Darth Sidious

Darth Sidious (also known as Sheev Palpatine or The Emperor) 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.

Palpatine 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.

Background
Sheev 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. Palpatine 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, Palpatine had secretly allied himself with Nute Gunray. Palpatine used his Sith name, Darth Sidious, while in contact with the Federation. Sidious 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. After Valorum was removed from office, Palpatine was elected by the Senate to be the next Supreme Chancellor. Shortly after this, the Federation lost control of Naboo.

The Separatist Crisis
Palpatine then orchestrated the Separatist Crisis, a period of turmoil as thousands of star systems declared independence from the Republic and joined the Confederacy of Independent Systems, led by Dooku, who was the Sith apprentice of Palpatine.

During this time, the Grand Army of the Republic was being secretly developed on Kamino. Dooku and Palpatine 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 the final year of the war, 19 BBY, Palpatine 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. Palpatine had planned for Skywalker to replace Dooku as his apprentice. He learnt about Skywalker's nightmares about his wife's death and revealed to him that he had the power to save Amidala. Skywalker pledged his allegiance to the Sith and joined Palpatine.

With Skywalker on his side, Palpatine ordered the Clone Army to execute Order 66, which resulted in the deaths of all but two Jedi. Palpatine made a speech to the Senate in which he reorganised the Republic into the Galactic Empire.

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, Palpatine 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. Palpatine attempted to turn Skywalker to the Dark Side but the Jedi had resisted. Infuriated, Palpatine attempted to kill Luke using Force lightning. However, Darth Vader turned on the Emperor and threw him down a power shaft, killing Palpatine.

Survival
Despite the fall of the Empire, Palpatine had survived, having transferred his soul into a clone body of himself on Exegol. However, Palpatine's 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 Palpatine 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 Palpatine. All were failures, except for one, which held no connection to the Force. Palpatine's "son" escaped Exegol and later had a daughter with named Rey, who held a connection to the Force and therefore, Palpatine 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 Palpatine was released to the Galaxy, threatening revenge. After this, Kylo Ren, the grandson of Vader and the successor to Snoke as the First Order Supreme Leader used Vader's wayfinder to get to the Sith Citadel on Exegol and encountered the weakened Palpatine, who admitted that he created Snoke. Palpatine 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. Palpatine gave control of the Final Order to Enric Pride. This meant that the First Order and the Final Order had merged into one. Palpatine chose this time to make his return.

Battle of Exegol
Rey made her way to Exegol, where she confronted her grandfather in the Sith Citadel. As the Battle of Exegol began, Palpatine attempted to convince her to allow herself to become Palpatine'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. Palpatine noticed their Force-bond and realised 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 Palpatine. She stood up and used two lightsabers to block waves of Force lightning that Palpatine began sending at her.

Death
With the combined power of all the past Jedi, Rey was able to deflect Palpatine's 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.

Appearances

 * Star Wars: The Phantom Menace
 * 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 Last Jedi (Mentioned only)
 * Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker