Imperial family

"Quite surprising. I've certainly never heard any gossip that Emperor Palpatine had a son by a three-eyed alien woman."

- C-3PO

The Imperial Family was a group of Human nobles who claimed to possess a blood relation in one form or another to Emperor Palpatine of the Galactic Empire. Following Palpatine's first death during the Battle of Endor in 4 ABY, several of his alleged family members&mdash;particularly a three-eyed mutant who was supposedly his illegitimate son&mdash;were regarded as potential heirs to the Imperial throne. After a long period in which the remnants of the Empire existed without an emperor, the bloodline of Jagged Fel replaced Palpatine's "family" as the new ruling dynasty of the revived Empire.

Overview
"Like so many of the others, my Lordship, he doubts your claim to be the son of Emperor Palpatine."

- Grand Moff Hissa

Palpatine's direct descendants were his son, Triclops, and Triclops's son, Ken, although some authorities questioned the validity of these mens' lineage. Triclops may not have been a true biological son of Palpatine, but rather the result of a biological experiment performed on a woman named Niobi. Triclops himself conceived a son, Ken, with a former Jedi named Kendalina.

Following the Battle of Endor and Emperor Palpatine's death, many laid claim to the throne. Roganda Ismaren posited that her son, Irek, was the offspring and rightful heir of Palpatine. However, investigators later revealed that the boy's true father was Sarcev Quest. Decades-old rumors also placed Sate Pestage as Palpatine's son; according to some unverified sources, he was the late emperor's bastard child ; however, Pestage was also known to have had a large extended family of his own.

Other blood relatives of Palpatine included Ederlathh Pallopides, Palpatine's grand-niece, and Volpau, Palpatine's third cousin.

Some humans are related to Palpatine by marriage. For instance, Silas Tagge suggested to his elder brother Orman that their sister, Domina marry into the Imperial family when she was old enough.

All the records of Palpatine's family and upbringing on Naboo mysteriously vanished long before he became Emperor, and as a result, none of these relations could ever be verified.

Sometime after 43 ABY a new Imperial family took its place in the Empire.

Family tree
|                    +---+                     |                                                   |        Palpatine's great-grandfather                          Unknown sibling |                                                  |               (1 generation)                                            | |                                            (2 generations) Cosinga Palpatine                                            | |                                                  |     ++                                  |     |                                |                                  | Palpatine--+--Niobi       Unknown sibling--+--Unknown spouse        Volpau |                                 |            |                                  |             |                                  |        Triclops --+--Kendalina  Unknown child--+--Unknown spouse |                              |                     |                               |                     |                               |                    Ken                    Ederlathh Pallopides

Behind the scenes
Before the release of Star Wars: Darth Plagueis, it was unknown whether Palpatine was a family name or a name of state adopted once he entered into politics. The book about Palpatine's apprenticeship under Plagueis, however, introduces the House Palpatine, with its partiarch Cosinga Palpatine, thus establishing Palpatine as a surname.

See the "Name" section of the Palpatine article for more details.

Appearances

 * Star Wars: Darth Plagueis
 * Boba Fett ½: Salvage
 * Star Wars 36: Red Queen Rising
 * Jedi Prince series
 * Children of the Jedi
 * ''Rebel Alliance Sourcebook