Palpatine/Legends

"Do not underestimate the powers of the Emperor..."

- Yoda Emperor Palpatine (82 BBY–4 ABY, spirit incapacitated 11 ABY), also known as Darth Sidious, was the last Supreme Chancellor of the Galactic Republic (32–19 BBY) and the self-appointed Emperor of the Galaxy and the Galactic Empire (19 BBY–4 ABY, later 10–11 ABY), which he established after orchestrating a full-scale galactic conflict known as the Clone Wars to seize dictatorial powers through special emergency measures given to him by the Galactic Senate.

During the Clone Wars, he was the secret de facto leader of the Separatists as the Sith Lord Darth Sidious, as well as the de jure leader of the Republic, allowing him to plan and execute the entire war, thus resulting in his ultimate triumph with the rise of his Empire.

Considered by many to have been the greatest Dark Lord of the Sith in the history of the Sith Order&mdash;something he himself also firmly believed&mdash;he was the only Sith Lord in a thousand years to achieve the ultimate goal of the Sith: to eradicate the Jedi Order and bring the Galaxy under the rule of the Sith.

Some people believe that he was so powerful, he had predicted his rise to glory and every other aspect of his life from his early days&mdash;except for his death.

He achieved this feat through political machinations, his mastery of the Force, and the help of several powerful apprentices&mdash;including the Chosen One, a young man by the name of Anakin Skywalker whom he manipulated into becoming the Sith Lord known as Darth Vader.

Early days (82 BBY–32 BBY)
By the time biographers turn their attention to the early lives of history's most prominent figures, such beings often become legends far removed from reality. Without question, this is true of Palpatine. He was hailed by many as a visionary who saved civilization, and damned by many more as a monster responsible for the worst crimes against civilization. For this reason, it is difficult&mdash;if not impossible&mdash;to concieve of a time when Palpatine was young or innocent. Too often did he affect an air of innocence to achieve his ends. Nonetheless, even Palpatine was but a child before he was a man, and just a man before he became the controversial legend.

The origins of Palpatine
The difficulty lies in documenting those years of innocence. Information about his youth is extremely hard to come by. Much of what exists cannot be verified, since most records on his homeworld concerning his ancestry, his immediate family and his upbringing had "mysteriously vanished" by the time he became a Senator, and most likely were deliberately destroyed to hide his identity as a Sith Lord.

However, it is known that he was born on the eleventh day of the eighth standard month, in the year 82 BBY. His birthplace was the peaceful green planet of Naboo, in the backwaters of the Chommell Sector of the Mid Rim, and he claimed the capital city of Theed, nestled on the quiet banks of the Solleu River, as his home. But that is all. The rest is hidden in shadow. This is deliberate; Palpatine wanted his personal history erased, the most important part being that he began a second life, which was to assume far more importance to him than the first one.

Darth Plagueis
As difficult as it is to learn the facts about Palpatine's youth, it is harder still to learn about the man he became. Darth Sidious, the name under which he became the architect of the Galactic Empire, was more than just a name granted him under an ancient tradition, more than just a face hidden by a black zeyd-cloth hood and cowl. As with many Sith, this alias became his true identity. The face of his birth became his mask, under which his real face concealed itself. But the events that led from what is presumed to be a normal age of innocence to the rise of a committed agent of darkness are unknown and, perhaps, unknowable.

Palpatine was Force-sensitive, exceedingly so, but for reasons unknown, the Jedi never learned of this. And since nothing is known of his parents, there is no telling if he came from a Force-sensitive bloodline, or if his abilities simply manifested themselves spontaneously, as was sometimes the case. Whatever the reason, they missed him when they had the best chance to save themselves. Instead, through a course of events yet to be learned, this gifted and ambitious young man was discovered by the Sith Lord Darth Plagueis.

Plagueis may have somehow learned of Palpatine's great potential and tracked him down, possibly when Palpatine was only a child; or Palpatine could have developed an interest in the dark side of the Force on his own and started actively searching out Sith lore, which led him to catch Plagueis' attention. If the latter is the case, Palpatine might have had a brief life outside of the Sith before being caught up in the cult, and there might have been a point wherein the young man’s talents could have been put to noble ends.

The point that marked Palpatine's fall to the dark side, regrettably, is one of the many facts lost to history. Whatever the cause of his fall, Darth Plagueis found him suitable and at last inducted him into the cult, declaring him to be one with the Sith Order. According to Sith tradition, Dark Lords gave a new name to their apprentices. The forename Darth&mdash;as much a title as a name&mdash;was used, the last name determined by a kind of consultation with the dark side of the Force itself. Whatever inspired Plagueis in that communion is unknown, but the name he chose would endure through history; henceforth, Palpatine would be known, now and forevermore, as Darth Sidious.

The apprenticeship of Darth Sidious
Under Plagueis' apprenticeship, the newly-minted Sidious gained an insiders' knowledge of the Sith. It was here that he learned the history of the cult, of how there had once been many Sith Lords, until internecine warfare and Jedi intervention brought them down. He learned of Darth Bane, who had brought the cult back from near-extinction and formulated the diktat that had established the framework of the Sith ever since: that there would only be two Sith Lords at any one time&mdash;a master and an apprentice.

"Two there should be; no more, no less. One to embody power; the other to crave it."

- Darth Bane

Sith methods of training were brutal and uncompromising. Apprentices were broken down and remade in whatever image suited the master's desires. And this was done frankly and openly. Plagueis himself told Sidious what was expected of him:

"Tell me what you regard as your greatest strength, so I will know how best to undermine you; tell me of your greatest fear, so I will know which I must force you to face; tell me what you cherish most, so I will know what to take from you; and tell me what you crave, so that I might deny you..."

- Darth Plagueis

Plagueis did exactly what he promised. Sidious was undermined, denied, forced to lose what he most cherished and face what he most feared. Then, the vessel emptied, he was filled again, this time with a new creed, the path of the dark side of the Force, the path that would lead from power over the self to power over all:

"You must begin by gaining power over yourself; then another; then a group, an order, a world, a species, a group of species... finally, the Galaxy itself."

- Darth Plagueis

All this was to be learned in anticipation of the ultimate revenge of the Sith. Apart from Plagueis, Sidious alone knew what this revenge would involve. It had been formulated in the far-off days of Lord Bane, based on his own very instructive experiences with the Sith of old. There would be no face-to-face confrontation this time. Instead, the Jedi and the Republic they served would die not from weapons, but from sickness. The Republic was destined to fall from its own corruption; the Sith would simply accelerate this process. They would facilitate war, murder, injustice and avarice, whenever and wherever possible, to demonstrate the failure of the so-called democratic system. A secret virus would be introduced into the Republic's body politic, and it would spread from one organ to another until it disrupted all the vital systems. Once crippled, once divided, the Republic would be simple to conquer. A public that had the deficiencies of rule by the weak clearly demonstrated to them would readily submit to rule by the strong.

Plagueis proved to be an excellent mentor. From early on Sidious learned to think as others would, to anticipate their actions and thoughts (this would be a vital component of his rise to power later). Over the years he grew extremely strong in the Force, and his knowledge of the ways of the Sith became exceptional. But it seems to be the case that none of this was enough for Plagueis. The old master still sought a more powerful apprentice. He would have done better to be satisfied with what he had.

The murder of Darth Plagueis
Plagueis was a mystic. Obsessed with spontaneous generation and immortality, he is said to have delved into forbidden teachings, and possessed&mdash;or was determined to possess&mdash;knowledge that could sustain those who were dying, or even return them from death. As far as Sidious was concerned, there was nothing alarming in this; both the Jedi and the Sith had sought ways to survive death for thousands of years, though not successfully. The most powerful of the ancient Sith Lords had supposedly known the secrets, but they had been lost or, rather, misplaced. It was expected that Plagueis should pursue this ultimate mystery.

The split between master and apprentice came when Plagueis also sought to take this research to its greatest extreme, to create new life from nothing. Whether he actually learned such powers, to defy death or create life, cannot be determined with absolute certainty, but at some point Plagueis began speaking to Sidious of an experiment he had conceived, to use arcane Sith disciplines to influence the midi-chlorians to draw life directly from the wellspring of the Force itself. The child that resulted from this experiment, Plagueis insisted, would potentially possess astounding power, would be the living embodiment of the Force itself.

Sidious understood that what Plagueis was discussing with him was nothing less than his own replacement, and he would suffer no challenger to his position as Sith master-to-be. Possibly he feigned excitement at Plagueis' inventiveness. But his mind was where it should have been for a Sith&mdash;on himself. A threat existed to his power, to all he was planning. How was he to deal with it? He could just kill the "experiment", but Plagueis would keep trying, and besides, if the child proved as powerful as expected, it would be wise to keep it available for his own use. In any case, Sidious was well along in his plans, had learned all there was to learn from Plagueis, already had his own secret apprentice. He was a master in all but name. The most superfluous being in this equation was Plagueis himself. The decision was made that simply. And that coldly.

Soon after, Sidious killed Plagueis in his sleep. There is no information as to the exact murder weapon, though it was likely a lightsaber, most likely Palpatine's own. There was also, apparently, none of the elaborate plotting involved in Sidious' later schemes. He simply waited until Plagueis had gone to sleep, then made certain he did not wake up. For all his cold ruthlessless, for decades he would look back on this moment of personal triumph, of his attainment of mastery at the cheap price of his own outdated master, with a self-satisfied smile. "It's ironic," he once remarked. "He could save others from death, but not himself."

Despite Plagueis's death though, the Force-conceived child was born. Whether the process was initiated by Plagueis or Sidious remains unknown, but in 42 BBY, on an unknown world, Shmi Skywalker gave birth to a child with a Force potential greater than any other in history. More than 20,000 midi-chlorians flowed in the boy's bloodstream&mdash;the apparent product of Plagueis' vision. Sidious kept a close watch on Anakin Skywalker, patiently waiting for the day he would take him as his apprentice.

Sidious had taught himself a powerful lesson. It was not unprecedented for Sith apprentices to kill their masters to gain the mastery themselves, but he had learned it intimately, through personal experience. He would keep a close eye on his own apprentices, and tell them only the barest minimum of information about his own master; the less they knew of Plagueis and his sudden demise, the fewer ideas they would get. True, they would eventually hunger for his position, but he would forever be on his guard. Plagueis made the mistake of sleeping; he never would.

The apprenticeship of Darth Maul
While still Plagueis's apprentice, Sidious had also taken an infant Zabrak from Iridonia to be his own apprentice. He dubbed him Darth Maul and molded him into a deadly unquestioning tool who lived only to serve his master's wish of destroying the Jedi and claiming the Galaxy for the Sith.

Sidious treated Maul very harshly, putting him through tests that would forge him into the ultimate tool. But Maul knew Sidious was the only person in the Galaxy that cared for him in a way, and had a great amount of respect for his master, perhaps something more than respect.

The rise of Palpatine (70 BBY–32 BBY)
The affairs of Darth Sidious were in order; as he went on, he had grown in power and eclipsed his master. He had an effective apprentice, and the promise of another, far greater. At the same time, either under Plagueis' direction or his own, he was infiltrating the Republic's government, carefully implementing the steps of a plan set down centuries in the past, preparing to address "wrongs" the Galaxy at large had long since forgotten.

The beginning of Palpatine's political career


Outside of his second existence as a Sith, the course of Palpatine's life is somewhat easier to trace. At a young age, Palpatine began his political career, carefully hiding his true persona of Darth Sidious. On Naboo, public service is mandatory from the ages of twelve to twenty, and he began his road to power here (70–62 BBY). Unlike most Naboo, however, he elected to stay on in politics beyond the normally accepted age, when others would move on to more refined cultural pursuits. They saw public service as an obligation; he saw it as something to be enthusiastically pursued. It was but the first instance of his habit of staying on in office longer than his due time. Was it simply that he had found a career that caught his interest, or had he already begun his double life?

Palpatine entered his full-fledged political career in local Naboo politics (62–52 BBY), working upwards through the lower levels of power. Although not every fact of this period is known, what is certain is that he did not begin with grandeur. He lost more elections than he won, missing out on a string of political appointments. There is no way of determining how much these failures were due to the natural learning process, and how much was deliberate on his part: he may have had to suffer more defeats than victories, so as not to seem extraordinary. At this point, it was probably important for him not to be seen as a political superman, as someone who could threaten other, more powerful people who could become impediments to him before his position was firmly entrenched.

Whatever the real reasons, though his initial years in politics were disappointing by any standard, he learned valuable lessons, which he would put to use with consummate skill. When Senator Vidar Kim, Naboo's representative in the Galactic Senate, was assassinated by a never-identified gunman on a passing airspeeder (52 BBY), the thirty-year-old Palpatine stood for election to succeed him. The people of Naboo elected him as their sectorial Senator, to represent Naboo and the thirty-five other affiliated worlds of Chommell Sector. Though the murder was never solved, the assumption is that the assassin had been contracted by Sidious&mdash;or perhaps Darth Plagueis&mdash;to kill him specifically to clear the way for Palpatine to follow him. Whatever happened, the result was that a Sith Lord had become a member of the Galactic Senate itself; the plan for revenge had been set in motion.

Palpatine in the Senate
By the time Palpatine stepped onto the Senate floor for the first time, he was already a superb manipulator. He knew that the prominent power-brokers in the Senate looked down their noses at the more provincial delegates, expecting little to nothing of importance from them. It was the classic attitude of the old aristocratic moneyed families towards the newly-rich; whatever their worth, they were still poor rubes inside. He knew that he, too, was lumped in with the other hopefuls from Rimward worlds, those who, having never ventured far from their homeworlds before, would in short order be overwhelmed by Coruscanti politics.

Their perception mattered little to him. Rather than do anything to prove these elites wrong, he took a different tack. It was to his advantage to be underestimated, so he harnessed their prejudice to keep their eyes away from his affairs. It was the same strategy he had employed in local Naboo politics; by acting beneath the notice of his enemies, they would never see him until after he had struck, when it was too late. So he deliberately affected the manner of the rube they thought him to be. They reacted predictably: many simply laughed at the small and quiet provincial, and otherwise paid him no mind.

Palpatine did nothing at this stage of the game to dissuade them from their impressions. In fact, he encouraged them to continue thinking this way whenever possible, often by employing the same pattern of underachievement he had employed on Naboo, letting his potential enemies believe him too unthreatening to notice. Again, as before, he failed to take advantage of opportunities that could have landed him on important advisory boards and powerful committees. The more incidents like this occurred, the more harmless he seemed. He was determined to keep his advancement slow, knowing it would yield greater reward in the future if he did not seem to be too ambitious in the present.

Friends and allies
His performance worked to perfection; the powerful Senators looked past him, wrapped up in their own petty power struggles. His own schemes and ambitions, which in the end dwarfed the others’ by far, were easily concealed behind the facade of a kind, harmless mediocrity. So liberated, Palpatine began establishing his base of power, cultivating friendships with respected public figures in key positions of government. As the list grew, it included Senators both weak and powerful, military commanders, members of the great organs of commerce, and even Jedi Masters. He even struck up a friendship with the leaders of the Caamasi delegation, to enhance the public’s perception of his moral authority.

Many of the beings who would achieve prominent positions in the New Order to come began their relationships with Palpatine at this time. For instance, the future fleet admiral Terrinald Screed, then a young commander in the Republic Judicial Department, was contacted by Palpatine, and found that his own ideas easily meshed with those of the Senator. The future Grand Moff, Wilhuff Tarkin, then lieutenant governor of Eriadu and hungry for greater influence, also found his personal sentiments shared by the insightful representative of Chommell Sector. The future advisor Crueya Vandron, then head of a noble house in Senex Sector, joined Palpatine's camp.

Palpatine also brought his own allies with him: Sate Pestage, who one of the few people who truly knew Palpatine (and possibly the only person Palpatine would have considered a friend) and Kinman Doriana, his two loyal aides. They kept his schedule and maintained his public appearances, and also covered up Palpatine's less savory activities.

Palpatine surprised everyone as he became increasingly popular. He wrote extensively, his notes on power becoming popular texts among political and military science students, his theories even taught at leading universities throughout the Galaxy. Despite this growing influence, Palpatine remained unassuming, and would spend many hours alone reflecting in his modest, yet well-appointed quarters. It was rumored that he orchestrated the abdication of Naboo's King Veruna, possibly hoping that his successor, Queen Amidala, would be too young to make rational decisions and would primarily rely on Palpatine during her reign.

He grew closer to Tarkin, who shared many of his sentiments on government. They became as close to being friends as people with their personalities could. In 33 BBY, Tarkin helped Palpatine engineer the murder of the Trade Federation Directorate, which were on Tarkin's homeworld of Eriadu for a trade summit. The pirate raids on the Trade Federation that had led to the summit had also been orchestrated by Palpatine, as was Nute Gunray's rise to power as Trade Federation Viceroy.

Shortly afterwards, Palpatine secretly funneled several million credits, believed to have been stolen by the Nebula Front, through the Bank of Aargau, and into the accounts of the Valorum family. Palpatine's aid, Sate Pestage, ensured that the exchange was uncovered by Valorum's political enemy, Senator Orn Free Taa, who revealed it to the Internal Activities Committee, thus critically weakening Chancellor Finis Valorum's already tenuous hold on power.

According to Supreme Prophet Kadann, Palpatine produced a son named Triclops some time during this period and banished him to the spice mines of Kessel. The validity of this story is not known, and is hard to determine due to Palpatine having altered or destroyed records of things in his life such as immediate family members, but it was commonly believed by high-ranking Imperial officers in 5 ABY.

In 32 BBY, Sidious convinced the Neimoidian leaders of the Trade Federation to blockade the planet Naboo, in protest of the taxation of certain trade routes. Sidious kept his identity of Palpatine unknown to the Neimoidians, although he revealed that he was a Sith Lord and made it quite clear that he held some power in the Senate.

The Naboo crisis (32 BBY)
Over the past year, Palpatine had moved the major pieces into position. The Trade Federation was now angered, threatened, and led by malleable individuals controlled by him. The Supreme Chancellor too was malleable and controllable. And, finally, the monarch of Naboo had been replaced by a new one, as malleable as the rest. Palpatine now had control of every side of the board. It was time for the next round of the game. This was the Naboo crisis, the point where all the other plots intersected and dealt the first crippling blows to the Republic.

The blockade of Naboo
The Trade Federation rapidly built up its forces in the Naboo system, assembling enough battleships to ensure a tight blockade. When they were ready&mdash;or, rather, when Sidious felt them ready&mdash;they acted, closing the planet off and strangling its formerly thriving trade business. No supply ships could land or take off. Then the Federation secured the outer gate to the system by stationing a battleship at TFP-9, its own outpost at the outer edge of the system, to ward off the curious and advertise the act to all who would listen. The last free entrance was closed off, and all incoming ships were informed that the Federation was acting in protest of the illegal taxes that the Republic had levied against them. The blockade of Naboo was an accomplished fact.

For the next month, the Senate debated fiercely, but not a thing was done to help Naboo. The Federation's representative, Lott Dod, successfully argued his case. As he put it, they had not yet violated any Republic laws; they had attacked no ships, nor had they moved against Naboo itself. Dod was using the letter of the law to violate its spirit. The Judicial Department could not be sent if no crimes had been committed. The stalling further weakened the Valorum government; their defiance of his measures was itself damaging, but the longer it went on, the more impotent Valorum appeared. Partly to keep the process moving, Palpatine kept his monarch, Queen Amidala, from upsetting things, urging her to wait until the Senate reached a decision.

Amidala proved somewhat harder to rein in than expected: her patience stretched to its limits, she herself contacted Valorum and held him personally responsible for the suffering on her world. Every day he delayed, she stated, he took bread out of the mouths of the starving children of Naboo. Pressed against the wall by his conscience, and desperate to shore up his crumbling support, he decided to act. He would call for a special session of the Senate to discuss the blockade, but to have a strong bargaining position, he needed the battleships sent home from Naboo. He would use the Jedi as ambassadors and send them to Naboo. Their presence would shake the Neimoidians' confidence and show them he meant business.

The invasion of Naboo
It is not known if Palpatine knew Valorum's intentions; because the Chancellor went directly to the Jedi Council without informing the Senate, as was the law, he may have been blindsided. But he did have both his creature, Mas Amedda, and his protege, Sei Taria, in the government, so one of them may have told him&mdash;either as Palpatine or Sidious&mdash;what was going on. It can be assumed that he knew Valorum was sending ambassadors to Naboo (he likely learned this through Amidala), but not that those ambassadors were Jedi. The presence of a Jedi Master, Qui-Gon Jinn, and his Padawan, Obi-Wan Kenobi, appeared to have taken him by surprise. When the panicked Neimoidians contacted him with the news, he fought hard to still his own anger.

It did not help that he had to get his sniveling tools under control. He could not expect the Neimoidians to grow backbones at the eleventh hour, but they had to deal with the matter at hand. He intimidated them back into submission, then focused them on the next task. The Jedi had been brought into the picture sooner than he would have liked; very well, the plan must be changed. "Begin landing your troops," he commanded Gunray. As for Jinn and Kenobi, he had plans for them also. "The Chancellor should never have brought them into this. Kill them immediately." The Neimoidians acted accordingly, destroying the cruiser that had delivered the Jedi and immediately jamming all communications.

The invasion itself went splendidly. Within a day, most of the major cities, including the capital of Theed, were in Federation hands. Amidala herself was captured with her entire retinue, and the Neimoidians presented her with a treaty that would bring an air of legitimacy to the invasion. But she never signed it; as reports continued to come to him, Sidious was annoyed to learn that the Jedi, far from being executed, had escaped and&mdash;more annoying still&mdash;had rescued Amidala and her retinue. With the Jedi guarding her, Amidala commandeered a ship and determined to make for Coruscant, to try to secure the Senate's help. Amazingly, an unarmed starship successfully evaded dozens of heavily-armed battleships and escaped.

Sidious was livid, or seemed so to the Neimoidians. He took the opportunity to introduce them to his apprentice, Darth Maul. "He will find your lost ship," he told them. For all the anger Sidious showed to the Neimoidians, however, he was not inconvenienced by Amidala's escape. Had he been anyone other than the Senator from Naboo, he would have been. But it was that very fact that ensured that, come what may, he would have little trouble in finding her, no matter where. He had an inside source: Amidala herself.

The search for Queen Amidala


After Amidala's ship was damaged in the escape, her protectors, Jinn and Kenobi, recommended that they land and repair the ship before proceeding to Coruscant. The suggested site was Tatooine, an obscure desert world in Arkanis Sector. Amidala approved the plan, and they made for Tatooine, bringing this backwater planet into the spotlight for the first time.

From the ship, she signalled Palpatine, informing him that the ship had been damaged, was waylaid (she did not say where, in case the Federation was monitoring her communications) and that they would arrive after making repairs. Possibly, Jinn allowed this, not expecting that the true threat to Amidala should come from her own Senator. He did not know that the Sith still existed at all, let alone that one posed as a mild-mannered politician. It was the worst error she could have made, though she did not know it. Sidious now could trace the signal and find out exactly where she landed. He handed the signal data over to Maul, and with this&mdash;in addition to his many other methods&mdash;he had what he needed to find his prey. In a very short time they had narrowed the search to Tatooine.

He summoned his apprentice, Darth Maul, and gave him the latest news: the Neimoidians too had tried to track Amidala. Either by dragging Sio Bibble before a holocomm, or by technologically fabricating Bibble’s image and voice, they crafted a desperate-sounding message to be sent to her ship. They failed to get anything of use, but, desperate to stay in Sidious' good graces, they reported their scant findings. "They have accepted a communication from Sio Bibble," he told Maul. "They haven't answered it. But we can be reasonably sure that they're still on Tatooine." Maul went over what he knew of the arid world: it had a small population, so it would not take long to find them. "Move against the Jedi first," he instructed. "''You will then have no difficulty taking the queen to Naboo to sign the treaty."

But there was a second agenda as well. Sidious was sure that the "experiment", the child, conceived through the Force, and believed to be the end result of Plagueis' researches into the arcane, was on Tatooine. The presence of Jedi on Tatooine meant that they could be in a position to meddle with the fate of the experiment. If the boy were taken away from Tatooine, who knew what would result? After being tainted by the Jedi, he might not be so susceptible to Sith teachings. Sending Maul to kill the Jedi under the cover of retrieving Amidala would remove the threat of their interference. This was one reason why Maul was instructed to move against them first. But it is likely that Sidious did not tell this to Maul; there is no mention of the boy in Maul's journals prior to his visit to Tatooine. As far as Maul knew, he was going to kill the Jedi and haul Amidala back to Naboo by any means necessary. The boy who would become Maul's successor was a secret Maul himself may never have known about.

The Senator commands the Monarch


Palpatine requested an audience with Queen Amidala in his apartments at 500 Republica to go over strategy. Their conversation was a masterpiece of psychological manipulation, and it marked the beginning of a gradual transition from a Republic that was weakened but salvageable, to one crippled beyond rescue. He had spent the last six months cultivating the queen's trust, knowing she would heed him better than the stubborn Veruna would have. It was all for this moment, when, in a crisis, she had to rely on him. She came believing the Senate would help her, but Palpatine slammed the door in her face by announcing, with mock disgust, that the Senate was long past caring about the common good. Worse, the corruption scandal had weakened Chancellor Finis Valorum worse than she had thought. Both the Senate and Valorum were closed off to her as options. That left her with nothing but the options Palpatine offered.

He gave her two: she could move for a Vote of No Confidence in Chancellor Valorum, and push for the election of a more effective leader, or she could take the matter to the courts. In offering her this choice, Palpatine risked nothing. He knew Amidala was not suited to betraying her friends and allies, but he also knew she pinned her hopes on a quick resolution of the crisis. Naboo was starving under Federation occupation, while she sat comfortably in a luxurious apartment on a distant and unfamiliar planet. The longer her homeworld was held, the more of her people would die. If there was to be a solution, it had to be now. And the courts took even longer to decide things than the Senate. He had given her an option he knew she would never choose, could never choose.

As Palpatine had foreseen, time was the deciding factor. She could either work in the courts, while the death toll on Naboo rose to unimaginable numbers, or she could heed her trusted Senator's advice. She had a choice, Valorum or her homeworld. As expected, she chose Naboo. He callously used her love for her people against her, and she believed him. Only fourteen and still new to the throne, she had all the qualities of the great leader she would eventually become, but little experience. If Palpatine, who knew the Senate in ways she did not, said that Valorum had become an obstacle, that was enough for her. It was perfect. She would remove Valorum, while his hands stayed clean. She would be the hammer to nail the coffin shut on the Valorum government, and at the same time pry the door open for himself. On the other side of this door lay the Chancellorship.

The fall of Chancellor Valorum


The long-anticipated special session of the Senate&mdash;the last under the Valorum government&mdash;had only two items on its agenda: a hearing of the Naboo delegation's case, and a debate on the Trade Federation's continued opposition to taxation of the free trade zones. Few expected it to be anything other than routine. Palpatine alone knew what was coming; for him, it was but a great drama, with all the actors' lines dictated in advance. He knew that the Federation's representative, Lott Dod, would try to stall the proceedings with every procedural tool at his command (he may even have insisted that Dod do so, implying that it would ensure an eventual repeal of the taxation measure). He also knew that the vice chair&mdash;his servant Mas Amedda, one of the few to be aware of the true agenda&mdash;would keep Valorum shackled by procedure no matter what. And he knew that, in the face of an attempt to stall, Amidala would have no choice but to act as he had suggested.

The actors performed splendidly. Dod and his allies threw up objection after objection; Amidala could not even finish her plea. The queen grew more and more frustrated. Finally, Dod moved that a Senate committee be created to go to Naboo to determine if her "accusations" were valid, citing senatorial procedures that Amidala had no hope of understanding. Then, Amedda&mdash;as expected&mdash;pulled Valorum aside, and when he had finished, Valorum was forced to concede that Dod was within his rights. "Enter the bureaucrats," Palpatine whispered in the queen's ear, "the true rulers of the Republic." When Valorum asked Amidala if she would defer her motion to allow the committee to do its work, it was the last straw. She had seen with her own eyes that Palpatine had been right–Valorum was ineffective–and she had nowhere left to go. Palpatine hid his satisfaction as, next to him, Amidala delivered the words that sealed Finis Valorum's fate.

"I will not defer. I have come before you to resolve this attack on our sovereignty now. I was not elected to watch my people suffer and die while you discuss this invasion in a committee. If this body is not capable of action, I suggest new leadership is needed. I move for a Vote of No Confidence in Chancellor Valorum's leadership."

- Queen Amidala

Valorum was thunderstruck, but by the time he could recover his wits, events had moved past him. Senator Edcel Bar Gane of Roona seconded Amidala's motion, and the vote was on the floor. The Senate had waited for this for months, perhaps years, and so unpopular was Valorum that they fell on him with abandon. Like slashrats having caught a whiff of killscent, the Senators erupted into a frenzied uproar, calling out, "Vote now! Vote now! Vote now!" It was all the Chancellor could do to postpone the vote until the following day. Palpatine already knew it would be a vote the Valorum government would not survive. It now remained only for him to ensure that he would be the one filling Valorum's shoes.

The scramble for the Chancellorship
The sudden power vacuum left a choice for the two major factions in the Senate. The loyalists, those Senators who had kept their integrity, saw the danger of an unstable government and sought to elect a strong leader to truly clean up the corruption in the Senate. The corrupt Senators wanted stability too, if only to allow them to continue plundering the system, and sought a figurehead who would provide the appearance of stability and just look the other way while they fattened themselves. Bail Antilles, representative of Alderaan, was the choice of the loyal Senators, while Ainlee Teem, representative of Malastare, was the choice of the corrupt Senators. These two nominations came as no surprise; both had been campaigning for months, even before the corruption scandal.

Much of the backroom politicking that led to Palpatine's nomination has been lost to history. What is known is that he had been working for months to capture the attention of an influential clique in the Senate, led by Senator Orn Free Taa of Ryloth. Taa was not satisfied with Teem or Antilles. Possibly he knew that neither of them had a chance of winning an electoral majority, and that the result would be a government in deadlock. As early as the breaking of the corruption scandal, Palpatine had caught Taa's eye as a potential compromise candidate. From Taa's point of view, it made sense: Palpatine had few enemies in the Senate, and many friends, ensuring that all factions could work well with him. He was satisfactory, if not exactly spectacular. He was selfless, humble, but at the same time confident and assured. He would be able to meet the demand for leadership.

For months, then, Taa's clique had been considering Palpatine as a candidate. This is likely why, as dusk fell over the Senate Building, either Taa or one of those Senators in his circle nominated the Senator from Naboo. Palpatine returned to his apartments with Panaka in a jaunty mood. He was confident–indeed, was certain–that the tide was with him, and that the situation on Naboo could not help but create a strong sympathy vote that would make the difference over Teem or Antilles. "I will be Chancellor," he told Amidala back at 500 Republica. And he meant it. After all, he had arranged things to be just so.

The election of Chancellor Palpatine
When the Senate convened the following day to vote on the no confidence motion, the outcome was a foregone conclusion. Valorum had few friends left, and the Senate so badly wanted him gone that they did not hesitate. Finis Valorum was swiftly voted out of office in a humiliating political defeat. His political career in ruins, he was left to his own devices, to start his life over from scratch. He spent the next two years in seclusion, waiting for the public's distaste for him to wear off. It never did. He contributed where he could and received no thanks for his trouble. By the time he realized just what role his removal had played in Palpatine's grander scheme, it was too late.

The Senate quickly proceeded to the vote on a successor. Yet again, they all unwittingly did Palpatine's bidding. Probably, neither Antilles nor Teem could garner enough votes to achieve a majority to govern effectively. Neither side could overcome their hatred of the other side's candidate enough to vote for him for the sake of stability. In the face of a voting deadlock, the Senate eagerly embraced the third option. Antilles' supporters could take heart that Palpatine had kept his distance from the corrupt Senators during his tenure. Teem's supporters were encouraged by his seeming docility. Each side believed that Palpatine would further their interests.

But the ultimate deciding factor, as Palpatine intended, was the groundswell of sympathy for the representative of besieged Naboo. Palpatine could rightfully claim to have been betrayed by Valorum, who had promised to do all he could for Naboo in a time of crisis. Perhaps it was just that Palpatine himself should be given the chance to make things right. With such weight behind him, there could be no other outcome. Palpatine received the most votes by far, becoming Chancellor&mdash;the last being ever to hold the title&mdash;by an overwhelming margin. After taking the oath of office and vowing to preserve the Republic&mdash;an oath that by any standard must be considered an act of perjury&mdash;he promised to reunite the disaffected among the people and restore the remembered glories of the Republic. No one could have realized that they had elected the leader of an order dedicated to destroying the Republic.

The liberation of Naboo
Even before the final election, Palpatine was in a triumphant mood. When Amidala made clear her intentions to return to Naboo to reclaim it from the Trade Federation, he made a show of concern and tried half-heartedly to keep her from going. She was not to be swayed. She left, taking both Jinn and Kenobi with her for protection. It was perfect: she had taken all their enemies with her into what could only be a death trap, and all those who could link the Sith to the greater scheme would vanish at a stroke. It was satisfying to see all his plans fall into place, due to his own guile and the stupid, unwilling cooperation of his pawns.

He summoned his apprentice Darth Maul, and brought him up to speed on Amidala's movements. Then he contacted the Neimoidians on Naboo, with orders to kill Amidala when she arrived, and a word of notice that Maul would be joining them to deal with the Jedi personally. Stifling his humor at their transparent attempts to act excited at the thought of Maul's imminent presence, he cut the signal and laughed. "Soon the Neimoidians will no longer be useful to us," he told Maul. "What a happy day that will be." Then he sent his apprentice off, with orders to make certain their cowardly tools killed the queen, and that the Jedi fell by his own hand.

Even while Sidious stayed on Coruscant, managing his election as Chancellor, he made time to go over reports sent from Maul on Naboo. As they came in, Amidala's behavior seemed more and more baffling: not only did she manage to escape Gunray's reach, but she had forged an alliance with the Gungans and assembled an army in the Lianorm Swamp. He gave his approval to Gunray's plan to meet the Gungans head-on. "Wipe them out," he commanded. "All of them."

In truth, the outcome of what would be called the Battle of the Great Grass Plains mattered very little to him. The only reason he had even sent Darth Maul to Naboo and ordered Gunray to destroy the Gungan army was to keep up the facade that he had an interest in controlling Naboo, to keep the Neimodians from realizing his true motives. But regardless of who won the battle, Palpatine would be the true victor. After all, if Amidala and her defenders fell, she would become a martyr he could use to justify further and more definitive actions against the Trade Federation. If they succeeded, he could use her victory as a symbol of the new take-charge attitude the Republic would be showing under his guidance. Either way, he would be seen as a decisive leader, exactly what the majority of Senators were clamoring for.

The aftermath of the Naboo crisis
Palpatine was soon informed that Amidala had triumphed. Against all odds, she had taken back her throne by force, and had taken Gunray and Haako into custody to face the courts. Of all the possibilities, he had not expected this one to come to pass, but in the end it did not matter. The occupation had already served its purpose. And his state visit to Naboo after the battle tied himself firmly with that victory. He suffered a far more serious loss when he learned that Darth Maul, after claiming an admirable kill in the person of Qui-Gon Jinn, had fallen in battle against the young Obi-Wan Kenobi.

But he ended up gaining far more than he had lost. He had also been informed of the role that a certain Anakin Skywalker, a young former slave boy from Tatooine, had played in the liberation. Though barely large enough to reach the controls, he had piloted a fighter straight into the Federation battleship and destroyed it. He had caught the eye of the Jedi Council itself; suspicion was growing that he might even be the Chosen One of ancient Jedi prophecy, and after much debate the Masters decided that he would be apprenticed to Kenobi. Sidious would have preferred it if the experiment had stayed on Tatooine, living an anonymous life, free from Jedi influences, but he could still manipulate events to make the boy his apprentice one day. Sidious' ability to forsee events never failed him, even if events took a different path than the one that served him best. He made a promise to Anakin in the celebration, telling him that "we will watch your career with great interest". He would keep this promise.

Returning to Coruscant after the victory celebrations, he could not help noting that he had much to celebrate himself. True, the Jedi were now aware of the Sith's involvement, and had even claimed his apprentice. But he could find another easily, one to serve him until he turned the boy to the dark side. Plus, the Jedi were now afraid, and that gladdened him. And, no matter what losses he had suffered, the greatest prize had still been won. The precious "civilization" that the Jedi so zealously tried to defend had already fallen to him. The Galactic Republic was now under the control of the Dark Lord of the Sith.

The Republic under Palpatine (32 BBY–24 BBY)
The new Chancellor kept himself busy during the eight years of his legitimate tenure. Much of this work was an intrigue that would eventually cause catastrophic bloodshed, the Clone Wars. But he had other projects, smaller but effective, to further his ultimate goals, the end of the Jedi and the Republic they served. Many (such as the Outbound Flight Project) were designed to whittle away the Jedi ranks, a few at a time, to make his task easier when the Great Purge came. As he carried out these murderous intrigues, always he cloaked himself in the image of a responsible leader. And the people were never the wiser. This was the Republic under the Palpatine government.

The offices of the new Chancellor


Palpatine maintained his private apartment at 500 Republica as his main residence, but as was customary, he also moved into the Chancellor's Suite in the Senate Office Building. Exercising the traditional prerogative to decorate the office as he saw fit, he purged all traces of Finis Valorum from it and made it practically a mirror image of his senatorial apartment. The color of blue, that had been Valorum's preference, was banished. Within weeks, no one who had spent any time in the Suite during the Valorum government would have recognized it.

Yet again he hid his Sith nature in plain sight. The color red now dominated the decor, and priceless object d'art&mdash;many of them actually Sith heirlooms too obscure to be recognized as such&mdash;were moved in. Some of these relics dated back a thousand years. Others were far older, recovered from Yavin 4 and dating to the days of Naga Sadow and Exar Kun: a pair of bas-relief, some three thousand years old, depicting a battle from the Great Hyperspace War, showing overwhelmed Jedi falling before the onslaught of Sith-spawned warbeasts (others regarded them as a tribute to Jedi bravery); an ancient Sith chalice, an incense burner used in meditation rituals. Some of them had been procured for him by his servant, his vice chair Mas Amedda, an antiquarian who knew Sith history and had the funds to spend to scour the Galaxy for such baubles. There were also bronzium statues of Sistros, Faya, Yanjon, and Braata, the Four Sages of Dwartii, the controversial quartet of philosopher-lawgivers who lived in the early days of the Republic.

But there were two most favored pieces which Palpatine brought in. The first was a new Chair of Office, black, thronelike, armored with ultra-dense lanthanide alloy. This chair, with certain modifications, would be his seat of power for more than four decades, and copies of it would be installed in every ship, outpost, and facility Palpatine was likely to visit. The second, and even more important piece, was the neuranium sculpture of Sistros, concealing the even more beautiful object within it&mdash;one of his Sith lightsabers, sealed within the sculpture at the time of its forging. This he placed in the anteroom. Other reserve blades, and his black cloak, he concealed in other art objects or in shielded compartments throughout the Suite, to wait for the time when he would at last release them, and release his true self.

The coming of the Red Guard


It was at this time that there first appeared a prominent symbol of the New Order to come. This was the controversial and crimson-robed Chancellor's Guard, or simply Red Guard, supplanting the blue-robed Senate Guard, who were removed from the Chancellor's protection detail and now relegated to the protection of Senators only. A personal guard for a chief of state was seen as a violation of the Republic's values, and as such, some in the Senate were bound to object. Palpatine, of course, wanted a bodyguard unit, but he could not be seen as directly advocating it. So he created a situation where it could be forced on him.

His instruments for this change were two people. The first was Captain Prid Shan, possibly the being who oversaw the Senate Guard. As the Republic continued its downward spiral, funds for continuing the Guards at then-current levels must have dwindled proportionately. And, as potential threats to the Chancellor’s person increased (there were at least two attempts on a Chancellor's life in the past year alone&mdash;both ultimately his own handiwork), Shan recognized that the Guard needed better equipment and training. He began rocking the boat and insisted that the Senate fund measures to reform the Guards and make them adaptable to the current situation. Publicly, Palpatine feigned embarrassment at the notion of trained soldiers protecting his person, but he devised a means to make clear to all that Shan's concerns were valid.

This is where his second instrument came into the picture. This was Jedi Ronhar Kim, son of his predecessor as Naboo's representative and one of his first allies in the government. He arranged for his "friend" Kim to be present for a terrified warning from Senator Viento, concerned that Palpatine's proposed reforms had angered some enough to want him dead. At that moment, the Senate Guards flanking him raised their rifles. As expected, Kim's lightsaber was out and ignited before they could fire. What arcane Sith methods Sidious used to compel the Guards to act, and then to kill themselves with a fast-acting poison before they could be questioned, are not known, but they were effective. Even Kim's use of the Force could not make them say anything. There was only the fact that the Senate Guard had failed at a crucial moment, and Captain Shan's words, backed by the voices of Viento and other Senators, were now given enough weight to carry the argument. The Red Guards were quickly formed and placed under Palpatine's personal authority. There was some criticism, but as the years passed, new security laws, imposed a step at a time, and the rise of a greater threat, made certain there wasn't too much criticism.

The search for a new apprentice
"Soon I will have a new apprentice... one far younger and more powerful."

- Darth Sidious After the untimely death of Darth Maul, Sidious was faced with an urgent task. Before he could continue in his plans to divide and conquer the Republic, he needed an apprentice who could be counted on to make the necessary preparations, to sow dissention among the Republic's member worlds. Maul clearly had not had the kind of political acumen needed; of the many skills he had possessed, subtlety and oratory were not among them. So, deciding the loss was to his ultimate benefit, Sidious set about searching for a replacement. Obviously, the ideal method would have been to locate another Force-sensitive youth to mold according to his desires, but that was impossible now. As a Senator from a less-than-prominent world, he could afford the time to train Darth Maul from infancy, but now the daily schedule of a sitting Chancellor precluded any attempt to do the same for Maul's successor. He needed a trained apprentice immediately, or else his entire timetable could be critically endangered. He could not risk his political career for his Sith duties nor could he neglect his Sith duties for his political career. Both were part of the same plan, and that plan had to be fulfilled at any cost. But fortune played a part in giving him the perfect candidate, in the form of a disaffected Jedi Master named Dooku. As befitting his needs, this Jedi was already well trained in the ways of the Force and was a superbly accomplished swordsman, though not exactly in the same flamboyant style as Maul's. He was also patient, intelligent, and charismatic. All of these were qualities Sidious would need for the next phase of the plan. And, most importantly, there were other qualities in him, weaknesses that Sidious could exploit to make a Sith out of him.

The seduction of Count Dooku


Dooku, always a maverick, made the process simple. He had been appealing to the Jedi Council to take the threat of the Sith more seriously. If there were always two Sith, and one had been killed on Naboo, why were the Jedi not devoting their best efforts to finding the second Sith? But to Palpatine's satisfaction, they remained plodding as ever. Their shortsightedness repelled Dooku, introducing to him the idea that his ideals and theirs might not necessarily be the same. There may even have been an arrogance in him that caused him to believe that he, rather than some untrained child named Skywalker, might be the Chosen One. Torn between a certainty in his success and doubt that it would make a difference, Dooku decided to find the missing Sith.

Had Dooku been a Jedi of the old tradition, Sidious would have remained unfound. But he met the requirements he had set for a new apprentice, which was why Sidious approached him. It was soon clear that this discontented Jedi was fascinated by the Sith. Or at least, he was now firmly convinced that the Jedi were not the ones to save the Galaxy from itself. Dooku was receptive to Sidious' words. They both believed that the Republic was collapsing under its own weight, that a new order was needed to improve things. After much discussion, Sidious gradually persuaded Dooku that their separate visions of improving things were actually quite similar. They needed each other. It was not long before Dooku decided to accept Sidious' offer: in exchange for Dooku's service, Sidious promised to teach him about the dark side and how to use it to achieve the positive changes they envisioned.

It is clear, however, that from the beginning, Sidious was leading Dooku on. Dooku was but a necessary pawn, as Maul had been. The idea that Sidious needed or wanted an "accomplice," or partner, someone on an equal footing with himself, is laughable. It was not the Sith way; it was certainly not his way. Dooku would be a useful placeholder, until Skywalker was ready for conversion. That was all.

The Clone Army


Master Sifo-Dyas, a former Jedi Council member and a friend of Dooku's, had become concerned for his friend's sudden change in spirit. Sifo-Dyas was already convinced that very dark times were ahead, but the Jedi Council did not pay much attention. Desperate, he went to Palpatine for advice, who then duped him to contact the elite cloners of Kamino, to order a massive army of clone soldiers. This army was aimed to defend the Republic in the future.

In order to keep the army secret, Sidious ordered Dooku to eliminate his old friend Sifo-Dyas. Without hesitation, Dooku murdered the Jedi Master. In doing so he fulfilled an ancient Sith covenant that proscribed the slaughter of one who was close as a measure of commitment. Sidious saw that Dooku had truly embraced the dark side. Sidious awarded him the title of Darth Tyranus, and commanded his new apprentice to remove all records of the planet Kamino from the Jedi Archives.

Sidious' next mission for his new apprentice was to continue the project and select an exceptional warrior to be the template of the clone army Sifo-Dyas had ordered. After much consideration and a brutal trial, Tyranus selected Jango Fett as the perfect candidate. On Bogg 4, Tyranus offered Fett a generous payment for being the prime clone. Fett accepted, on the condition that he received an unaltered clone of himself, whom he would make his own apprentice, and son.

The Clone Wars (22 BBY–19 BBY)
"I will not let this Republic, that has stood for a thousand years, be split in two."

- Palpatine



Under Palpatine's direction, Count Dooku united several commercial organizations&mdash;foremost among them the Trade Federation that had been Sidious’ tool for seizing the Chancellorship&mdash;into the Confederacy of Independent Systems, thus forging the Separatist movement. These organizations pledged the massive armies they had used to protect their profits to Dooku, thus making the Confederacy capable of overthrowing the Republic, and a threat in the eyes of the Senate.

In 22 BBY, Palpatine used his powers to convince the Senate to grant him emergency powers to deal with the growing threat of the Separatists. He declared:

"It is with great reluctance that I have agreed to this calling. I love democracy. I love the Republic. The power you give me I will lay down when this crisis has abated. As my first act on this new authority, I will create a Grand Army of the Republic to counter the increasing threats of the Separatists."

- Palpatine

What both the Jedi and the Senate failed to realize was that both the Separatists and the Republic were now under the control of Palpatine, and the coming war was little more than a plot for Sidious to seize more power. Palpatine's insidious nature and supreme mastery of the Force also allowed him to conceal himself from the Jedi Masters, even when sharing the same room.

Palpatine used his emergency dictatorial powers to legalize the clone army secretly built on Kamino, calling it the Grand Army of the Republic, and use it to combat the Confederacy. This would later provide the basis for his Imperial reign, based largely on the military.

During the Clone Wars, Palpatine further consolidated his power. He continued to control the Confederacy through Count Dooku, eventually having General Grievous, the cyborg android who answered to his other persona of Sidious, 'kidnap' him from his office in 19 BBY. Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker led a rescue, eventually meeting with Palpatine and Dooku in the General’s flagship, the Invisible Hand. Whilst Obi-Wan was rendered unconscious, Anakin was able to defeat Dooku, and beheaded him upon the Chancellor’s urging. By this point, Palpatine had long desired and plotted to take Anakin as an apprentice, and he needed to have Dooku removed to do so. Over time, the Jedi began to grow distrustful of Palpatine, fearing what this ever-increasing power might mean for the Republic.

End of the Republic (19 BBY)
"Power! Unlimited power!"

- Palpatine



At the same time, Sidious was sowing similar seeds of doubt into the mind of Anakin. Young Skywalker saw a vision of his wife, Padmé Amidala, dying after giving birth to their child. Palpatine, who could have planted this vision of the future in Anakin’s mind himself, promised the young Jedi to open his mind to the Sith knowledge of sustaining or creating life, which&mdash;as he claimed&mdash;was the only way to escape Padmé's death. Eventually the inevitable confrontation emerged, and Anakin delivered the revelation that Palpatine was really Darth Sidious, the Sith master for which they had been searching for over ten years, to Jedi Master Mace Windu.

Mace ordered Anakin to remain in the Jedi Temple, while he, along with Masters Saesee Tiin, Agen Kolar, and Kit Fisto, went to arrest the Chancellor. Palpatine greeted the Masters cordially, as though nothing had changed, though he knew that the endgame had begun. Mace boldy ignited his lightsaber, declaring that Palpatine was under arrest and that the Senate would decide his fate. "I am the Senate", Palpatine proclaimed, revealing an electrum saber of his own design hidden in his sleeve. A crimson blade ignited, and within seconds the Jedi Masters realised they had been tricked, that they were pawns that had been manipulated for the last thirteen years. With a Sith snarl more animal than man, Palpatine lunged forward. With the advantage of surprise on his side, Palpatine had enough time to quickly kill Masters Tiin, Kolar, and Fisto, leaving him alone with Windu.

After several minutes of dueling, where Palpatine used a combination of the Ataru lightsaber style and Windu's own Vaapad technique, the Jedi Master managed to finally defeat Palpatine by knocking the Sith Lord's lightsaber out a window only moments before Anakin Skywalker entered the room. This may not have been a coincidence, as it is possible that Palpatine was simply feigning defeat to gain Anakin's sympathy, knowing that the only way to break Anakin’s connection to the Jedi was to force Anakin to choose between loyalty to them and his promises of the power to govern life and death. Palpatine's attempts to defend himself with Force lightning were futile, as Windu used his lightsaber to reflect it back at the Sith Lord, seemingly melting Palpatine's face. Anakin saw a helpless old man, deformed by what looked to be injury, begging in his augmented, ragged and deep voice for pity under the boots of a powerful Jedi Master that held his lightsaber close to his neck and threatened to kill him.

The young Jedi Knight chose Sidious, severing Mace's sword arm. Sidious then took the opportunity to blast Mace from the building with a devastating blast of Force lightning, removing one of the greater threats to his power. He dubbed his new apprentice Darth Vader, and told him that while he never learned Plagueis's secret technique used to preserve life, he thought they could achieve it together (which, considering Palpatine's history, may have been a lie).

The fall of the Jedi Temple


But taking an oath was not enough to make one a Sith. Like Maul and Tyranus, Vader had to demonstrate his allegiance. Sidious easily nudged him into the right frame of mind, reminding him that the Jedi would not stop until Sidious was dead, and if he were gone, what hope did Padmé have? For her sake, the Jedi had to die to the last being. "I want you to go to the Jedi Temple", he commanded. "Do what must be done, Lord Vader. Do not hesitate. Show no mercy." To this end, he placed under Vader's command the 501st Legion, a special unit he had long ago set aside for just such tasks, and sent them off to the Temple. It would soon be ablaze.

Truth be told, Sidious did not have to send Vader; the 501st alone could have dealt with the instructors and younglings efficiently. But Sidious had sensed that his new apprentice was not yet as committed as he should be. In cutting down the most vulnerable members of the Order to whom he had once sworn allegiance, Vader would tie himself firmly to the Sith cause. There would be no returning to his old life. It would especially serve to sever Skywalker's ties to his wife; no matter how much she loved him, there would be no way Amidala could understand, much less forgive, his actions. Their love would die. She might even lose the will to live, to then be dealt with at a time of his choosing. And their child would belong to the Sith.

His new apprentice performed splendidly; through the night and into the early morning Vader led his troops through the Temple corridors in an orgy of bloodletting. Before leaving the Temple on his futile charge to the Senate Office Building, Master Windu had instructed one of the few Council members present, Shaak Ti, to prepare the Temple for a possible counterattack, but her best efforts were hardly enough to repel an entire legion of his handpicked troops. So many Jedi were away that only a token force remained behind to defend the younglings. Almost unopposed, Vader's blade and the shots of a thousand guns mowed down the Temple's brats and their minders with ease. The loss of the flower of a new generation of Jedi was irreplacable.

When Vader and the 501st&mdash;which was already earning the name of "Vader's Fist"&mdash;completed their errand, the Jedi Temple, repository of four thousand years of the Order's history, was but a smoking ruin. But for some reason Palpatine never razed the old edifice to the ground, as would be expected. Some rumors hinted that he would be converting it into his new official residence, but in the event, the monument of self-glorification that was the Imperial Palace would be erected elsewhere. Perhaps he simply wanted to be able to gloat over the ruin, to let it remain as a permanent reminder of the arrogance of the Jedi Order, and of just how far&mdash;through his cunning&mdash;it had fallen.

Order 66
"Execute Order 66."

- Palpatine



While Vader "sterilized" the Temple, Sidious himself saw to the other Jedi. A thousand years of planning were about to bear their true fruit; at last, the time for revenge had come. His instrument was, of course, his Grand Army. From the beginning of their training, the clones had been issued a list of orders on actions to take during specific emergency situations. One of these was Order 66: should the Jedi become involved in sedition against the Republic, the clones were to deal with them. The staged "rebellion" allowed this order to be given plausibly. The Jedi would not see it coming; they had forged a bond with their troops, true, but the Jedi had forgotten that the clones served the Republic, not the Jedi Order. He&mdash;not the Council&mdash;was the supreme commander of the Grand Army, and its troops had been made to follow his orders without question, even if they were ordered to kill their own field commanders.

Returning to the sanctity of his private office, Sidious reached out to key a special frequency into his holocomm. Unit by unit, he contacted the various clone commanders to issue a single command, over and over again: "Execute Order 66.". With each savored word, each repetition of the order, his satisfaction grew. Then, the task finally complete, he leaned back, picturing the deaths of his enemies at the hands of their own troops. He could sense what was happening&mdash;not in any detail, but he felt the dark side growing stronger with each Jedi death. That he could only be everywhere at once, to see each one die in person! But such was life; the very fact of this victory would suffice.

And a victory it truly was. On a thousand battlefronts, spread over some two hundred worlds, Jedi commanders suddenly found themselves facing the guns of their own troops. Almost to a man, the clones performed spectacularly and without incident; thousands of Jedi died, effectively eliminating the majority of the Order at a stroke. Only in one instance, on Murkhana, did troops refuse out of conscience to carry out his order and allow their targets to flee&mdash;obviously their service alongside Jedi had contaminated them, leading to a rare moment when some of his servants defied a principal commandment of his: no thinking for yourself. He later sent Lord Vader to make a proper example of them, and for the rest of their genetically-accelerated lives, no other clone trooper made the fatal mistake of forgetting who their master was.

Aside from that singular surprising incident, he expected that a few dozen Jedi had survived the slaughter, either by eluding or overpowering their assassins. But that was immaterial; they too would be erased eventually. He explained this to Vader in these words: "In burying their heads in the sands and snows of remote worlds, the Jedi humble themselves before the Sith. So let them: let them atone for one thousand years of arrogance and self-absorption." He would have done better to have been more concerned about those few humbled survivors than he was, for it was from the efforts of two of them&mdash;none other than Yoda and Kenobi&mdash;that he would finally be defeated. But that was in the future; for now there was only the victorious present.

The inauguration of the Galactic Empire


It remained only for Palpatine to win the Senate's support, so he called for a special session to inform them of the "Jedi rebellion." For the sake of his audience, he covered the damage to his face. He could have appeared in his usual black robes and hood, but for this triumphant day, something more eye-catching was needed. He chose a robe of burgundy material, with a matching velvet mantle and hood in the Sith style. As a coronation robe, it sufficed. He would wear basic black often enough in the future; he could allow himself to splurge today.

The Senate saw his face twisted and distorted, his blue eyes, penetrating but friendly, replaced by harsh yellow ones, far more penetrating and anything but friendly. For the rest of his life that face would be seen, appropriately enough, only in shadow, shrouded by a hood, those piercing yellow eyes its most visible feature. The Galaxy eventually reconciled itself to this new face; portraits and statues of him incorporated it without shame. As he intended, that countenance was seen as a mark of pride, a wound suffered in the service of the people. Yet again, he hid his true nature in plain sight.

The Senators were informed of the Jedi plan not just to kill him, but to overthrow the Senate as well. As evidence, they heard recordings from his private office, and the voice of the late Master Windu accusing the Supreme Chancellor, in whom the Galaxy had placed its trust, of being a Sith. And while the emphasis was always on the "treacherous plot against the Republic", never did Palpatine deny the accusation. Instead, he blamed the Jedi for everything he had done: they had manipulated the Galaxy into war. Through Dooku, the Jedi were blamed for the Separatists. Through Sifo-Dyas, they were blamed for the clones. The Jedi, he insisted, had planned to topple the Republic and take power themselves. Order 66 was depicted as a just and necessary measure:

"The Jedi, and some within our own Senate, had conspired to create the shadow of separatism using one of their own as the enemy's leader... The Jedi hoped to unleash their destructive power against the Republic by assassinating the head of government and usurping control of the Clone Army. But the aims of would-be tyrants were valiantly opposed by those without elitist, dangerous powers. Our loyal clone troopers contained the insurrection within the Jedi Temple and quelled uprisings on a thousand worlds. And the Jedi Rebellion has been foiled... The remaining Jedi will be hunted down and defeated. Any collaborators will suffer the same fate."

- Palpatine

Those who could have defended the Jedi were in no position to argue: the mood was against them. The Jedi were not trusted anymore. Palpatine had used the Senators' long-growing disaffection with the Jedi to gain their approval of the purge. In any case, the opposition saw armed shock troopers throughout the chamber; they did not wish to add their names to the list of enemies those troops would be dealing with. They waited for Palpatine to announce that with the end of the Separatists, he would lay aside his emergency powers and go into retirement. But he had other plans:

"In order to ensure our security and continuing stability, the Republic will be reorganized into the first Galactic Empire, for a safe and secure society, which I assure you will last for ten thousand years. An Empire that will continue to be ruled by this august body and a sovereign ruler chosen for life. An Empire ruled by the majority, ruled by a new constitution."

- Palpatine

He confirmed the opposition's worst fears: there would be more changes to the Constitution. Conveniently, he never spelled out what the separation of powers would be, just that the Senate would "rule" and the sovereign would "direct" the Senate. But it soon became clear that there would be more direction to the Senate, than ruling by the Senate. Many just didn't care; they knew where the power lay, and their support would gain them influence later. Those who did care remembered that there were guns in the room. Palpatine continued, skillfully evoking the glories of empires past for a Galaxy tired of disorder:

"By bringing the entire Galaxy under one law, one language, and the enlightened guidance of one individual, the corruption that plagued the Republic in its later years will never take root. Regional governors will eliminate the bureaucracy that allowed the Separatist movement to grow unchecked. A strong and growing military will ensure the rule of law... Under the Empire's New Order, our most cherished beliefs will be safeguarded. We will defend our ideals by force of arms. We will give no ground to our enemies and will stand together against attacks from within or without. Let the enemies of the Empire take heed: Those who challenge Imperial resolve will be destroyed."

- Palpatine

This promise, he kept. The next two decades saw the violent suppression of all opposition, including intimidation, arrests, executions, the destruction of cities, even the destruction of entire planets. He would have gone further, and destroyed entire star systems, had his rule remained unchallenged. But the Rebel Alliance was years in the future. For the present, its future founders, Bail Organa and Mon Mothma, had no choice but to support their new Emperor; they could do more good alive than dead. When the decree came to a vote, Palpatine had already won. Seduced by promises of safety, security, justice and peace, or just intimidated into silence, the Senate unanimously voted "yes". The Galactic Empire was an established fact.

The last stand of the Jedi Order


Obi-Wan Kenobi and Yoda eventually caught up with the betrayal and deceit, realizing that Anakin had slain everyone in the Jedi Temple, Masters, Knights, Padawans and younglings alike. Obi-Wan begged the old master not to send him to battle his former Padawan and friend, but there was no choice; Yoda thought the new Emperor would be far too powerful for Obi-Wan. Obi-Wan was sent to confront Anakin on Mustafar, while Yoda met with Sidious in the Senate Building on Coruscant. There, the Dark Lord of the Sith and the Jedi Grand Master dueled in a battle that destroyed a good portion of the Grand Convocation Chamber. The two were equally matched, demonstrating amazing strength and skill in the Force. But as the fight progressed, Yoda grew tired while Sidious grew amused and more powerful. After being overpowered by the Sith Lord, Yoda found the strength to fight back and the battle ended in a draw after Palpatine's Force lightning was returned to him in a blast so powerful that it pushed the two masters apart. Sidious managed to grab onto a Senate pod, but Yoda fell several stories. The Jedi Master, exhausted and unable to keep fighting, realized that Palpatine could not be defeated in battle and so fled. "Failed, I have," he remarked to Bail Organa, who hurried him away in his speeder. Emperor Palpatine waited for a time while shock troopers searched for Yoda's body, but when they learned that Yoda was still alive, Palpatine gave it little more thought. He commanded them to double the search, and gave them permission to blow up the Senate Building, but took no further action himself. It was a mistake that would eventually destroy him, but Palpatine could hardly be blamed. He had more pressing problems.



"Rise, Lord Vader."

- Palpatine

The battle between Obi-Wan and Vader on Mustafar ended much differently. Obi-Wan succeeded in wounding his former apprentice, leaving him for dead. Hurrying to Mustafar with speed only the Emperor of the Galaxy could afford (and with vigor that surprised even himself), Palpatine found his apprentice more dead than alive, and commanded that he be taken back to Coruscant and rebuilt using prosthetic replacements, a long and painful process that Palpatine made sure Vader would be kept conscious for, in order to make him stronger through pain. Upon being completely rebuilt and outfitted in a life-supporting suit of armor, Vader asked his master what had become of Padmé. How much of the story Palpatine knew is unknow, but Sidious essentially lied, saying that Vader himself had killed his wife in his anger, seemingly breaking Anakin Skywalker's spirit once and for all; Anakin's transformation to Vader was now fully complete. Palpatine was pleased: one of the most powerful Sith Lords of all time was born in pain and suffering, and it was his apprentice. But Anakin was no longer the "perfect" figure to continue the legacy of the Sith. While Vader still held terrible power, the damage sustained to his form had significantly reduced his potential with the Force. Meanwhile, Yoda and Obi-Wan fled into exile, carrying the former Jedi's twin offspring.

The Emperor's reign (19 BBY–4 ABY)
"Once more, the Sith will rule the Galaxy..."

- Palpatine

With the rise of the Empire, all the institutions of the old Republic found themselves either dismantled or changed beyond recognition. There was a riot of renaming all things "Imperial" to glorify the new Emperor: overnight, the Coruscant Sector was renamed the Imperial Sector, Coruscant itself was renamed Imperial Center, and Galactic City was renamed Imperial City. The Galactic Senate became the Imperial Senate. The Grand Army of the Republic became the Imperial Army, and the Republic Navy became the Imperial Navy. The four decrepit intelligence agencies of the Republic were merged into Imperial Intelligence, with former SBI director Armand Isard at its head. The former Commission for the Protection of the Republic (COMPOR) was renamed the Commission for the Preservation of the New Order (COMPNOR). Within days, there were few names left to remind the people that there had ever been a Republic.

Under the leadership of Palpatine's advisors, Crueya Vandron and Ishin-Il-Raz, COMPNOR gained a powerful hold over the Empire, and its organs insinuated themselves into every corner of society. The Imperial Security Bureau (ISB) was established as a branch of COMPNOR to act as a counterweight to Imperial Intelligence, and it became the Emperor's all-pervasive secret police organization. The Coalition for Progress established monitoring agencies to keep track of all aspects of life. The fleet would prove somewhat insubordinate, and a tension between the Coruscant government and the fleet admirals existed throughout this period, creating the need for the ISB to install political officers throughout the military as minders.



Although this attempted totalitarian regime remained weak, it was continually strengthening until the break-up of the Empire in 4 ABY. Examples of its broad scope include an Imperially promoted aesthetic style of military-inspired simplicity, in contrast to the opulence and ornamentation Galactic Republic-era. Non-Humans and women were excluded from much of this New Order, and atrocities committed by powerful regional governors were common.

Palpatine was also responsible for the devastation of Caamas. The Emperor saw the respected Caamasi as a threat to his New Order. A group of Bothan infiltrators were responsible for sabotaging Caamas's shield generators, leaving the planet vulnerable to Imperial orbital bombardment. The once beautiful world was devastated during this attack, turned into a poisoned wasteland. The peaceful Caamasi were dispersed throughout the Galaxy. In 18 BBY, the Emperor constructed the huge, asteroid-shaped superweapon Eye of Palpatine in order to use it to destroy a Jedi enclave on Belsavis. However, the deadly superweapon was sabotaged by two Jedi Knights and the Jedi on Belsavis managed to escape. The Eye would remain forgotten until 12 ABY when it was recovered by Roganda Ismaren.

Shortly after the declaration of the Galactic Empire, Darth Sidious began constructions in the dangerous Deep Core on the planet Byss to turn it into a secret throne world immediately after he became Emperor. To do this, he utilized thousands of non-human workers from countless conquered worlds including Utapau, Gamorr, and Toydaria. Byss was a dark side conduit, able to give its inhabitants great power in using the Force. Along with the power of Byss, Palpatine slowly fed on the life energy of his workers, to lengthen his own life.

He and Darth Vader also brought a number of captured Agricultural Corps survivors and other Padawans to the planet in order to train them into powerful servants. Vader was ordered to select worthy pupils, and dispose of the rest. He initially selected four of the best pupils including an Agricultural Corps member named Tremayne.

On a number of occasions, Palpatine visited the ancient Sith graveyard world Korriban for advice from long dead Sith Lords. He also unlocked secrets of the Force from a captured Jedi Holocron. Emperor Palpatine wrote the Dark Side Compendium, a study of the nature of the dark side, and finished two books while in power, and began a third which was never completed.

At some point during his reign, Palpatine communicated with the Shreeftut of the distant Ssi-ruuvi Imperium through the use of the dark side. He appeared in the Shreeftut's dreams and claimed that he was the ruler of an empire in the Galactic Core. Palpatine traded with the Shreeftut for some battle drones in exchange that a large number of "subjects" be present for entechment by the Imperium. This would result in the Ssi-ruuvi invasion of Bakura in 4 ABY. Emperor Palpatine also employed a large number of Force-sensitive agents. These people, the Dark Side Adept, were outside the Empire's official organization, but reported directly to Emperor Palpatine or (when necessary) Lord Vader. Palpatine intended to replace key officials with the Adepts, though their number was too limited. It is unknown how these adepts got around the Sith Order's Rule of Two. Technically, Palpatine and Vader the only ones who styled themselves as Sith Lords, so they may have just been paying lip service to the Rule of Two. It is also possible that, since the Republic was gone and the Jedi extinct (or at least presumed extinct), Palpatine may have rendered obsolete the Rule of Two. But since they did not train the adepts with Sith-exclusive knowledge, they were technically not Sith.

In 1 BBY, Palpatine and Vader were the targets of a group of treacherous Imperial officers led by Grand Moff Trachta. Trachta saw the Sith as foolish and archaic, and believed that the Empire should not be ruled by a two-man cult. They planned to use a batch of altered stormtroopers loyal only to them to destroy the two Sith Lords. However, their plot failed in part because of internal fighting between the co-conspirators.

The dissolution of the Senate
From the beginning, Palpatine sought to remove the Senate. The first reason was symbolic: he could not leave a reminder of the Republic lying about. The second was political: some Senators still opposed him. His obedient majority tried keeping them in check; they understood they were only there to prop up the illusion of democracy. Some, however, didn't get the joke; they actually tried passing laws against his wishes. He dealt with the outspoken ones when they appeared, but like weeds others sprouted in their place. Worse, some of them, he suspected, were providing the Rebels with funds, information, and resources.

He had waited until the time was right, all the while sapping their power. Finally (0 BBY) he was ready. Their replacements waited in the wings: the governors, moffs and grand moffs were in place, and the military, as always, obeyed him without question. It was time for the Senators to go. That they had Rebels in their ranks was excuse enough. He would have no problem manufacturing the necessary evidence, or in making it stick. And, as he saw it, no one would miss that collection of Republican has-beens.

Warrants were issued for the arrest of all suspected Rebels. Stormtroopers burst into the Senate, and hundreds were detained. Some&mdash;those learned to have had Rebel affiliations&mdash;were never seen again. The following morning, the remaining Senators, unaware of what had happened, came to work only to find themselves locked out of their offices and chambers. Some tried to appeal to Palpatine directly, but were told that their diplomatic access to the Palace had been suspended "for the duration of the emergency."

Many of them had been present when the Senate gave power to him. They had said nothing. Now there was nothing to say. They too were arrested and interrogated. Many who were released left Coruscant for their homeworlds, and a peaceful&mdash;and isolated&mdash;retirement. The small number of Senators that remained, the ones who had most voraciously upheld the party line, were generously rewarded with their lives and new positions. Many of them donned ornate jeweled robes and joined the swelling ranks of Imperial advisors.

Palpatine had killed what was left of the Constitution. A new pyramidal structure was imposed, with himself at its summit, then the grand moffs who ruled Oversectors, then the moffs who ruled sectors, then the governors of individual worlds. All of them owed their careers to the Emperor and gave him their allegiance. But even here, he had extra guarantees. He had long since inserted COMPNOR into every level of the bureaucracy, to insure that each one followed his dictates. The end of the Senate left the field wide open for COMPNOR to step in. For all the power of the moffs and grand moffs, COMPNOR stood behind them, more powerful still. And behind them all stood the Death Star, enforcing his will at gunpoint.

The destruction of Alderaan
In the absence of the Senate, Palpatine had established an environment where even his subordinates were capable of terrible atrocities against sentients. From the very beginning of its design, it was intended that the Death Star be capable of destroying entire planets. But most Imperial strategists were certain that the threat alone would be enough to keep most worlds in line. Tarkin felt differently; as he saw it, the Rebels were growing bolder, and only a very public demonstration of the battle station's power against a Rebel target would succeed in giving them pause. His argument convinced Palpatine (not that he needed that much convincing).

So Palpatine approved in advance the destruction of a planet&mdash;and thereby the mass murder of its entire population. His hands are stained with blood, whichever planet was finally selected. It is doubtful that he expected Tarkin to destroy a lifeless planet as a harmless demonstration for the Rebels’ benefit. He knew it would be used on an inhabited world. But he did not know in advance that it was to be Alderaan. Tarkin alone made this decision, facing down even Vader to do so. If Palpatine knew about Tarkin’s intent from that point onward, it would only be because Vader made a report to him after the decision was made, but before the station entered the Alderaan system and carried out its mission, an act that, by current estimates, caused the deaths of some two billion sentient beings.

Palpatine's private feelings on the tragedy are a mystery, but publicly he adopted his benevolent persona, announcing that he was saddened by the loss of such a noble world, and adding that had Alderaan entrusted itself to Imperial protection, it would still be thriving. In other words, the destruction of Alderaan might not have been necessary had Bail Organa simply bowed under as he was supposed to. Saddened he may have been for the press, but it had not been his choice. Their fate lay in their own hands, and they had chosen to raise those hands against him. Their punishment was inevitable. But he made a "magnanimous" offer to resettle the sixty thousand remaining Alderaanians, those who were away when their homeworld was destroyed, on his "private resort world."

"These people have lost a homeworld through no fault of their own. Offering them a new homeworld is the least I can do to compensate them for their loss."

- Palpatine

Exactly how many Alderaanian survivors took Palpatine up on his offer and moved to Byss is unknown. What is certain is that it may have been better for them to have died in the disaster, considering what really happened to those hopefuls who came to his Deep Core stronghold. Many were simply rendered mindless slaves, going about their lives in a deadened bliss while Sidious and his dark side confidants fed from their life energies.

The Galactic Civil War
Tarkin had promulgated a fear-driven principle of governance later called the Tarkin Doctrine, and intended that the Galaxy sink in fear. But shortly after the destruction of Alderaan, the Death Star itself was destroyed by the Rebel Alliance in the Battle of Yavin. Grand Moff Tarkin, who was onboard the battle station at the time and refused to evacuate, was killed in the station's destruction. But while this was a great loss for the Empire, Palpatine nonetheless found ways to turn the situation to his advantage.

It was announced by Palpatine's proxies that he himself had ordered the destruction of Alderaan after the Empire had obtained "irrefutable evidence" that this planet of pacifists, which had not even possessed a standing armed force, had supposedly been creating weapons of mass destruction. The possibility that some of Alderaan's bioweapons had been taken off-world to Rebel cells was dangled in front of the compliant press, to keep the terrified Core Worlds in line and justify a permanent state of emergency. And when further Rebel uprisings sprang up, the fictitious threat would prove quite useful. As a result, the Empire put more time and resources than ever before into crushing the Rebellion, flushing out Rebel strongholds throughout the Galaxy and conquering worlds that had allied themselves with the Alliance.

Two Skywalkers (3 ABY–4 ABY)
Palpatine was unconcerned about the Rebellion. For the present, it was useful, to accustom his subjects to a state of permanent martial law. He could accept some interference from the Rebels if it helped him in the long run. Without the Force on their side, they could never truly hurt him. But someone else could, as he slowly became aware.

The threat of Luke Skywalker
Following a major victory in capturing a Rebel base on Hoth (3 ABY), Palpatine told Vader that his son, Luke Skywalker, was alive and was the Rebel pilot responsible for the destruction of the Death Star. He was now trained in the Force and becoming a great threat to the Sith. Vader convinced Palpatine that it would be beneficial for both of them if Luke was converted to the dark side. Actually, Vader already knew that his son was alive, and had been actively searching for his son, secretly planning to use Luke to help him overthrow his master. What Vader didn't know was that Palpatine was toying with him; Palpatine knew that Vader already knew about his son, and that Vader planned to use Luke against him.

The plot to assassinate Luke Skywalker
Palpatine dispatched his Hand, Mara Jade, to Tatooine, certain that at some point, Skywalker would go there to rescue his friend, Han Solo. When he did, she was ordered to kill him. At the same time, he ordered Vader to Endor, to oversee the construction of the new Death Star. His apprentice would be useful in speeding up the workers, but it also put him well out of the way. By the time he joined Vader at Endor, he would have heard the comforting mind-touch of Jade, assuring him that Skywalker was dead. And it could never be traced back to Palpatine. Let Vader suspect all he wanted; even if he did learn the truth, it would only encourage him to remember where his loyalties lay.

But when Jade's mind-touch was heard, he was distressed to learn that she had failed him, a rare event indeed. Skywalker had eluded her by sheer chance, and by Jabba's personal strength of will. The Hutt had refused to let her on the barge that was to take Skywalker to his death, and so she could not be there to make sure he died. And there was little hope that Jabba's thugs could accomplish it themselves. Killing Skywalker was not an option now; converting him to the dark side was all the hope Palpatine had left.

It could be done; Skywalker had learned of his father's true identity, and would risk all to try to steal him back from Palpatine's grasp. The Emperor counted on this to lure the boy into his trap. First, he would destroy Skywalker's friends and loved ones. Then, he would force him to kill his father, the man he loved as much as he hated. After that, what choice could he have, but to remain with the one being who would offer him welcome? Like his father before him, it would be slow, and perhaps harder this time around. But at the end, Skywalker would accept the dark side of the Force.

The exile of the Prophets
As Palpatine made the last preparations for his trap over Endor, he received his Supreme Prophet, the diminutive Kadann. For decades he had consulted the Prophets nearly as often as he looked into the dark side himself, to be sure nothing happened that he hadn't foreseen. But upon looking deep into the dark side, Kadann saw the return of balance to the Force, and the end of the Empire. Palpatine laughed at him; he hadn't seen this in his meditations. But Kadann trusted his visions, so he gathered the Prophets and left Coruscant for Bosthirda, where they could watch events unfold in safety. Only Cronal remained. They were the first of Sidious' paladins to desert him and strike out on their own.

Was Palpatine's sight longer than Kadann's? No, it was something else: he denied even the possibility of defeat, refused to acknowledge any prediction revealing anything less than complete victory. Any scenario that fell short, he dismissed. He clung to the whispers of the dark side that assured him he would crush the Rebellion and corrupt Skywalker, because the alternative was so terrible it could never be considered. For his tremendous power could be ended by one young man, the one man he believed could destroy him. Unless he turned this man first. He feared Luke Skywalker that much.

Thus, Endor became the focus of all his hopes. He rightly believed the coming battle above that forest moon would decide everything. But at that crucial moment, his uncanny foresight, the pillar of his rise to power, failed him. The Force had become clouded, the future impossible to see. Before they had fallen, the sight of the Jedi had been clouded by the rise of darkness. Now the pendulum was swinging back against the Sith, the power of light returning as surely as sunrise. The supreme ruler of the Galactic Empire, the most powerful being in the Galaxy, was powerless against the will of the Force.

Fall of the Empire
"At an end, your rule is... and not short enough it was."

- Yoda



Hoping to put an end to the Galactic Civil War and solidify his rule once and for all, Palpatine crafted an intricate plan to lure the entirety of the Rebel Alliance into an inescapable death trap. A second, more powerful Death Star was being built over Endor, a forest moon orbiting a gas giant of the same name, protected by a shield generator on the moon's surface. In 4 ABY, Palpatine allowed Rebel spies to learn of its location while planting disinformation which suggested the Death Star was not yet operational. In reality, the station's prime weapon was complete and fully functional, and an enormous contingent of the Imperial Starfleet was there to protect it. Darth Vader and later Palpatine himself went onboard the battle station, believing that if the Rebels thought they had a chance to destroy the Empire's new superweapon and kill the Emperor himself in the process, they wouldn't pass up an opportunity to launch an all-out attack. Sure enough, the Rebels took the bait and planned to attack the station with all of their resources. Subsequently, Luke Skywalker, who was convinced that his father could be turned back to the light side, allowed himself to be captured and brought to the Death Star. There, Palpatine manipulated Luke into battling his father so that he could inherit his mantle at the Emperor's side. Luke resisted at first, until Vader probed his mind and learned that Leia was Luke's sister. With this knowledge, Vader speculated that he could corrupt her instead, a threat that enraged Luke and drove him to attack Vader with full fury. Although he nearly killed Vader and cut off his right hand, Luke controlled his anger at the last minute; realizing that he was dangerously close to suffering his father's fate, he discarded his lightsaber and proudly turned to face the Emperor, stating: "I am a Jedi, like my father before me."



Palpatine saw that he had failed in spite of his efforts. Luke Skywalker became both a lost cause and a real threat. After declaring that Luke must be exterminated for resisting the dark side, Palpatine viciously attacked the boy with deadly Force lightning. Sidious allowed anger to fill him; he knew he could not have a new apprentice, so he could lose his control for a while in order to inflict as much pain as possible. Luke almost died in the assault. At that moment, Vader's horror at seeing his son in pain broke Palpatine's hold on him.

Unwilling to see his son die at a young age and seeing his fall to the dark side as a mistake, Vader knew that it was Palpatine's turn to face betrayal&mdash;not for greater power, but for the light side and the way of the Jedi, the event that would restore balance to the Force and to fulfill his destiny as the Chosen One. Palpatine's once-loyal apprentice was no longer Darth Vader&mdash;he was once again Anakin Skywalker. Anakin assisted Palpatine to exterminate Mace Windu to confirm his allegiance to the way of the dark side some twenty years ago. Now, by killing Palpatine, preventing him from exterminating his son, he would confirm his allegiance to the way of the light side. Balance would be restored. In addition, having survived Palpatine's Sith-traditional betrayal, there was no going back to the Sith.

Seizing his former master from behind, Anakin lifted up the Emperor, in the process enduring a torrent of Force lightning that shorted out the life-support system in his suit. Mortally wounded, Anakin used his last bit of strength to cast the Sith Lord down a deep shaft to his death. The massive energies of the reactor at the bottom of the pit incinerated the tyrant's body upon collision, causing a massive explosion that engulfed the surrounding area.

Without Palpatine's Force guidance, the Imperial fleet became scattered, and the Rebels were able to lead a successful assault against the Death Star, which was finally destroyed by Lando Calrissian and Wedge Antilles's risky attack run on the main reactor at the Death Star's core. Having lost its leader and its most powerful weapon, the Empire itself soon fell apart, plagued by warlordism and eventually shrinking to the small and insignificant Imperial Remnant.

Palpatine reborn (4 ABY–11 ABY)
"Flesh does not easily support this great power."

- Palpatine

But even death was not the end for Palpatine. Unlike his Sith predecessors, Palpatine had never intended to be replaced by an apprentice, expecting his Empire to rule the Galaxy eternally, with only himself as its true leader. At an unknown point in time prior to his death at the Battle of Endor, Palpatine had found a way to cheat death by preserving his spirit after the death of his body. He arranged for a series of clones of himself to be created for his spirit to possess, in the event that he would perish. His primary supply of clones was kept on Byss, guarded by loyal Dark Jedi and immense genetically-altered guards, and maintained by a trusted private physician. After the destruction of the second Death Star, Palpatine's spirit was forced to journey in the maddening, bodiless existence of the void, eventually taking possession of the body of Emperor's Hand Jeng Droga. Though Droga went mad in the process, he was able to journey to Byss, where Palpatine was able to take possession of a clone of himself. There, on Byss, he would remain for years and would rebuild his strength and Empire.

The Empire in resurgence (10 ABY–11 ABY)
"You've grown very strong in the Force since we last met... But then, so have I!"

- Palpatine to Luke Skywalker Palpatine's rule was so absolute that his apparent death at the Battle of Endor fragmented the Galactic Empire. Without an heir, opportunistic Moffs and other officers turned into warlords and set out to carve their own kingdoms wherever they could. This worked to the advantage of the New Republic, which succeeded in reclaiming much of the Galaxy. One warlord who nearly succeeded in defeating the New Republic was Grand Admiral Thrawn, the only non-human to hold that rank. His cunning tactics and unerring strategies brought the Imperial Remnant to the brink of victory in 10 ABY had it not been for betrayal by his Noghri bodyguard, Rukh. Encouraged by Thrawn's successes, the remaining Inner Circle of Imperial warlords staged a devastating attack on the galactic capital Coruscant. Much of Imperial City was laid waste as a result, and the New Republic was forced to evacuate. Once on the surface, the Imperials splintered again, and skirmishes dragged on in the devastated cityscape. It was then that the resurrected Emperor struck. Using his dark powers to create a powerful Force Storm, he swept Jedi Master Luke Skywalker to Byss. There, he revealed himself to Luke, and revealed the power of the dark side. Faced with an immortal foe, Skywalker did the unthinkable&mdash;in order to defeat the dark side from within, he knelt before Palpatine, and submitted himself as the Emperor's new apprentice. Skywalker was too enmeshed in the dark side to successfully rebel against his master. Although he sabotaged some of Palpatine's military projects including the World Devastators during the Battle of Dac, he still could not free himself from the grip of the dark side. It was only by his sister, Leia Organa Solo, that he gained the strength that he needed. Together, the pair was able to defeat the Emperor temporarily onboard his flagship, Eclipse, during the Battle of Pinnacle Base. Having returned in yet another clone, Palpatine continued his scourge against the New Republic. Armed with the deadly superweapons, the Galaxy Gun and his second Eclipse-class Star Dreadnought Eclipse II, Palpatine forced many New Republic worlds to submit to Imperial rule. Despite his growing Empire, Palpatine was again growing frail and weak. Even worse, the Emperor began to succumb to genetic tampering done to his clones by the treacherous Sovereign Protector Carnor Jax. He tried to clone other bodies so that he could resurrect himself, but Jax had succeeded in tainting even the genetic source material. Even his scientists and doctors were rendered helpless. With his body wasting away rapidly, he went to the Sith world Korriban to consult the ancient Sith Lords. They advised him to enter Leia's newborn son Anakin Solo. Palpatine brought the Eclipse II to Onderon, where the Solos had relocated their children. While the New Republic engaged the Imperials, a team of Jedi, led by Luke, sought out the Emperor. They did not find him onboard his ship since he had slipped sown to Onderon to find Leia. During the battle, Lando Calrissian and R2-D2 had infiltrated the flagship. R2-D2 then sabotaged the vehicle's automated hyperdrive engines and set the coordinates to match the location of the Galaxy Gun, which was in Byss. The flagship fled into hyperspace, despite the efforts of the crew to regain control of the vessel. There above Byss, both superweapons collided with each other. The Galaxy Gun's final missile was pulled into the planet's gravity and exploded, destroying the reborn Emperor's throne world. Meanwhile, the Emperor faced Leia and demanded that her newest child be his to possess. She fought back, but was no match for the Emperor. Before he could complete his plot, Luke Skywalker and two other Jedi, Rayf Ysanna and Empatojayos Brand, arrived. Palpatine fatally injured Ysanna and Brand, but was shot in the back by Han Solo during the conflict. His last clone body destroyed, the Emperor's cackling spirit flew towards young Anakin Solo, but was intercepted by the dying Brand, who threw himself in the way. The Jedi Knight bound the Emperor's soul to his own departing life force, taking it with him as he became one with the Force. Railing and cursing against the Skywalker family, Emperor Palpatine's spirit was dragged into the depths of the Force. There he would experience disembodiment in darkness, perpetual madness as if to always live with an open wound, terror without respite. Darth Sidious, once the greatest Dark Lord of the Sith, was finally dead.

Conclusions
Palpatine claimed&mdash;and fully expected&mdash;that his New Order would endure for ten thousand years. In the end, it endured, with and without him, in one form or another, for roughly fifty years. It could not have lasted much longer than this, for in the end it had never truly been intended to operate without its Emperor. And, when that man was gone, it remained only for those who came after to realize that it could never work, and accept the inevitable, despite the attempts by others to give it a new lease on life as "the New Order with a personal face." What was the Galactic Empire that Palpatine had established? It was, at first, simply the irrational and terrible culmination of the blood feud begun thousands of years ago, of a difference of opinion over the nature of power as argued by opposing bands of mystics. It was a vainglorious attempt by one of those bands to reverse the course of thousands of years of history, to resurrect the golden age of a long-fallen Sith Empire and then hold it in eternal stasis. It was the physical embodiment of the belief, long held by the Sith, that power denied is power wasted, and it was living proof of the fact, learned at a terrible cost, that power indulged is power abused. And its inaugurator, Palpatine himself? He was at first the beneficiary of a plot formed long before he had first drawn breath, an agent-provocateur whose subtlety and manipulative nature allowed him to succeed where his progenitors had failed. In mirror image of his dual identities as both Palpatine and Sidious, he was a pleasant facade concealing a cold core. He had close friends, and yet had no friends at all. He was a man who claimed to be able to save the ailing Republic from its demons, and who was later laid bare as the most terrifying of all its demons. He was both a believer in the principles of the Sith, and a believer in no principle at all, save what he decided would benefit himself. He was both a man of faith and a man of no faith, who strongly believed in the Force and yet viewed it as nothing more than a source of power for his taking. He was, in his way, both an idealist and a cynic. He was a man who ruled with power, and who was finally ruled by power. He was a man who saw all, and knew much, and yet was totally blind, and knew nothing, when it mattered the most. He was a vigorous leader who stood proudly astride the colossus of the most powerful modern state ever devised, a man who claimed to represent the new direction of the universe, but was totally taken aback and possessed by fear when the universe changed direction again. He died many times, and while his spirit survived, and no doubt will survive for all eternity, it was consumed by the dark side of the Force, which now embraces him in death as he embraced it in life.

Abilities and traits
"The dark side of the Force is a pathway to many abilities some consider to be unnatural."

- Palpatine



Darth Sidious possessed a superior intellect, had a cunning understanding of the human mind, and was skilled in the use of the Force in foreseeing the future, so he could manipulate events as though he were a dejarik grandmaster moving pieces on a board. Therefore, he had a penchant for complicated schemes, and such was his patience that he could wait years to see them come into fruition. Sidious had a broad expertise in areas such as psychology, bureaucracy, and philosophy. The dark side energies flowing through his body were so intense that they ravaged his mortal frame. Lord Sidious was a gnarled, ancient man with pale skin, searing, sickly yellow eyes, a heavy dark cloak, and a glossy black cane, which he used to create the illusion of weakness.



Darth Sidious was an enormously talented fighter. Apparently, the only Jedi ever known to defeat Sidious in battle was Mace Windu, though Anakin Skywalker intervened and Sidious eventually killed the Jedi Master. It is also possible that the loss itself was merely a ploy on Sidious' part to attempt to turn Anakin, as Mace said that Yoda bested him in combat while Sidious defeated Yoda. Due to his expertise in lightsaber fencing, he killed Agen Kolar, Saesee Tiin, and Kit Fisto in mere seconds, and was also a master practitioner of Force lightning. Luke Skywalker, his power augmented by Leia and her unborn child through the Force, once defeated Sidious in battle by slicing off his hand. Immediately afterward, Palpatine declared that he had had enough with "Jedi dueling games" and summoned a Force Storm against Skywalker. The Skywalkers, however, were able to cut off the Sith Lord's control, and the storm consumed both the body he occupied, as well as the Eclipse.

As Palpatine, he had gained a reputation for being a good and modest man from Naboo, an extremely humble and peaceful backwater world. As both Senator of Naboo and Chancellor of the Republic, he promised to bring justice to the government, which had been mired in corruption and chaos. In truth the Dark Lord of the Sith, he had used his genius-level intellect to become the most powerful tyrant in galactic history. He was a self-proclaimed savior and political mastermind who had immense power and immeasurable cunning. In his roles as Senator and Chancellor of the Galactic Republic, though, he appeared as an unassuming old man, almost grandfatherly, with elegant robes.

Lightsabers
Like Darth Maul and Darth Tyranus, two of his three apprentices, Palpatine reveals a lightsaber of unique design. But unlike Maul and Tyranus, Palpatine reveals two unique lightsabers.



When four Jedi Masters storm into his office to arrest him, the Supreme Chancellor slaughters the three of them with an electrum lightsaber similar to Mace Windu's. Unlike Mace Windu's though, Palpatine's lightsaber has no belt attachment. Sidious conceals his lightsaber in the long sleeves of his regal clothes and uses it only when absolutely necessary. The handle is also constructed of phrik alloy, thus making not only the blade resistant to other lightsaber blades but the handle as well. Another detail making Palpatine's saber unique is the lack of an emmitter hole for the blade to come out of; the bloodshot red blade springs from a hard surface. With no belt attachment or emmitter hole and its ceremonial design, the lightsaber handle can be mistaken for a simple ornament, further surprising the opponent when a Sith blade appears, a transformation similar to the one its owner undergoes when letting his Sith nature take over him. Three Jedi Council members fell within seconds after being surprised by this transformation. A kick by the one that survived caused this lightsaber to fall into the depths of Galactic City.



But the Dark Lord is not weaponless when another, much more powerful, determined, dangerous and threatening opponent storms into his office this time not to arrest him, but to kill him. After seeing his attempts to defeat Yoda through the Force and to flee without a fight fail, Sidious finally understands he will have to fight and draws his lightsaber. This weapon is almost identical to the one he used against Windu, with no belt attachment or emmitter hole and phrik structure, but with a black instead of a gold covering. It could be even said that Sidious choice of weapon was based on his choice of clothing or the other way around, an assumption that seems logical given his narcissistic personality. The golden handle was a fitting accessory for the opulent crimson robes he wore as Chancellor, while the black handle matched the dark cloak of the Sith he wore during his battle against Yoda. Like the first's, the second saber's fate is unknown, though the new Emperor is never seen losing it. Even if indeed he lost it must have returned to his hands as the battle took place inside the Grand Convocation Chamber, Sidious's own ground, that was methodically searched by his shock troopers and reconstruction teams after the wizards' duel that ruined it.

The frail, elderly and unassuming Emperor of later years would never arouse suspicion of his dueling capability to anyone but those who knew his darkest secrets. Nobody would have expected the Galactic Emperor to be one of the greatest masters of the lightsaber in the Galaxy and his long black robes hid his dark secrets from the denizens of the Empire.

It wasn't until he had entered a new body, young and well-conditioned, that the Emperor would once again be seen wielding a lightsaber against a foe. A pool of Jedi lightsabers, perhaps remnants from the Jedi Purge, hangs from the walls of his cloning laboratory on Byss, and he draws one against Luke Skywalker, an opponenent that proves himself as potent as Windu and Yoda. He would need to utilize others as the Rebel Alliance pressed in on him until his final known death on Onderon.

Behind the scenes
Like many personalities in the Star Wars universe, Palpatine's character has clear similarities to certain historical figures. Parallels to dictators such as Julius Caesar, Napoleon Bonaparte and Adolf Hitler can all be found in the Galactic Emperor's words and actions (in many ways he is an amalgamation of the two Caesars&mdash;Julius Caesar and Caesar Augustus&mdash;and Lucius Cornelius Sulla). In writing the original drafts of the Star Wars films during the mid-1970s, George Lucas has said he was influenced by then-US President Richard Nixon and the constitutional crisis he ignited that caused the fall of his administration, and during the writing of the prequels in the early 2000s. Lucas also was allegedly influenced by President George W. Bush, and the increasing power of state security under his administration. In spite of the similarities, Lucas has time and again denied this connection.

Some commentators have seen comparisons between the events of the Clone Wars and the American Civil War. Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith show a group of dissatisfied systems trying to separate from the Republic, just as in the American Civil War dissatisfied states tried to secede from the American government. The separatists in Star Wars name themselves the "Confederacy of Independent Systems", just as the Southern states in the U.S. declared themselves the "Confederate States of America". Both confederacies show a marked lean toward free trade, while both Republics show a tendency toward taxation. In RotS, Palpatine demands extensive war powers, just as American President Abraham Lincoln suspended writs of Habeas Corpus and imposed extensive restrictions on the American people, including trials and executions without juries. Some characters in the film are loyal to the Republic but display a marked discomfort with Palpatine's demand for an army, just as Lincoln's call for volunteers to end the secession alienated many and drove states like Virginia and others into the Confederate fold. It is referenced several times in Revenge of the Sith that Palpatine controlled the courts&mdash;indeed, Lincoln attempted to have Supreme Court Justice Taney arrested for his objections to Lincoln's constitutional abuses. Most interestingly of all, both Palpatine's Clone Army and Lincoln's Union Army were called the "Grand Army of the Republic". These parallels are supported by the fact that, in addition to Nixon, Lincoln has also been cited by Lucas as an inspiration for Palpatine.

In many ways, Palpatine is an archetypal villain, whose only motivation seems to be pursuing and maintaining power, although according to the Revenge of the Sith: The Visual Dictionary and Lucas' commentary on the Revenge of the Sith DVD, Palpatine viewed himself as a savior and truly believed that creating a totalitarian state would bring about peace. Nonetheless, he relies on deception and manipulation to control and corrupt individuals throughout the films, and as a result is a classically diabolical character. As Emperor, he appears to be a frail, weak old man, but is actually quite supernaturally powerful. Palpatine may be viewed as the quintessential wolf in sheep's clothing.

Original version
Palpatine was originally concieved as a much different type of person. He was neither a user of the Force nor a great political strategist; instead, he was a weak-willed dullard with delusions of grandeur who had been elevated, first to President of the Republic and then Emperor, by his plotting ministers (such as Tarkin) who controlled the Republic/Empire by controlling Palpatine, their figurehead. Although this version of Palpatine appeared (through descriptions and recollections) in the Episode IV novelization, it is obviously superseded by every other appearance since which revealed Palpatine to be the mastermind of the events of the Star Wars saga.

Name
Palpatine's full name (assuming he has any names other than "Palpatine" alone) has never been revealed. The usage "Emperor Palpatine" suggests that Palpatine is in fact his only name, though the use of titles such as "Senator Palpatine" suggests it may be his family name. Of course, Palpatine might be a name of state, as the name Amidala is, so it may mean that neither Palpatine's given or family name is known. Notably, two other would-be Galactic Emperors&mdash;Demetrius Zaarin and Xandel Carivus&mdash;have been referred to as "Emperor Zaarin" and "Emperor Carivus," which suggests that they at least regarded Palpatine as a dynastic or state name rather than a given or personal name. Nevertheless, since the original version of his character in Lucas' early scripts was named "Cos Dashit", many Star Wars fan fiction writers have quite incorrectly adopted the name "Cos Palpatine" in their stories and web pages &mdash; so much so that it has become fanon. The name "Dantius Palpatine" has also been adopted, though its origins are more ambiguous, seeming to come from SuperShadow, a website of fraudulent Star Wars material. Another first name, Ethril, was apparently used in early drafts of The Phantom Menace Visual Dictionary, but was vetoed by George Lucas. Other names postulated by fans include "Augustus" (based on the presumption that Augie's Great Municipal Band on the Episode I soundtrack refers to Palpatine) and "Albert". On the official website, it is stated that Palpatine's first name, if he has one, has not yet been revealed. The origin of the name "Palpatine" is not known. It may come from the word "palatine," meaning, "relating to a palace," which is fitting for a supreme dictator. Some have speculated that it refers to Senator Charles Palantine, a character in Taxi Driver portrayed by Leonard Harris. Another theory suggests he was named for Palatine Hill, where Romulus and Remus were found and raised by she-wolf according to Roman mythology and where the palace of the Roman Emperors was located. Palpatine's Sith name, Sidious, is believed to be derived from Insidious, a word with multiple meanings, such as treacherous, cunning, and seductive&mdash;all of which accurately describe the Dark Lord.

Portrayal
Both the younger Palpatine of The Phantom Menace, the middle-aged Palpatine of Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith and the elderly Emperor Palpatine of the original trilogy are played by actor Ian McDiarmid, although the holographic image of the Emperor that briefly appeared in the original version of The Empire Strikes Back was played by an unnamed actor (a woman with the composite image of a chimpanzee for the eyes) and was voiced by Clive Revill. For the 2004 DVD release of the original trilogy, the scene in The Empire Strikes Back was reshot with Ian McDiarmid replacing Revill as the Emperor, with new lines recorded for both McDiarmid and James Earl Jones (the voice of Darth Vader). His lightsaber sequences during Revenge of the Sith, especially his fight with Mace Windu, were done by Kyle Rowling, who was also the stunt double for Christopher Lee, and Bob Bowles. Much like Lee, his face would be replaced in post production by McDiarmid's. Sebastian Dickins performed Palpatine's acrobatics, but when the Emperor broke the laws of physics, a digital stunt double was used for his most inhumane and spectacular feats. In the Clone Wars cartoon series, Nick Jameson voiced Palpatine. Jameson has also voiced Palpatine in different video games, including Star Wars: TIE Fighter, Star Wars: Galactic Battlegrounds, and Star Wars: Battlefront II. For the Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi National Public Radio dramatizations, Palpatine was voiced by Paul Hecht.

Commentary
In a recent interview, McDiarmid commented on this complex character:
 * "He has a black, irredeemable heart. There's nothing that can be said about him that's good. When we first saw Vader in the original trilogy, we thought he was the heart of darkness, and nobody could be darker. But now we understand what happened to him. And one of the exciting things about seeing this movie is that you can follow Vader through Anakin's journey every step of the way even if you don't agree with the choices he's making. In part his decisions stem from his traumatic childhood, and his impatient lust for power. And it's that which my character takes and then uses against him."

Disfiguration debate
"The attempt on my life has left me scarred and deformed. But, I assure you, my resolve has never been stronger!"

- Palpatine During his fight with Mace Windu, Palpatine's appearance changed as he was hit with his own Force lightning, which was reflected from Windu's lightsaber back at him. Palpatine went from being a handsome middle-aged man to having a sagging face with burning yellow eyes, scarred grayed skin, and long black fingernails. What caused this change of appearance has been the subject of much debate. One possibility was that his own lightning simply scarred and melted his face, in the same way electricity in the real world damages anything it hits. Though most of the circumstances behind Palpatine's duel with Windu and the other Jedi Masters were not publicly revealed, he did garner sympathy in the Senate by claiming that he had been disfigured when the Jedi attacked him, a claim that may have been truthful. But no other human hit by Force lightning was physically deformed in the Star Wars movies and Expanded Universe. Another theory is that Sidious' deformed appearance was his true face, which had been gradually deformed due to the immense dark energies he wielded (a process that has happened to other devotees of the dark side, though to a lesser extent), and that prior to his fight with Windu he had been using some kind of Sith or other technique (like Force Concealment) in order to cloak his true form and appear normal to others. He may also have had cosmetic surgery which "corrected" his real face, like Seti Ashgad did, who looked many years younger than he actually was. According to this theory, he dropped the guise either because he wanted to look injured and weak to Anakin, or because he lost concentration while fighting Windu, or because he had been using too much energy to continue to maintain it, or just because the lightning melted the mask away, and kept this look in order to frame the Jedi for deforming him. The short story Sithisis, not only supports this theory, but also reveals that Sidious had control over his faces, changing between them like a shapeshifter. It is most likely, though, that both theories are partially true. It makes sense that some of Palpatine's deformities (presumably those that seem characteristic of concentrated burn wounds, such as melted skin and facial indentations) were caused by the lightning itself, while other supposed deformities (presumably those that couldn't possibly be caused by lightning and are known to have been the side effects of intense Force&mdash;and particularly dark side&mdash;use, such as pale and wrinkled skin, raw eyesockets, yellow eyes, bad teeth and elongated, blackened fingernails) were aspects of Palpatine's true appearance being revealed. Moreover, Sidious's hands (and presumambly his entire body) remained unchanged after the disfiguration of his face. The next time he was seen though, he had pale, swollen hands with long, black fingernails.

Dark Empire possible discrepancy explanation
In the Dark Empire series, Palpatine tells Luke that the Battle of Endor was not his first death, and that he had started transferring his spirit into clone bodies years prior to that, when his original body had degenerated as a result of heavy use of the dark side. However, Lucasfilm official Leland Chee has recently stated that Palpatine was lying to Luke about having died previously, and that Palpatine's demise on the second Death Star was definitely the first time he died, although not the last.

Chee also stated that, while Palpatine's clone bodies do degenerate as a result of the strong presence of dark side energy within them, his original body did not degenerate in the same way, and he only had to start switching bodies periodically as a result of having to use clone bodies following the destruction of his original body at Endor.

Styles of address

 * Senator Palpatine of the Sovereign System of Naboo.
 * His Excellency Supreme Chancellor Palpatine of the Galactic Republic.
 * His Imperial Majesty Emperor Palpatine of the Galactic Empire.
 * Darth Sidious, Dark Lord of the Sith or Lord Sidious.

Appearances

 * Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace
 * Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones
 * Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith
 * Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope
 * Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back
 * Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi