Emperor ' s Throne Room / Legends The throne room of the second Death Star served as the seat of the Galactic Emperor while he was away from Coruscant and the Imperial Palace . Once occupied , the throne room would be Palpatine ' s final home before his death during the battle over Endor in 4 ABY at the hands of his apprentice , Darth Vader . History . Constructed by 4 ABY , Emperor Palpatine used the room as his command post during his " inspection " of the second Death Star , and more importantly to oversee the planned final destruction of the Rebel Alliance in the Battle of Endor . After his arrival at the station , he met with his accompanying dignitaries as well as Darth Vader , whom he ordered to send Death Squadron south of Endor , and hold the fleet there until it could be summoned in time for the Rebel Alliance . He also ordered Moff Tiaan Jerjerrod to fire the superlaser at Endor if the Rebels either take over or otherwise destroy the shield generator , an order Jerjerrod reluctantly accepted . Midway through , Vader , disobeying his prior orders to remain on the " Executor " , returned to the throne room and informed Palpatine that , in addition to the shuttle " Tydirium " containing the Endor strike team managing to bypass Endor ' s shield , his son , Luke Skywalker , was among them . Palpatine , initially surprised that he had not sensed Skywalker ' s arrival , then ordered for Vader to go down to Endor ' s surface and wait out Skywalker ' s arrival . Upon Skywalker ' s capture , he was brought to the throne room , where Palpatine personally tried to convert Skywalker to the Sith , and also unveiled that the information the Rebel Alliance was acting on was bait placed by him for a trap , and proceeded to show the futility of the Alliance ' s efforts and even order for Jerjerrod to fire the Death Star ' s superlaser at one of the ships to demonstrate to the Rebel Alliance the Death Star ' s actual operability . He then used Skywalker ' s anger to instigate a duel between the father and son in the throne room . Ultimately , Palpatine failed , with Palpatine then proceeding to torture Skywalker , although Vader threw Palpatine down the reactor shaft , redeeming and sacrificing himself in the process and fulfilled the prophecy as the Chosen One . Layout . Erected atop a hundred story mooring tower on the surface of the second Death Star , the Imperial throne room was a series of chambers reserved for the exclusive use of Galactic Emperor Palpatine during his visits to the heavily - armed space station . Although this was the primary throne room for Palpatine while onboard the Death Star II , an emergency throne room was also located at the armored sphere located just below the tower ' s base , in the event that the tower itself suffered structural damage . Protected by several turbolaser turrets and more heavily shielded than any other part of the station , the tower was impregnable and completely secure from attack . The hull itself ( which was doubly reinforced specifically to protect against incoming artillery ) , combined with the shielding , was strong enough to completely withstand fire from even capital ships . From the outside the tower resembled the Tranquillity Spire of the Coruscant Jedi Temple , a design that was intended by the Emperor when designed ; while the Jedi Temple spire had four smaller supporting towers , this tower had none and stood alone . The common circular viewport lined with the web - like framework provided an amazing view for Palpatine , while armrest controls kept him in touch with his countless minions . Barracks for a legion of Royal Guards and various living quarters for his advisors were included at the tower ' s foot . All entrances to the throne room were lined with security scanners and traps to prevent intruders from coming in , in addition to being guarded by four squads of Sidious ' loyal Royal Guards when occupied and by four squads of stormtroopers when not . Even entering the corridor leading to the lift required inputting an identification code exactly , with the alternative being either being shot on sight or immediate capture . There was a docking rig for his personal shuttle to dock , chambers for receiving guests that bore resemblance to his quarters on Coruscant , a sleep chamber that monitored his health , and a massive holographic map of the galaxy which was also used to find out which planets or star systems were to be subjugated and / or punished . The throne room itself was in many ways similar to his throne room in the EmPal SuRecon Center . The tower was intentionally constructed to resemble the central spire on the Jedi Temple . The tower was an adaptation of standard Imperial mooring towers of large ships , albeit with additional shielding . However , it would become the site of his first death in 4 ABY . The throne room , which was accessible via starcase , contained viewscreens on each side of the walls to the side of the throne , which displayed the results of exterior scans and interior views throughout the entire battle station , as well as data including tactical schematics , blueprints , and others . Next to these viewports were display controls . The viewports were encircled with shield projector rings . The audience platform was open underneath . There were interrogation and restraint grappling equipment in front of the throne , which also included a targeting viewer and a holocam / projector . There were also two duty posts for the Emperor ' s Royal Guardsmen , with additional consoles located underneath the duty posts that acted as lower consoles . Both the lower consoles and duty posts were engineered to allow a small staff of officers to override and operate all of the battle station ' s functions from the tower . In addition , the throne itself was designed as a simple , swivel - mount contour - chair , owing to Emperor Palpatine ' s wardrobe of unadorned Sith robes and cowl . All of the transparisteel viewports included magnification scanners to provide close - up views of deep - space battles . Surrounding the throne room and its neighboring rooms was the abyss , an open shaft surrounding the turbolifts , which led directly to the Death Star ' s power core , 400 km ( 250 miles ) below . The receiving area , or inner sanctum , was separated by a retractable walkway . The Receiving area was used for meetings with local system governors and / or the Emperor ' s advisors . It included a conference table fitted with multi - spectral comm systems , and possessed several statues and other arts , including an idol of Wapoe , the mythical Atrisian demigod of disguise ; a jade trophy presented to him by Naboo ' s Theed Council , back when he was still the Chommell Sector ' s senator ; and an idol that was a gift from Moff Quarsh Panaka , Palpatine ' s longtime ally and follower . The Royal guards standing at this room and other parts of the throne room were sworn to a vow of silence , which was used as a weapon of intimidation . Some of the pipes were standard modular housing for computers , communication lines , artificial gravity generators , and other equipment . The tower also had a maintenance catwalk nearing the top , which was accessible to droids only for routine maintenance measures . There were four turbolifts in the tower , each congregated around the central tower . The turbolifts open on an observation gallery made of gleaming durasteel . Depending on whether the throne room and / or the royal quarters was occupied by the Emperor or not , the throne room / royal quarters was guarded by four squads of either stormtroopers ( when not occupied ) or the Emperor ' s Royal Guard ( when occupied ) . Behind the scenes . In its earliest incarnation , the Emperor ' s throne room was not aboard the Death Star at all , but rather deep below a palace on Had Abbadon , overlooking a lake of lava . An early sketch of the exterior of the second Death Star had the Emperor ' s throne room as a contained sphere held away from the station by two bracketing arms . In another early sketch , the throne was suspended from above by a thick cylindrical arm . Other art showed the throne in a central elevated disk connected by a bewildering array of curving catwalks . George Lucas , when discussing with Ian McDiarmid about the latter ' s role as Emperor Palpatine during filming of " Return of the Jedi " , pointed out that the throne room was oval - shaped , which was intended to reference the Oval Office , and more specifically former President Richard Nixon ' s occupancy in it .