opinion, you now assert that Nadd's powers are objectively "remarkable"? Let us not bandy semantics. Emperor Palpatine's skills are unusual in both quantity and quality. Freedon Nadd's are not.
In The Freedon Nadd Uprising, he was able to terminate the life of Ommin even as a spirit, as well as that of Novar.
The notes appended to "Confrontation on the Smugglers' Moon" state that Palpatine claimed the ability to "murder opponents from a great distance" via the Force, and the
Dark Empire Sourcebook acknowledged that he can "even kill from a great distance." The ability to harm or kill another being with the Force is not unusual; it is mere psychokinesis, one of the most commonly seen of all Force skills. Psychokinesis is by definition the ability to apply force without a direct physical mechanism; how is a ghost's application of non-physical force more remarkable than a living being's?
And in Dark Lords of the Sith, he was able to not only manifest his spirit on a host of worlds (Korriban, Yavin, Empress Teta, Onderon, and Dxun), but also in Hyperspace, where he was able to assault a fully trained Jedi Master (Vodo).
Obi-Wan Kenobi's ghost appeared to or contacted Luke Skywalker on many different worlds (the Death Star, Yavin, Mimban, Hoth, Dagobah, Endor). Marka Ragnos's ghost appeared to Exar Kun and Ulic Qel-Droma on Cinnagar, a planet he never set foot on in life, and disfigured both their foreheads. Palpatine's ghost is specifically said to have "transmigrated" from Endor to Kaal in "The Emperor's Pawns," meaning that it traveled across interstellar distances in some measurable sense, implying the ability to access hyperspace as a ghost (reinforced by his demonstrated ability to open hyperspace wormholes with his mind).
Furthermore, he was able to affect the physical world in this state, being able to trigger the collapse of a Sith Tomb on Korriban, yank away Exar Kuns lightsaber, and heal Kun from the brink of death.
The demonstration of psychokinesis by a non-corporeal being is not significantly different from the demonstration of psychokinesis by a corporeal being. Energy and matter interact; this is not remarkable. The healing of Kun is suspect, having taken place in a temple known to act as a focal point for the dark side (and indeed, quite likely to have been meta-architecturally designed as such, as
Revenge of the Sith states the Jedi Temple on Coruscant to have been). Kun himself commented that the Force felt much more potent in that place; a similar effect was seen in
Yoda: Dark Rendezvous, wherein Vjun was shown to have an artificially stimulating effect on the magus's sensitivity and potency in the Force.
Even if one gives Sadow the benefit of the doubt, how does this contribute to your apparent assertion that Sadow is to be compared favorably with the Emperor? Even if one were to concede to Sadow superiority as a healer, the repair of physical damage to a single human does not require anything like the total physical destruction of a heavily-armored warship whose armor is designed to withstand gigaton-level blasts and undergo the strains of faster-than-light travel.
From a secular perspective, Freedon Nadd does not merit serious comparison to Palpatine of Naboo in terms of power or success. Even if one takes the statement in the
Tales of the Jedi Companion at full face value, there is no grounds for comparison between their potency in the Force; Nadd "has knowledge of" various disciplines and abilities, which implies no degree of practical experience or skill, and has demonstrated few directly observable skills, whereas Palpatine "has mastered" nearly all known skills, a number of previously unknown ones, and has the ability to invent new ones at his pleasure. One may as well compare a Deringer with a Howitzer.
