Imperial throne room ( Death Star I ) The throne room of the first Death Star , also referred to as the Observation Dome , served as the seat of the Galactic Emperor while he was away from Coruscant and the Imperial Palace , as well as a means to oversee the Death Star ' s construction . History . Even though Palpatine rarely left his confines within the Imperial Palace within Coruscant , Imperial regulations mandated that a throne room for the Galactic Emperor be built on the first Death Star in the event that he end up visiting the Death Star . Capture of Rebel leaders . After the High Command of the Rebel Alliance was exposed to the Empire and were detained , they were brought before Palpatine where he sentenced them to be tortured , in order to give him the names of all of the Rebel forces and their allies and then would have them painfully executed in public , to destroy any chances of future revolts . Galen Marek managed to break in to save his friends , also critically injuring Darth Vader in a duel . Palpatine then ordered Galen Marek to kill Vader so he could take Vader ' s place as Palpatine ' s apprentice . However , Palpatine tortured Rahm Kota with Force lightning when he attempted to strike Palpatine down to prevent Marek from turning to the Dark Side . Palpatine and Marek then dueled each other via Force abilities , with Palpatine eventually being defeated . Despite facing his death , Palpatine attempted to goad Marek into killing him in order to turn him to the dark side . However , with Kota ' s help , Marek refused to give in , and sacrificed himself to allow his friends to escape Death Star . As a result of Marek ' s sacrifice , the Emperor ' s throne room ended up heavily damaged . It is unknown if the throne room ended up repaired prior to the Death Star ' s destruction two years later . Layout . The throne room was situated near one of the convergence arrays of the Concave Dish Composite Beam Superlaser . The entrance to the throne room proper was designated by a circular door with a clock - like lock . The outside area of the throne room was a room with a central pillar with two entry points , similar to the future Death Star II . It also contained lifts . In the center was an energy field that was presumably used as a temporary floor as is was incomplete at the time . The south area contained a hallway leading to the Conclave Dish area , whereas the north led to the inner sanctum , with the east and west sides containing windows . The inner sanctum contained a large dais with a long platform leading to the Emperor ' s area . A shield could be erected to prevent the Emperor from being attacked , and also as a means to prevent escape from the Emperor . Within the shielded area was an array of monitors . The throne itself was just beyond the shielded area and was seemingly built into the wall . There were also containment field capsules for imprisoning people inside . Imperial Royal Guards as well as Imperial Senate Guards were also present to ensure the Emperor ' s protection . Similar to the later Death Star II , it also had a 100 - meter tower around the northern pole and included among the amenities a private turbolift and throne with command controls .