Ederlathh Pallopides Ederlathh Pallopides was a Human female and the remote great - niece of Emperor Palpatine , ruler of the Galactic Empire . During the power struggle that ensued after Palpatine ' s death in 4 ABY , a faction of the Imperial Navy backed Pallopides ' s hereditary rights to her great - uncle ' s throne . In reality , she was a political pawn in Admiral Betl Oxtroe ' s plan to reunite the fractured Empire by using Pallopides as a figurehead Empress . Biography . Ederlath Pallopides was born in 4 BBY , roughly four years before the Battle of Yavin . At the age of eleven , Pallopides was presented to the New Republic Provisional Council as the great - niece of the late Emperor Palpatine in 7 ABY by Admiral Betl Oxtroe , a high - ranking officer in the Imperial Navy . By this time , the Galactic Civil War had been going badly for the Galactic Empire since the loss of its leader in 4 ABY . With the Empire in decline and the New Republic — the successor state of the Rebel Alliance — in the ascent , Admiral Oxtroe attempted to end the war through diplomacy before the Empire lost what remained of its ability to negotiate an outcome other than unconditional surrender . Hence , Oxtroe made overtures to the New Republic Provisional Council and proposed to reform the Empire into a constitutional monarchy . Thus , she intended to install Pallopides on the vacant Imperial throne as the first Empress of the Galactic Empire . As a child , however , Pallopides could only rule as a symbolic figurehead while actual governmental authority was wielded by more experienced officials . As such , Admiral Oxtroe offered the position of Imperial Advisor to the members of the Provisional Council . This arrangement would then place the Empire under joint Imperial - Republic rule , although actual leadership of the new government would be controlled by the Council in its advisory role to Empress Pallopides . Ultimately , the Admiral ' s vision for the New Galactic Empire was never realized . Before her negotiations could be taken any further with the Council , she was killed by unidentified assassins , although later New Republic accounts implicated the Noghri for the assassination of Betl Oxtroe . As a result , Pallopides did not succeed her alleged great - uncle as the next ruler of the galaxy . The Empire itself continued to decline at an accelerated rate , dwindling into a small remnant of its former glory . By 19 ABY , the Empire — what little remained of it — effectively surrendered to the New Republic , thus concluding the civil war that engulfed the galaxy for roughly two decades . Personality and traits . Ederlathh Pallopides was one of the select few females of note in the highly male - dominated Human - centric Galactic Empire , although her position was primarily owed to her alleged blood connection to Emperor Palpatine . Despite the fact that the Empire lacked an official policy regarding hereditary succession , especially given how the Emperor secretly intended to rule indefinitely through cloned versions of himself , Pallopides ' s status as Palpatine ' s great - niece made her a natural candidate for the Imperial throne in Admiral Betl Oxtroe ' s opinion . Behind the scenes . Ederlathh Pallopides was first mentioned in the " Dark Empire Sourcebook " , authored by Michael Allen Horne and published in 1993 . Although Pallopides was identified as the great - niece of Emperor Palpatine , the novel " Darth Plagueis " revealed that Palpatine murdered the members of his immediate family , including his younger siblings . However , the same novel also mentioned that Palpatine ' s father , Cosinga Palpatine , also had an extramarital affair with a mistress , leaving open the possibility of her lineage to Palpatine being valid .