Originally posted by The_Tempest
Sure they do. Khan ran from Spock for like 20 minutes straight in STID. Voldemort spent the entire OOTP hiding from the Ministry and Dumbledore until circumstance forced him to take matters into his own hands. Then he ran from the Aurors at the end. Then rather than try to kill Dumbledore in THBP, he tasked Draco and Snape to do it.Nah, that's just smart. Sheev had just declared himself Galactic Emperor and had no reason to fight a fair fight that he might lose. It would be pretty stupid not to try to exercise safer options.
He laughs because he enjoys combat.
Right. But that was after throwing himself at Mace and three other Jedi Masters and holding his own against Mace alone in a protracted duel. Even on his back, he doesn't show fear until he needs to force Anakin's hand.
Sheev had to work to be in a position to manipulate both sides and had to work to keep that element of surprise. Khan's return was known only by Marcus. And once he escaped, he chose a more linear, blatant route to vengeance than a subtle power play. Khan wasn't "forced" to do anything, he made choices.
Still a bit of a stretch to compare Marcus and Sheev. Palpatine is vastly more impressive tbh.
Ok, let me explain the differences there. Firstly, Spock was armed and Khan just crash landed. It wasn't a fair fight. The instances I referenced were fair one on one fights in which both guys were armed. Secondly, Khan knew he was up against the Enterprise crew since Spock was beamed down and his best bet was to get away since they had an entire group of people, weapons, and the Enterprise whereas he wasn't armed and needed to regroup from the crash.
That is different as Voldemort was amassing power and prior to that wizards were aware of his agenda. After he became known his agenda didn't change. He wasn't out there schmoozing with wizards trying to feign kindness. He planned on being gone by the time the Aurors showed up and he'd be foolish to take on Dumbledore and all those other wizards at the same time. I wouldn't expect Sidious to face off against thirty Jedi either as that would be foolish. I do expect him to face off against a peer while they are both armed.
Voldemort already dueled him. It wasn't smart to send himself out there to do so but made more sense to send an assassin with the element of surprise. The president doesn't go murdering people himself he sends elite forces.
I get why it made sense but I don't go for that kind of weasely live to fight another day when he was in tip top shape and they were both armed. What was entirely stupid is after he fl Yoda he stood there cackling instead of pressing his advantage. He's rather moronic in that regard.
He's sadistic but to laugh at that time is just odd. It's unique but that isn't really a big deal to me either way. It adds to the villainy I guess.
I get that he needed to manipulate Anakin because he was in a no win situation with this saber drawn deflecting it cooking his face all up. It's just not a good thing to see him begging as this supposed all powerful Sith for Anakin to save him.
I'm not saying he wasn't great at manipulating both sides I'm saying I don't usually go for the Machiavellian types like Sheev. He has too many red flags for me.
Marcus wasn't the only one who knew just the general Starfleet officers didn't know. The higher ups made aware of Khan's weaponry etc. had to know. A need to know basis. Khan struck back because let's be honest Marcus wasn't going to stop pursuing him. Khan lured them in strategically knowing their protocol and hit them hard while escaping to Kronos. He eventually got back to Marcus and crushed his skull despite giving himself up for a chance to get his crew back. Khan was allied with no one. Resisting galactic power that Marcus wielded is an amazing feat.
I didn't say they were exactly the same I said they both used whatever means necessary to achieve their goals. They both wielded great authority,power, and operated under a false guise.