Yoda Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith (2005) Who played Yoda I don't know. Why was Yoda important in this film In Revenge of the Sith, Yoda leads the Jedi Council in pursuing the mysterious Sith Lord Darth Sidious. was he successful in this Yoda battles Palpatine in a lightsaber duel that wrecks the Senate Rotunda. In the end, neither is able to overcome the other and Yoda is forced to retreat. What else did Yoda do in the movie Additionally, they order him to spy on Palpatine, whom Anakin considers a friend and mentor.
why did they spy on Palpatine
Why did the Jedi Council spy on Palpatine Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith?
In Revenge of the Sith, Yoda leads the Jedi Council in pursuing the mysterious Sith Lord Darth Sidious. Palpatine has by now amassed near-dictatorial emergency powers, and begins interfering in Jedi affairs by appointing Anakin as his personal representative on the Council. The Council grants Anakin a Council seat, but denies him the rank of Master, feeling that doing so would amount to giving Palpatine a vote in the Council. Additionally, they order him to spy on Palpatine, whom Anakin considers a friend and mentor. Confused and angered by the perceived snub and the instructions to commit what he believes to be treason, Anakin continues to lose faith in the Jedi Order. Anakin seeks Yoda's counsel about his prophetic visions that someone close to him will die. Yoda, unaware of the person Anakin speaks of is Padme, or that she is Anakin's wife and pregnant with his child, tells him to "train himself to let go of everything that he fears to lose". Unsatisfied, Anakin turns to Palpatine, who then reveals himself as Darth Sidious. Palpatine manipulates the young Jedi into becoming his Sith apprentice, Darth Vader, with the promise that the dark side holds the power to save Padme from dying in childbirth. Palpatine later transforms the Republic into the tyrannical Galactic Empire, proclaiming himself emperor for life, and orders the clone troopers to kill their Jedi generals. At this time, Yoda is on Kashyyyk, overseeing the battle between the Separatist forces and a combined command of clone troopers and Wookiees. Through the Force, Yoda feels the deaths of each of the Jedi as they are assassinated by their own troops. After swiftly killing the clone troopers instructed to kill him, he escapes with Wookiee leaders Tarfful and Chewbacca (Peter Mayhew), and returns to Coruscant, where he and Obi-Wan fight their way into the Jedi Temple to stop a trap for all surviving Jedi. Inside, they discover that all the Jedi inside, younglings included, have been slaughtered. They then discover a holographic recording, revealing Vader as the assassin. Yoda decides to face Palpatine, sending Obi-Wan to kill Vader. When Obi-Wan protests, Yoda tells him that the Anakin he knew no longer exists, having been "consumed by Darth Vader". Subsequently, Yoda battles Palpatine in a lightsaber duel that wrecks the Senate Rotunda. In the end, neither is able to overcome the other and Yoda is forced to retreat. He goes into exile on Dagobah so that he may hide from the Empire and wait for another opportunity to destroy the Sith. At the end of the film, it was revealed that Yoda has been in contact with Qui-Gon's spirit, learning the secret of immortality from him and passing it on to Obi-Wan. Yoda is also instrumental in deciding the fate of the Skywalker children after Padme dies in childbirth, recommending that Luke and Leia be hidden from Vader and Palpatine in remote locations. Other than the ancient Jedi Master, only the Organas, the Lars family, R2-D2 and Obi-Wan know of their true identities. CANNOTANSWER
Palpatine has by now amassed near-dictatorial emergency powers, and begins interfering in Jedi affairs
Yoda () is a fictional character in the Star Wars universe, first appearing in the 1980 film The Empire Strikes Back. He is a small, green humanoid alien who is powerful with the Force and served as Grandmaster of the Jedi Order. In The Empire Strikes Back, Yoda was voiced and puppeteered by Frank Oz, who reprised the role in Return of the Jedi, the prequel trilogy, and the sequel trilogy. Outside of the films, the character has been mainly voiced by Tom Kane, starting with the 2003 Clone Wars animated television series. Yoda has since become an iconic figure in popular culture due to his distinct pattern of speech and role as a wise mentor.

In his first appearance in the original trilogy, Yoda is described as the mentor of Obi-Wan Kenobi, and lives in exile on the swamp planet of Dagobah. He trains Luke Skywalker in the ways of the Force until his death at the age of 900 in Return of the Jedi, though he later returns as a Force spirit. In the prequel trilogy, Yoda leads the Jedi High Council and trains the young generations of Jedi until they are assigned to a master. When the Clone Wars breaks out, he becomes a general in the Galactic Republic's army and leads several legions of clone troopers. Yoda is one of the few Jedi to survive the events of Order 66 at the end of the war, and faces off against Emperor Palpatine, but is outmatched and forced to go into hiding. Yoda's spirit appears again in the sequel trilogy, advising an older Luke and empowering Rey to face a revived Palpatine.

Concept and creation
Franchise creator George Lucas has stated that he originally had Obi-Wan Kenobi training Luke Skywalker, but decided that it would not make sense to have him standing around watching Luke do all the fighting in the films and not help him, so he killed him off in the first film. He then created a new character, Yoda, to have someone train Luke. Lucas approached Jim Henson to voice the character; Henson was busy with other projects but recommended Frank Oz for the role.
According to the make-up artist Stuart Freeborn, Yoda's face is based on his own and Albert Einstein's (particularly the eye wrinkles of the latter). For The Phantom Menace, he was redesigned to look younger. He was created using computer-generated imagery (CGI) for two distant shots in the 1999 release but remained mostly a puppet, with Stuart Freeborn's original design reinterpreted by Nick Dudman.

Frank Oz provided Yoda's voice in each film and performed as lead puppeteer in Star Wars: Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back (1980), Episode VI – Return of the Jedi (1983), Episode I – The Phantom Menace (1999) and Episode VIII – The Last Jedi (2017). He also performed a vocal cameo as Yoda in Episode IX – The Rise of Skywalker (2019). For some walking scenes in The Empire Strikes Back and The Phantom Menace, dwarf actors Deep Roy and Warwick Davis appeared in costume as Yoda (though neither was credited). While Oz served as the primary performer, over the years he had been assisted by a multitude of other puppeteers, including: Kathryn Mullen (Ep. V), Wendy Froud (Ep. V), David Barclay (Ep. V–VI), Mike Quinn (Ep. VI), David Greenaway (Ep. I & VI), Don Austen (Ep. I), Kathy Smee (Ep. I), Dave Chapman (Ep. VIII), Damian Farrell (Ep. VIII), and Colin Purves (Ep. VIII). For the radio dramatizations of The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi, Yoda was voiced by John Lithgow while Tom Kane voiced him in the Clone Wars animated series and several video games.

Rendered with computer animation in Episode II – Attack of the Clones and Episode III – Revenge of the Sith, Yoda appeared in ways not previously possible, including his participation in elaborate fight scenes. In Revenge of the Sith, his face appears in several big close-ups, demanding highly detailed CGI work. His digital incarnation, overseen by Rob Coleman, was deliberately designed to be consistent with the limitations of the puppet version, including the occasional ear-jiggling.

Yoda was recreated in CGI for the 2011 Blu-ray release of The Phantom Menace. A clip of the new CG Yoda from The Phantom Menace was first seen in the featurette The Chosen One, included in the 2005 DVD release of Revenge of the Sith. The 2012 theatrical 3D release of The Phantom Menace matches the 2011 cut featuring the CG version of Yoda.

Performance

To perform Yoda in The Empire Strikes Back, chief puppeteer Frank Oz inserted his right hand into Yoda's head, while his left hand controlled the puppet's left hand. A second puppeteer, Kathryn Mullen, assisted Oz on the Dagobah set, operating Yoda's right hand. Wendy Midener, a puppet builder who had worked with Oz and Mullen on The Muppet Show, and later The Dark Crystal and Labyrinth, was originally supposed to control Yoda's eyes, but when something on the set caused an allergic reaction for Midener, she was demoted to controlling Yoda's ears, with then-newcomer David Barclay operating the eyes instead (Barclay also substituted for Oz as lead Yoda puppeteer for production shoots when Oz was unavailable). For wide shots of Yoda moving around, actor and stunt performer Deep Roy filled in for Oz in a life-sized Yoda costume.

Character overview
Grand Master Yoda is among the oldest, most stoic, and most powerful Jedi Masters in the Star Wars universe. George Lucas opted to have many details of the character's life history remain unknown. Yoda's race and home world have not been named in any official media, canonical or otherwise, and he is merely said to be of a "species unknown" by the Star Wars Databank. Yoda's characteristic speech patterns were conceived by Lucas and Lawrence Kasdan, and developed by Oz. Academic syntacticians have found them somewhat inconsistent, but have extrapolated that they possess object–subject–verb word order, making them anastrophic.

The films and Expanded Universe reveal that Yoda had a hand in training almost every Jedi Master in the galaxy. In the Star Wars prequel films, he instructs several younglings in the Jedi Temple before they are assigned to a master. In The Empire Strikes Back he mentions that he had been training Jedi "for 800 years", which means he must have been a Master Jedi for quite some time before that.

Appearances

Original trilogy

The Empire Strikes Back (1980)
Yoda makes his first film appearance in The Empire Strikes Back. Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) arrives on Dagobah to seek his guidance, having been instructed to do so by the Force ghost of Obi-Wan Kenobi (Alec Guinness), who describes him as "the Jedi Master who instructed me."

Yoda does not initially identify himself to Luke and instead tests his patience by presenting himself as a comical backwater individual, deliberately provoking both Luke and R2-D2. Luke is shocked when he finally discovers that this small, eccentric creature is the powerful Jedi Master he was seeking. Finding that Luke has the same anger and recklessness which caused his father's downfall, Yoda is reluctant to teach him the ways of the Force and agrees only at Obi-Wan's behest. Before finishing his training, Luke chooses to leave Dagobah in order to confront Darth Vader and save his friends on Bespin. Yoda and Obi-Wan warn him that he is not ready to face Vader and is being lured into a trap but Luke leaves anyway. When Obi-Wan laments that Luke is their "last hope," Yoda reminds him that "there is another."

Return of the Jedi (1983)
Yoda makes a brief appearance in Return of the Jedi, set a year after The Empire Strikes Back. Now sick and frail, Yoda informs Luke that he has completed his training but will not be a Jedi until he confronts Darth Vader; he also confirms that Vader is Luke's father, something Vader had told Luke in the previous film. Yoda then peacefully dies at the age of 900, his body disappearing as he becomes "one with the Force". He leaves Luke with the knowledge that "there is another Skywalker." Moments later, Obi-Wan's ghost helps Luke come to the realization that the "other" of whom Yoda spoke is his twin sister, Princess Leia.

In the film's final scene, after the Empire has been defeated, Luke sees Yoda's spirit looking upon him with pride alongside Obi-Wan and the redeemed Anakin Skywalker, Vader's former Jedi self.

Prequel trilogy

Episode I: The Phantom Menace (1999)
Yoda returns as a younger version of himself in the prequel trilogy beginning with The Phantom Menace. The film marked the final time Oz would portray the character as a puppet until the release of The Last Jedi (2017). However, in the 2011 Blu-ray release of The Phantom Menace, the Yoda puppet was replaced by a CGI character to match the later depiction of the character. In the film, which is set 35 years before The Empire Strikes Back, Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jinn brings the young Anakin Skywalker to the Jedi Council. Qui-Gon is convinced that Anakin is the "Chosen One" of Jedi prophecy who will bring balance to the Force and requests the boy be trained as a Jedi. Yoda senses great fear in Anakin, especially in regards to his attachment to his mother Shmi, and foresees "grave danger" in his training. The council, led at the time by Yoda's former padawan Mace Windu, rejects Qui-Gon's request.

When Qui-Gon is mortally wounded in a duel with Sith Lord Darth Maul, his dying request to his Padawan Obi-Wan Kenobi (Ewan McGregor) is that Anakin be trained as a Jedi. Obi-Wan, determined to fulfill his promise to his master, tells Yoda that he will train the boy, even without the council's approval. Yoda makes Obi-Wan a Jedi knight and reluctantly gives his blessing to Anakin's training.

Episode II: Attack of the Clones (2002)

Yoda makes his first CGI appearance in Attack of the Clones, set a decade after The Phantom Menace. Yoda, now in direct control of the Order's policy as Master of the High Council in addition to his traditional position as Grandmaster, is one of the many Jedi who are concerned about the emergence of the Confederacy of Independent Systems, a secessionist movement wanting independence from the Galactic Republic. After the first attempted assassination of Senator Padmé Amidala, Chancellor Palpatine suggests that she be put under the protection of Obi-Wan, who is training Anakin. In a deleted scene, a meditating Yoda senses Anakin slaughtering the Tusken Raiders who murdered his mother.

At the climax of the film, Yoda arrives in time to save Obi-Wan and Anakin from the Separatists and defeats his former apprentice, Count Dooku, the Separatists’ leader and a Sith lord, in a lightsaber duel.

Episode III: Revenge of the Sith (2005)
In Revenge of the Sith, Yoda leads the Jedi Council in pursuing the mysterious Sith Lord Darth Sidious. Palpatine has by then amassed near-dictatorial emergency powers and begins interfering in Jedi affairs by appointing Anakin as his personal representative on the council. The Council grants Anakin a Council seat but denies him the rank of Master, feeling that doing so would amount to giving Palpatine a vote in the council. Additionally they order him to spy on Palpatine, whom Anakin considers a friend and mentor.

Anakin seeks Yoda's counsel about his prophetic visions that someone close to him will die. Yoda, unaware that the person of whom Anakin speaks is Padmé, or that she is Anakin's wife and pregnant with his child, tells him to "train yourself to let go of everything that you fear to lose." Unsatisfied, Anakin turns to Palpatine, who then reveals himself as Darth Sidious. Sidious manipulates the young Jedi into becoming his Sith apprentice, Darth Vader, with the promise that the dark side of the Force holds the power to save Padmé from dying in childbirth.

Sidious later transforms the Republic into the tyrannical Galactic Empire, proclaiming himself emperor for life and ordering the clone troopers to kill their Jedi generals. Yoda is on Kashyyyk, overseeing the battle between the Separatist forces and a combined command of clone troopers and Wookiees. Through the Force, Yoda feels the deaths of each of the Jedi as they are assassinated by their own troops. After swiftly killing the clone troopers instructed to kill him, he escapes with Wookiee leaders Tarfful and Chewbacca to Coruscant, where he and Obi-Wan fight their way into the Jedi Temple to stop a trap for all surviving Jedi. Inside, they discover that all the Jedi inside, younglings included, have been slaughtered. They then discover a holographic recording revealing Vader as the assassin. Yoda decides to face Sidious, sending Obi-Wan to kill Vader. When Obi-Wan protests, Yoda tells him that the Anakin he knew no longer exists, having been "consumed by Darth Vader."

Subsequently, Yoda battles Sidious in a lightsaber duel that damages the Senate Rotunda. In the end, neither is able to overcome the other and Yoda is forced to retreat. He goes into exile on Dagobah so that he may hide from the Empire and wait for another opportunity to destroy the Sith. At the end of the film, it is revealed that Yoda has been in contact with Qui-Gon's spirit, learning the secret of immortality from him and passing it on to Obi-Wan.

Yoda is also instrumental in deciding the fate of the Skywalker children after Padmé dies in childbirth, recommending that Luke and Leia be hidden from Vader and Sidious; he sends Leia to be adopted by Senator Bail Organa of Alderaan, and Luke to Vader's stepfamily Owen and Beru Lars on Tatooine. Other than the ancient Jedi Master, only the Organas, the Lars family, R2-D2 and Obi-Wan know of their true identities.

Sequel trilogy

The Force Awakens (2015)
In The Force Awakens, set 30 years after Yoda's death in Return of the Jedi, Yoda's voice is heard by the young scavenger Rey in a Force vision after she discovers Luke Skywalker's light saber under a castle owned by Maz Kanata.

The Last Jedi (2017)
In The Last Jedi, Yoda appears to Luke as a Force spirit as he debates whether to burn down the tree storing the Sacred Texts of the Jedi. As Luke makes his way to the tree, Yoda appears behind him and reminds him that a Jedi must always be sure of his path. When Luke decides to burn down the tree, Yoda summons a lightning bolt and sets it ablaze. When confronting Yoda as to why he did it, Yoda assures Luke that the books contained no knowledge that Rey didn't already possess. He stressed that true Jedi knowledge was not found in books but within Jedi themselves—and it is their responsibility to pass that knowledge on, reminding him, "The greatest teacher, failure is." As Luke takes in the message, he shares a quiet moment with his former master, who informs that the burden of all masters is being surpassed by their students.

Unlike in the prequels, where fight scenes necessitated the character be rendered in with computer-generated imagery, Yoda is once more portrayed using puppetry.

Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker  (2019)
Yoda is heard in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker as one of the voices of Jedi past who speak to Rey during her battle against the reborn Darth Sidious.

Animated series

Clone Wars (2003)
Yoda appears in the 2003 Cartoon Network 2D-animated television series Star Wars: Clone Wars, voiced by Tom Kane. In the show, Yoda is made a general, like many of the Jedi Knights and Masters. Yoda escorts Padmé on their journey to an unspecified planet, but Yoda senses several Jedi in distress on Ilum. Using the Jedi mind trick to convince Captain Typho to take them to Ilum, Yoda saves two Jedi Knights and finds a message from Count Dooku giving orders to destroy the Jedi Temple on Ilum. In the animated series' final episode, Yoda fights side by side with Mace Windu to defend Coruscant, which is under attack from the Separatists. The two Jedi Masters realize too late that the battle is a distraction; Separatist leader General Grievous truly intends to kidnap Palpatine. The Jedi Master's effort to stop Grievous fails, and Palpatine is taken hostage, thus setting the stage for Revenge of the Sith.

In 2014, the series was deprecated from the Disney canon, in favor of the 3D CGI series Star Wars: The Clone Wars.

Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008)
Yoda appears in The Clone Wars, again voiced by Tom Kane. In the pilot film, Yoda assigns Anakin Skywalker his own padawan, Ahsoka Tano as he believes that she will help Anakin grow as a Jedi and as a person. Throughout most of the series, Yoda spends his time on Coruscant with the Jedi Council but he occasionally leaves for certain tasks, such as negotiations with King Katuunko on Rugosa and a confrontation with Asajj Ventress's droid army. Yoda also watches over Anakin and Ahsoka throughout the series, pleased that they are both maturing with each other's influence. However, in the final arc of season five, Ahsoka is framed for a crime she didn't commit and Yoda and the Jedi Council turn her over to the Republic military. Along with other members of the council, Yoda observes Ahsoka's trial but Anakin bursts in with the true culprit, fallen Jedi Barriss Offee, before the verdict can be read. Afterwards Yoda, Anakin, and the Council personally invite Ahsoka to rejoin the Order but she refuses and leaves. According to show runner Dave Filoni, Yoda blames himself for Ahsoka's departure as he had made her Anakin's padawan in the first place.

In the final arc of the sixth season, Yoda hears Qui-Gon Jinn speaking to him from beyond the grave. Yoda flees the Jedi Temple with R2-D2 to travel to Dagobah, his future home, to find answers. Shown cryptic visions of the fall of the Jedi, Yoda learns he has been chosen to manifest his consciousness after death as a Force ghost. Yoda is tested by a group of spirit priestesses in order to overcome trials and temptations on his pilgrimage; one of these tests is to face an illusion of ancient Sith lord Darth Bane. Yoda's final test is to resist an attempt by Darth Sidious and Dooku to lure him to the dark side with a false vision of deceased Jedi Master Sifo Dyas. Yoda engages in a metaphysical battle with Sidious and appears to sacrifice his life in order to save Anakin's–only to awaken and discover that the battle was merely a vision and that he has passed the test. The priestesses inform Yoda that his training will resume in time.

Star Wars Rebels (2014)
Yoda was heard in the Star Wars Rebels episode "Path of the Jedi" with Frank Oz reprising the role for the first time since Revenge of the Sith. He communicates with padawan Ezra Bridger and his master Kanan Jarrus during their experience in an ancient temple on Lothal, helping the pair do some soul-searching to analyze their true motivations. He appears physically for the first time in the season two episode "Shroud of Darkness", in which he appears in a vision of Ezra's and reunites with Ahsoka. His appearance in the series differs from his usual countenance as an homage to an early Ralph McQuarrie design for the character as well as a classic Kenner action figure. This was justified by premise that Ezra is viewing the character through his own imagination, but the decision was confusing to many viewers.

Literature
Yoda appears extensively in the Star Wars Expanded Universe, mostly in works set during or before the prequel trilogy, including Sean Stewart's 2004 novel Yoda: Dark Rendezvous, in which he sends an impersonator of himself to negotiate a potential treaty with Dooku, suspected his offer to be a feint. He also appears as a supporting character in Dark Horse Comics' Republic, and various other Clone Wars-related titles. In April 2014, following The Walt Disney Company's acquisition of Lucasfilm, all of these works were rebranded as Star Wars Legends and declared non-canon to the rest of the franchise.

Since 2014, Yoda has also been featured in a number of canon books and other works, including Dooku: Jedi Lost and Master & Apprentice, which take place before The Phantom Menace. He is set to appear in the upcoming The High Republic Adventures, set 200 years before the prequel trilogy.

In popular culture
In 1980, American musician and parody artist "Weird Al" Yankovic wrote and recorded a parody of the Kinks' "Lola", called "Yoda". It was later rerecorded for his 1985 album Dare to Be Stupid, after Yankovic was able to obtain permission from both George Lucas and the Kinks.

In 2007, Yoda was selected by Empire magazine as the "25th greatest movie character of all time." On their list of the 100 Greatest Fictional Characters, Fandomania.com ranked Yoda at number 60.

Yoda also appears in Disney's Star Tours: The Adventures Continue attraction with his original voice actor, Frank Oz.

A life-size statue of Yoda greets visitors to Lucasfilm's Letterman Digital Arts Center in San Francisco's Presidio, the headquarters of Industrial Light and Magic.

Linguistics professor David Ager from Queen Mary University of London says Yoda's language most closely resembles the Hawaiian language.

In 2017, a photoshopped image of Yoda seated next to King Faisal at the signing of the Charter of the United Nations in San Francisco in 1945 was inadvertently printed in a social studies textbook. The textbook was withdrawn once the error was discovered.

In 2019, discount store Poundland used the voice of Yoda at its self-service checkouts in stores across the United Kingdom.

Merchandising

TomTom has included a "Yoda" voice as one of the Celebrity GPS voicings in their "Star Wars" voice series.

Lego
Lego's Yoda minifigure was the first of their figures to be shorter than the other toys in the Lego Star Wars line; it has shorter legs than the other action figures. Yoda appears in a television series based on the Lego Star Wars toys, including Lego Star Wars: The Yoda Chronicles and The New Yoda Chronicles, of which he is the focus, as well as The Padawan Menace and Droid Tales.

Themes
Quotes from Yoda that seem to echo Gnostic ideas in The Empire Strikes Back:
"Luminous beings are we, not this crude matter"
"A Jedi uses the Force for knowledge and defense, never for attack."

Relationships

Mentorship tree

See also
 Yoda conditions – a style of writing conditionals in computer programming languages

References

Works cited

The Jedi Apprentice series by Dave Wolverton and Jude Watson
Episode I: The Phantom Menace, 1st edition paperback, 1999. Terry Brooks, George Lucas, 
Episode III: Revenge of the Sith – Novelization, 1st edition hardcover, 2005. Matthew Woodring Stover, George Lucas, 
The Annotated Screenplays, softcover, 1997. George Lucas, Leigh Brackett, Lawrence Kasdan, Laurent Bouzereau, 
The Courtship of Princess Leia, 1995. Dave Wolverton, 
Mission from Mount Yoda, 1993. Paul Davids, Hollace Davids, 
A Guide to the Star Wars Universe, 2nd edition, 1994. Bill Slavicsek, 
The Essential guide to Characters (Star Wars), 1st edition, 1995. Andy Mangels, 
The New Essential Guide to Characters, 1st edition, 2002. Daniel Wallace, Michael Sutfin, 
Star Wars: The Visual Dictionary, hardcover, 1998. David West Reynolds, 
Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith: The Visual Dictionary, hardcover, 2005. James Luceno, 
Star Wars Roleplaying Game: Revised Core Rulebook, hardcover, 2002. Bill Slavicsek, Andy Collins, J.D. Wiker, 
Star Wars Roleplaying Game: Power of the Jedi Sourcebook, hardcover, 2002. Michael Mikaelian, Jeff Grubb, Owen K.C. Stephens, James Maliszewski,

External links

 Yoda on IMDb

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Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith is a novelization of the film of the same name, written by Matthew Stover and published on April 2, 2005 by Del Rey Books.

The plot of the book corresponds with that of the film, beginning and ending at the same points. There are several elements added not seen in the film (Lorth Needa as commander of the Integrity at the Battle of Coruscant, for example), while several sections of the plot are removed for pacing. All of the deleted scenes with the founders of the Rebel Alliance are included. The Star Wars series' expanded universe is also referenced.

The novel was very well received, with a 4.4 star average at Amazon.com from over 350 reviewers, and voted Best Expanded Universe Work by theforce.net users.

After April 25, 2014, the novelization of Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith was officially declared non-canon and categorized under the new Star Wars Legends canon.

Narrative style
Stover makes frequent use of second-person narrative when describing a character's emotions ("The first dawn of light in your universe brings pain") and often introduces and describes characters with simple declarative statements ("This is Obi-Wan Kenobi", "This is how it feels to be Anakin Skywalker", etc.). These literary devices are repeated at key points in the story.

There is also heavy use of metaphor as a means of foreshadowing; for example, the narrative sets up Anakin's eventual fall from grace by describing his fear as a dragon, one he thinks he can conquer by embracing the dark side of the Force. The narration makes use of events in the previous films to describe him as a character, particularly his childhood as a slave (as depicted in Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace), the death of his mother and his slaughter of the Tusken Raiders who killed her (as depicted in Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones).

Notable differences between the film and the novel

Fight with Count Dooku 
The lightsaber fight between Anakin, Obi-Wan and Count Dooku is portrayed in far greater detail than in the film.  Anakin and Obi-Wan pretend for much of the encounter to have learned nothing since the events of Attack of the Clones, but they reveal late in the fight that they have each mastered different "forms" of lightsaber combat.

Stover depicts Dooku as an evil man who has no concept of love, friendship, or loyalty, and who sees other people as things, objects to be used and discarded. Stover makes reference to the Expanded Universe character Lorian Nod, portrayed in Jude Watson’s young adult novel series Legacy of the Jedi, to illustrate Dooku’s amorality. In Stover's narration, Dooku recalls his childhood friend Nod accusing him of not knowing how to care about other people when they were Jedi Padawans, as portrayed in Watson’s novels. Dooku reflects upon this encounter as the moment that he first felt drawn to the dark side of the Force and became fascinated with the Sith's open embrace of power.

Stover also characterizes Dooku as despising the galaxy's non-human species, and plans to exterminate or enslave them once in power. He also expands on Dooku having trained General Grievous in lightsaber combat, something briefly mentioned in the film; in the novel, Dooku reflects that, while he considers Grievous a "revolting creature", the general had been "a delight to train".

During his fight with Anakin and Obi-Wan, Dooku uses the Force to throw chairs and other objects at the Jedi, which does not happen in the movie. In the movie, this fight is relatively short, especially after Dooku knocks Obi-Wan to the floor.

Before the fight itself, there is a short conversation between Palpatine and Dooku, revealing the plan Palpatine uses to lure Dooku into a confrontation with Anakin, his new candidate for Sith apprenticeship. Palpatine tells Dooku that the objective of the duel is to kill Obi-Wan and surrender to Anakin, thus creating the right public story to allow the three of them to take over the galaxy, with Palpatine and Dooku running the new government, and Anakin leading its army. This is the first scene in the various Star Wars novelizations to confirm Palpatine and the Sith Lord Darth Sidious as one and the same.

The novel makes it clear that Anakin wins the duel by giving in to his anger, particularly concerning his childhood as a slave and the traumatic death of his mother. When Palpatine urges Anakin to kill the disarmed Dooku, the helpless Count realizes that he has been used as a means to an end, as the victim of Anakin's first cold-blooded murder: "Treachery is the way of the Sith".

Padmé reveals she is pregnant
Padmé Amidala tells Anakin that she is pregnant while he is visiting her at home rather than outside a Coruscant building, as in the film. This occurs after Anakin senses that somebody has come in between the couple; this is revealed to be their children.

The Jedi Council ruling
The novelization elaborates on the events of the Jedi Council's decision to use Anakin to spy on Palpatine that were originally only alluded to in the film. Specifically, the Council discusses the rare opportunity Palpatine has (apparently) unintentionally presented to them to have Anakin keep tabs on him. Obi-Wan is portrayed as explicitly opposing the decision, and going along with it only reluctantly, afterward expressing remorse for violating Anakin's trust. The scene also implies that the Council has other, less honorable motives; Mace Windu states that it is to the Jedi Order's advantage to have Anakin - their "Chosen One" - lose faith in Palpatine. The scene also portrays the Council as having become a quasi-political body since the outbreak of the Clone Wars, making tactical decisions about military and political strategy rather than simply communing with the Force and interpreting its will.

The Battle of Kashyyyk
The scene in the film depicting the Battle of Kashyyyk shows Commander Gree deceiving Yoda, as well as the Separatists' attack. These scenes are not included in the novel.

Palpatine tests Anakin's thirst for power
This is a short dialogue not featured in the film, foreshadowing in metaphor Anakin's fall to the dark side due to his lust for power.

During this exchange, Palpatine offers to give Anakin anything he wants. At first, Anakin wonders if the Chancellor is only playing a childish game with him, and says he wishes for a new speeder, to which Palpatine asks if this is all he wishes for. The 'game' culminates when Anakin asks for Corellia; Palpatine asks him if he wishes only for the planet or the entire system. Anakin then tells him that he desires the whole system. The point of this game is to further tempt Anakin towards the dark side and present Palpatine as the gateway to the power denied to Anakin by the Jedi.

In this scene, Palpatine states explicitly that Darth Plagueis was his Sith Master. In the film, this is merely hinted at.

The arrest of the Chancellor
In the novelization, Mace Windu contacts Yoda once more after learning the truth of Palpatine's identity, marking his upcoming decision and action as approved by the Grand Master of the Jedi Order.

The novelization states that Palpatine can sense the approach of the four Jedi Masters, as well as Anakin's emotional conflict. The novel also describes how Palpatine prepares for the upcoming duel in detail, including how he recovers his lightsaber and prepares an audio recording.

During the duel, Palpatine catches Jedi Master Saesee Tiin off guard and beheads him. Second to die is Agen Kolar, whom Palpatine stabs through the head.

Anakin rushes to the Chancellor's office past Shaak Ti, who stands in his way, trying to convince him not to go. Anakin brushes past her without a word.

When Anakin arrives, he witnesses a small part of the battle between Kit Fisto, Windu and Palpatine. He does not see who the combatants are at first, only their lightsabers. When Fisto's green blade disappears, he rushes into the office. There, he finds Kolar's corpse and the severed heads of Tiin and Fisto. Anakin then watches the lightsaber duel between Windu and Palpatine for some time; in the film, he arrives just in time to see Windu knock Palpatine down.

Windu can sense Anakin's presence through the Force before he breaks Palpatine's office window. When the fight moves to the ledge, he senses Palpatine hesitate for a moment, and the Sith Lord slows down.

Windu confesses then that his lightsaber combat style, Vaapad, cannot overpower the Sith Lord, and that it is in fact his ability to sense weaknesses, or "shatterpoints", which allows him to gain the upper hand. (Windu's ability is first mentioned in Stover's previous Expanded Universe novel, Shatterpoint.) During the fight, Windu realizes that Palpatine's shatterpoint is Anakin Skywalker himself. When Anakin approaches Windu, who is fighting against Palpatine's Force lightning, the Jedi Master senses that Palpatine does not fear Anakin at all, and would make no move to defend himself. He then concludes that this is the shatterpoint of the Sith, and the absolute shatterpoint of the dark side itself.

In the novelization, Windu does not kick Palpatine in the jaw, and he slices the Sith's lightsaber in half instead of the Chancellor dropping his own weapon. When Windu holds Palpatine at blade point, he tells his opponent why the Sith always lose: because they are always defeated by their own fear. Palpatine counters by screaming, "Fool! Do you think the fear you feel is MINE?" instead of "No! No!! NO!!! YOU WILL DIE!!!"

When he is betrayed by Anakin and shot with Palpatine's lightning, Windu realizes too late that he forgot to look for Anakin's own shatterpoint—his desire to save Padmé, his secret wife, at any cost.

The scene also suggests that Palpatine's wizened, deformed appearance after the duel may be his true Sith appearance, and not simply the result of being hit with his own Force lightning. Palpatine says, "I shall miss the face of Palpatine, but the face of Sidious will serve."

Order 66
Order 66 is described in a few short paragraphs, with no mention of any Jedi's death or any clone commander who executes the order by name. Only the scene in which Obi-Wan is attacked by clone troopers is the same as seen in the movie. Yoda's escape is not featured; he appears next when he meets Obi-Wan on Tantive IV.

When Anakin, newly renamed Darth Vader, arrives in the Jedi Temple with the clone troopers, the narration describes how he murders the Jedi inside, including the gatemaster Jurokk. In the film, the scene cuts away after he ignites his lightsaber in front of a youngling; the murders are implied.

Stover describes the Clone Wars as "the perfect Jedi trap". This is the first account of the full extent of Palpatine's intricate plotting.

The return to the Jedi Temple
In the novel, Obi-Wan's grief upon learning of Anakin's betrayal is described in greater detail. Among other things, he says that he should have died before Anakin was discovered by the Jedi so his apprentice could have had a Master strong enough to keep him from falling to the dark side. Stover also references dialogue from The Empire Strikes Back. When Obi-Wan says he thinks he knows why Anakin joined the Sith, Yoda replies that "Why matters not; there is no why;" Yoda gives Luke Skywalker this same advice in the aforementioned film.

Emperor Palpatine's duel with Yoda
In the novel, it is implied that Darth Sidious is indeed superior to Yoda in lightsaber combat. Yoda also realizes that the Jedi Order mistakenly focused on fighting the old Sith rather than the new, evolved Sith of Darth Bane's order. Yoda realizes that "he had lost before he started. He had lost before he was born."

In the novel, Yoda enters the Chancellor's holding office from a different direction, so the Royal Guards do not attempt to stop him. Yoda deflects Palpatine's Force lightning, blasting the Guards into unconsciousness; in the film, the lightning blasts him across the office. Yoda then knocks Palpatine to the floor with his physical body instead of a Force Push.

At the end of the battle, the lightning energy ball does not explode. Palpatine safely leaps to a nearby podium, and Yoda follows. Palpatine turns around and blasts Yoda back against another podium, which falls down to the bottom of an energy shaft.

Stover describes Palpatine after the duel as "a very old, very tired man." Palpatine cannot direct the search for Yoda as he hurries to rescue Vader, but he tells the clones to destroy the whole building if they have to.

Obi-Wan's duel with Darth Vader
The duel between Obi-Wan and Vader is mostly similar to, albeit shorter than, that of the movie. The narration focuses mostly on Anakin and Obi-Wan's respective inner monologues.

There are slight variations, however: the section where Anakin manually chokes Obi-Wan is one that is notably different. In the novel, Obi-Wan initially disarms Anakin, taking away his weapon and leveling both blades in front of Anakin. Anakin, however, manages to choke Obi-Wan with great velocity and strength, after which the latter releases himself by undoing the drivers in Anakin's mechanical arm. In the movie, however, the part where Obi-Wan disarms Anakin is omitted (so claims Lucas), and Obi-Wan releases himself by kicking Anakin in the back.

Darth Vader's reaction to Padmé's death
The novel is more explicit than the film in describing Anakin/Vader's emotional transformation after learning of Padmé's death. It reveals that he blames himself, thinking, "You killed her because, finally, when you could have saved her, when you could have gone away with her, when you could have been thinking about her, you were thinking about yourself." He realizes that Darth Vader - the fearless warrior he imagined himself to be - does not really exist. Only he - Anakin Skywalker - is responsible for her death and his own fall from grace.

The narrative also describes how it feels to be Darth Vader: robbed of much of his power, in constant pain from his injuries, and "more than half machine," he now feels like "a painter gone blind, a composer gone deaf."

Other key information found in the novel
Names and details are given for the lightsaber techniques the characters use in their respective duels. All the seven lightsaber combat forms are mentioned and described except Form VI.
Anakin wants to access the Holocrons of the Archives to know more about Darth Plagueis so that he can learn how to save Padmé. As the Holocrons are only available to Jedi Masters, this explains his outrage over not being promoted to the rank of Master when put on the Council.
Palpatine deliberately tricks the Council into sending Obi-Wan to Utapau using reverse psychology by suggesting they send Anakin. He knows he needs to get Obi-Wan off Coruscant before he can turn Anakin to the dark side, so he uses General Grievous as a trap to lure Obi-Wan away. This proves necessary when Anakin's reaction to learning that Palpatine is the elusive Darth Sidious is to think "If only Obi-Wan were here - Obi-Wan would know what to say. What to do. Obi-Wan could handle this."
Obi-Wan assumes that Anakin must have been killed during Order 66, and mourns his death before his and Yoda's return to the Jedi Temple.
Towards the end of the movie, a conversation takes place between Obi-Wan and Yoda in which Yoda tells the younger Jedi that Qui-Gon Jinn has "returned from the netherworld of the Force", and is ready to teach the pair of them how to do the same. In the novel, Qui-Gon's return is described in full during a significant conversation between his spirit and Yoda. During the discussion, Yoda laments having had reservations about the headstrong master prior to his death: "A great Jedi Master you always were, but too blind I was to see it." He then declares, "Your apprentice, I gratefully become", as he prepares to embrace the Force in such a way as to retain consciousness after death.

References

2005 novels
2005 science fiction novels
Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith
Books based on Star Wars
Del Rey books
Novels based on films Sheev Palpatine is a fictional character in the Star Wars franchise, created by George Lucas. Initially credited as The Emperor in the 1980 film The Empire Strikes Back, he is also known by his Sith name Darth Sidious.

The character appears in each trilogy in the nine-film Skywalker saga, in which he is portrayed by Ian McDiarmid and serves as the primary antagonist. In the original trilogy, Palpatine is depicted as Emperor of the Galactic Empire and the master of Darth Vader. In the prequel trilogy, he is portrayed as a charismatic politician—and, secretly, a Sith Lord—who orchestrates the Clone Wars, all but exterminates the Jedi Order, ends the Galactic Republic, and seduces Jedi Knight Anakin Skywalker to the dark side of the Force. In The Rise of Skywalker (2019), the final film in the sequel trilogy, Palpatine is revealed to be the mastermind behind the First Order and the creator of its former leader, Snoke, as well as the grandfather of protagonist Rey.

Since the release of Return of the Jedi in 1983, Palpatine has become a widely recognized symbol of evil in popular culture, and since the prequel films, also one of sinister deception and the subversion of democracy. Aside from the films, Palpatine appears in various canon and non-canon Star Wars media.

Character overview
Palpatine initially is a Senator from Naboo, presenting himself to the public as charismatic and well-intentioned. However, he is really Darth Sidious, a Dark Lord of the Sith who plans to destroy the Jedi and take permanent control of the galaxy. As Sidious, Palpatine engineers the invasion of Naboo, using the conflict to get elected as Supreme Chancellor of the Galactic Republic. He further masterminds the Clone Wars to grant himself dictatorial emergency powers and stay in office long after his term expires.

Palpatine proceeds to almost entirely exterminate the Jedi through Order 66, and manipulate Jedi Knight Anakin Skywalker into becoming his new apprentice, Darth Vader. He transforms the Galactic Republic into the Empire and declares himself Emperor, using Machiavellian manipulation to invoke martial law. Palpatine rules the galaxy for over two decades before Vader betrays and kills him to save his son, Luke Skywalker.

Unbeknownst to the galaxy, Palpatine's spirit lives on. He secretly masterminds the First Order to restore the Empire, with Snoke as his puppet ruler. Having covertly turned Kylo Ren—Anakin's grandson and Luke's nephew—to the dark side, Palpatine orders Ren to find and kill Rey, the last remaining Jedi and Palpatine's paternal granddaughter. Palpatine uses the dark side to rejuvenate his body, but is ultimately defeated and destroyed by Rey.

Appearances

Film

Skywalker saga

Palpatine is the main antagonist in the Skywalker saga (1977–2019), appearing in all three film trilogies.

Original trilogy

The character is referred to as "The Emperor" in the original trilogy. He is briefly mentioned in Star Wars (1977), the first film in the original trilogy, which was later subtitled Episode IVA New Hope. On the Death Star, Grand Moff Tarkin (Peter Cushing) explains to his fellow Imperials that the Emperor has dissolved the Imperial Senate. The Emperor does not appear onscreen, leaving Tarkin and Darth Vader (portrayed by David Prowse, voiced by James Earl Jones) as the film's main villains.

The Emperor first appears in The Empire Strikes Back, the 1980 sequel to the original film. He appears as a hologram to inform Vader that Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) has become a threat to the Empire. Vader persuades him that the young Jedi would be a great asset if he could be turned to the dark side of the Force.

In 1983's Return of the Jedi, the Emperor appears in person to oversee the last stages of the second Death Star's construction. He assures Vader that they will together turn Luke, Vader's son, to the dark side of the Force. Unbeknownst to Vader, the Emperor plans to replace him with Luke; Vader, meanwhile, intends to overthrow the Emperor and rule the galaxy with Luke at his side. When Vader brings Luke before his master, the Emperor tempts Luke to join the dark side by appealing to the young Jedi's fear for his friends, whom he has lured into a trap. This leads to a lightsaber duel in which Luke defeats and nearly kills Vader. The Emperor urges Luke to kill Vader and take his place, but Luke refuses and declares himself a Jedi. Enraged, the Emperor attacks Luke with Force lightning. Unable to bear the sight of his son in pain, Vader throws the Emperor into the Death Star's reactor; killing him.

Prequel trilogy

In the 1999 prequel Episode I: The Phantom Menace, set 32 years before A New Hope, Palpatine (named onscreen for the first time) is depicted as a middle-aged Galactic Senator from the planet Naboo. As his alter ego, the Sith Lord Darth Sidious, he advises the corrupt Trade Federation to blockade and invade Naboo. Queen Padmé Amidala of Naboo (Natalie Portman) flees to the planet Coruscant to receive counsel from Palpatine, unaware that he actually engineered the invasion. After a plea for help from the Senate results in bureaucratic delays, Palpatine persuades Padmé to call for a motion of no confidence against Supreme Chancellor Finis Valorum (Terence Stamp).

When Padmé attempts to liberate Naboo, Sidious sends his apprentice Darth Maul (portrayed by Ray Park, voiced by Peter Serafinowicz) to capture her. The invasion is eventually thwarted and Maul is defeated in a lightsaber duel with Jedi Padawan Obi-Wan Kenobi (Ewan McGregor). Palpatine uses the crisis to get elected as the new Chancellor of the Republic. He then returns to Naboo, where he befriends the young Anakin Skywalker (Jake Lloyd), telling the boy, "We will watch your career with great interest."

In the 2002 sequel Episode II: Attack of the Clones, set 10 years later, Palpatine exploits constitutional loopholes to remain in office after his term expires. Meanwhile, as Sidious, he continues to manipulate events from behind the scenes by having his new Sith apprentice Count Dooku (Christopher Lee) lead a movement of planets in seceding to form the Confederacy of Independent Systems. He has the Separatists try to assassinate Padmé, now a senator, but the attempt on her life fails. He then arranges for Anakin (now played by Hayden Christensen) to guard Padmé on Naboo, which leads to them falling in love and marrying in secret. 

With the Separatists secretly building a battle droid army, Palpatine uses the situation to have himself granted emergency powers. Palpatine feigns reluctance to accept this authority, promising to return it to the Senate once the crisis has ended. His first act is to allow a clone army's creation to counter the Separatist threat; this results in the first battle of the Clone Wars. With the galaxy now at war as Sidious planned, Dooku brings him the secret plans for the Death Star.

In the 2005 sequel Episode III: Revenge of the Sith, set three years later, Palpatine is captured by cyborg Separatist leader General Grievous (voiced by Matthew Wood). Palpatine is rescued by Anakin and Obi-Wan, but not before the Jedi confront Dooku again. A duel ensues in which Anakin disarms and kills Dooku at Palpatine's urging. Palpatine then escapes with his rescuers and returns to Coruscant. By this point, Palpatine has become a virtual dictator, able to take any action in the Senate. He makes Anakin his personal representative on the Jedi Council, whose members deny Anakin the rank of Jedi Master and order him to spy on the Chancellor. Palpatine tells Anakin the story of Darth Plagueis, a powerful Sith Lord who was able to create life and prevent death but was killed by his own apprentice. Eventually, Palpatine reveals his secret Sith identity to Anakin; he knows that Anakin has been having prophetic visions of Padmé dying in childbirth, and offers to teach him Plagueis' secrets to save Padmé's life.

Anakin informs Jedi Master Mace Windu (Samuel L. Jackson) of Palpatine's treachery. With three other Jedi masters at his side, Windu attempts to arrest Palpatine, but Palpatine produces a lightsaber and quickly dispatches all but Windu. Palpatine engages Windu in a duel and attacks him with Force lightning; Windu deflects the lightning back into Palpatine's face, deforming it into the gray, wizened visage first seen in the original trilogy. Before Windu can kill Palpatine, Anakin appears and intervenes on the Sith Lord's behalf, allowing Palpatine to kill Windu with another blast of lightning. Anakin then pledges himself to the dark side as Palpatine's Sith apprentice, Darth Vader.

Palpatine issues Order 66, commanding the clone troopers to turn on their Jedi generals, while dispatching Vader to kill everyone inside the Jedi Temple and then murder the Separatist leaders on the planet Mustafar. Palpatine then reorganizes the Republic into the Galactic Empire, with himself as Emperor. Jedi Master Yoda (voiced by Frank Oz) confronts Palpatine and engages him in a lightsaber duel that ends in a stalemate. Sensing that Vader is in danger, Palpatine travels to Mustafar and finds his new apprentice near death following a duel with Obi-Wan. After returning to Coruscant, he rebuilds Vader's burned, mutilated body with the black armored suit from the original trilogy. Palpatine then tells Vader that Padmé was killed in the heat of Vader's anger, breaking what remains of Vader's spirit. Palpatine is last seen watching the original Death Star's construction, with Vader and Wilhuff Tarkin (Wayne Pygram) at his side.

Sequel trilogy

The sequel trilogy is set three decades following the events of Return of the Jedi (1983). The First Order has risen from the fallen Empire and seeks to destroy the New Republic, the Resistance, and Jedi Master Luke Skywalker. In the trilogy's first installment, The Force Awakens (2015), Palpatine's voice is heard during a vision that the protagonist Rey (Daisy Ridley) experiences upon touching Luke and Anakin's lightsaber. In the sequel, The Last Jedi (2017), Luke briefly mentions Palpatine as Darth Sidious while explaining the fall of the Jedi Order to Rey.

Palpatine, again played by McDiarmid, appears in the trilogy's final film, The Rise of Skywalker (2019). Prior to the film's opening, Palpatine threatens revenge against the galaxy, having used the dark side to cheat death. This prompts First Order leader and fallen Jedi Kylo Ren (Adam Driver)—the grandson of Anakin and nephew of Luke—to seek him out on the Sith planet Exegol, where a physically impaired Palpatine is supported by machinery. Palpatine reveals himself as the mastermind behind the First Order and Ren's former master, Supreme Leader Snoke (Andy Serkis), whom he created to lure Ren to the dark side. He then unveils the Final Order, a fleet of superlaser-equipped Star Destroyers designed by the Sith Eternal. Palpatine offers the fleet to Ren on the condition that he find and kill the galaxy's last remaining Jedi, Rey, who is revealed to be Palpatine's granddaughter. It is subsequently revealed that Palpatine had a son, who renounced his father; he and his partner took their daughter Rey to the planet Jakku, assuming lives as "nobodies" to keep her safe. Palpatine eventually found Rey's parents and had them killed, but never found Rey.

Near the end of the film, Rey arrives on Exegol to confront Palpatine. Surrounded by his Sith loyalists, Palpatine embodies all the Sith's power. He orders Rey to kill him in anger so his spirit can pass into her. Rey refuses, and she and Ren (now the redeemed Ben Solo) confront Palpatine together. Sensing their power as a dyad in the Force, Palpatine absorbs their life energy to rejuvenate his body. He incapacitates Ben and attacks the Resistance fleet with Force lightning. Rey uses the power of the past Jedi to face Palpatine once more; he attacks her with lightning, but Rey deflects it using the Skywalker lightsabers, finally destroying Palpatine and the Sith.

Television

The Clone Wars
In the 2008 animated film Star Wars: The Clone Wars and the subsequent animated series (set between Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith), Palpatine continues to serve as Supreme Chancellor while his Sith identity orchestrates the Clone Wars behind the scenes. Palpatine was voiced by Ian Abercrombie (from 2008 to his death in 2012), and by Tim Curry (from 2012 to 2014). In the film, Sidious engineers a Separatist plot in which Count Dooku (voiced by Corey Burton) turns Jabba the Hutt against the Republic by kidnapping his son Rotta and framing the Jedi for it. Meanwhile, Palpatine suggests that the Republic ally itself with the Hutts. Although Anakin Skywalker and his Padawan Ahsoka Tano (voiced by Ashley Eckstein) foil the plot, the outcome suits Palpatine's ends: Jabba places Hutt hyperspace routes at the Republic's disposal.

In season two of the TV series, Sidious hires bounty hunter Cad Bane (voiced by Corey Burton) to infiltrate the Jedi Temple and steal a holocron. He then takes a valuable Kyber memory crystal that contains the names of thousands of Force-sensitive younglings – the future of the Jedi Order – from around the galaxy. The final stage of the plot: to bring four Force-sensitive children to Sidious' secret facility on Mustafar. Anakin and Ahsoka again foil the plot, but Bane escapes and all evidence of Sidious' involvement is lost. In season three, Sidious senses Dooku's minion Asajj Ventress (voiced by Nika Futterman) becoming powerful in the dark side and orders Dooku to eliminate her; he suspects that Dooku is planning to have Ventress assassinate him. Ventress survives and her revenge against Dooku sets off a chain of events including the return of Sidious' former apprentice and Dooku's predecessor, Darth Maul.

In season five, Sidious personally travels to the planet Mandalore to confront Maul, who has become the leader of Death Watch. Sidious kills Maul's brother Savage Opress (voiced by Clancy Brown) before torturing Maul with the intent to make use of his former apprentice. In season six, Sidious goes to lengths to conceal his plan from the Jedi by silencing Clone Trooper Fives from learning of Order 66, and having Dooku wipe out anything tied to the former Jedi Master's connection to the conspiracy.

Rebels

In Star Wars Rebels, set between Revenge of the Sith and A New Hope, Palpatine is portrayed as the Emperor of the Galactic Empire. He briefly appears off-screen at the end of season two's premiere "The Siege of Lothal" (originally voiced by Sam Witwer and later Ian McDiarmid from 2019). Darth Vader informs Palpatine that the Rebel Alliance cell on Lothal has been broken and that Ahsoka Tano is alive and is now helping the Rebels. Palpatine sees this as an opportunity to seek out other remaining Jedi, ordering Vader to dispatch an Inquisitor to hunt down Ahsoka.

Palpatine returns physically in season four (voiced again by McDiarmid). In the episodes "Wolves and a Door" and "A World Between Worlds", he appears as a hologram overseeing the excavation of the Lothal Jedi Temple, which contains a portal to a separate dimension of the Force outside of space and time, which Palpatine considers a 'conduit between the living and the dead' that could give him unrivaled power of the Force itself if he can access it. Shortly after protagonist Ezra Bridger (voiced by Taylor Gray) reaches through time and space to rescue Ahsoka from Vader, Palpatine sets up a portal that shows Jedi Master Kanan Jarrus' (voiced by Freddie Prinze Jr.) final moments. While Ezra wants to reach through the portal and rescue Kanan, Ahsoka convinces him not to. Palpatine then reveals himself through the portal and attacks Ezra with Force lightning. However, Ahsoka and Ezra manage to evade him and go their separate ways, thus denying Palpatine full power.

Palpatine later returns in the series finale "Family Reunion - and Farewell". In the episode, Ezra, having surrendered himself to Grand Admiral Thrawn (voiced by Lars Mikkelsen) to protect Lothal, is taken by him to a room containing a reconstructed section of the ruined Jedi Temple and a hologram of Palpatine as he appears in the prequel films. Palpatine, having acknowledged the threat Ezra poses to the Empire, presents himself as a kindly old man and shows Ezra a vision of his dead parents through a doorway, promising that the youth will be with them if he enters it. Ezra is initially mesmerized by Palpatine's promise and goes to enter the door, but finally resists and destroys the reconstructed Jedi Temple and the illusion. Palpatine's hologram emerges from the rubble, flickering to show his true self, and commands his Royal Guards to kill Ezra, though Ezra manages to defeat them and escape. According to series creator Dave Filoni, the events of Rogue One and A New Hope happen shortly after this episode, thus refocusing Palpatine's attention from Ezra and Lothal's liberation to the Rebel Alliance and Luke Skywalker.

The Bad Batch
Palpatine appears in the first season of the 2021 animated series Star Wars: The Bad Batch. The series is set during (and immediately following) the events of the 2005 film Revenge of the Sith. The series' first episode depicts Palpatine's senate speech from the film in animated form, using the archive sound of McDiarmid's dialogue. As in the film, Palpatine orders the extermination of the Jedi and declares himself emperor.

Books and comics
The first appearance of Palpatine in Star Wars literature was in the prologue of Alan Dean Foster's ghostwritten novelization of the script of A New Hope, published as Star Wars: From the Adventures of Luke Skywalker (1976). His background as a senator of the Republic was explored in James Kahn's novelization of Return of the Jedi.
Palpatine also appears in Rae Carson's novelization of The Rise of Skywalker, which expands upon the film's story. In the book, Palpatine is revealed to have discovered the "secret to immortality" from his former master, Darth Plagueis, using this knowledge to survive after his death in Return of the Jedi. The novelization also describes Palpatine's son as a failed clone of himself. However, the 2021 book Skywalker: A Family at War describes Palpatine's son as an "offshoot of [his] genetic research, not precisely a clone but made of cloned tissue and donated cells."

Star Wars: Lords of the Sith (2015) was one of the first canon spin-off novels to be released in the Disney canon begun in 2014. In it, Vader and Palpatine find themselves hunted by revolutionaries on the Twi'lek home planet Ryloth. In Thrawn, the titular character warns Palpatine of "threats lurking in the Unknown Regions." Chuck Wendig's Aftermath book trilogy reveals that, prior to his death, Palpatine enacted a plan for the remnants of the Empire to retreat to the Unknown Regions, where they formed into the First Order. The dark side was thought to be concentrated in this region, where one Sith cultist believed that Palpatine would be found alive. The upcoming illustrated book Star Wars: The Secrets of the Sith is told from Palpatine's perspective.

Palpatine appears frequently in the comic book series Darth Vader: Dark Lord of the Sith (2017–2018), written by Kieron Gillen and Charles Soule. It is suggested at the end of the series that Palpatine manipulated the Force to impregnate Vader's mother Shmi Skywalker, making him, in essence, Vader's father—although this is left somewhat ambiguous. This builds on the plot point of Anakin's virgin birth introduced in The Phantom Menace, and the claim that a Sith lord "could use the Force to influence the midi-chlorians to create life," as Palpatine tells Anakin in Revenge of the Sith. This would seem to have incestuous implications for Rey and Ben Solo at the end of The Rise of Skywalker, but Soule says that "The Dark Side is not a reliable narrator," and a Lucasfilm story group member who collaborated on the comic confirmed that a direct connection between Palpatine and Vader was not their intent.

The character also appears in the final chapter of the comic book Star Wars: The Rise of Kylo Ren (2020), which illustrates Palpatine's manipulation of the young Ben Solo into becoming Kylo Ren.

Video games
Star Wars Battlefront II adds a canonical tale spanning the destruction of the second Death Star through the events of The Force Awakens. The story takes an Imperial perspective, following an elite squadron known as Inferno Squad, led by protagonist Iden Versio, as they help to execute Operation: Cinder following the Emperor's death. Operation: Cinder was carried out by the Galactic Empire as a means of devastating several Imperial planets a few weeks after the Battle of Endor. The operation was part of the "Contingency", a plan devised by Emperor Palpatine to ensure that the Empire and its enemies would not outlive him should he perish. The plan was put into action following the Emperor's death during the Battle of Endor.

Palpatine's threat of revenge referenced in the opening crawl of The Rise of Skywalker was included in the finale of the Fortnite: Battle Royale X Star Wars event. The character has appeared in every Lego Star Wars video game to date, including the upcoming Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga.

Legends
In April 2014, Lucasfilm rebranded most of the licensed Star Wars novels and comics produced since the originating 1977 film Star Wars as Star Wars Legends and declared them non-canon to the franchise. Star Wars Legends literature elaborates on Palpatine's role in Star Wars fiction outside of the films.

Television

Palpatine/Darth Sidious is a central character in Genndy Tartakovsky's Star Wars: Clone Wars micro-series, which is set between Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith. The character's likeness in the series is voiced by Nick Jameson. In the first chapter, Palpatine is informed by Obi-Wan Kenobi (voiced by James Arnold Taylor) that the Jedi have discovered that the InterGalactic Banking Clan has established battle droid factories on the planet Muunilinst. Palpatine agrees to send a strike force that includes Anakin Skywalker (voiced by Matt Lanter) and suggests that Anakin be given "special command" of Obi-Wan's fighters. Yoda and Obi-Wan initially speak against the idea but reluctantly concede. In the seventh chapter, a holographic image of Sidious appears shortly after Dooku trains Dark Jedi Asajj Ventress (voiced by Grey DeLisle). Sidious orders Ventress to track down and kill Anakin. He remarks to Dooku that Ventress is certain to be defeated, but that the point of her mission is to test Anakin. In the final chapters, a hologram of Sidious again appears and orders General Grievous to begin an assault on the galactic capital. Later, the Separatist invasion of Coruscant begins and Palpatine watches from his apartment in the 500 Republica. Grievous breaks through the Chancellor's window and attempts to kidnap him, leading to a long chase while Palpatine is protected by Jedi Shaak Ti (voiced by Tasia Valenza), Roron Corobb and Foul Moudama. After Grievous defeats the Jedi, Palpatine is taken on board the Invisible Hand, setting the stage for Revenge of the Sith.

Books and comics

Palpatine made his first major appearance in Star Wars-related comic books in 1991 and 1992, with the Dark Empire series written by Tom Veitch and illustrated by Cam Kennedy. In the series (set six years after Return of the Jedi), Palpatine is resurrected as the Emperor Reborn or "Palpatine the Undying". His spirit returns from the netherworld of the Force with the aid of Sith ghosts on Korriban, and possesses the body of Jeng Droga, one of Palpatine's elite spies and assassins known as the Emperor's Hands. Droga flees to a secret Imperial base on the planet Byss, where the Emperor's advisor Sate Pestage exorcises Palpatine's spirit and channels it into one of many clones created by Palpatine before his death. Palpatine attempts to resume control of the galaxy, but Luke Skywalker, now a senior Jedi Knight, sabotages his plans. Luke destroys most of Palpatine's cloning tanks but is only able to defeat the Emperor with help from Leia Organa Solo, who has received rudimentary Jedi training from Luke. The two repel a Force storm Palpatine had created and turn it back onto him, once again destroying his physical form.

Palpatine's ultimate fate is further chronicled in the Dark Empire II and Empire's End series of comics. The Dark Empire II series, published from 1994 to 1995, details how the Emperor is once again reborn on Byss into a clone body. Palpatine tries to rebuild the Empire as the Rebel Alliance grows weak. In Empire's End (1995), a traitorous Imperial guard bribes Palpatine's cloning supervisor to tamper with the Emperor's stored DNA samples. This causes the clones to deteriorate at a rapid rate. Palpatine tries to possess the body of Anakin Solo, the infant son of Leia Organa and Han Solo, before the clone body dies, but is thwarted once again by Luke Skywalker. Palpatine is killed by a blaster shot fired by Han, but his spirit is captured by the mortally wounded Jedi Empatojayos Brand. When Brand dies, he takes Palpatine's spirit with him into the netherworld of the Force, destroying the Sith Lord once and for all.

Novels and comics published before 1999 focus on Palpatine's role as Galactic Emperor. Shadows of the Empire (1996) by Steve Perry and The Mandalorian Armor (1998) by K. W. Jeter—both set between The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi—show how Palpatine uses crime lords such as Prince Xizor and bounty hunters like Boba Fett to fight his enemies. In the Jedi Prince series of young-reader novels (1992–1993) by Paul and Hollace Davids, set about a year after Return of the Jedi, a three-eyed mutant named Triclops is revealed to be Palpatine's illegitimate son; he had a son named Ken, the titular "Jedi Prince". Barbara Hambly's novel Children of the Jedi (1995), set eight years after Return of the Jedi, features a woman named Roganda Ismaren who claims that Palpatine fathered her son Irek.

After the release of The Phantom Menace, writers were allowed to begin exploring Palpatine's backstory as a politician and Sith lord. The comic "Marked" by Rob Williams, printed in Star Wars Tales 24 (2005), and Michael Reaves' novel Darth Maul: Shadow Hunter (2001) explain Darth Sidious' relationship with his apprentice Darth Maul. Cloak of Deception (2001) by James Luceno follows Reaves' novel and details how Darth Sidious encourages the Trade Federation to build an army of battle droids in preparation for the invasion of Naboo. Cloak of Deception also focuses on Palpatine's early political career, revealing how he becomes a confidante of Chancellor Finis Valorum and acquainted with Padmé Amidala, newly elected queen of Naboo. Palpatine's role during the Clone Wars as Chancellor of the Republic and Darth Sidious is portrayed in novels such as Matthew Stover's Shatterpoint (2003), Steven Barnes' The Cestus Deception (2004), Sean Stewart's Yoda: Dark Rendezvous (2004), and Luceno's Labyrinth of Evil (2005) and Darth Plagueis (2012).

Following the theatrical release of Revenge of the Sith, Star Wars literature focused on Palpatine's role after the creation of the Empire. John Ostrander's comic Star Wars Republic 78: Loyalties (2005) chronicles how, shortly after seizing power, Emperor Palpatine sends Darth Vader to assassinate Sagoro Autem, an Imperial captain who plans to defect from the Empire. In Luceno's novel Dark Lord: The Rise of Darth Vader (2005) (set shortly after Revenge of the Sith), the Emperor sends Darth Vader to the planet Murkhana to discover why clone troopers there refused to carry out Order 66 against their Jedi generals. Palpatine hopes these early missions will teach Vader what it means to be a Sith and crush any remnants of Anakin Skywalker.

James Luceno's 2012 novel Darth Plagueis depicts Palpatine's early life, prior to the films. The scion of an aristocratic family on Naboo, Palpatine first turns toward the dark side upon meeting the titular Sith lord. Sensing great power in Palpatine, Plageuis takes him on as his Sith apprentice. In the final test of his devotion to the dark side, Palpatine kills his parents and his brother and sister.

Characterization

In Star Wars fiction, Palpatine is a cunning politician, a ruthless emperor, and an evil Sith Lord. The Star Wars Databank describes him as "the supreme ruler of the most powerful tyrannical regime the galaxy had ever witnessed" and Stephen J. Sansweet's Star Wars Encyclopedia calls him "evil incarnate".

As a senator, Palpatine is "unassuming, yet ambitious". In Cloak of Deception, James Luceno writes that Palpatine carefully guards his privacy and "others found his reclusiveness intriguing, as if he led a secret life". Despite this, he has many allies in the government. Luceno writes, "What Palpatine lacked in charisma, he made up for in candor, and it was that directness that had led to his widespread appeal in the senate. ... For in his heart he judged the universe on his own terms, with a clear sense of right and wrong." In Terry Brooks' novelization of The Phantom Menace, Palpatine claims to embrace democratic principles. He tells Queen Amidala, "I promise, Your Majesty, if I am elected [chancellor of the Republic], I will restore democracy to the Republic. I will put an end to the corruption that has plagued the Senate." A Visual Dictionary states that he is a self-proclaimed savior.

As Emperor, however, Palpatine abandons any semblance of democracy, as noted in A New Hope, when he abolishes the Imperial Senate. Sansweet states, "His Empire ... is based on tyranny."

Revenge of the Sith implies that Palpatine was the apprentice of Darth Plagueis, while later Expanded Universe materials say explicitly that he was. Palpatine is characterized as "the most powerful practitioner of the Sith ways in modern times." Palpatine is so powerful that he is able to mask his true identity from the Jedi for decades. In the novel Shatterpoint, Mace Windu remarks to Yoda, "A shame [Palpatine] can't touch the Force. He might have been a fine Jedi."

The Star Wars Databank explains that the Force "granted him inhuman dexterity and speed, agility enough to quickly kill three Jedi Masters" (as depicted in Revenge of the Sith). Stover describes the duel between Yoda and Palpatine in his novelization of Revenge of the Sith thus: "From the shadow of a black wing, a small weapon ... slid into a withered hand and spat a flame-colored blade ... When those blades met, it was more than Yoda against Palpatine, more the millennia of Sith against the legions of Jedi; this was the expression of the fundamental conflict of the universe itself. Light against dark. Winner takes all." During the duel, Yoda realizes that Sidious is a superior warrior, and represents a small but powerful Sith Order that had changed and evolved over the years, while the Jedi had not: "He had lost before he started. He had lost before he was born."

According to the Databank and New Essential Guide to Characters, Palpatine possesses great patience and his maneuverings are as a dejarik grandmaster moves pieces on a board. He is depicted as a diabolical genius.

Palpatine was not given a first name in any canonical or "Star Wars Legends" sources until 2014, when the character's first name—Sheev—was revealed in the novel Tarkin, written by James Luceno. The Lucasfilm Story Group approached Del Rey Books and asked if they wanted to use the name, which was created by George Lucas, in the Tarkin novel, to which Del Rey agreed.

Creation
Lucas' conceptualization of Palpatine and the role the character plays in Star Wars changed over time. From Return of the Jedi onwards, Palpatine became the ultimate personification of evil in Star Wars, replacing Darth Vader as the central villain.

When the original Star Wars trilogy was filmed, the Emperor was unnamed and his throne-world unidentified. The name would not be used in the film until the prequel trilogy, and the first mention of the name Palpatine came from the prologue of Alan Dean Foster's 1976 novelization of A New Hope, which detailed the Emperor's rise to power. Foster writes,

It is unclear whether Lucas intended Palpatine to be the reigning Emperor or just the first of a succession of emperors. In The Secret History of Star Wars, Michael Kaminski states that Lucas' initial notes discuss a line of corrupt emperors, not just one. If Palpatine was the first, Kaminski infers, he would therefore not be the current emperor. However, by the time of Return of the Jedi and its novelization, Palpatine was made the name of the current emperor.

During story conferences for The Empire Strikes Back, Lucas and Leigh Brackett decided that "the Emperor and the Force had to be the two main concerns in [the film]; the Emperor had barely been dealt with in the first movie, and the intention in the sequel was to deal with him on a more concrete level." Lucas ultimately decided instead to focus on the Emperor in Return of the Jedi.

In that film, the initial conception of Palpatine was superseded by his depiction as a dictatorial ruler adept in the dark side of the Force. The Emperor was inspired by the villain Ming the Merciless from the Flash Gordon comic books. The characterization of Palpatine as an ambitious and ruthless politician dismantling a democratic republic to achieve supreme power is in part inspired by the real-world examples of Julius Caesar, Napoleon Bonaparte, and Adolf Hitler. Other elements of the character come from Richard Nixon. Lucas said that Nixon's presidency "got me to thinking historically about how do democracies get turned into dictatorships. Because the democracies aren't overthrown; they're given away." Lucas also said, "The whole point of the movies, the underlying element that makes the movies work, is that you, whether you go backwards or forwards, you start out in a democracy, and democracy turns into a dictatorship, and then the rebels make it back into a democracy."

Lucas wanted to establish the Emperor as the true source of evil in Star Wars. Screenwriter Lawrence Kasdan noted, "My sense of the relationship between Darth Vader and the Emperor is that the Emperor is much more powerful ... and that Vader is very much intimidated by him. Vader has dignity, but the Emperor in Jedi really has all the power." He explained that the climax of the film is a confrontation between Darth Vader and his master. In the first scene that shows the Emperor, he arrives at the Death Star and is greeted by a host of stormtroopers, technicians, and other personnel. Lucas states he wanted it to look like the military parades on "May Day in Russia."

Lucas fleshed out the Emperor in the prequel films. According to Lucas, Palpatine's role in The Phantom Menace is to explain "how Anakin Skywalker came to be Palpatine's apprentice" and the events that led to his rise to power. According to film critic Jonathan L. Bowen, "Debates raged on the Internet concerning the relationship between Darth Sidious and Senator Palpatine. Most fans believed the two characters are actually the same person with logic seeming to support their conclusion." Bowen notes that the debate was fueled by the fact that "suspiciously Darth Sidious does not appear in the credits."

In Star Wars and History published by Lucasfilm, it describes Palpatine's consolidation of power as being similar to the Roman political figure Augustus. Both legitimized authoritarian rule by saying that corruption in the Senate was hampering the powers of the head of state; both pressured the Senate to grant extraordinary powers to deal with a crisis, falsely claiming that they would rescind those powers once the crisis was over; and both relied on their strong control over military force.

Portrayal
When the Emperor first appeared in The Empire Strikes Back, he was portrayed by Marjorie Eaton under heavy makeup. Chimpanzee eyes were superimposed into darkened eye sockets during post-production. The character was voiced by Clive Revill. The makeup was sculpted by Phil Tippett and applied by Rick Baker, who initially used his own wife, Elaine, for the makeup tests.

"With [director Irvin] Kershner," Revill said, "you had to keep the reins tight — you couldn't go overboard. It was the perfect example of the old adage 'less is more' — the Emperor doesn't say very much. But when he finally appears, it's at a point in the saga when everyone's waiting to see him. It's the Emperor, the arch-villain of all time, and when he says there's a great disturbance in the Force, I mean, that's enough oomph!" Years later, during production of Revenge of the Sith, Lucas decided to shoot new footage for The Empire Strikes Back to create continuity between the prequels and original trilogy. Thus, in the 2004 DVD release of The Empire Strikes Back Special Edition, the original version of the Emperor was replaced by Scottish Shakespearean actor Ian McDiarmid, and the dialogue between the Emperor and Darth Vader was revised.

Lucas and director Richard Marquand cast McDiarmid to play Emperor Palpatine for Return of the Jedi. He was in his late 30s and had never played a leading role in a feature film, though he had made minor appearances in films like Dragonslayer (1981). After Return of the Jedi, he resumed stage acting in London. In an interview with BackStage, McDiarmid revealed that he "never had his sights set on a film career and never even auditioned for the role of Palpatine." He elaborated, "I got called in for the interview after a Return of the Jedi casting director saw me perform in the Sam Shepard play Seduced at a studio theatre at the Royal Court. I was playing a dying Howard Hughes."

McDiarmid was surprised when Lucas approached him 16 years after Return of the Jedi to reprise the role of Palpatine. In an interview, he stated, "When we were doing Return of the Jedi there was a rumor that George Lucas had nine films in his head, and he'd clearly just completed three of them." McDiarmid added, "Someone said that, 'Oh, I think what he might do next is go back in time, and show how Vader came to be.' It never occurred to me in a million years that I would be involved in that, because I thought, 'oh well, then he'll get a much younger actor to play Palpatine. That would be obvious." However, "I was the right age, ironically, for the first prequel when it was made. ... So I was in the very strange and rather wonderful paradox of playing myself when young at my own age, having played myself previously when 100-and-I-don't-know-what."

Palpatine's role in the prequel films required McDiarmid to play two dimensions of the same character. Recalling the initial days of shooting The Phantom Menace, McDiarmid stated, "Stepping onto the set of Episode I for the first time was like going back in time, due to my experience in Jedi. Palpatine's an interesting character; he's conventional on the outside, but demonic on the inside — he's on the edge, trying to go beyond what's possible." McDiarmid added another layer to the character in Attack of the Clones. He noted, "[Palpatine] is a supreme actor. He has to be even more convincing than somebody who isn't behaving in a schizophrenic fashion, so he's extra charming, or extra professional — and for those who are looking for clues, that's almost where you can see them." McDiarmid illuminated on the scene where Padmé Amidala is almost assassinated:

In Revenge of the Sith, McDiarmid played a darker interpretation of the character. He explained that "when you're playing a character of solid blackness, that in itself is very interesting, in the sense that you have no other motivation other than the accumulation of power. It's not so much about not having a moral center, it's just that the only thing that mattered is increasing power." He admitted, "I've been trying to find a redeeming feature to Palpatine, and the only one I've got so far is that he's clearly a patron of the arts because he goes to the opera." McDiarmid compared the character to Iago from William Shakespeare's Othello:

McDiarmid noticed that the script for Revenge of the Sith demanded more action from his character than in previous films. Lightsaber combat was a challenge to the 60-year-old actor, who, like his costars, took fencing lessons. The close-up shots and non-acrobatic sequences of the duel between Palpatine and Mace Windu were performed by McDiarmid. Advanced fencing and acrobatic stunts were executed by McDiarmid's doubles, Michael Byrne, Sebastian Dickins, and Bob Bowles.

McDiarmid's performance as Palpatine was generally well received by critics. Todd McCarthy of Variety commented, "Entertaining from start to finish and even enthralling at times, 'Sith' has some acting worth writing home about, specifically McDiarmid's dominant turn as the mastermind of the evil empire."  Ed Halter of The Village Voice wrote that "Ian McDiarmid's unctuous Emperor turns appropriately vampiric as he attempts to draw Anakin into the Sith fold with promises of eternal life." Still, his performance was not without detractors; David Edelstein of Slate critiqued, "McDiarmid isn't the subtlest of satanic tempters. With his lisp and his clammy little leer, he looks like an old queen keen on trading an aging butt-boy (Count Dooku) for fresh meat — which leaves Anakin looking more and more like a 15-watt bulb." McDiarmid had expressed interest in reprising the role of Palpatine in the planned Star Wars: Underworld TV series, which remains un-produced, but according to Cory Barlog, would have depicted the character as "a sympathetic figure who was wronged by this fucking heartless woman. She's this hardcore gangster, and she just totally destroyed him as a person."

In the 2019 film The Rise of Skywalker, the ninth episode in the Skywalker saga, McDiarmid returned to the role of Palpatine on screen for the first time since Revenge of the Sith. McDiarmid spoke of the process behind Palpatine's first scene in the film:

McDiarmid was surprised to learn of the filmmakers' decision to bring back Palpatine, given the character died in Return of the Jedi. The film's director, J. J. Abrams, spoke of Palpatine's inclusion in the sequel trilogy: "...when you look at this as nine chapters of a story, perhaps the weirder thing would be if Palpatine didn't return. You just look at what he talks about, who he is, how important he is, what the story is — strangely, his absence entirely from the third trilogy would be conspicuous". On Palpatine's portrayal in the film, McDiarmid said, "he's fairly physically impaired, but his mind is as sharp as ever."

Make-up and costumes

Transforming McDiarmid into Emperor Palpatine in Return of the Jedi required extensive makeup. McDiarmid remarked in an interview with Star Wars Insider, "Yes—that was a four-hour job, initially, although we got it down to about two-and-a-half in the end. But this was just a little bit of latex here and there, a little bit of skin-scrunching." Film critic Roger Ebert wrote that the Emperor "looks uncannily like Death in The Seventh Seal," and film historian Robin Wood compares him to the hag from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937). McDiarmid remarked, "When my face changes in [Revenge of the Sith], my mind went back to the early silent movie of The Phantom of the Opera with Lon Chaney." Conversely, he required little makeup in The Phantom Menace and Attack of the Clones. He recalled, "I'm ... slightly aged [in AotC]. In the last film, I had a fairly standard make-up on, but now, they're starting to crinkle my face."

Palpatine's wardrobe in the prequels, tailored by costume designer Trisha Biggar, played an important part in the development of the character. In Attack of the Clones, explained McDiarmid, "The costumes ... have got much more edge to them, I think than the mere senator had in The Phantom Menace. So we see the trappings of power." On Revenge of the Sith, McDiarmid said that "To wear the costumes as the character I play is wonderfully empowering." McDiarmid's favorite costume in the film was a high-collared jacket that resembles snake or lizard skin. He stated that "it just feels reptilian, which is exactly right for [Palpatine]." According to Biggar, the character's costumes proved the most daunting challenge. She said, "His six costumes get progressively darker and more ornately decorated throughout the movie. He wears greys and browns, almost going to black, taking him toward the dark side."

In The Rise of Skywalker, Palpatine is unable to move without the aid of a large machine, to which he is attached. He is depicted as having eyes without pupils and rotting hands. Costume designer Michael Kaplan opted to dress Palpatine in a utilitarian black robe, which he wears for the majority of the film. At the end of the film, Palpatine rejuvenates himself using the Force and becomes physically mobile. He dons a new costume — a formal robe with red velvet — which Kaplan refers to as "his true Emperor's garb".

In popular culture 

With the premiere of Return of the Jedi and the prequel films and the accompanying merchandising campaign, Palpatine became an icon in American popular culture. Kenner/Hasbro produced and marketed a series of action figures of the character from 1983 to 2005. According to John Shelton Lawrence and Robert Jewett, "These action figures allow children ('4 & up') to handle the symbols of the Force."

Academics have debated the relationship of Palpatine to modern culture. Religion scholars Ross Shepard Kraemer, William Cassidy, and Susan Schwartz compare Palpatine and Star Wars heroes to the theological concept of dualism. They insist, "One can certainly picture the evil emperor in Star Wars as Satan, complete with his infernal powers, leading his faceless minions such as his red-robed Imperial Guards." Lawrence and Jewett argue that Vader killing Palpatine in Return of the Jedi represented "the permanent subduing of evil". However, according to director J. J. Abrams, Palpatine's return in The Rise of Skywalker represented the idea that evil can return as a result of complacency. He said, "I think the idea that if we are not careful, the evil — the ultimate evil — will rise again."

Since Return of the Jedi and the prequel films, Palpatine's name has been invoked as a caricature in politics. A Seattle Post-Intelligencer editorial noted that anti-pork bloggers were caricaturing West Virginia Senator Robert Byrd as "the Emperor Palpatine of pork", with Senator Ted Stevens of Alaska having "clear aspirations to be his Darth Vader." The charge followed a report that linked a secret hold on the Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act of 2006 to the two senators. Politicians have made comparisons as well. In 2005, Democratic Senator Frank Lautenberg of New Jersey compared Republican Majority Leader Bill Frist of Tennessee to Palpatine in a speech on the Senate floor, complete with a visual aid.

A Fox News editorial stated "no cultural icon can exist without someone trying to stuff it into a political ideology. The Star Wars saga, the greatest pop culture icon of the last three decades, is no exception... Palpatine's dissolution of the Senate in favor of imperial rule has been compared to Julius Caesar's marginalization of the Roman Senate, Hitler's power-grab as chancellor, and FDR's court-packing scheme and creation of the Imperial Presidency."

On the Internet
After Disney's purchase of Lucasfilm in 2012 and the sequel trilogy's success in the mid-late 2010s, the character became the subject of various internet memes, emphasizing certain lines of dialogue the character spoke in Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith.

Footnotes

References
Citations

Works cited

Further reading
 Anderson, Kevin J., and Daniel Wallace. The Essential Chronology. New York: Del Rey, 2000. .
 Bortolin, Matthew. The Dharma of Star Wars. Somerville, Mass.: Wisdom Publications, 2005. .
 Feeney, Mark. Nixon at the Movies: A Book about Belief. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2004. .
 Hanson, Michael J., and Max S. Kay. Star Wars: The New Myth. Philadelphia: Xlibris, 2002. .
 Horne, Michael Allen. Dark Empire Sourcebook. Honesdale, Penn.: West End Games, 1993. .
 Jensen, Hans, and Richard Chasemore. Star Wars: Complete Locations. New York: DK Publishing, 2005. .
 Luceno, James. Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith: The Visual Dictionary. New York: DK Publishing, 2005. .
 Lyden, John. "The Apocalyptic Cosmology of Star Wars." Journal of Religion and Film 4 (No. 1, April 2000): online.
 Peña, Abel G. "Evil Never Dies: The Sith Dynasties." Star Wars Insider 88 (June 2006).
 Reynolds, David West. Episode I: The Visual Dictionary New York: DK Publishing, 1999. .
 Reynolds, David West. Star Wars: Attack of the Clones: The Visual Dictionary. New York: DK Publishing, 2002. .
 Smith, Jeffrey A. "Hollywood Theology: The Commodification of Religion in Twentieth-Century Films." Religion and American Culture 11 (No. 2, Summer 2001): pp. 191–231.
 Velasco, Raymond L. A Guide to the Star Wars Universe. New York: Del Rey, 1984. .
 Wallace, Daniel. The New Essential Guide to Characters. New York: Del Rey, 2002. .
 Wallace, Daniel, and Kevin J. Anderson. The New Essential Chronology. New York: Del Rey, 2005. .

External links
 
 
 Emperor Palpatine on IMDb

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