I think everything for Palpatine throwing the fight and getting arrogant is enough to conclude it as such. The timing of Anakin, Palpatine having Mace completely exposed, the parallels between ROTS and ROTJ, it's pretty hands down imo. Since we are talking about new canon we can only use the movie I'm pretty sure as well as quotes from GL and Gillard.
Outwardly frail, Palpatine was in truth a cunning warrior capable of besting even the greatest Jedi warrior in lightsaber combat or by conjuring powerfully destructive Force lightning.
"Pertaining to whether Sidious is right-handed or left-handed with a lightsaber, he's ambidextrous. He's just that good. Sidious' abilities are beyond anything we've experienced."
"But strong as he had become, Maul found himself in awe of Sidious. The Sith Lord was astonishingly fast and efficient, and the Force flowed through him effortlessly. His sabers stabbed and slashed through the smallest hole in an opponent’s guard, his movements never carried him a millimeter out of position, and he could sense every attack Maul and Savage made before it developed."
The highest is nine, occupied by a small number of capable sword masters, including Yoda and Darth Sidious. At so high a ranking, it comes down to individual fighting styles as well as the circumstances of the surroundings that make a difference.
"He's better than Yoda in a way because he has the extra power of the dark side," Gillard explains. "His character is so shrouded that his fighting style should be shrouded as well. The Emperor is deadly dangerous."
Bit of a quote overload but we can clearly see that Sidious outranks Mace and Yoda as a duelist in canon. There's just no way in the current canon where you can argue that Mace was just plain better.
In Legends you could make the Vaapad and Shatterpoint argument, but even in Legends I still hold that Sidious planned the outcome.
Therefore according to the movies and statements made by Gillard about the canon, Sidious clearly outstripped Mace as a duelist, he is seen exposing Mace with his lightsaber at least once, and is disarmed just as Anakin is entering.
To further explain Mace disarming Sidious, as well as Sidious appearing to be pushed back by Mace, consider this:
...he'll fight less than you and draw you in; you're a sucker if you think you're going to better him.
This statement suggests even further that Sidious drew Mace in, and that Sidious was in fact not arrogant and in control the entirety of the time.
Originally posted by samappo
This statement suggests even further that Sidious drew Mace in, and that Sidious was in fact not arrogant and in control the entirety of the time.
I've been saying this for 12 years; people don't watch things closely enough, the hints that Sidious threw that fight are all there in Revenge of the Sith
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=thsFbDtLrVg
Even going by just the movie:
Sidious holding his blade out at Windu and not striking him down speaks for itself. It's a perfect representation of the fight. Mace then grapples with Sidious, with Sheev realizing not killing Mace right there was a mistake.
Sidious was clearly fighting better against Yoda, even when dueling.
Originally posted by TheNuisanceBird
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=thsFbDtLrVgEven going by just the movie:
Sidious holding his blade out at Windu and not striking him down speaks for itself. It's a perfect representation of the fight. Mace then grapples with Sidious, with Sheev realizing not killing Mace right there was a mistake.
Sidious was clearly fighting better against Yoda, even when dueling.
No. Blatantly wrong. That video uses Legends material. I'm pretty sure we are discussing canon.
Originally posted by relentless1Not sure how anyone's opinion can differ from this. 😬
Palpatine let Mace win; he wanted to put Anakin into a do or die situation where he'd have to pick either Palpatine and in essence his wifes life or the Jedi. the facts support this:1. He ALLOWS Anakin to go and tell Mace that he is Sidious, he in fact encourages this.
2. While Anakin is in the meditation chamber Sidious is heard communicating to him the urgency of his life; if Palpatine dies; so does Padme.
3. Sidious effortlessly kills 3 Jedi masters who are all said to be the best swordsmen in the order.
4. He had Mace at blade point and didn't press the attack; this shows that he's trying to prolong the fight until Anakin can arrive.
5. When Mace "disarms" Sidious it just so happens to coincide EXACTLY with Anakin entering the room; all Anakin sees is Mace holding his blade to a frail scared old man trying to back away from the conflict. If you watch the film this is blatantly clear that when Anakin enters the room Sidious had JUST been disarmed and was scampering away from Mace.
6. Only when Mace tries to arrest Sidious does he actually attack with his lightning, again he's trying to force a decision from Anakin and being jailed wont produce that effect, only after the lightning attack does Mace resolve to kill Palpatine and finally force Anakins hand.
7. Sidious plays possum, claiming that his powers are weak and goading Anakin into action; once Anakin makes his fateful decision, Sidious springs back into action killing Mace.
Originally posted by relentless1
Palpatine let Mace win; he wanted to put Anakin into a do or die situation where he'd have to pick either Palpatine and in essence his wifes life or the Jedi. the facts support this:1. He ALLOWS Anakin to go and tell Mace that he is Sidious, he in fact encourages this.
2. While Anakin is in the meditation chamber Sidious is heard communicating to him the urgency of his life; if Palpatine dies; so does Padme.
3. Sidious effortlessly kills 3 Jedi masters who are all said to be the best swordsmen in the order.
4. He had Mace at blade point and didn't press the attack; this shows that he's trying to prolong the fight until Anakin can arrive.
5. When Mace "disarms" Sidious it just so happens to coincide EXACTLY with Anakin entering the room; all Anakin sees is Mace holding his blade to a frail scared old man trying to back away from the conflict. If you watch the film this is blatantly clear that when Anakin enters the room Sidious had JUST been disarmed and was scampering away from Mace.
6. Only when Mace tries to arrest Sidious does he actually attack with his lightning, again he's trying to force a decision from Anakin and being jailed wont produce that effect, only after the lightning attack does Mace resolve to kill Palpatine and finally force Anakins hand.
7. Sidious plays possum, claiming that his powers are weak and goading Anakin into action; once Anakin makes his fateful decision, Sidious springs back into action killing Mace.
And for those claiming that this is all too convenient, its well established that Sidious can see into the future and change his plans accordingly; this ability may have failed him come RTOJ but he was in his prime for this during the events of his ascension.
Overall your analysis is sound but I have just a couple of issues:
5. How could Palpatine possibly know Mace was about to attempt to disarm him in that moment?
6. He didn't really get a good opportunity to use Lightning earlier as he was caught up in a pretty intense and close up Saber battle.
But we know (as per Lucas), that when he first fires his Lightning that he was attempting to destroy Mace.
I think people give too much credit to Sheev tbh.
I think the best explantion is he toyed with with the B-team and turned serious when he realized he couldn't speedblitz Mace the same way he had the others. I mean he seems to be pushed to his limit when mace locks blades with him and then once Anakin lands then yeah he likely threw the fight.
But i don't think Sheev did so from the beginning .
Tl:dr
He likely threw the fight at the very end but he wasn't toying with Mace throughout the entire duration of the fight.