Emperor Palpatine

"Everything is proceeding as I have foreseen."

- Emperor Palpatine's most famous and most memorable line. "Your feeble skills are no match for the power of the dark side!"

- Emperor Palpatine taunting Luke Skywalker.

Emperor "Sheev" Palpatine, also secretly known as Darth Sidious, is the main antagonist of the Star Wars saga, including the original film trilogy and prequel trilogy, and a bigger bad/recurring antagonist in the television franchise and several novels within both the Star Wars Legends continuity and the current mainstream continuity.

He was an immensely powerful Sith Master who was also Darth Plagueis's former apprentice and the founder of the Galactic Empire. He also serves as one of two main (and most recurring) antagonists of the 2008 series Star Wars: The Clone Wars (set between the events of ' and ') for appearing in many episodes of all 6 seasons as an evil embodiment, although his appearances are sometimes as holograms in the first seasons of the series.

A dark-souled, power hungry Dark Lord of the Sith and the evil incarnate, Sidious plans to overthrow the Jedi by manipulate many of the events of the Clone Wars to bring himself to rule the whole galaxy. He is easily one of the most successful villains, as he managed to rule the galaxy, and has been unstoppable for years.

He was portrayed by.

Early Life
Sheev Palpatine was born on Naboo and very early on showed himself to be a violent, spoiled, and misanthropic sociopath who used his rich family's connections to get him out of trouble even when he indulged in reckless driving that hurt others and killed two people. Palpatine was expelled from one of the highest education institutions in Naboo and possibly the entire galaxy. Palpatine also despised his father, Cosinga Palpatine, whom he viewed as a weakling and a coward. This resentment would come to a head when the younger Palpatine killed his parents, his two younger brothers and his two sisters, and in his later master's words "baptized himself in the dark side." In his thirties, he was the senator of Naboo. Palpatine subsequently became the apprentice to Darth Plagueis but betrayed him and killed him after he "became unnecessary" due to teaching Palpatine too much too quickly. It was during his apprenticeship to Plagueis that Palpatine took on his first apprentice Darth Maul, who he decided to kidnap, treat as a tool and mercilessly abused and tortured in the name of turning him into the ultimate living weapon with one purpose, kill the Jedi.

Episode I: The Phantom Menace
"Wipe them out. All of them!"

- Darth Sidious authorizing the Battle of Naboo

In Star Wars Episode I, Palpatine is the Phantom Menace. He is the titular main antagonist for most part of the film because he was the Phantom Menace (and, as Palpatine, a supporting protagonist). To carry out his 2,000-year-old plan to wipe out the Jedi for good, he sets up a war against the Republic as the leader of the Trade Federation with the name of Darth Sidious. When Palpatine eventually leads the Republic, he becomes a leader on both sides, ensuring that neither side gains enough upper hand to win the war. This, in turn, causes countless deaths of fighters in the Galactic War, including Jedi.

Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jinn and his Padawan Obi-Wan Kenobi arrive on the Trade Federation Control ship in order to negotiate, as requested from the Queen of Naboo. After their arrival, Darth Sidious interrupts their mission by ordering Viceroy Gunray to assassinate the ambassadors. When the Jedi escape, the Dark Lord has the viceroy end all communication in the Senate building.

As part of Emperor Palpatine's plan to become the new Supreme Chancellor of the Republic, he promises Queen Amidala that he will "end the corruption," as her people were suffering while the Trade Federation's control on the Naboo system increased. Delegates and other members of the Senate continued to argue, and even the Chancellor, failed to make any decisive action. During a Senate meeting, Amidala finally agrees with the senator to "call for a vote of no confidence" in Chancellor Valorum's leadership, and elect a new, stronger chancellor, to stop the tragedy.

After the defeat of the Dark Lord's possibly most loyal apprentice, Darth Maul, in a duel with Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan, he successfully becomes the new Chancellor of the Republic and also murdered his master Darth Plagueis shortly after, noting as he did that Plagueis was only his teacher, never his master. His future apprentice Darth Vader was a child at the time and the decision was made that he would be trained to become a Jedi. At that point, he officially controlled both sides of the war.

Episode II: Attack of the Clones
"Count Dooku: I have good news for you, my Lord. The war has begun. Darth Sidious: Excellent. Everything is going as planned."

- Count Dooku and Darth Sidious

Sidious/Palpatine reappears as the bigger bad antagonist.

In the second episode of the first trilogy, Palpatine plays a large role in starting a larger-scale war, the Clone Wars. Darth Sidious has his new apprentice, Count Dooku, unifying the groups of Separatists to create a secret battle droid army, the largest in the galaxy. After Obi-Wan's discovery of the planet Kamino, an ocean-planet with a cloning facility holding thousands of trained human clones, Chancellor Palpatine is given immediate emergency powers in order to use the clone army against the Trade Federation.

Star Wars: The Clone Wars
During the Clone Wars Darth Sidious plotted and masterminded many events and acts that led to him gaining more power. Darth Sidious first recruited the Dark Jedi Asajj Ventress to find Anakin and eliminate him but saw that she would fail and was only an instrument that would lead to the downfall of the Jedi.

Later Palpatine arranged a plot to recruit Jabba the Hutt to join the Separatists by kidnapping his son Rotta and framing the Jedi as the culprits. The plan eventually failed but the tide still turned in Sidious' favor as Jabba allowed the Republic to use the Hutt hyperspace lanes.

At another time Nute Gunray was captured by Senator Amidala and taken into custody to face trial on Coruscant for his war crimes. Palpatine praised the senator, but this angered the Dark Lord. Communicating with Darth Tyranus via hologram, Darth Sidious told him how dangerous this situation was as the weak-minded viceroy would likely slip vital information and retrieve him fast. Dooku told his master that he will send his apprentice Ventress who Sidious saw as useless but allowed him to proceed. Ventress successfully rescued Gunray without him telling the Jedi about his existence.

Darth Sidious' next plan would make a huge impact on the galaxy. Darth Sidious plotted to steal a Jedi holocron that contained a list of the galaxy's Force-sensitive children that he planned to kidnap and turn into his loyal spies. First the Sith Lord hired bounty hunter Cad Bane via hologram to steal a holocron from the Jedi Temple vaults with plans that he provided that allowed Bane to successfully steal the holocron. Next he required Bane to retrieve a memory crystal that would activate the information hidden in the holocron from a Jedi Master named Bolla Ropal in the Mid Rim. Cad Bane captured and tortured Ropal who eventually gave Bane the crystal and had Anakin open the holocron by threatening his Padawan Ahsoka who used the Force to open it.

Escaping from the Jedi, Cad Bane retreated to his hideout and contacted Sidious through holographic transmission and told the Sith Lord of his success. Darth Sidious next told Bane to kidnap four children from the list and bring them to Mustafar. Cad Bane only managed to kidnap two children before he was captured by the Jedi. The Jedi later reported to Chancellor Palpatine who discussed with Anakin if they found who was behind the plot. Anakin stated that a far more powerful being other than Bane or Dooku was behind the event and not suspecting Palpatine at all which satisfied the Chancellor.

On Mustafar, Darth Sidious observed the children through hologram using an astromech droid. Sidious told the nanny droids of the children's natural talent and how he would harness that power for his own needs. Looking into the future Sidious saw a vision of Force spies trained in the dark side that would appear in every corner of the galaxy doing his bidding. The nanny droid told the Dark Lord that the surgery would possibly kill them but Sidious cared nothing for the children and said that if the procedure failed he would lose nothing.

As the surgery was about to happen, an alert from a nanny droid told the Sith Lord of an incoming shuttle that was approaching and it did not belong to the bounty hunter. This surprised Sidious as he did not foresee this and ordered the droids to evacuate the children and destroy the facility to protect his identity and ended the transmission quickly. The Jedi rescued the children and thwarted Sidious' plans.

During the Republic occupation of the neutral world of Mandalore, the Death Watch hoped to reclaim the planet from pacifists and join the Separatists cause once the planet was secured. Aboard a Separatist ship, Count Dooku contacted his Master that Death Watch was prepared to fight off the Republic forces when they arrive, and the splinter group will be viewed as saviors by the people. Darth Sidious expressed concern about possible interference by the Duchess Satine, but was assured by Dooku that a Death Watch assassin would take care of her, causing the Sith Lord to smirk.

Later in the war, Asajj Ventress grew stronger in the ways of the dark side of the Force. Through a hologram Darth Sidious accused Tyranus of wanting to overthrow him as Dark Lord which shocked his apprentice who stated his loyalty belonged only to his Master. Sidious then demanded proof and ordered him to eliminate Ventress which the Count sadly obliged to. After assuming success in the death of his former disciple, Dooku contacted Sidious of his apparent success. Satisfied, Darth Sidious praised his apprentice for once again proving his loyalty.

In a second attempt to invade Naboo, the Separatist launched an assault to conquer the planet. The Gungan Army fought against the droid army and Captain Tarpals battled General Grievous and subdued him at the cost of his life. From a secret headquarters hidden inside an ancient Naboo structure, Count Dooku received orders from Darth Sidious. The Sith Lord stated that Grievous is an integral part of his plan for the Clone Wars and told his apprentice to lure Anakin into a trap, capture him and arrange a prisoner exchange. Sidious assured Tyranus that Senator Amidala will agree to the terms.

Darth Sidious later had his apprentice kidnap an entire colony of people from the planet Kiros and sell them into slavery that would rebuild his Sith Empire. Aligning with the Zygerrians to resurrect the slave empire, the captured people were brought to the prison planet Kadavo to await processing. En route to Zygerria aboard his solar sailor, Count Dooku communicated with his Master. Darth Sidious lectured of how long Sith Empires have been built upon the backs of slaves and told his apprentice that to carry on this tradition millions of slaves will be required. Darth Sidious ordered Dooku to gain the Zygerrian Queen Miraj Scintel's cooperation or to end her rule if she fails to comply.

During the Banking Clan crisis, the banks had become bankrupt and Palpatine sent Padme to Scipio to deal with the matters. As the Dark Lord, Sidious hired bounty hunter Embo to originally assassinate the Banking Clan representative Rush Clovis but he managed to escape the planet with the aid of Padme and Jedi Knight Anakin Skywalker. Embo contacted Sidious and was pleased to hear of the success and assured the bounty hunter that he would deal with them himself.

Later the Muun Nix Card contacted Darth Sidious and reported that Clovis had managed to escape with the evidence of the bank records. Sidious stated that Nix would be protected in the scandal. The Sith Lord later contacted Dooku on Serreno and devised a plan that would place Clovis in command of the Banking Clan as a puppet leader but first Tyranus had to entrap the senator.

After placingClovis in office and framing him by aligning Scipio with the Separatists and massacring the Republic forces, the Senate called for an emergency session and the Chancellor launched a mercy mission. As Dooku was leaving the planet, Sidious contacted him with an update and told him that Republic forces were on their way. Tyranus informed his Master that the deception was complete. The Dark Lord stated because of the treachery, control of the banks would be placed in the hands of the Supreme Chancellor as Sidious cackled with delight.

In an unexpected turn of events, the long forgotten Sith Lord Darth Maul was discovered to be alive by the Jedi which reported back to the Chancellor startling Palpatine at this revelation. After the briefing, the Chancellor told the Jedi to ignore the Sith brothers and their focus should be on finding Dooku and bring the Clone Wars to an end then dismissed the Jedi from his office. As the Jedi left, Palpatine sat in his chair and smirked as he had plans for the rogue Sith in the future.

Later in the Chancellor's Office, Palpatine mediated and sensed the increasing power of the Nightbrothers on the planet Mandalore. Mas Amedda entered and was told to prepare the Chancellor's shuttle which Palpatine took to Mandalore in order to confront the brothers in his secret persona Darth Sidious. Upon arriving, a robed and hooded Sidious Force chokes two Shadow Collective members and rode a speeder to the royal palace where he confronted the brothers in the throne room. Sidious enters the throne room easily choking two guards to death and exchanges a few words with his former apprentice and looks at his brother, Savage Opress. Darth Sidious declared Maul a rival and Force pushed Maul and his brother into the wall windows cackling.

After releasing the brothers from his telekinetic grip, Maul and Savage ignited their lightsabers while Sidious summoned two from the sleeves of his robe to duel them. The battle moved from the throne room to the balcony where Savage pushed him off while Sidious Forced pulled Maul and Savage to the ground below. The Dark Lord Force pushed Maul to a wall briefly knocking him out while Sidious dueled Savage alone and in mere seconds impaled the Nightbrother in the chest, killing him. As Maul rushed to his dying brother, the magicks left his body and Sidious cackled and told Maul the Rule of Two and leaped to the plaza below continuing their duel. Maul charged at Sidious with both his saber and the darksaber and after a brief duel, Sidious disarmed Maul and brutally battered him against the wall and ground. Broken and exhausted Maul begged for mercy and the Dark Lord replied there was no mercy and launched a barrage of Force lightning on his former apprentice. Darth Sidious cackled with glee as he tells the defeated Nightbrother that his plans don't involve killing him, but has other uses for him.

Near the end of the war, Darth Sidious faced some unexpected events. During a battle of the Ringo Vinda system, a clone seemed to have a mental breakdown and shot and killed a Jedi Knight for no apparent reason. The Separatist Admiral Trench saw the event and reported the betrayal to Count Dooku. On Serenno, Lord Tyranus made contact with his Master via hologram to report the clone incident. Sidious worried that it would expose evidence of the Sith Lord's secret programming and ordered Tyranus to seize the clone for examination.

As the Supreme Chancellor, Palpatine learned the clone trooper Tup died and another clone named Fives may have discovered the conspiracy. The Chancellor than suggested the clone be brought to Coruscant for medical attention which the Jedi reluctantly agreed to. Arriving at the medical station, the Jedi and the Chancellor met with the clone and asked if he could speak with Fives in private. Palpatine then framed Fives for an assassination attempt and issued a manhunt for the clone. Fives eventually was killed and died without spilling a word of the conspiracy. Later in his office, Palpatine told the Jedi that his personal doctors discovered a virus that Tup and Fives had inside of them from Ringo Vinda as the source of their mental breakdowns which the Jedi believed. Darth Sidious later made contact with his apprentice that protocol 66 has been undiscovered and the Jedi will soon learn of it as Sidious cackled.

Some time later, the Jedi discovered a shipwreck on the planet Oba Diah belonging to the Jedi Master who was killed long ago, Sifo-Dyas. Darth Sidious later learned the Jedi were looking into the investigation of Dyas and worried they would uncover secrets not meant to be discovered. Sidious appeared to his apprentice as a large hologram and demanded to know why the Jedi were sniffing around the loose end that is Sifo-Dyas. The Dark Lord demanded that Tyranus and the Separatists clean up the affairs lest their plans be threatened. Sidious made sure his apprentice understood what it meant if he failed by Force choking him through the hologram then ended the transmission.

During the conflict, Darth Sidious looked into the Force and saw Master Yoda was on Moraband, the ancient homeworld of the Sith, and summoned his apprentice back to Coruscant. In the LiMerge Building on the industrial side of the planet, Tyranus met with his Master and plotted to strike a devastating blow on the Jedi Order. In a ceremonial chamber with statues lining the room, Darth Sidious told his apprentice of Yoda's location and since Dooku was his apprentice, they have a strong bond through the Force that could be exploited. Sidious cut Dooku's hand and blood spilled into the altar filled with water as both zapped the water with Sith lightning while Sidious recited an ancient Sith incantation creating an illusion for Yoda on Moraband that would lead the Jedi into a trap.

In the illusion, Sidious appeared to Yoda as Sifo-Dyas in disguise and tempted the Jedi with the knowledge of Sidious' identity. Yoda refused and suddenly Sifo-Dyas transformed into a cackling Sidious and surrounded him with chains of energy. Forced into a deeper illusion, Yoda and Anakin Skywalker along with a squad of clones arrived at the LiMerge Building and confronted the Sith Lords. Anakin engages Dooku while Yoda confronts the hooded Dark Lord who escapes and Anakin kills Dooku by severing his head. Darth Sidious ignites his lightsaber and Yoda his and engage in fierce whirling duel. Anakin attempts to enter the duel but is blasted unconscious by Sidious' lightning. Sidious taunted Yoda stating if he lets Anakin die it thwart his plans of eliminating the Jedi Order yet the Jedi Master sacrificed himself saving Skywalker.

Yoda hurled his saber at Sidious and both plummeted to the ground below while Sidious cackled and when Yoda attempted to remove his hood, he found the robes to be empty.

Back on Coruscant, Darth Sidious emerged from the glowing sacrificial altar. The illusion had ended and failed to break the Jedi Master's spirit and the Dark Lord told Tyranus they would need more time to defeat Yoda and destroy the Jedi Order.

Towards the end of the Clone Wars, Darth Sidious watched through hologram a sparring session between Lord Tyranus and General Grievous. Tyranus lectured Grievous of the importance of mastering his lightsaber skills and to ensure victory not be reckless. Appearing before them on a mechno-chair, Sidious praised Dooku's counsel and asked Grievous for the report from the front. The general told the Sith Lord that the Jedi forces are stretched thin across the Outer Rim which Sidious seemed pleased with. Darth Sidious then told both that the time to strike was now and to launch their final operation and asked Grievous if everything was ready for his "special mission" and Grievous affirmed the Dark Lord that everything is in place.

Striking a devastating attack on the Republic capital, General Grievous entered with the Droid Army and launched a full scale invasion of the planet. Grievous' mission was to capture the Supreme Chancellor who was protected by a squad of clone troopers and Jedi protectors. Through the whole pursuit Palpatine seemed calm and at times sarcastic. After disposing of the clones, Grievous chased the Jedi and Chancellor all through the city-planet until finally disarming the Jedi. Grievous captured Palpatine and seemed annoyed at his charismatic nature. The Chancellor later boarded a ship that took him to the Separatist flagship The Invisible Hand and placed in the tall spire tower of the ship and placed on a throne with shackles on the arm rests. Setting the events of the third film.

Episode III: Revenge of the Sith
"Once more the Sith will rule the galaxy and we shall have... peace."

- Darth Sidious to Darth Vader.

Palpatine serves as the main antagonist of Revenge of the Sith. He first appeared when Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker arrived to rescue him just before Dooku intervenes. In the ensuing lightsaber battle, Palpatine watched as Dooku subdued Obi-Wan before getting himself defeated by Anakin, who was now corning Dooku with their lightsabers. Palpatine was impressed and ordered Anakin to kill Dooku at his own request, which he momentarily hesitated before complying. After getting rescued, Palpatine began to form an interactive friendship with Anakin and would later go on to reveal his true identity to him. Anakin responded by reporting him to the Jedi, but he alas realized that he could not lose Palpatine as he thought he needed to learn the dark side power to "save" his wife Padmé. After Anakin betrayed the Jedi, the evil Sith Lord took Anakin as his own apprentice and gave him the title "Darth Vader". Palpatine, knowing the time had come, executed Order 66, which ordered his clone army to kill their Jedi commanders. Only a handful of a handful survived, one of which was Master Yoda. Yoda entered Emperor Palpatine's office, and the two began a battle. It ended with Yoda being forced to flee and Palatine leaving for the planet, Mustafar, where Anakin was battling his former master, Obi-Wan. When Palpatine arrived, he found Anakin's wounded charred body lying next to a river of lava. Palpatine ordered his soldiers to transport Anakin to Coruscant so that he could he repaired. On the large, city planet of Coruscant, Palpatine oversaw the operation as Anakin was placed in the famous black armor of Darth Vader. With the Galactic Empire now in control, the two dark lords watched as their super weapon, the Death Star, was under construction.

Episode IV: A New Hope
"The Imperial Senate will no longer be of any concern to us. I have just received word that the Emperor has dissolved the council permanently. The last remnants of the Old Republic have been swept away."

- Governor Tarkin reporting Palpatine's dissolution of the Senate The Emperor made no appearance in the film, but is mentioned by Governor Wilhuf Tarkin, who explains to the Death Star staff that the Emperor has dissolved the Imperial Senate (due to their secret support for the Rebel Alliance) and has given direct control to all regional governors of the systems controlled by the Empire.

Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back
"The son of Skywalker must not become a Jedi."

- The Emperor to Darth Vader.

The Emperor made a very short but first appearance in a hologram projection while communicating with Lord Vader. He told Vader to prevent the son of Anakin Skywalker, Luke, from becoming a Jedi, as he could become a serious threat. When Vader suggest turning him to the Dark Side of the Force, the Emperor agrees and orders Vader to capture Luke and bring the young Jedi before him.

Episode VI: Return of the Jedi
"Everything that has transpired has done so according to my design. Your friends, up there on the sanctuary moon, are walking into a trap, as is your Rebel fleet. It was I who allowed the Alliance to know the location of the shield generator. It is quite safe from your pitiful little band. An entire legion of my best troops awaits them. Oh, I'm afraid the deflector shield will be quite operational when your friends arrive."

- Emperor Palpatine to Luke Skywalker.

Palpatine reappears as the main antagonist. In the original trilogy, he didn't appear in person until the final film, Return of the Jedi, although at that time, he talked to Vader about a new enemy who was strong in the Force, Luke Skywalker, who was Vader's own son. In Return of the Jedi, Palpatine appears aboard the Death Star II where he has a short talk with Darth Vader about the whereabouts of Luke and their plan to make him leave his jedi path to join the dark side. The Emperor then ordered Darth Vader to capture Luke Skywalker and bring him before him.

Aboard the Death Star II, Luke meets for first time the Emperor face to face. Palpatine attempts to make Luke succumb to the dark side and join him as his new apprentice alongside his father, but Luke turns down the offer several times and keeps resisting to the attempts of both Palpatine and his father of corrupting him. Afterwards, Palpatine gives Luke a view of the rebel fleets hardly battling the empire fleets but in trouble against the Death Star II. When Luke has no choice than killing the Emperor, he uses the force to take his lightsaber back from him and engages in a battle with Vader at trying to end with the Emperor's reign of terror for good.

After Luke defeated Vader in the duel, Palpatine encouraged him to kill Vader and become his new apprentice. When Luke refused, Palpatine became enraged and responded by attacking Luke with Force Lightning, causing him to suffer the Emperor's wrath. The reborn Anakin Skywalker could not stand to see his son in so much pain, so he grabbed the Emperor from behind and hurled him down to his death at the bottom of the main reactor shaft, causing Palpatine to explode in a burst of force energy that ultimately destroyed him and ended his reign of terror once and for all. Unfortunately the wild lightning coming from the Emperor's hands while Anakin carried him eventually proved fatal to the cyborg and damaged Vader's life support. Fortunately, Anakin himself fulfilled the ancient prophecy of the chosen one at killing the Emperor and saving his son from suffering the same destiny like him.

Personality
At first, Palpatine appeared to be a modest, polite, well-meaning, affable, responsible, reasonable, honest, good-natured, unassuming, kind, caring, cheery, grandfatherly, loving and harmless individual.

However, this was nothing more a public facade that Palpatine made up to hide his true nature: being an arrogant, selfish, ambitious, greedy, power-hungry, uncaring, cold, cruel, sadistic, ruthless, narcissistic, delusional, psychopathic, misanthropic, terrifying, dangerous, violent, irredeemable and very unpredictable individual. And as such, there was only one goal he had in mind to accomplish: total control of the entire galaxy.

Despite his arrogance, he was highly intelligent, patient, wise, calculating, cunning, deceptive, and manipulative. Palpatine was also known to be treacherous, as he would kill his allies or have them killed, as he had no desire to share his power with anyone, especially his own apprentices.

After he had successively gain full control of the Galactic Republic and turned it into the Galactic Empire, he abandoned his public persona and openly became a tyrannical ruler; despite this, he never revealed that he was the Dark Lord of the Sith to the public; as only his most trusted followers were aware of his Sith identity.

Palpatine was the only Sith Master/Dark Lord of the Sith in the history of the galaxy to achieve the ultimate goal of the Sith Order: to eradicate the Jedi Order and bring the galaxy under the rule of the Sith.

Palpatine also greatly desired to become immortal; his master had once had the ability to keep others from dying using the Dark side of the Force. Palpatine learned this same ability and desired to use a similar power, if one did exist, to increase his lifespan so that he could rule the galaxy forever, with one such scheme involving the creation of a Force-made virus, called Project Blackwing. However Palpatine's searches for such secrets of the Sith were ultimately fruitless (as the Blackwing virus turned its hosts into undead zombies and had to be eradicated), and he never found a way to become immortal. Despite his desire to become immortal, Palpatine would anticipate the possibility of facing death, and in some cases, he is willing to face death by provoking any person to try to kill him in order to convert him/her into the Dark Side and carry on his evil legacy.

Like most practitioners of the Dark side of the Force, Palpatine was susceptible to fear to the point of being paranoid. This paranoia was extensive to the point where he feared the power of other Force-users, and had them hunted down and either killed or turned to his side as loyal servants. However, his paranoia was never extensive to the point of being cowardly, as he felt little fear and was more than willing to get into direct confrontations with exceptionally powerful opponents like Mace Windu and Yoda if necessary. Fear ultimately proved to be Palpatine's weakness as it caused him to constantly plot and devise schemes against his enemies, which ultimately lead to the unexpected creation of the Rebel Alliance and the eventual downfall of his Empire.

Despite his evil nature, Palpatine was a known patron of the arts; this was evidenced in the craftsmanship of his lightsabers, and in the many statue and sculptures present in his office during his time as chancellor. However, he abandoned most of his love of the arts when he became emperor in favor of expanding his power. In addition, although Palpatine openly acknowledged his being a Dark Sider he also did not consider himself evil, but rather thought of himself as a savior.

At one point in an interview, Palpatine's actor, Ian McDiarmid claimed Palpatine was "even more evil than Satan"; in other words he was pure evil.

Powers

 * The Force: Despite his old age, Palpatine was immensely powerful and had an amazingly strong connection to the Force. Although he was not quite as powerful as Darth Vader, Palpatine was still one of the most powerful Force-users in the history of the galaxy. Palpatine's Force potential was rivaled only by Yoda.
 * Telekinesis: Palpatine was very proficient in Telekinesis, utilizing it either as an offensive attack or simply as a means of displaying his power, the latter being most prevalent when he used the ability to remove Luke Skywalker's binders aboard the second Death Star while barely lifting a finger.
 * Force push: Palpatine utilized Force push to send his opponents flying through the air, causing them serious injury or temporarily incapacitating them/knocked them unconscious.
 * Force pull: Palpatine utilized Force pull to pull his opponents or objects towards him.
 * Force choke: Like Darth Vader, Palpatine utilized Force choke to either weaken, kill or intimidate his opponents.
 * Force Throw: Palpatine utilized Force Throw to cause objects, and even individuals, to be hurled toward a target at an astounding velocity.
 * Mind trick: Palpatine utilized Mind trick to control the minds of other sentient beings, however, it did not work on individuals who have very strong wills.
 * Force vision: Palpatine utilized Force vision, to have visions of the past, the present and the future; however, like all Force users, his visions were not always clear or sometimes has visions even when he was not utilizing this power at will.
 * Force sense: Palpatine utilized Force sense to sense another sentient being's emotions, the future, ripples in the Force caused by momentous or traumatic events, impending danger and the presence of the Light side. However, in Return of the Jedi, for unknown reasons, he was unable to sense the presence of Luke Skywalker, who was on Endor, unlike Darth Vader, who was able to easily sense the presence of his son.
 * Force lightning: Palpatine was a master of Force lightning, which he used to torture or kill his opponents. It was most likely his favorite move.
 * Force jump: Palpatine utilized Force jump to jump or leap at great distances.
 * Force Dash: Palpatine utilized Force Dash to move at amazing speeds.

Abilities

 * Lightsaber Skills: Despite his old age, Palpatine was incredibly skilled in lightsaber combat and an extremely gifted duelist. He was one of the greatest lightsaber duelists in the history of the galaxy. In fact, the only person known to have apparently defeated Palpatine in lightsaber combat was Mace Windu (however, in truth, he threw the fight in order to further corrupt Anakin into killing Mace; as he could have defeated or kill the latter at any time). He was one of the few known individuals who could fight Yoda as an equal. Palpatine's lightsaber skills were such that he had mastered all the forms of lightsaber combat and could shift from one combat form to another fluidly and without effort. Palpatine's technique and fighting style was a combination of brutal aggression and lethal precision, making him an almost unstoppable opponent. Ironically, despite Palpatine's masterful dueling skills, he was fairly disdainful of lightsaber combat in general, believing the Sith to have grown beyond the need for lightsabers. He also rarely used his lightsabers unless absolutely necessary as they would identify him instantly as a Sith. He still proceeded to carry the weapons however, as a way of mocking the Jedi.
 * Form I: Palpatine was highly skilled in Shii Cho.
 * Form II: Palpatine highly skilled in in Makashi.
 * Form III: Palpatine was highly skilled in Soresu.
 * Form IV: Palpatine was highly skilled in Ataru.
 * Form V: Palpatine was highly skilled in Shien/Djem So.
 * Form VI: Palpatine was highly skilled in Niman.
 * Form VII: Palpatine was extremely skilled in Juyo/Vaapad.
 * Jar'Kai: Palpatine was a master of Jar'Kai.
 * Genius-Level Intellect/Master Tactician/Leader/Manipulator: Palpatine was amazingly intelligent; his intelligence and wisdom was rivaled only by Yoda, Darth Vader and Luke Skywalker. As the leader of the Sith Order, he was a highly skilled tactician and a very capable leader. He was very manipulative, as he was able to easily manipulate individuals directly or indirectly to achieve his goals. Palpatine even managed to manipulate and deceive Anakin Skywalker, a genius in his own right, into becoming his apprentice and turning him against the Jedi Order.

Lightsabers
Palpatine's valued weapon and possession were his two red-bladed lightsabers, whose hilts were inlaid with gold-colored Electrum metal and made of Phrik alloy, making them indestructible, even to other lightsabers. The weapons bore the same appearance to one another save for one being coated in an unknown black alloy. Being a patron of the arts, the lightsabers were elegantly crafted with an artisan's skill and were small enough that they could be easily hidden up his sleeves. While in office as Supreme Chancellor, Palpatine always kept one of his lightsabers hidden inside a neuranium statue on his desk in his office in case of emergencys. Both lightsabers were utilized together once in his duel on Mandalore against his former apprentice, Darth Maul, and Maul's brother, Savage Oppress.
 * First Lightsaber: Palpatine built his first red-bladed lightsaber during his apprenticeship under Darth Plagueis. It would remain in his possession until his death, but it is unknown what happened to it after Palpatine's death.
 * Second Lightsaber: At some point Palpatine had built a second red-bladed lightsaber. It would remain in his possession until his duel against Mace Windu, when it was kicked out of Palpatine's office window. Since Sidious viewed the Sith's lightsabers as only existing to mock the Jedi's weapons, following Order 66, Palpatine carried no lightsaber and preferred to use the force as his weapon.

Other Appearances
Palpatine made several other appearances in other TV shows. Some examples are Family Guy (when Cleveland tried to kill Quagmire), and the Mad Scientist once played as Emperor Palpatine in the Star Wars Robot Chicken special. When the developers made a Star Wars Family Guy special, Carter Pewterschmidt portrayed Emperor Palpatine, but he was instead known as Emperor Carter.

Trivia

 * Although traces of Hitler, Julius Caesar, and Stalin were used to create Palpatine, the character's primary inspiration came from then-President Richard Nixon.
 * Palpatine shares a strong resemblance to Count Dracula in 1992 Dracula film. He also shares a strong resemblance to the 2008 incarnation of Davros.
 * In the original script of The Empire Strikes Back, Palpatine was named Cos Dashit, a puppet leader who was controlled by the Moffs. He had no connection to the Force at all. However, Lucas had replace him as the main mastermind of the Saga.
 * Palpatine is often considered one of the most evil movie villains ever, as he brought billions of casualties and destroyed planets around his galaxy during his reign.
 * Since the first release of the films, Palpatine has became an iconic villain, along with Vader. He is also the second most recurring villain of Star Wars, second only to the more dangerous Vader.
 * His relation with Master Yoda can be compared to that of James Moriarty and Sherlock Holmes.
 * His roles in the prequel saga are similar to some villains worth noting:
 * In The Phantom Menace, Darth Sidious was similar to Saruman and Sauron from Lord of the Rings (all 3 films): Sidious, Saruman and Sauron are the dark wizards who created many events of the film, and are the main antagonists in their films. Also, despite of this they never confront the heroes in the end but having one of their minions (who happens to be a fighting machine) to do that for them.
 * In Attack of the Clones, Darth Sidious was similar to Max Denbigh from Spectre: They're both at first appeared to be an official in the governments where the heroes working in, only to be revealed at the end that they're actually working with the main villains of the film (Count Dooku and Ernst Stavro Blofeld). The only difference being their exact rank regarding the main villains: Max Denbigh was under the command of Blofeld, while Palpatine was the one commanding Dooku.
 * Darth Sidious in Star Wars: The Clone Wars series is similar to Aku: They're both main villains of a Cartoon Network animated show (The Clone Wars and Samurai Jack), being ancient evil with dark powers, both are trying to kill their archenemies (the Jedi and Samurai Jack) to dominate the lives (and succeeded), and having their minions to help them. Both also aren't defeated at the end of the series (however, Samurai Jack was recently renewed for a fifth season, and also announced a film, implying that Aku could still be defeated by Jack). Their show also include a more ultimate evil than them (Darth Bane and The Black Mass). When Demongo first appeared to Aku, he also said the line Vader said when he contact with Palpatine: "What is thy bidding my master?". However, Aku never want to hurt children despite of his evil soul (as he believes that actually hurting children is going too far), while Sidious not only do that but also enjoy it, even going so far to kill them (only to have more powers), making Sidious far more evil than Aku. Sidious also seems to be insane.
 * His role in Revenge of the Sith could inspired the Joker from The Dark Knight: Both betrayed the criminals who they once dealt with, and fight with a hero who they saw as a nemesis (Master Yoda and Batman) at the end of the movie. Both succeeded in corrupted a hero to their side (Anakin and Harvey Dent), and even succeeded more after these heroes lost their lovers. They also succeeded to rule (although the Joker was later defeated). Both of their actions led to devastating consequences in the future, where another villain took the role (Darth Vader and Bane, who also have some similarities, although Bane and Joker's relationship was indirect since Bane and Joker never met face to face nor crossed paths). On a related note, both Joker and Palpatine have in fact tried to get heroic characters to become corrupted by deliberately endangering their own lives, and even one of the heroes who did not actually kill him nonetheless did get corrupted (In Return of the Jedi, Revenge of the Sith, and The Force Unleashed, Palpatine goaded Luke Skywalker, Anakin Skywalker, and Galen Marek/Starkiller into killing him specifically to have them turn to the Dark Side, while Joker deliberately tried to make sure Batman (twice) and Harvey Dent tried to kill them and even goaded them into doing so. Likewise, even though Anakin did not act on trying to kill Palpatine despite the latter goading him to do so, he nonetheless became his Sith apprentice later on, while with Dent, Joker gave him a gun and had him "flip a coin", and while Dent decided via the coin not to kill him, he nonetheless became a villain as a result).
 * One villain that Darth Sidious was similar to is Magneto from the X-Men film series: Both are the main villains of the first and last film of their trilogy, while in the second one they was seems to be friends to the heroes at first but actually used the heroes to succeeded their plans, and also succeeded in one of their plans at the end of the movie. Their minion in the last movie (Darth Vader and Dark Phoenix) also want to overthrow them, and failed. Both Sidious and Magneto are very old, but are master of lying, manipulating, and can manipulate many forms of things. Both are archenemies to an old leader of the heroes (Master Yoda to Sidious, Professor X to Magneto). Their goals are also similar: Darth Sidious wants to overthrow the Jedi to bring the Sith to rule, while Magneto wants to overthrow the humans to bring the Mutants to rule. The primary difference between Sidious and Magneto is that the latter ultimately had more sympathetic motives for his actions (due to having been a victim of the Holocaust, while Sidious himself had never been the victim of genocide, although the organization he had belonged to did suffer a near genocide), and Sidious outright hated the Jedi and Yoda, while Magneto, despite being an enemy of Professor X, nonetheless held a lot of respect for his nemesis, to the extent that he chastised one of his minions when the minion implied he should be happy that Professor X was killed by Dark Phoenix.
 * Sidious also had some similarities to the character Steven Armstrong from Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance. Aside from their both being senators, they also manipulated both sides in an attempt to get himself elected into the highest form of office, both also had been involved in the experimentation of children and eventually ordered for the termination of the remaining stock, and both even had a good enough degree of planning to make alterations to the plan against possible setbacks to ensure they nonetheless came out on top. Both even ultimately forced the more direct antagonist to work under them (Palpatine with Darth Vader, Armstrong with Samuel Rodrigues), only to have far lesser luck against the hero (Palpatine with Darth Vader, Armstrong with Raiden). The main difference is that while Sidious mostly sought power, Armstrong did his actions under a genuine belief that it would bring America back to its former glory, and unlike Palpatine, Armstrong was killed before he could ascend to the presidency (although it is nonetheless implied that Armstrong's actions nonetheless succeeded).
 * Sidious also had several similarities to Oswell E. Spencer. Both were old men who held very powerful positions as well as the primary big bads of their respective series. In fact, many of Oswell's mannerisms as well as his voice were even modeled after Sidious.
 * Even though Darth Sidious is the central villain of Star Wars: The Clone Wars, his Sith persona was only seen in 16 episodes out of 121 episodes total. Sidious was only seen in 1 episode in Season 1, 3 episodes in Season 2, 2 episodes in Season 3, 2 episodes in Season 4, 2 episodes in Season 5, including "Revival" were he smiles after learning Maul's survival, implying his identity, and 7 episodes in Season 6.
 * Supreme Leader Snoke took Palpatine's place in the new Star Wars trilogy.