Palpatine

Palpatine (47:8:11 BrS - 46 GrS), known also by his Sith name Darth Sidious or simply as The Emperor, was a Force-sensitive Human male, galactic statesman and politician who served as the ultimate Supreme Chancellor of the Galactic Republic, holding the position from 32 BBY (3:4:15 GrS) until 19 BBY (16:5:23 GrS), and was the Emperor of the Galactic Empire from 19 BBY (16:5:23 GrS) until his first death in 4 ABY (39:3:8 GrS) and of the Dark Empire until his final death in 11 ABY (46 GrS). A Dark Lord of the Sith in the Order of the Sith Lords, recorded by history as the most successful who had ever lived, his deeds resulted in overthrow the ancient Republic and the noble Jedi Order from within. Noted for his sadistic and self-serving intentions just as well as his ability to conceal them, Palpatine impacted the galaxy perhaps more than any other single individual, and it is likely that his impact on history, for good or ill, was immeasurable.

Born in 82 BBY on the planet Naboo to the aristocratic House Palpatine, Palpatine discovered the Sith at a young age as a collector of dark side artifacts. In 65 BBY, he met Hego Damask, a Muun businessman who was in reality the Sith Lord Darth Plagueis. Under Plagueis's manipulation, Palpatine killed his father and pledged himself to his new Master's dark side teachings as Darth Sidious. Palpatine lived a double life for many years, serving an untarnished career as Naboo's ambassador in the Galactic Senate while learning from his master and training a young Dathomirian Zabrak as the Sith assassin Darth Maul. Plagueis and Sidious, both exceptionally skilled and powerful in the Force, were able to conceal their identities from the Jedi for decades. As Plagueis privately searched for the key to eternal life, Sidious manipulated galactic politics, culminating in the blockade of Naboo by the Trade Federation. In the wake of the political crisis, the Galactic Senate voted to elect him as Supreme Chancellor, and around the same time, in accordance with Bane's Rule of Two, Sidious betrayed and murdered Plagueis, and then subsequently usurped the role of Sith Master, as he desired to have all the power for himself.

As Chancellor of the Republic and Dark Lord of the Sith, Palpatine orchestrated the outbreak of the devastating Clone Wars ten years after the Naboo Crisis. He himself headed both the Galactic Republic and, secretly, the Confederacy of Independent Systems, allowing him to control the war on both ends and deceive both sides. The public leader of this splinter faction was former Jedi Master Count Dooku, Sidious's second apprentice as Darth Tyranus in the wake of Maul's presumed death on Naboo. As billions perished in the war, the vast majority of Republic citizens rallied behind Chancellor Palpatine, giving him enough support to amend the Galactic Constitution in the name of security and transfer most of the Senate's executive authority to his own office. In 19 BBY, after betraying and orchestrating the demise of Tyranus, Palpatine revealed his identity as Darth Sidious to the Jedi Knight Anakin Skywalker, telling that the dark side teachings that Plagueis had pursued could help Skywalker to save his wife, whom Skywalker had foreseen dying untimely. A failed attempt by the Jedi High Council to arrest Palpatine ensued, and Skywalker betrayed the Jedi and pledged himself to Sidious' teachings as Darth Vader. All members of the Jedi Order were deceitfully accused of treason and forcibly betrayed by their clone troopers to the point of virtual extermination. Without the Jedi to oppose him, Palpatine declared himself Emperor of the first Galactic Empire, bringing an end to the Republic that had stood for over 25,000 years.

As Emperor, Palpatine effectively wielded absolute control over the entire galaxy and virtually everyone who lived within it. During his tenure, he built one of the most powerful military forces the galaxy had ever seen and ruled unopposed for nearly two decades. Although Palpatine suffered a near-death experience when he was infected by a deadly virus in a plot orchestrated by Headmaster Gentis who saw that Emperor Palpatine was needlessly wasting the lives of young Imperial officers. He orchestrated a coup, seeking to gain control of the Empire in order to end such warmongering. The coup failed and Gentis was killed by Palpatine. Palpatine progressively abandoned his facade of being an enlightened leader and began to rule through terror symbolized by the Death Star, a superweapon that could annihilate entire planets. However, he later discovered that Vader was training Galen Marek, an exceptionally powerful Force adept as a secret apprentice "Starkiller." When Palpatine discovered Starkiller's existence in 3 BBY, he ordered Vader to fake Starkiller's death and then request that Starkiller assemble the most influential traitors in the Empire in a rebellion in order to highlight and destroy them all. Palpatine's plan backfired when Starkiller, healed from his near-fatal injuries and espousing the teachings of the light side, vowed revenge against Palpatine and confronted him on the Death Star, ultimately sacrificing himself in an act that inspired the dissident senators to create the Alliance to Restore the Republic. As the Galactic Civil War broke out, Emperor Palpatine ironically fought against a rebellion that he started in secret. After the Empire suffered a devastating defeat in 0 BBY, in which the Alliance destroyed the Death Star, the Emperor steadily began to lose his absolute control over the galaxy.

In 4 ABY, Palpatine gambled his chances in order to annihilate the Rebel Alliance once and for all, allowing Rebel spies to learn of the existence of a second Death Star and its secret location near Endor. As expected, the Alliance fell for the bait and dispatched its fleet to destroy the Emperor, Vader, and the incomplete Death Star. With the Alliance soon falling for his trap, Palpatine brought Luke Skywalker, the son of Darth Vader, before him in order to turn him over to the dark side and replace Vader with an apprentice who was younger and more powerful. After goading Skywalker to give into his frustrations with thoughts of the Alliance's defeat and the death of his friends, the Dark Lord eagerly watched as father and son fought one another. Following Skywalkers' victory, Palpatine betrayed Vader by ordering Skywalker to kill and replace him. However, Skywalker refused to submit to the dark side and spared his father, prompting Palpatine to unleash all of his rage and hatred on Skywalker. Unwilling to stand by and watch his son die from the agonizing effects of Palpatine's Force lightning, Anakin Skywalker finally redeemed himself, throwing his astonished Master down the Death Star's shaft, a sacrifice that fulfilled the prophecy of the Chosen One and brought about the end of the Order of the Sith Lords.

Throughout the rest of the Galactic Civil War, the remnants of the Empire experienced a sharp decline while the Alliance reformed itself into the New Republic. However, Palpatine did not stay dead, and eventually used a rare and ancient Force technique to transfer his spirit into one of many clone bodies stored on the Deep Core world of Byss. In 10 ABY, Emperor Palpatine resurfaced in the galaxy in a bid to rebuild his Empire, temporarily converting Luke Skywalker to the dark side and installing him as his apprentice. Palpatine's efforts to live forever, however, were undermined by subversives within his own inner circle, including his Royal Guard Carnor Jax. With the last supplies of healthy clone bodies sabotaged and their genetic source material contaminated by his allies, Palpatine desperately tried to take over the body of Anakin Skywalker's youngest grandchild, the infant Anakin Solo, in 11 ABY. Palpatine's spirit, however, was intercepted by the dying Jedi Knight Empatojayos Brand, who dragged the Dark Lord down into the depths of the Force forever, though his legacy lived for countless years.

Text and facts from the “Palpatine/Legends” article on Wookieepedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0. Modified for this site.