2019’s The Secrets of the Jedi was a fascinating insight into the legacy of that venerable order, and now writer Marc Sumerak is back with The Secrets of the Sith, looking at their ancient adversaries, told from the point of view of Emperor Palpatine himself.
Marc Sumerak: After writing from Luke Skywalker’s perspective in The Secrets of the Jedi, it was pretty wild to cross over to the dark side and let the Sith Lord inside of me out to play. As over the top as the Emperor can be, he also had a more reserved public face back in his days in the Galactic Senate, so the challenge here was finding just the right balance of cunning strategist and power-mad despot to make the book crackle with Force lightning. The guidance of my editor, Chris Prince, was essential in my transition from Marc Sumerak to Dark Sumerak. In a way, he became my Sith Master on this project…so he’d probably better watch his back!
StarWars.com: The book is filled with character bios, reflections on the nature of the Force, and histories. How did you decide what to include and what Palpatine would know about each?
Marc Sumerak: As with any project like this, it’s all about diving deep into the established lore and refocusing it through the perspective of the narrator — in this case, Emperor Palpatine. No matter how many times you’ve experienced the movies, the animated series, the novels, or the comics, there’s always something new to learn. So it’s important to go back and view them again with that specific character in the forefront of your mind, paying special attention to their interactions, their choices, and their motivations. Once you’re inside of their head, then it’s all about marrying the facts with that character’s perspective about them. And much like with The Secrets of the Jedi, we’re dealing with a narrator who has very specific beliefs about this subject, so it might be best to take some of his opinions with a few grains of Crait salt.
The Secrets of the Sith arrives 5th October 2021.
