Imperial family The Imperial family was the immediate relations of the Emperor of the Galactic Empire . Originally known as House Palpatine , the family was an ancient noble Human family from the planet Naboo . House Palpatine was known throughout its history on Naboo as a conservative and isolationist family , though it was not as prominent or wealthy as some of the other Royal Houses of Naboo . In 65 BBY , House Palpatine was rendered almost extinct when the eldest son of Cosinga Palpatine , who insisted on being known simply as Palpatine , exterminated all of his immediate family , including his father . Palpatine was initiated into the Order of the Sith Lords by Darth Plagueis as Darth Sidious , and later came to rule the galaxy as Emperor of the Galactic Empire for more than two decades . During his rule , many claimants contended blood relation to House Palpatine , and similarly , pretenders sought to legitimize their bid for the throne after the Emperor ' s fall . The House ' s color was scarlet , prominently featured on the family crest , which depicted a veermok , an aiwha and a zalaaca . History . House Palpatine . According to Cosinga , House Palpatine was one of the six impenetrable gates that held back chaos in Naboo mythology . The patronym may also have derived from an ancient name of state , or the name of a region on Naboo . The House ' s rigid conservatism had deep roots in the planet ' s history . Around 135 BBY , again according to Cosinga , his grandfather discovered that Houses Veruna and Tapalo were behind the war with the Gungans . Thus he challenged Bon Tapalo ' s father to a duel of honor in Convergence , House Palpatine ' s private resort in the Lake Country area . Palpatine succumbed to his wounds at Tapalo ' s blade . In 82 BBY , Cosinga Palpatine ' s wife gave birth to their eldest son , Palpatine , who later insisted on being known only by the cognomen in order to spite his father and the rest of the family . The couple also had at least two other sons and two daughters . By 65 BBY , Cosinga Palpatine was allied with Naboo ' s conservative party in opposition to the election of Bon Tapalo as the people ' s next king . If elected , Tapalo intended to integrate Naboo into the Galactic Republic as a full member state , an action which , Cosinga and his political allies believed , would be to the planet ' s disadvantage . The conservatives sought to preserve Naboo ' s independence , but were also concerned that their homeworld ' s market would be ruined if Naboo joined the greater galaxy , thus exposing it to commercial entities that wanted to exploit its natural plasma resources . Since the family patriarch was an opponent of Bon Tapalo , House Palpatine was publicly noted for its allegiance to the conservative faction . In secret , however , the House was divided by the political disagreements between the elder Palpatine and his eldest son , the seventeen - year - old Palpatine . Though he was heir apparent to the House ' s wealth and properties due to his status as firstborn son , the younger Palpatine was bitter and resentful over his family ' s lack of prestige in comparison to their royal peers . Despite the pride he felt for his ancestry , Palpatine hated his entire family ; his father , for not being intelligent enough to place House Palpatine in a position of true entitlement ; his mother , for her subservient nature and lack of opinions ; and his younger siblings , for treating him like an interloper . Furthermore , Palpatine believed that his father ' s actions were motivated more by greed than concern for the future of Naboo . Tapalo ' s chief rival for the monarchy was also the brother of Cosinga Palpatine ' s mistress , and thus the son suspected that the father was taking advantage of the election in order to attain a position of power in the government . As far as Palpatine was concerned , his father did not deserve power if his only means for obtaining it was through an affair with his ally ' s sister . The elder and younger Palpatine were never able to fully reconcile as father and son . Although they both shared a penchant for violence and fast landspeeders , their differences far outweighed the few traits they had in common . Cosinga Palpatine was frequently forced to intervene on his heir ' s behalf due to the boy ' s habit for causing mischief , using both his wealth and aristocratic position to cover up a significant amount of petty crimes and misdemeanors committed , insufferably , by his own son . At one point , Palpatine unintentionally killed two pedestrians in a landspeeder accident . His father forbade him from ever driving again , but the son ' s persistent defiance eventually wore the elder Palpatine down . Cosinga Palpatine later purchased a prototype patrol - grade Flash as a present for his son , which Palpatine interpreted as a bribe . But as a result of his extreme enthusiasm for fast vehicles , the younger Palpatine accepted the bribe and went on to become a successful competitive racer . Massacre . While attending the Legislative Youth Program as a student , Palpatine was discovered by Darth Plagueis , a Muun Sith Lord who was publicly known as Hego Damask , the magister of Damask Holdings . Plagueis used his facade to gain Palpatine ' s confidence , and learned of his ambitions and insecurities , as well as the animosity he felt against his entire family . When Cosinga Palpatine attempted to sever his son from Plagueis ' s influence , the enraged adolescent desperately turned to his mentor for advice . Plagueis urged Palpatine to do anything necessary to achieve emancipation . The young noble took the suggestion as implicit permission to physically rebel against his father — an opportunity he took advantage of when Cosinga surprised him by bringing the entire family to Hanna City on Chandrila during one of Palpatine ' s Legislative Youth Program conferences . His father planned to move him to Chommell Minor , where he would stay with family friends Janus Greejatus and his family , and so brought with him his wife and his several other children , as well as a number of armed guards . Just as Palpatine was preparing to leave Chandrila and return to Naboo with his classmates aboard the " Jafan III " , he was faced in the central passenger cabin by a recently - hired security guard sent to retrieve him . Once out of the " Jafan III " and aboard the family yacht , Palpatine engaged in an argument with his father that caused their long - standing hatred for each other to burst to the surface . As they travelled through hyperspace along the Hydian Way , Cosinga revealed to his son that he had wanted to murder him since the day of his birth , and Palpatine retorted by saying that he had better do it immediately . When Cosinga took a step in his son ' s direction , the latter used the Force ( prodigious talents for which he ' d ever kept shrouded or repressed ) to telekinetically smash his father against the bulkhead . Palpatine then proceeded to murder his family and the security guards using the dark side of the Force . When the deed was done , he contacted Damask and was assured by his mentor that none would ever learn of his role in the slaughter of House Palpatine . Damask arranged for all evidence of the crime to be purged , and for Palpatine to return to Chandrila . Shortly afterward , Damask revealed his true identity as Darth Plagueis to Palpatine , who subsequently joined the Order of the Sith Lords as Plagueis ' apprentice — neophyte to powerful traditions passed down from a long line of Dark Lords of the Sith — accepting his new Sith name , Darth Sidious . Darth Sidious : the last Palpatine . As the sole remaining member of his House , Palpatine inherited his family ' s fortune and private properties . He later sold his father ' s estate in the Lake Country before relocating to Coruscant as senator of Naboo . Although Palpatine favored the colors black and blue for his attire , his political colleagues in the Galactic Senate noted that his 500 Republica apartment was mainly arrayed in scarlet hues , to which Palpatine credited his family crest as a source of inspiration . Palpatine murdered his Sith Master on the eve of his election as Supreme Chancellor of the Galactic Republic in 32 BBY . He then carried out the Sith Grand Plan according to his own lights , as he understood and wished for it to be , over the next decade . Palpatine ' s prodigious planning and effort culminated in the creation of the clone army and the outbreak of a galactic civil war , both of which proved essential in manipulating the Senate so that it vested him with dictatorial powers . In the early years of his chancellorship , Palpatine secretly commissioned experiments on the spontaneous generation of life . Utilizing a Bordali woman named Niobi as a " test subject , " those initially unpredictable experiments ended up producing a three - eyed mutant that was christened Trioculus . However , the mother and child failed to live up to Palpatine ' s expectations , and were spirited away by Sarcev Quest , one of Palpatine ' s early political allies , to the Spice Mines of Kessel . Eventually , another three - eyed child , Triclops , was born . Rumor had it that his mother was Palpatine ' s Umbaran aide Sly Moore , who had impregnated herself using DNA from an undisclosed source . Regardless of the veracity of that report , Triclops was regarded as the true son of Palpatine , both by himself and the few high - ranking officials who were aware of his existence . Before his election as Chancellor , Palpatine made certain to obscure his own origins in order to prevent anyone from learning of his shady past , particularly his association with controversial figures such as Hego Damask , Bon Tapalo , and Ars Veruna , and to prevent anyone from tracing a connection between his very public persona and Darth Sidious . By the time of his final term , no family record of Palpatine existed . House Palpatine was , therefore , lost without a trace from the historical record as a result of the actions of its most prominent scion . The Imperial family . In 19 BBY , Palpatine brought about the culmination of the Grand Plan by declaring himself Emperor of a new galactic government , the Galactic Empire . Thus , absolute power over the galaxy was placed in Palpatine ' s hands ; the kind that attracted ambitious individuals who sought to share in that power and influence . The two brothers Silas and Orman Tagge contemplated the political and financial advantages of uniting their family with the Emperor ' s clan , specifically by positioning their younger sister , Domina Tagge , into the Imperial family via marriage . At the zenith of Palpatine ' s reign in 1 ABY , it was believed that he and the deceased Volpau were distant cousins by blood ; a plaque accompanying Volpau ' s remains to Coruscant for ritual incineration aboard the freighter " Mingula " identified him as Palpatine ' s third cousin . In the aftermath of Emperor Palpatine ' s demise at the Battle of Endor in 4 ABY , several claimants who made their bid for the vacant Imperial throne did so while claiming to be blood - related to the deceased monarch . Roganda Ismaren tried to rule the Empire through her offspring , Irek Ismaren , whom she declared to be the late Emperor ' s secret son and true heir . However , an investigation into the matter revealed that the true father of her son was actually Sarcev Quest . For decades , there also had existed rumors that Grand Vizier Sate Pestage was a bastard son sired by Palpatine . However , not only was Pestage older than Palpatine , he was also known to have a large extended family of his own . Although rumors of Triclops ' s existence , as well as his connection to Emperor Palpatine , circulated amongst the Empire ' s leading government officials , the Moffs ultimately deemed him insane and unfit to succeed to the throne . Instead , they gave their support to Trioculus , whom they falsely identified as Palpatine ' s illegitimate heir . Triclops , rejected by the Empire , eventually spawned his own son with a " Jedi Princess " named Kendalina . As the son of the Emperor ' s alleged son , Ken was essentially Palpatine ' s alleged grandson . Another claimant to the throne was Ederlathh Pallopides , a remote great - niece of Emperor Palpatine . In an attempt to end the Galactic Civil War , Admiral Betl Oxtroe of the Imperial Navy sought to work with the New Republic in reorganizing the Galactic Empire into a constitutional monarchy . Under this reformed regime , the Imperial throne would effectively be reduced to a powerless , symbolic position . Pallopides , too young to rule at eleven years old , was meant to serve as a mere figurehead while the New Republic Provisional Council ruled as the " de facto " head of government . Ultimately , none of Palpatine ' s alleged descendants or relatives succeeded him to the throne in an official capacity . At some point after 44 ABY , the New Empire — a state formed from the last remnants of the first Galactic Empire — was ruled by a new hereditary monarchy : the bloodline of Emperor Jagged Fel . Fel ' s dynasty continued to exist by 138 ABY , with the Empire under the rule of his direct descendant , Empress Marasiah Fel . Behind the scenes . Before the release of " Darth Plagueis " , it was unknown whether " Palpatine " was a family name or a name of state adopted once he entered into politics . The book about Palpatine ' s apprenticeship under Plagueis , however , introduces House Palpatine , with its partiarch Cosinga Palpatine , thus establishing " Palpatine " as a surname , although Emperor Palpatine remains mononymous . See the " Name " section of the Palpatine article for more details .