Palpatine

Emperor Sheev Palpatine (also known as Darth Sidious) is the true main antagonist of both the original and prequel Star Wars trilogies.

He was 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, well-meaning, affable, responsible, reasonable, honest, good-natured, unassuming, kind, caring, cheery, grandfatherly, loving and harmless person.

However, in truth, he was arrogant, selfish, ambitious, greedy, power-hungry, unreasonable, uncaring, hostile, cold, cruel, sadistic, ruthless, narcissistic, machiavellian megalomaniac, delusional, psychopath, misanthropist, terrifying, dangerous, aggressive, violent an unpredictable.

Despite his arrogance, he was extremely intelligent, patient, wise, calculating, cunning, deceptive, and manipulative. Palpatine was also known to be treacherous, as he would kill his allies or have them killed, as he had no desire to share his power with anyone, after he had successively gain full control of the Galactic Republic and turned it into the Galactic Empire, he abandoned his public persona; he was openly shown to be a tyrannical ruler.

Palpatine was the only Sith Master/Dark Lord of the Sith in the history of the galaxy to achieve the ultimate goal of the Sith Order; to eradicate the Jedi Order and bring the galaxy under the rule of the Sith.

Like most practitioners of the Dark side of the Force, Palpatine was susceptible to fear to the point of being paranoid. However, it was never to the point of being cowardly; he felt little to no fear as he was not afraid of getting into direct confrontations with very powerful opponents like Mace Windu and Yoda. Fear ultimately proved to be Palpatine's Achilles' heel as it caused him to constantly plot and devise schemes against his enemies, which ultimately lead to the unexpected creation of the Rebel Alliance and the eventual downfall of his Empire.

Powers

 * The Force: Despite his old age, Palpatine was immensely powerful and had a terrifyingly strong connection to the Force. Although he was not quite as powerful as Anakin Skywalker, Palpatine was still one of the most powerful Force users in the history of the galaxy. He was also considered the one Force user to have successfully tamed the Dark side of the Force, exceeding even that of Ulic Qel-Droma. Palpatine was considered by many, including Darth Vader and Luke Skywalker, (the two latters who were immensely powerful Force users in their own rights) to be the most powerful dark force user in the entire history of the Sith Order; something he himself firmly believed.
 * Telekinesis: Palpatine was very proficient in Telekinesis, utilizing it 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 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 frail appearance, Palpatine was incredibly skilled in lightsaber combat and a very gifted duelist. He was one of the greatest lightsaber duelists in the history of the galaxy. In fact, the only person known to have defeated Palpatine in lightsaber combat was Mace Windu. He was one of the few known individuals who could fight Yoda as an equal. Ironically, despite Palpatine's masterful dueling skills, he was fairly disdainful of lightsaber combat in general, believing the Sith to have grown beyond the need for lightsabers.
 * Form I: Palpatine was very skilled in Form I.
 * Form II: Palpatine was extremely skilled in Form II.
 * Form III: Palpatine was highly skilled in Form III.
 * Form IV: Palpatine was extremely skilled in Form IV.
 * Form V: Palpatine was very skilled in Form V.
 * Form VI: Palpatine was extremely skilled in Form VI.
 * Form VII: Palpatine was extremely skilled in Form VII.
 * Jar'Kai: Although Palpatine usually used only one lightsaber, he was extremely skilled in Jar'Kai.
 * Genius-Level Intellect/Master Tactician/Leader/Manipulator: Palpatine was terrifyingly intelligent. As the leader of the Sith Order, he was a highly skilled tactician and a capable leader, he was also highly manipulative, he was able to manipulate individuals directly or indirectly to achieve his goals, Palpatine even managed to manipulate and deceive Anakin Skywalker, a genius in his own right, into becoming his apprentice and turning him against the Jedi Order.
 * 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.

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, the Dark Lord of the Sith. As Palpatine/Sidious, he sets into motion a series of events. Through Count Dooku and Darth Maul he orchestrates the Clone Wars, which go on for three years. At the peak of the Jedi Order, he fakes kidnapping in order to test Anakin. Hoping to save who he thought was Chancellor Palpatine, Anakin and Obi-Wan engage Dooku in combat. Although he knocks out Obi-Wan, Dooku is soon at Anakin's mercy. The Jedi is quick to kill him in cold blood.

Obi-Wan and Anakin bring him home safely. Soon after, he has the Separatists moved to Mustafar. He then learns of Anakin's fear for his wife, and plays on it by lying that the dark side can save her life. However, he slips and blows his cover in the process. Still devoted to the Jedi, Anakin tells Mace Windu of Palpatine's double identity as Darth Sidious, and Mace leads a strike team of four Jedi Masters to stop him. Nevertheless, Palpatine suspects their arrival and is ready to fight. He cuts down the three Jedi Mace brought along, but had to revert to Force lightning, as well as Anakin's help, to kill Mace. After the fight, Palpatine prompts Anakin to join him, and Anakin pledges himself to the ways of the Sith. He then convinces Anakin the Jedi are plotting to take over the Republic, and sends him to eliminate the Jedi in their headquarters, the Jedi Temple. To take care of the others, Palpatine initiates Order 66 to the clone troopers; this ultimately destroys most of the Jedi Knights and the Republic. With Darth Vader on his way to kill the Separatists, Palpatine ushers in the Galactic Empire, a brutal authoritarian regime, officially. He goes to his private quarters downstairs to check on Vader via hologram, but is then confronted by Yoda, who survived the purge. Palpatine uses both his lightsaber and Force lightning against Yoda, who is ultimately forced to retreat. He begins a search for Yoda, but turns away when he senses Darth Vader is in mortal danger. He flies to Mustafar himself to rescue him, and rebuilds him in a life suit. To seal his victory over Vader, Palpatine tells him he killed Padme in anger, as she was already dead. Neither knew she gave birth to twins moments before she died.

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

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.

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, which the Emperor spent a lifetime trying to prevent.

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.

House Palpatine
Sheev Palpatine hated his family. He hated his mother and siblings because he saw them as weaklings. The family member he hated most was his father Consinga Palpatine due to regarding him as an arrogant fool. When the election for Naboo's monarch took place, Palpatine sided with Bon Tapalo, the opponent of his family's canadite. During which, he murdered them all.

Hugo Damask/Darth Plagieus
Palpatine met the Magister of Damask Holdings during the above election. It was Damask who persuaded Sheev to murder his family in order to liberate himself. Afterwards, Damask revealed that he is Darth Plagiues the Dark Lord of the Sith and leader of the Sith Order and asked the boy if he would like to become his apprentice. Sheev accepted and was renamed Darth Sidious and was trained in the ways of the Dark Side of the Force  by his master. When Plagious was injured in an attack by one of his enemies in the Senate, Sidious became de facto leader of the Sith. On the eve of becoming Surpreme Chancellor, Sidious murdered his master and became offical leader of the Sith Order.

Pax Teem
Palpatine hated Pax Teem, the Senator of Malatare and the representitive of the Gran Protectorate. After Teem tried to assianate him and Plagius after Palpatine refused to cast a vote that would have aided his cause, Sidious dispatched the Senator and his entire entourage.

Darth Maul
Sisious took Maul in as an infant. After becoming de facto leader of the Sith Order, Sidious took the Nightbrother in as his apprentice and trained the Dathormirian in the ways of the Banite Sith. After Maul was defeated by Obi-Wan Kenobi, Sidious was furious. When Maul resufaced with his brother Savage Oppress, Sidious saw the pair as a rivvil splinter faction and took Maul prisoner after killing Oppress. It's unknown what happened to the Nightbrother afterwards.

Count Dooku/Darth Tyranus
After Maul's defeat on Naboo, Sidious took Dooku as his second apprentice. Together, the pair create the Sepratist Crisis and the Clone Wars. When Anakin finally defeated Dooku, Palpatine urged Skywalker to kill him. In the end, Dooku was just a tool Sidious used to convert Anakin into a Sith Lord.

Anakin Skywalker/Darth Vader
Palpatine desired to have Anakin Skywalker since day 1 both due to the fact Anakin's full potentail was high and because he saw a lot of his younger self in the boy. Anakin idolized Palpatine since day 1. When Anakin finally became Darth Vader, Sidious finally unleashed the final phase of Darth Bane's Grand Plan and told Yoda Vader would be more powerful than either of them. After Vader became a cyborg,Sidious's faith in Vader was temporarily shaken due to sensing Vader was still between Worlds. His faith in Vader was restored when Vader proved that becoming a cyborg had strengthen Vader instead of weakening him. His faith in Vader made him underestimate Luke Skywalker's positive influence on Vader and made him not take it seriously until it was too late.

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.