Darth Sidious

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**Darth Sidious** (born as **Sheev Palpatine**) was a human politician and secret Sith Lord who served as the final Supreme Chancellor of the Galactic Republic and later the Galactic Emperor, as well as the last leader of the Sith Order and Sith Eternal.

Sidious was directly responsible for the destruction of the Jedi Order and the Galactic Republic, having orchestrated the mysterious creation of the Republic's Clone Army.

## Biography

Palpatine was born on the planet Naboo. He later became the Sith apprentice of Darth Plagueis, who taught him everything he knew about the Dark Side of the Force, even the knowledge of how to prevent death. Sidious murdered Plagueis and took the role of Sith Master around the year 32 BBY.

### Naboo Crisis

By the year of 32 BBY, Palpatine had become the Senator of Naboo in the Republic Senate. By this time, Sidious had secretly allied himself with Nute Gunray. Sidious also supported the Trade Federation's Invasion of Naboo.

When the Queen of Naboo, Padmé Amidala pleaded for help to the Republic Senate, Palpatine urged her to call for a Vote of No Confidence in Chancellor Finis Valorum. Palpatine was then elected by the Senate to be the next Supreme Chancellor. Not long after, Sidious set his sights on the young Jedi Anakin Skywalker to become his next apprentice. However, while he manipulated Skywalker over the course of the coming years, he recruited Darth Tyranus as his apprentice.

### The Separatist Crisis

Sidious then orchestrated the Separatist Crisis, in which star systems left the Republic and joined the Separatist Alliance. During this time, the Grand Army of the Republic was being secretly developed on Kamino. Tyranus and Sidious had secretly arranged for an inhibitor chip to be planted in the Clone Troopers' heads so that they would follow Order 66. In the year 22 BBY, as the threat of the Separatists got bigger, the Senate passed the Emergency Powers Act, which expanded Palpatine's powers as Supreme Chancellor

### Clone Wars

The Grand Army of the Republic attacked Geonosis and the Clone Wars began. In 19 BBY, Sidious faked his capture and was held "hostage" onboard the Separatist flagship, the *Invisible Hand.* Palpatine was rescued by Anakin Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi during a battle, which also saw the death of Dooku, at the hands of Skywalker on Palpatine's orders.

As the war was coming to an end, Sidious only needed Skywalker to turn to the Dark Side in order to fully succeed in his plan. Upon learning of Skywalker's dreams about his wife dying, Palpatine invited Anakin to the Galaxies Opera House and told him of Darth Plagueis and the power to save people from dying. In addition to this, he also planted seeds of doubt in Skywalker's mind regarding the Jedi.

Shortly before the destruction of Separatist General Grievous, Palpatine revealed to Skywalker that he was the Sith Lord that the Jedi were looking for. Skywalker turned him in to Mace Windu, who traveled with a group of Jedi to kill Sidious. However, the Sith Lord killed Agen Kolar, Saesee Tinn and Kit Fisto in quick succession before he was overpowered by Windu. Skywalker arrived just in time and at the last second decided to betray the Jedi, disarming Windu and allowing Sidious to kill him. The duel with Windu had left Sidious severely deformed. Skywalker ultimately pledged himself to the Sith, naming him Darth Vader.

With Skywalker on his side, Sidious ordered the Clone Army to execute Order 66, which resulted in the deaths of all but two Jedi. As Vader assassinated the last of the Separatists, Sidious made a speech to the Senate in which he reorganized the Republic into the Galactic Empire. Shortly after, Grand Master Yoda tried to kill the newly-appointed Emperor. After the two dueled in the Senate rotunda, Yoda managed to escape alive, but failed his mission. Sidious then traveled to Mustafar to rescue Vader, who had been horribly burnt and injured in his duel with Kenobi. Vader was provided with an armor-suit which could keep him alive. With the Jedi all but gone and Vader as his apprentice, Sidious' plan has succeeded.

### Galactic Civil War

An alliance of rebel worlds was formed to fight against the Empire, which resulted in the Galactic Civil War. In the year 0 BBY, the Rebel Alliance obtained the plans for the Death Star, the Empire's new superweapon. During this time, Sidious abolished the Imperial Senate. The Death Star was destroyed during the Battle of Yavin.

The rebel who had destroyed the Death Star was Luke Skywalker, the son of Vader who had been hidden from the Empire. In 4 ABY, Vader brought Luke before the Emperor on the second Death Star during the Battle of Endor. Sidious tried to manipulate Skywalker to channel his hatred and anger. After telling the young Jedi that his friends would die at the hands of the Empire, Luke summoned his lightsaber and tried to kill Sidious, who was defended by Vader.

The Emperor watched with pleasure as Vader and Luke fought. Vader also tried to bring Skywalker to the Dark Side by threatening to have his sister Leia turned as well. This time, Skywalker unleashed his anger and attacked Vader, severing his father's hand. Sidious urged Luke to strike Vader down and pledge his allegiance to the Sith. However, Skywalker refused. Infuriated, Sidious fired Force lightning at Skywalker to kill him. Blinded by his hatred, Sidious could not sense that Vader had returned to the Light Side of the Force while watching his son plead for life. Vader turned on Sidious, hurling the Dark Lord down a power shaft.

### Survival

Despite the fall of the Empire, Darth Sidious had survived, having transferred his soul into a clone body of himself on Exegol. However, Sidious' power was too strong for the clone body to handle and he began to deteriorate. Over the course of the next thirty years, the Sith Eternal cult began preparing their new fleet for Sidious that could retake the Galaxy for the Sith once again.

During the thirty years, the Sith Eternal secretly established the First Order, creating an artificial alien named Snoke to publicly lead the First Order. The Sith Eternal cultists began experimenting and making clones of Sidious. All were failures, except for one. Sidious' "son" escaped Exegol and later had a daughter with named Rey, who held a connection to the Force and therefore, Sidious thought of Rey as the perfect vessel to contain his spirit. Rey's parents hid her on Jakku.

### Return

In 35 ABY, an audio broadcast using the voice of Darth Sidious' public identity, Emperor Palpatine, was released to the Galaxy, threatening revenge. After this, Kylo Ren, the grandson of Vader and the new First Order Supreme Leader used Vader's wayfinder to get to the Sith Citadel on Exegol and encountered the weakened Sidious, who admitted that he created Snoke. Sidious told Ren to kill Rey, who he revealed to Ren was his granddaughter.

Ren shared this revelation with Rey, believing the truth of her heritage would turn her to the Dark Side. Ren eventually turned back to the Light Side of the Force. Sidious gave control of the Final Order to Enric Pryde. This meant that the First Order and the Final Order had merged into one. Sidious chose this time to make his return.

### Battle of Exegol and death

Rey made her way to Exegol, where she confronted her grandfather in the Sith Citadel. As the Battle of Exegol began, Sidious attempted to convince her to allow herself to become the Emperor's new vessel, saying that it was the only way to prevent the Resistance from losing against the Final Order.

However, the redeemed Kylo Ren arrived to aid Rey. Sidious noticed their Force-bond and realized that their power would fully return him to life and he drained the energy from both of them, restoring him to a capable body. Rey was then contacted through the Force by the Jedi of the past, who gave her the strength and power to fight Sidious. She stood up and used two lightsabers to block waves of Force lightning that Sidious began sending at her.

With the combined power of all the past Jedi, Rey was able to deflect Sidious' own Force lightning back onto him which disintegrated his body and caused a large explosion, which destroyed the Sith Citadel and killed the Sith Cultists.

### Legacy

The impact that Darth Sidious had on the galaxy was immense but he was forever regarded as an evil tyrant by most in the galaxy even before his death. Following her victory on Exegol, Rey refused to use "Palpatine" as her last name and instead opted to call herself a "Skywalker", feeling a familial connection to the Skywalkers rather than Sidious.

## Appearances

* Star Wars: The Phantom Menace (First identified as Darth Sidious)
* Star Wars: Attack of the Clones
* Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith
* Star Wars: A New Hope (First mentioned)
* Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back (First appearance)
* Star Wars: Return of the Jedi
* Star Wars: The Force Awakens (Voice only)
* Star Wars: The Last Jedi (Mentioned only)
* Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker