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Karza wrote:

Cykeisme wrote:Didn't the cloning process make him lose a bit of his identity each time, though? He went insane, didn't he?

There's a quote somewhere about each subsequent clone being more insane than the one before, but damned if I can remember where. Maybe in the Dark Empire writer's notes or one of the Essential Guide to Characters?

We know (as per Empire's End and Crimson Empire) that the clones' genetic structure was tampered with by forces hostile to Palpatine's continued reign. This tampering led to premature aging and other damage to clone bodies, but we can further speculate that it also affected the Emperor's mind (at least his brain functions). Furthermore, Palpatine clearly describes the state beyond death as "madness", so every time he lost a body to inhabit, he must have experienced the spiritual ravages of the dark side fully. This damage done to his essence (soul, if you will), when paired with the physical damage and trauma and the genetic tampering, is almost certain to have affected the Emperor in some sinister ways which could not be overcome, at least not during the rather short period of time in which the Dark Empire trilogy is set.

As for any such actual quote, it might be interesting to see and read; at the very least it would point out that practical immortality of clone bodies and soul transfer has some serious flaws that Palpatine either failed to realize or didn't have enough time (hardly) to correct.

Cykeisme wrote:

Illuminatus Primus wrote:Palpatine doesn't have practical immortality on hand in ROTS or Dark Lord, so there's no contradiction. I think if you found out you could possibly genuinely live forever, it just might change your plans too.

I'm still of the opinion that Dark Empire dilutes the strength of the plot in the movies.
This is entire out of universe, though. I'm fully aware that the EU is official.

So what then? Every anti-DE axe-grinder says this and then proceeds to do exactly that, imply and nudge that they don't count.

Cykeisme wrote:Didn't the cloning process make him lose a bit of his identity each time, though? He went insane, didn't he?

No. Contrary to popular belief, there's no direct, explicit evidence he was ever going insane. It is stated that his last clone body was tampered in a way that made it age and decay prematurely.

Illuminatus Primus wrote:No. Contrary to popular belief, there's no direct, explicit evidence he was ever going insane. It is stated that his last clone body was tampered in a way that made it age and decay prematurely.

Would that not be somewhat acceptable conjecture, though? He is, erhm, hardly recognisable as a great mystic, manipulator or political genius in those comics, after all. His behaviour, in addition to what others have pointed out, points towards some form of progressive insanity.

He asked, "everytime he was cloned, he went a little bit more insane, right?" I replied that that is not an attributable fact of the canon. It is fan conjecture based on the vaguest criteria and diagnostic rigor.