How many books are there in this particular series? I find that I have less patience than I used to where very young characters win through situations constantly because of their talent/destiny/training. On the other hand, a story where people have potential but have to go through the process of aging and learning from defeats and surprises and grow into that strong blend of talent, competence and experience is one of my favourite things.

It would be rather nice if it turned out that Palpatine isn't actually behind everything... but, like a slick politician, is actually really good at taking credit for things and making people think that he arranged things, to enhance his reputation...

I'd always assumed that Lucas was going for deliberate ancient Rome parallels, what with an emperor/a senate/a republic/an empire, but maybe he liked the sound of it and didn't think much about it ;)