10 Smartest Decisions In Star Wars History

You could just about fill this list up with all the crafty moves Sheev Palpatine makes over the course of the Prequels, but his plans in Episode II are by far the craftiest (even if the film struggles to relay them in a compelling way).

First, you have the elaborate Clone Army conspiracy involving a dead Jedi and a Mandalorian bounty hunter, and then you have the assassination plot against Padmé Amidala. Whether Palpatine planned to have Padmé killed or just taken out of the picture doesn't really matter, but the important thing is that he understands her influence in the senate and how she can't be as easily manipulated as the other senators, or even the Jedi Council.

By forcing her into hiding, Padmé loses the ability to vote on the senate and nominates Jar Jar Binks as her replacement. Jar Jar isn't the wisest, and Palpatine is able to use that to his advantage, manufacturing a crisis to necessitate a standing army and planting the idea in Jar Jar's head that he needs emergency powers to defend the Republic.

And it works. In one fell swoop, Palpatine gets the war he wants, the power he craves, and the means of the Jedi's complete destruction. He also benefits from Padmé's survival, as it not only leads to Anakin discovering the fate of his mother on Tatooine, but a romance that would further isolate him from the Jedi Order.