Emperor Palpatine

"Everything is proceeding as I have foreseen."

- Emperor Palpatine

"Your feeble skills are no match for the power of the Dark Side."

- Emperor Palpatine to Luke Skywalker

Emperor Sheev Palpatine, also called Darth Sidious is the main antagonist of the Star Wars franchise. He was a powerful Sith Lord and the founder of the Galactic Empire. He was portrayed by Ian McDiarmid.

Early Life
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. Palpatine also despised his father, whom he viewed as a weakling and a coward. This resentment would come to a head when Palpatine killed his entire family and in his later master's words "Baptized himself in the Dark Side". 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 cruelly and mercilessly abused and tortured in the name of turning him into the ultimate living weapon.

Episode I: The Phantom Menace
In Star Wars Episode I, Palpatine is the Phantom Menace. 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
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, unify 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 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 to 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 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 astomech 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 of an incoming shuttle was approaching and it was not 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 launch an assault to conquer the planet. The Gungans rise against the droid army and Captain Tarpals battles and subdues General Grievous at the cost of his life. From a secret headquarters hidden inside an ancient Naboo structure, Count Dooku receives orders from Darth Sidious. The Sith Lord states that Grievous is an integral part of his plan for the Clone Wars and tells his apprentice to lure Anakin into a trap, capture him and arrange a prisoner exchange. Sidious assures 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 will build his Sith Empire. Aligning with the Zygerrians to resurrect the slave empire the captured people are brought to the prison planet Kadavo to await processing. En route to Zygerria aboard his solar sailor, Count Dooku communicates with his Master. Darth Sidious lectures of how long Sith Empires have been built upon the backs of slaves and tells his apprentice that to carry on this tradition millions of slaves will be required. Darth Sidious orders Dooku to gain the Zygerrian Queen Miraj Scintel's cooperation or to end her rule if she fails to comply.

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.

Episode III: Revenge of the Sith
In Revenge of the Sith, when Emperor Palpatine revealed his true identity to Anakin Skywalker, Anakin turned him into the Jedi. But alas, Anakin realized 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 Anikan's charred body lying next to a river of lava. Palpatine ordered his soldiers to transport Anakin to Courascant so that he could he repaired. On the large, city planet of Courascant, 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 V: The Empire Strikes Back
While the Emperor made no appearances in the other movie, he made a very short 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 him to him.

Episode VI: Return of the Jedi
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 ordered Darth Vader to capture Luke Skywalker. After Luke defeated Vader in a duel, Palpatine encouraged him to kill Vader and become his new apprentice. When Luke refused, the enraged Emperor attacked Luke with Force Lightning, causing him horrible pain. 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, completely obliterating him in an explosion of dark energy. Unfortunately the wild lightning coming from the Emperor's hands while Anakin carried him eventually proved fatal to the cyborg.

Rebirth
Unfortunately, though the Emperor's body was destroyed his spirit lingered thanks to Essence Transfer (which Palpatine had made sure to master in the event of his death) and from there transferred his consciousness into a youthful clone body. In this body he nearly seduced Luke to the Dark Side but ultimately failed thanks to Leia Organa's influence. Enraged, Palpatine unleashed a powerful Force Storm that threatened to completely destroy a nearby Rebel fleet, only for Luke and Leia to combine their power and turn the lightning back on Palpatine, incinerating his clone body. But not, unfortunately, his spirit, which continued to linger and went into a new clone body. However, by this point in time Palpatine found that his clone bodies were decomposing one by one due to suspicious genetic tampering. Knowing that he would need a new body, he sought out Leia and Han Solo's newly born son Anakin Solo, only for Han to shoot him dead in a moment of vulnerability. It was then that the Force Ghost of a recently deceased Jedi bound himself to Palpatine's Force Ghost, ensuring that he could never again return from the dead, ending his reign of terror for good.

Other appearances
Palpatine made several other appearances in other TV shows. Some excamples 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.

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