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.

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 Anikan 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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