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Ezra Bridger and Ahsoka Tano! Mine at last!
―Darth Sidious to Ezra Bridger and Ahsoka Tano[src]

Darth Sidious (born as Sheev Palpatine) was a Sith Lord and the Emperor of the Galactic Empire.

Biography[]

Background[]

Palpatine was born on the planet Naboo and was secretly trained as a Sith Lord by Darth Plagueis before he killed him as part of the Rule of Two. After many years of training he went undercover as the senator of Naboo, and at some point took a young Dathomirian Zabrak as an apprentice, naming him Darth Maul. He eventually was elected for role of Chancellor of the Galactic Republic and the leader of the Galactic Senate. After Maul was defeated by Obi-Wan Kenobi, he took Count Dooku, a former Jedi Master, as his second apprentice, renaming him Darth Tyranus. Dooku became the political leader of the Confederacy of Independent Systems in the Clone Wars against the Galactic Republic.

Still secretly a Sith Lord, Sidious was plotting the Republic and the Jedi's downfall. He ended up turning Jedi Knight Anakin Skywalker to the Dark Side and becoming his master, giving him the title Darth Vader. Sidious initiated Order 66 on the clone armies, ordering the clones to kill all of the Jedi, destroying the Jedi Order and forming the Galactic Empire. Sidious then became the Emperor of the galaxy and ruler of the Empire along with his new apprentice.

Empire Day[]

During Empire Day, an image of the Emperor was displayed on the HoloNet News on Lothal at Old Jho's Pit Stop presiding over the Imperial Senate on Coruscant with his Royal Guards commemorating the end of the Clone Wars and rise of the Empire. Governor Arihnda Pryce of Lothal was also invited to celebrate with the Emperor on Coruscant.

The Siege of Lothal[]

Sidious contacted Vader to ask if he had taken care of rebels. Vader informed him that they had been broken and that Anakin Skywalker's former apprentice, Ahsoka Tano was with them. Seeing this as an opportunity to locate more surviving Jedi, such as Obi Wan, he ordered Vader to dispatch another Inquisitor to hunt the rebels down.

Wolves and a Door[]

Following the Empire’s discovery of the Jedi temple on Lothal, Sidious became obsessed with unlocking its secrets. He ordered the excavation of the temple when he learned that it granted access to the “world between worlds”, which he could use to alter the events of time.

A World Between Worlds[]

After Ezra was able to enter the world between worlds, he saw a portal that showed Ahsoka’s duel with Vader on Malachor. He put his hand through the portal and dragged Ahsoka out just as Vader was about to kill her. Sidious then used ancient Sith alchemy to open a portal into the world, believing Ezra and Ahsoka to be the key to entering the realm. He attempted to kill Ezra, who was saved by Ahsoka. Ahsoka returned to Malachor in the same timeframe as her fight with Vader, while Ezra escaped back to Lothal. He then used the mural of the Mortis gods on the temple to destroy the temple and kill Veris Hydan, who the Emperor had sent to oversee the excavation.

Family Reunion - and Farewell[]

Family Reunion and Farewell 06

The Emperor greets Ezra.

After Ezra surrendered to Thrawn to prevent him from bombarding Lothal and killing its inhabitants, Thrawn took him aboard the Chimaera, where Ezra was brought before the Emperor in holographic form. Sidious appeared younger and non-deformed, despite his face having been horribly disfigured years ago. He explained to Ezra that he had had the remains of the Lothal Jedi temple moved to the Chimaera. The Emperor showed Ezra a portal to an alternate reality in which his parents were still alive. Ezra contemplating entering, but realized that doing so would mean he never joined the Rebellion, destroyed the temple. Sidious was infuriated by this and his hologram began changing rapidly between his non-corrupted appearance and his true form. He then ordered a group of royal guards to kill Ezra before shutting off the transmission. The guards subdued Ezra while a squad of stormtroopers shot at him, but Ezra managed to use the rubble from the temple to crush them and escape.

Battle of Endor[]

Four years after the destruction of the Death Star, Sidious personally visited Endor as the Second Death Star was being built to oversee its completion.

During the Battle of Endor, Vader brought his son Luke Skywalker to Sidious in an effort to turn Luke to the dark side, leading to a lightsaber duel between them. Luke nearly killed Vader but refused to finish him off. Enraged, Sidious tortured Luke with Force lightning. This led to Vader becoming Anakin Skywalker once again and turning against the evil Emperor, killing him by throwing him down a reactor shaft, thus furfilling the prophecy of the Chosen One. This would ultimately cost Anakin his own life as well. With the Sith eliminated, the Empire began its collapse.

Battle of Exegol[]

Unknown to the whole galaxy, Sidious had survived his death by transferring his spirit into a cloned body and later settled himself on the ancient Sith world of Exegol, together with the Sith loyalist cult called the Sith Eternal. While living on Exegol, he created a clone that lacked Force sensitivity, but the clone sired a Force sensitive girl named Rey, who became the Emperor's granddaughter. The parents of Rey hid her on the planet Jakku when they learned that the Sith Lord wanted to transfer his spirit into her body, since his cloned body started to decay.

For his endgame against the galaxy, Sidious had in secret for decades created the Sith Eternal's fleet of Xyston-class Star Destroyers, the Final Order, each warship was capable of destroying an entire planet. In the final showdown between Sidious and Rey, the young Jedi called upon the Jedi of the past (including Kanan and Ahsoka) to finally put an end to the Sith Lord. While attacking Rey with Force lightning, she deflected it back at the Emperor, destroying him for good. Sidious' death and the destruction of the Sith Eternal had prevented the rebirth of the Sith Order and the establishment of the new Sith Empire.

Relationships[]

Wiki
The Star Wars Rebels Wiki has an article focusing on the relationships of Sheev Palpatine.

Gallery[]

Wiki
The Star Wars Rebels Wiki has a collection of images and media related to Sheev Palpatine.

Appearances[]

Season One[]

Season Two[]

Season Three[]

Season Four[]

Books[]

Video Games[]

Trivia[]

  • He is voiced by Sam Witwer in the Season Two premiere "The Siege of Lothal". In Season Four, in the episodes "Wolves and a Door", "World Between Worlds" and "Family Reunion - and Farewell" he is voiced by Ian McDiarmid, who portrayed him in the films. Witwer’s lines as the Emperor were later re-recorded by McDiarmid, and this version of the Siege of Lothal is how it has been shown in subsequent reruns.
  • When the Emperor appears on the viewscreen in "Empire Day", the HoloNet News depicts him as young and handsome instead of his current deformed state, a practice employed by many real-life tyrants using state-run media. He would later alter his appearance in a similar fashion via the Force when he appeared in hologram form in "Family Reunion - and Farewell".
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