also really funny, and by funny i mean maddening that, despite the fact that star wars fandom largely agrees palpatine groomed anakin, and thusly a lot of debates fly back and forth about the blame game of that particular happenstance, but i'm not convinced a lot of people in those discussions are aware either of how grooming generally works or what ways it benefits palpatine to manipulate anakin the most. which is the part i actually care about, from my consistent and totally academic interest in whatever the fuck is wrong with anakin skywalker's brain. the most anyone can ever say is, well, palpatine was very nice and he flattered anakin's ego - but that's only part of what a guy with access to a vulnerable child is going to be toying with, and that's only a fraction of what he can do. this is an underestimation of what emotional manipulation can do.
we have to remember, palpatine's end goal with anakin, what he wants from anakin and why he engages with anakin at all, isn't to get a spoiled egomaniac with god powers. what palpatine wants is a perpetually terrifying second-in-command, a butcher on tap, a guy who listens to palpatine and only to palpatine and will do explicitly and only palpatine's will. spoiled egomaniac is the neophyte stage of the personality palpatine is invested in installing his sith apprentice project with. palpatine's self-appointed job probably imcludes shit like:
intentionally sabotaging anakin's relationship with obi-wan, sharing "stories he's heard" of obi-wan saying things about anakin that are negative, stories that never happened. subtly questioning anakin's faith in obi-wan, constantly implying or outright saying that obi-wan doesn't understand or care for anakin the way that palpatine does. when anakin vents about something obi-wan did, trying to understand why, palpatine takes an opportunity to paint obi-wan's motivations as cold and negative.
the above, but with the entire jedi council. emphasis on stuff like "no one understands you like i do" because it is part of palpatine's end goal that anakin trusts him despite all evidence that he shouldn't and that anakin, successfully corralled into Evil, will do whatever palpatine wants him to do. because that's what palpatine wants him for.
virtue signaling, in the sense that anakin as a child had clear goals about helping people, and a key to this is that palpatine can't just have anakin's trust, he has to have anakin's loyalty. palpatine has to Deep Sigh and Navel Gaze about how it sometimes feels like he's the only one trying to get anything positive done, how the world is on his shoulders. political moves palpatine makes that anakin disagrees with, palpatine either convinces anakin it wasn't actually up to him (it was), or that it's the first step to something better - if anakin questions too much, palpatine turns the tables, and starts acting hurt that he has extended so much trust and empathy to someone who will give him none, and then anakin ages nine to twenty three is an apologetic mess. easy to skip over any actual disagreement by creating a situation to pin the blame on the other person.
controlling both what anakin says about palpatine to anyone else - whether it's through something like the above, feigning hurt that anakin would discuss private conversation, and thus guilting anakin into behaving the way that benefits palpatine, or if it's by implying that if anyone knew about how much better palpatine is for anakin than they are, they would move to terminate the relationship. anakin doesn't want that, because it's an important source of emotional validation for him. it's excellent leverage to keep a kid quiet, if you're absolutely fucking evil.
convincing anakin that palpatine himself is frail and in need of defense, because palpatine is a public figure making public decisions that people around anakin are going to question. palpatine doesn't want that. the earlier tactic of Deep Sighing About How He Is The Last Good Politician is only one way, but i bet another way is playing up his age, alluding constantly to health problems that don't exist so anakin's in a heightened state of thinking of palpatine as just a gentle, suffering old man that people are unnecessarily harsh on. so even if anakin somewhat agrees with obi-wan saying "palpatine did [x] shitty thing" he is never going to agree with the concept of disagreeing with palpatine. palpatine as a guy in desperate need of anakin's protection is a really attractive angle for him, because again, what he wants is a devotee who follows his commands alone.
and also a whole bunch of other really shady shit that comes with attending the sith apprentice build-a-darth
TL;DR a looooooot of palpatine's theoretical gambit is intensely controlling anakin's worldview, and leveraging the emotional validation anakin actually wants out of the relationship to get it done. palpatine wants anakin to vent his problems, and then palpatine wants to re-interpret those problems so that the reality is essentially overwritten by what palpatine wants anakin to believe is true. it goes from anakin wanting to prove himself to obi-wan at Age Baby, and then palpatine says how sweet :) do you think it will help him be less callous towards you? i've noticed that he is. and when anakin's a little older, he's frustrated that he doesn't feel like he ever impresses obi-wan, the chancellor is right, his master is very callous, and palpatine says :) you may never impress him. and it just goes like that, an incessant cycle of "this thing didn't happen the way you think it did" and if anakin doesn't take palpatine at his word, he loses palpatine, and the validation he craves. horrible! but this is what this shit might have actually looked like.
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