Emperor Palpatine (Legends)/Bio & Battles

"It is possible that the war itself has been only one further move in some greater game."

- Palpatine

Palpatine, also known as Darth Sidious, was a Force-sensitive Human male who served as the last Chancellor of the Galactic Republic and the first Emperor of the Galactic Empire. He was a Dark Lord of the Sith who followed the Rule of Two, an ancient tenet of the Order of the Sith Lords, and was the most powerful Sith Lord in galactic history. His entire life as a Sith was the culmination of a thousand year plan to overthrow the Republic and the Jedi Order from within. As Palpatine and Sidious, the Dark Lord was responsible for escalating the Separatist Crisis until a galactic-wide conflict, known as the Clone Wars, began when the rebellious Confederacy of Independent Systems challenged the Republic for primacy over the galaxy.

Born in 82 BBY on the planet Naboo to the aristocratic clan House Palpatine, he was eldest son and heir to the noble Cosinga Palpatine and his wife, a family he grew to hate. Palpatine discovered the Sith at a young age as a collector of dark side artifacts. After going through many private schools due to repeated lawbreaking, he enrolled at Theed University and joined the Legislative Youth Program under the mentorship of Vidar Kim. In 65 BBY, the seventeen-year-old Palpatine came to the attention of Darth Plagueis, a Sith Lord known publicly as Hego Damask, Magister of the influential Damask Holdings. Impressed by the young Naboo's knowledge, ambition, and disregard for morality, Damask recruited Palpatine as a spy for his company. After he discovered that Palpatine had the Force, he manipulated the young man into committing parricide. Orphaned at seventeen, Palpatine pledged himself to his new Master's teachings and the ways of the dark side of the Force. Plagueis gave his apprentice the name "Darth Sidious".

Plagueis had been instrumental in Sidious' rise to power. For years, the Dark Lord delved deeper into the mysteries of the Force while his apprentice carried out the Sith's interests in the public domain. But on the eve of Palpatine's election to the Chancellery, Sidious—in accordance with Bane's Rule of Two—murdered Plagueis and usurped the role of Sith Master. Around the same time, Maul killed the Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jinn, only to be defeated by Jinn's Padawan, Obi-Wan Kenobi, during the Second Battle of Theed. Despite the presumed death of his personal assassin, Sidious continued to carry out the Grand Plan.

As Chancellor of the Republic and Dark Lord of the Sith, Palpatine orchestrated the outbreak of the Clone Wars, a devastating conflict on a scale unseen since the Ruusan Reformation, ten years after the Naboo Crisis. He himself headed both the Galactic Republic and, secretly, the Confederacy of Independent Systems. The public leader for the Separatists was none other than Count Dooku, a former Jedi Master who became Sidious' second apprentice as "Darth Tyranus". As billions perished in the war, the vast majority of Republic citizens rallied behind Chancellor Palpatine, thus increasing his public approval to an astonishingly high level. With the support of most of the Senate and the people of the Republic, Palpatine enacted various amendments to the Constitution in the name of security, thereby transferring most of the Senate's executive authority to his own office. Despite his increasingly despotic hold over the Republic, he defended his actions by pretending to be a staunch defender of democracy and a friend to the Jedi High Council.

In 19 BBY, Palpatine revealed his identity as Darth Sidious to the Jedi Knight Anakin Skywalker. All proceeded according to plan when Skywalker informed Jedi Master Mace Windu of Palpatine's duplicity. Windu's failed attempt to arrest him, combined with Skywalker's conversion to the dark side of the Force, contributed to the rise of Sidious' New Order. All members of the Jedi Order were accused of treason and, as a consequence of Order 66, betrayed by their clone troopers. Without the Jedi to oppose him, Palpatine declared himself emperor of the first Galactic Empire, thus bringing an end to the Republic that had stood for over 25,000 years. Among his first acts under the new regime, Emperor Palpatine enacted the state-sponsored systematic extermination of the surviving Jedi, ironically carried out by Skywalker, who had been proclaimed "Darth Vader" upon becoming the Dark Lord's new apprentice. Throughout most of his reign, the Emperor all but disappeared from public life, opting to live in the opulence and grandeur of the Imperial Palace on Coruscant while Vader acted as his Military Executor and chief enforcer.

As a totalitarian despot, Emperor Palpatine effectively wielded absolute control over the entire galaxy and virtually everyone who lived within it. Despite his promises of peace and harmony, he spared no expense to build one of the most powerful military forces the galaxy had ever seen, primarily for the purpose of enforcing his rule over all others. For nearly decades, there was no serious political or military threat to his reign and, as a consequence, the Imperialization of the galaxy went on unopposed for nearly two decades. As the Galactic Civil War broke out to determine the fate of the galaxy, Emperor Palpatine's facade as an enlightened leader all but fully disappeared. Under the doctrine of terror, Palpatine attempted to rule through fear of the threat of force, symbolized by the Death Star upon its completion in 0 BBY. But when the Empire suffered a devastating defeat at the Battle of Yavin in the same year, the Emperor steadily began to lose the absolute control over the galaxy that he had enjoyed for nearly two decades. The destruction of the Death Star proved to be an pivotal turning point that galvanized many beings throughout the galaxy to join the Alliance in open rebellion against the Emperor's tyranny. Not long after, in 4 ABY, the Rebel Alliance launched an attack on the second Death Star over Endor, where Luke Skywalker was able to convert his father back to the light side, which resulted in Vader killing the Emperor once and for all.

(Borrowed from Wookieepedia)

Battle vs. Sauron (by Sppople)
Sauron walked across Mustafar. Soon he would conquer this place and use it to his will. Suddenly, he came across a man in a dark cloak with two Storm Troopers. The man in the cloak turned and saw Sauron. "Commander" he said to a Storm Trooper. "We have company". The man in the cloak faced Sauron and called "I am Emperor Palpatine and you shall kneel before me." Sauron scoffed at Palpatine's demand. "The Lord of the Rings bows to NO ONE!" Sauron shouted. Palpatine told the Storm Trooper to return to base as he looked back at Sauron. "And what makes you think you cannot be ruled by me" Palpatine said. "I am Sauron the Accursed! Lord of Mordor! Enemy of Middle Earth! Weilder of the One Ring of Power! And You Shall Die At My Feet!"

Palpatine ran at Sauron with his lightsaber. Sauron swung his mace at Palpatine. Palpatine ducked under the strike and struck his lightsaber at Sauron, but Sauron blocked the strike with his Mace and struck at Palpatine with his Mace. Palpatine dodged and prepared to strike at Sauron again. But Sauron once again blocked the lightsaber and then kicked Palpatine to the ground. As Sauron prepared to strike a fatal blow with his Mace, Palpatine used the Force to send the Mace out of Sauron's hand. Palpatine sent Sauron flying back with the Force. When Sauron got up, Palpatine was dashing at him, ready to strike him with his lightsaber. Sauron grabbed Palpatine's lightsaber hand and then grabbed Palpatine by the neck and threw him to the floor. Sauron brought out a Mordor Blade and struck at Palpatine twice. Palpatine dodged the two strikes and, with his lightsaber, struck Sauron in the Soldier. But Sauron simply laughed to Palpatine's suprise. "Impossible!" Palpatine shouted. "You are just a human!" Sauron punched Palpatine in the face, sending him to the floor. "Am I?" Sauron said. Palpatine was now worried. Palpatine used the Force to reclaim his lightsaber and then struck Sauron with Sith Lightning. Sauron stumbled back, but was still standing. Sauron blasted Palpatine with Dark Magic. Palpatine fell back on the ground. Sauron grabbed his Mace and prepared to strike Palpatine with a final strike. But Palpatine struck the Mace in half, disarming Sauron. Palpatine then blasted Sauron with all of his Sith Lightning. Sauron fell down, but then got up. Then, Sauron used his Matter Control to disintergrate Palpatine's lightsaber and send Palpatine to the ground. Sauron brought out his Mordor blade. When Palpatine got to his feet, Sauron impaled Palpatine with his blade. Palpatine fell to the ground, dead, whilst Sauron continued to attack Mustafar.

Winner: Sauron

Expert's Opinion
This fight was very close and both villains were similary matched. But although Palpatine's Force Mastery was extremely powerful, Sauron's Dark Magic could do things that the Force couldn't. Sauron's Matter Control and Alteration was also very useful as it was able to disarm Palpatine, making it far less likely to have the Ring chopped off. Even if Sauron couldn't destroy the lightsaber, Palpatine sith training would mean he would strike his opponents in more fatal places.

To see the original battle, weapons and votes, click here