Triclops

"He's like two people living inside the same body&mdash;part of him good and well-intentioned; the other part an evil and dangerous genius inventor."

- Ken

Triclops was a Human mutant slave who was allegedly the son of Emperor Palpatine. It is possible that this relation may not have been in a strict biological sense, and that Triclops was the implementation of Darth Plagueis's experiments in the influence the midi-chlorians with the goal of creating a zygote solely through the use of the Force in a fertile humanoid female.

Triclops was a white-haired mutant with three eyes, one being on the back of his head, and sported scars on his temples from electroshocks administered by the Galactic Empire. He was trained to be an Emperor's Eye but Palpatine considered him a failure, and had him imprisoned. He languished for years in an Imperial prison on Kessel, fathering a son, Ken, with a former Jedi named Kendalina.

He eventually escaped from the clutches of the Empire and, betraying his supposed father, joined the Rebel Alliance with his son Ken before disappearing from the galaxy entirely.

Early life
"Triclops is the deepest, darkest secret of the Empire. The only Imperials who know of his existence are the most powerful members of the Imperial ruling class, such as the Grand Moffs."

- Ken

According to rumors, the three-eyed mutant known as Triclops was born to Sly Moore, an Umbaran female who had been a close adviser of the Supreme Chancellor and then Galactic Emperor Palpatine. Moore, who had taken great interest in the genetic experiments of the late Dark Lord of the Sith Darth Plagueis, had come into the possession of Force-sensitive DNA from an undisclosed source. If rumors could be relied on, she died in her native Ghost Nebula while giving birth to Triclops, and the child was immediately spirited away by her former confederate, Sarcev Quest. Regardless of the veracity of that report, Triclops was considered the true son of Palpatine, both by himself and the few high-ranking officials who knew of him.

Triclops' education was entrusted to the Prophets of the Dark Side, an ancient cult who had pledged allegiance to Palpatine's Galactic Empire. He was trained to become an Emperor's Eye, a dark side with a particular propensity for seeing into the Force. However, the three-eyed prophet in training proved to be a disappointment, and the Emperor himself regarded him as a personal failure. According to the false Supreme Prophet Kadann, Palpatine had sensed that Triclops could grow more powerful than him in the Force, and was also pacifist who believed in disarmament instead of war. Rather than killing him, the Emperor made his own son a common slave in the spice mines of Kessel.

Imprisonment
"The Grand Moffs refuse to admit officially that Triclops exists. They believe he's insane, and they’re terrified that if he's ever set free, he might take over as ruler of the Empire, and destroy everything in the galaxy, including them!"

- Ken

While imprisoned on Kessel, in 7 BBY Triclops produced an offspring named Ken with a nurse and "Jedi Princess" named Kendalina. Ken was taken to the Lost City of the Jedi, where he was to remain for twelve years, while Triclops remained in the Empire's firm grip.

When Palpatine died, rumors began to abound that Palpatine had a three-eyed son. Grand Moff Bertroff Hissa took advantage of this, setting up another three-eyed man named Trioculus as Palpatine's son&mdash;the Empire considered Triclops to be both insane and dangerous, due in part to his pacifistic views and calls for disarmament.

Triclops was later moved to an asylum on Duro. Ken, meanwhile, had been discovered by Luke Skywalker and was now aligned with the Alliance to Restore the Republic. Triclops finally managed to escape and joined the Alliance with the aid of his son and Skywalker, but was held under close supervision by Mon Mothma for fear that he was an Imperial spy.

Discovery
"I know what a shock it must have been for you to realize that your grandfather was Emperor Palpatine. And the things I must do in the days ahead will surely shock you just as much."

- Triclops

It was around this time that the Empire's reasons for keeping Triclops alive became clear: while asleep, he would dream designs for deadly new machines of war, which the Empire would later produce. During these dreams he would often enter convulsive fits, and even the mighty Chewbacca could be hard-pressed to restrain him. He would not, however, recall the dreams after awakening, never realizing that he was aiding the Empire he despised.

On Yavin 4, Triclops, after writing an impassioned letter to Ken, escaped into the jungles of the moon. Several months later he became the slave of the false Kadann and helped him escape the Lost City of the Jedi and make his way offworld.

Behind the scenes
Triclops was created by Paul and Hollace Davids for their young readers Jedi Prince series. He was first mentioned in The Glove of Darth Vader, but made his sole appearances in the flesh in the three last books of the series, Mission from Mount Yoda, Queen of the Empire and Prophets of the Dark Side.

In Aliens in the Empire, an online supplement to Star Wars Insider 96 and 97, authors Abel G. Peña and Rich Handley mentioned a three-eyed mutant who was born from a Bordali woman named Niobi and was the result of Imperial genetic engineering. At the time, Peña stated on the Jedi Council Forums that mutant in question was indeed Triclops. However, this was retconned in 2013 when Peña and Handley wrote a new series of article for the official Star Wars Blog, entitled Barely Tolerable: Alien Henchmen of the Empire. In part one of that series, it was revelead that the three-eyed son of Niobi was in fact Trioculus, while part three tied Triclops with Sly Moore.

Appearances

 * The Glove of Darth Vader
 * The Lost City of the Jedi
 * Zorba the Hutt's Revenge
 * Mission from Mount Yoda
 * Queen of the Empire
 * Prophets of the Dark Side
 * Star Wars Tales 14 intro