Palpatine

Emperor Sheev Palpatine (also known as Darth Sidious) is the main antagonist of the Star Wars saga, portrayed by Ian McDiarmid in the feature films. He was the Supreme Chancellor of the Galactic Republic, and later became the emperor of the Galactic Empire until he was killed by the redeemed Darth Vader when he tried to kill his son Luke Skywalker.

Personality
At first, Palpatine appeared to be a modest, polite and harmless person. However, in truth, he was an arrogant, cunning, deceptive, manipulative, ruthless, cruel, sadistic, machiavellian megalomaniac, psychopath and misanthropist, as he manipulated individuals directly or indirectly to achieve his goals; Palpatine's principal desire was to have ultimate power.

Powers

 * The Force: Despite his old age, Palpatine was immensely powerful and had a terrifying strong connection to the Force. He was one of the most powerful force users in the history of the galaxy.
 * Telekinesis: Palpatine utilized Telekinesis, either as an offensive attack or simply as a means of displaying his power, the latter being most prevalent when he used the ability to remove Luke Skywalker's binders aboard the Death Star II while barely lifting a finger.
 * Mind control: Palpatine utilized Mind control, to control the minds of other sentient beings, however, it did not work on individuals who have very strong wills.
 * Force choke: Palpatine utilized Force choke to either weaken or kill his opponents.
 * Force lightning: Palpatine was a master of using Force Lightning, which he used to torture or kill his opponents.
 * Force storm: Palpatine utilized Force storm, either to kill an entire planet or to create a hyperspace wormhole.
 * Force drain: Palpatine utilized Force drain, to either drain Force energy from other force users or to drain life energy from other sentient beings.
 * Transfer essence: Palpatine utilized Transfer essence, to transfer his essence, as well as the essences of others sentient beings, to other bodys.
 * Force Jump: Palpatine utilized Force Jump, to jump or leap at great distances.
 * Force speed: Palpatine utilized Force speed, to move at amazing speed.
 * Force vision: Palpatine utilized Force vision, to have visions of the past, the present and the future; however, like all force users, his visions were not always clear or sometimes has visions even when he was not utilizing this power at will.
 * Force sense: Palpatine utilized Force sense, to sense another sentient being's emotions, the future, ripples in the Force caused by momentous or traumatic events, or impending danger and the presence of the light side.
 * Force stealth: Palpatine utilized Force stealth to mask his force alignment or even his entire presence from other force users.
 * Force rage: Palpatine utilized Force rage to channel his anger to increase his speed, strength and ferocity.
 * Enhance Force Sensitivity: Palpatine utilized Enhance Force Sensitivity, to enhance his powers of the Dark side of the Force.
 * Protection bubble: Palpatine utilized protection bubble to create a defensive sphere around his body.
 * Sith alchemy: Palpatine was a master of Sith alchemy, an ancient art that was taught to him by his master; Darth Plagueis.
 * Sith magic: Palpatine possessed knowledge of Sith magic, allowing him to use arcane rituals to detect poisons and drugs in food and drink. He also could utter incantations in the Balc language.

Abilities

 * Lightsaber Skills: Despite his old age, Palpatine was incredibly skilled in lightsaber combat and a highly gifted duelist. He was one of the greatest lightsaber duelists in the history of the galaxy.
 * Form I: Palpatine was highly skilled in Form I.
 * Form II: Palpatine was highly skilled in Form II.
 * Form III: Palpatine was highly skilled in Form III.
 * Form IV: Palpatine was highly skilled in Form IV.
 * Form V: Palpatine was highly skilled in Form V.
 * Form VI: Palpatine was highly skilled in Form VI.
 * Form VII: Palpatine was highly skilled in Form VII.
 * Jar'Kai: Palpatine was highly skilled in Jar'Kai.
 * Multilingual: Palpatine was capable of fluently speaking English and Balc.

Lightsabers
Palpatine's valued weapon and possession was his red lightsaber.
 * First Lightsaber: Palpatine built his first red lightsaber during his apprenticeship under Darth Plagueis. It would remain in his possession until his death, but it is unknown what happened to it after Palpatine's death.
 * Second Lightsaber: At some point Palpatine had built second red lightsaber. It would remain in his possession until his duel against Mace Windu.

Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back
Palpatine first appeared as the unnamed Emperor of the Galactic Empire in the 1980 film The Empire Strikes Back and was voiced by Clive Revill (later portrayed by Ian McDiarmid in the later Special Edition releases). In the film he contacts Darth Vader via holographic communication and tells him of a "great Disturbance in the Force," and warns him that Luke Skywalker is becoming a threat. But Vader convinces the Emperor that Luke would be an asset if he could be turned to the dark side of the Force.

Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi
In Return of the Jedi, Palpatine (now portrayed by Ian McDiarmid) arrives on the second Death Star to oversee the final stages of the war between the Rebel Alliance. When Vader delivers his son, to Palpatine, the Emperor—intent on replacing Vader with a younger, more powerful apprentice—tempts the young Jedi to the dark side by appealing to his fear for his friends. This leads to a lightsaber duel in which Luke defeats and nearly kills Vader. Luke ultimately refuses to turn to the dark side, which angers Palpatine who attacks him with Force Lightning and ignoring the shield generator protecting the Death Star II been destroyed by the Rebel strike team allowing Lando Calrissian and Wedge Antilles to prepare to attack it. Vader, witnessing the suffering of his son, turns on his master who was really the true traitor and enemy of the Galactic Republic that Mace Windu warned him in the Clone Wars and redeems himself by throwing the evil Emperor into the Death Star's reactor shaft to his death and fulfilled the Prophecy as the Chosen One.

Prequel trilogy
In the prequel trilogy, Palpatine is a middle-aged politician of the Republic who rises to power through deception and treachery. As the Senator from Naboo and later the Chancellor of the Republic, he outwardly behaves like a well-intentioned and loyal public servant and supporter of democracy, yet underneath his affable public persona lurks his true identity: Darth Sidious, a Dark Lord of the Sith. As both Palpatine and Sidious, he sets into motion a series of events—including the Clone Wars—which ultimately destroys the Jedi Knights and the Republic, allowing him to usher in the Galactic Empire, a brutal authoritarian regime.

Ian McDiarmid has hinted at the possibility of reprising the role for the sequel trilogy.

Star Wars Rebels
In the first season, Palpatine makes a brief appearance on the Holonet broadcast in the episode "Empire Day", but makes a vocal appearance in the second season's television movie The Siege of Lothal, voiced by Sam Witwer, who originally provided both the voices of Emperor Palpatine and Galen Marek/Starkiller (Darth Vader's apprentice) in the 2008 video game Star Wars: The Force Unleashed and the 2010 sequel Star Wars: The Force Unleashed II. He is also the central antagonist.

Star Wars Weekends
He was a meetable character during the Star Wars Weekends event in Disney's Hollywood Studios at The Walt Disney World Resort.

Trivia

 * Palpatine is often considered as one of the most evil movie villains ever.
 * Since the initial theatrical run of Return of the Jedi, Palpatine has become a symbol of evil and sinister deception in popular culture. People have compared his corrupt leadership to many dictators throughout history and his appearance to that of Benedict Arnold.
 * The film historian Robin Wood has compared Palpatine's appearance to that of the Evil Queen's witch form in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Coincidentally, both of their disfigured appearances had some relation to lightning that they summoned (the Queen added lightning to a potion as part of an ingredient to fashion a disguise for herself and Palpatine's body ended up disfigured as a direct result of Mace Windu redirecting his Force Lightning back at Palpatine when he attempted to blast him with it, although it was heavily implied with the latter that the disfigurements were actually his true form being exposed).
 * Contrary to popular belief, Palpatine was not referred to by name until The Phantom Menace. His name originated from supplementary materials such as the visual dictionary for the original trilogy, the script, and the novelizations.
 * Palpatine's defeat and death at the hands of Vader was referenced in Toy Story 3, where Big Baby picked up Lotso after one abuse too many and threw him in the dumpster. At the time the movie was released, Disney had not acquired the rights to Star Wars yet, though many of the Disney / Pixar films, including all of the Toy Story films, have included references to aspects of the Star Wars franchise.
 * Palpatine's current voice actor for Star Wars Rebels, Sam Witwer, had previously voiced him in Star Wars: The Force Unleashed.