Dark Empire ( Galactic Empire ) The Dark Empire , also referred to as the Empire Reborn ( not to be confused with Hethrir ' s " Empire Reborn " movement ) , was the reformed government of the Galactic Empire led by the reborn Emperor Palpatine . Although the Empire itself was formed when Palpatine revived himself in a clone body in 4 ABY , it officially revealed itself in 10 ABY , when he became strong enough to resume conquest of his Empire . It collapsed less than a year later in 11 ABY , upon Palpatine ' s final death on Onderon , as well as the destruction of Byss , the capital of the Dark Empire . The most notable difference between the Dark Empire and Palpatine ' s earlier Galactic Empire was that the latter was not openly run by dark side users . The Emperor kept a group of Force - sensitives , called the Dark Side Elite , to carry out his will , similar to the Emperor ' s Hand s of the earlier Empire . There were always seven of them , and once one died , another was immediately appointed . Despite being trained and empowered by Palpatine himself , the Elite took heavy casualties during Operation Shadow Hand and were wiped out by the end of it . Palpatine intended to eventually use solely the dark side of the Force to run the Empire , but had to use regular vehicles until that could be accomplished . His rule introduced a new line of superweapons to take the place of the two Death Stars his earlier Empire had . They were the " Eclipse " - class dreadnoughts , massive warships nearly twice the size of Super Star Destroyers that were equipped with small superlasers . Both of them , the " Eclipse " and later " Eclipse II " , were destroyed . The first was consumed by Palpatine ' s Force Storm , which he lost control of , and the second was destroyed when R2 - D2 set it on a collision course with the Galaxy Gun , another superweapon , similar to the " Tarkin " . Politics . Similar to the Galactic Empire prior to 4 ABY , the Dark Empire ' s official title was the Galactic Emperor , and utilized several portions of the Imperial Military to enforce the Emperor ' s will via a Diet of Imperial Planetary Governors . Unlike the Empire prior to 4 ABY , however , it was openly a Force - user ( in this case , Dark Jedi / Sith ) - run group . The primary method of governance was a dark side magocracy , where the most powerful Force - user ( Palpatine ) would rule , with several Dark Side Adepts enforcing his will . He also intended to use the dark side of the Force alone to attack his enemies , to the extent that he eventually wouldn ' t even need to rely on superweapons to enforce his will . Another difference regarding the Dark Empire is that Palpatine designed it to run on autopilot in the event that he was killed before he could do a soul transference , at least while Byss was still in existence . Military . Although the Dark Empire intended to fully replace all superweapons and vessels and solely use dark side - related methods of enforcing its rule , it was forced to rely on them to defeat the New Republic . Force - related weapons included the Shadow Droid s , which were biomechanical weapons created with Sith alchemy , and Chrysalide s , which were Rancors mutated by Sith Alchemy . Imperial Sentinel s , mindless bodyguards used by Dark Side Adepts , were also used ; often accompanying them on missions across the galaxy . Non - Force related weapons and vessels included various Capital ships , including " Imperial " - class Star Destroyers , " Victory " - class Star Destroyers , at least 4 " Sovereign " - class Super Star Destroyers , at least one " Bellator " - class dreadnought , at least five " Allegiance " - class battlecruisers ( including the " Allegiance " itself ) , the " Eclipse " and " Eclipse II " of the " Eclipse " - class dreadnoughts , at least one " Secutor " - class Star Destroyer , at least three " Procursator " - class Star Destroyers , at least two " Vengeance " - class dreadnoughts , " Lambda " - class T - 4a shuttles , at least three " Executor " - class Star Dreadnoughts , and several Modular Taskforce Cruiser s ( all varieties ) . Starfighters also included several TIE / LN starfighter s ( including the elite Dark Squadron ) and GAT - 12 Skipray Blastboat s . Security drones likewise included Hunter - Killer probot s . It also possessed superweapons , including the World Devastator s and the Galaxy Gun , as well as the " Eclipse " - class dreadnoughts ' equipped superlasers . The standard infantry for the Dark Empire was the Stormtroopers , the ground vehicles were AT - ATs , AT - STs , and AQ - 5 Waveskimmer s , and its ground weaponry included the X - 1 Viper " Automadon " . The direct commander - in - chief for the forces within the Dark Empire was known as the Military Executor . In addition , the footsoldiers included a variant of the stormtroopers that were amplified by the power of the Dark Side of the Force , known as dark troopers . History . Palpatine had planned to replace the Galactic Empire with his Dark Empire since prior to the Galactic Civil War . After Palpatine ' s death at 4 ABY , his spirit traveled to Byss by possessing Jeng Droga , one of his Emperor ' s Hand s , a process that cost the latter his sanity until he managed to gain a clone body as well as contact Sate Pestage , who was also partially responsible for his revival . Palpatine , needing to recover his strength before resuming his conquest and revealing his revival , observed the crumbling state of his Empire from behind the scenes . Likewise , the New Republic , although fully aware of Byss ' s existence , did not know of its connection to Palpatine , and likewise thought it was simply a civilian population , and thus did not investigate it . Palpatine and Pestage were also indirectly responsible for the Trioculus affair in 5 ABY , as they had leaked information about the Glove of Darth Vader to the false Kadaan with the intention of using the Sith Amulet to boost Palpatine ' s weakened power and regain control of the Galactic Stage . In addition , after Cronal ' s presumed death at the Battle of Mindor , it was rumored that Pestage used Cronal ' s codename and identity of Blackhole to further push the Dark Empire into open existence . In 10 ABY , having recovered more than enough of his strength , he eventually decided to reveal himself via summoning a Force - created wormhole that resulted in damage to Coruscant — which had already seen enough damage from feuding warlords after it was reconquered by the Galactic Empire — although he deliberately didn ' t stop the mutiny sooner out of revenge , wanting them to " cull the weak . " His Force Storm also resulted in Luke Skywalker being captured and delivered to Byss . He then seemingly converted Luke into his Sith apprentice , and proceeded to launch an attack on Mon Calamari with his World Devastator s . In actuality , Luke Skywalker feigned allegiance to Palpatine in order to defeat the Dark Side from within , and proceeded to leak the override codes for the World Devastators , although this did not last long . Palpatine eventually traveled to the New Republic ' s headquarters , Pinnacle Moon , in his flagship , the " Eclipse " , and created a Force storm to destroy the Pinnacle Moon , although his plan backfired when Luke and Leia cut him off from the Dark Side and had him consumed by his own creation . However , he designed a reboot method in case this were to happen and proceeded to take over another clone body , although the rest of his clone bodies were destroyed by Sa - Di and Nefta , and orchestrated Operation Shadow Hand . However , the Dark Empire ' s leader suffered a loss of sanity as a result of this brush with death , and utilized the Galaxy Gun to destroy various targets , eventually cowing several former Imperial worlds into surrendering and having the New Republic scattered . However , several Imperials were disturbed at their clone Emperor ' s behavior , and arranged for Carnor Jax , a Sith apprentice and Royal Guard , to bribe his physician to tamper with Palpatine ' s DNA samples to increase the clones ' deterioration rate from his dark side presence . Palpatine was eventually killed on Onderon , failing to possess Anakin Solo , and Byss was destroyed shortly beforehand , thus not only putting an end to the Dark Empire , but also severely crippling the Galactic Empire beyond any chance of recovery . Its remaining assets were later reorganized into the Crimson Empire led by Carnor Jax , although it was short - lived thanks to a joint effort by the New Republic and Kir Kanos , the latter intending to avenge Palpatine ' s death . Behind the scenes . The empire that the reborn Palpatine ran was not actually given a name when the comic series was released . It wasn ' t until " The Essential Atlas " where it was given a name , which was also the same name as the series it originated in . A similar action happened with its successor , the Crimson Empire .