Emperor Palpatine (Legends)

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. Atrocitus (by JWarrior89)
On board the second Death Star, Palpatine sits in his throne room. Suddenly, he hears the door slide open behind him; he rotates his throne around to see Atrocitus storming toward him, dragging the corpse of one of his Elite Guards by his neck. Atrocitus throws the corpse at Palpatine's feet. "Palpatine!" Atrocitus roars.

"Master Atrocitus," Palpatine responds, "You are stronger than I expected. I thought my forces would have granted you more of a challenge."

"I am fueled by rage itself!" Atrocitus growls, "You are a fool for thinking your pathetic guards could hinder me, and you shall pay for that foolishness with your life!"

"Are you threatening me, Atrocitus?" Palpatine asks, cooly.

"When I'm done with you," Atrocitus roars, "I will rip you in half and feast on your flesh!"

Palpatine gets up from his throne.

"So be it..." he says. He raises his hands and casts Force Lightning, but Atrocitus flies upward to avoid it. Palpatine continues to cast lightning, but Atrocitus manages to dodge it, then flies forward, slamming into Palpatine. He pins Palpatine against the wall and proceeds to viciously beat him. He then turns and throws Palpatine across the room.

Palpatine crashes to the floor, but quickly gets to his feet, drawing and igniting his lightsaber. Atrocitus fires several energy blasts from his power ring, but Palpatine blocks them all. He then reaches out with the Force, pulling loose part of an upper platform and hurls it at Atrocitus, who doesn't get out of the way in time and is sent crashing to the floor.

Palpatine grins at the sight of Atrocitus pinned under the platform, but his grin quickly vanishes as Atrocitus manages to push it off and get to his feet. Growling, he forms an energy blade from his red power ring and charges Palpatine. He swings his blade, but Palpatine manages to block it with his lightsaber. The two engage in a vicious sword battle.

For a while, the two are evenly matched, but then Palpatine enhances his movements with Force Speed, unleashing a flurry of blows that force Atrocitus back. Suddenly, Palpatine uses the Force to blast him against the wall, then leaps at him using Force Flight. He swings his lightsaber, but Atrocitus rolls out of the way, behind Palpatine.

Atrocitus lunges at Palpatine with his energy blade, but Palpatine quickly blasts him with Force Lightning, stopping him dead in his tracks. Atrocitus roars in pain as the lightning courses through him. Palpatine continues to cast lightning, forcing him to his knees. He then stops, and slowly approaches Atrocitus.

"Everything that has transpired has done so according to my design." he says, "Your pathetic Red Lantern Corps are heading into a trap. They will be put down like the mindless animals they are."

Atrocitus growls in fury.

"And now, Atrocitus..." Palpatine says, softly, "you will die..."

Atrocitus roars and stabs at Palpatine, but in one swift motion, Palpatine cuts off his hand with his lightsaber. Atrocitus cries out in pain as his hand, red power ring still on the finger, falls to the floor. Without the ring to circulate his blood, Atrocitus crumples to the floor and slowly dies. Palpatine deactivates his lightsaber and cackles in victory.

Winner: Palpatine.

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