I decided to create this thread in honor of the character of Sheev Palpatine, alias Darth Sidious, as he is perhaps my favorite character in all of fiction (only a few others I could consider placing ahead of him). While multiple respect threads already exist for him, the original one made by our dear departed user @silver2467 is greatly outdated and its images no longer work; the creator of the more recent series of Palpatine respect threads, another fellow user @shootingnova has recently retired so his threads will no longer receive updating, and it is split up into four different parts and as such does not properly convey the grandiosity and glory that the character in my opinion deserves; and finally, the Canon Darth Sidious respect thread, as the name implies, only features his Canon showings, meaning a great deal of content will be missing from it when considering all of Palpatine’s feats and accolades across all of his appearances throughout the history of the Star Wars franchise.
Special thanks to users @yousufkhan1212, @wollfmyth209, @jkbart, @beniboybling, @lordofthelight, @zapan871, @erkan12, @darthant66, and @g1d3on, as well as any future users for improving the original Sheev respect threads by gathering and providing additional material for them, and very special thanks to @silver2467 for creating the original Sidious respect thread and researching and collecting an absolutely humongous amount of feats and accolades for him. His work set the basis for all other Palpatine respect threads and enlightened casual Star Wars fans on the Emperor’s power and raised his standing on the forum. Another very special thanks goes to @shootingnova for continuing Silver’s legacy by creating the series of Darth Sidious respect threads and frequently updating them with new information before his retirement, as well as for granting me permission to freely use all the material in said threads for this one.
For easy navigation, I have separated this thread into the following sections:
You can jump to the section of your choosing by clicking the links above. Do note that the feats are in chronological order. Particlularly noteworthy ones will be marked with ★. You can also search individual words by pressing Ctrl + F on your keyboard for a search bar to pop up. Unfortunately, this only works on computers (to my knowledge) so mobile users will have to get by without this feature.
Before you begin reading, here is some awesome music to listen to:
With all that out of the way, let’s get into the meat of things…
Respect Sheev Palpatine, eldest son of noble House Palpatine of the planet Naboo, ambassador and senator of Naboo, supreme chancellor of the Galactic Republic, emperor of the Galactic Empire and the Dark Empire, and Dark Lord of the Sith Darth Sidious, the Sith’ari, the dark side incarnate.
Palpatine is repeatedly described as an extraordinarily powerful Force wielder.
Scheming, powerful, and evil to the core, Darth Sidious restored the Sith and destroyed the Jedi Order.
--Databank: Emperor Palpatine/Darth Sidious
Darth Sidious's dark side powers are so strong that no one suspects that the Supreme Chancellor is also an evil Sith Lord!
--Darth Maul, Sith Apprentice
Possessed of the boundless power of the Force and adept in the ways of the dark side, Emperor Palpatine was one of the most dangerous and evil Humans in galactic history.
--The Dark Side Sourcebook
What no one could know was just how strong the unassuming president’s ties to the Dark Side were.
--Dark Empire endnotes
Darth Maul had hoped to draw Darth Sidious into the open. The brothers fought him together, but the Sith Lord was impossibly powerful. Maul was a nuisance, but still of limited value. Opress had no value to Sidious at all.
--Fact File
Yoda - shaken by wars, revelations and betrayals - understood then that his destiny lay elsewhere, and he could not allow the possibility that he might be killed by the hideously powerful Sith Lord to endanger the very future of the Jedi.
--Fact File
Palpatine's mastery of the dark side of the Force was terrifying
--Official Starships and Vehicle Collection #64
The Emperor's mastery of the dark side was great indeed.
--Shadows of the Empire
Strong with the dark side, Sidious felt a disturbance in the Force as Luke Skywalker’s Jedi powers developed.
--Databank: Emperor Palpatine/Darth Sidious
Darth Sidious was one of the most powerful Sith who has ever lived.
--Sith Wars
Many of the most powerful, terrifying, and notorious Sith Lords through history have been Human or near-Human, including Exar Kun, Darth Malak, Darth Bane, Darth Sidious, Darth Vader, and Darth Krayt.
--Behind the Threat: The Sith
The most powerful Sith Lords possess a talent for the dark alchemy of the Sith.
--The Dark Side Sourcebook
As the battle rages, Yoda makes the brave decision to confront his enemy in a deadly duel. The dark and light side clash as two of the greatest Masters of the Force are pitted against each other.
--Sith Wars
His power may be unparalleled in the history of the Sith.
--Force and Destiny
Sheev’s mere anger causes flowers around him to fold in on themselves.
Plagueis made a soothing gesture and explained in great detail what had taken place. Concluding, he said, "He threatened, too, to place you out of reach."
All the while Plagueis spoke, Palpatine was storming through circles on the narrow path, shaking his head in anger and balling his fists. "He can't do this!" he snarled. He hasn't the right! I won't allow it!"
Palpatine's fury buffeted Plagueis. Blossoms growing along the sides of the pathway folded in on themselves, and their pollinators began to buzz in agitation. FourDee reacted, as well, wobbling on its feet, as if in the grip of a powerful electromagnet. Had this human truly been born of flesh-and-blood parents? Plagueis asked himself. When, in fact, he seemed sprung from nature itself. Was the Force so strong in him that it had concealed itself?
--Darth Plagueis
A group of Nightsisters take a step back, wary of Sidious’ power upon sensing it.
“Master,” Talzin heard him say.
A human male stepped into view. Of average height, he wore a dark robe whose hood was raised over his head, concealing his face. Talzin could feel his power, not only in the Force, but in the dark side, as it was known to some. Even the Nightsisters could sense the man’s strength, and fell back a step in uncertainty, their energy bows aimed at the deck.
--Restraint
Sidious has the skill and ability to kill Darth Plagueis, his own Sith Master and a Sith Lord of titanic power.
In truth, Palpatine was well versed in the ways of the Force, having been apprentice to Darth Plagueis the Wise, a Sith Lord who was a master of arcane and unnatural knowledge. In true Sith tradition, Palpatine murdered his Master upon receiving the skill and ability to do so.
--The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia
Rick McCallum, the executive producer of the prequel trilogy claims Palpatine is more powerful than any Jedi at the time of the Clone Wars.
"Ian is a classical Shakespearean actor; you know, the last thing in the world that he can do, or wants to do, is be a Jedi Master. You know, he is not a Jedi Master, he's got to be even more powerful than the Jedi."
--Rick McCallum, the executive producer of the prequel trilogy
The Emperor is credited to be at least as powerful as Yoda, the most powerful of the Jedi, in another source.
Yoda’s knowledge of the Force makes him just as powerful as Darth Sidious.
--Mysteries of the Jedi
Although many others say he is in fact more powerful of the two.
Inside the spacious interior of the Galactic Senate chamber, Yoda challenged the Emperor. The two engaged in a spectacular duel—a contest between the most powerful practitioners of the Force’s Light and Dark Sides. The Emperor proved too powerful to defeat.
--The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia
The Jedi Master and the Sith Lord dueled in the Senate chamber, but Sidious was too strong for Yoda to defeat.
--Databank: Coruscant History Gallery
A fierce duel commenced. Yoda and Darth Sidious each used his side of the Force to try to defeat the other. But the Sith Lord's powers were too strong.
--Revenge of the Sith Canon junior novelization
Note: Yoda happens to be the most powerful Jedi and light side practitioner in history. As Sidious is superior to him in power, he is also superior to every single Jedi that had ever lived as well, including the likes of Odan-Urr, Ood Bnar, Thon, Vodo-Siosk Baas, Nomi Sunrider, Ulic Qel-Droma, Revan, Meetra Surik, the Outlander and others.
Yoda's ability to use the Force is greater than that of any other Jedi.
--The Legendary Yoda
Meet Yoda. He is the most powerful Jedi.
--Blast Off!
The avatar of light, Supreme Master of the Jedi Order, the fiercest, most implacable, most devastatingly powerful foe the darkness had ever known…
--Revenge of the Sith novelization
Inside the spacious interior of the Galactic Senate chamber, Yoda challenged the Emperor. The two engaged in a spectacular duel—a contest between the most powerful practitioners of the Force’s light and dark sides.
--The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia
The two most powerful users of the Force's light and dark sides clash in a spectacular duel in the Senate bulding on Coruscant.
--Epic Battles
Sidious is much more powerful than Darth Maul.
“Yeah, I think that’s pretty literal at that point. I think that what you understand about Maul is that he is still not nearly as powerful as Sidious.”
--Dave Filoni, executive producer and director of the Clone Wars
Note: Darth Maul is one of the most deadly Sith Lords in history, capable of dominating the likes of Obi-Wan Kenobi with the Force:
One of the most skilled and deadly warriors in Sith history, Darth Sidious' apprentice took part in the first encounter between Jedi Knight and Sith warrior for more than 1,000 years in the Battle for Naboo.
--The Official Star Wars Fact File #1
As a Sith devotee, Darth Maul drew his power from the dark side of the Force. He was one of the most highly trained Sith in the history of the order.
--The Official Star Wars Fact File #1
Darth Maul is Darth Sidious's apprentice and one of the most dangerous and highly trained Sith in the history of the Order.
--Character Encyclopedia
Gallery
Sidious’ mere hologram radiates more power than Quinlan Vos and Count Dooku.
"Darth Tyranus," intoned Count Dooku's Master. Even though he wasn't physically present, the simple sound of his voice - rasping, papery, somehow, like the rustling of ancient parchment - sent a shiver through Ventress. This man was steeped in the dark side of the Force, saturated with it, in a way that she was certain Vos, perhaps even Dooku, had never been.
--Dark Disciple
Note: Count Dooku is an extremely powerful Force wielder capable of contending with the likes of Grandmaster Yoda.
"It is obvious that this contest cannot be decided by our knowledge of the Force... but by our skills with a lightsaber."
--Count Dooku, Attack of the Clones
The old Master was so accomplished in every aspect of the Force that until the Battle of Geonosis he had rarely needed to resort to his weapon. When he did, he proved as masterful with it as without.
--Fact File
The two Force warriors attempted to defeat each other with displays of telekinesis and other Force abilities, but they were too evenly matched.
--Lightsabers: A Guide to the Weapons of the Force
The two engaged in a titanic struggle of Force powers, neither besting the other.
--The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia
Dooku dares not question Sidious’ power.
Really, sometimes it seemed to Dooku that Darth Sidious's plots were needlessly complex. It was beginning to look very much as if Dooku could simply win: march his battle droids into Coruscant and claim the Republic outright.Not that he would ever question the power of Darth Sidious.
--Yoda: Dark Rendezvous
Sidious’ power went beyond Dooku’s most spectacular fantasies.
Dooku could not argue. Not only had the Dark Lord introduced Dooku to realms of power beyond his most spectacular fantasies, but Sidious was also a political manipulator so subtle that his abilities might be considered to dwarf even the power of the dark side itself.
--Revenge of the Sith novelization
Even Palpatine’s own lightsaber is a dark side nexus, reflecting the power of its maker.
This red-bladed lightsaber belonged to one of the galaxy's most fearsome dictators. Constructed in the style of all Sith lightsabers, Emperor Palpatine's lightsaber practically drips with the dark side of the Force.
--Legacy era campaign guide
Emperor Palpatine's lightsaber: Medium lightsaber steeped in the dark side of the Force.
--Legacy era campaign guide
The Emperor’s personal shuttle is a dark side nexus, reflecting the power of its owner.
“Yes… the dark side power… Intense. Be ready for anything.”
--Luke Skywalker, Empire’s End
Galen Marek is ultimately no match for the Emperor’s power.
As Juno rescued the Senators, Starkiller confronted the Sith Lords who had been manipulating him for years. Lightsabers clashed inside the Emperor's observation dome, but Starkiller was ultimately no match for the power of Darth Sidious.
--The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia
Note: Galen Marek is a monstrously powerful Force wielder, capable of pulling down a falling Star Destroyer, a giant 1600-meter-long starship.
“Vader discovered this person who had the potential to be the most powerful Force user ever. He's up there with the top tier. He's extremely powerful. Vader has trained him in such a way that he just kept pushing his limitations, seeing how far he could use the Force. So, where a normal Jedi might use the Force to trick his way past a few stormtroopers, the apprentice might use the Force to bring down an adjacent building on top of those stormtroopers. He's extremely confident in everything he does. He's been trained by Vader to be an assassin, an unstoppable force."
--Haden Blackman, the creator of The Force Unleashed
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The Emperor’s first death over Endor creates a burst of dark side energy.
Palpatine's body, still spewing bolts of light, spun out of control, into the void, bouncing back and forth off the sides of the shaft as it fell. It disappeared at last; but then, a few seconds later, a distant explosion could be heard, far down at the core. A rush of air billowed out of the shaft, into the throne room. The wind whipped at Lord Vader's cape, as he staggered and collapsed toward the hole, trying to follow his master to the end. Luke crawled to his father's side, though, and pulled the Dark Lord away from the edge of the chasm, to safety.
--Return of the Jedi novelization
Emperor Palpatine screamed as his body plunged down the seemingly bottomless shaft. When he was almost beyond sight, his body exploded, releasing dark energy and creating a rush of air up through the throne room.
--Return of the Jedi junior novelization
As he watched the agony of his son and the Emperor's glee, Vader finally broke the hold of evil that had suffocated him for so long. Vader grabbed the energy-seething Palpatine and hurled him into the Death Star reactor shaft, where the evil leader was disintegrated. The shock waves of dark power mortally wounded Vader. Luke Skywalker could do nothing for his dying father, the terrible enemy who had saved him in the end.
--The New Essential Chronology
The Emperor’s first death over Endor leaves behind a dark side nexus.
Any unusual localization, or vergence, of dark side Force energy. These strange locales emanated the dark side of the Force, and were considered focal points of power for dark side users. As such, they were often guarded by Jedi Knights to prevent their discovery and exploitation. Known dark side nexuses included the twisted tree-cave on Dagobah, Halagad Ventor's hermitage on Trinta, and a "stain" of dark side energy that hovered over Endor following the defeat of the Emperor.
--The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia
His death he had planned for, just as he had planned for every other contingency. Still, this last time had been quite different from all the others. Previously, the clones had been only meters away and the passing voluntary, in the comfort of his chambers. Nothing like the time of betrayal by his Dark servant. This time was so abrupt and unexpected... so unpleasant that it felt as if, perhaps, a part of his being had been left in space over Endor.
--Dark Empire Sourcebook
Palpatine’s power is too great for Empatojayos Brand’s body to contain and it eats him alive.
“I am being eaten alive by darkness!”
--Empatojayos Brand, Empire’s End
Note: Empatojayos Brand is a Jedi who can survive on the hottest and the coldest planets in the galaxy.
“This ‘droid suit’ is a sophisticated survival system. It can keep me alive on the hottest, or the coldest, planet in the galaxy. I could live for a year in the vacuum of space...without eating.”
--Empatojayos Brand, Dark Empire II Audio Drama
Emperor Palpatine’s power is too great for Jeng Droga’s mind to comprehend, driving him insane.
The moment the Emperor "died" at the Battle of Endor, Droga fell into an inexplicable insanity, butchering his crew and causing the Emperor's Shadow to plunge into Kaal's oceans. Even as he perished, Palpatine used the dark side knowledge the Sith Lords had granted him years earlier to rend space itself and transmigrate his essence across lightyears to Droga's body. The infusion of Palpatine's overwhelming dark side energies reduced Droga to incoherent madness.
--Gamer #5
Palpatine is virtually indestructible.
Such destruction would cull out the weak, the cowardly, the stupid. Now that he was truly indestructible, he could afford to set his standards higher.
--Dark Empire Sourcebook
Palpatine is far more powerful than any of his Dark Side Adepts.
While none of them were permitted to advance far compared to Palpatine’s own level of power, they did become quite powerful indeed.
--Dark Empire Sourcebook
In the years prior to the Battle of Yavin, Byss was known as the Emperor's Private retreat. Here he began quietly training Dark Side Adepts, initiating men of great intelligence who had committed their lives to his service. None were permitted to ascend to his level of knowledge and proficiency, but the Adepts nonetheless became powerful Dark Side magicians in their own right.
--Dark Empire endnotes
Note: The Adepts can use Drain Life, Sith Alchemy, Force Storm and other extremely advanced Force abilities, making them some of the most powerful Force users in history.
Force storm: A tornado of energy created by great disturbances in the Force. Dark Side Adepts demonstrated limited control over the creation of these storms.
--The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia
Using their "science of darkness", they learned to feed on the life energy of others, accumulating Force energy in their own bodies. And they learned to redirect this accumulated power in many ways - either as a weapon or in the manipulation of molecular structures.Legend says that Adepts of the Dark Side have even succeeded in spawning living monstrosities - beasts and intelligent entities, some unspeakably ugly, some full of malevolent charm and symmetry, all utterly permeated by the power of the Dark Side.
--Dark Empire endnotes
Palpatine’s cane is a ruse, which he does not need in order to maintain mobility and is simply using to deceive his enemies.
Typical of the obfuscation and misdirection that Palpatine practiced, the cane was an affectation that he had adopted some short time after becoming Emperor. He instructed his publicists to state that he required it because of the damage done to him in the treacherous attack by Mace Windu and the other Jedi. The tapping cane stooped posture and slow-paced walk made Palpatine look weak and vulnerable to some, tempting and drawing out his opponents so he could destroy them at his leisure.
--Official Starships and Vehicle Collection #60
Uses cane as a means to project vulnerability, not because he needs it
--Complete Visual Guide (updated)
Vader admits he must obey Palpatine due to the latter’s strength in the dark side of the Force.
"You don't know the power of the dark side! I must obey my master."
--Darth Vader, Return of the Jedi
Darth Sidious made the LiMerge Building a dark side nexus.
One structure in particular--columnar in shape, round-topped, propped by angular ramparts--rising from the defiled core of The Works like a stake driven into its heart. Strong in the dark side--made so by Darth Sidious--the building had been the place of Dooku's apprenticeship, just as it had served as a training ground for Darth Maul before Dooku, and who knew who or how many other Sith disciples before Maul.
--Labyrinth of Evil
Emperor Palpatine’s influence over Byss turned it into one of the most powerful dark side sites in the galaxy, to the point where it had an unnatural glow.
The dark side energies that Palpatine and his minions wove about Byss began to leach the life energies of the people. Many had been specifically selected to make this process easier and more fruitful for the Emperor. Slowly, the planet itself became as corrupted as it's people until, as seen from space, Byss seemed to be bathed in an unnatural glow.
--Official Starships and Vehicle Collection #64
Over time, the Emperor's dark side energies slowly corrupted the world and transformed it into one of the most powerful dark side sites in the entire galaxy.
--Byss and the Deep Core
Emperor Palpatine’s presence even in a hologram is overpowering to Luke Skywalker.
“And the presence of the Emperor, even in a hologram, is almost overpowering.”
--Luke Skywalker, Dark Empire audio drama
Luke is powerless compared to Palpatine.
He quickly fell under the Emperor’s sway, consumed by anger and hate, and seemingly powerless to defeat the Emperor.
Sidious becomes more powerful under the tutelage of Darth Plagueis, his Sith Master.
As he grew more powerful in the dark side, Sidious found it easy to advance his career as Palpatine, the seemingly innocent politician from Naboo. In time, Sidious acquired his own apprentice in Darth Maul, and murdered his master Darth Plagueis.
--Databank: Darth Sidious/Emperor Palpatine
As he grew stronger in the dark side, the profane world became a stranger and stranger place, swept by currents he’d had no previous awareness of and populated by vaguely outlined life-forms he saw as magnitudes of the Force.
--Darth Plagueis
Regardless, eight long years later, Plagueis remained convinced that he was on the verge of absolute success. The evidence was in his own increased midi-chlorian count; and in the power he sensed in Sidious when he had finally returned to Sojourn.
--Darth Plagueis
Sidious was continuing to become more powerful as a Sith and as a politician, his most intricate schemes meeting with little or no resistance.
--Darth Plagueis
But Palpatine was grateful, for the Force had slowly groomed him into a being of dark power and granted him a secret identity, as well.
--Darth Plagueis
Sidious knew that his own powers had increased tenfold over the decades, but he couldn’t be certain he had learned all of Plagueis’ secrets - “his sorcerer’s ways,” as the Sun Guards referred to them - including the ability to prevent beings from dying.
--Darth Plagueis
After murdering his Master, Sidious gains a massive boost in power.
A tremor took hold of the planet.
Sprung from death, it unleashed itself in a powerful wave, at once burrowing deep into the world’s core and radiating through its saccharine atmosphere to shake the stars themselves. At the quake’s epicenter stood Sidious, one elegant hand vised on the burnished sill of an expansive translucency, a vessel filled suddenly to bursting, the Force so strong within him that he feared he might disappear into it, never to return. But the moment didn’t constitute an ending so much as a true beginning, long overdue; it was less a transformation than an intensification—a gravitic shift.
A welter of voices, near and far, present and from eons past, drowned his thoughts. Raised in praise, the voices proclaimed his reign and cheered the inauguration of a new order. Yellow eyes lifted to the night sky, he saw the trembling stars flare, and in the depth of his being he felt the power of the dark side anoint him.
Slowly, almost reluctantly, he came back to himself, his gaze settling on his manicured hands. Returned to the present, he took note of his rapid breathing, while behind him the room labored to restore order. Air scrubbers hummed—costly wall tapestries undulating in the summoned breeze. Prized carpets sealed their fibers against the spread of spilled fluids. The droid shuffled in obvious confliction. Sidious pivoted to take in the disarray: antique furniture overturned; framed artwork askew. As if a whirlwind had swept through. And facedown on the floor lay a statue of Yanjon, one of four law-giving sages of Dwartii.
A piece Sidious had secretly coveted.
Also sprawled there, Plagueis: his slender limbs splayed and elongated head turned to one side. Dressed in finery, as for a night on the town.
And now dead.
Or was he?
Uncertainty rippled through Sidious, rage returning to his eyes. A tremor of his own making, or one of forewarning? Was it possible that the wily Muun had deceived him? Had Plagueis unlocked the key to immortality, and survived after all? Never mind that it would constitute a petty move for one so wise—for one who had professed to place the Grand Plan above all else. Had Plagueis become ensnared in a self-spun web of jealousy and possessiveness, victim of his own engineering, his own foibles?
If he hadn’t been concerned for his own safety, Sidious might have pitied him. Wary of approaching the corpse of his former Master, he called on the Force to roll the aged Muun over onto his back. From that angle Plagueis looked almost as he had when Sidious first met him, decades earlier: smooth, hairless cranium; humped nose, with its bridge flattened as if from a shock-ball blow and its sharp tip pressed almost to his upper lip; jutting lower jaw; sunken eyes still brimming with menace—a physical characteristic rarely encountered in a Muun. But then Plagueis had never been an ordinary Muun, nor an ordinary being of any sort.
Sidious took care, still reaching out with the Force. On closer inspection, he saw that Plagueis’s already cyanotic flesh was smoothing out, his features relaxing.
Faintly aware of the whir of air scrubbers and sounds of the outside world infiltrating the luxurious suite, he continued the vigil; then, in relief, he pulled himself up to his full height and let out his breath. This was no Sith trick. Not an instance of feigning death, but one of succumbing to its cold embrace. The being who had guided him to power was gone.
Wry amusement narrowed his eyes.
The Muun might have lived another hundred years unchanged. He might have lived forever had he succeeded fully in his quest. But in the end—though he could save others from death—he had failed to save himself.
A sense of supreme accomplishment puffed Sidious’s chest, and his thoughts unreeled.
Well, then, that wasn’t nearly as bad as we thought it might be...
Rarely did events play out as imagined, in any case. The order of future events was transient. In the same way that the past was reconfigured by selective memory, future events, too, were moving targets. One could only act on instinct, grab hold of an intuited perfect moment, and spring into action. One heartbeat late and the universe would have recomposed itself, no imposition of will sufficient to forestall the currents. One could only observe and react. Surprise was the element absent from any periodic table. A keystone element; a missing ingredient. The means by which the Force amused itself. A reminder to all sentient beings that some secrets could never be unlocked.
Confident that the will of the dark side had been done, he returned to the suite’s window wall. Two beings in a galaxy of countless trillions, but what had transpired in the suite would affect the lives of all of them. Already the galaxy had been shaped by the birth of one, and henceforth would be reshaped by the death of the other. But had the change been felt and recognized elsewhere? Were his sworn enemies aware that the Force had shifted irrevocably? Would it be enough to rouse them from self-righteousness? He hoped not. For now the work of vengeance could begin in earnest.
His eyes sought and found an ascending constellation of stars, one of power and consequence new to the sky, though soon to be overwhelmed by dawn’s first light. Low in the sky over the flatlands, visible only to those who knew where and how to look, it ushered in a bold future. To some the stars and planets might seem to be moving as ever, destined to align in configurations calculated long before their fiery births. But in fact the heavens had been perturbed, tugged by dark matter into novel alignments. In his mouth, Sidious tasted the tang of blood; in his chest, he felt the monster rising, emerging from shadowy depths and contorting his aspect into something fearsome just short of revealing itself to the world.
The dark side had made him its property, and now he made the dark side his.
Breathless, not from exertion but from the sudden inspiration of power, he let go of the sill and allowed the monster to writhe through his body like an unbroken beast of range or prairie.
Had the Force ever been so strong in anyone?
Sidious had never learned how Plagueis’s own Master had met his end. Had he died at Plagueis’s hand? Had Plagueis, too, experienced a similar exultation on becoming a sole Sith Lord? Had the beast of the end time risen then to peek at the world it was to inhabit, knowing its release was imminent?
--Darth Plagueis
Note: As a result of this boost, Sidious gained such power that he could imbalance the Force on his own casually. Before this boost, it had taken months of intense meditation for Plagueis and Sidious to imbalance the Force. Therefore, it can be concluded that Sidious’ power after this boost was greater than the powers of Plagueis and pre-boost Sidious combined.
Confident that the will of the dark side had been done, he returned to the suite’s window wall. Two beings in a galaxy of countless trillions, but what had transpired in the suite would affect the lives of all of them. Already the galaxy had been shaped by the birth of one, and henceforth would be reshaped by the death of the other. But had the change been felt and recognized elsewhere? Were his sworn enemies aware that the Force had shifted irrevocably?
--Darth Plagueis
The question of whether he and Sidious had discovered something new or rediscovered something ancient was beside the point. All that mattered was that, almost a decade earlier, they had succeeded in willing the Force to shift and tip irrevocably to the dark side. Not a mere paradigm shift, but a tangible alteration that could be felt by anyone strong in the Force, and whether or not trained in the Sith or Jedi arts.The shift had been the outcome of months of intense meditation, during which Plagueis and Sidious had sought to challenge the Force for sovereignty and suffuse the galaxy with the power of the dark side.
--Darth Plagueis
Chancellor Palpatine’s strength in the Force grows throughout the years leading up to the Great Jedi Purge and the formation of the Galactic Empire.
Beyond the vision of the Jedi Knights, somewhere within the darkness, the greatest master of evil ever to use Sith power bides his time. As his strength grows, his plans begin to shape the course of the galaxy, and his snares await the unsuspecting.
--The Complete Visual Dictionary
To Mace's Force perception, the world crystallized around them, becoming a gem of reality shot through with flaws and fault lines of possibility. This was Mace's particular gift: to see how people and situations fit together in the Force, to find the shear planes that can cause them to break in useful ways, and to intuit what sort of strike would best make the cut. Though he could not consistently determine the significance of the structures he perceived—the darkening cloud upon the Force that had risen with the rebirth of the Sith made that harder and harder with each passing day—the presence of shatterpoints was always clear.
--Revenge of the Sith novelization
Over the next decade Palpatine grew more secure in his power.
--Databank: Darth Sidious/Emperor Palpatine
Only the Jedi were not surprised. For on Geonosis, Obi-Wan Kenobi and his Padawan apprentice, Anakin Skywalker, had learned that Count Dooku had turned to the dark side of the Force — and the power of the dark side had been growing for years. The Jedi knew that defeating the Separatists would be neither quick nor easy with a Dark Lord of the Sith aiding them.
--Revenge of the Sith junior novelization
Strong, this Sith Lord is, Yoda thought as their lightsabers whirled and clashed and whirled again. It should not have been a surprise. With the strength of the dark side growing, the Sith must, logically, have grown stronger, too.
--Revenge of the Sith junior novelization
Note: The quotes that states the darkening cloud in the Force is strengthening every day are in fact referring to Palpatine also, since Sidious is the source of the shroud. Therefore, per the second quote, Sidious was growing in power every single day by a noticeable degree, as evidenced in Mace Windu’s ability to note this. A noticeable increase in power every single day for over a decade would amount to quite a monumental increase overall.
As a result of feeding off of the life force of the millions of residents of Byss, Emperor Palpatine grows stronger and stronger throughout his reign.
Almost mindless under the oppression of the Emperor's dark side influence, the people of Byss find their life energies constantly leeched off during the Emperor's vile machinations.Throughout the worlds submissive to the Empire, Byss is renowned as a paradise, whose siren call multitudes to willingly apply for emigration to its shores. Once there, wrapped in the power of the dark side, the immigrants become completely submissive, their life energy forever enslaved to the mind that would devour a galaxy.
--Dark Empire endnotes
Imperial ships ferried millions of immigrants to the planet Byss, where the Emperor fed off their life energies through the dark side.
--The New Essential Guide to Characters
“The entire population feeds me even now… slowly surrendering their life energies to add to mine.”
--Emperor Palpatine, Evasive Action: Recruitment
Palpatine planned for millions to permanently reside here, where he and his minions could use their Dark Side skills to feed off their life energy.
--Dark Empire Sourcebook
Years ago, Emperor Palpatine chose Byss as his private retreat, and Imperial architects and engineers were commissioned to build him an opulent palace. Several million humans were allowed to emigrate to the world, where the Emperor and his adepts used the dark side to feed off their life energies.
--The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia
They rediscovered forgotten and long taboo applications of the Force, chief among them the draining of life itself from the populace. What better lure for multitudes than Byss’s siren call of beauty and peace? Once there, their wills are destroyed by the Emperor and his Adepts, and replaced with an illusion of tranquility as they blissfully surrender their life energy to sustain the Emperor.
--Dark Empire Sourcebook
This is where the Emperor’s Dark Side skill comes into play. Just as he can siphon off the vital life force of his subjects on Byss, he can will his own personality, his very life, into a waiting receptacle body.
--Dark Empire Sourcebook
Note: Byss’ population increased by several million every single month, eventually reaching almost 20 billion. The amount of people Palpatine could feed off of, and by proxy, his rate of growth in the Force, would have been multiplied to an absolutely enormous degree.
Meanwhile, Imperial Intelligence painstakingly sifted innumerable dossiers to find those most suited to the Emperor’s needs. Of these, a few million per month were chosen and transported to Byss in secret.
--Dark Empire Sourcebook
The planet's population eventually reached almost 20 billion, and all outgoing communications were censored by security agents.
--The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia
The Emperor continues to research the dark side and the Force throughout his reign, presumably growing stronger as a result.
Many feared Pestage might have his eye on the throne. He had been running many of the day-to-day affairs of the Empire on his own even before the Battle of Hoth, allowing the Emperor to go about his arcane studies.
--Dark Empire Sourcebook
Palpatine was a very patient man — even his harshest critics had to admit this. Just how patient most of them could never guess. Such patience came with his long study of the Force, and it was to the Dark Side that he owed his allegiance. For the Dark Side was power. Power to shape the galaxy, to change history, perhaps to live forever.
--Dark Empire Sourcebook
It was inevitable that the Emperor, frequently exhausted from his intense studies and the burden of rule, chose Byss as the location for his prime vacation palace.
--Dark Empire Sourcebook
He sifted this lore till he could find every secret he needed to continue his studies. He had long ago gone beyond any knowledge to be found in the recovered teachings of the Krath or the Heresiachs. Since then, his studies had principally been experimental.
--Dark Empire Sourcebook
Palpatine has spent decades studying the most arcane and esoteric Jedi disciplines.
--Dark Empire Sourcebook
While his Vizier and ministers maintained the day-to-day operation of the Empire, Palpatine spent decades, frequently in seclusion, in meditation and study on a masterwork of his thoughts and teachings.
--Dark Empire Sourcebook
He continues to clandestinely research the dark side and the Force.
--Force and Destiny
Darth Sidious spent decades ruminating on the nature of the dark side, and as Palpatine, he sought to pen the most comprehensive tome on the nature of darkness and the practices of the Sith.
--From the Dark Side Compendium
The Reborn Emperor increases his power and skill in the Force significantly after his defeat at Endor to the point where Luke thinks it is impossible to defeat him in combat.
Resurrected in a youthful clone body, Palpatine does not reveal himself immediately. Studying the dark side of the Force to become more powerful, his education results in three manifestos: The Book of Anger, The Weakness of Inferiors, and The Creation of Monsters.
--The Ultimate Visual Guide: Updated and Expanded
He was still too vulnerable to take command back, but as the years passed and one pretender after another rose and fell, he grew stronger and angrier.
--Dark Empire Sourcebook
As years passed and he grew stronger, he began to concentrate more on his Dark Side studies.
--Dark Empire Sourcebook
Soon he was ready to strike. Fully healed and in greater control of the Dark Side than ever, he finally acted to end the Mutiny.
--Dark Empire Sourcebook
"You've grown very strong in the Force since we last met… But then, so have I!"
--Emperor Palpatine, Dark Empire
His Force skills have increased significantly in the six years since he was last seen in Return of the Jedi.
--Dark Empire Sourcebook
Palpatine held a power over Luke that C'baoth never could. Where Luke felt concern and even pity for C'baoth, Palpatine's power seemed overwhelming. The Emperor was not a mad, deluded shadow of a once great man; he was a conscious, willing participant in corruption for its own sake. Luke apprenticed himself to the Emperor of his own free will. Palpatine was so powerful in this new incarnation that Luke felt the only way to defeat the Dark Side was to know its ways and find its weaknesses. Luke had chosen his destiny: to understand the Dark Side from within and to use that knowledge to conquer it.
--Dark Empire Sourcebook
Note: The last quote reveals that Palpatine’s power was such that Luke thought it literally impossible to defeat him. This is sharply different from his thoughts regarding the Emperor during their last confrontation, where he had considered the idea of killing him, and indeed attempted to do so.
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“You no longer need those,” he added with no-bless oblige—and made the slightest motion with his finger in the direction of Luke’s wrists. At that, Luke’s binders simply fell away, clattering noisily to the floor. Luke looked at his own hands—free, now, to reach out for the Emperor’s throat, to crush his windpipe in an instant…
Yet the Emperor seemed gentle. Had he not just let Luke free? But he was devious, too, Luke knew. Do not be fooled by appearances, Ben had told him. The Emperor was unarmed. He could still strike. But wasn’t aggression part of the dark side? Mustn’t he avoid that at all costs? Or could he use darkness judiciously, and then put it away? He stared at his free hands...he could have ended it all right there—or could he? He had total freedom to choose what to do now; yet he could not choose. Choice, the double-edged sword. He could kill the Emperor, he could succumb to the Emperor’s arguments. He could kill Vader...and then he could even become Vader. Again this thought laughed at him like a broken clown, until he pushed it back into a black corner of his brain.
--Return of the Jedi novelization
He had the power; the choice was his. And then another thought emerged, slowly compulsive as an ardent lover: he could destroy the Emperor, too. Destroy them both, and rule the galaxy. Avenge and conquer.
It was a profound moment for Luke. Dizzying. Yet he did not swoon. Nor did he recoil. He took one step forward.
--Return of the Jedi novelization
Yet despite Luke having grown immensely since then, he does not even consider the possibility of defeating the Reborn Emperor due to his overwhelming power he has attained since his first death. This can only mean that the gap between Return of the Jedi Palpatine and Dark Empire Palpatine is greater than the gap between Return of the Jedi Luke and Dark Empire Luke. Indeed, the Emperor’s power growth exceeded a Skywalker’s.
The Emperor Reborn is growing in power constantly.
Even now, as Luke appears to fall under the Emperor's ever-expanding power, massive engines of destruction are inflicting death blows to the floating cities of the Calamari, long-standing allies of the Rebel Alliance...
--Dark Empire
But the Emperor cannot be overcome so easily. He gives Leia a painful demonstration of his ever-expanding power, crowing in triumph that he has finally captured the last of the Jedi!
--Dark Empire
Yes, he grows continually more powerful in the way of the Dark Side.
--Dark Empire endnotes
The Reborn Emperor Palpatine becomes more powerful after inhabiting a new clone body.
Luke knew that without clones to inhabit, Palpatine's spirit would be consigned forever to the void. But Palpatine was able to transfer himself at the last moment. Within a new clone body, the Emperor was more powerful than ever.
--Handbook 3: Dark Empire
Disembarking inside the colossal warship, Leia senses an oppression unlike anything she’s felt before. There is no glimmer of hope in this ship… only the dark side of the Force… more powerful than ever.
--Dark Empire
The Emperor Reborn grows even stronger after his defeat at Da Soocha V, reaching his peak in terms of Force power. Indeed, this is the strongest he’s ever been.
“No, I sense it too. The dark side of the Force grows stronger throughout the galaxy.”
--Ysanna elder, Empire’s End
“He’s… gone. But the Emperor is stronger than ever.”
--Princess Leia, Dark Empire II
Note: Again, the darkness in the Force is directly linked to Palpatine's personal power, so as a result of it growing stronger, the Emperor was also growing stronger.
Although he never reached this level of power, Palpatine eventually planned to become omnipotent.
“These pages unite one of the first Sith Lords with he who shall be the last. Each author’s voice echoes the era in which he or she held power, but the Sith Order has evolved over seven thousand years. The errors made by my predecessors will not be my own. Their triumphs will be nothing compared to my omnipotence.”
--Darth Sidious, Book of the Sith
With the knowledge gained from his Dark Side Compendium, he would create an eternal dynasty, with the descendants of Skywalker as its nobility, and Palpatine himself as its omnipotent ruler.
--Dark Empire Sourcebook
He would have the power to blot out the stars themselves and be powerful enough to have a presence across the entire universe, which contains hundreds of billions of galaxies.
He would journey across the universe spreading the shadow of his rule, blotting out the stars themselves, and taking his Dark Rule to other helpless galaxies.
--Dark Empire Sourcebook
There have been many who have served the Dark Side, but not all of them have sought to rule the universe as Palpatine has.
Darth Sidious is the most powerful being Darth Maul ever encountered. As such, his overall Force power surpasses the likes of Mother Talzin, Savage Opress and Darth Maul himself.
"There is little to tell. He was a Shadow, cloaked in the Dark Side so thickly he was unknowable. He was the most powerful being I have ever encountered... It was his training that kept me alive."
--Darth Maul, Sith Hunters
“I was apprenticed to the most powerful being in the galaxy once. I was destined to become… so much more.”
--Darth Maul, The Clone Wars: Revenge
Note: Mother Talzin is a very powerful Nightsister Witch capable of dominating the likes of Count Dooku with her esoteric Force powers.
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Darth Sidious is the most powerful Force user Yoda has ever faced. As such, his overall Force power surpasses the likes of Asajj Ventress and Count Dooku.
Never had Yoda faced one so strong in the dark side.
--Revenge of the Sith Junior Novelization
When Yoda crosses sabers with the movie's arch-villain, he doesn't launch into a pinwheeling display of acrobatics, as he did against Count Dooku in Episode II. Instead, Yoda faces the dark side's fury, channeled by the most powerful Sith Lord in history. "Rob Coleman wanted Yoda to feel the power of his enemy," says Wheless, "like a force he's never dealt with before."
--Insider #86: Yoda's Right Arm
Darth Sidious is the most powerful practitioner of dark side and the Force as a whole during the modern times. As such, his overall Force power surpasses the likes of Count Dooku, Darth Vader, Blackhole Gethzerion, Joruus C’Baoth and others.
Darth Sidious’ plans to unleash the Sith upon the galaxy and do away with the Jedi have been in development for decades. He is the most powerful practitioner of the Sith ways in modern times.
--Clone Wars Adventures Panel By Panel
By restoring Maul’s powers, Talzin hoped to defeat Sidious and become the most powerful being in the galaxy.
--Databank: Mother Talzin
“I was apprenticed to the most powerful being in the galaxy once. I was destined to become… so much more.”
--Darth Maul, The Clone Wars: Revenge
On Coruscant, Yoda and the Emperor meet in the ultimate confrontation between the galaxy's most powerful masters of the Force.
--Hasbro: Yoda action figure
Unknown to the Rebels, the Emperor had already laid the groundwork for the perpetual rule of his New Order. He had turned a Jedi into his new dark apprentice, the terrifying Darth Vader. Vader himself trained apprentices. And the Emperor created a corps of loyal, Force-skilled minions to maintain his rule. Most powerful of all, of course, was the Emperor himself.
--The Dark Side Sourcebook
Darth Vader, Dark Lord of the Sith, has instilled terror throughout the galaxy since the beginning of the Empire. His devotion to the Emperor and mastery of the dark side gives him more power than any single individual in the galaxy except for the Emperor himself.
--Shadows of the Empire: Prince Xizor vs. Darth Vader Action Figure (Kenner)
In his distinctive black armor, Vader is an imposing figure. In the entire galaxy, he is second in power only to the Emperor himself.
--Insider #65
For the first time he could remember, the dark side had no answer. And a great surge of unfamiliar emotion suddenly washed over him.Darth Vader, the Dark Lord of the Sith's apprentice, one of the two most powerful beings in the galaxy, was afraid.
--Death Star
Emperor Palpatine, secretly known as Darth Sidious, remains the most powerful Sith Lord and dark side adherent in the galaxy.
--Force and Destiny
"Vergere learns from Palpatine... and she learns about him. She observes. She sees his weakness, his greed, his compulsion to rule and manipulate. She realizes that he could be the most destructive living force in the galaxy. And she decides to kill him."
--Lumiya, Legacy of the Force: Betrayal
Note: Darth Vader is a titanic Force user, capable of ragdolling the likes of Galen Marek and his clone.
And there were ways to fight that didn't involve lightsabers. Loose objects, accelerated to killing speeds by the Force, became projectiles that converged from all directions. Invisible fists clutched for throats or punched with the power of pile drivers. Floors tipped underfoot; severed beams stabbed like javelins; overloaded circuits exploded.
--The Force Unleashed
You grab your sabers and attack, but Vader is too powerful. He tosses you away like a rag doll.
--The Force Unleashed II: Prima Official Game Guide
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Darth Sidious is the culmination and most powerful member of the Order of the Sith Lords, also known as the Banite Sith Lords or the Banite line. As such, his overall Force power surpasses the likes of Darth Bane, Darth Zannah, Darth Tenebrous, Darth Plagueis and all other intermediary Banites.
For a millennium, the Sith maintained the order in secrecy, passing down their evil heritage. As they gained knowledge of the dark side of the Force, their powers increased with each generation.
--Episode 1: The Phantom Menace Scrapbook
Ultimately, Bane's plan produced more powerful Sith Lords with every generation.
--Force and Destiny
For a thousand years we continued to follow Bane's Rule of Two, existing in the shadows, biding our time, growing in power, feeding our hatred. Darth Sidious proved to be the splendid culmination of a thousand years of Sith philosophy and teachings.
--Insider #88: Heritage of the Sith
"Bane's power has been passed down for a thousand years. I vow to be its last recipient."
--Darth Sidious, Book of the Sith
"How often you said that the old order of Bane had ended with the death of your Master. An apprentice no longer needs to be stronger, you told me, merely more clever. The era of keeping score, suspicion and betrayal was over. Strength lies not in the flesh but in the Force."
--Darth Sidious, Darth Plagueis
The Sith have waited millennium for the birth of one who is powerful enough to return them from hiding. Darth Sidious is that one—the Sith's revenge on the Jedi order for having nearly eradicated the practitioners of the dark side of the Force.
--The Complete Visual Dictionary
The Sith Order, in hiding for a millennium, had awaited the birth of one who was powerful enough to return the Order to prominence. Darth Sidious was the fulfillment of that prophecy, capable of exacting the Sith's revenge on the Jedi for having nearly eradicated the practitioners of the dark side of the Force.
--The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia
Darth Sidious proved to be the grim culmination of a thousand years of Sith philosophy and teachings.
--Jedi vs Sith: The Essential Guide to the Force
When the Sith finally emerged from a thousand years of watching and waiting, they numbered—in accordance with the tradition set down by Darth Bane—only two. The most powerful of these was Darth Sidious, an ice-cold, diabolically calculating genius equipped with the strength of the dark side of the Force, as well as an enormous wealth of Sith artifacts, equipment, and knowledge.
--The Dark Side Sourcebook
Note: Darth Plagueis was the most powerful Sith Lord ever before Sidious.
Darth Plagueis was the most powerful Sith Lord who ever lived.
--Darth Plagueis
Note: Darth Tenebrous’ Master was powerful enough to cause a tear in the fabric of the Force and shrink a galaxy-wide Force bubble created by the entirety of the Jedi Order.
One hundred years earlier, Tenebrous's Twi'lek Master had opened a small rend in the fabric of the Force, allowing the dark side to be felt by the Jedi Order for the first time in more than eight hundred years.
--Darth Plagueis
Where an extremely low midi-chlorian count might have bolstered the odds of survival, nature had instead made the ysalimir species strong in the Force. So strong, in fact, that several of the creatures acting in concert could create a Force bubble encompassing kilometers rather than meters. In a sense, the Jedi Order had done the same on a galactic scale, Plagueis believed, by bathing the galaxy in the energy of the light side of the Force; or more accurately by fashioning a Force bubble that had prevented infiltration by the dark side, until Tenebrous's Master had succeeded in bursting the bubble, or at least shrinking it. How the Order's actions could be thought of as balancing the Force had baffled generations of Sith, who harbored no delusions regarding the Force's ability to self-regulate.
--Darth Plagueis
Darth Sidious is the most powerful Sith Lord in all of history. As such, his overall Force power surpasses the likes of Karness Muur, Tulak Hord, Exar Kun, Darth Nihilus, the Dread Masters, Darth Malgus and others.
Yoda went after Palpatine in the empty Senate chamber, but could not defeat the most powerful Sith Lord in history.
--The New Essential Chronology
“Plagueis the Wise, who in his time truly was, except at the end, trusting that the Rule of Two had been superseded, and failed to realize that he would not be excused from it. Plagueis the Wise, who forged the most powerful Sith Lord the galaxy has ever known, and yet who forgot to leave a place for himself; whose pride never allowed him to question that he would no longer be needed.”
--Darth Sidious, Darth Plagueis
Beyond the vision of the Jedi Knights, somewhere within the darkness, the greatest master of evil ever to use Sith power bides his time. As his strength grows, his plans begin to shape the course of the galaxy, and his snares await the unsuspecting.
--The Complete Visual Dictionary
When Yoda crosses sabers with the movie's arch-villain, he doesn't launch into a pinwheeling display of acrobatics, as he did against Count Dooku in Episode II. Instead, Yoda faces the dark side's fury, channeled by the most powerful Sith Lord in history.
--Insider #86: Yoda's Right Arm
Vader imagined the power that could be his if he crushed Palpatine and established his own rule over the Empire. But first, he would need his own apprentice. By himself, he could not hope to defeat the most powerful Sith Lord the galaxy had ever known.
--Vader: The Ultimate Guide
When the most powerful Jedi battled against the most powerful Sith, the two sides of the Force clashed in spectacular style. Grand Master Yoda took on Darth Sidious in the Senate building on Coruscant and proved that strength and power have nothing to do with size.
--Jedi Battles
Emperor Zaarin? The idea isn't as ludicrous as it sounds. Demetrius Zaarin gambled everything on an audacious coup d'état and nearly killed the most powerful Sith Lord the galaxy has ever known.
--Insider #66: Who's Who: Imperial Grand Admirals
With the galaxy now ripe for conquest, the Emperor has become the most powerful Sith Lord of all and a master of the Dark Side of the Force, ordering the extermination of the Jedi Order with the aid of his apprentice, the deadly Darth Vader.
--Legends Epic Collection: The Empire Volume 1
Meet Darth Sidious – the most powerful Sith Master who ever lived.
--Darth Maul, Sith Apprentice
The Emperor was completely in concert with the dark side of the Force. He was the most powerful Sith who had ever existed.
--Death Star
Yoda was a master at masking his emotions, but not even he could hide them from the greatest Sith Lord ever known.
--Clone Wars: Wild Space
Their clash transcended the personal; when new lightning blazed, it was not Palpatine burning Yoda with his hate, it was the Lord of all Sith scorching the Master of all Jedi into a smoldering huddle of clothing and green flesh.
--Revenge of the Sith novelization
Finally - the Emperor - who should be fighting to save the Republic - is revealed as the most powerful and menacing Sith of all!
--The Sith (Revenge of the Sith Collection)
Note: Darth Nihilus is a dark side abomination with powers in the multi-continental and planetary range.
"He sees planets, stars, not people. To him, the planet below, the station with its teeming life, only that is massive enough to demand his attention."
--Tobin Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords
“One cannot have power of that magnitude and still think and perceive the universe as we do."
--Darth Traya, Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords
"I do not believe he knows his ship has been boarded, and if he did, he would not care. The extent of his power cannot be put into words, and his perceptions have grown as well. To him…"
"You are dust motes in a storm, a grain upon the beach, and as insignificant as a body that orbits the graveyard of Malachor."
--Visas Marr and Colonel Tobin, Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords
Drawn to the assembled Masters, Nihilus devoured the life energy of everything on Katarr. Millions of Miraluka died, along with most of the Jedi Order’s senior members.
--The Old Republic Codex: Conclave at Katarr
The last known Convocation occured on Katarr some 3,952 years before the Battle of Yavin. The assembled Jedi were slaughtered when the Sith Lord Darth Nihilus laid waste to the planet.
--The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia
“When my lord spoke, every living thing on Katarr died.”
--Visas Marr, Unseen Unheard
As Nihilus greedy consumes entire planets life energies, the dark side macerates him even faster.
--Knights of the Old Republic campaign guide
Darth Nihilus is literally a destroyer of worlds, powered by an insatiable hunger that drives him to consume greater and greater populations. While one may reasonably expect someone fallen to the dark side to employ Force lightning against a foe, no one expects a fleet of starships commanded by Sith Lords consuming entire planets.
--Power Beyond Belief: Using Ultra-Powerful Sith Lords in Saga Edition
Emperor Palpatine is the most powerful dark side Force wielder in all of history. As such, his overall Force power surpasses the likes of Revan, Emperor Valkorion, Arcann, Vaylin, Soa, Sel-Makor and others.
Inside the spacious interior of the Galactic Senate chamber, Yoda challenged the Emperor. The two engaged in a spectacular duel—a contest between the most powerful practitioners of the Force’s light and dark sides.
--The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia
The two most powerful users of the Force's light and dark sides clash in a spectacular duel in the Senate bulding on Coruscant.
--Epic Battles
He had succeeded where all others had failed in taming the Dark Side.
--Dark Empire Sourcebook
It quickly became clear to Luke that this decrepit and seemingly defenseless old man was masterfully adept in the ways of the Dark Side of the Force. Indeed, as Vader had warned, the Emperor had become the Dark Side's most powerful expression.
--Dark Empire endnotes
When the evil Emperor, Supreme Master of the Dark Side of the Force, turned the fullness of his malevolence against Luke, Anakin Skywalker suddenly awoke from the curse that had imprisoned him for so long...
--Dark Empire endnotes
Here at last, at the terrible moment when he and Leia confront the untrammeled power of the most sinister agent of the Dark Side, Luke is compelled to find and take hold of those resources that were known by Master Yoda… and by the greatest Jedi of old.
--Dark Empire endnotes
As Luke's father once said, during the time he served the greatest known wielder of the Dark Side of the Force, the Emperor: "The ability to destroy a planet - or even a whole system - is insignificant next to the power of the Force."
--Dark Empire endnotes
Note: Emperor Valkorion is another dark side user with planetary levels of power, and is repeatedly touted as an almost godlike being.
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Global cataclysms are not unheard of. Whole worlds teeming with life have been rendered lifeless by meteorites, broken apart by instability in the planet's own core--even atomized by the destructive force of a supernova. But the eerie calm of a world stripped of life yet left otherwise intact is another matter altogether. Whispered rumors have persisted of planets snuffed out through intricate Sith rituals or by way of deadly, arcane machines--such as the device Revan sought to employ on Yavin 4--but Ziost represents a clear display of the corrosive power of the dark side of the Force taken to its extreme.
--The Old Republic Codex: Death of a World
Over 300 years ago, the great Jedi heroes Revan and Malak stumbled upon long-hidden Sith Empire's capital of Dromund Kaas, and its ruler - a mysterious, almost godlike avatar of the dark side.
--The Old Republic Encyclopedia
The Emperor is more than a man - he is the living embodiment of the dark side.
--The Old Republic: Encyclopedia
He was a living embodiment of the dark side of the Force who delighted in destroying the minds and spirits of those Jedi who came too close to him.
--The Old Republic: Encyclopedia
"The Emperor is the dark side incarnate. You wouldn't stand a chance."
--Emperor's Wrath II, The Old Republic: Shadow of Revan
Emperor Palpatine is arguably the most powerful Force wielder in all of history. He is not definitively the number one, but the fact that it is even considered as a possibility means he is not definitively the number two or three either. The implication of this is that the Emperor can compete with and match all the most powerful beings that have been introduced in the Star Wars universe.
Breathless, not from exertion but from the sudden inspiration of power, he let go of the sill and allowed the monster to writhe through his body like an unbroken beast of range or prairie.
Had the Force ever been so strong in anyone?
--Darth Plagueis
And what of the Emperor? He was mighty in the Force, perhaps the mightiest being who has ever lived.
Even before Sidious actually acquired that much power, when perceived in a vision, it is incomprehensible to either Darth Tenebrous or Darth Plagueis, and he is visible only as a shadow.
Now Tenebrous touched upon his apprentice's powers of foresight, which were also vastly more developed than Tenebrous had believed. For a moment. Tenebrous found his perception cast far forward in time - to Plagueis' own death at the hands of his apprentice, who was himself visible only as a smear of darkness....A shadow!
--The Tenebrous Way
Plagueis is awed by Sheev’s power in the Force, wondering if he were in fact sprung from nature itself.
Had this human truly been born of flesh-and-blood parents? Plagueis asked himself. When, in fact, he seemed sprung from nature itself. Was the Force so strong in him that it had concealed itself?
--Darth Plagueis
Sidious communes with the very aspect dark side itself several times, once pulling the name of Vader straight from the Force, and even as a child the dark side had assured him he was invulnerable.
Sidious took a moment to respond. It was odd to think now that he had once known fear. Though never incapacitating fear, and never for very long. But as a child, he’d experienced fear as a conditioned response to threat. Despite a reassuring voice inside him that had promised no harm could come, there had been, for a time, a chance that something terrible could happen. More than once his father’s raised hand had made him cringe. Eventually, he had understood that he had conjured that voice; that he hadn’t been fooling himself by exercising some infantile belief in invulnerability. And he understood now that it had been the dark side telling him that no harm could come to him, precisely because he was invulnerable. Since the start of his training, the voice had quieted by becoming internalized. Teem’s belief that he had power over him might long ago have moved him to pity instead of stirring anger and loathing. Raw emotion was a consequence of leading a double life. While he relished his secret identity, he wanted at the same time for it to be known that he was a being who could not be trifled with; that he wielded ultimate authority; that merely to gaze on him was tantamount to glimpsing the dark matter that bound and drove the galaxy…
--Darth Plagueis
Again, his eyes darted around the room, and the dark side whispered: Your election assured, the Sun Guards absent, Plagueis unsuspecting and asleep...
And he moved in a blur.
--Darth Plagueis
Darth Sidious laid a pale hand on Anakin's brow. "Then it is done. You are now one with the Order of the Dark Lords of the Sith. From this day forward, the truth of you, my apprentice, now and forevermore, will be Darth..."
A pause; a questioning in the Force—
An answer, dark as the gap between galaxies—
He heard Sidious say it: his new name.
Vader.
A pair of syllables that meant him. Vader, he said to himself. Vader.
--Revenge of the Sith novelization
Sidious is anointed by the dark side and made its property, just as Sidious made the dark side his, becoming utterly one with it, synonymous with it.
A welter of voices, near and far, present and from eons past, drowned his thoughts. Raised in praise, the voices proclaimed his reign and cheered the inauguration of a new order. Yellow eyes lifted to the night sky, he saw the trembling stars flare, and in the depth of his being he felt the power of the dark side anoint him.
--Darth Plagueis
The dark side had made him its property, and now he made the dark side his.
--Darth Plagueis
Merely gazing at Darth Sidious is tantamount to glimpsing the dark matter that binds and drives the galaxy.
Raw emotion was a consequence of leading a double life. While he relished his secret identity, he wanted at the same time for it to be known that he was a being who could not be trifled with; that he wielded ultimate authority; that merely to gaze on him was tantamount to glimpsing the dark matter that bound and drove the galaxy…
--Darth Plagueis
Darth Sidious’ presence causes the Force to roil like storm, and his power is like that a dark sun.
The feeling had begun as a faint stirring in the Force, like the tiniest ripple of something moving slowly through deep water, far away but drawing steadily closer. It intensified, until it felt like the Force itself was roiling, heaving like the sea in the grip of an enormous storm.
“I sense a presence,” Maul warned Savage. “A presence I haven’t felt since...”
And then Maul knew.
“Master,” he said, leaning forward on the throne.
The commandos guarding the royal chamber reached for their throats. As Maul watched, an unseen forced lifted them high in the air, then slammed them to the floor, where they lay motionless in their red-and-black armor. The doors opened, then closed behind a figure in dark robes. A deep cowl hid most of the face, leaving only a pale chin and a downturned mouth visible. To most eyes the man in those simple robes of rough cloth was unremarkable, just another being making his way in the universe. But to those who could feel the Force he was anything but ordinary. To them, he was a dark sun blazing with power that was simultaneously hypnotizing and terrifying to behold.
Darth Sidious, the reigning Dark Lord of the Sith, had come to Mandalore.
--Darth Maul: Shadow Conspiracy
Chancellor Palpatine is beyond powerful and is described as a void and a black hole of the Force.
And then there was Palpatine, of course: he was beyond power. He showed nothing of what might be within. Though seen with the eyes of the dark side itself, Palpatine was an event horizon. Beneath his entirely ordinary surface was absolute, perfect nothingness. Darkness beyond darkness.A black hole of the Force.
--Revenge of the Sith novelization
And across the vast deeps of space, two masters of power touch minds… one the very essence of the Jedi… the other dark beyond darkness.
--Dark Empire
The Emperor is the dark side’s fury.
When Yoda crosses sabers with the movie's arch-villain, he doesn't launch into a pinwheeling display of acrobatics, as he did against Count Dooku in Episode II. Instead, Yoda faces the dark side's fury, channeled by the most powerful Sith Lord in history. "Rob Coleman wanted Yoda to feel the power of his enemy," says Wheless, "like a force he's never dealt with before."
--Insider #86: Yoda's Right Arm
Leia is paralyzed with fear upon meeting Emperor Palpatine and thinks that he is pitch-black inside.
"I'd meant to confront Palpatine and tell him what I thought of his xenophobic Empire, but as he approached me in the reception line, I was struck numb with fear. I remember thinking it was as if he were pitch-black inside."
--Princess Leia, Jedi vs Sith: The Essential Guide to the Force
Vima-Da-Boda is repulsed by the darkness in Palpatine’s mind.
Gallery
Palpatine draws his power from the blackest depths of the dark side.
Palpatine affected the simple clothing of a simple man, but drew his powers of persuasion and control from the blackest depths of the dark side of the Force.
--The Complete Visual Dictionary
(★) The Galactic Emperor is a galaxy-wide dark side beacon that attracts dark side devotees from all across the galaxy to him.
During the Rebellion era, dark side devotees become a bit more open, drawn by the power of the Emperor and their acceptance into his court. They are much easier to find anywhere in the Empire, especially in the Imperial Palace, where their power is focused and augmented by that of the Emperor.
--The Dark Side Sourcebook
The dark side flows through Palpatine like some primordial ichor.
The Dark Side flowed through him like some primordial ichor and was the key to all his power.
--Dark Empire Sourcebook
Darth Sidious brought about the dark side’s greatest return.
To grasp the depths and mercurial intents of the dark side, there is no better authority than the Sith architect who brought about its greatest return. Darth Sidious spent decades ruminating on the nature of the dark side, and as Palpatine, he sought to pen the most comprehensive tome on the nature of darkness and the practices of the Sith.
--From the Dark Side Compendium
The Emperor is such a creature of the dark side that his mortal body cannot contain his enormous power.
But early on, Palpatine learned that addiction to the fathomless energies of the Dark Side carried a great price: age and decay hastened their pace, and his body collapsed toward ruin, like a world oppressed.
--Dark Empire endnotes
Palpatine had become such a creature of the dark side that its powers consumed him. It constantly fed at his core and withered his flesh. The very power that cemented his rule over the galaxy threatened his life, and so he ingeniously turned to technology to cheat death.
--The Dark Empire Saga
"Flesh does not easily support this great power."
--Emperor Palpatine, Dark Empire
Part of the inherently corrupt nature of Palpatine’s life force causes his new clone bodies to decay at a greatly accelerated rate.
--Dark Empire Sourcebook
The key to Palpatine’s immortality is the growth of new bodies to replace his present one. As each successive body is destroyed and shriveled by the power of the Dark Side, Palpatine must force his life essence into new clone bodies.
--Dark Empire Sourcebook
"Long ago I found my flesh could not withstand the awesome demands of the dark side... The great Emperor Palpatine discovered he was dying. My body was literally consumed by the energies I had released..."
--Emperor Palpatine, Dark Empire
Emperor Palpatine is a dark side nexus himself, of such proportions that burst open the fabric of space and tear apart everything the vicinity, and nothing can match his power.
The key to Luke's turning is the moment when he and Leia realize the Emperor is no longer defined by his physical form, but has become a chaotic nexus of dark energies that swell and burst open the fabric of space, tearing apart everything in the vicinity, human and machine.
Nothing can match such dark power...
--Dark Empire endnotes
Eager to meet his captor, Luke learned that the dark side nexus he had sensed was none other than the cloned reincarnation of Emperor Palpatine himself.
--The New Essential Chronology
With the power of luminous beings, brother and sister Jedi press the Force around the dark nexus that is Emperor Palpatine…
--Dark Empire
Palpatine, as a dark side nexus, can also amplify other darksiders, such as when he made Vader more powerful than he had ever been.
Lord Vader did not mind waiting, though, nor was even aware of it. For it was an honor, and a noble activity, to kneel at his ruler's feet. He kept his eyes inward, seeking reflection in his own bottomless core. His power was great, now, greater than it had ever been. It shimmered from within, and resonated with the waves of darkness that flowed from the Emperor. He felt engorged with this power, it surged like black fire, demon electrons looking for ground… but he would wait. For his Emperor was not ready; and his son was not ready, and the time was not yet. So he waited.
--Return of the Jedi novelization
Note: The Emperor is such a strong nexus that he outshines even the planet Byss in intensity, as evidenced when Luke feels the dark side growing stronger as he approaches Palpatine while he is on Byss.
As Luke is carried through the streets of the strange and beautiful city, he feels the dark side of the Force growing in intensity…
--Dark Empire
Byss already being the strongest dark side nexus Luke had ever felt, and the Emperor further described it as the very heart of the dark side.
“If there is a dark center of the universe, this is it, Artoo…”
--Luke Skywalker, Dark Empire
“You think you could conquer me by coming here… to Byss… to the very heart of the dark side!”
--Reborn Palpatine, Dark Empire audio drama
(★) Palpatine does not grow any weaker as a spirit, unlike all other Sith Lords in history and is stated to no longer be defined by his physical form, more energy than flesh.
Skywalker was responsible for some of the greatest setbacks Emperor Palpatine ever suffered. But despite the young Jedi Knight’s best efforts, Palpatine's grasp on the dark side - and power over the galaxy - remained unshaken.
--Handbook 3: Dark Empire
With her presence, the two Skywalker twins were temporarily able to repulse Palpatine.Unabated, the Emperor continued his scourge.
--Databank: Palpatine (old)
The key to Luke's turning is the moment when he and Leia realize the Emperor is no longer defined by his physical form
--Dark Empire endnotes
When Luke had been brought before the Emperor, Palpatine's visage had been familiar to him from images that had reached even remote Tatooine, and his inherent power was immediately evident.
The Supreme Overlord, however, was a void Luke could not fathom. He wasn't a shell of a human in a hooded cloak, more energy than flesh. Nor was his face that of a Sith Master, prematurely wizened by years of calling on dark power.
--The Unifying Force
“After all... I live primarily as energy... formlessness... and power!”
--Reborn Emperor Palpatine, Dark Empire
Note: This would mean that Palpatine is made mostly, if not completely, out of pure dark side energy. The only other beings to have reached that level of power are the Ones, godlike beings and embodiments of the Force themselves. While this doesn’t mean he is on their level, it does put the power he has achieved into perspective.
"Do you think the Ones are made of crude matter?" Thuruht replied. "The Ones are beings of the Force. The Ones take any form they desire."
--Fate of the Jedi: Apocalypse
As the story developed, Abeloth started to become more defined. In a parallel path, The Clone Wars animated series delved into godlike beings that were a part of the Force in the Mortis Trilogy (2011).
--The Essential Reader's Companion
Anakin Skywalker, Obi-Wan Kenobi and Ahsoka Tano investigated the kilometers-wide artifact, and were drawn into a paradise realm inhabited by unspeakably powerful Force-wielders. These god-like beings were locked in an eternal struggle for dominance, which made Mortis the fulcrum of the entire galaxy and the Force.
--Databank: Mortis
(★) Emperor Palpatine is a destroyer of worlds, can control everything and everyone with the dark side and can consume the entire omniverse with his power.
This one shows Palpatine as the destroyer of worlds and one who displaced countless millions of beings.
--Insider 88
In place of the Empire and the New Republic, Palpatine planned to bring about a new form of galactic governance. He would use the dark side to control everything and everyone in the galaxy.What's more, he was capable of it.
--Official Starships and Vehicle Collection #64
Unleashing the full power of his hatred, he conjures a Force Storm that threatens to consume all of space, including the New Republic fleet.
--The Comics Companion
Darth Sidious is the Sith’ari, the prophesied “perfect being,” a dark side god, the Sith equivalent of the Chosen One.
"I know the Jedi myth of Mortis, of a Chosen One who will destroy the dark side and bring balance to the Force. The Sith have their own prophecy. Since the time of King Adas, they have foretold the coming of a perfect being—the Sith'ari.
The abbatar around my neck translates the term as "overlord." Yet it is more accurate to consider the Sith'ari a god, as the Sith Purebloods believe. While some among the Kissai priests deem that the prophecy began and ended with Adas, many more await the Sith'ari's return.
It has not escaped us that we could claim the Sith'ari mantle and exert even more power over Sith Space. Yet such a move could backfire among the superstitious. Not even Ajunta Pall is so careless.
The prophecy of the Sith'ari has been passed through verbal tradition. It is too sacred to be inscribed on a scroll's parchment. From the Kissai, I have learned its essence:
The Sith'ari will be free from limits.
The Sith'ari will lead the Sith and destroy them.
The Sith'ari will raise the Sith from death and make them stronger than before.
I admire the first tenet, because breaking chains is the essence of the dark side and the foundation of my Sith Code. Improvement through sacrifice and rebirth resonates among these people who prize breeding and alchemy."
--Sorzus Syn, Book of the Sith
Sith'ari: This was the name used by the ancient Sith to describe a perfect being who would rise to power and bring balance to the Force. According to prophecy, the Sith'ari would rise up and destroy the Sith, but in the process would return to lead the Sith and make them stronger than ever before.
--The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia
"My Master suggested, perhaps spuriously, that Darth Bane fulfilled this prophecy by annihilating the old Sith order and establishing the Rule of Two. Yet Bane was not free of restrictions. As my plans unfold, I grow ever closer to unlimited power.
[...]
Throughout the eras, the Sith foretold of a being who would destroy the Order and rebuild it stronger than before. I do not care about ancient prophecies. The approval of the dead is meaningless. Yet it is clear that the Sith'ari could be no other than me."
--Darth Sidious, Book of the Sith
“You may be wondering: when did he begin to change?
The truth is that I haven’t changed. As we have clouded the minds of the Jedi, I clouded yours. Never once did I have any intention of sharing power with you. I needed to learn from you; no more, no less. To learn all of your secrets, which I trusted you would eventually reveal. But what made you think that I would need you after that? Vanity, perhaps; your sense of self-importance. You’ve been nothing more than a pawn in a game played by a genuine Master.
The Sith’ari.”
--Darth Sidious, Darth Plagueis
The Sith Order, in hiding for a millennium, had awaited the birth of one who was powerful enough to return the Order to prominence. Darth Sidious was the fulfillment of that prophecy, capable of exacting the Sith's revenge on the Jedi for having nearly eradicated the practitioners of the dark side of the Force.
--The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia
For that reason he understood just how dangerous this new Sith Lord was. He hadn't had a sense of that danger until he had fought Dooku on Geonosis. Then he understood. In self-exile for a thousand years, the Sith had not merely been waiting for an appropriate time to reemerge and exact revenge, but for the birth of one strong enough to embrace the dark side fully and become its dedicated instrument.
This was Sidious: powerful enough to hide in plain sight. Powerful enough to instruct his apprentice, Dooku, to expose him, and still remain hidden from the Jedi. And as arrogant as the Jedi. Convinced that his way was the one and only way.
--Labyrinth of Evil
While still merely an apprentice, his analysis had shown him the inevitable end of the Banite Sith and its preposterous Rule of Two. His calculations plainly indicated the coming of a shadow so vast it would darken the galaxy entirely—so vast it would mark the end of both Jedi and Sith as the universe had known them heretofore. The rise of the shadow would be the end of history itself.
Tenebrous had not the slightest doubt that the entire galaxy would measure time according to its arrival. Events would be marked by how long they had preceded the shadow, or how long after it they followed.Though the exact nature of the great shadow remained occult, the remorseless logic of his extrapolation detailed the coming destruction of the Banite system, and the rise of what would become known as the "One Sith." One Sith! The conclusion was so obvious as to require no confirmation: one single Sith Lord would arise of such power that he'd have no need of any apprentice nor fear the Jedi. He would take and hold the galaxy by his own hand alone. Without an apprentice—or a Jedi Order—to destroy him, the One Sith would rule forever!
A heady prospect, with only a single drawback: Tenebrous was not to be that Sith Lord. His own death was clearly foretold, entirely inevitable, and it would precede the shadow by decades.
[...]
Now Tenebrous touched upon his apprentice's powers of foresight, which were also vastly more developed than Tenebrous had believed. For a moment, Tenebrous found his perception cast far forward in time—to Plagueis' own death at the hands of his apprentice, who was himself only visible as a smear of darkness...
A shadow!
--The Tenebrous Way
"As Darth Bane instituted the Rule of Two, so I will begin the Rule of One. The Sith will now be sustained by one—one to hold the power and others, talented in the Force, to execute my will as dark side agents."
--Darth Sidious, Book of the Sith
Darth Sidious is the dark side incarnate, and a personification of all the darkness in the universe.
The 10 years that followed were tumultuous, but nothing rivaled Hethir's shock when summoned to the planet Byss to face a miraculously reborn Emperor Palpatine. Hethir re-pledged his loyalty immediately, coming to understand Palpatine not as a man but as a vessel for the darkness of the universe, an avatar of the dark side itself.
--Aliens in the Empire, Part II
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.
Sidious and Plagueis conduct a meditative ritual during which they wage etheric war with the Force and challenge its sovereignty, ultimately prevailing and shifting the balance to the Force toward the dark side.
The question of whether he and Sidious had discovered something new or rediscovered something ancient was beside the point. All that mattered was that, almost a decade earlier, they had succeeded in willing the Force to shift and tip irrevocably to the dark side. Not a mere paradigm shift, but a tangible alteration that could be felt by anyone strong in the Force, and whether or not trained in the Sith or Jedi arts.
The shift had been the outcome of months of intense meditation, during which Plagueis and Sidious had sought to challenge the Force for sovereignty and suffuse the galaxy with the power of the dark side. Brazen and shameless, and at their own mortal peril, they had waged etheric war, anticipating that their own midi-chlorians, the Force’s proxy army, might marshal to boil their blood or stop the beating of their hearts. Risen out of themselves, discorporate and as a single entity, they had brought the power of their will to bear, asserting their sovereignty over the Force. No counterforce had risen against them. In what amounted to a state of rapture they knew that the Force had yielded, as if some deity had been tipped from its throne. On the fulcrum they had fashioned, the light side had dipped and the dark side had ascended.
--Darth Plagueis
"No Sith have ever been in the position in which we now find ourselves, Darth Sidious: in step with the reemergence of the dark side, fortified by the signs and omens, certain that revenge and victory are near at hand."
--Darth Plagueis, Darth Plagueis
“Only by making the Force serve us have we prevailed. Eight years ago we shifted the galaxy, Darth Sidious, and that shift is now irreversible.”
--Darth Plagueis, Darth Plagueis
As result the Jedi found their ability to sense the future crippled, despite having fashioned a galaxy-spanning cosmic Force bubble that protected them from the dark side's influence.
Yoda and the rest of the Council members will double their meditation sessions in an effort to peer into the future, only to discover it clouded and unknowable. Only to discover that complacency has opened the door to catastrophe.
--Darth Plagueis
Where an extremely low midi-chlorian count might have bolstered the odds of survival, nature had instead made the ysalimir species strong in the Force. So strong, in fact, that several of the creatures acting in concert could create a Force bubble encompassing kilometers rather than meters. In a sense, the Jedi Order had done the same on a galactic scale, Plagueis believed, by bathing the galaxy in the energy of the light side of the Force; or more accurately by fashioning a Force bubble that had prevented infiltration by the dark side.
--Darth Plagueis
Plagueis describes the light side of the Force as having been 'extinguished'. Therefore, the bubble had been completely destroyed.
To be sure, the light had been extinguished, but for how long and at what cost?
--Darth Plagueis
(★) As a result of Sidious’ and Plagueis’ machinations, the Force spawns Anakin Skywalker, the prophesied Chosen One, a living plot device, the most powerful Force user imaginable, to defeat the Sith and restore balance to the Force.
Gazing into Sojourn’s darkening sky, he wondered what calamity the Force was planning in retreat to visit upon him or Sidious or both of them for willfully tipping the balance. Was retribution merely waiting in the wings as it had been on Coruscant twenty years earlier? It was a dangerous time; more dangerous than his earliest years as an apprentice when the dark side might have consumed him at any moment.
--Darth Plagueis
“The beliefs of the Jedi are expressed in ritual and storytelling. Plain language somehow eludes those who have grown up tightly wrapped in tradition.
The Jedi await the coming of a savior, a prophesied Chosen One who will destroy the Sith and bring balance to the Force. The Jedi tell of Mortis, a place of impossible geography inside the angles of a gargantuan monolith. The three all-powerful beings of Mortis can assume strange shapes and exemplify the dark side, the light side, and the principle of balance.
Compelling? It is debatable, but at the very least it is an adequate way to illustrate an allegorical point. Day coexists with night, for example and construction is always followed by ruin. Yet many of the Jedi treat the legend of Mortis as literal truth. They believe that the Chosen One will prevent these gods and demons from tearing the universe asunder—that their champion will be a vessel of pure Force energy.”
--Darth Plagueis, Book of the Sith
Dooku smiled with his eyes, but not in mirth. “On the contrary, as you say. Since I’m interested in learning more about the possibility of an alliance.”
Palpatine adopted a hooded look. “You’re resolved to leave the Order?”
“Even more than when we last spoke.”
“Because of the Council’s decision to intervene at Naboo?”
“I can forgive them that. The blockade has to be broken. But something else has occurred.” Dooku chose his next words carefully. “Qui-Gon returned from Tatooine with a former slave boy. According to the boy’s mother, the boy had no father.”
“A clone?” Palpatine asked uncertainly.
“Not a clone,” Dooku said. “Perhaps conceived by the Force. As Qui-Gon believes.
”Palpatine’s head snapped back. “You don’t sit on the Council. How do you know this?”
“I have my ways.”
“Does this have something to do with the prophecy you spoke of?”
“Everything. Qui-Gon believes that the boy—Anakin is his name—stands at the center of a vergence in the Force, and believes further that his finding him was the will of the Force. Blood tests were apparently performed, and the boy’s concentration of midi-chlorians is unprecedented.”
“Do you believe that he is the prophesied one?”
“The Chosen One,” Dooku amended. “No. But Qui-Gon accepts it as fact, and the Council is willing to have him tested.”
“What is known about this Anakin?”
“Very little, except for the fact that he was born into slavery nine years ago and was, until recently, along with his mother, the property of Gardulla the Hutt, then a Toydarian junk dealer.” Dooku smirked. “Also that he won the Boonta Eve Classic Podrace.”
Palpatine had stopped listening.
Nine years old... Conceived by the Force... Is it possible...
--Darth Plagueis
Ignoring the reactions of apprehensive residents and wary security personnel, Plagueis hastened along a plush corridor in 500 Republica toward Palpatine’s suite of crimson rooms. He had planned to be at the Senate Building to hear Amidala’s call for a vote of no-confidence in Valorum, which would strike the first death knell for the Republic. At the last moment, however, Palpatine had contacted him to recount a conversation he had had with Dooku. The fact that Qui-Gon Jinn had identified Maul as a Sith was to be expected; but Dooku’s news about a human boy at the center of a vergence of the Force had come as a shock. More, Qui-Gon saw the boy as the Jedi’s prophesied Chosen One! He had to see this Anakin Skywalker for himself; had to sense him for himself. He had to know if the Force had struck back again, nine years earlier, by conceiving a human being to restore balance to the galaxy…
--Darth Plagueis
Plagueis came to a halt at the entry to Palpatine’s apartment. Eventually one of Queen Amidala’s near-identical handmaidens came to the door, a vision in a dark cowled robe. Her eyes fixed on the breath mask. “I’m sorry, sir,” she said, “Senator Palpatine is not here.”
“I know,” Plagueis said. “I’m here to speak with a guest of the Senator. A young human boy.”
Her eyes remained glued on the mask. “I’m not permitted—”
Damask motioned swiftly with his left hand, compelling her to answer him. “You have my permission to speak.”
“I have your permission,” she said in a distracted voice.
“Now where is the boy?”
“Anakin, you mean.”
“Anakin, yes,” he said in a rush. “He’s the one. Fetch him—now!”
“You just missed him, sir,” the handmaiden said.
Plagueis peered past her into Palpatine’s suite. “Missed him?” He straightened in anger. “Where is he?”
“Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jinn came to collect him, sir. I suspect that you can find him at the Jedi Temple.”Plagueis fell back a step, his thoughts reeling.
There was still a chance that the Council would decide that Anakin was too old to be trained as a Jedi. That way, assuming he was returned to Tatooine…
But if not... If Qui-Gon managed to sway the Council Masters, and they reneged on their own dictates...
Plagueis ran a hand over his forehead. Are we undone? he thought. Have you undone us?
--Darth Plagueis
It was believed that the teachings of the Sith Lord Darth Plagueis, applied by his apprentice Darth Sidious, were instrumental in Anakin's birth, resulting in the conception of a boy with an unnaturally high midi-chlorian count.
--The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia
Palpatine had carefully cultivated Anakin's hopes for preventing this dire premonition, and had revealed everything to Anakin: Palpatine's secret identity as Darth Sidious. His murder of his own Master, Darth Plagueis. The role that the Sith had played in creating Anakin by manipulating the midi-chlorians.
--The New Essential Chronology
Sidious recalled the desperate return trip to Coruscant; recalled using all his powers, and all the potions and devices contained in his medkit, to minister to Anakin's hopelessly blistered body and truncated limbs.
He recalled thinking: What if Anakin should die?
How many years would he have had to search for an apprentice even half as powerful in the Force, let alone one created by the Force itself to restore balance, by allowing the dark side to percolate fully to the surface after a millennium of being stifled?
--Dark Lord: The Rise of Darth Vader
“Fully defeated by just anyone, the dark side cannot be, but only by the Chosen One. And who might be this Jedi? Know I do not, but not yet born is he or she. This much, sense I can. A vessel of pure Force the Chosen One will be, more powerful than any Jedi in history.”
--Yoda, Jedi vs Sith: The Essential Guide to the Force
“As we attempt to wrest the powers of life and death from the Force, as we seek to tip the balance, the Force resists our efforts. Action and reaction, Sidious. Something akin to the laws of thermodynamics.”
--Darth Plagueis, Darth Plagueis
Note: An act like this is basically the equivalent of divine intervention. The fact that the Force had to go to such lengths to ensure the defeat of the Sith speaks volumes of their power and danger. The Force did not create an all-powerful champion to stop Darth Nihilus or Vitiate when they were planning to consume the galaxy, the universe and the Force itself - and they co-existed during the same time period, keep in mind. It’s an unprecedented act that confirms Sidious and Plagueis as unprecedented threats.
(★) After killing his Master and gaining a massive boost in power, Sidious demonstrates he can cause an even greater imbalance in the Force than he and his Master managed years prior, all by himself.
A tremor took hold of the planet.
Sprung from death, it unleashed itself in a powerful wave, at once burrowing deep into the world’s core and radiating through its saccharine atmosphere to shake the stars themselves. At the quake’s epicenter stood Sidious, one elegant hand vised on the burnished sill of an expansive translucency, a vessel filled suddenly to bursting, the Force so strong within him that he feared he might disappear into it, never to return. But the moment didn’t constitute an ending so much as a true beginning, long overdue; it was less a transformation than an intensification—a gravitic shift.
A welter of voices, near and far, present and from eons past, drowned his thoughts. Raised in praise, the voices proclaimed his reign and cheered the inauguration of a new order. Yellow eyes lifted to the night sky, he saw the trembling stars flare, and in the depth of his being he felt the power of the dark side anoint him.
Slowly, almost reluctantly, he came back to himself, his gaze settling on his manicured hands. Returned to the present, he took note of his rapid breathing, while behind him the room labored to restore order. Air scrubbers hummed—costly wall tapestries undulating in the summoned breeze. Prized carpets sealed their fibers against the spread of spilled fluids. The droid shuffled in obvious confliction. Sidious pivoted to take in the disarray: antique furniture overturned; framed artwork askew. As if a whirlwind had swept through. And facedown on the floor lay a statue of Yanjon, one of four law-giving sages of Dwartii.
A piece Sidious had secretly coveted.
Also sprawled there, Plagueis: his slender limbs splayed and elongated head turned to one side. Dressed in finery, as for a night on the town.
And now dead.
Or was he?
Uncertainty rippled through Sidious, rage returning to his eyes. A tremor of his own making, or one of forewarning? Was it possible that the wily Muun had deceived him? Had Plagueis unlocked the key to immortality, and survived after all? Never mind that it would constitute a petty move for one so wise—for one who had professed to place the Grand Plan above all else. Had Plagueis become ensnared in a self-spun web of jealousy and possessiveness, victim of his own engineering, his own foibles?
If he hadn’t been concerned for his own safety, Sidious might have pitied him. Wary of approaching the corpse of his former Master, he called on the Force to roll the aged Muun over onto his back. From that angle Plagueis looked almost as he had when Sidious first met him, decades earlier: smooth, hairless cranium; humped nose, with its bridge flattened as if from a shock-ball blow and its sharp tip pressed almost to his upper lip; jutting lower jaw; sunken eyes still brimming with menace—a physical characteristic rarely encountered in a Muun. But then Plagueis had never been an ordinary Muun, nor an ordinary being of any sort.
Sidious took care, still reaching out with the Force. On closer inspection, he saw that Plagueis’s already cyanotic flesh was smoothing out, his features relaxing.
Faintly aware of the whir of air scrubbers and sounds of the outside world infiltrating the luxurious suite, he continued the vigil; then, in relief, he pulled himself up to his full height and let out his breath. This was no Sith trick. Not an instance of feigning death, but one of succumbing to its cold embrace. The being who had guided him to power was gone.
Wry amusement narrowed his eyes.
The Muun might have lived another hundred years unchanged. He might have lived forever had he succeeded fully in his quest. But in the end—though he could save others from death—he had failed to save himself.
A sense of supreme accomplishment puffed Sidious’s chest, and his thoughts unreeled.
Well, then, that wasn’t nearly as bad as we thought it might be...
Rarely did events play out as imagined, in any case. The order of future events was transient. In the same way that the past was reconfigured by selective memory, future events, too, were moving targets. One could only act on instinct, grab hold of an intuited perfect moment, and spring into action. One heartbeat late and the universe would have recomposed itself, no imposition of will sufficient to forestall the currents. One could only observe and react. Surprise was the element absent from any periodic table. A keystone element; a missing ingredient. The means by which the Force amused itself. A reminder to all sentient beings that some secrets could never be unlocked.
Confident that the will of the dark side had been done, he returned to the suite’s window wall. Two beings in a galaxy of countless trillions, but what had transpired in the suite would affect the lives of all of them. Already the galaxy had been shaped by the birth of one, and henceforth would be reshaped by the death of the other. But had the change been felt and recognized elsewhere? Were his sworn enemies aware that the Force had shifted irrevocably? Would it be enough to rouse them from self-righteousness? He hoped not. For now the work of vengeance could begin in earnest.
His eyes sought and found an ascending constellation of stars, one of power and consequence new to the sky, though soon to be overwhelmed by dawn’s first light. Low in the sky over the flatlands, visible only to those who knew where and how to look, it ushered in a bold future. To some the stars and planets might seem to be moving as ever, destined to align in configurations calculated long before their fiery births. But in fact the heavens had been perturbed, tugged by dark matter into novel alignments. In his mouth, Sidious tasted the tang of blood; in his chest, he felt the monster rising, emerging from shadowy depths and contorting his aspect into something fearsome just short of revealing itself to the world.
The dark side had made him its property, and now he made the dark side his.
Breathless, not from exertion but from the sudden inspiration of power, he let go of the sill and allowed the monster to writhe through his body like an unbroken beast of range or prairie.
Had the Force ever been so strong in anyone?
Sidious had never learned how Plagueis’s own Master had met his end. Had he died at Plagueis’s hand? Had Plagueis, too, experienced a similar exultation on becoming a sole Sith Lord? Had the beast of the end time risen then to peek at the world it was to inhabit, knowing its release was imminent?
--Darth Plagueis
Multiple other sources confirm that Sidious singlehandedly clouds the Force throughout the entire galaxy with his power.
Maul attacked Queen Amidala of the Naboo and later killed Jedi Qui-Gon Jinn, but fell to Obi-Wan Kenobi. Despite this setback, the Sith had returned, clouding the Force with the power of the dark side.
--Databank: Sith
For a decade, there was no physical signs of the remaining Dark Lord, but evidence of his power began to appear.The Jedi ability to use the Force inexplicably began to diminish.
--Databank (2008): The Jedi Order
Depowered lampdisks were rings of ghostly gray floating in the gloom. The shimmering jewelscape of Coruscant haloed the knife-edged shadow of the chair.
This was the office of the Chancellor.
Within the chair's shadow sat another shadow: deeper, darker, formless and impenetrable, an abyssal umbra so profound that it drained light from the room around it.
And from the city. And the planet.
And the galaxy.
[…]
The Coruscant nightfall was spreading through the galaxy. The darkness in the Force was no hindrance to the shadow in the Chancellor's office; it was the darkness. Wherever darkness dwelled, the shadow could send perception.
--Revenge of the Sith novelization
The future was always in motion, and while other Sith always struggled to foresee the faintest, least specific hints of what was to come, Tenebrous had no need to see the future.
He could calculate it.
While still merely an apprentice, his analysis had shown him the inevitable end of the Banite Sith and its preposterous Rule of Two. His calculations plainly indicated the coming of a shadow so vast it would darken the galaxy entirely—so vast it would mark the end of both Jedi and Sith as the universe had known them heretofore. The rise of the shadow would be the end of history itself.
--The Tenebrous Way
Said imbalance was also growing stronger and stronger every single day.
To Mace's Force perception, the world crystallized around them, becoming a gem of reality shot through with flaws and fault lines of possibility. This was Mace's particular gift: to see how people and situations fit together in the Force, to find the shear planes that can cause them to break in useful ways, and to intuit what sort of strike would best make the cut. Though he could not consistently determine the significance of the structures he perceived—the darkening cloud upon the Force that had risen with the rebirth of the Sith made that harder and harder with each passing day—the presence of shatterpoints was always clear.
--Revenge of the Sith novelization
Only the Jedi were not surprised. For on Geonosis, Obi-Wan Kenobi and his Padawan apprentice, Anakin Skywalker, had learned that Count Dooku had turned to the dark side of the Force — and the power of the dark side had been growing for years. The Jedi knew that defeating the Separatists would be neither quick nor easy with a Dark Lord of the Sith aiding them.
--Revenge of the Sith junior novelization
Such mastery was one of the skills that distinguished Sidious from Yoda, who believed the future was so much in motion it could not be read with any clarity—especially during times when the dark side was on the ascendant.
--Labyrinth of Evil
Strong, this Sith Lord is, Yoda thought as their lightsabers whirled and clashed and whirled again. It should not have been a surprise. With the strength of the dark side growing, the Sith must, logically, have grown stronger, too.
--Revenge of the Sith junior novelization
The strength of this imbalance was such that not even the Father, the most powerful Force user ever, could restore balance.
Anakin endured a bizarre visit to the realm of Mortis, a home to a trio of powerful Force wielders who seemed to embody different aspects of the Force. The Father kept the Force in balance, and summoned Anakin to Mortis to fulfill his destiny and take the Father’s place. Anakin refused, and the Force stayed unbalanced.
--Databank: Mortis
Q: I’m sure this is subjective, but who, to date, is the most powerful Force user?
Chee: The Father.
--Leland Chee and a fan
(★) Sidious also clouds not only just the light side, but also the dark side as well, shrouding the Force as a whole with his power.
YODA: Masking the future, is this disturbance in the Force.
MACE WINDU: The propecy is coming true, the Dark Side is growing.
YODA: And only those who have turned to the Dark Side can sense the possibilities of the future. Only going through the Dark Side can we see....
[...]
OBI-WAN: Has Master Yoda gained any insight into whether or not this war will come about?
MACE WINDU: Probing the Dark Side is a dangerous process. He could be in seclusion for days... May the force be with you....
[...]
INT. JEDI TEMPLE, YODA'S QUARTERS - LATE AFTERNOON: YODA sits with his eyes closed, meditating. Silence.
--Attack of the Clones script
Maul attacked Queen Amidala of the Naboo and later killed Jedi Qui-Gon Jinn, but fell to Obi-Wan Kenobi. Despite this setback, the Sith had returned, clouding the Force with the power of the dark side.
--Databank: Sith
Note: What’s described in the first quote isn’t a traditional meditation session. Yoda clearly says only darksiders can see the future. Emphasis on “only”. Yoda very clearly knows that it is impossible for him as a lightsider to see the future, so he wouldn’t attempt the normal method, and is instead using some sort of dark side variant of Force sight. This is supported by Mace Windu describing it as “dangerous” (the risk of Yoda falling to the dark side), and Yoda viewing it as his only option and a last resort (normal meditation having failed numerous times). But of course, as we know, Yoda failed, from which we can conclude that Sidious was not only clouding the light side, but if a darksider’s sight is also muddled, then he is shrouding also the dark side, and thus, the Force as a whole.
This is also supported by the second quote, which does not limit his clouding to the light side, but simply says he was clouding the Force. Last I checked, the Force contains both the light and the dark sides, so according to Occam’s Razor, he was shrouding them both.
(★) With Sidious’ death, the balance is restored to the Force, and with his re-emergence to the galactic stage, balance is disturbed once again.
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"My father broke this cycle with his final action - atonement. By destroying Palpatine he restored balance to the Force."
--Luke Skywalker, Book of the Sith
“You have filled the galaxy with your darkness… but I have seen what my father could not see.”
--Luke Skywalker, Dark Empire
“No, I sense it too. The dark side of the Force grows stronger throughout the galaxy.”
--Ysanna elder, Empire’s End
Only Palpatine has been able to spread his darkness completely and totally over an entire galaxy.
--Dark Empire Sourcebook
Palpatine has become such a threat that it required another prophecy to take him down, this time by two Force anomalies, or else the Jedi would have been extinct forever.
“For you Bodo-Baas will speak a prophecy written one thousand years before your time, by my own Master!
‘...A brother and sister born to walk the sky, but reckless brother falls--into dark side’s eye! Jedi sister carriers hope for future in her womb. Only she can save the Skywalkers from certain doom! A Jedi-killer wants to tame her. Now the dark side lord comes to claim her. She must battle, join against this thief, or the dynasty of all the Jedi will come to grief!’”
--Bodo Baas, Dark Empire
(★) During Emperor Palpatine’s final demise, the spirits of all the Jedi who had ever lived came forth from the netherworld of the Force, to drag Palpatine down with them and ensure that he would never return.
Obi-Wan Kenobi, Master Yoda - even Luke and Leia’s father Anakin Skywalker - have all disappeared, gone from the Galaxy. Mysteriously, for reasons known only to themselves, they no longer appear to Luke, or offer him their guidance.
And yet… there’s a feeling… a sense of hidden nearness… as if they are watching him, sometimes frowning, sometimes nodding their heads. Others too - untold thousands of departed Jedi - are with them.
Luke feels a unity among the Jedi, reaching beyond “this crude flesh,” stretching back 25,000 years and more, to the beginning of the Jedi Knights. It is as if the attention of the departed Jedi can never be fully turned away from the Galaxy, until the great crimes of the Empire are finally undone.
--Dark Empire endnotes
His body mortally wounded by Han Solo, Palpatine tracked down the Solos and desperately sought to transfer his fading essence to the infant Anakin Solo. He was blocked and absorbed by the dying Jedi, Brand, who promised that he and all the other Jedi spirits would ensure the dark sider never returned—a fate Palpatine had feared above all others. The Emperor's reign was over for good.
--The Official Star Wars Fact File #120
“Luke… Palpatine will die with me. He will never return. The Force-- And all the Jedi who went before us… will make sure of that. Goodbye, my friend--”
--Empatojayos Brand, Empire’s End
Note: Palpatine had become virtually unstoppable at this point. The fact that it required two Force prophecies and thousands of Jedi to come out of their graves to put him down for good speaks volumes about his power and of the threat he represented to not just the galaxy, but the whole universe itself. Nihilus and Vitiate or The Phantom Menace Sidious and Plagueis combined are utterly dwarfed by Dark Empire Palpatine in basically every way, shape and form imaginable. He truly is the most powerful Force user in the Star Wars saga (aside from prime Luke), and no one else is even close.
Young Sheev collected and studied dark side lore by acquiring Sith relics on the black markets, even before he met Hego Damask and was officially inducted into the Order of the Sith Lords.
"Since my days as a young noble on Naboo, long before I joined Darth Plagueis and began my apprenticeship, I collected dark side lore. These rubbings of Sith tablets and untranslatable runic scrolls were coveted and traded on the black markets by cultists, collectors, and museum curators willing to defy the Republic's ban on Sith artifacts.
[...]
Although my experience acquiring the texts provided a practical knowledge of how treasures and secrets change hands, as well as the roles non-Force sensitives play in keeping the galaxy running, the actual dark side tomes deepened my knowledge of the ancient Sith. I realized that I had all the tools I needed to craft my own system of power, one that fused contemporary politics with Sith ideals."
--Darth Sidious, Book of the Sith
Under Darth Plagueis’ tutelage, Darth Sidious studies multiple holocrons, eventually becoming just as knowledgeable as Plagueis himself and possessing all his secrets.
Atop a pedestal alongside the chair sat the holocrons Sidious had asked his apprentice to search out and retrieve from the Jedi archives room. Pyramidal in shape, as opposed to the geodesic Jedi version, the holocrons were repositories of recorded knowledge, accessible only to those who were highly evolved in the use of the Force. Arcane writing inscribed on the holocrons Vader had fetched told Sidious that they had been recorded by Sith during the era of Darth Bane, some one thousand standard years earlier. Sidious didn't have to imagine the content of the devices, because his own Master, Darth Plagueis, had once allowed him access to the actual holocrons. The ones stored in the Temple archives room were nothing more than clever forgeries—Sith disinformation of a sort.
--Dark Lord: The Rise of Darth Vader
Chancellor Palpatine spent many years studying ancient Holocrons to learn the secrets of the Sith.
--The Ultimate Visual Guide: Updated and Expanded
“The Bith—Venamis...”
“Dispatched by Tenebrous to test me—to eliminate me had I failed. But Venamis has been a gift; essential in helping me unlock some of the deepest secrets of the Force. Every creature you have glimpsed or sensed here has been a similar blessing, as you will see when I lead you into the mysteries.”
--Darth Plagueis
"Unfortunately, he taught his apprentice everything he knew, then his apprentice killed him in his sleep."
--Chancellor Palpatine, Revenge of the Sith
“My mentor taught me everything about the Force, even the nature of the dark side.”
--Chancellor Palpatine, Revenge of the Sith
Sidious served for many decades as the apprentice of Darth Plagueis, learning diligently at the feet of his Master. Once he possessed all of Plagueis' secrets, he retired him.
--Insider #88: Heritage of the Sith
(★) Sidious inherited the Banite archives, a gargantuan collection of dark side lore.
"Darth Bane's Rule of Two was a keystone of the Sith Order for centuries. The Battle of Ruusan, nearly a millenium ago, would have ended the Sith Order had Darth Bane not reconstituted it as a diarchy operating from the shadows. His writings became a part of the Sith Archives passed down from master to apprentice for generations."
--Darth Sidious, Book of the Sith
"Under the tutelage of Darth Plagueis I inherited the Sith Archives - more than a thousand years' worth of teachings passed in secret from master to apprentice."
--Darth Sidious, Book of the Sith
A description of the Sith archives is provided here, revealing that analyzing all the data within would have taken years even for a droid, and that the library rivals the likes of the one in the Jedi Temple.
The tour began in the outermost rooms, which were appointed with furnishings and objects of art of the highest quality, gathered from all sectors of the galaxy. But Plagueis was neither as acquisitive as a Neimoidian nor as ostentatious as a Hutt; and so the ornamented chambers quickly gave way to data-gathering rooms crowded with audio-vid receivers and HoloNet projectors; and then to galleries filled to overflowing with ancient documents and tomes, recorded on media ranging from tree trunk parchment through flimsiplast to storage crystal and holocron. The Muuns were said to abhor literature and to loathe keeping records of anything other than loan notices, actuarial tables, and legal writs, and yet Plagueis was guardian of the one of the finest libraries to be found anywhere outside Obroa-skai or the Jedi Temple on Coruscant. Here, neatly arranged and cataloged and stored in climate-controlled cases, was a collection of treatises and commentaries accumulated over centuries by the Sith and their often unwitting agents. Ancient histories of the Rakata and the Vjun; texts devoted to the Followers of Palawa, the Chatos Academy, and the Order of Dai Bendu; archives that had once belonged to House Malreaux; annals of the Sorcerers of Tund and of Queen Amanoa of Onderon; biological studies of the ysalimiri and vornskrs of Myrkr, and of the taozin of Va’art. Certain long-lived species, like the Wookiees, Hutts, Falleen, and Toydarians, were afforded galleries of their own.
Deeper in the mountain were laboratories where Plagueis’s real work took place. Confined to cages, stasis fields, bioreactors, and bacta tanks were life-forms brought to Muunilinst from across the galaxy—many from the galaxy’s most remote worlds. Some were creatures of instinct, and others were semisentient. Some were immediately recognizable to 11-4D; others resembled creatures concocted from borrowed parts. Some were newly birthed or hatched, and some looked as if they were being kept at death’s door. More than a few were the subjects of ongoing experiments in what seemed to be vivisection or interbreeding, and others were clearly in suspended animation. OneOne-FourDee noted that many of the animals wore remotes that linked them to biometric monitoring machines, while others were in the direct care of specialist droids. Elsewhere in the hollow of the mountain were sealed enclosures warmed by artificial light, aswirl with mixtures of rarefied gases and luxuriant with flora. And deeper still were test centers crammed with complex machines and glass-fronted cooling units devoted to the storage of chemical compounds, alkaloids derived from both plants and animals, blood and tissue samples, and bodily organs from a host of species.
Plagueis instructed 11-4D to wander about the galleries and laboratories on his own, and then report back to him.
Hours later the droid returned to say: “I recognize that you are involved in research related to species durability and hybridization. But I must confess to being unfamiliar with many of the examples of fauna and flora you have amassed, and few of the arcane documents in your library. Is the data available for upload?”
“Some portion of it,” Plagueis said. “The remainder will have to be scanned.”
“Then the task will require standard years, Magister.”
“I’m aware of that. While there is some urgency, we are in no rush.”
“I understand, sir. Is there specific data you wish me to assimilate first?”
From the breast pocket of his cloak, Plagueis withdrew a storage crystal. “Start with this. It is a history of the Sith.”
--Darth Plagueis
Exiting the turbolift, the first thing to catch Sidious’s eye was the library: rack after rack of texts, scrolls, disks, and holocrons—all the data he had been craving since his apprenticeship began. He ran his hands lovingly over the shelves but barely had time to revel in his excitement when 11-4D ushered him onto a descending ramp that led into what might have been a state-of-the-art medical research facility.
--Darth Plagueis
Still in safekeeping on Aborah were texts and holocrons that recounted the deeds and abilities of Sith Masters who, so it was said and written, had been able to summon wind or rain or fracture the skies with conjured lightning. In their own words or those of their disciples, a few Dark Lords claimed to have had the ability to fly, become invisible, or transport themselves through space and time.
--Darth Plagueis
The archives not only included Sith lore, but also Jedi lore and teachings as well.
"I will train you," Githany said coyly. "I can share with you everything I learned from the Jedi about the Force. And whatever I learn about the dark side from the Masters I can teach to you, as well."
Bane hesitated. Githany was no Master, yet she had trained as a Jedi for many years. She probably knew much about the Force that would be new to him.
--Darth Bane: Path of Destruction
The Sith had changed. The Sith had grown, had adapted, had invested a thousand years' intensive study into every aspect of not only the Force but Jedi lore itself, in preparation for exactly this day.
--Revenge of the Sith novelization
While the Sith archives were still in their infancy a thousand years earlier, their owner, Darth Bane, already possessed more knowledge of Sith techniques than anyone before him, including Emperor Vitiate and Revan.
Darth Bane had gained more knowledge and mastery of Sith techniques and power than anyone who had come before him.
--The Official Star Wars Fact File #22
The Banite Sith continued to amass knowledge even beyond this, however.
For a millennium, the Sith maintained the order in secrecy, passing down their evil heritage. As they gained knowledge of the dark side of the Force, their powers increased with each generation.
--Episode 1: The Phantom Menace Scrapbook
Sidious proved to be the culmination of the Banite Sith’s teachings, implying studied all of the knowledge in the Sith archives, meaning he would be more knowledgeable on the dark side than anyone else in history.
Darth Sidious proved to be the grim culmination of a thousand years of Sith philosophy and teachings.
--Jedi vs Sith: The Essential Guide to the Force
Darth Sidious proved to be the splendid culmination of a thousand years of Sith philosophy and teachings.
--Insider #88: Heritage of the Sith
Palpatine has studied every aspect of the Force.
“My mentor taught me everything about the Force, even the nature of the dark side.”
--Chancellor Palpatine, Revenge of the Sith
“Anakin, if one is to understand the great mystery, one must study all its aspects, not just the dogmatic, narrow view of the Jedi.”
--Chancellor Palpatine, Revenge of the Sith
He studied the Force in all its guises throughout the galaxy, whether it was the shamanism of Jarvashqiine or the tales of the Tyia.
--Dark Empire Sourcebook
Darth Sidious possesses an enormous wealth of Sith artifacts, equipment and knowledge.
The most powerful of these was Darth Sidious, an ice-cold, diabolically calculating genius equipped with the strength of the dark side of the Force, as well as an enormous wealth of Sith artifacts, equipment, and knowledge.
--The Dark Side Sourcebook
Sidious tracked down the writings of some of his most powerful predecessors including Sorzus Syn’s, Darth Malgus’, Darth Bane’s, Mother Talzin’s and Darth Plagueis’, and studied them.
In his quest for domination, Darth Sidious tracked down what remained of five pivotal Sith texts written by his most powerful predecessors.
--Book of the Sith: Secrets from the Dark Side
Sidious mixed Sith powers with Nightsister magicks he learned from Mother Talzin.
"Long ago, Sidious came to me on Dathomir. We exchanged secret wisdom—mingled dark side abilities with Nightsister Magicks.”
--Mother Talzin, Son of Dathomir #3
Chancellor Palpatine acquired Sith relics hunted down for him by Mas Amedda from worlds such as Yavin IV.
Thus, despite the noble ideals he’d once held so dear, Amedda subsumed himself to the Grand Plan, hunting Sith relics for his master on worlds such as Yavin 4, and standing by Palpatine’s side when he declared himself ruler of a Galactic Empire that would endure 10,000 years.
--Barely Tolerable: Alien Henchmen of the Galactic Empire Part 3
The Emperor researches and studies the Force even more.
Many feared Pestage might have his eye on the throne. He had been running many of the day-to-day affairs of the Empire on his own even before the Battle of Hoth, allowing the Emperor to go about his arcane studies.
--Dark Empire Sourcebook
Palpatine was a very patient man — even his harshest critics had to admit this. Just how patient most of them could never guess. Such patience came with his long study of the Force, and it was to the Dark Side that he owed his allegiance. For the Dark Side was power. Power to shape the galaxy, to change history, perhaps to live forever.
--Dark Empire Sourcebook
It was inevitable that the Emperor, frequently exhausted from his intense studies and the burden of rule, chose Byss as the location for his prime vacation palace.
--Dark Empire Sourcebook
He sifted this lore till he could find every secret he needed to continue his studies. He had long ago gone beyond any knowledge to be found in the recovered teachings of the Krath or the Heresiachs. Since then, his studies had principally been experimental.
--Dark Empire Sourcebook
Palpatine has spent decades studying the most arcane and esoteric Jedi disciplines.
--Dark Empire Sourcebook
While his Vizier and ministers maintained the day-to-day operation of the Empire, Palpatine spent decades, frequently in seclusion, in meditation and study on a masterwork of his thoughts and teachings.
--Dark Empire Sourcebook
He continues to clandestinely research the dark side and the Force.
--Force and Destiny
Darth Sidious spent decades ruminating on the nature of the dark side, and as Palpatine, he sought to pen the most comprehensive tome on the nature of darkness and the practices of the Sith.
--From the Dark Side Compendium
Deep within the citadel, the Emperor performs grisly experiments on all forms of life, including sentient beings, in order to expand his knowledge of the dark side; it was in the citadel that the Emperor crafted his Imperial Sovereign Protectors and the Chrysalide rancors.
--Byss and the Deep Core
(★) Emperor Palpatine has agents among the Blackguard, telling him any Force-related secrets they discover.
“I have my own agents among the Blackguard. Any secrets they uncover will become mine soon after.”
--Darth Sidious, Book of the Sith
Note: The Blackguard are a thousand-year-old Force cult dedicated to increasing their Force knowledge. This would mean Palpatine is the culmination another thousand years of knowledge and teachings aside from the Banite Sith.
“The Blackguard operates from the molten world of Mustafar. They are largely recluses and have sought dark side lore since they emerged from the ruins of Sith philosophy after the Battle of Ruusan nearly a thousand years ago. The Blackguard clings to the principle that acquiring knowledge is superior to exerting physical power.”
--Mother Talzin, Book of the Sith
The Blackguard is a dark side cult that seeks to increase its knowledge and power by searching for secrets held by Force traditions all over the galaxy.
--Jedi Academy Training Manual
The Emperor's residence at Mount Tantiss contains a library of Force knowledge.
The royal chambers complex was the personal residence of Palpatine when he was staying at Mount Tantiss. While the chambers complex took up a full three levels, there was only one turbolift stop to the area. The chamber included a meeting area for consultation with his closest advisors, a full information station (for access to the datavaults below), and countless other amenities for the Emperor’s comfort. He was known to keep his repository of information on the Force in a separate library at this level.
--The Last Command Sourcebook
The Galactic Emperor gained more and more knowledge from the arcane texts uncovered by Sate Pestage.
He is always scurrying about behind the scenes, obtaining some obscure datachip or arcane textfile, with only the soft whisper of his robes marking his coming and going.
--Dark Empire Sourcebook
The Emperor’s personal quarters in the Imperial Citadel house libraries of dark side tomes.
Also known as the Imperial Citadel, this complex houses the personal quarters and offices of Emperor Palpatine. Contained within the Citadel are the Emperor's throne room, a vast cloning complex, dark side alchemical laboratories, libraries of dark side tomes, and other facilities that are part of the Emperor's sinister plans.
--Byss and the Deep Core
The Emperor’s Clone Laboratory contains a library full of dark side texts.
The Clone Labs are where lost science is exploited to the fullest. In it is a full library of Dark Side texts for the master’s personal study. A private meditation chamber is adjacent to this library, including a small rest cubicle. Contrasting with this are his collection rooms, which are filled with ancient works of art, holotapestries and fine mosaics. Most precious of all is the Emperor’s collection of lightsabers taken from Jedi he has killed.
--Dark Empire Sourcebook
The Emperor has studied the unique sorceries of each of his Dark Side Adept’s species.
Unlike many of the Emperor’s other servants, a number of these were aliens. Most of these individuals had already mastered the unique sorceries of their own species, and the Emperor has brought them to Byss as much to study their knowledge as to train them in his.
--Dark Empire Sourcebook
The Emperor is more knowledgeable in the Force than any of his Adepts.
In the years prior to the Battle of Yavin, Byss was known as the Emperor's Private retreat. Here he began quietly training Dark Side Adepts, initiating men of great intelligence who had committed their lives to his service. None were permitted to ascend to his level of knowledge and proficiency, but the Adepts nonetheless became powerful Dark Side magicians in their own right.
--Dark Empire Endnotes
Emperor Palpatine ripped knowledge from the minds of Jedi, and gained it from those who willingly bent the knee.
Jedi Masters were brought before him and questioned and tortured, in the hope that their dying screams might reveal some bit of aeons-old lore.
--Dark Empire Endnotes
Coupled with perversions of the secrets he ripped from the living minds of Jedi he captured during the Purge, he learned more than he ever expected.
--Dark Empire Sourcebook
In this compendium, the Emperor has so far defined two principal “empires” of Dark Side lore:
The Emperor’s first book, The Book of Anger, is about the initial surrender to the Dark Side and the exercise of the will over the energies of the Force for destructive ends.
[...]
The Emperor’s “first empire” evolved from several sources. Many Jedi secrets were revealed by trained Jedi who capitulated to the Dark Side. Other secrets, more ancient, were obtained from the Jedi Holocron. A third source was the archaic magical concepts that were known and used (and still are known and used) by the most primitive peoples.
--Dark Empire Endnotes
The Galactic Emperor has gone beyond any teaching of the Krath or the Heresiachs.
He had long ago gone beyond any knowledge to be found in the recovered teachings of the Krath or the Heresiachs.
--Dark Empire Sourcebook
The Emperor studies the Holocron of Ashka Boda and learns a great deal from it.
The Emperor learned considerable arcane information from this Holocron, and he exploited this knowledge, twisting it to his own ends. Some of his vaunted “Dark Side secrets” are in fact corrupt teachings of the Holocron.
--Dark Empire Endnotes
In this compendium, the Emperor has so far defined two principal “empires” of Dark Side lore:
The Emperor’s first book, The Book of Anger, is about the initial surrender to the Dark Side and the exercise of the will over the energies of the Force for destructive ends.
[...]
The Emperor’s “first empire” evolved from several sources. Many Jedi secrets were revealed by trained Jedi who capitulated to the Dark Side. Other secrets, more ancient, were obtained from the Jedi Holocron. A third source was the archaic magical concepts that were known and used (and still are known and used) by the most primitive peoples.
--Dark Empire Endnotes
The Emperor can teach Ferus Olin things that will make him more powerful than Darth Vader.
"If only I had someone I could really trust," Palpatine said. "Someone who understood my goals. If I found that someone, the gifts I could give him would be ... immense."
Ferus looked away. He wished Palpatine would stop talking.
'The power over life and death," Palpatine said.
Ferus didn't turn, but he felt the hairs on the back of his neck rise.
"Ah, I see I have your full attention at last. I can teach you things that will make you more powerful than Vader. It will take time. But only time."
--Last of the Jedi: Secret Weapon
(★) Darth Sidious writes a great assemblage of dark side lore, the Dark Side Compendium, completing two volumes.
He gathered this knowledge, mostly crude and simplistic variations on traditional Jedi teachings, into a great assemblage of Dark Side Lore. He completed two volumes in this Dark Side Compendium: The Book of Anger and The Weakness of Inferiors.
--Dark Empire Sourcebook
Darth Sidious spent decades ruminating on the nature of the dark side, and as Palpatine, he sought to pen the most comprehensive tome on the nature of darkness and the practices of the Sith.
--From the Dark Side Compendium
He eventually planned to write hundreds, indicating a vast knowledge of the Force.
Prior to his death above the Pinnacle Moon, the Emperor had planned hundreds of additional volumes. With the immortality his clone tanks provided him, he thought he literally had all the time in the universe with which to probe the limits of the Force.
--Dark Empire Sourcebook
He is even writing a Dark Side Compendium that he claims will eventually fill several hundred volumes.
--Dark Empire Endnotes
The amount of volumes in the Dark Side Compendium would have eventually reached multiple hundreds of thousands, indicating an absolutely mind-numbing knowledge of the dark side of the Force.
In these cantos and the hundreds of thousands that follow, it is apparent that the Emperor has plumbed depths of darkness unknown before.
--Dark Empire Sourcebook
(★) Palpatine has devoted himself to gather all the knowledge of the Force, both light and dark. Eventually he did, gathering every single dark side Force power, every single light side Force power, as well as all other aspects of the Force in all the different forms that had ever existed, from over a million different planets, from hundreds of different Force-using cultures. This awarded him with a knowledge and understanding of the Force that dwarfed any other being’s in history, and allowed him to invent all new Force powers on a whim.
What has proven to be the lasting genius of Palpatine as Emperor is his devotion to collecting all the knowledge of the Dark Side that he can, as well as what Light Side information he can corrupt and preserve.
--Dark Empire Sourcebook
With the resources of the galaxy at his disposal, he gathered the greatest works of knowledge from over a million worlds. He studied the Force in all its guises thoughout the galaxy, whether it was the shamanism of Jarvashqiine or the tales of the Tyia.
--Dark Empire Sourcebook
In these cantos and the hundreds of thousands that follow, it is apparent that the Emperor has plumbed depths of darkness unknown before. Whether he has done so out of a need to achieve knowledge, or whether he has been drawn thus far is unknown and perhaps unknowable. What is known is that the Emperor gathered all the greatest lore of the Dark Side and collected it.
--Dark Empire Sourcebook
Desperate for a solution to his dilemma, the Emperor sent agents into every part of the galaxy, searching libraries, sifting the wisdom of alien cultures, combining the detritus of civilizations long dead for forgotten secrets and cures.
--Dark Empire Endnotes
Aside from the path of the Jedi, there are hundreds and perhaps thousands of unique paths to the Light practiced by masters and pupils throughout the galaxy over the ages.
--Dark Empire Sourcebook
In this compendium, the Emperor has so far defined two principal “empires” of Dark Side lore:
The Emperor’s first book, The Book of Anger, is about the initial surrender to the Dark Side and the exercise of the will over the energies of the Force for destructive ends.
[...]
The Emperor’s “first empire” evolved from several sources. Many Jedi secrets were revealed by trained Jedi who capitulated to the Dark Side. Other secrets, more ancient, were obtained from the Jedi Holocron. A third source was the archaic magical concepts that were known and used (and still are known and used) by the most primitive peoples.
--Dark Empire Endnotes
Palpatine has spent decades studying the most arcane and esoteric Jedi disciplines. It is believed that he has mastered nearly all the known powers, previously unknown powers, and devises new ones at his pleasure.
--Dark Empire Sourcebook
This great research and study granted Sidious almost an unlimited amount of different Force powers.
Sheev foresees Hego Damask’s arrival on Chandrila, and claims his premonitions are almost always correct.
The planet Chandrila sponsored a monthlong retreat for members of the Legislative Youth Program. Once a year young beings from a host of worlds arrived to participate in mock Senate trials in and around Hanna City and to tour Chandrila’s vast agricultural projects, wilderness areas, coral reefs, and garden parks. It was in Gladean Park—a game reserve outside coastal Hanna—that Plagueis paid young Palpatine an unannounced visit. But it was Plagueis who was surprised.
“I knew you would come, Magister,” Palpatine said when Plagueis and 11-4D turned up at one of the game reserve’s viewing blinds.
“How did you know?”
“I knew, that’s all.”
“And just how often are your premonitions correct?”
“Almost always.”
“Curious,” 11-4D remarked while Palpatine was hurrying away to excuse himself from the company of two friends.
--Darth Plagueis
Sheev senses the power of the Force within Hego Damask.
Plagueis planted his hands on his hips and laughed without mirth. “And of what possible use do you think a person of your nature would be to the Jedi Order? You’re heartless, ambitious, arrogant, insidious, and without shame or empathy. More, you’re a murderer.” He held Palpatine’s hooded gaze and watched the youth’s hands clench in fists of rage. “Careful, boy,” he said after a moment. “You are not the only being in this plush stateroom with the power to kill.”
Palpatine’s eyes opened wide and he took a step back. “I can sense it...”
Plagueis grew deliberately haughty. “What you sense is a fraction of what I can bring to bear.”
--Darth Plagueis
Darth Sidious sees through an animal’s eyes, as if he were one with it.
Blended into the herd, the animal Sidious had fixed his sight on would have been indistinguishable to normal beings. But Sidious had the animal in his mind and was now looking through its eyes, one with it.
--Darth Plagueis
Ambassador Palpatine senses those around him as blurs of energy.
Pax Teem was about to speak when a Gran messenger intruded on the privacy canopy.“Senator Kim, we are in receipt of an urgent communiqué from Naboo.”While Kim was excusing himself, Palpatine dropped into the Force. Conversation at the table grew faint, and the physical forms of Pax Teem and the others became indistinct—more like blurs of lambent energy.
--Darth Plagueis
Ambassador Palpatine blocks out sound to hear an echo of news.
While Kim was excusing himself, Palpatine dropped into the Force. Conversation at the table grew faint, and the physical forms of Pax Teem and the others became indistinct—more like blurs of lambent energy. He kept himself still as a disturbing echo reached him. By the time an ashen Kim was returning to the table, Palpatine was already out of his seat and hurrying to meet him.
“What is it? What’s happened?
”Kim stared at him as if from another world. “They’re dead. Everyone. My wife, my sons...”
--Darth Plagueis
Palpatine senses the dark side aura of a Nightsister.
He was meandering without clear purpose through one of Blue Desert City’s dustier quarters, far from the city center, when became aware of a faint pulse of Force energy, the origin of which was indistinct but close at hand.Calling more deeply on the Force, he allowed himself to be drawn toward the mysterious source, as if he were a starship surrendering to the embrace of a tractor beam. A tortuous series of turns delivered him into a market area brimming with knockoff goods, ersatz jewelry, and bits and pieces of junk that had found its way to Dathomir from who knew where, and ultimately to a small square amid the hustle and bustle, on one corner of which stood a human female, whose symmetrically blemished face was the color of burnished durasteel, and whose flamboyant clothing identified her as a visitor to the city, likely from some remote village on the planet’s far side. The hood of her crimson robe was raised, and from one shoulder hung a soft bag the size of a small suitcase.
Palpatine moved to the square’s diagonal corner to observe her. She was eyeing individuals in the passing crowd, not as if searching for someone in particular, but with a gaze more in keeping with target acquisition. She didn’t strike Palpatine as a thief or pickpocket, though she did exude a dark energy informed by equal measures of urgency and deceit.
--Darth Plagueis
Sidious’ Force perceptions become more keen as his strength in the Force grows, allowing him to sense things he had been previously unaware of.
The hood of his stylish robe raised against a chill wind, Palpatine hurried through the streets of Theed. The sudden turn in the weather abetted his desire to avoid making eye contact with strangers or, worse, encountering anyone he knew. As he grew stronger in the dark side, the profane world became a stranger and stranger place, swept by currents he’d had no previous awareness of and populated by vaguely outlined life-forms he saw as magnitudes of the Force.
--Darth Plagueis
Senator Palpatine senses Pax Teem looking at him.
Palpatine sensed scrutiny from someone outside the circle the ten of them had formed. Just short of the Senate Building's Great Door, Pax Teem had stopped and was gazing at Palpatine, his eyestalks extended. And Palpatine could hardly blame him, since even he had been caught off guard by Plagueis's eagerness to acknowledge him in public.
--Darth Plagueis
Palpatine feels pride in a group of Jedi.
Elsewhere on the broad avenue—at key intersections, taxi stops, and mag-lev exits—stood groups of Jedi, a few with the hilts of their lightsabers conspicuously visible. For Palpatine the sight of so many of them in one place was at once exhilarating and sobering. Though thoroughly cloaked in the everyday, he could feel their collective pride trickle into him through the Force.
--Darth Plagueis
Palpatine senses Sun Guards killing his abductors.
The Force intruded, drawing his attention to the windows in the upper walls.At once, the sound of repeating blasters and pained cries echoed from adjacent rooms; then a nerve-jangling shattering of glass as Sun Guards crashed through the high windows and began to rappel to the filthy floor, firing as they slid down on their microfilament lines, catching the Santhe men and the Rodian with so many bolts that their bodies were left quartered by the volleys.
--Darth Plagueis
Palpatine senses Sate Pestage outside his office.
He was standing in the center of the room when he sensed someone in the corridor outside. Fists pummeled the door; then it slid to one side and Sate Pestage burst into the room. Seeing Palpatine, he came to a sudden stop, and the panicked look he wore on entering transformed to one of visible relief.
--Darth Plagueis
Palpatine senses Darth Plagueis’ battle with the Maladian assassins.
Palpatine paced away from Pestage. He opened himself fully to the Force, and was left staggered by an inrush of overwhelming malevolence. He planted his left hand on the desk for support and managed a stuttering inhale. Somewhere close by, the dark side was unspooling.
“Palpatine!” Pestage said from behind him.
“Hego Damask,” Palpatine said, without turning around.
--Darth Plagueis
Sidious senses the dark side’s power within Aborah.
A standard month after the events on Coruscant, Plagueis summoned Sidious to Muunilinst. Sidious had visited the High Port skyhook but had never been invited downside, and now he found himself soaring over one of the planet’s unspoiled blue oceans in a stylish airspeeder piloted by two Sun Guards. As the speeder approached Aborah, he settled deeply into the Force and was rewarded with a vision of the mountain island as a transcendent vortex of dark energy unlike anything he had ever experienced. It was something he would have expected to encounter only on Korriban or some other Sith world.
--Darth Plagueis
Sidious senses the life forms used in Plagueis’ experiments.
Sidious was still trying to make sense of the droid’s statements when they entered a long corridor lined with windowless cells. Through the Force he could sense life-forms behind each locked door.
--Darth Plagueis
Sidious senses Plagueis’ power in the Force.
Seen through the Force, he was a nuclear oval of mottled light, a rotating orb of terrifying energy. If the Maladian attack had weakened him physically, it had also helped to shape his etheric body into a vessel sufficiently strong to contain the full power of the dark side.
--Darth Plagueis
Sidious sees the movements of the Scimitar, despite it having its invisibility cloak turned on.
Maul bowed his head and hurried up the rear boarding ramp into the cockpit module. Sidious lingered to watch the ship rise and edge out of the hangar, becoming invisible as it flew over The Works. Through the dark side, he continued to track the Scimitar as it angled north toward the Jedi Temple rather than south, and away from the Senate District.
--Darth Plagueis
Senator Palpatine sharpens his hearing to hear the snoring of other senators and the gossip between Kinman Doriana and Sate Pestage
The crepuscular chill of the Senate Rotunda had a way of lulling many to sleep. Sharpening his senses, Palpatine could hear the gentle snoring of human and nonhuman Senators seated in hover platforms adjacent to his station; more clearly, Sate Pestage and Kinman Doriana, opposite him on the platform's circular seat, gossiping maliciously.
--Darth Plagueis
Senator Palpatine augments his eyesight to peer at Padmé and Ian Lago.
Palpatine smiled tightly.
“What brings you to the docks, Senator?” Jobal asked.
“More than coincidence, m’lady. In fact, a matter of utmost urgency that involves your daughter, Padmé.”
“She’s here,” Ruwee said.
Palpatine looked at him. “On Coruscant?”
“Here, at Tannik.” He pointed to a nearby dock, where an energetic dark-haired girl was directing an antigrav pallet of foodstuffs into the bay of a waiting freighter. Catching sight of her father, Padmé waved.
“Who is the young man with her?” Palpatine asked.
“Ian Lago,” Jobal said.
Palpatine sharpened his vision. “The son of King Veruna’s counselor?”
Jobal nodded. “He’s become a bit lovesick.”
“And Padmé with him?”
“We hope not,” Ruwee said. “Ian’s a nice boy, but... Well, let’s just say that Kun Lago would not be happy to learn that his son has been fraternizing with the enemy, so to speak.”
Realizing that young Ian was eyeing him with sudden interest, Palpatine returned the look for a moment, then said, “This brings me directly to the point of my visit. As you’re no doubt aware, our King has instructed me to support the Trade Federation on the issue of taxation of the free-trade zones.”
--Darth Plagueis
Darth Sidious senses his comlink chiming and senses that Darth Maul is telling the truth from across the galaxy.
Darth Sidious could feel a slight disturbance in the Force before his scrambled comlink chimed, and knew by this that his apprentice was about to contact him. He stepped to the holoprojector and activated the grid. Privacy failsafes glowed green before he spoke.
"My apprentice. Your mission is complete." It was a statement, not a question. Sidious knew Darth Maul would not call to report failure, and there were no untoward signs in the energies that surrounded his image.
"Yes, my master. The Jedi Padawan died in combat. She fought well, for a neophyte. An explosion generated from our battle destroyed Lorn Pavan and his droid.
" Darth Sidious nodded. He could feel the truth of the statement even at this distance. This was excellent news.
--Darth Maul: Shadow Hunter
Sidious feels a malevolent presence as Maul enters the room.
Although Darth Sidious did not hear anyone enter his secret lair, he sensed a great malevolence flow into the room. From behind him, a deep voice spoke, "What is thy bidding, my Master?"
--Episode 1 Adventures: The Fury of Darth Maul
Sidious senses the death of a Jedi Council member.
Sidious senses that the Yinchorri have begun their attack.
(★) Darth Sidious knows everything about his apprentice, Darth Maul, through the Force.
"I know you're still upset about the snake that bit you," Sidious said, continuing around the watery orb until he had a clear view of Maul. "I know everything about you, Maul. Everything."
--Darth Plagueis
Maul's steps did not falter as he continued following the droid, but his mind was suddenly racing. He wondered what consequences he might suffer because of the drawing. He said, "Did Master Sidious see the drawing?""I don't know. I erased it right after you fell asleep.""Then how would he even know about the drawing...unless you told him?""I didn't have to tell him," TD-D9 said. "You should know by now, child...Sidious knows everything."
--Darth Plagueis
Sidious senses as Plagueis gathers his midi-chlorians.
Sidious peered at Plagueis through the Force. "Oh, yes, by all means gather your midi-chlorians, Plagueis."
--Darth Plagueis
Sidious augments his eyesight to inspect Plagueis’ corpse closer.
Sidious took care, still reaching out with the Force. On closer inspection, he saw that Plagueis’s already cyanotic flesh was smoothing out, his features relaxing.
Faintly aware of the whir of air scrubbers and sounds of the outside world infiltrating the luxurious suite, he continued the vigil; then, in relief, he pulled himself up to his full height and let out his breath. This was no Sith trick. Not an instance of feigning death, but one of succumbing to its cold embrace. The being who had guided him to power was gone.
--Darth Plagueis
Sidious gains information regarding his Master Darth Plagueis, and his Master Darth Tenebrous, by peering into the past with the Force.
Sidious had never learned how Plagueis’s own Master had met his end. Had he died at Plagueis’s hand? Had Plagueis, too, experienced a similar exultation on becoming a sole Sith Lord? Had the beast of the end time risen then to peek at the world it was to inhabit, knowing its release was imminent?
He raised his gaze to the ecliptic. The answers were out there, coded in light, speeding through space and time. Liquid fire coursing through him, visions of past and future riffling through his mind, he opened himself to the reconfigured galaxy, as if in an effort to peel away the decades…
--Darth Plagueis
Sidious senses Maul’s defeat on Naboo at the hands of Obi-Wan Kenobi.
Sidious moved back into the room to take a closer look at Plagueis. Then, after a long moment, he returned to the window and pulled the drapes aside.
His spirit soared, but briefly.
Something was shading his sense of triumph: a vague awareness of a power greater than himself. Was it Plagueis reaching out from the far side of death to vex him? Or was the feeling a mere consequence of apotheosis?
Outside, the summits of the tallest buildings were gilded by the first rays of daylight.
[...]
With the Battle of Naboo concluded—lost, in his estimation—Palpatine had no time to bask in adulation or celebrate his win. His first order of business, indeed his first official duty, was to travel to his homeworld to congratulate Queen Amidala and her new allies, the Gungans, on their surprise victory.
It wasn’t until he arrived in Theed and learned of Darth Maul’s defeat at the hands of the Jedi in a power-generator station that he understood in part the reason for the sense of loss and profound solitude he had experienced following the murder of Plagueis.
--Darth Plagueis
Sidious reveals he had in fact foreseen this.
"As loyal as he was, I made no effort to caution him when I foresaw his death in a duel with the Jedi on Naboo."
--Darth Sidious, Jedi vs Sith: The Essential Guide to the Force
Chancellor Palpatine senses masked emotions and power in young Anakin Skywalker, where Obi-Wan does not.
Palpatine reclined slightly, studying the two of them. Obi-Wan seemed not to have noticed the fury simmering in the boy, but for an instant Palpatine perceived a touch of his younger self in Skywalker. The need to challenge authority; the gift for masking his emotions. The yet-unrecognized power.
--Darth Plagueis
The Emperor sensed Anakin’s power and lured him to the Dark Side.
--Heir to the Empire sourcebook
Chancellor Palpatine senses Duchess Satine Kryze’s death at Darth Maul’s hands.
Throughout this time, Maul dueled Obi-Wan Kenobi on numerous occasions, and in an act of pure hatred, killed Obi-Wan’s former love, Duchess Satine Kryze. His revenge would prove double-edged, however, as the act created a dark side ripple sensed by his former Master, Darth Sidious.
--Databank: Darth Maul
Maul's hateful act garnered unwanted attention, however; across the galaxy, Darth Sidious detected a tremor in the Force and soon left for Mandalore.
--Databank: Darth Maul
Sidious senses every move Darth Maul and Savage Opress make before they are made.
But strong as he had become, Maul found himself in awe of Sidious. The Sith Lord was astonishingly fast and efficient, and the Force flowed through him effortlessly. His sabers stabbed and slashed through the smallest hole in an opponent’s guard, his movements never carried him a millimeter out of position, and he could sense every attack Maul and Savage made before it developed.
--Darth Maul: Shadow Conspiracy
Sidious senses Yoda’s presence of Moraband/Korriban.
“I sense we have a great opportunity to strike a deadly blow to the Jedi Order, but we must act swiftly.”
--Darth Sidious, Clone Wars: Sacrifice
“Only the presence of someone significant to you would allow you to sense this ripple through time and space.”
“My old Master, Yoda.”
“Yes…”
--Darths Sidious and Tyranus, Clone Wars: Sacrifice
(★) Darth Sidious knows everything about his apprentice, Darth Tyranus, through the Force.
As he lowered the ramp, he saw a hooded figure waiting in the shadows. He always knows, the Count thought. But then, he should. That is why he is the Master.
--Attack of the Clones junior novelization
Even via hologram, the flickering figure of Darth Sidious, hideous in blue and shadows, seemed to strip his false youth away, leaving his bones brittle, his joints worn thin and knotted with tension. "These are the envoys from Troxar," his Master said. How could he know? Dooku didn't ask. Darth Sidious knew. He always knew.
--Yoda: Dark Rendezvous
Sidious can divine actions well before in advance, with greater clarity than Yoda.
Once again, Darth Sidious had divined the actions they would take well in advance of their own deciding. The talent had less to do with being able to peer into the future, than with having access to streams of possibilities. Sidious wasn't unerring. He could be surprised or taken off his guard—as at Geonosis, as in the case of Gunray's mechno-chair—but not for long. His mastery of the dark side of the Force endowed him with the power to decipher the currents that comprised the future, and to comprehend that while those currents were manifold, they were not boundless. Such mastery was one of the skills that distinguished Sidious from Yoda, who believed the future was so much in motion it could not be read with any clarity—especially during times when the dark side was on the ascendant.
--Labyrinth of Evil
Chancellor Palpatine senses Anakin’s anger.
“I can feel your anger. It gives you focus, makes you stronger.”
--Chancellor Palpatine, Revenge of the Sith
Chancellor Palpatine senses Anakin’s anguish and the approach of Mace Windu and the B-team.
In the night, the shadow felt the boy's anguish, and it was good. The shadow felt the grim determination of four Jedi Masters approaching by air. This, too, was good.
--Revenge of the Sith novelization
Sidious senses that Darth Vader is not yet fully committed to the dark side.
He sensed that his apprentice was not yet as fully committed to the dark side as he should be. Well, destroying the Jedi here should certainly tie Anakin closer to his Sith identity - Darth Vader.
--Revenge of the Sith junior novelization
Sidious senses every Jedi death in the galaxy and that the dark side grows stronger with each one.
Still smiling, Darth Sidious leaned back, picturing the scenes all over the galaxy. Jedi on jungle planets, crystal worlds, water worlds, in the heat of battle and safe in their command centers, all dying at the hands of their own clone troops. He could sense it happening, though not in detail - but he could feel the dark side growing stronger with every Jedi death.His only regret was that he couldn't be there in person to watch each one of them die.
--Revenge of the Sith junior novelization
The Emperor senses Yoda is straining to keep his Force Lightning at bay.
The end came with astonishing suddenness. The shadow could feel how much it cost the little green freak to bend back his lightnings into the cage of energy that enclosed them both; the creature had reached the limits of his strength.
--Revenge of the Sith novelization
The Emperor senses Lord Vader is in danger.
The image tilted its head, its smile twisting without transition to a scowl. "Lord Vader—I sense a disturbance in the Force. You may be in danger."
He glanced at the mirror flash outside; he knew that ship. In danger of being kissed to death, perhaps...
"How should I be in danger, Master?"
"I cannot say. But the danger is real; be mindful."
Be mindful, be mindful, he thought with a mental sneer. Is that the best you can do? I could get that much from Obi-Wan... "I will, my Master. Thank you." The image faded. He got to his feet, and now the sneer was on his lips and in his eyes. "You're the one who should be mindful, my 'Master.' I am a disturbance in the Force."
--Revenge of the Sith novelization
Clone troops were already swarming into it. "It was Yoda," he said as he swung out of the pod. "Another assassination attempt. Find him and kill him. If you have to, blow up the building." He didn't have time to direct the search personally. The Force hummed a warning in his bones: Lord Vader was in danger. Mortal danger.
--Revenge of the Sith novelization
Sidious nodded and reached out with the dark side, trying to sense where his enemy was hiding. As he did, the feeling of risk grew stronger, and he understood. Not a threat to him, but to his apprentice. He must see to this personally. "Double your search," he told the clone commander, though he doubted they would find anything. He turned to Mas Amedda. "Tell Captain Kagi to prepare my shuttle for immediate takeoff. I sense Lord Vader is in danger."
--Revenge of the Sith junior novelization
Emperor Palpatine senses Mas Amedda is sending him a message.
Alert to a mild disturbance in the Force, he swung toward the throne room holoprojector a moment before a half-life-size image of Mas Amedda resolved from thin air.
--Dark Lord: The Rise of Darth Vader
Emperor Palpatine senses Vader’s greater commitment to the dark side.
Sidious was pleased. Vader had done well. He had sensed the change in him, even in the brief conversation they had had following the events on Kashyyyk. Now that Vader had begun to tap deeply into the power of the dark side, his true apprenticeship could begin.
--Dark Lord: The Rise of Darth Vader
Emperor Palpatine senses that Vader disagrees with him.
"Keep still," Sidious interrupted, "before you damage yourself all the more." He gave Vader a moment to compose himself. "First, let me reiterate that the Jedi mean nothing to us. In having survived, Yoda and Obi-Wan aren't exceptions to the rule. I'm certain that dozens of Jedi escaped with their lives, and in due time you will have the pleasure of killing many of them. But of greater import is the fact that their order has been crushed. Finished, Lord Vader. Do I make myself clear?"
"Yes, Master," Vader muttered."
In burying their heads in the sands and snows of remote worlds, the surviving Jedi humble themselves before the Sith. So let them: let them atone for one thousand years of arrogance and self-absorption.
"Sidious watched Vader, displeased. "Once more your thoughts betray you. I see that you are not yet fully convinced."
--Dark Lord: The Rise of Darth Vader
Emperor Palpatine senses Vader's disappointment.
He paused in front of the trooper, chest plate almost close enough to touch him, and looked down into his eyes again until they began to water and the man finally blinked. Vader didn't even have to test him with the Force. He only needed to stand too close. It fascinated him.
He won't hold his ground. He's loyal and he's competent, but he has his limits. And there's too much at stake to be rushed into making an inferior choice.
"Dismissed," said Vader.
The almost-adequate trooper brought his helmet around to his chest in a choreographed move with one hand, and placed it back on his head two-handed with equal precision. Then he saluted, pivoted 180 on his heel, and marched out. Vader watched him disappear through the great double doors, and waited for the man he knew was watching from behind to show himself.
"He comes highly recommended, but I trust your judgment," said Emperor Palpatine, stepping out of the shadow of the archway. "I sense your disappointment."
--In His Image
Emperor Palpatine senses Sa Cuis' - one of his Hand's - emotions despite the latter attempting to conceal them.
He let the doors close behind him and settled into a carved apocia chair against one wall of his throne room. His current Hand, Sa Cuis, was waiting for him, jaw muscles twitching ever so slightly, clearly impatient even if he thought he was presenting his Emperor with a facade of calm. Palpatine wondered why the assassin bothered to disguise his feelings in front of someone with Force mastery; but it was habit, he imagined, and he allowed him his ingrained need for deception.
--In His Image
Palpatine senses Vader has survived his assassination challenge.
In his throne room, Palpatine paused while flicking through the screens of his datapad. The Force sighed slightly: he felt it. Vader had reacted.
He had survived whatever Cuis had thrown at him. Palpatine thought he actually felt his apprentice's sense of betrayal. He concentrated harder, searching for some hint of anger or hatred, but there was nothing, and he wondered if Vader had not yet discovered the obvious.
--In His Image
Emperor Palpatine senses Vader has changed forever.
Palpatine sat up, distracted from his datapad, by a faint tingling ripple that filled the back of his mouth and spread into his chest. The Force shifted imperceptibly in a far corner and settled again, but it was different this time. Something had changed forever.
Vader had changed.
"How reassuring," said the Emperor to himself.
Boots clattered on the polished floor.
"Sir, did you call, sir?" said the stormtrooper. "I heard..."
"Nothing to worry about," said the Emperor, laying the datapad on the inlaid table, screen-down. "There's nothing further to worry about at all."
--In His Image
The Emperor sees everything clearly even in darkness.
Vader, the Emperor, and the two surviving Royal Guards put kilometers behind them as night ate the last of the day. The darkness deepened as they picked their way through the uneven ground, the tangle of roots, the columns of tree trunks. The darkness seemed to amplify sound, isolate it, echo it back until Vader’s breathing filled the forest. The moons hadn’t risen and it would be hours before they did. The forest canopy hid the meager light of the stars, leaving them in a sea of ink. Vader’s armor allowed him to see in infrared and several other spectrums, and the Royal Guards’ armor, too, could compensate for low light, but the Emperor…
Vader spared a glance to his left, at his Master, who walked confidently through the darkness.
The Emperor saw clearly, saw everything, as ever.
--Lords of the Sith
Emperor Palpatine senses how Vader killed Ferus Olin and pressured Zan Arbor, and then senses his emotions.
"The success of the first stage of the superweapon pleases me," Lord Sidious said. "What does not please me is that you failed my test."
Vader was surprised. "I don't understand, Master. I annihilated the resistance. I destroyed Ferus Olin. He was not our ally. He was our enemy."
"Of course he was our enemy," Lord Sidious said. "And of course I meant for you to destroy him. That was not your test."
"My test..."
"You fought him with emotion. Just in the way you pressured Zan Arbor to come up with that memory agent. Yes, I know about that, how badly you wanted it. I had hoped for more from you, my apprentice. I expected you to leave Anakin Skywalker behind. By your actions you have shown me that Anakin is not dead. Until he is dead, Lord Vader cannot truly rise."
A rebuke instead of a praise. Instead of a reward, a warning.
"You killed her. That was good - it brought you to me."
You killed her. That was good. Vader was shocked at the grief and anger that roiled through him at his Master's words. He could easily have struck his Master down.
Lord Sidious smiled. "You see?" he taunted.His Master was right. Anakin wasn't dead. If Anakin were truly dead, he would not be feeling this despair.
--Last of the Jedi: Reckoning
Emperor Palpatine is aware of Grand Moff Tarkin’s plans to develop a superweapon in the Maw, despite the latter’s belief that he didn’t
The second was to establish an invulnerable and powerful superweapon, part dramatic symbol, part real threat. Tarkin himself was developing plans for the weapon and he had established a hidden think tank of designers and scientists in a black-hole cluster known as the Maw. The Grand Moff didn't think the Emperor yet knew of his secrets, and intended to present the plans for any weapons developed himself, taking all the credit. Palpatine did know though, as he knew of Tarkin's ambitions.
--The Essential Guide to Characters
The Emperor is able to learn about conspiracies against him through the Force.
Palpatine knew precisely why the Empire couldn’t last without his dread power: he had designed it that way. No one ever suspected how much he relied on the Dark Side of the Force. He shaped those of his government by using the Force against them. He used it to control his fleets and to drive his soldiers on to victory. He used it to destroy his enemies from a distance and learn of conspiracies against him. Without it, there was no way the Empire could endure, as he had designed it.
--Dark Empire Sourcebook
The Emperor senses the destroyer of the Death Star and that he will find him.
He would never doubt the power of the dark side of the Force to show him the way forward. The destruction of the Death Star was surely necessary, as it would guide him to this new path. Darkness was gathering, and the Emperor sensed that this pilot was at the heart of it. The dark side of the Force had brought him to light. The Emperor had only to find him—and the Emperor would find him. He knew that with an iron certainty. The pilot would be found. An ordered galaxy would follow. It was his destiny.
--Rebel Force: Target
The Emperor augments his eyesight through rage.
The Emperor closed his eyes and let the rage consume him. An energy bolt of anger crackled across his body, turning his blood black with venom. A red mist clouded the darkness behind his lids. The fog of hate would have shrouded the vision of a lesser man. But when the Emperor opened his eyes, the blood-tinged world was sharper than ever.
Clarity. Understanding. Power.
--Rebel Force: Target
The Emperor feels Vader’s emotions from across the galaxy.
The Emperor played with his memory of the moment, polishing it in his mind like a precious gem. Remembering: Darth Vader's voice as he delivered the news. Vader's anger, so forceful the Emperor could feel it from halfway across the galaxy. And with the anger, terror, for Vader knew how terribly he had disappointed his Master. Vader knew it was not the first time.
--Rebel Force: Target
The Emperor senses Gethzerion’s power from across the galaxy and determines she may one day be a threat.
But the Emperor, who sensed Gethzerion's power through the Force, realized that once Getlizerion mastered the controls of a shuttle, she could reach the orbiting docking facility, and from there spread her influence to the rest of the galaxy, one day perhaps even challenging him.
--The Dark Side Sourcebook
The Emperor senses Luke Skywalker’s growing power from across the galaxy, that he is Anakin’s son, and that he could one day destroy him.
“What is thy bidding, my Master?”
“There is a great disturbance in the Force.”
“I have felt it.”
“We have a new enemy. The young Rebel who destroyed the Death Star. I have no doubt this boy is the offspring of Anakin Skywalker.”
“How is that possible?”
“Search your feelings, Lord Vader, you will know it to be true. He could destroy us.”
“He is just a boy. Obi-Wan can no longer help him.”
“The Force is strong with him. The son of Skywalker must not become a Jedi.”
--The Empire Strikes Back
When the hologram of the Galactic Emperor finally spoke, it did so with a voice even deeper than Vader's. The Emperor's presence was awesome enough, but the sound of his voice sent a thrill of terror coursing through Vader's powerful frame. "You may rise, my servant," the Emperor commanded.
Immediately Vader straightened up. But he did not dare gaze into his master's face, and instead cast his eyes down at his own black boots.
"What is thy bidding, my master?" Vader asked with all the solemnity of a priest attending his god.
"There is a grave disturbance in the Force," the Emperor said.
"I have felt it," the Dark Lord replied solemnly.
The Emperor emphasized the danger as he continued. "Our situation is most precarious. We have a new enemy who could bring about our destruction."
"Our destruction? Who?"
"The son of Skywalker. You must destroy him, or he will be our undoing."
Skywalker!
The thought was impossible. How could the Emperor be concerned with this insignificant youth?
"He's not a Jedi," Vader reasoned. "He's just a boy. Obi-Wan could not have taught him so much that—"The Emperor broke in. "The Force is strong in him," he insisted. "He must be destroyed."
The Dark Lord reflected a moment. Perhaps there was another way to deal with the boy, a way that might benefit the Imperial cause. "If he could be turned, he would be a powerful ally," Vader suggested.Silently the Emperor considered the possibility.
After a moment, he spoke again. "Yes...yes," he said thoughtfully. "He would be a great asset. Can it be done?"
For the first time in their meeting, Vader lifted his head to face his master directly. "He will join us," he answered firmly, "or die, my master."
With that, the encounter had come to an end. Vader kneeled before the Galactic Emperor, who passed his hand over his obedient servant. In the next moment, the holographic image had completely disappeared, leaving Darth Vader alone to formulate what would be, perhaps, his most subtle plan of attack.
--The Empire Strikes Back novelization
Strong with the dark side, Sidious felt a disturbance in the Force as Luke Skywalker’s Jedi powers developed. He knew the boy had destroyed his space station, and foresaw that Luke could destroy him.
--Databank: Emperor Palpatine/Darth Sidious
“Luke, you can destroy the Emperor. He has foreseen this. It is your destiny.”
--Darth Vader, The Empire Strikes Back
But then the Emperor sensed a new current in the ever-flowing energy of the Force. It began as a subtle, barely perceptible power surge, but in a frighteningly short time grew into the bright light that he came to know as Luke Skywalker. Lord Vader had sensed it too, but he lacked the vision that the Emperor possessed. As soon as this new power became known to him, the Emperor began plotting to corrupt it.
--Galaxy Guide 5: Return of the Jedi
The Emperor may have foreseen Obi-Wan training Luke, and Luke destroying the first Death Star.
He worked his scheme with the guile and cunning that were his trademarks. The Emperor's plans may have reached further back in time than anyone could possibly imagine, for his ability to foresee the future was astounding. Perhaps the Emperor did not destroy Obi-Wan Kenobi with the rest of the Jedi because he foresaw the old man taking young Luke under his wing some day in the distant future. Obi-Wan had failed once, and had created Vader, the Emperor's greatest servant. Perhaps the Emperor expected him to fail again, giving the Emperor an even more powerful tool.
Perhaps he also foresaw the boy's part in the destruction of the first Death Star. Perhaps he knew that if Luke succeeded, his overconfidence in his newfound powers would cause him to make a mistake, to attempt to turn his father, to dare to beard the Emperor in his own den. The Emperor was fully capable of sacrificing the Death Star if it would gain him the last Jedi.
--Galaxy Guide 5: Return of the Jedi
The Emperor foresaw Vader’s failure to turn Luke to the dark side on Bespin.
This is all merely speculation, for no one, not even Vader, ever really knew what was going on in the black recesses of the Emperor's mind. It is clear, however, that the Emperor was not surprised that Lord Vader failed to turn his son to the Dark Side—he had, in fact, counted upon it.
--Galaxy Guide 5: Return of the Jedi
The Emperor is aware of his minions’ movements and decisions before they do.
Palpatine is a master of manipulation and has no qualms about using crime lords, Grand Moffs, or other powerful figures as pawns in his game. Strangely, it always seems that he knows how all of his pieces will move several turns before they do.
--Shadows of the Empire Sourcebook
The Emperor knows of Prince Xizor’s attack.
"One wonders how that hotheaded young man managed to get into a protected corridor," the Emperor said. But there was no wonder in the Emperor's voice, none at all. Vader's face froze. He knew. It was not possible, for the guard who had admitted the would-be assassin into the corridor was no longer among the living, and none but that single man had known who ordered him to allow the young man access—but somehow, the Emperor knew. The Emperor's mastery of the dark side was great indeed.
--Shadows of the Empire
The Emperor senses Vader’s desire to continue searching for Luke.
"The Death Star will be completed on schedule, my master," Vader breathed.
"Yes, I know," replied the Emperor. "You have done well, Lord Vader... and now I sense you wish to continue your search for the young Skywalker."
Vader smiled beneath his armored mask. The Emperor always knew the sense of what was in his heart; even if he didn't know the specifics. "Yes, my master."
"Patience, my friend," the Supreme Ruler cautioned. "You always had difficulty showing patience. In time, he will seek you out.. and when he does, you must bring him before me. He has grown strong. Only together can we turn him to the dark side of the Force."
--Return of the Jedi novelization
The Emperor knows of Vader's plot to overthrow him with Luke.
Luke swallowed hard, the pounding of his own heart the only sound. He hadn't killed the Emperor - Darth Vader had done that - but Mara didn't seem inclined to worry over such subtleties. "You're wrong, though," he said. "He did try to recruit me."
"Only because I failed," she ground out, her throat muscles tight. "And only when Vader had you standing right there in front of him. What, you don't think he knew Vader had offered to help you overthrow him?"
Unconsciously, Luke flexed the fingers of his artificial hand. Yes, Vader had indeed suggested such an alliance during their Cloud City duel. "I don't think it was a serious offer," he murmured.
"The Emperor did," Mara said flatly. "He knew. And what he knew, I knew."
--Heir to the Empire
The Emperor knows a small Rebel Force has penetrated the shields and landed on Endor.
Vader rose, as the throne swiveled around, and the Emperor faced him. They made eye contact from light-years and a soul’s breath away. Across that abyss, Vader responded. “My master, a small Rebel force has penetrated the shield and landed on Endor.”
“Yes, I know.” There was no hint of surprise in his tone; rather, fulfillment.
--Return of the Jedi novelization
The Emperor foresaw that Luke would come to Vader willingly on Endor.
“Then you must go to the Sanctuary Moon and wait for him,” Emperor Palpatine said simply. As long as things were clear, things were clear.
“He will come to me?” Vader asked skeptically. This was not what he felt. He felt drawn.
“Of his own free will,” the Emperor assured him. It must be of his own free will, else all was lost. A spirit could not be coerced into corruption, it had to be seduced. It had to participate actively. It had to crave. Luke Skywalker knew these things, and still he circled the black fire, like a cat. Destinies could never be read with absolute certainty—but Skywalker would come. That much was clear. “I have foreseen it. His compassion for you will be his undoing.” Compassion had always been the weak belly of the Jedi, and forever would be. It was the ultimate vulnerability. The Emperor had none. “The boy will come to you, and you will then bring him before me.”
“Vader bowed low. “As you wish.” With casual malice, the Emperor dismissed the Dark Lord. With grim anticipation, Vader strode out of the throne room, to board the shuttle for Endor.
--Return of the Jedi novelization
The Emperor feels Luke’s anger.
“Good. I can feel your anger. I am defenseless. Take your weapon. Strike me down with all of your hatred, and your journey toward the dark side will be complete.”
--The Emperor, Return of the Jedi
The Emperor has foreseen that Luke Skywalker will be more powerful than Darth Vader.
Still, when Luke, if only momentarily, gave in to rage at the Emperor and swung his lightsaber blade down to finish the old man, he found Vader’s blade already blocking his. Luke relented and tried to avoid any further surrender to the Dark Side, but Palpatine knew the Skywalker anger too well. He had foreseen just how powerful Luke could be if he turned to the way of destruction. More powerful than Vader.
--Dark Empire Sourcebook
“Indeed you are powerful, just as the Emperor has foreseen.”
--Darth Vader, Return of the Jedi
The Emperor foresaw Luke’s attempts to redeem Vader.
Young Luke had tasted the power of the Dark Side through his anger and his fear. Doubt clouded his mind, and he was unsure he could survive another confrontation with his father. Yet he was also sure that there was still good in his father; he was willing to risk everything to attempt to bring it out. The Emperor counted upon this, as he thought, "mistaken" belief to draw the boy into his trap. Once Luke was in his power, the Emperor would destroy Luke's friends and loved ones. Then he would force him to kill his father. Luke would be his, and the last hope would fade from the galaxy.
--Galaxy Guide 5: Return of the Jedi
(★) Emperor Palpatine knows everything about his apprentice, Darth Vader, and can even sense his thoughts from across the galaxy.
Surprisingly, Palpatine has not disciplined Vader for these doubts. It seems that the Emperor already knows every thought that crosses his servant's mind, and knows how every event will unfold.
--Shadows of the Empire Sourcebook
Vader smiled beneath his armored mask. The Emperor always knew the sense of what was in his heart; even if he didn't know the specifics.
--Return of the Jedi novelization
Sometimes Vader suspected Palpatine could read more than his emotions.
--Two-Edged Sword
Boarding his shuttle, he ordered the pilot to lift off. A pity, my son, he thought. You could have joined me and together... we could have destroyed the Emperor and ruled the galaxy in his place. As he stared at the severed appendage in his hands, a sudden flash of insight struck the Dark Lord, realization dawning like the sunrise of Bespin. Perhaps, if you will not be turned, little Jedi, a suitable substitute may be arranged.
Suddenly, Vader was struck to his knees by the horribly powerful voice that rolled like fiery thunder through his brain. The pilots struggled vainly to ignore the Dark Lord's... discomfort. "Yes, my servant," the voice boomed in his mind, dripping raw evil. "Come to Mount Tantiss, immediately. I shall meet you there, and we will discuss my new trophy."
"Yes...my Master," Vader gasped, feeling an icy stab of dread in his soul, as the Emperor's mocking chuckle still echoed in his mind. His Master had detected his rebellious thoughts. This discussion would be most unpleasant. Most unpleasant indeed.
--Clone B-2332-54
The Reborn Emperor Palpatine senses Luke’s indecision.
Sensing Luke’s indecision, the Emperor presses the young Jedi… with the very temptation that ensnared his father--
--Dark Empire
The Reborn Emperor has foreseen his confrontation with Luke on Byss.
The Emperor is a master strategist… He has foreseen this moment… Now, unexpectedly, he offers Luke the only--the inevitable--solution to his dilemma.
--Dark Empire
The Reborn Emperor knows of Luke’s treachery and has foreseen it.
“Brave little warrior… I know your brother has been sabotaging my efforts… He can hide nothing from me. No matter… everything is as I foresaw it… and everything works together according to my plan.”
--Emperor Palpatine, Dark Empire
Does the Emperor know of his protégé’s lack of obedience? Of course he does.
--Dark Empire Endnotes
The Reborn Emperor knows of the child in Leia's womb.
EMPEROR: So rude. Very well, I will help myself. (lowers himself with effort into a floating bed.) There. I must lay here a while. Stay with me. Soon you will see what very few have seen. The Dark Side has given me a wonderful power--the power to enter one of my clones. Indeed, I can enter ANYONE.....I can overshadow the soul that dwells therein. I can even enter.....your CHILD.
LEIA: My children?! My children are hidden from you!
EMPEROR: Your FIRST two, yes.......but not the one now stirring in your womb.
LEIA: (shocked whisper) .....you know?
EMPEROR: Yessss, little Jedi. And this child belongs to ME.
--Dark Empire Audio Drama
The Reborn Emperor has foreseen Leia knocking him over in anger.
“I have tested her, and it is exactly as I have foreseen… she has the Skywalker anger… like her brother… like her father--”
--Emperor Palpatine, Dark Empire
The Reborn Palpatine senses Luke’s presence in his Clone Laboratory.
“Skywalker… I sense your presence… How did you get in here?
--The Reborn Emperor, Dark Empire
The Reborn Emperor has foreseen the destination of the Millennium Falcon.
"It is of no consequence. I have foreseen their destination. That is where my new body awaits me. Set your course for the planet Onderon!"
--Palpatine, Empire’s End audio drama
The Reborn Emperor sees the insides of the Millennium Falcon through the Force, even though he is in hyperspace.
“He sees us, Han… His eye is upon our child…”
--Leia Organa Solo, Empire’s End
(★) The Emperor Reborn knows everything about his apprentice, Luke Skywalker, through the Force.
“Brave little warrior… I know your brother has been sabotaging my efforts… He can hide nothing from me. No matter… everything is as I foresaw it… and everything works together according to my plan.”
--Emperor Palpatine, Dark Empire
(★) Sidious is able to detect every single vagary, ripple or disturbance in the Force, no matter how slight, and he also knows how every event will unfold.
Sidious stood motionless and silent on the transmission grid, his fingers steepled, his mind meditating on the eddies and currents of the Force. Those of lesser sensitivity were oblivious to it, but to him it was like an omnipresent mist, invisible but nonetheless tangible, that swirled and drifted constantly about him. No words, no descriptions could begin to convey what it was like; the only way to understand it was to experience it. He had learned over long years of study and meditation how to interpret each and every vagary of its restless flow, no matter how slight. Even without that ability, however, he would have known that Nute Gunray was lying about Hath Monchar's whereabouts.
--Darth Maul: Shadow Hunter
Surprisingly, Palpatine has not disciplined Vader for these doubts. It seems that the Emperor already knows every thought that crosses his servant's mind, and knows how every event will unfold.
Cosinga took a step in Palpatine's direction, only to be hurled back against the bulkhead separating the communications room from the main cabin. A female voice from behind the closed hatch asked in distress, "What was that?"
Nursing an injured shoulder, Cosinga looked suddenly like a trapped animal, his eyes wide with surprise and fear. He made a move to strike the handplate and open the hatch, but Palpatine thwarted his effort without raising a finger. Twisting violently around, Cosinga fell over one of the acceleration chairs, bloodying his face as it struck the armrest. A pounding began against the hatch.
"Guards!" Cosinga shouted, but the word had barely left his lips when the bulkhead against which he was slouched buckled inward, heaving him face-first to the floor and driving the breath from him. Palpatine stood rooted in place, his hands trembling in front of him and his face stricken. Something stirred behind his incandescent eyes. He heard the pounding on the hatch and whirled.
"Don't come in! Stay away from me!"
"What have you done?" It was his mother's voice, panicked. "What have you done?"
Cosinga pushed himself to his knees and began a terrified retreat, leaving smears of blood on the deck. But Palpatine was advancing on him now.
"If the Force birthed you, then I curse it!" Cosinga rasped. "I curse it!"
"As I do," Palpatine growled.
The hatch began to slide to, and he heard the voice of the guard who had escorted him from the Jafan III. "Stop!"
"Cosinga!" his mother screamed.
Palpatine pressed the palms of his hands to his head, then in eerie calm streaked to the hatch, pulled the surprised guard through the threshold, and tossed him clear across the cabin.
Raising his face to the ceiling, he shouted, "We're all in this now!"
--Darth Plagueis
Palpatine shifts two waiters’ aprons to reveal a concealed blasters.
At the same time, Sidious used the Force to shift the apron of one of the waiters just enough to reveal the grip of a hold-out blaster the man was wearing at his waist. Lifting his glass for another swallow, he did the same to another of the waiters, whose apron concealed an identical weapon. Both had been manufactured by BlasTech, but not for common consumption. The E-series 1-9—the aptly named Swiftkick—was available only to elite members of Santhe Security, headquartered on Lianna.
--Darth Plagueis
Palpatine muses how easy it would be to obliterate his abductors and bring an entire restaurant down on their heads.
Sidious masked his smile: the Shimmersilk had a back room.
He stood clumsily, leaning deliberately toward one of the security men, gauging his body temperature, heart rate, and respiration. “I’m slightly intoxicated. I may have to count on you for support.”
The man made a sound of exasperation but allowed Sidious to place one arm on his shoulder.
How effortless it would be, he thought, as the dark began to rise in him, searing and hungry, yearning to assume control of his body and unleash itself, to break the necks of both of them, to tear their beating hearts from their chests, to hurl and plaster them against the walls, to bring the entire sour-smelling place down on their heads...
But he didn’t. He needed to meet his abductor. He needed to learn the names of all those responsible. He needed to prove to his Master that he was adroit and capable—a true Sith Lord.
--Darth Plagueis
Sidious blows through a doorway and ragdolls two guards.
He sprinted up the stairs to the next floor, where he heard a cacophony of human voices muffled by the thick door to a nearby room. Blowing the door inward with a Force push, he took a wide stance in the shattered doorway and positioned the blade of the thrumming lightsaber vertically in front of him. Through the weapon’s glow he saw a dozen or more Santhe guards in uniform seated around a table littered with food and drink containers gape at him in disbelief before reaching for weapons fastened to their hips or scurrying for others buried beneath the rubble of their celebratory meal.
Sidious waded into the room, returning volleys of blaster bolts from those first to fire, then attacked, raising his left hand to levitate two guards into midair before running his blade through each of them.
--Darth Plagueis
Sidious brings down the ceiling of a mansion.
Now Sidious gave full vent to his ire. Crashing through the doors, he landed in the center of a table covered with plates of grains and grassy plans and surrounded by a herd of grazing Gran, whose boisterous laughs froze in their throats. From the head of the table, Pax Teem gawked at him as if he might be a creature escaped from his most horrifying nightmare. And yet he wouldn't be the first to taste Plagueis's blade but the last; once he had been forced to watch the rest of his party butchered, from hooves to eyestalks; the painted ceiling brought down by Sidious's Force pull; the flames of a gentle gas blaze in the room's fireplace incited to a blistering inferno that Sidious tugged behind him as he soared from the table to the floor and closed on his final victim.
--Darth Plagueis
Darth Sidious kills several fish.
Maul looked at the fish in the orb's upper area and saw them begin to jerk and spasm. Several fish puffed up twice their original size, shuddered violently, and suddenly deflated. Others rolled erratically through the water, their eyes bulging as their gills pumped furiously. But after a few seconds, all the fish except for the two at the bottom stopped swimming entirely and began drifting off in different directions. Some floated toward the top of the orb, but most sank down beside the two surviving fish, who continued to hover next to each other. As the fish sank, Sidious recited a strange verse:
"Far above, far above,
We don't know where we'll fall.
Far above, far above,
What once was great is rendered small."
Maul wondered what the words meant. He knew Sidious had somehow selected the two fish and maneuvered them to the bottom of the orb and caused all the others to die. He didn't know how Sidious had done this, but he suspected it was some kind of magic.
--The Wrath of Darth Maul
Sidious levitates a tapestry.
As Sidious stepped away from the floating orb, he waved his fingers at a tapestry that hung against one wall. The tapestry slid silently up toward the ceiling and revealed an open doorway built into the wall.
--The Wrath of Darth Maul
Sidious levitates rocks, blocks the ones Maul threw at him, then smashes two large ones together.
Leaving the cruiser behind, they proceeded to a nearby outcropping of bedrock, which was bordered by a broad field covered by small stones. The tops of a few large boulders loomed over the stones. Sidious and Maul stopped at the edge of the bedrock. Surveying the stones, Sidious said, "What do you see?"
"I see rocks, Master Sidious."
Sidious frowned. Then he pointed to the center of the field of stones and said, "Go stand over there."
Maul always felt especially vulnerable when he could not see his Master, but he did as he was told, stepping across the stones until he reached the designated spot. He stopped.
"Turn around."
Maul turned to face his Master. Sidious stood with his legs apart, his hands clasped behind his back. Sidious said, "I suspect that every creature that ever lived on Tosste did not think much about rocks either. I had hoped that you would be smarter. I'll ask you again. What do you see, spread out on the ground all around you?"
Maul's yellow eyes darted back and forth. He saw only rocks. Some were pebbles, others large stones, and there were the tops of a few boulders. As ever, he did not want to disappoint his Master, but he did not know any other answer than the one he had already given. Returning his gaze to his Master's face, he said hesitantly, "I see rocks, Master Sidious. Thousands of rocks."
Something hard slammed into Maul's left shoulder blade. He ducked as he spun to confront his attacker, and as he moved, he saw the object that had struck him. It was a stone, which fell on the rocks near his feet. Maul looked across the bluish-gray landscape. Not a trace of movement. No one had been standing behind him.
Another stone smashed into Maul's right bicep. He grunted as he spun again, this time to look back at his Master. Sidious had not moved. His hands remained behind his back. But from the trace of a wicked smile on the Man's face, Maul suddenly knew the stones weren't flying by themselves.
Lifting his gaze to the sky, Sidious said, "The creatures that once roamed this now dead ocean, they lacked imagination. Ultimately, that is why they all perished. They failed to see... potential.
"Potential?! Maul suddenly sensed a small stone whizzing toward his head. He raised his hand to deflect the stone as he ducked, but the stones sailed past his fingers and clipped one of his horns. "Weapons!" Maul shouted. "I see weapons!"
Sidious sighed. "The correct response is..."
"I see weapons, Master Sidious!"
"Not fast enough," Sidious said as a stone smashed into Maul's lower back.
Maul crouched and grabbed the nearest rock. He no sooner lifted it from the ground than he felt it burning into his hand. He yelped as he reflexively opened his fingers and let the rock fall. How could the rock have generated such intense heat? He suspected it was his Master's trickery.
"Oh, come now," Sidious said impatiently. "Almost any humanoid with fingers can do that."
Two stones smacked into the backs of Maul's legs, knocking him off his feet. He gasped as his small body fell on the hard rocks. Looking up, he saw two more stones rise from the ground. He twisted his body fast, trying to shield his head.
"Maybe I was wrong about you being special," Sidious said as he watched the two stones strike Maul. "Maybe you are just as useless and stupid as—"
Several stones hurtled up from the ground around Maul's body. Battered and bruised, Maul glared at Sidious. The stones sailed through the air, all heading straight for his Master.
Sidious whipped one hand out from behind his back and extended it before him. The rocks stopped in mid-flight, then fell to the ground. "Is that the best you can do?" Sidious sneered. "I should crush you now."
Maul snarled as he jumped to his feet and swiped at the air with both hands. Dozens of rocks launched up from around Maul and raced toward Sidious. Sidious moved his other hand out from behind his back and flexed his fingers. The approaching rocks rebounded as if they had struck an invisible shield. Some of the rebounding rocks fell near Maul's feet. Surprised, he stumbled back. He wasn't sure what had just happened.
"Well done, young one," Sidious said as the dust settled around him. "You passed the test." He began walking slowly toward Maul. "The droid told me that you moved a staff without touching it, but I had to see what you could do with my own eyes. Did you feel it? Did you feel the power of your anger?"
"Yes, Master Sidious," Maul responded automatically. Until that moment, he had not known that he had in fact been responsible for making the staff jump up from ring in the training room. He looked at the rocks on the ground. He hadn't given any thought to launching them through the air either. He had just... done it.
Sidious came to a stop beside Maul. Looking down at the boy, he smiled and said, "I want to show you something. Stay close to my side."
Sidious extended his arms. Maul heard a rumbling sound and then saw stones sliding and bouncing away from two of the larger boulders that were about fifteen meters away, partially embedded in the ancient seabed. He realized the two boulders were rising slowly, as if an invisible giant were pulling them up from both boulders as they tore free from the planet's surface. Maul watched with wonder as they ascended several meters into the air.
Sidious flicked his fingers. The two boulders launched even higher. He flexed his wrists, and the boulders spun around together like a pair of enormous dancers. He moved his hands apart, and the distance the spinning boulders increased. Then Sidious clapped his hands together. Still spinning, the boulders swung into each other and collided with a thunderous crash. Shattered chunks and bits of rock exploded in all directions.
Watching the rocky debris rain down from the yellow sky, Maul said, "How, Master Sidious? How?"
"With the Force," Sidious said solemnly.
--The Wrath of Darth Maul
Sidious destroys a droid by smashing it against a wall.
As Sidious and Maul drank, TD-D9 hobbled back into the chamber carrying a tray that held plates covered by domed lids. The droid set the covered plates before the seated figures, then said, "Are you finished with me, Master Sidious?"
"Most definitely," Sidious said. Keeping his eyes on Maul, Sidious waved at the droid. TD-D9 lifted off the floor, flew across the chamber, and smashed into the wall. The impact was so great that Maul noticed small shock waves ripple across the suspended orb. The droid's photoreceptors went dead as its ruined body collapsed in a loud crash.
Maul didn't flinch. He thought of all the time he'd shared with the droid, how it had reared him and punished him, and how he'd never expected his Master to destroy it. He wouldn't have the chance to say goodbye, or to destroy the droid himself. All these thoughts raced through his mind, but he didn't flinch. Smoke began rising from the droid's shattered head.
--The Wrath of Darth Maul
Sidious kills dozens of Weequay soldiers without leaving any visible wounds behind.
Moving through a maintenance level to avoid more soldiers, Maul, Talzin, and the Nightsisters finally arrived in the hangar that housed Talzin's starship. Maul had expected to find the warlord's soldiers stationed in the hangar to prevent Talzin from reaching her ship, but he had not expected to find over a dozen Weequays lying dead on the hangar's deck. Although none of the Weequay bodies bore obvious wounds, Maul knew how they had died, and also the identity of their killer. Leaving Talzin standing with her Nightsisters, he moved across the hangar to face a dark alcove. He stopped, dropped to one knee, and bowed his head.
"Master."
--The Wrath of Darth Maul
Racing into the hangar, they saw that the deck was littered with fallen Weequays. None of the discolored bodies showed evidence of obvious wounds, but to a soldier they were dead. Clearly the Vollick had deployed them to keep Talzin and the rest from reaching the starship. Could they have turned on one another? She scarcely had time to consider it when she saw Maul come to an abrupt stop and drop to one knee with his head bowed.
“Master,” Talzin heard him say.
--Restraint
Sidious disarms Maul several times.
Maul parried the blow, but then his lightsaber suddenly flew from his hand.
--The Wrath of Darth Maul
“I parry the blow, but my lightsaber suddenly flies out of my hand, torn by the power of my Master directing the dark side.”
--Episode 1 Journal: Darth Maul
“Suddenly, my lightsaber is gone. It flies from my hand across the room. It lands in the hand of my Master. I never see him enter. Not if he doesn't want me to. The smile of triumph fades from my face.”
--Episode 1 Journal: Darth Maul
Darth Sidious raised his right hand, palm outward.
Before Maul could prevent it—even if he had chosen to do so—the long cylinder that was his double-bladed lightsaber flew from its hitch on his belt and went directly to his Master. But instead of grasping it, Sidious stopped the lightsaber in midflight, centimeters from his raised hand, and directed it to spin and rotate before him, leaving Maul to gaze at him in unabashed awe. Sidious bade the lightsaber to ignite. From each end blazed a meter-long blade of rubicund fire, hypnotic in the intensity of its burning. The free-floating weapon pivoted left, then right, eliciting a thrumming sound that was as menacing as it was rousing.
"An exquisite weapon," Sidious said. "Tell me, my young apprentice, what were you thinking when you fashioned it? Why this and not a single blade, as the Jedi prefer?"
"The single blade has limitations, Master, in offense and defense. It made sense to me to be able to strike with both ends."
Sidious made a sound of approval. "You must bear that in mind when you go to Dorvalla, Darth Maul. But remember this What is done in secret has great power. A sword master knows that when he flourishes his blade, he reveals his intent. Be watchful. It is too soon to reveal ourselves."
"I understand, Master."
Sidious deactivated the lightsaber and sent it back to Maul, who received it as one might a cherished possession.
--Darth Maul: Saboteur
Sidious activates and deactivates a transmission grid several times.
Darth Sidious, Master of the Sith, finished relaying his instructions to the Neimoidians and made a slight, almost negligent gesture. Across the room a relay clicked and the holographic transmission ended. The flickering blue-white images of the Neimoidians and the section of their ship's bridge captured by the split-beam transceivers vanished.
Sidious made another slight gesture. The Force replied in response, and the transmission grid beneath his feet glowed again.
--Darth Maul: Shadow Hunter
Darth Sidious did not wait for a response; none was necessary. With a gesture he closed the relay, breaking the connection.
--Darth Maul: Shadow Hunter
(★) Darth Sidious ragdolls Darth Maul multiple times, once from across the galaxy.
He looked up at Sidious and was about to speak but his Master made a pinching gesture. Maul felt his throat constrict. Sidious walked a few steps away from Maul before he released his remote grip on Maul's throat.
--The Wrath of Darth Maul
But barely a word passed his lips when he felt his throat pinched closed by a negligent gesture of Sidious’ right hand.“Don’t interrupt,” Sidious warned. He paced away from Maul, eventually allowing him to breathe, then turned to him.
--Restraint
He did not take it well. He raised a hand, and the dark side grabbed me by the throat and lifted me high. My breath was squeezed out of me slowly. Too slowly. I had time to feel every stretched-out moment of panic as I struggled to force even the tiniest trickle of air into my lungs. When I was close to passing out, I was dropped to the floor in a heap. My Master walked away. He did not address me or call for me for some time. The removal of his favor was worse than the punishment.
--Episode 1 Journal: Darth Maul
Instead, my Master raises a hand, and suddenly the dark side picks up my small body and tosses me into the middle of the lake.
--Episode 1 Journal: Darth Maul
Snarling, he reached out with the Force and slammed Maul against the wall, leaving him lying stunned in a heap.
--Darth Maul: Shadow Conspiracy
Then Sidious seized his former apprentice with the Force, hurling him against the wall. Maul’s vision swam. He tried to get up, but realized he was already in the air, held aloft by the Force. Sidious slammed him into the floor. Then Maul was off the ground again, legs kicking for purchase in empty air. He could taste blood in his mouth. His head hit the wall with a sickening crunch.
A rhyme crept into his head, a nagging sing-song bit of poetry.
Far above, far above,
We don’t know where we’ll fall.
Far above, far above,
What once was great is rendered small.
Maul could no longer remember where he had heard it, or what it meant. He was broken, helpless, useless.
“No,” Maul heard himself gasp. “Have mercy. Please...”
--Darth Maul: Shadow Conspiracy
Now he knelt before the image on the holoprojector, lowering his head before the face of his Master.
"My Lord, I have continued to endeavor-"
"Enough." Sidious cut him off midsentence, his tone barbed with thorns of irritation. "Why do you continue to try my patience, my apprentice? Why do you persist in humiliating yourself while making me wait for answers that you should have provided days ago?"
Maul narrowed his eyes in an attempt to see more clearly. Through the makeshift holoprojector, Sidious was staring down at him from what felt like miles above, distant yet formidable, a weight that he could not lift. The question, apparently, was not rhetorical.
"I am trying, Master. The path is difficult."
"You dare to make excuses?" Sidious's voice roared in his head. "After the years I have spent training you? Honing your skills, preparing you for every eventuality, training you in the ways of survival, endurance, and attack? How long have you begged for an opportunity to play some role in the Grand Plan?"
"And I am grateful," Maul told him. "My loyalty to you is beyond question, pledged with my very life's blood-"
"Declarations of loyalty are worthless without victory." Cruelty dripped from Sidious's words. "Abstractions do not interest me at this point. Time is short. Do you understand?"
"Yes, my Master."
"I wonder if you do. Or if the time has come for me to find another apprentice more deserving of the honor."
Maul stiffened and rose. "No!"
"Then prove that you are worthy. Stop wasting my time with empty pledges of fidelity and complete the mission that you have been charged with."
"Master, if I were only allowed to call upon the power of the dark side-"
The thought snapped off, unfinished. Maul felt an invisible hand clamp down over his throat, gripping the cartilage and cutting off the airway. Stumbling, he dropped back to his knees, to the coldness of the morgue floor.
"You have been given everything you need and more. You enjoy untold physical advantages that these inferior combatants could only dream of. And you know very well the consequences of revealing your true abilities in the dark side, especially at this late stage. Many are watching. You are not the only one inside Cog Hive Seven searching for Radique."
"Yes, my Master."
"Do not make me wait any longer. Find him now and make the appropriate arrangements.
"Maul managed a single, strangled nod of compliance, and at once the pressure disappeared. As suddenly as it had materialized, the holoprojector image flickered out, and the incorporeal vision of Sidious was gone, devoured by the void from which it had sprung.
Maul fell to the floor and dropped his head, pressing his brow down against cold steel. Never had he experienced such urgency from the Dark Lord, such profound and overwhelming sense of purpose, driven by... by what? Was there something else worrying his Master, some danger to Lord Sidious himself that he had not shared with Maul? The idea made him uneasy, as it always did.
--Maul: Lockdown
Gallery
Sidious chokes Plagueis to death.
Sidious peered at Plagueis through the Force. "Oh, yes, by all means gather your midi-chlorians, Plagueis." He held his thumb and forefinger close together. "Try to keep yourself alive while I choke the life out of you."
Plagueis gulped for air and lifted an arm toward him.
“There’s the rub, you see,” Sidious said in a philosophical tone. “All the ones you experimented on, killed, and brought back to life... They were little more than toys. Now, though, you get to experience it from their side, and look what you discover: in a body that is being denied air, in which even the Force is failing, your own midi-chlorians can’t accomplish what you’re asking of them.”
[…]T
he Muun’s eyes had begun to bulge; his pale flesh, to turn cyanotic.
[...]
Plagueis slid to the floor and rolled facedown. Death rattled his lungs and he died.
--Darth Plagueis
Sidious rolls Plagueis’ corpse over to inspect his condition.
If he hadn’t been concerned for his own safety, Sidious might have pitied him. Wary of approaching the corpse of his former Master, he called on the Force to roll the aged Muun over onto his back.
--Darth Plagueis
Sidious chokes out and ragdolls four Mandalorians while opening a door
Gallery
The unmarked shuttle landed on the royal palace’s platform, reserved for Mandalore’s rulers and their most important advisers. The ramp lowered and a hooded figure in dark robes descended. The commandos rushing to intercept him reached for their throats, gagging, and the cloaked figure swept past them without a sideways glance, gaze fixed straight ahead.
--Darth Maul: Shadow Conspiracy
The commandos guarding the royal chamber reached for their throats. As Maul watched, an unseen forced lifted them high in the air, then slammed them to the floor, where they lay motionless in their red-and-black armor.
--Darth Maul: Shadow Conspiracy
Sidious hurls Savage.
Sidious yanked his weapon back and Savage seemed to hang suspended for a moment, as if he were being levitated by with the Force. Then he crashed to the ground.
--Darth Maul: Shadow Conspiracy
(★) Darth Sidious ragdolls Darth Maul and Savage Opress simultaneously several times.
Gallery
He raised his arms and both Maul and Savage flew through the air, smashing into the elegantly patterned walls of the royal chamber and crashing to the floor.
--Darth Maul: Shadow Conspiracy
(★) Darth Sidious ragdolls and chokes Darth Tyranus from across the galaxy.
Chancellor Palpatine activates his lightsaber inside a neuranium sculpture, levitates it into his sleeve and then deactivates it.
As a Jedi shuttle settled to the landing deck outside, the shadow sent its mind into the far deeper night within one of the several pieces of sculpture that graced the office: an abstract twist of solid neuranium, so heavy that the office floor had been specially reinforced to bear its weight, so dense that more sensitive species might, from very close range, actually perceive the tiny warping of the fabric of space-time that was its gravitation.
Neuranium of more than roughly a millimeter thick is impervious to sensors; the standard security scans undergone by all equipment and furniture to enter the Senate Office Building had shown nothing at all. If anyone had thought to use an advanced gravimetric detector, however, they might have discovered that one smallish section of the sculpture massed slightly less than it should have, given that the manifest that had accompanied it, when it was brought from Naboo among the then-ambassador's personal effects, clearly stated that it was a single piece of solid-forged neuranium.
The manifest was a lie. The sculpture was not entirely solid, and not all of it was neuranium. Within a long, slim, rod-shaped cavity around which the sculpture had been forged rested a device that had lain, waiting, in absolute darkness—darkness beyond darkness—for decades. Waiting for night to fall on the Republic.
The shadow felt Jedi Masters stride the vast echoic emptiness of the vaulted halls outside. It could practically hear the cadence of their boot heels on the Alderaanian marble. The darkness within the sculpture whispered of the shape and the feel and every intimate resonance of the device it cradled. With a twist of its will, the shadow triggered the device. The neuranium got warm. A small round spot, smaller than the circle a human child might make of thumb and forefinger, turned the color of old blood.
Then fresh blood.
Then open flame.
Finally a spear of scarlet energy lanced free, painting the office with the color of stars seen through the smoke of burning planets. The spear of energy lengthened, drawing with it out from the darkness the device, then the scarlet blade shrank away and the device slid itself within the softer darkness of a sleeve.
--Revenge of the Sith novelization
Chancellor Palpatine opens a hidden compartment and levitates a robe.
He gestured, and a hidden compartment opened in the office's ceiling above his desk. A voluminous robe of heavy black-on-black brocade floated downward from it; Anakin felt the current in the Force that carried the robe to Palpatine's hand.
--Revenge of the Sith novelization
The Emperor throws Yoda around.
“Your arrogance blinds you, Master Yoda,” Darth Sidious hissed. “Now you will experience the full power of the dark side.” He raised his arms, and the Force pulsed as blue lightning blasted Yoda across the room.
Mas Amedda looked from the Chancellor to Yoda, his eyes narrowed maliciously. He turned and left the room. Another wave of dark power lifted Yoda and flung him hard against the wall. Yoda used the Force to cushion the impact, but he pretended to be knocked unconscious. A surprise, I will give him.
--Revenge of the Sith novelization
The Emperor tosses around senate pods.
Gallery
It came as the battle shifted from the holding office to the great Chancellor's Podium; it came as the hydraulic lift beneath the Podium raised it on its tower of durasteel a hundred meters and more, so that it became a laserpoint of battle flaring at the focus of the vast emptiness of the Senate Arena; it came as the Force and the podium's controls ripped delegation pods free of the curving walls and made of them hammers, battering rams, catapult stones crashing and crushing against each other in a rolling thunder-roar that echoed the Senate's cheers for the galaxy's new Emperor.
--Revenge of the Sith novelization
He landed much sooner than he had expected, in an empty Senate pod floating below the Chancellor’s. As he climbed to his feet, the pod jerked, throwing him sideways and knocking him down once more. Palpatine was using the dark side to rip more pods free, crashing them into Yoda’s pod to keep him off-balance.
--Revenge of the Sith junior novelization
Emperor Palpatine turns on a siren and levitates his pod.
He flicked a finger, and in the Chancellor's Podium a dozen meters away, a switch tripped and sirens sounded throughout the enormous building; another surge of the Force sent his pod streaking in a downward spiral to the holding office at the base of the Podium tower.
--Revenge of the Sith novelization
The Emperor opens doors.
Before long the two members of the Royal Guard, no doubt alerted to the senator’s imminent arrival via their helmet comlinks, moved to open the double doors. But before they could, the Emperor gestured with his finger and pulled the doors open with the Force. The light from the chamber beyond backlit the wide silhouette of the corpulent Twi’lek senator. His stood there a moment as if pinioned by the Emperor’s eyes, or perhaps he merely needed to work up the nerve to enter.
--Lords of the Sith
The Emperor manipulates a ship.
Engines exploded into flame and spit smoke. His Master raised his hands, forming one into a claw emitting jagged bolts of Force lightning that connected him for a moment to the ship. Vader imagined the interior of the craft lit up with the bolts of his Master’s power, the pilots screaming and writhing in pain as the dark side seared their flesh. The Emperor clenched his other hand, taking a mental hold on the ship with the Force. Vader, too, lifted a hand and reached out with the Force toward the other ship.
--Lords of the Sith
The Emperor topples some trees on top of a bunch of lyleks, killing them.
The Emperor gestured with a free hand, using the Force to topple trees. They fell into the horde, crushing lyleks, knocking down other trees that crushed still more. The survivors clambered over the dead without pausing, continuing their frenetic pursuit.
--Lords of the Sith
The Emperor collapses a tunnel’s ceiling.
The Emperor gestured casually, and the tunnel’s ceiling came down in a shower of rock and dirt. The sound of frustrated hisses and roars carried through the rubble. The four men stood in the light of Vader’s lightsaber. He deactivated it, casting them in darkness. The captain turned on his helmet lights.
--Lords of the Sith
The Emperor pulverizes several lyleks.
At the same time, his Master unleashed a destructive wave of power that cast three of the huge creatures backward and into the wall, cracking exoskeletons and leaving them broken, twitching, dying.
--Lords of the Sith
A blast of power from somewhere under the throng of creatures drove four lyleks ten meters into the air, their bodies shattered by the force of the impact, limbs and tentacles showering down in a macabre rain. His Master stood in the center of the circle of surviving lyleks, his hair mussed, his robe torn, his lightsaber in hand, but otherwise seemingly unharmed.
--Lords of the Sith
As if on command, the lyleks surged toward them from all sides. As one, Vader and his Master channeled the Force and unleashed blasts of power that slammed into the advancing creatures, shattering several and casting six or seven hard against the walls. Still the lyleks came on, chittering and grasping and slashing.
--Lords of the Sith
Note: The Emperor was holding back vastly when he performed these feats.
Vader looked from his Master to the dark mouth of the mine inside of which Drua and the rest of the villagers had fled. He felt the Emperor's eyes on him, the intensity of the gaze, the weight of his expectations, and Vader knew that the day's events had been only half about depleting a rebel movement before it could grow. They had also, as Vader had suspected, been about testing him, forcing him to face the ghosts of his past and exorcise them forever and fully. He saw that more clearly now; saw, too, that his Master was right to administer the test. It also explained why his Master had shown so little of his true power throughout the day. Perhaps he'd wanted Vader to rely on himself to overcome the challenges they'd faced. Or perhaps he'd wanted to seem weaker than he was, to draw out any treacherous ambitions Vader may have held.
--Lords of the Sith
The Emperor ragdolls two lyleks.
To his right his Master gestured and, with the Force, lifted two of the lyleks from the floor. Vader and his Master exchanged no words, but each knew precisely what the other intended. With a casual throwing motion, the Emperor flung the two lyleks in Vader's direction, their legs and tentacles squirming, bellies exposed. Slashing and turning a rapid spin, Vader bisected both of them; the four gory pieces that remained fell to the floor in a heap.
--Lords of the Sith
The Emperor hurls Vader.
Master, he said, and nothing more.
Go, the Emperor said.Vader sprinted forward and leapt high. The moment he reached the apex of his jump, his Master seized him with the Force and flung him the rest of the way so that he landed atop the queen's back.
--Lords of the Sith
The Emperor and Vader unleash a Force blast with more power than a grenade.
Vader and the Emperor stepped around Deez, faced the tons of rock and dirt, and both felt deeply into the Force. As one, they raised their hands, summoned their collective power, and loosed a sudden blast that was more powerful than a grenade. Rock and dirt exploded outward, no doubt traveling high into the night sky.
--Lords of the Sith
The Emperor is able to easily crush buildings.
You'll use the dark side of the Force to trick the Rebels into fighting by your side as you wipe out entire battalions with lightning and crush their puny buildings.
--Insider #88: Virtual Sith
(★) The Emperor levitates himself.
The Emperor ragdolls the Rogue Shadow.
(★) The Emperor ragdolls Galen Marek.
Gallery
(★) The Emperor dominates and crushes Sedriss.
The Emperor looked inside Sedriss's heart and in his own way cut to the core of Sedriss's problem. Sedriss could not respect anyone whom he knew he could easily kill—which included most of his superiors in the military. The Emperor made a bargain with Sedriss: They would duel, and if Sedriss won, he could take the Emperor's life. But if Sedriss lost, he would serve the Emperor with unquestioning loyalty, or suffer the most terrible, lingering, ignominious death he could imagine. Confident of his chances against the frail old man, Sedriss agreed—and was promptly crushed to the ground by the Emperor's power. Sedriss admitted that the Emperor had defeated him and promised to honor their agreement. The Emperor didn't desist. Sedriss felt his ribs collapsing, and swore that he would serve the Emperor. Still the Emperor did not stop, until Sedriss felt his heartbeat slowly coming to a stop and begged to serve the Emperor. When he was finally able to stand, he instead knelt—convinced that this was a superior who was truly superior to him.
--The Dark Side Sourcebook
Emperor Palpatine calls a cage around Bevel Lemelisk.
Lemelisk glanced up at a clattering sound and saw a flexible wire cage released from the vaulted ceiling above. He ducked, but the cage fell squarely down over him, seating itself to the floor as if Palpatine were directing it with invisible powers. The cage was made of fine mesh, the grid barely large enough to stick his smallest finger through.
--Darksaber
(★) The Emperor muses that with a thought he could destroy his office and crack the foundations of the Imperial Palace.
Fury boiled his blood at the thought of waiting any longer. The rage called for release, and the Emperor knew that with a thought he could destroy his opulent office. He could crack the building's foundation, rain rubble on the heads of those unlucky beings trapped within. He could, with the full power of his anger, unleash a fireball of death.
--Rebel Force: Target
Note: The Imperial Palace is the largest structure on Coruscant, 20 km wide and 3 km tall, large enough to house multiple Star Destroyers.
At Palpatine's instruction, portions of the Presidential Palace on Coruscant are torn down. The new Imperial Palace has open areas large enough to house a Victory-class Star Destroyer, and it is higher than any other structure on Coruscant.
--The Ultimate Visual Guide
(★) The Emperor telekinetically buries the Lusankya, a 19000 meter-long Super Star Destroyer.
Years before, one of a number of Super Star Destroyers commissioned by the Emperor had disappeared. In fact, as a demonstration of Palpatine's dark side powers, he had buried the Lusankya at the edge of Imperial City.
--The Official Star Wars Fact File #9
Once completed, the Emperor himself used the dark side of the Force to hide the Lusankya beneath the surface of Coruscant's cityscape.
--An Expanded Universe Starship from Enemy Lines II: Rebel Stand (Book 12 of Star Wars: The New Jedi Order)
Q: In the Knights of the Old Republic Campaign Guide, under the Sith Battleship description it states that Exar Kun recovered his ship the ‘Corsair’ in the same way Darth Nihilus recovered the ‘Ravager’ on Malachor V. Does this mean that Exar Kun summoned the ship via the Force from the depths of the Massassi Temple of Sacrifice?
Peña: That said, looking over the text, it appears to me that a direct analogy with the Ravager and that your interpretation is essentially correct. (Another example, though in reverse, is Emperor Palpatine using the Force to bury the Lusankya, in plain sight, beneath the surface of the planet Coruscant.)
--Abel G. Peña Messenger Question
Note: The vessel Darth Nihilus manipulated was only 1200 meters long, meaning that Palpatine can manipulate ships over fifteen times longer than that. As a reminder, Darth Nihilus is a being with planet-level power and feats.
The Emperor removes Luke’s restraints.
“You no longer need those,” he added with no-bless oblige—and made the slightest motion with his finger in the direction of Luke’s wrists. At that, Luke’s binders simply fell away, clattering noisily to the floor.
--Return of the Jedi novelization
The Emperor Reborn chokes an officer while simultaneously blasts him with Force Lightning.
(★) Sheev shields himself from Hego Damask’s mental probing.
They got up from the bench and began to amble back toward the university complex. Plagueis submerged himself deeply in the Force to study Palpatine, but he was unable to glean very much. Humans were difficult to read in the easiest of cases, and Palpatine’s mind was awash in conflict. So much going on in that small brain, Plagueis told himself. So much emotional current and self-interest. So unlike the predictable, focused intellects of the Outer Rim sentients, especially the hive-minded among them.
[...]
Again he tried to see deeper into Palpatine, but without success. The psychic walls the youth had raised were impenetrable, which made the young human something rare indeed.
[...]
He could see Palpatine now in all his dark glory. Anger and murder had pulled down the walls he had raised perhaps since infancy to safeguard his secret.
--Darth Plagueis
Note: Hego Damask, alias Darth Plagueis, would go on to contend with the Force itself in a battle of wills decades later, and even at this stage in his life, has demonstrated multi-continental level Force powers, when his presence on Naboo caused a miniature ice age and plasmic quakes.
Later it would be said by Naboo and Gungan alike that they couldn’t recall a colder winter than the one that followed Hego Damask’s autumnal visit to their world. The rivers and even the falls below Theed froze; the rolling plains and tall forests were blanketed three meters deep with snow; plasmic quakes rocked the Gallo Mountains and the Lake Country, the Holy Places and the undersea city of Otoh Gunga; and many of the egresses of the underwaterways that hollowed the planet were blocked by ice floes.
--Darth Plagueis
Sidious forces a Sullustan to reveal information to him and then erases his memory. This is an application of Mind Trick and Memory Rub.
Sidious adopted a look of wide-eyed innocence as he sat down opposite the Sullustan. They began to talk in a general way about current events and Senate business, before the lobbyist steered the conversation toward STP’s need for Senate approval to expand its operations along the Rimma Trade Route. Drinks and appetizers were ordered and reordered, and before too long Palpatine’s interest began to wane.
“I think you may have overvalued my worth to STP,” he said at last. “I’m nothing more than the voice of Naboo’s regent.”
The Sullustan waved his small hand in a gesture of dismissal. “And I think you undervalue yourself. Your short speech to the Senate put you on the map, Senator. Beings are talking about you. STP believes that you can be of great service.”
“And to myself, you said.”
“Naturally—” the Sullustan started, but Sidious interrupted him.
“In fact, you’re not here to recruit me.” Motioning negligently, he repeated: “You’re not here to recruit me.”
The Sullustan blinked in confusion. “In fact, I’m not really here to recruit you.”
“Then why are we here?”
“I don’t know why we’re here. I was instructed to meet with you.”
“Instructed by whom?”
“I, I—”
Sidious decided not to press him too hard. “You were saying?”
Again the Sullustan blinked. “I was saying... Just what was I saying?”
They both laughed and sipped at their drinks.
--Darth Plagueis
Darth Maul concedes he cannot hide his thoughts from Darth Sidious.
Sidious cast his hooded gaze across the room to a deeply shadowed area in which Darth Maul sat silent as a statue, his tattooed face lowered, so that all Sidious could see was the crown of vestigial horns that sprouted from his hairless skull.
"Your thoughts betray you, my young apprentice," he remarked. "You are puzzled by my steadfast interest in the Neimoidians."
Darth Maul lifted his face, and what scant light there was seemed to recoil. Where his Master represented all that was concealed and mysterious in the Sith, Maul was the personification of all that was to be feared.
"From you, Master, I cannot hide what I feel. The Neimoidians are greedy and weak-willed. I find them unworthy."
--Darth Maul: Saboteur
Sidious can read Nute Gunray’s mind from across the galaxy.
“I will inform you in due time.” When Gunray didn’t respond, Sidious said, “What is it, Viceroy? Across the vastness of space, I can perceive the reeling of your feeble brain.”
--Darth Plagueis
(★) Darth Sidious reveals he has been manipulating Darth Plagueis’ mind for years.
"You may be wondering: when did he begin to change? The truth is that I haven’t changed. As we have clouded the minds of the Jedi, I clouded yours. Never once did I have any intention of sharing power with you. I needed to learn from you; no more, no less. To learn all of your secrets, which I trusted you would eventually reveal. But what made you think that I would need you after that? Vanity, perhaps; your sense of self-importance. You’ve been nothing more than a pawn in a game played by a genuine Master.
“The Sith’ari.”
A cruel laugh escaped him.
“Reflect back on even the past few years—assuming you have the capacity. Yinchorr, Dorvalla, Eriadu, Maul, the Neimoidians, Naboo, an army of clones, the fallen Jedi Dooku... You think these were your ideas, when in fact they were mine, cleverly suggested to you so that you could feed them back to me. You were far too trusting, Plagueis. No true Sith can ever really care about another. This has always been known. There is no way but my way.”
--Darth Plagueis
Sidious is capable of fabricating dreams, as he did to Maul, Anakin, and Luke Skywalker. This is an esoteric application of Force Illusion.
"Maul had but one reason for being: to exact vengeance against the Jedi Order for the decimation of the Sith ranks. Oh, how he dreamed of burning the Jedi Temple to the ground. I know, for I gave him that dream repeatedly."
--Darth Sidious, Jedi vs Sith: The Essential Guide to the Force
He had dreamed of capturing Grievous ever since Muunilinst - and now the general was so close. So close Anakin could practically smell him… And Anakin had never felt so powerful. The Force was with him today in ways more potent than he had ever experienced.
“Think of it, Anakin.” Palpatine stood close by his shoulder, opposite to Obi-Wan, so close he needed only to whisper. “You have destroyed their political head. Take the military commander, and you will have practically won the war. Single-handed. Who else could do that, Anakin? Yoda? Mace Windu? They couldn’t even capture Dooku. Who would have a chance against Grievous if not Anakin Skywalker? The Jedi have never faced a crisis like the Clone Wars - but also have never had a hero like you. You can save them. You can save everyone.”
Anakin jerked, startled. He turned a sharp glance toward Palpatine. The way he had said that... Like a voice out of his dreams.
--Revenge of the Sith novelization
Sidious is influencing the minds of hundreds of senators.
"The truth," said a confident Dooku. "What if I told you that the Republic was now under the control of the Dark Lords of the Sith?"
That hit Obi-Wan as profoundly as any of the electric bolts holding him ever could. "No! That's not possible." His mind whirled, needing a denial. He alone among the living Jedi had battled a Sith Lord, and that contest had cost his beloved Master Qui-Gon his life. "The Jedi would be aware of it."
"The dark side of the Force has clouded their vision, my friend," Dooku calmly explained. "Hundreds of Senators are now under the influence of a Sith Lord called Darth Sidious."
--Attack of the Clones novelization
Mon Mothma hasn’t much combat experience, but she is as much a fighter as any commodore or commando. The only difference is the battlefield she commands is one of diplomacy and etiquette. As a leading Senator, she fought the rise of Palpatine with every tool at her command. At the time, she was unaware that Palpatine used the Dark Side of the Force to sway the less conscientious Senators.
--Dark Empire Sourcebook
In the beginning, as he machinated his way from Senator to President of the Old Republic, the Dark Side of the Force had been a key to political ascendancy.
--Dark Empire endnotes
(★) Chancellor Palpatine is able to tear through Yoda’s mental shielding.
"Master Yoda..." He steepled his fingers. "Are you quite certain young Anakin is ready for such a task?"
"Yes," said Yoda flatly.
And that was a lie. Yoda was a master at masking his emotions, but not even he could hide them from the greatest Sith Lord ever known. He was worried... and backed into a corner.
--Clone Wars: Wild Space
Chancellor Palpatine resists Shaak Ti’s attempts to probe his mind.
The fact that Palpatine was flustered, confused, possibly frightened was obvious. But when Shaak Ti attempted to read him through the Force, she found it difficult to get a sense of what he was truly feeling.
--Labyrinth of Evil
Chancellor Palpatine influences Grievous’ thoughts. This is an application of Mind Trick.
"Welcome to the general's quarters," he said while he did input at a console built into the table. Shortly the bulkhead behind the swivel chair became a hologrammic display, showing the battle of Coruscant. The flick of a final switch summoned a stalked, eyeball-shaped holocam from the tabletop. "You're about to make an unscheduled appearance on the HoloNet, Chancellor," Grievous said. "I apologize for not providing a mirror, hairbrush, and cosmetics, so that you might at least camouflage some of your fear."
Palpatine's voice was sinister when he spoke. "You can display me, but I won't speak."
Grievous nodded at what seemed an obvious statement. "I'll display you, but you won't speak. Is that understood?"
"You will do all the talking."
"That's correct. I will do all the talking."
"Very good."
For no apparent reason, Grievous felt uncertain. "Lord Tyranus will soon be here to take charge of you."
Palpatine smiled without showing his teeth. "Then I am assured of being greatly entertained."
--Labyrinth of Evil
Chancellor Palpatine uses a dark side confusion haze to confuse Kit Fisto, Agen Kolar, and Saesee Tiin. This is an application of Force Confusion.
When Mace Windu led a team of Jedi Masters to apprehend Darth Sidious, none of them expected to face the power of the Sith Lord. His innocent appearance as Chancellor Palpatine, along with an application of a concentrated dark side confusion haze, enabled Darth Sidious to take down Agen Kolar, Kit Fisto, and Saesee Tiin.
--Lightsabers: A Guide to the Weapons of the Force
Palpatine reads Anakin’s mind.
He remembered playing a Force game with a shuura fruit, sitting across a long table from Padme in the retreat by the lake on Naboo. He remembered telling her how grumpy Obi-Wan would be to see him use the Force so casually.
Palpatine seemed to catch his thought; he gave a yellow sidelong glance as the robe settled onto his shoulders.
"You must learn to cast off the petty restraints that the Jedi have tried to place upon your power," he said. "Anakin, it's time. I need you to help me restore order to the galaxy."
--Revenge of the Sith novelization
The Emperor rips knowledge from the minds of Jedi. This is an application of Drain Knowledge.
Coupled with perversions of the secrets he ripped from the living minds of Jedi he captured during the Purge, he learned more than he ever expected.
--Dark Empire Sourcebook
(★) Emperor Palpatine holds together the entire Imperial Military through the dark side, to the point where it cannot function without him. This is an application of Dominate Mind.
For the first time, the Death Star rocked. The collision with the exploding destroyer was only the beginning, leading to various systems breakdowns, which led to reactor meltdowns, which led to personnel panic, abandonment of posts, further malfunctions, and general chaos. Smoke was everywhere, substantial rumblings came from all directions at once, people were running and shouting. Electrical fires, steam explosions, cabin depressurizations, disruption of chain-of-command. Added to this, the continued bombardments by Rebel Cruisers—smelling fear in the enemy—merely heightened the sense of hysteria that was already pervasive. For the Emperor was dead. The central, powerful evil that had been the cohesive force to the Empire was gone; and when the dark side was this diffused, this nondirected—this was simply where it led.
Confusion.
Desperation.
Damp fear.
--Return of the Jedi novelization
C'baoth snorted. "So is this what you want me for, Grand Admiral Thrawn?" he asked scornfully. "To turn your ships into puppets for you?"
"Not at all, Master C'baoth," Thrawn told him, his voice perfectly calm again. "My analogy with combat borg implants was a carefully considered one. The Emperor's fatal error was in seeking to control the entire Imperial Fleet personally, as completely and constantly as possible. That, over the long run, is what did the damage. My wish is merely to have you enhance the coordination between ships and task forces - and then only at critical times and in carefully selected combat situations."
--Heir to the Empire
The Emperor, it had long been rumored, had had the ability to use the Force to exercise direct control over his military forces.
--The Last Command
With the Emperor dead, the central, powerful evil that had been the cohesive force of the Empire was gone. With the Dark Side diffused and undirected, the Imperials were left with nothing but confusion, desperation, and damp fear. The sudden loss of coordination and fighting spirit allowed Han Solo, Princess Leia and the Rebel Commandos to disable the shield generator.
--Heir to the Empire sourcebook
At the decisive Battle of Endor, the Jedi returned to aid the Alliance in the form of Luke Skywalker and his father Anakin. The Emperor was killed, his fleet scattered, and his dark will which held the Empire together destroyed. Without its binding, the Empire began to unravel.
--Heir to the Empire sourcebook
Palpatine knew precisely why the Empire couldn’t last without his dread power: he had designed it that way. No one ever suspected how much he relied on the Dark Side of the Force. He shaped those of his government by using the Force against them. He used it to control his fleets and to drive his soldiers on to victory. He used it to destroy his enemies from a distance and learn of conspiracies against him. Without it, there was no way the Empire could endure, as he had designed it. The Dark Side flowed through him like some primordial ichor and was the key to all his power.
--Dark Empire Sourcebook
“Perhaps a few months ago, I would have scoffed at the idea of one man controlling or shaping the events of the galaxy through sheer force of will. I certainly did not agree with the Grand Admiral’s contention that the Imperial Navy’s loss at Endor was because were, in effect, enslaved to the Emperor, as if we were, in Thrawn’s words, ‘borg-implanted into a combat computer.’
“That was then. Now I see that the Grand Admiral, the worthiest successor to the Emperor’s throne to have yet appeared, was quite accurate in his assessment.”
--Gilad Pellaeon, The Last Command Sourcebook
Note: The Imperial Military consists of tens of trillions of individuals, meaning all of them were under Palpatine’s influence.
The Imperial military is a massive organization, with tens of trillions of regular Army soldiers, trillions of fleet crew and a vast force of Stormtroopers both cloned and conditioned.
--Rebellion Era Campaign Guide
It should also be noted that since Return of the Jedi was the first time that anyone had been removed from Palpatine’s influence given the amount of panic it incited, and that the quote which mentions Palpatine had designed the Empire to be reliant on his power, it can be inferred that Palpatine was maintaining his Mind Domination casually and passively ever since Revenge of the Sith.
(★) Emperor Palpatine easily fogs the senses of Darth Vader from across the galaxy. This is an application of Force Confusion.
Gallery
Emperor Palpatine summons Vader to him.
Gallery
(★) The Emperor dominates the minds of everyone on Byss, a planet with 20 billion residents and places an illusion of tranquility into their heads. This is simultaneously an application of Dominate Mind and Force Illusion.
Almost mindless under the oppression of the Emperor's dark side influence, the people of Byss find their life energies constantly leeched off during the Emperor's vile machinations.
--Byss and the Deep Core
Slowly but steadily, he used his dark Force powers to enslave the people on the world and drain their life energies to fuel his own vile experiments.
--Byss and the Deep Core
Throughout the worlds submissive to the Empire, Byss is renowned as a paradise, whose siren call multitudes to willingly apply for emigration to its shores. Once there, wrapped in the power of the dark side, the immigrants become completely submissive, their life energy forever enslaved to the mind that would devour a galaxy.
--Dark Empire endnotes
Years ago, Emperor Palpatine chose Byss as his private retreat, and Imperial architects and engineers were commissioned to build him an opulent palace. Several million humans were allowed to emigrate to the world, where the Emperor and his adepts used the dark side to feed off their life energies. The planet's population eventually reached almost 20 billion, and all outgoing communications were censored by security agents.
--The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia
They rediscovered forgotten and long taboo applications of the Force, chief among them the draining of life itself from the populace. What better lure for multitudes than Byss’s siren call of beauty and peace? Once there, their wills are destroyed by the Emperor and his Adepts, and replaced with an illusion of tranquility as they blissfully surrender their life energy to sustain the Emperor.
--Dark Empire Sourcebook
Note: Given the words “constantly” and “forever” in the first quote, it can be inferred that Palpatine was maintain the domination passively 24/7 from across the galaxy for decades non-stop, casually.
The Emperor gives his voice a hypnotic quality to Vader.
"You have forgotten your place, Lord Vader. By taking this boy as your apprentice, you have betrayed me." The Emperor's tone was at the same time harsh and hypnotic.
--The Force Unleashed
(★) The Emperor almost dominates Galen Marek, only failing due to the intervention of Rahm Kota and Bail Organa. This is an application of Dominate Mind.
The Emperor appeared out of the settling smoke, glee on his face. He raised one hand as though to touch the apprentice. The apprentice felt a wave of hypnotic suggestion flow through him.
Yes! Kill him! He is weak, broken! Kill him and you can take your rightful place at my side!T
he apprentice remained frozen, mesmerized by the Emperor's ghastly charisma. Why not? Wasn't this what he had considered on Raxus Prime? If he agreed to that plan, he would be free of one Master and slave to another - but what was to stop him from attacking that Master in turn, one day? He would not make the same mistake Darth Vader had.
Darth Vader - who had murdered his father, lied to and betrayed him, killed PROXY, branded Juno a traitor, and kidnapped Kota and the others. Didn't he deserve to die a thousand times over?
And power - he had become used to it in the service of his Master. When the dark side sang through him, others danced to his will. That would be hard to give up.
"No!" Kota's voice came through as though from a great distance. The apprentice noted, as though viewing the world in slow motion, the Jedi Master telekinetically snatching the Emperor's lightsaber from his waist and, with surely belying his physical blindness, using it to cut down the Imperial Guards watching the prisoners. Lunging forward, he struck next at the Emperor, who stood, apparently unarmed, with one hand still reaching out for the apprentice.
But the Emperor was never unarmed. Raising his other hand, he blasted Kota with lightning before the blow came close to falling. Sith energy crackled between them and the Jedi Master fell back, caught in the Emperor's deadly grip.
"Help him!"
Bail Organa's voice snapped the apprentice out of his trance. He shook his head, feeling the Emperor's influence sliding off him like oil. What had he been thinking? He didn't want to return to the dark side after everything he had been through. he had seen what it did, in Maris Brood, on Felucia, and in the eyes of Darth Vader.
--The Force Unleashed
The Emperor may have erased Mara Jade's early memories. This is an application of Memory Rub,
Apparently, Mara was removed from her family when she was very young, and it is possible that the Emperor had her family killed. Her memories of the subject are cloudy, though whether this is due to the passage of time or her prolonged exposure to the insidious influence of the Emperor is uncertain.
--The Last Command Sourcebook
The Emperor can communicate with Mara Jade from anywhere in the galaxy.
“That was my one great talent, you see - I could hear his call from anywhere in the Empire, and report back to him the same way.”
--Mara Jade, Heir to the Empire
Her one great talent was that she could hear the Emperor’s call no matter where she was, and she could report back to him the same way.
--Heir to the Empire sourcebook
But the Emperor's intensive training had included direct manipulation of the Force as well as the long-range communication abilities that had been her primary value to his regime.
--Dark Force Rising
“I was a personal agent of the Emperor himself. He brought me here to Coruscant and the Imperial Palace and trained me to be an extension of his will across the galaxy. I could hear his voice from anywhere in the Empire, and knew how to give his orders to anyone from a stormtrooper brigade all the way up to a Grand Moff. I had authority and power and a purpose in life. They knew me as the Emperor's Hand, and they respected me the same way they did him."
--Mara Jade, The Last Command
"Am I?" Organa Solo asked softly. "You said you could hear the Emperor's voice from anywhere in the galaxy."
"I could hear his voice," Mara snapped. "Nothing more."
--The Last Command
Examples of telepathic conversations below, during which Palpatine displays Force Illusion and Astral Projection.
She was sitting at the computer desk in her quarters, filling out her report, when she heard the familiar voice in her head. My child?
She smiled. My lord, she responded to the Emperor's silent call.
Your mission?
Complete, Mara said. Justice has been done.
Excellent, the Emperor said, and Mara could visualize his thin, satisfied smile.
She could also sense that he had a new assignment for her. And now? she asked.
Treason, the thought came, and she could feel his dark, brooding scowl. An image flashed into her mind, the picture of a surprisingly young Imperial governor. One allied with Rebels?
Mara felt her lips twist. Like that ugly little affair with Governor Choard on Shelkonwa three standard months ago. Didn't these high-ranking politicians ever learn? His name?
Ferrouz of Candoras sector, the Emperor told her. Data sent.
Mara looked over at the comm panel. The computer's download light was glowing a quiet blue. Confirmed, my lord.
Then go, the Emperor ordered. But I warn you-this will not be easy.
Mara had to smile at that one. Of course it wouldn't be easy. Easy tasks could be given to the military, or the heavy-handed thugs of the Imperial Security Bureau, or even Lord Vader and the Executor's massive firepower. The hard jobs, the subtle jobs-those were reserved for the Emperor's Hand. I have confidence in my training, she said.
Go, then, and dispense my justice.
I will, my lord, Mara promised.
Yes, the Emperor said, and once again Mara could see his smile. We will speak again after. Farewell, my child.
With that, the image of his smile faded, his voice went silent, and he was gone.
--Choices of One
He stood before her, his face half hidden by the cowl of his robe, his yellow eyes piercingly bright as they gazed across the infinite distance between them. His lips moved, but his words were drowned out by the throaty hooting of alarms all around them, filling Mara with an urgency that was rapidly edging into panic. Between her and the Emperor two figures appeared: the dark, imposing image of Darth Vader, and the smaller black-clad figure of Luke Skywalker. They stood before the Emperor, facing each other, and ignited their lightsabers. The blades crossed, brilliant red-white against brilliant green-white, and they prepared for battle.
And then, without warning, the blades disengaged... and with twin roars of hatred audible even over the alarms, both turned and strode toward the Emperor.
Mara heard herself cry out as she struggled to rush to her master's aid. But the distance was too great, her body too sluggish. She screamed a challenge, trying to at least distract them. But neither Vader nor Skywalker seemed to hear her. They moved outward to flank the Emperor… and as they lifted their lightsabers high, she saw that the Emperor was gazing at her.
She looked back at him, wanting desperately to turn away from the coming disaster but unable to move. A thousand thoughts and emotions flooded in through that gaze, a glittering kaleidoscope of pain and fear and rage that spun far too fast for her to really absorb. The Emperor raised his hands, sending cascades of jagged blue-white lightning at his enemies. Both men staggered under the counterattack, and Mara watched with the sudden agonized hope that this time it might end differently. But no. Vader and Skywalker straightened; and with another roar of rage, they lifted their lightsabers high-
YOU WILL KILL LUKE SKYWALKER!
--Dark Force Rising
Entering the Imperial Palace brought back a flood of memories. It was here that her life had effectively begun. And it was here, five years ago, that it had ended while she waited for the Emperor to come back from a trip that ended in his death. She saw the Emperor’s frowning, wrinkled face in every palace window. She felt his overwhelming presence still commanding her: YOU WILL KILL LUKE SKYWALKER.
--Dark Force Rising Sourcebook
YOU WILL KILL LUKE SKYWALKER.
She took a step back to lean against the doorjamb, knees suddenly feeling weak as the Emperor's words echoed through her mind. She'd been here, on this world and in this building, when he'd died over Endor. Had watched through his mind as Luke Skywalker cut him down and brought her life crashing in ruins around her head.
--The Last Command
Mara was looking up at him. "I have to ask," she said quietly. "You're the only one who knows. How did the Emperor die?"
For a moment Luke studied her face. Even in the fading light he could see the ache in her eyes; the bitter memories of the luxuriant life and glittering future that had been snatched away from her at Endor. But alongside the ache was an equally strong determination. However badly this might hurt, she truly did want to hear it. "The Emperor was trying to turn me to the dark side," he told her, longburied memories of his own surging painfully back again. It had nearly been him, not the Emperor, who'd died that day. "He almost succeeded. I'd taken one swing at him, and wound up fighting with Vader instead. I guess he thought that if I killed Vader in anger, I'd be opened to him through the dark side."
"And so instead you ganged up on him," she accused, her eyes flashing with sudden anger. "You turned on him - both of you-"
"Wait a minute," Luke protested. "I didn't attack him. Not after that first swing."
"What are you talking about?" she demanded. "I saw you do it. Both of you moved in against him with your lightsabers. I saw you do it.
"Luke stared at her . . . and suddenly he understood. Mara Jade, the Emperor's Hand, who could hear his voice from anywhere in the galaxy. She'd been in contact with her master at the moment of his death, and had seen it all.
Except that, somehow, she'd gotten it wrong.
--The Last Command
The lightsabers flashed, blue-white blade against green-white blade, sizzling where they struck each other, slashing through metal and cable where they hit anything else. Gripping the guardrail with both hands, fighting against the turmoil roiling through her own mind, Mara watched in helpless fascination as the battle raged across the throne room floor. It was like a twisted inversion of that last horrifying vision the Emperor had given her at the instant of his destruction nearly six years ago.
--The Last Command
Gallery
The Emperor knows a special mental pattern with which he can conceal his thoughts and telepathic messages from even Darth Vader.
But there was a mental pattern the Emperor had taught her long ago, a pattern for those times when he'd wanted his instructions hidden even from Vader. If she could just clear her mind enough to get it in place-
--The Last Command
The Emperor reads the minds of ten Imperial Officers.
Ten of the most powerful men and women in the galaxy faced the Emperor, fear rolling off of them in waves. These were beings who could destroy ships—or cities—with a single word. Their hearts knew no mercy; their lives were founded on cruelties great and small; their names struck terror in their enemies. And yet they trembled before him, made small and weak by their own fear.
The most elite members of his Royal Guard flanked the group, their expressions hidden by their featureless scarlet masks. The Emperor had taken great pains to ensure that his throne room was an awesome and intimidating sight, from the towering walls to the gleaming dais. Behind his shadowed throne, a wall of permaplas windows looked into the heart of the Coruscant night. But his servants ignored the trappings of power. All attention was fixed on the Emperor.
"The Death Star has been destroyed," he informed them, carefully noting their reactions.
Captain Thrawn betrayed no emotion. Complete control, the Emperor thought with approval. This one will go far. Crix Madine, leader of the elite Storm Commandos, frowned, conflicted emotions swirling deep beneath his surface. The fool thought he could hide his doubts from the Emperor. This foolishness would prove useful, thus the Emperor allowed it. For now.
Commander Grev T'Ran looked somber at the news. But before the expression dropped across his face, the Emperor had sensed something else. The beginnings of a smile. Such a small thing—a tensed muscle, a nearly imperceptible flinch—but it was enough. The Emperor had had his suspicions about T'Ran. Now they were confirmed.
He raised a finger, catching the attention of the Royal Guard. Then nodded. T'Ran's face paled as one of the guards peeled away from the line. His crimson robes swept the floor as he padded silently toward the traitor. The other officers looked away, their faces grim.
"Noooo!" T'Ran drew his blaster. "You can't—"
The guard's force pike jabbed into T'Ran's neck, silencing him forever. His body shuddered once, then dropped to the ground. The silent red figure waited on the Emperor's command, but the Emperor shook his head. They could take out the garbage later. For now, let the traitor stay where he was. It would serve as a helpful reminder.
"How did it happen, sir?" one of the officers asked. "The Death Star was invincible."
"So we were led to believe," the Emperor agreed.
He peered closely at the man who had spoken. His face was blank, his features composed into a perfect mask of calm loyalty. But there was something beneath the surface. Not betrayal, no. But something... the Emperor reached out with the dark side of the Force, probing the man's depths.
"The Rebels found a weakness," the Emperor said, searching for a reaction that would reveal the truth. "Wisely, they exploited it."
Quickly, he ran through what he knew of the man: Rezi Soresh, of the planet Dreizan, a loyal, if plodding commander, his brilliance blunted by blind obedience. Just as the Emperor preferred it. Cold, ambitious, cautious—not the kind of man to speak up first, or at all, when silence would serve him better. And in the Emperor's presence, silence always served better.
"Were there any... survivors?" Soresh asked. There was a disturbance in the Force as something flared within him, something sharp and bright.
Hope.
Ah, yes. It made sense now. Rezi Soresh, husband to Ilaani Soresh, father to Kimali Soresh—or was. Two years before, fresh out of the Academy, Kimali had fallen in with a group of Rebel sympathizers. When the group came under suspicion, his mother had helped him evade arrest. She had procured him the text docs he would need to run away and take on a new identity—and then she revealed the truth to Soresh, giving him the chance to say a final farewell to his son.
Soresh had turned them both in. His reward: a promotion to Commander. His family's reward: a life sentence in the Gree Baaker Labor Camp. Several prisoner work squads had been assigned to the Death Star, the Emperor now remembered. Among them, the prisoners from Gree Baaker.The Emperor smiled. "No survivors."
Soresh's face remained blank as his hope died. The Emperor suspected that Soresh himself was ignorant of the emotions that roiled beneath his surface. Likely, he thought he had left his family—and his guilt—far behind. The Emperor knew better.
"Only Lord Vader escaped," he added, enjoying the disappointment that filled the room. He of course knew of the petty jealousies directed at his most favored subordinate. No one could hope to understand the bond that existed between a Sith Master and his dark apprentice. Darth Vader had failed him before, and would surely fail again, but he remained the Emperor's only option.
True, if there were another—a being with Vader's power and potential, a Jedi with a susceptible mind and a healthy body who could rule by his Master's side—Vader would become disposable. But the Jedi were gone forever. He had seen to that.
"Lord Vader is making his way back to Coruscant," the Emperor said. "And when he returns, we will make arrangements to eradicate the Rebel threat once and for all."
"But sir, why wait?" Captain Thrawn asked. "We know the location of the Rebel base. Surely we can—"
"We can do many things," the Emperor said coolly, enjoying the way even Thrawn cowered before his glare. "We will bide our time. I will not risk generating sympathy for the Rebellion—when it is crushed, it must be crushed completely. This does not, however, mean we will do nothing." He pointed a spindly finger at the line of officers. "You will identify the top Rebel leaders. You will use this knowledge to destroy them, thus ensuring that the Alliance begins to crumble from within. And you will discover the name of the pilot responsible for destroying the Death Star." The Emperor savored the rage that burned within him at the thought of it. "The pilot will die—and whoever makes this possible will find himself richly rewarded."
Again, he probed the emotions of his officers. Beneath their fear, and their hatred, he sensed loyalty. An eagerness to act. They wanted to please him. But Soresh wanted more than that. He wanted to kill: a bloodlust for the man who had slaughtered his family.
Good, the Emperor thought. Loyalty was useful. Vengeance more so.
The officers filed out, followed by the Red Guard, leaving the Emperor alone with his thoughts. Things were proceeding as they should, he realized now. As they must.
He would never doubt the power of the dark side of the Force to show him the way forward. The destruction of the Death Star was surely necessary, as it would guide him to this new path. Darkness was gathering, and the Emperor sensed that this pilot was at the heart of it. The dark side of the Force had brought him to light. The Emperor had only to find him—and the Emperor would find him. He knew that with an iron certainty. The pilot would be found. An ordered galaxy would follow. It was his destiny.
--Rebel Force: Target
Emperor Palpatine is able to trick Rebels into fighting by his side. This is an application of Dominate Mind.
You'll use the dark side of the Force to trick the Rebels into fighting by your side as you wipe out entire battalions with lightning and crush their puny buildings.
--Insider #88: Virtual Sith
(★) The Emperor forces Vader on his knees from across the galaxy.
Boarding his shuttle, he ordered the pilot to lift off. A pity, my son, he thought. You could have joined me and together... we could have destroyed the Emperor and ruled the galaxy in his place. As he stared at the severed appendage in his hands, a sudden flash of insight struck the Dark Lord, realization dawning like the sunrise of Bespin. Perhaps, if you will not be turned, little Jedi, a suitable substitute may be arranged.
Suddenly, Vader was struck to his knees by the horribly powerful voice that rolled like fiery thunder through his brain. The pilots struggled vainly to ignore the Dark Lord's... discomfort. "Yes, my servant," the voice boomed in his mind, dripping raw evil. "Come to Mount Tantiss, immediately. I shall meet you there, and we will discuss my new trophy."
"Yes...my Master," Vader gasped, feeling an icy stab of dread in his soul, as the Emperor's mocking chuckle still echoed in his mind. His Master had detected his rebellious thoughts. This discussion would be most unpleasant. Most unpleasant indeed.
--Clone B-2332-54
The Emperor reads Moff Jerjerrod’s mind.
Jerjerrod shifted uneasily. He didn't dare voice his concern that he was needed in that ministry to make sure Imperial resources weren't overextended."Do not concern yourself with the logistical status of the Empire," Palpatine stated, as if he had read the Moff's mind.
--Shadows of the Empire Sourcebook
Emperor Palpatine dominates the minds of his Imperial Sentinels. This is an application of Dominate Mind.
"My monstrous chrysalides, with their magnificent metal-piercing fangs, guard the ramparts of my citadel. My mute Imperial sentinels stand by my throne, their annihilated minds and enslaved wills clear evidence the dark side can manipulate clones for any imaginative purpose. Although alchemy can create perfect beings, I have designed a weakness into all of these creations. The flaws are minute and known only to me. It would not do for any creature to be stronger than its creator."
--Emperor Palpatine, Book of the Sith
Emperor Palpatine rips knowledge from the minds of the Jedi and dominates them. This is an application of Drain Knowledge and Dominate Mind.
Coupled with the perversions of the secrets he ripped from the living minds of Jedi he captured during the Purge, he learned more than ever expected.
--Dark Empire Sourcebook
"The Emperor's mute servants. Ruthless Force-wielding Warriors. Some say they are Jedi Knights, captured and tortured by the Emperor, their minds so broken they can't even talk. But not even Darth Vader knows who they really are."
--PROXY, The Force Unleashed comic
Emperor Palpatine uses the dark side to fill his minions with fear. This is an application of Force Fear.
But the Force, of course, was quite real—and the black tentacles of its dark side had hardened Palpatine and his new pupil, Darth Vader, into evil incarnate. They shared its horrible energies, and used them to fill the minds of their subservient military minions with fear.
--Technical Journal of the Imperial Forces
The Emperor can inspire loyalty in others.
As a Jedi, she would have been trained in the bending of minds.
Luke had seen Ben do it, had done it himself. The Emperor Palpatine had been a genius at evoking that kind of desperate loyalty, that need to serve him, calling forth the echoes of one's own fears like a skilled musician calling forth beauty from a flute.
--Planet of Twilight
The Emperor makes a deal with the Ssi-ruuk telepathically from across the galaxy.
Luke fought back to consciousness. He felt a powerful presence in the Force and sat up too quickly. Invisible hammers bashed both sides of his skull. The screen stood dark. On the foot of his flotation bed sat Ben Kenobi, robed as usual in unbleached homespun, shimmering under the cabin's faint night glims. "Obi-Wan?" Luke murmured. "What's happening at Bakura?"
Ionized air danced around the figure. "You are going to Bakura," it answered.
"Is it that bad?" Luke asked bluntly, not really expecting an answer. Ben rarely gave them. He seemed to come mostly to reprimand Luke, like a teacher who could not give up hounding his student after graduation (not that Ben had stayed around to finish his training).
Obi-Wan shifted on the bed, but the bed didn't shift with him. The manifestation wasn't literally physical. "Emperor Palpatine achieved first contact with the aliens attacking Bakura," said the apparition, "during one of his Force meditations. He offered them a deal, one that can no longer be honored."
--The Truce at Bakura
(★) The Emperor scans and erases the memories of most of Coruscant’s population. This is an application of Memory Rub.
Could the Emperor's power through the dark side of the Force have been sufficient to compel thousands or millions of people to forget having seen the Lusankya being buried?
--X-Wing: Krytos Trap
She renamed the vessel Lusankya, and, with help from the Emperor’s mind-fogging powers, Imperial engineers buried the tremendous battleship beneath the cityscape in Coruscant’s Manarai Mountain district.
--The New Essential Guide to Characters
Note: The top quote is nothing but Wedge Antilles’ rough estimate. Given that the Lusankya was lowered from orbit and given how fast information travels with the HoloNet and such, it would be more accurate to suggest that tens if not hundreds of billions witnessed the event. Whatever the number, Palpatine would still have had to scan the entire planet to know whose memories to erase, so that’s over one trillion beings in total.
Over a trillion citizens call Coruscant home.
--Coruscant and the Core Worlds
(★) Palpatine knows a Sith variant of Battle Meditation and used it many times, including during the Battle of Endor to coordinate hundreds of thousands of troops.
Sith battle meditation was a comparatively rare discipline, though Palpatine, Lumiya and Darth Caedus proved capable of it.
--The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia
Enhanced Coordination: The use of this power allows a Jedi to coordinate the activities of a group in order to increase the group’s effectiveness at a given task. This power was often used by the Emperor to increase the fighting ability of his troops, mentally driving them on and supplementing their will to fight.
--Heir to the Empire sourcebook
C’baoth’s Jedi powers serve Thrawn well, providing the combat coordination that the Empire has been missing since the Emperor’s death over Endor’s forest moon.
--Dark Force Rising sourcebook
Enhanced Coordination: The use of this power allows a Jedi to coordinate the activities of a group in order to increase the group’s effectiveness at a given task. This power was often used by Emperor Palpatine to increase the fighting ability of his troops, mentally driving them on and supplementing their will to fight; Joruus C’baoth currently uses the power to increase the abilities of Grand Admiral Thrawn’s troops.
--Dark Force Rising sourcebook
Thrawn needed C'baoth to coordinate his military forces in much the same way Emperor Palpatine consolidated the fighting spirit of his followers through the Force.
--The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia
Thrawn smiled back. "It is indeed. Tell me, Master C'baoth: are you familiar with the Imperial Fleet's disastrous defeat at the Battle of Endor five years ago?"
"I've heard rumors. One of the offworlders who came here spoke about it." C'baoth's gaze drifted to the window, to the palace/crypt visible across the square. "Though only briefly."
Pellaeon swallowed. Thrawn himself didn't seem to notice the implication. "Then you must have wondered how a few dozen Rebel ships could possibly rout an Imperial force that outgunned it by at least ten to one."
"I didn't spend much time with such wonderings," C'baoth said dryly. "I assumed that the Rebels were simply better warriors."
"In a sense, that's true," Thrawn agreed. "The Rebels did indeed fight better, but not because of any special abilities or training. They fought better than the Fleet because the Emperor was dead."
He turned to look at Pellaeon. "You were there, Captain—you must have noticed it. The sudden loss of coordination between crew members and ships; the loss of efficiency and discipline. The loss, in short, of that elusive quality we call fighting spirit."
"There was some confusion, yes," Pellaeon said stiffly. He was starting to see where Thrawn was going with this, and he didn't like it a bit. "But nothing that can't be explained by the normal stresses of battle."
One blue-black eyebrow went up, just slightly. "Really? The loss of the Executor—the sudden, last-minute TIE fighter incompetence that brought about the destruction of the Death Star itself—the loss of six other Star Destroyers in engagements that none of them should have had trouble with? All of that nothing but normal battle stress?"
"The Emperor was not directing the battle," Pellaeon snapped with a fire that startled him. "Not in any way. I was there, Admiral—I know."
"Yes, Captain, you were there," Thrawn said, his voice abruptly hard. "And it's time you gave up your blindfold and faced the truth, no matter how bitter you find it. You had no real fighting spirit of your own anymore—none of you in the Imperial Fleet did. It was the Emperor's will that drove you; the Emperor's mind that provided you with strength and resolve and efficiency. You were as dependent on that presence as if you were all borg-implanted into a combat Computer."
--Heir to the Empire
From the exterior, the Death Star's habitable surface was divided into two hemispheres, each with 12 zones. It had a crew of more than 265,000 soldiers. The total personnel soared to more than one million with the addition of gunners, ground troopers, and starship support crews and pilots.
--The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia
(★) The Emperor tears knowledge from Luke’s mind several times. This is an application of Drain Knowledge.
"Tell me, young Skywalker," the Emperor said when he saw Luke's first struggle had taken its course. "Who has been involved in your training until now?" The smile was thin, open-mouthed, hollow. Luke was silent. He would reveal nothing. "Oh, I know it was Obi-Wan Kenobi at first," the wicked ruler continued, rubbing his fingers together as if trying to remember. Then pausing, his lips creased into a sneer. "Of course, we are familiar with the talent Obi-Wan Kenobi had, when it came to training Jedi." He nodded politely in Vader's direction, indicating Obi-Wan's previous star pupil. Vader stood without responding, without moving.
Luke tensed with fury at the Emperor’s defamation of Ben—though, of course, to the Emperor it was praise. And he bridled even more, knowing the Emperor was so nearly right. He tried to bring his anger under control, though, for it seemed to please the malevolent dictator greatly.
Palpatine noted the emotions on Luke’s face and chuckled. “So, in your early training you have followed your father’s path, it would seem. But alas, Obi-Wan is now dead, I believe; his elder student, here, saw to that—“ Again, he made a hand motion toward Vader. “So tell me, young Skywalker—who continued your training?”
That smile, again, like a knife. Luke held silent, struggling to regain his composure. The Emperor tapped his fingers on the arm of the throne, recalling. “There was one called… Yoda. An aged Master Jed… Ah, I see by your countenance I have hit a chord, a resonant chord indeed. Yoda, then.”
Luke flashed with anger at himself, now, to have revealed so much, unwillingly, unwittingly. Anger and self-doubt. He strove to calm himself—to see all, to show nothing; only to be.
“This Yoda,” the Emperor mused. “Lives he still?”
Luke focused on the emptiness of space beyond the window behind the Emperor’s chair. The deep void, where nothing was. Nothing. He filled his mind with this black nothing. Opaque, save for the occasional flickering of starlight that filtered through the ether.
“Ah,” cried Emperor Palpatine. “He lives not. Very good, young Skywalker, you almost hid this from me. But you could not. And you can not. Your deepest flickerings are to me apparent. Your nakedest soul. That is my first lesson to you.” He beamed.
--Return of the Jedi novelization
Then, Vader and Palpatine both gained access to Luke's innermost thoughts, those that protected his sister, Princess Leia Organa.
--The Essential Guide to Characters
(★) Through sheer will, Palpatine retains his identity despite being in the void for a year.
Palpatine's body was destroyed. Separated from his clones, Palpatine was forced to survive in the maddening, bodiless existence of the void. Through sheer will he retained his identity, crossing the gulf of space to again take up residence in his clone body.
--The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia
(★) Even a fraction of Palpatine’s power in hologram form is able to almost mentally dominate Luke Skywalker, and only fails due to R2-D2’s intervention.
Palpatine's hologram: ...and I have come to realize that the dark side is my only ally. The dark side is the only means to power.
R2-D2: (beeb beeb)
Luke: Be quiet, R2, I don't care about the time, but can you do something about the heat? I suddenly... feel... cold...
Palpatine's hologram: My explorations of the Force have revealed to me many wonderful secrets.
Luke: Cold... like a dead hand pressing on my heart...
Palpatine's hologram: I have learned that Anger and Will, when joined together, forge a most unholy and devastating alliance.
Luke: Maybe R2's right... time to leave... but it's like a great weight... pressing down on me... I... can't move... can't... leave...
Palpatine's hologram: Using Anger, I have learned to unlock the hidden reservoirs of the glorious dark side power.
Luke: No...
Palpatine's hologram: Anger concentrated by Will in the vital center of the body creates a portal, through which vast energies are released. The energies of the dark side of the Force. This is the power I command, now that I am one with the dark side.
Luke: Is this what my father felt?
Palpatine's hologram: With these energies, I have slain my enemies across the empty reaches of space.
Luke: I shouldn't... listen...
Palpatine's hologram: I have created lightning, and unleashed devastating fires.
Luke: ...but I can't... stop...
Palpatine's hologram: With this knowledge, I can unleash dark side energies that swirl invisibly around us, even to shatter the fabric of space itself. In this way, I have created Storms.
Luke: Got... to break... free!
R2-D2: (beeb beeb)
Luke: I'm... alright, R2. (panting). This place... is still strong with the dark side. And the presence of the Emperor, even in a hologram, is almost overpowering.
--Dark Empire audio drama
Note: Luke at this point is powerful and skilled enough with Telepathy to completely annihilate Cronal in a battle of wills.
But where there should have been Dark, he found only light.
White light, brilliant, blinding, a young star born within his head. It seared his mind, blasting away even his memory of darkness. He recoiled convulsively, like a worm encountering red-hot stone. This was more than light; it was the Light.
It was the power to drive off the Dark.
This was inconceivable. What could heat his absolute zero? What could banish his infinite night?
You should know. The voice of the Light was not a voice. It spoke without speaking, communicating not with words, but with understanding. You invited me here.
Skywalker? This light was Skywalker?
In the instant he thought the name, Cronal saw him: a shape of light, absolute, uncompromising, kneeling within the Election Center in the darkest heart of the Shadow Base, his hands solemnly interfolded with the massive paws of Kar Vastor. He had linked his shadow nerves to Vastor's, and through the intimate connection between Vastor and Cronal he had somehow stretched forth to touch the Shadow Lord himself.
In the Dark, Cronal saw Skywalker smile.
Thank you for joining me here. I was a little worried you might get away with that silly crown of yours.
This was impossible. This must be some hallucination, a twisted product of his Darksight run amok. He was in hyperspace! Hyperspace did not, could not, interact with realspace—I was with Ben Kenobi in hyperspace when he felt the destruction of Alderaan. No wall can contain the Force.
The Force, the Force, these pathetic Jedi kept nattering on about the Force! Did any of them even faintly comprehend how naive and foolish they were? If any of them had ever had so much as a glimpse of the real power of the Dark, that glimpse would have snuffed their tiny minds like candles in a hurricane—Was my tiny mind snuffed? I must have missed that part.
Cronal could sense gentle amusement, like a tolerant uncle indulging a child's tantrum. Fury rose within him like molten lava climbing a volcanic fault. This simpleminded youth had fooled himself into believing his paltry light could fill the infinite Dark? Let him shine alone within eternal night. Cronal opened himself wholly to the Dark, cracking the very gates of his mind, expanding the sphere of his power like an event horizon yawning to swallow the universe. He surrounded Skywalker's light, and with a shrug of power he consumed it.
In this arena, minds naked to the Dark contending in nonspace beyond even hyperspace, there was no question of age, or health, or physical strength. Here the only power that counted was the power of will. Skywalker and his so-called Force could never match Cronal's mastery of the Way of the Dark. On this level, Cronal was Blackhole. From his grip no light could escape.
Escape? Me? Did you forget that you're the one who's running away?
Cronal suddenly felt, unaccountably—and unpleasantly—warm. At first he dismissed this unwelcome sensation; he was too experienced a servant of the Dark to be distracted by a minor malfunction in his life-support settings. But gradually he became aware that his body—specifically, his body's skin—did not seem to be warm at all. It was, in fact, chilly. And damp. As though he had broken out, somehow, in a cold sweat.
He turned his mind back to the Dark, and became again the ultimate black hole. He examined the abyss of darkness he had become and found it to be flawless. Perfect. The ultimate expression of the absolute power of the Dark. This boy, this infantile Jedi-ling, had thought his meager light could stand against that power? Cronal's black hole had swallowed every last lumen; Skywalker's light was gone forever. His puerile Force trick of light had done to Cronal nothing whatsoever.
That's because I'm not trying to do anything to you. I'm doing something through you.
What? How could Skywalker still speak?
A creeping dread began to poison Cronal's smug satisfaction. What if Skywalker was telling the truth? What if the boy had been so easily vanquished because he had intended to be? He had already used his tiny gift of the Force to forge a link through Kar Vastor to Cronal... what if his light had not been destroyed by falling into the black hole that was Cronal's mind? What if his light had simply passed through?
That's where you dark siders always stumble. What's the opposite of a black hole?
Cronal had heard this cosmological theory before: that matter falling into a black hole passes into another universe... and that matter falling through black holes in other universes could pass into ours, bursting forth in pure, transcendent energy.
The opposite of a black hole was a white fountain.
He thought, I've been suckered.
The Sith alchemy that had created the Shadow Crown had imbued it with control over meltmassif in all its forms; to drown Skywalker in the Dark, Cronal had opened a channel into the Crown. Through the Crown. Through the Shadow Crown, Skywalker's light could shine upon every crystal of darkness. Every shadow stormtrooper. Every gravity station. Every millimeter of the shadow web of crystalline nerves in his body, and Vastor's, and—And Cronal's own!
With a snarl, he yanked his mind back into his body; it would require only a second to pull the Crown from his head. Or it would have, if he could have made his arms work...
In the shimmery glow from the viewscreens within his life-support capsule, Cronal could only sit and watch in horror as his skin began to leak black oil. This black oil flowed from every pore, from his ears and nose and mouth and eyes. This black oil drained even from the channels within the Shadow Crown. And not until the last drop of it had left his body could Cronal even take a breath.
He did not, however, have time for more than a single breath before the meltmassif rehardened, encasing him wholly in a sarcophagus of stone. The asteroid of meltmassif around his chamber melted, and its shreds vaporized as they fell from the hyperdrive zone. Very soon, the hyperdrive itself fell away, as it had been mounted on the stone, rather than on the chamber. The chamber, no longer within the hyperdrive's protective envelope of reality, simply dissolved.
Cronal had enough time to understand what was happening. He had enough time to feel his body lose its physical cohesion. He had time to feel his very atoms lose their reality and vanish into the infinite nothing of hyperspace.
--Luke Skywalker and the Shadows of Mindor
Cronal himself is a better telepath than Darth Vader, as can be seen in their respective attempts to mentally influence Leia.
He had taken her sight, cut away her hearing, erased her senses of smell and taste and touch. He had stripped away her kinesthetic sense so that she was no longer aware of her own body at all. He had shut down the activity of certain neurotransmitters so that she could no longer remember how being alive felt.She wasn't fighting him, he wouldn't let her remember how to fight.
--Luke Skywalker and the Shadows of Mindor
Luke remembers that Leia once underwent a mind probe at the hands of Darth Vader. It was a terrible and exhausting experience, but her latent Jedi abilities remained undetected - by her own father.
--Dark Empire endnotes
The Reborn Emperor dominates Kam Solusar, forcing him to become a Dark Side Adept. This is a display of Dominate Mind.
Luke: I sense your old life. Before the dark side ensnared you. When the Force flowed through you.
Kam: No! No! No! (Sound of lightsaber turning off.) My life is forfeit, Jedi. Kill me.
Luke: I do not take life unless I must. Yours I give back to you.
Kam: Why? When I lured you here... I would have made this derelict space station your grave. The tomb of the last Jedi Master.
Luke: Instead, I will make it the place of your rebirth. You were a Dark Jedi once. But only because you fell under the Emperor's spell. Now that spell is broken! (Sound of the Force being used. Kam screams.) Kam Solusar, I give you back your life. I give you your freedom. I give you the power that is already yours—the power of the Jedi. (Sound of the Force fades.)
Kam: I...Skywalker...I'm free.
Luke: The Force is strong in you.
Kam: My old life...I remember it now. I...my father was a Jedi. I was a Jedi.
Luke: You are a Jedi, Kam Solusar.
Kam: I...I owe you my life.
--Dark Empire II Audio drama
Note: Luke had significant trouble breaking the connection between Kam and the Emperor.
Near the Cron Drift, in the derelict space city of Nespis VIII, Luke discovered the fallen Jedi Kam Solusar. With great difficulty, Luke managed to free Solusar from the Dark Side. In gratitude, Solusar agreed to join Luke in reviving the ancient company of Jedi Knights.
--Dark Empire II
The Reborn Emperor touches minds with Luke from across the galaxy.
The Reborn Emperor touches Luke’s and Leia's minds from across the galaxy, taunting them with telepathic laughter and whispering to them.
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LUKE: What's that....whispering I hear?
DARK GUARD: Whispering?
LUKE: Yes....those voices....so sinister.....
DARK GUARD: I hear nothing.
--Dark Empire Audio Drama
LEIA: Han......I shouldn't have listened to you. I shouldn't have listened to Luke. I hear.....terrible laughter. Something awful has happened, Han. We've.......(swallows) we may have lost him.
--Dark Empire Audio Drama
The Reborn Emperor overrides Luke’s Telepathy.
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VADER: (echoing) Leia......Leia......
Sound: A slow, blowing wind.
LEIA: (gasps) A vision.....appearing before me.....that black armor, the death mask......F-Father? Is....is it you?
VADER: No. Your father is free, with all the Jedi who went before. And Darth Vader lives no more.....(while still echoing, the voice changes to Luke's).....my sister.
LEIA: (relieved) Luke.
LUKE: Leia.....do not try to find me. Do not interfere.
LEIA: Why do you wear that armor?
LUKE: Destiny has forced me to follow the path our father took. It was the only way....the only way to save everything..... from the power of the Dark Side.L
EIA: Luke, NO!! That can't be! You know that! How can you save us--by joining the Dark Side?!? You'll destroy yourself, and you'll destroy us with you!
LUKE: Leia.....m-my mind is....can't......concen--
LEIA: I've got to help him! Try to use the Force to reach him.....
Sound: Humming as Leia calls on the Force--but the humming is suddenly overtook by humming on a lower--and louder-- level.
EMPEROR: (echoing) No, little Jedi!! Skywalker is beyond your reach!! Your brother has risked all--and LOST!!!
Sound: The low humming becomes deafening--and stops abruptly as Leia shrieks and crashes to the ground. After a long moment of silence, the door opens.
THREEPIO: (in the room this time) Princess Leia, I've just had the most fascinating discussion about the complex dining etiquette on the planet Sisk, where all the spider people have eight arms, so it seems--Princess Leia? Princess Leia-- oh my word, she's collapsed!!
--Dark Empire Audio Drama
(★) The Reborn Palpatine dominates Luke Skywalker.
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Palpatine: Curse you, Jedi! No. A curse is not necessary. I have something better for you. Skywalker! I have broken you. Now, prove yourself worthy of serving me. (Sound of lightsaber activating.)
Luke: Yes, my master.
Palpatine: Bring your sister over to the dark side. You have the power.
Leia: (Sounds of waving lightsabers.) I don't know what he's done to you, Luke, but this time we're really leaving.
Luke: Leia, put the lightsaber away. I don't want to hurt you.
Leia: The last thing I'd do is hurt you, Luke. What's happened to you is not final.
Palpatine: (Palpatine laughs.) He cannot hear you, child. To him, you are a ghost. The faint memory of a former life.
Leia: Luke...listen. (Sound of lightsaber deactivating.) Luke. Oh, what have you done? What's behind his vacant stare?
Palpatine: Why, nothing, my child. Nothing. (Sound of the Force being used. Sound of speech echoing within Luke's mind.)
Luke: Nothing.
Palpatine: You are nothing.
Luke: Where am I?
Palpatine: Alone.
Luke: No. Help me.
Palpatine: There is no one. There is only the dark side.
Luke: I am a Jedi. (Luke screams.)
Palpatine: You are not a Jedi. You are nothing. You have no name.
Luke: My name is Skywalker. (Luke screams.)
Palpatine: You...have...no...name!
Luke: I...
Palpatine: Accept the dark side. You have no name.
Luke: I have no name.
Palpatine: You serve the dark side.
Luke: I serve...
Palpatine: Listen to the voices.
Luke: The voices...
Palpatine: Of the dark side.
Luke: Yes.P
alpatine: The one law is fear. The one fear is power. The one power is hate.
Luke: Hate.
Leia: Luke.
Palpatine: Hate.
Leia: Luke, clear your mind.
Luke: Leia?
Palpatine: The one law is fear. The one fear is power!L
eia: Luke, I'm your sister. I need you.
Luke: My sister.
Palpatine: You are alone.
Leia: Luke, listen to my voice. My child... will be a very great Jedi, because you will train him. You will train all my children in the ways of the Force.
Palpatine: Do not listen!
Luke: The Force... Leia... The Force... I am not alone. I am never alone!(Sound of Force fades. Sound of voices returning to normal audibility.)
Palpatine: No! This can't be. No one returns from the dark side. You're mine!
Luke: Leia, help me. I've gone too far. I've found knowledge, all the dark things Father knew so well. The ability to control others, to destroy others if he chose, if I chose. Ben warned me; Yoda warned me. But I had to do it, Leia! I had to know what happened to our father! I had to know why he chose the dark side.
Leia: And now you know what happened to our father. It's time to come home, Luke.
Palpatine: Do not listen to her. Listen to the voice of the dark side. Your power is immense.
Luke: No. The powers of control and destruction weren't the only things I found in the dark side, Emperor. I also found great isolation and sadness. I found fear. These are the feelings my father felt. The feelings you feel, in your moments of darkest triumph.
Palpatine: Nonsense! Curse you Skywalkers, both of you! I'll tell you the truth about your father. (Sound of the Force being used. Luke screams. Sound of Force fades.)
Palpatine: The great Darth Vader was a sick man in an iron mask! Yes, that mask inspired terror throughout the galaxy, but the feeble heart within was forever possessed by the impotent side of the Force. You can be far stronger than he was. Dark Jedi, are you going to let your weak sister get the better of you? Get up! I can give you the power to break her. You will kill your sister, if I demand it!
Luke: No! I made a mistake. I thought I had to save the galaxy alone, all by myself. But the way of the Jedi is not a solitary path.
Leia: (Leia gasps.) The Holocron! Luke, the Holocron told me to join with my brother!
Luke: Yes. The Force binds us. Brings us together. Many people are fighting this war together. Our ally is the Force. Through the strength of the Force, your shroud of evil has been lifted from my mind!
--Dark Empire audio drama
After a brief lightsaber battle, the Emperor subdued Luke and broke his will.
--Handbook 3: Dark Empire
The Reborn Emperor can imprint knowledge and information directly into his targets’ brains.
“I now vest you both with the full rank of Dark Jedi. Let this power enter you, and fill you with the knowledge and strength of the dark side of the Force that is mine to give you!”
--Reborn Emperor Palpatine, Dark Empire II audio drama
(★) The Emperor Reborn invades Luke Skywalker’s mind from across the galaxy, showing him visions and nightmares, and the latter is unable to resist.
Xecr Nist: We will not make the first attack. I intend to use these.
Tedryn-Sha: Scarab droids?
Nist: Yes. Lovely creations, aren't they? A dozen of them will burrow into Skywalker's flesh, filling him with poison and pain. Then you and one other Dark Jedi will capture Skywalker. I will take the others to steal the children.
Sha: But what if Skywalker detects the scarab droids?
Nist: He will not. The Emperor himself has promised a distraction.
Palpatine's voice: Skywalker...
(scarab droid noices)
Luke: No... No, not the Emperor!
(scarab droid noices)
Palpatine's voice: Skywalker...
(scarab droid noices)
Luke: I destroyed you! You're dead!
(scarab droid noices)
Palpatine's voice: Twice you killed me, twice have I returned... I cannot be destroyed... I am with you in your waking hours...
(scarab droid noices)
Luke: No!
(scarab droid noices)
Palpatine's voice: I am with you in your dreams...
(scarab droid noices)
Luke: No!
(scarab droid noices)
Palpatine's voice: You belong to me!
(scarab droid noices)
Luke: Palpatine, I will fight you!
(scarab droid noices)
Palpatine's voice: Fight me? Skywalker, I have already won! Even now my scarab droids fill you with dark side poison!
(scarab droid noices)
Luke: Scarabs...?
(scarab droid noices)
Palpatine's voice: And you will once again be mine!
(scarab droid noices)L
uke: No! No! No! (screams)
--Dark Empire II audio drama
The Reborn Emperor is able to prevent the Ancient Sith spirits from taking him over.
(★) The Emperor Reborn can control everyone in the whole galaxy with the dark side.
In place of the Empire and the New Republic, Palpatine planned to bring about a new form of galactic governance. He would use the dark side to control everything and everyone in the galaxy.What's more, he was capable of it.
--Official Starships and Vehicle Collection #64
Note: The Galactic Empire, which contains more than one hundred quadrillion beings, is only a part of the whole galaxy. As such, the total number of beings would be much larger.
The known galaxy includes nearly a billion inhabited star systems, from uncharted settlements set up by smugglers to megapolis worlds where scarcely a meter of untouched ground remains. Nearly seventy million of those star systems were sufficiently populated for representation of some sort in the Galactic Empire, a vast bureucracy responsible for the affairs of more than one hundred quadrillion beings.
Palpatine learns Force Lightning from Sith spirits.
Chancellor Palpatine spent many years studying ancient Holocrons to learn the secrets of the Sith. The Holocrons enabled him to channel Sith spirits, who taught him how to harness dark-side energy and release lethal bolts of lightning.
--The Ultimate Visual Guide: Updated and Expanded
Darth Sidious is capable of defeating even the greatest Jedi warrior through Force Lightning.
Outwardly frail, Palpatine was in truth a cunning warrior capable of besting even the greatest Jedi warrior in lightsaber combat or by conjuring powerfully destructive Force lightning.
--Star Wars 101: Servants of the dark side
Sidious disables Plagueis’ breathing apparatus with Lightning.
Crackling from his fingertips, a web of blue lightning ground itself on the Muun’s breathing device. Plagueis’s eyes snapped open, the Force gathering in him like a storm, but he stopped short of defending himself. This being who had survived assassinations and killed countless opponents merely gazed at Sidious, until it struck him that Plagueis was challenging him! Confident that he couldn’t be killed, and in denial that he was slowly suffocating, he might have been simply experimenting with himself, actually courting death to put it in its place. Momentarily taken aback, Sidious stood absolutely still. Was Plagueis so self-deluded as to believe that he had achieved immortality?
The question lingered for only a moment, then Sidious unleashed another tangle of lightning, drawing more deeply on the dark side than he ever had.
--Darth Plagueis
Sidious tortures Darth Maul with Lightning, rendering him helpless.
“No,” Maul heard himself gasp. “Have mercy. Please...”
“There is no mercy,” Sidious said.
Bolts of energy ripped out from the Sith Lord’s fingers, tendrils of brilliant blue and purple that danced across Maul’s tattooed skin and ripped through his muscles, his organs. His mechanical legs convulsed, shorting out.
“You belong to me,” Sidious said. “Your existence is now perfectly meaningless.”
He stretched out his fingers and the energy tore through Maul again. Sidious watched the lightning build in intensity, his eyes unblinking, his teeth gritted in a triumphant, terrible smile.
--Darth Maul: Shadow Conspiracy
Sidious forces Mother Talzin to abandon Count Dooku’s body via Lightning.
Sidious stalemates Mother Talzin in a Lightning clash, and overcomes her with the aid of Count Dooku.
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Palpatine reduces a Sithspawn creature to ash.
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(★) Chancellor Palpatine bends Mace Windu’s lightsaber blade with his Force Lightning and wounds him badly
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Lightning blasted the clouds above, and lightning blasted from Palpatine's hands, and Mace didn't have time to comprehend what Palpatine was talking about; he had time only to slip back into Vaapad and angle his blade to catch the forking arcs of pure, dazzling hatred that clawed toward him. Because Vaapad is more than a fighting style. It is a state of mind: a channel for darkness. Power passed into him and out again without touching him. And the circuit completed itself: the lightning reflected back to its source. Palpatine staggered, snarling, but the blistering energy that poured from his hands only intensified. He fed the power with his pain.
[...]
Now Anakin was at Mace's shoulder. Palpatine still made no move to defend himself from Skywalker; instead he ramped up the lightning bursting from his hands, bending the fountain of Mace's blade back toward the Korun Master's face.
Palpatine's eyes glowed with power, casting a yellow glare that burned back the rain from around them. "He is a traitor, Anakin. Destroy him."
"You're the chosen one, Anakin," Mace said, his voice going thin with strain. This was beyond Vaapad; he had no strength left to fight against his own blade. "Take him. It's your destiny."
[...]
Mace's blade bent so close to his face that he was choking on ozone. "Anakin, he's too strong for me—"
--Revenge of the Sith novelization
Anakin’s head swiveled from one man to the other. The Force lightning was hurting Master Windu now, hurting him badly. But the Chancellor was aging before Anakin’s eyes. His hair thinned and his skin shriveled. Deep furrows appeared in his forehead. His hands twisted and turned gray-white. “Help me!” he cried. “I can’t hold on any longer.”
--Revenge of the Sith junior novelization
Note: By literally bending the blade of a lightsaber, Palpatine’s Lightning would have to exceed a lightsaber blade in its intensity, since this phenomenon only happened with his Lightning and never with any lightsaber, indicating his Lightning is literally too much to contain for a lightsaber.
It is also interesting how the Lightning exceeded Mace Windu' capabilities with Vaapad, and hurt Windu despite him blocking with a lightsaber.
Chancellor Palpatine overpowers Mace Windu's Force Deflection and kills him.
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Mace thought blankly, Why? And moved his lightsaber toward the fallen Chancellor. Before he could follow through on his stroke, a sudden arc of blue plasma sheared through his wrist and his hand tumbled away with his lightsaber still in it and Palpatine roared back to his feet and lightning speared from the Sith Lord's hands and without his blade to catch it, the power of Palpatine's hate struck him full-on.He had been so intent on Palpatine's shatterpoint that he'd never thought to look for Anakin's. Dark lightning blasted away his universe. He fell forever.
--Revenge of the Sith novelization
As MACE stares at ANAKIN in shock, PALPATINE springs to life.The full force of Palpatine's powerful Bolts blasts MACE. He attempts to deflect them with his one good hand, but the force is too great. As blue rays engulf his body, he is flung out the window and falls twenty stories to his death. No more screams. No more moans. PALPATINE lowers his arm.
--Revenge of the Sith script
The Emperor can wipe out entire battalions with storms of Lightning.
You'll use the dark side of the Force to trick the Rebels into fighting by your side as you wipe out entire battalions with lightning and crush their puny buildings.
--Insider #88: Virtual Sith
(★) Emperor Palpatine shoots Lightning too fast for Yoda to react to it.
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"So easily slain, Obi-Wan is not."
"Neither are you, apparently; but that is about to change." The shadow took another step, and another.
A lightsaber appeared, green as sunlight in a forest. "The test of that, today will be."
"Even a fraction of the dark side is more power than your Jedi arrogance can conceive; living in the light, you have never seen the depth of the darkness."
The shadow spread arms that made its sleeves into black wings.
"Until now."
Lightning speared from outstretched hands, and the battle was on.
In the Senate Arena, lightning forked from the hands of a Sith, and bent away from the gesture of a Jedi to shock Redrobes into unconsciousness.
Then there were only the two of them.Their clash transcended the personal; when new lightning blazed, it was not Palpatine burning Yoda with his hate, it was the Lord of all Sith scorching the Master of all Jedi into a smoldering huddle of clothing and green flesh.
[...]
The shadow released its power for an instant, long enough only to whirl away through the air and alight upon one of the delegation pods as it flew past, and the creature leapt to follow—Half a second too slow.The shadow unleashed its lightning while the creature was still in the air, and the little green freak took its full power. The shock blasted him backward to crash against the podium, and he fell.He fell a long way.
--Revenge of the Sith novelization
“Your arrogance blinds you, Master Yoda,” Darth Sidious hissed. “Now you will experience the full power of the dark side.” He raised his arms, and the Force pulsed as blue lightning blasted Yoda across the room.
[...]
As he reached Palpatine’s pod, the Sith Lord hit him with another blast of blue lightning that knocked Yoda’s lightsaber out of his hand.
--Revenge of the Sith junior novelization
The Dark Lord raises his arms, and LIGHTNING BOLTS shoot out, surrounding YODA.
YODA is picked up and thrown across the room, hitting the wall and sliding down in a crumpled heap. DARTH SIDIOUS chuckles.
[...]
YODA leaps after him, but PALPATINE quickly turns and aims the full force of his energy bolts at the tiny green Jedi, catching him in mid-air and throwing him back hard against the Podium.
--Revenge of the Sith script
Note: Yoda did sometimes manage to react to Sidious’ Lightning, yes, but more often the not he failed. In the movie he fails 2/2 times; in the novel, 2/3; junior novel: 2/3; and comic: 1/2. No source favors Yoda, and it is consistent in all adaptations that the Lightning is simply too fast for Yoda more often than not. This is very impressive, given Yoda’s own level of speed.
And he had given a demonstration. Three members of the council—Plo Koon, Saesee Tiin, and Depa Billaba, excellent fighters all—had come forward and attacked him. Master Yoda had not been armed, and had not seemed to move more than a meter or so, his tread slow and measured. Nevertheless, none of the three had been able to lay a finger on him.
--Darth Maul: Shadow Hunter
(★) Yoda, the most powerful Jedi in history, is pushed to his limit when trying to contain Emperor Palpatine’s Force Lightning.
The end came with astonishing suddenness. The shadow could feel how much it cost the little green freak to bend back his lightnings into the cage of energy that enclosed them both; the creature had reached the limits of his strength.
--Revenge of the Sith novelization
Hurling Force lightning, the Emperor backed away, to the very edge of the platform. Following him was like walking against hurricane winds.
--Revenge of the Sith junior novelization
(★) Emperor Palpatine overwhelms Yoda’s defences despite him blocking with a lightsaber.
Emperor Palpatine brings Darth Vader to his knees with Lightning.
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The Emperor reduces Gentis to a charred husk.
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Emperor Palpatine destroys a small army with surgical precision to avoid hitting his Royal Guards.
The Emperor fries the pilots of a freighter.
Engines exploded into flame and spit smoke. His Master raised his hands, forming one into a claw emitting jagged bolts of Force lightning that connected him for a moment to the ship. Vader imagined the interior of the craft lit up with the bolts of his Master’s power, the pilots screaming and writhing in pain as the dark side seared their flesh.
--Lords of the Sith
The Emperor kills two lyleks with Force Lightning.
Beside Vader, his Master gestured with both hands and jagged lines of Force lightning shot forth, striking two of the foremost lyleks, lifting the creatures from the ground and driving them backward, tumbling, hissing, screaming in agony, dying.
--Lords of the Sith
The Emperor’s omnidirectional Force Lightning shreds and chars lyleks, killing them.
Below, an explosion of Force lightning shredded a handful of lyleks and left his Master standing in the center of a circle of charred, dead creatures.
--Lords of the Sith
(★) The Emperor burns the lylek queen inside out.
His Master raised both hands and sent a storm of Force lightning into the queen, enmeshing her in sizzling blue lines. She screamed and spasmed in agony, her mandibles parting wide to reveal the rows of her teeth as the lightning tore at her carapace and the organs underneath, burning her inside and out.
--Lords of the Sith
Note: Darth Vader’s lightsaber was unable to pierce the queen’s carapace, indicating that the Emperor’s Force Lightning is more potent.
Go, the Emperor said.
Vader sprinted forward and leapt high. The moment he reached the apex of his jump, his Master seized him with the Force and flung him the rest of the way so that he landed atop the queen's back.
Immediately she bucked, tentacles flailing, and he drove his lightsaber down into her back. To his surprise, the blade only bit partially and then slipped to the side.
--Lords of the Sith
The Emperor stomps and one-shots Galen Marek.
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Sidious states he has perfected Force Maelstrom, and uses it against Galen Marek.
“Already, I have perfected the Force maelstrom, which creates an invulnerable energy sphere to block incoming attacks while bombarding enemies with debris and electrifying them with bolts of lightning."
--Darth Sidious, Book of the Sith
Emperor Palpatine kills a squad of Bothans with Lightning.
Palpatine kills Garrbo V’Droz
Palpatine raised his hands, preparing to strike, and then, allowing himself a final moment to savor the fear in his victim, added, "And if I ever need your services again, I will not hesitate to clone you."
V'Droz cringed as the Emperor threw vicious bolts of lightning from his hands and ensured that the galaxy's finest architect was forever a part of his last, greatest work.
--The Thrawn Trilogy Sourcebook
(★) Darth Sidious can unleash Force Lightning across galaxy-wide distances without using his hands.
“Standing watch with the mind, in my meditation of Anger, I have slain my enemies from great distances through the dark side power that permeates the galaxy. I have created lightning and unleashed its destructive fire.”
--Darth Sidious, Book of Anger
"Anger concentrated by Will in the vital center of the body creates a portal, through which vast energies are released. The energies of the dark side of the Force. This is the power I command, now that I am one with the dark side. With these energies, I have slain my enemies across the empty reaches of space. I have created lightning, and unleashed devastating fires."
--Palpatine's hologram
The Emperor overpowers Luke’s Force Deflection and tortures him.
Palpatine raised his spidery arms toward Luke: blinding white bolts of energy coruscated from his fingers, shot across the room like sorcerous lightning, and tore through the boy’s insides, looking for ground. The young Jedi was all at once confounded and in agony—he’d never heard of such a power, such a corruption of the Force, let alone experienced it. But if it was Force-generated, it could be Force-repelled. Luke raised his arms to deflect the bolts. Initially, he was successful—the lightning rebounded from his touch, harmlessly into the walls. Soon, though, the shocks came with such speed and power, they coursed over and into him, and he could only shrink before them, convulsed with pain, his knees buckling, his powers at ebb.
--Return of the Jedi novelization
Then he raised his arms and extended his gnarled fingers towards Luke. Blinding bolts of blue lightning shot from the Emperor's hands, and Luke was suddenly enveloped by crackling bands of energy. He tried to deflect the lightning but was so overwhelmed that his knees buckled.
--Return of the Jedi junior novelization
Note: His wounds were such that he was still recovering a day after the ordeal.
The day after his ordeal at the Battle of Endor, while still recovering from the wounds inflicted by Palpatine's Force Lightning, Luke commanded an Alliance mission to the Bakura system.
--Databank (2008): Luke Skywalker
(★) The Emperor mortally wounds Darth Vader with just a few bolts of his unfocused Force Lightning.
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Note: Vader is durable enough to survive the following:
1. Tanking a kyber crystal empowered Sith superweapon explosion:
Galen at this point had entered Oneness, a state which empowers a Force user greatly:
"No!" the apprentice cried, dropping his defenses to strike one last time at the Imperials. Energy surged through him. He felt as though a star had blazed to life in his chest. Driven by concern for his friends rather than himself, he embraced the Force completely, utterly, and was rewarded with strength that made his efforts with the dark side look like those of a child. His nerves were on fire. Streamers of light radiated from his skin. His bones glowed like radiant lava.
He saw rather than felt the massive shock wave that consumed a large portion of what remained of the observation dome. A glowing bubble of fire tore the stormtroopers to shreds and engulfed Vader and the Emperor. Shrapnel filled the air like dust caught in the beam of the Death Star's powerful laser.
--The Force Unleashed
Galen also poured every ounce of power he had into that attack; he cut completely loose and held nothing back:
Lightsabers clashed inside the Emperor's observation dome, but Starkiller was ultimately no match for the power of Darth Sidious. Bombarded by Force lightning, Starkiller did not fight back but instead unleashed all the power of the Force within him, causing a tremendous blast that shattered the Emperor's tower and caused enough of a distraction to allow Eclipse and the Rebel Senators to escape.
--The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia
Also note on the first quote how the power he had made everything he had done before look like "child's play". Galen, while vastly pre-prime, has done stuff like this:
Soon the foyer was full of the twitching, smoking bodies of the Temple’s hapless guardians. He began to tire, not from exertion but from the tedium of knocking down droid after droid, to no apparent end. There might have been thousands of them.
Deactivating his lightsaber, he took a deep breath. With one mighty exhalation of power, he blasted all of them—those in pieces and those approaching with needle-tipped fingers and vibrosaws upraised—out of the foyer doors. Then he blasted the rubbish piles after them. He kept pushing until a dark cloud soared out over Raxus Prime’s hideous landscape—an artificial hurricane full of droid golems.
When the foyer was clear, the apprentice straightened. He was no longer pushing with the Force, but the floor beneath him shook nonetheless. A heavy booming sound came from deeper in the Temple, and was getting louder. He had certainly attracted someone’s attention now.
Point is that Galen is an absolute beast and Vader tanking an assault far, far more powerful than those feats above, while in a horrendous condition, is extremely impressive.
3. Tanking the Starkiller Clone's amped and enraged Force Lightning barrage with no lethal injuries:
He found a maintenance ladder leading to an air lock and leapt up it in two bounds, blowing the inner hatch as he came. He could feel a wild drumming from the far side of the outer door. The ship was moving so fast now that unexposed flesh wouldn't last a microsecond. He would have to rely on a Force shield to keep him safe. A single lapse in concentration would be the end of him.
This was where it got difficult. He needed to maintain the Force shield against the sort of heat he might find in the outer layers of a star. He also had to keep in mind the target ahead-a target he couldn't see through the plasma, but had to hit square-on or else the planetary shield generators wouldn't fail. No matter what happened, he had to fly straight.
He raised his hands and spread his fingers wide. His eyes closed tightly against the fiery brightness of the plasma. With each bucking and shaking of the ship beneath him, he encouraged himself to ride with it instead of fighting it. He was part of the ship, not a passenger. He was the ship, not a reckless pilot guiding it to destruction.In the same way that he could feel his fingers and roes, his mind seeped outward into the metal and plastoid of the frigate, until every joint and weld, every porthole and deck became part of his sense of being. There was no line anymore between Starkiller and the Salvation. They were one and the same being, from the perspective of the Force.
He raised his right arm, and the ship followed the movement, listing slowly and heavily to starboard. Some of the headlong shuddering faded, as though it were grateful to have someone at the helm again. Even the wind's shrieking seemed to ebb....
Just seconds remained before the Salvation's fore section hit Kamino. The facility was in close focus ahead of him, and he imagined he could see Juno's eyes widening on seeing him, haloed with his Force shield on top of her precious ship.
Did she know it was him, or did she wonder at this strange apparition? Did she imagine that he was her death coming at last, from the skies instead of Darth Vader's hand?
Starkiller closed his eyes. He didn't have time to wonder what was going through her mind. He had to think of something fast, or Juno was going to die.
There was only one thing he could do, and although he knew he wasn't likely to survive, he didn't hesitate. What was death when the love of his former life was at stake? Besides, anything was possible. Dying, as he had thought once before, always seemed to bring out the best in him.
With his mind and all the power of the Force, Starkiller embraced what remained of the frigate beneath him-and blew it into a billion pieces.
[...]
The ship was almost upon them when the figure brought his hands down in a fierce, pounding motion, and the last solid fragment of the Salivation exploded into fiery pieces.
Juno coughed and wished she could wipe her eyes clear of ash. Her ship had blown itself practically to atoms; she had seen it happen, right in front of her.There was no chance at all that Starkiller could have survived. He had been riding right on top of it.
[...]
Starkiller's eyes jerked open. Where was he? All was dark around him. He smelled smoke and his body felt as though it had been hit by an asteroid. The last thing he remembered was tightening the Force shield around him and destroying the Salvation so it wouldn't kill Juno.
--The Force Unleashed II
And the best part is that Vader wasn’t actually hurt at all. From the dark side ending, it is apparent Vader was faking his defeat and allowed himself to be captured, as he stands just fine right after.
This is also supported by Sam Witwer, Starkiller’s voice actor, claiming that in TFU III it would’ve been obvious and that Vader would have stomped Starkiller. All he said apparently came from Haden Blackman too.
"But there was definitely moments where Starkiller faces off very cocky against Vader, maybe near the beginning of the game, and Vader *houses* him.
And he says "how are you doing this?" And he's says "I'm Darth Vader."
[...]
...that Vader had been gaming him, quite a bit."
--Sam Witwer
“Yeah, absolutely, I'll give you little tidbits. The story of 3 was going to be as I understand it, thematically the terror of Darth Vader, because, you know, Haden Blackman wasn't about to have you beat this guy two times in a row without making a very strong point at the end of the third one and throughout the third one. That, you know there is, there is a... you know, I shouldn't say too much in case this all happens…”
--Sam Witwer
“Haden Blackman, David Collins (Proxy) and I have discussed the story and it’s pretty great. I don’t think it’s much of spoiler to say that taking Vader captive is not the best idea.”
--Sam Witwer
Note: A comparison to another character can be made with this feat. Valkorion supporters often flaunt this as the feat that puts him above Palpatine, claiming that what makes it impressive is not the fact that he downed ships, but that it happened as a mere side effect of his main attack.
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But this isn’t true at all. Sidious was similarly unfocused when he killed Vader. As a side effect of his attack, Valkorion killed some pilots… and Palpatine killed Darth Vader. No comparison.
The Reborn Emperor incapacitates Leia with Lightning.
The Emperor Reborn brings Luke Skywalker to his knees with Lightning.
The Reborn Emperor channels Lightning through his lightsaber blade.
The Reborn Emperor kills an officer with Lightning while simultaneously choking him through Telekinesis.
The Reborn Emperor blasts Leia and C-3PO with Lightning.
(★) Darth Sidious tanks Darth Plagueis’ telekinetic storm without flinching. This is an application of Force Shield.
Still struggling for breath, Plagueis managed to stand, but only to collapse back onto the couch, knocking a statue from its perch. Sidious moved in, his hands upraised to deliver another bolt, his expression arctic enough to chill the room. A Force storm gathered over the couch, spreading out in concentric rings, to wash over Sidious and hurl objects to all corners. In the center of it, Plagueis's form became anamorphic, then resumed shape as the storm began to wane.
Sidious's eyes bored into the Muun's.
--Darth Plagueis
Note: Darth Plagueis’ telekinetic attacks, decades before this feat and in critical condition, are powerful enough to virtually atomize armored assassins.
He stopped once to conjure a Force wave that all but atomized the bodies of six Maladians. He spun through a turn, dragging the wave halfway around the room to kill half a dozen more.
--Darth Plagueis
So scattered were the latter, investigators initially suspected that an explosive device had been detonated, but no trace of a device was ever uncovered.
--Darth Plagueis
Sidious deflects stones hurled at him by Maul. This is an application of Force Barrier.
Maul snarled as he jumped to his feet and swiped at the air with both hands. Dozens of rocks launched up from around Maul and raced toward Sidious. Sidious moved his other hand out from behind his back and flexed his fingers. The approaching rocks rebounded as if they had struck an invisible shield. Some of the rebounding rocks fell near Maul's feet. Surprised, he stumbled back. He wasn't sure what had just happened.
--The Wrath of Darth Maul
(★) Chancellor Palpatine tanks his own Force Lightning to the face without any significant issue. This is an application of Force Barrier.
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Lighting blasted the clouds above, and lightning blasted from Palpatine's hands, and Mace didn't have time to comprehend what Palpatine was talking about; he had time only to slip back into Vaapad and angle his blade to catch the forking arcs of pure, dazzling hatred that clawed toward him.
Because Vaapad is more than a fighting style. It is a state of mind: a channel for darkness. Power passed into him and out again without touching him.
And the circuit completed itself: the lightning reflected back to its source.
Palpatine staggered, snarling, but the blistering energy that poured from his hands only intensified.
He fed the power with his pain.
"Anakin!" Mace called. His voice sounded distant, blurred, as if it came from the bottom of a well. "Anakin, help me! This is your chance!"
He felt Anakin's leap from the office floor to the ledge, felt his approach behind—
And Palpatine was not afraid. Mace could feel it: he wasn't worried at all. "Destroy this traitor," the Chancellor said, his voice raised over the howl of writhing energy that joined his hands to Mace's blade. "This was never an arrest. It's an assassination!"
That was when Mace finally understood. He had it. The key to final victory. Palpatine's shatterpoint. The absolute shatterpoint of the Sith.
Now Anakin was at Mace's shoulder. Palpatine still made no move to defend himself from Skywalker; instead he ramped up the lightning bursting from his hands, bending the fountain of Mace's blade back toward the Korun Master's face.
Palpatine's eyes glowed with power, casting a yellow glare that burned back the rain from around them. "He is a traitor, Anakin. Destroy him."
"You're the chosen one, Anakin," Mace said, his voice going thin with strain. This was beyond Vaapad; he had no strength left to fight against his own blade. "Take him. It's your destiny.”
Skywalker echoed him faintly. "Destiny..."
"Help me! I can't hold on any longer!" The yellow glare from Palpatine's eyes spread outward through his flesh. His skin flowed like oil, as though the muscle beneath was burning away, as though even the bones of his skull were softening, were bending and bulging, deforming from the heat and pressure of his electric hatred. "He is killing me, Anakin—! Please, Aaaaahh—"
Mace's blade bent so close to his face that he was choking on ozone. "Anakin, he's too strong for me—"
"Ahhh—" Palpatine's roar above above the endless blast of lightning became a fading moan of despair.
The lightning swallowed itself, leaving only the night and the rain, and an old man crumpled to his knees on a slippery ledge.
"I... can't. I give up. I... I am too weak, in the end. Too old, and too weak. Don't kill me, Master Jedi. Please. I surrender."
--Revenge of the Sith novelization
Note: Palpatine did not get his face burned off by the Lightning. In fact, the face of Palpatine is nothing but a mask, concealing the face of Sidious, his true face. So Sidious did not suffer any actual damage from this, and intentionally lowered his mask.
[It’s] the intensity of reflected lightning and the channeling of such raw dark side power that are the catalysts for Palpatine’s transformation. Perhaps the face that boils up to the surface is shaped by his dark side corruption, but the lightning is definitely the cause.
--Insider 83
Because the real Palpatine is the one who bursts forth at a calculated moment in Episode III just after persuading Anakin to kill Mace (Windu). That is when the true person comes out, letting the evil fully manifest itself. The Emperor that you see in the last film looks like he does because he’s very old and very evil - it is what he always looked like. He just had this carapace of looking like a fairly ordinary guy, a politician that smiled a bit, and so on.
--Insider 82
"Always two there are"—not only master and apprentice, but persona and true face. Unmasked by deflected lightning during his duel with Mace Windu, the Sith Lord's true face is revealed to the world..
--The Complete Visual Dictionary
He also wasn’t tired or too weak, as evidenced when he went from “I’m too weak” to “Unlimited power!!!” in seconds.
But Master Windu wasn't listening. He raised his lightsaber — and Anakin knocked it aside. The unexpected blow sent the lightsaber flying... And left Mace defenceless against a new bolt of Force Lightning. Chancellor Palpatine was faking! He wasn't tired at all.
--Revenge of the Sith junior novelization
(★) Emperor Palpatine tanks his own Force Lightning again unharmed, and only redoubles his output in response. This is an application of Force Barrier.
Force lightning spat from the Emperor’s gray fingers, surrounding Yoda in a blue nimbus. But Yoda had faced Force lightning before. To deflect the first bolts, he had to stop his intended strike at the Emperor. Once his initial surprise was over, he reached out to the living Force. The lightning bent, arcing back toward the Emperor.
“Destroy you, I will,” Yoda said grimly. “Just as Master Kenobi, your apprentice will destroy.”
The Sith Lord only redoubled his attack.
--Revenge of the Sith junior novelization
Note: Now, you may claim Sidious wasn’t hit by it, but I ask you: What is this notion based on? I’d say if Sidious is described as ”doomed,” the lightning is hitting him. Yoda’s comment about destroying Sidious also supports my case. Nowhere is it stated the lightning missed. Nowhere is it stated that Sidious dodged. Nowhere is it stated the lightning just stopped mid-air. And none of these would even make sense, as Sidious would clearly not look like he was doomed, if the lightning was not hitting him.
YODA unleashes a ferocious assault on PALPATINE, causing him to almost go over the edge. The Dark Lord drops his lightsaber but recovers with a BLAST OF ENERGY from his hands that surrounds YODA. YODA is deflecting the Sith Lord's lightning bolts. The energy bolts begin to arc back on the Emperor. It looks as if the Dark Lord is doomed.
--Revenge of the Sith script
(★) Emperor Palpatine tanks a Force attack consisting of the combined energies of himself and Yoda, suffering no damage at all. This is an application of Force Barrier.
Emperor Palpatine tanks Darth Vader’s telekinetic outburst and Force Scream without flinching. This is an application of Force Shield.
And you rage and scream and reach through the Force to crush the shadow who has destroyed you, but you are so far less now than what you were, you are more than half machine, you are like a painter gone blind, a composer gone deaf, you can remember where the power was but the power you can touch is only a memory, and so with all your world-destroying fury it is only droids around you that implode, and equipment, and the table on which you were strapped shatters, and in the end, you cannot touch the shadow.
--Revenge of the Sith novelization
Note: Vader’s scream echoed throughout the entire building, seemingly coming from everywhere and nowhere at once, making the sensors go crazy and causing one of the med workers to lose his hearing.
“It happened about a year ago," he said, lowering his voice to a ragged whisper. "Near the very end of the Clone Wars. A scream was heard. A scream so terrible and so loud that it echoed throughout the building and made the sensors go crazy. It was said that one med worker lost his hearing. Permanently. The med workers searched and searched for the source of the sound, but there was... nothing. There was only a handful of patients at that time. It had seemed to come from everywhere and nowhere, but no patient had done it." Jako's voice had lowered to a whisper. "It was as though all the dead of the Clone Wars had screamed their death cries at the same time, then gone back to being dead.
"Ferus knew that in his slightly incoherent way Jako was trying to spook him, and it had worked. Just not in the way he'd thought. Jako winked. "Enjoy the night shift." He closed his eyes again, and, smiling, was asleep in seconds. Ferus thought once more about Vader's prosthetics. They were extensive, from a breath-mask to vision enhancement to possible artificial limbs. He was fairly certain that Vader had at least one artificial hand. And he was regulated by what seemed to be a complex bio-system within that suit.For the first time, Ferus wondered what awful injuries he must have sustained. What had happened to the guy? He had been chasing the wrong idea. Vader, whoever he was, must have been in terrible pain.
--Last of the Jedi: Against the Empire
The building where Vader unleashed the scream was one of Coruscant’s tallest structures.
Most Galactic citizens know it as Emperor Palpatine Surgical Reconstruction Center (EmPal SuRecon in shorthand city-speak). To them, it is the crown of one of Coruscant's tallest buildings, containing an elite medical facility specializing in advanced medical treatment for extremely difficult cases from around the galaxy.
--Databank
Emperor Palpatine tanks a blaster bolt unscathed. This is a possible application of Force Barrier, Force Deflection or Force Absorption, most likely the latter, since the blaster bolt doesn’t ricochet anywhere, implying that Palpatine absorbed it.
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Sidious states he has perfected Force Maelstrom, and uses it against Galen Marek.
“Already, I have perfected the Force maelstrom, which creates an invulnerable energy sphere to block incoming attacks while bombarding enemies with debris and electrifying them with bolts of lightning."
--Darth Sidious, Book of the Sith
The Emperor tanks Galen Marek’s Force Lightning. This is an application of Force Barrier.
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(★) The Emperor tanks Galen Marek’s suicide blast without a stratch. This is an application of Force Barrier.
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Note: Galen had entered Oneness and poured every ounce of power he had into that attack, holding nothing back.
“No!" the apprentice cried, dropping his defenses to strike one last time at the Imperials. Energy surged through him. He felt as though a star had blazed to life in his chest. Driven by concern for his friends rather than himself, he embraced the Force completely, utterly, and was rewarded with strength that made his efforts with the dark side look like those of a child. His nerves were on fire. Streamers of light radiated from his skin. His bones glowed like radiant lava.
He saw rather than felt the massive shock wave that consumed a large portion of what remained of the observation dome. A glowing bubble of fire tore the stormtroopers to shreds and engulfed Vader and the Emperor. Shrapnel filled the air like dust caught in the beam of the Death Star's powerful laser.
--The Force Unleashed
Lightsabers clashed inside the Emperor's observation dome, but Starkiller was ultimately no match for the power of Darth Sidious. Bombarded by Force lightning, Starkiller did not fight back but instead unleashed all the power of the Force within him, causing a tremendous blast that shattered the Emperor's tower and caused enough of a distraction to allow Eclipse and the Rebel Senators to escape.
--The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia
Emperor Palpatine deflects a blaster bolt with his bare hand. This is an application of Force Deflection.
(★) The Reborn Emperor shields Luke Skywalker, R2-D2, and several ships from his Force Storms from across the galaxy. This is an application of Force Barrier.
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Note: I have heard the argument that Sidious could have simply controlled his Storm in a way that it would not hit what he was transporting, but this is not how Force Storms work. They destroy absolutely everything they touch, and Luke and the others very clearly went right through the eye.
"The churning energy mass of a Force Storm can consume everything it touches, for at its eye is pure hate.”
--Darth Sidious, Book of the Sith
The Emperor Reborn tanks a surge of power from Leia and Anakin Solo. This is an application of Force Barrier.
The Reborn Emperor tanks Leia’s Force attack. This is an application of Force Barrier.
Darth Sidious recalls how he and Plagueis had made a breakthrough regarding midi-chlorians.
His election seven years earlier had been one of the signs Plagueis had been waiting for—the return to power of a Valorum—and had followed on the heels of a remarkable breakthrough Plagueis and Sidious had engineered in manipulating midi-chlorians. A breakthrough the Muun had described as “galactonic.” Both of them suspected that the Jedi had sensed it as well, light-years distant on Coruscant.
--Darth Plagueis
Sidious claims he could return Plagueis from the brink of death.
Hatred stained Sidious's eyes.
"I could save you, of course. Return you from the brink, as you did Venamis. I could retask your body to repair the damage already done to your lungs, your hearts, your aged brain. But I'll do no such thing. The idea here is not to drag you back at the last moment, but to bring you to death's door and shove you through to the other side."
--Darth Plagueis
Sidious saves Darth Vader’s life on Mustafar.
An on Mustafar, below the red thunder of a volcano, a Sith Lord had already snatched from sand of black glass the charred torso and head of what once had been a man, and had already leapt for the cliffbank above with effortless strength, and had already roared to his clones to bring the medical capsule immediately! The Sith Lord lowered the limbless man tenderly to the cool ground above, and laid his hand across the cracked and blackened mess that once had been his brow, and he set his will upon him.
Live, Lord Vader. Live, my apprentice.
Live.
--Revenge of the Sith novelization
It was a great pity, Darth Sidious thought, controlling his anger, but perhaps not irreparable. Even diminished, Darth Vader would still be very strong, and there were no Jedi left to challenge him. Darth Sidious had seen to that himself. So he kept walking until he could bend over the body. And to his surprise, his apprentice was still alive.
Relief swept his doubts away. “Get a medical capsule immediately,” Darth Sidious commanded, and clones ran off to do his bidding. Leaning down, he placed a hand on Darth Vader’s forehead, using the dark side to keep him alive.
--Revenge of the Sith junior novelization
Sidious recalled the desperate return trip to Coruscant; recalled using all his powers, and all the potions and devices contained in his medkit, to minister to Anakin's hopelessly blistered body and truncated limbs. He recalled thinking: What if Anakin should die?
How many years would he have had to search for an apprentice even half as powerful in the Force, let alone one created by the Force itself to restore balance, by allowing the dark side to percolate fully to the surface after a millennium of being stifled?
None would be found.
Sidious would have had to discover a way to compel midi-chlorians to do his bidding, and bring into being one as powerful as Anakin. As it was, Sidious and a host of medical droids had merely restored Anakin to life, which—while no small feat—was a far cry from returning someone from death.
--Dark Lord: The Rise of Darth Vader
Power over death: Sidious used the Force to save a Sith Lord’s life.
--Sith Wars
Vader's lifesaving transformation is a complicated procedure that incorporates advanced technology with arcane Sith healing techniques.
--The Ultimate Visual Guide: Updated and Expanded
Emperor Palpatine claims he could teach Ferus Olin the power over life and death.
"If only I had someone I could really trust," Palpatine said. "Someone who understood my goals. If I found that someone, the gifts I could give him would be ... immense."
Ferus looked away. He wished Palpatine would stop talking.
'The power over life and death," Palpatine said.
Ferus didn't turn, but he felt the hairs on the back of his neck rise.
--Last of the Jedi: Secret Weapon
Emperor Palpatine possibly conceived his son through midi-chlorian manipulation.
Note: Yes, it is actually confirmed Triclops was Palpatine’s son.
When the SPIN Rapid Response Team rescued the pacifist Triclops — the Emperor’s real son, whom Palpatine considered among his greatest personal failure.
--The Star Wars Spy Game SPIN Declassified.
Furthermore, Triclops’ mother, Sly Moore, had been interested in Darth Plagueis’ midi-chlorian manipulation techniques.
However, Moore herself had come into the possession of Force-sensitive DNA from an undisclosed source and was deeply interested in a technique once perfected by Darth Plagueis: influencing the midi-chlorians to create a zygote in a fertile female.
--Barely Tolerable: Alien Henchmen of the Empire, Part 3
The final piece of proof comes from the fact that Palpatine does not possess a penis, and therefore could not have had sexual intercourse with Moore.
(★) The Emperor created Force sensitive beings - that he would then assign as his Impeiral Sovereign Protectors - from non-Force sensitive beings, proving he can create midi-chlorians from scratch.
Deep within the citadel, the Emperor performs grisly experiments on all forms of life, including sentient beings, in order to expand his knowledge of the dark side; it was in the citadel that the Emperor crafted his Imperial Sovereign Protectors and the Chrysalide rancors.
--Byss and the Deep Core
Unlike all the other soldiers at the Emperor’s command, the Sovereign Protectors are taught in the ways of the Dark Side, and therefore, are Force sensitive.
Tutored in the Force by the Senior Dark Side Adepts in the Emperor’s service, they are taught only elementary skills, so they must always be subservient. And subservient they are — so utterly unswerving in their loyalty that it is said that they can’t even perceive any thing which might corrupt them from their service; others say they would kill themselves in an instant if ordered to by their Master. Whether true or not, that unthinking loyalty will be most useful to them later because those who distinguish themselves here are some times selected to become Dark Jedi themselves.
Darth Sidious masks his true face under the face of Palpatine using Sith Alchemy.
As often as Plagueis maintained that the Rule of Two had ended with their partnership, the Muun remained the powerful one, and Palpatine the covetous one. Bane’s dictum notwithstanding, denial was still a key factor in Sith training; a key factor in being “broken,” as Plagueis put it—of being shaped by the dark side of the Force. Cruelly, at times, and painfully. But Palpatine was grateful, for the Force had slowly groomed him into a being of dark power and granted him a secret identity, as well. The life he had been leading—as the noble head of House Palpatine, legislator, and most recently ambassador-at-large—was nothing more than the trappings of an alter ego; his wealth, a subterfuge; his handsome face, a mask.
--Darth Plagueis
In the clean blue light of his blade he stared into the face of a man whose features were as familiar to him as his own, but now seemed as alien as an extragalactic comet—because now he finally understood that those familiar features were only a mask.
He had never seen this man's real face.
--Revenge of the Sith novelization
"And so the mask becomes the man," he sighed with a hint of philosophical melancholy. "I shall miss the face of Palpatine, I think; but for our purpose, the face of Sidious will serve. Yes, it will serve."
--Revenge of the Sith novelization
"Always two there are"—not only master and apprentice, but persona and true face. Unmasked by deflected lightning during his duel with Mace Windu, the Sith Lord's true face is revealed to the world.
--The Complete Visual Dictionary
Because the real Palpatine is the one who bursts forth at a calculated moment in Episode III just after persuading Anakin to kill Mace (Windu). That is when the true person comes out, letting the evil fully manifest itself. The Emperor that you see in the last film looks like he does because he’s very old and very evil - it is what he always looked like. He just had this carapace of looking like a fairly ordinary guy, a politician that smiled a bit, and so on.
--Insider 82
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Sidious incorporated alchemical designs into Darth Vader’s armor.
"Of all the monsters I have created, I still regard Darth Vader as something of a minor masterpiece. No, he was not an entirely alchemical creation, but he was my monster nonetheless. Even though he failed to live up to his full potential, there was much pleasure in transforming Anakin Skywalker from a bright-eyed, tousle-haired youth into the greatest Jedi killer of all time. Yes, he ultimately turned against his Master, but that was my fault, not his. Given the opportunity to create Vader again, I would, and with zeal."
--Darth Sidious, Jedi vs Sith: The Essential Guide to the Force
Sith Alchemy: The helmet’s surface has supposedly been strengthened through application of the dark side of the Force. Reference for this technique is not found in the database of the Rhinnal Medical Academy, but Sith legend says alchemic sorcery can create nearly indestructible metals.
--Darth Vader: A 3-D Reconstruction Log
Darth Sidious fashioned heavy armor for his new apprentice, Lord Vader, in the traditions of Sith Lords of the past, though none ever succeeded in looking so terrifying.
--Vader: The Ultimate Guide
Sidious created Darth Vader’s right glove around Skere Kaan’s Sith amulet.
Much to SPIN’s surprise, the mythical glove of Darth Vader found its way into the Prophet Kadann’s recent prophecies. The supposed mystic proclaimed that only the one who obtained the enchanted gauntlet would rule the Empire. What neither the public, nor SPIN, could know was that Vader’s right glove was fashioned around an indestructible Sith amulet of unimaginable power once belonging to Lord Skere Kaan during the New Sith Wars.
--The Star Wars Spy Game: SPIN Declassified
(★) Sidious has perfected the Sith Alchemy of Sorzus Syn developed 7000 years before his time, creating colossi, chrysalids and Imperial sentinels.
“The future of my Empire is found in the mysteries of life - how to hold on to it so that my reign will never end. And how to twist it to create colossi that will do my bidding.
[...]
The alchemy developed by Syn is being perfected on Byss, where my Dark Side Adepts join their potent skills to warp life on a broad skills. My monstrous chrysalids, with their magnificent metal-piercing fangs, guard the ramparts of my citadel. My mute Imperial sentinels stand by my throne, their annihilated minds and enslaved wills clear evidence the dark side can manipulate clones for any imaginative purpose. Although alchemy can create perfect beings, I have designed weaknesses into all of these creations. The flaws are minute and known only to me. It would not do for any creature to be stronger than its creator."
--Darth Sidious, The Manipulation of Life
Note: Since writing the above words, Palpatine has greatly advanced in the field of Alchemy.
"Since I wrote these words, I have greatly improved the art of Sith Alchemy. In light of my latest triumphs, a better title for this book would be "The Creation of Monsters"."
--Emperor Palpatine, The Manipulation of Life
Note: Sorzus Syn has been able to create Leviathans and the Muur Talisman, and amulet that allowed the user to transform people into Rakghouls and control them, as well as granting the user immortality.
“I was the one who grew the Leviathans, who splintered the Jedi barricades at Balmorra.”
--Sorzus Syn, Book of the Sith
"Karness Muur requested I create this, but it shall be my triumph. My experimentation with the Heart of Graush and my alchemic mastery of raising Sithspawn will culminate in the first Great Amulet to be worn by one of the Lords of the Sith. Its power will transform the feeble-minded into braying rakghouls, whose actions are the result of the wearer’s desire. It will also preserve the wearer’s spirit should he fall in combat.”
--Sorzus Syn, Book of the Sith
A Force-sensitive character wearing the Muur Talisman can infect any target within 12 squares and in his line of sight with the rakghoul disease as a swift action, no attack required. Furthermore, all rakghouls have a helpful attitude toward the wearer of the Muur Talisman. In addition, the Muur Talisman stops all aging in the host.
--Jedi Academy Training Manual
The Emperor experiments on Azrakel, destroying his sanity and wiping his mind clean.
The mysterious darksider called Azrakel was an experiment born in the mind of the Emperor and given life by the High Prophet Kadann. The Emperor found the young man, strong in the Force, and decided to expose him to the full force of the dark side. For weeks on end, the Emperor conducted his dark side experiments, hoping to see how long it would take for an unprepared mind to shatter. Time passed, and the Emperor grew bored and moved on to other matters. He left the youth to wither and die in one of his hidden retreats, forgetting all about him.
High Prophet Kadann, who assisted the Emperor in a few of those experiments, decided to take the young man and nurse him back to health. The youth had been opened to the dark side, but his mind had been wiped clean. He was a blank slate upon which Kadann could create his own apprentice—a tool to use when and if he made his own play for control of the Empire.
--The Dark Side Sourcebook
Emperor Palpatine extends his lifespan through the Force.
Palpatine affected the simple clothing of a simple man, but drew his powers of persuasion and control from the blackest depths of the dark side of the Force. While the Force has twisted his face, it has also sustained him well beyond his years, and even in his old age the Emperor remains a figure of terrible power.
--The Complete Visual Dictionary
(★) The Emperor’s Dark Side Adepts have succeeded in creating intelligent life forms through Alchemy. Given that the Emperor personally trained them and is more knowledgeable than them, it stands to reason that he would be capable of this too.
Legend says that Adepts of the Dark Side have even succeeded in spawning living monstrosities - beasts and intelligent entities, some unspeakably ugly, some full of malevolent charm and symmetry, all utterly permeated by the power of the Dark Side.
--Dark Empire endnotes
In the years prior to the Battle of Yavin, Byss was known as the Emperor's Private retreat. Here he began quietly training Dark Side Adepts, initiating men of great intelligence who had committed their lives to his service. None were permitted to ascend to his level of knowledge and proficiency, but the Adepts nonetheless became powerful Dark Side magicians in their own right.
--Dark Empire endnotes
In fact, he actually succeeded in making actual humans (Imperial Sovereign Protectors) from Alchemy.
Deep within the citadel, the Emperor performs grisly experiments on all forms of life, including sentient beings, in order to expand his knowledge of the dark side; it was in the citadel that the Emperor crafted his Imperial Sovereign Protectors and the Chrysalide rancors.
--Byss and the Deep Core
The Reborn Emperor created shadow droids through Alchemy.
In the waning days of the Empire, when it became difficult to have expendable starfighter squadrons patrolling the planet Byss each day, the reborn Emperor Palpatine turned to a design originated by Umak Leth for pilotless starfighters. Though other craft of this nature had been used in the past, the shadow droid was a cybernetic starfighter boasting a weapons payload heretofore unseen in automated attack craft. Additionally, due to the unreliable nature of normal droid starfighters that lacked the creative thinking and on-the-fly tactics of a normal fighter pilot, shadow droids were directed by the biologically-maintained brains of dead TIE pilots that had been twisted by the Emperor's dark side alchemy to obey unquestioningly.
Darth Sidious knows how to eradicate poisons and toxins from his system, using the technique of Detoxify Poison several times.
His first thought was that they had attempted to drug him. His investigations into Sith sorcery had taught him how to nullify the effects of many common poisons and venoms—a practice he had performed routinely before he’d even seated himself at the table. Perhaps, then, they were waiting for him to slump forward and lapse into unconscious or froth at the mouth and be shaken by spasms...
Just when he was thinking that it was his acting ability that was going to be put to the test, two of the waiters converged on him, now showing their discreet but powerful weapons.
--Darth Plagueis
Sidious remains sober while Plagueis gets drunk despite them both drinking the same amount of wine.
Plagueis had given the Sun Guards the night off, and the only other intelligence in the sprawling apartment was the droid 11-4D, their servant for the occasion, pouring wine into expensive glassware as they removed their cloaks.
“Sullustan,” Plagueis said, holding the glass up to the light and swirling its claret contents. “More than half a century old.”
“A toast, then,” Sidious said. “To the culmination of decades of brilliant planning and execution.”
“And to the new meaning we will tomorrow impart to the Rule of Two.”
They drained their glasses, and 11-4D immediately refilled them.
“Only you could have brought this to fruition, Darth Plagueis,” Sidious said, settling into a chair. “I will endeavor to live up your expectations and fulfill my responsibility.”
Plagueis took the compliment in stride, neither haughty nor embarrassed. “With my guidance and your charisma, we will soon be in a position to initiate the final act of the Grand Plan.” Making himself more comfortable on the couch, he signaled for 11-4D to open a second bottle of the vintage. “Have you given thought to what you will say tomorrow?”
“I have prepared some remarks,” Sidious said. “Shall I spoil the surprise?”
“Why not.”
Sidious took a moment to compose himself. “To begin, I thought I would say, that, while we in the Senate have managed to keep the Republic intact for a thousand years, we would never have been able to do so without the assistance of a few beings, largely invisible to the public eye, whose accomplishments now need to be brought into the light of day.”
Plagueis smiled. “I’m pleased. Go on.”
Speaking in a low monotone, Sidious said, “Hego Damask is one of those beings. It was Hego Damask who was responsible for overseeing development of the Republic Reserve Administration and for providing financial support for the Resettlement Acts that enabled beings to blaze new hyperspace routes to the outlying systems and colonize distant worlds.”
“That will come as a revelation to some.”
“In a similar fashion, it was Hego Damask who transformed the Trade Federation—”
“No, no,” Plagueis interrupted. “Now is not the time to mention the Trade Federation.”
“I thought—”
“I don’t see any problem with calling attention to the arrangements I facilitated between the Republic and the Corporate Alliance and the Techno Union. But we must take care to avoid areas of controversy.”
“Of course,” Sidious said, as if chastised. “I was speaking off the top of my head.”
“Try a different approach.”
So Sidious did.
And as the night wore on, he continued to amend and improvise, touching on Damask’s childhood on Mygeeto and on the elder Damask’s contributions to the InterGalactic Banking Clan during his term as co-chair. Wineglass in hand, Sidious paced the richly carpeted floor, often vacillating between confidence and misgiving. More than once, Plagueis voiced satisfaction with everything he heard, but he urged Sidious to save his energy for the morning. By then, though, Sidious was too wound up to heed the advice and kept reworking the order of the remarks and the emphasis he gave to certain points.
The droid brought out a third, then a fourth bottle of the Sullustan wine.
Pleasantly intoxicated, Plagueis, who had wanted nothing more than to revel in the sweet taste of victory, was beginning to find his collaborator’s performance exhausting, and wanted nothing more than to close his eyes and drift into imaginings of his march into the Senate Rotunda; the looks of surprise, astonishment, and trepidation on the faces of the gathered Senators; his long-anticipated emergence from the shadows; his ascension to galactic power...
Unfortunately, Sidious wouldn’t let him.
“That’s enough for now,” Plagueis tried one final time. “You should probably return home and get at least a few hours’ rest before—”
“Just one more time—from the beginning.”
“The beginning?”
“Lord Plagueis, you said you wouldn’t rest until our win was a matter of fact.”
“So it is, and so I shall, Darth Sidious.”
“Then let us celebrate that, as well.” Sidious beckoned to 11-4D. “Fill our glasses, droid.”
With dreamy weariness beginning to get the better of him, it was all Plagueis could do to lift the glass to his nose. No sooner did he set the drink down than it tipped over, saturating the tablecloth. His eyelids began to flicker and close, and his breathing slowed. In twenty years of never having had to contend with Plagueis in a state of sleep, the transpirator clicked repeatedly in adjustment, almost as if in panic.
A few meters distant, Sidious came to a halt, gazing at Plagueis for a long moment, as though making up his mind about something. Then, blowing out his breath, he set his own glass down and reached for the cloak he had draped over a chair. Swirling it around himself, he started for the door, only to stop shortly before he reached it. Turning and stretching out with the Force, he glanced around the room, as one might to fix a memory in the mind. Briefly his gaze fell on the droid, its glowing photoreceptors whirring to regard him in evident curiosity.
--Darth Plagueis
The Emperor keeps the effects of a lethal virus at bay and eventually overcomes it.
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Note: Said virus could literally melt people from the inside out.
“Imperial xenobiologists have since identified the gas as Aorth-6, a biologically engineered necrotic virus. Once inhaled, Aorth-6 liquefies the lungs and melts the victim from the inside out.”
--Lieutenant Laurita Tohm, Darth Vader and the Ghost Prison
(★) Sidious conducts a complicated ritual, sending ripples throughout the galaxy, summoning Sith spirits, causing electrical storms all over Coruscant, and transforming his face into that of Palpatine.
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Sidious actually conducted multiple similar rituals during the Clone Wars.
During the Clone Wars, Palpatine conducted Sith rituals on Coruscant that radiated unnerving ripples in the Force, which caused anxiety among most Jedi throughout the galaxy, but also served to increase Anakin Skywalker's hunger for power.
--The Ultimate Visual Guide: Updated and Expanded
Sidious conducts a ritual with Count Dooku to extend their Force Sight capabilities.
Sheev instinctively conceals his Force sensitivity from Hego Damask, in reality Darth Plagueis.
Again he tried to see deeper into Palpatine, but without success. The psychic walls the youth had raised were impenetrable, which made the young human something rare indeed. Had Palpatine somehow learned to corral the Force within himself, as Plagueis had concealed his own powers as a youth?
[...]
Plagueis had no need to delve any further into whatever traumas had given rise to Palpatine's cunning, secretive nature. He simply needed to know: Does this young human have the Force?
[...]
Palpatine's fury buffeted Plagueis. Blossoms growing along the sides of the pathway folded in on themselves, and their pollinators began to buzz in agitation. FourDee reacted, as well, wobbling on its feet, as if in the grip of a powerful electromagnet. Had this human truly been born of flesh-and-blood parents? Plagueis asked himself. When, in fact, he seemed sprung from nature itself. Was the Force so strong in him that it had concealed itself?
--Darth Plagueis
Senator Palpatine conceals his Force sensitivity from the Jedi Ronhar Kim.
Orders to attend Vidar Kim's funeral had come from Naboo and from Plagueis, who said that he should us the opportunity to seek out Ronhar Kim and speak with him personally. Palpatine had yet to meet one-on-one with a Jedi, and a conversation with Ronhar would allow him to test his ability to conceal his true nature from another Force-user.
As wicked as Coruscant is, Plagueis had told him, the Force is strong there because of the presence of so many Jedi. If you are successful in hiding in plain sight, you will be able to conceal your nature from the most powerful among them. Take Ronhar into your confidence, and once you have, spend some of your time on Coruscant acquainting yourself with the spired headquarters of our enemy, and ask yourself: Is this not a fortress designed to hold the dark at bay?
Otherwise, Plagueis's silence on the matter of Kim's assassination had been deafening. On learning that King Tapalo had appointed Palpatine interim Senator, Plagueis had offered his congratulations, but nothing more. After months of not seeing him, Palpatine had hoped to find Plagueis waiting for him on Coruscant, but Hego Damask and the Muuns who made up Damask Holdings were conducting unspecified business on distant Serenno.
The funeral service was held at Naboo's embassy, which was located below and to the west of the Monument Plaza and the Senate. Dressed in a high-collared cape and purple robes, Palpatine arrived at the ornate monad in the company of Kinman Doriana, Sate Pestage, and Janus Greejatus, who had been dispatched to Coruscant by Tapalo, and whom Palpatine suspected had some strength in the Force. Kinman and Sate had forged an instant bond. The youthful Doriana was made for a world like Coruscant, and he couldn't have asked for a better guide to the galactic capital's titillating underbelly than Pestage, who seemed to know every nook and cranny of the place. Ronhar Kim was among several dozen guests who were attending the service. Palpatine waited until the Jedi was alone in the viewing room before approaching him.
In concealing yourself, you will not be able to rely on your dark gifts, Plagueis said. Instead you must be yourself, submerged in the unified pattern to which the Jedi are attuned; visible in the Force, but not as a Sith. Since you cannot allow yourself to be seen, you must make certain that you are taken for granted. Disguised in the profane; camouflaged in the routine—in those same realms from which you can attack without warning when necessary.
A tall, muscular young man attired in black robes, Ronhar had thick black hair pulled into a bun behind, and with long strands in front dangling from temples to chin. In him, Palpatine could see Vidar, whose body was lying in state, supine on a massive rectangular stone bier. A simple blanket covered the corpse from shoulders to knees, and on the chest sat a shallow metallic bowel containing purple flowers and a lighted candle meant to symbolize the Livet Tower's Eternal Flame. Janus Greejatus would transport the cremation ashes to Naboo, where they would be scattered in the Solleu River.
"Jedi Ronhar Kim," Palpatine said as he entered the room, "please forgive the intrusion, but I wanted to offer my condolences in person."
Roused from his thoughts, Ronhar whirled on him, almost in defense, and scanned head-to-toe. "Who are you?"
"Palpatine," he said, "I've been appointed to succeed Vidar Kim as Senator of Naboo. I knew your father well."
Ronhar's vigilance eased. "Forgive me for not knowing more about Naboo, Senator...Palpatine. But in fact, until several weeks ago I wasn't aware that Vidar Kim was my biological father, or even that Naboo was my homeworld.
Palpatine feigned understanding. "No need to apologize. I imagine that the Force is, in some sense, its own domain."
Ronhar nodded. "I scarcely knew the man. Were it not for the fact that the was a Republic Senator, the Jedi Council would not have granted dispensation for me to meet with him."
Palpatine allowed himself to stretch out with the Force, but only for a moment, and chiefly to gauge the Jedi's reaction, which proved to be indiscernible. "Excuse me for asking, but why then did you choose to attend the service?"
Ronhar grew pensive. "No doubt you know about the tragedy that claimed the lives of his wife and sons."
"I do."
"Vidar Kim contacted me to ask if I would consider renouncing my pledge to the Jedi, in order to become the bearer of the family name."
Palpatine moved closer to him and added compassion to his voice. "He told me, Ronhar. Does your presence here reflect doubt as to your obligations?"
"No," the Jedi said, perhaps more firmly than he intended. "I'm only here out of respect for the man. As you may also know, he died at the hands of an assassin while in my company." Ronhar's voice betrayed disappointment rather than anger. "If I had acted sooner, he would be alive, and at present I can't be certain that the assassin's blaster bolts weren't meant for me, rather than Vidar Kim."
"Who in their right mind would target a Jedi Knight?"The Jedi sniffed and narrowed his dark eyes. "The Jedi do not lack for enemies, Senator. Doling out justice and ensuring that peace doesn't sit well with some beings."
"The world of politics is no safer, Ronhar. Not in this era, with so many in need. Thank the Force we have the Jedi."
"I wonder," Kim said.
Palpatine regarded him with interest. The Jedi was less interested in solving them murder of Vidar than he was in agonizing over his failure to prevent it. "You wonder about what, Ronhar?"
"What my life would have been had I not become a Jedi."
Palpatine adopted a look of shock. "The choice was not yours to make. You have the Force. Your destiny was a forgone conclusion."
Ronhar mulled it over. "And if Vidar Kim had elected not to surrender me to the Order?"
"A line of thought impossible to follow to any conclusion," Palpatine said.
The Jedi looked at him and squared his shoulders. "There are many forks in the path, Senator. Had I remained on Naboo I might have followed Vidar Kim's footsteps and entered politics. Perhaps it's not too late."
Palpatine showed him a tolerant smile and came alongside him, confident now that his true nature was beyond detection. "I have to admit that the notion of a politician with Jedi values is not without its appeal. In fact, the Republic was once overseen by Jedi chancellors only. But I'm afraid you're something of an anachronism, Ronhar. The galaxy appears to have rejected the idea of enlightened leadership. The best politician presently is merely exceptional, where every Jedi is extraordinary."
Ronhar laughed shortly. "More and more, Senator Palpatine, you begin to sound like my former Master."
"Would that I had such talents," Palpatine said, making light of it. "But I do have a proposition, Ronhar. Not only am I new to the Senate, I'm new to Coruscant. And it would be good to have someone to count on as a friend. So what would you say to an alliance between a politician and a Jedi? Through me you gain insight into the workings of the Republic, and through you I might better understand the Jedi, in their roles as peacekeepers."
Ronhar inclined his head in a bow. "I respect Vidar Kim all the more for bringing us together. May the Force be with you, Senator Palpatine."
--Darth Plagueis
Senator Palpatine hides his Force sensitivity from groups of Jedi.
Elsewhere on the broad avenue—at key intersections, taxi stops, and mag-lev exits—stood groups of Jedi, a few with the hilts of their lightsabers conspicuously visible. For Palpatine the sight of so many of them in one place was at once exhilarating and sobering. Though thoroughly cloaked in the everyday, he could feel their collective pride trickle into him through the Force.
--Darth Plagueis
Senator Palpatine hides his Force sensitivity from Ronhar Kim, Dooku and Sifo-Dyas.
The contingent of Senators had scarcely left when Palpatine heard his name called; turning, he saw Ronhar Kim in the company of two older human Jedi. Quietly he pulled his powers deeper into himself and adopted a mask of cordiality.
"Jedi Ronhar," he said, inclining his head in greeting.
The black-haired Jedi returned the nod. "Senator Palpatine, may I introduce Masters Dooku and Sifo-Dyas."
Palpatine was familiar with the former, but only by reputation. "A great honor, Masters."
--Darth Plagueis
Palpatine lowers his concealment to allow Kycina to detect his Force sensitivity.
Abruptly he made himself discernible in the Force, and immediately she turned her head in his direction and began to hurry across the square in his direction.
--Darth Plagueis
Darth Sidious conceals his and Maul’s Force sensitivity from the Jedi Order.
One of his earliest memories was that of being taken to the Jedi Temple. Both he and Sidious had been disguised as tourists. His master's command of the dark side had been sufficient to cloak them from being sensed by their enemies, as long as they did not enter the building. That had been unlikely anyway—the Jedi Temple was not open for tourism. They had stood there for the better part of the day, Darth Sidious pointing out to him the various faces of their foes as the latter came and went. It had been thrilling to Maul to realize that he could stand in the presence of the Jedi, could listen to his master whisper to him of their ultimate downfall, without the having any inkling of the fate that ultimately awaited them.
--Darth Maul: Shadow Hunter
Sidious conceals his power from Maul.
Suddenly, my lightsaber is gone. It flies from my hand across the room. It lands in the hand of my Master. I never see him enter. Not if he doesn't want me to. The smile of triumph fades from my face.
"Do you think," Lord Sidious says, walking toward me, "you can ever relax your guard?"
"No, Master." What a clumsy, weak mistake. I should be prepared for him to enter at all times. How could I have forgotten that, even for a moment?
--Episode 1 Journal: Darth Maul
(★) Chancellor Palpatine stands in the presence of the Jedi High Council without his Force sensitivity being detected multiple times.
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Note: He did this with ease.
Palpatine nudged gently for a reaction. "A suitable job for a Jedi. Nothing can be hidden from you for long, after all."
Except me, of course.
Even now, after all these years of delicately careful planning, he had moments when the ease with which he moved undetected among them as a Sith Lord made him pause and marvel.
You don't deserve to be the guardians of the galaxy, do you?
--The Clone Wars novelization
Note: He pulled this off despite Dooku revealing his existence to the Jedi.
"The truth," said a confident Dooku. "What if I told you that the Republic was now under the control of the Dark Lords of the Sith?"
That hit Obi-Wan as profoundly as any of the electric bolts holding him ever could. "No! That's not possible." His mind whirled, needing a denial. He alone among the living Jedi had battled a Sith Lord, and that contest had cost his beloved Master Qui-Gon his life. "The Jedi would be aware of it."
"The dark side of the Force has clouded their vision, my friend," Dooku calmly explained. "Hundreds of Senators are now under the influence of a Sith Lord called Darth Sidious."
--Attack of the Clones novelization
This was Sidious: powerful enough to hide in plain sight. Powerful enough to instruct his apprentice, Dooku, to expose him, and still remain hidden from the Jedi. And as arrogant as the Jedi. Convinced that his way was the one and only way.
--Labyrinth of Evil
Note: He did this regularly.
Palpatine held regular meetings with Yoda, Mace Windu, and other top-ranking Jedi, and even the greatest Jedi Masters failed to see the evil Sith Lord lurking beneath the good-natured politician.
--Databank: Palpatine
The Galactic Emperor conceals a great dark side nexus in the Imperial Palace from being detected by Luke Skywalker.
He shivered, and not from the cool night air. This place is strong with the dark side. Yoda had said that of the cave on Dagobah - the cave where Luke had gone on to fight a lightsaber duel with a Darth Vader who had turned out to be Luke himself. For weeks afterward the memory of the sheer power and presence of the dark side had haunted his thoughts; only much later had he finally realized that Yoda's primary reason for the exercise had been to show him how far he still had to go.
Still, he'd often wondered how the cave had come to be the way it had. Wondered whether perhaps someone or something strong in the dark side had once lived there.
As the Emperor had once lived here. . . .
He shivered again. The really maddening part of it was that he couldn't sense any such concentration of evil in the Palace. The Council had made a point of asking him about that, in fact, when they'd first considered moving operations here to the Imperial City. He'd had to grit his teeth and tell them that, no, there seemed to be no residual effects of the Emperor's stay.
But just because he couldn't sense it didn't necessarily mean it wasn't there.
--Heir to the Empire
Could a place become evil? The cave on Dagobah had certainly been so. Could the palace be imbued with the Dark Side by virtue of the Emperor’s long association of the place? He had to admit it was possible, but he felt no disturbances in the Force as he walked from chamber to chamber. All he felt were memories, and most of those were his own.
The palace didn’t even seem to have that much in it. He had to admit - there seemed to be no residual effects of the Emperor’s stay in the place. Luke couldn’t even sense his presence when he employed the sensing techniques Ben and Yoda had taught him.
--Heir to the Empire sourcebook
Sound: Crunching rock and effort as Luke frees a doorway in the Imperial Palace.
LUKE: There. It's open.
ARTOO: WHISTLES A BRIEF QUERY.
LUKE: Yes Artoo, just as I thought. Some sort of secret passageway, leading down from the Imperial Palace.
Sound: Luke begins to walk (and Artoo to roll).
LUKE: In all the years the Rebels occupied Coruscant, I can't believe we never found this chamber.
ARTOO: BEEPS OUT "WHEN?"
LUKE: Probably during the civil war. A laser blast or concussion cannon--probably destroyed this whole panel. It's dark......so dark........
ARTOO: SUGGESTS USING HIS LIGHTS.
LUKE: No thanks, Artoo. But it's not that kind of darkness. There's something.....something powerful here. Something dangerous, too. Artoo, lock that door into position. Whatever was down here was well hidden and well shielded. That's why I told Lando not to follow us.
ARTOO: PROTESTS.
LUKE: I know you don't detect any life-forms. These are the ruins.....of the Emperor's Palace. It's been pretty much deserted since we evacuated during the civil war. (shivers) No, these are more like dangerous memories. Memories of.....
Sound: A door opens automatically.
LUKE:....my father.
ARTOO: BLEEPS IN SURPRISE.
LUKE: Yes, Artoo. Anakin Skywalker. But if he ever lived here, he did so as Darth Vader. This whole place is......it resonates with the power of the Dark Side. Stay here, Artoo. See if you can power up that tech station. And get us some light! I've got to have a look around.
Sound: Artoo rolls off as Luke begins to walk around the chamber.
LUKE: (more to himself than Artoo) I can still feel the Dark Side here. Like a cold hand--it's focus is very powerful. I wish I knew why my father turned to the Dark Side. What did he find there....?A
RTOO: WHISTLES A YODELING SUMMONS.
Sound: A holoprojector comes on.
LUKE: Artoo, I wanted a light, not some old hologram!
ARTOO: MOANS.
LUKE: Wait--leave it on!!! That's an image of the Emperor! What's he saying? C-can you boost the power?
ARTOO: BEEPS IN ACKNOWLEDGEMENT.
EMPEROR: My attempts to create my own version of the device called "the Jedi Holocron" have failed. I have resorted to this crude device to record my discoveries of the Dark Side.
LUKE: It is the Emperor!
ARTOO: BLATTS IN DISGUST.
LUKE: (strangely insistent) NO, Artoo, leave it on! (voice trailing off) I...want....to listen......
Sound: A low humming echoes through the next line, as if the Dark Side itself was audible.
EMPEROR: The Book of Anger, Chapter One.....
[...]
Sound: Same as in 1-2. A low humming as the hologram of the Emperor speaks.
EMPEROR: And I have come to realize that the Dark Side is my only ally. The Dark Side is the only means to power.
ARTOO: BEEPS UNEASILY.
LUKE: Be quiet, Artoo, I-I don't care about the time. But could you do something about the heat? I suddenly feel....cold.........
ARTOO: TRIES TO COMPLY.
EMPEROR: My explorations of the Dark Side of the Force have revealed to me many wonderful secrets.
LUKE: (growing weak) Cold.....like a dead hand pressing against my heart......
EMPEROR: I have learned that anger and will, when joined together, forge a most unholy and devastating alliance.L
UKE: Maybe Artoo's right.....time to leave......but it's like a great weight, pressing down on me.....I....can't move.....can't.....leave.....
EMPEROR: Using anger, I have learned to unlock the hidden reserviors of the glorious Dark Side power.
LUKE: No.....
EMPEROR: Anger, concentrated by will, in the vital center of the body, creates a portal through which vast energies are released--the energies of the Dark Side of the Force. This is the power I command now that I am one with the Dark Side.
LUKE: Is this....what my father felt?
EMPEROR: With these energies, I have slain my enemies from across the empty reaches of space.L
UKE: I shouldn't.....listen....
EMPEROR: I have created lightning, and unleashed devastating fires.
LUKE:......but I can't.....stop......
EMPEROR: With this knowledge, I can unleash the Dark Side energies around us, even to shatter the fabric of space itself! In this way, I have created storms.....
Palpatine can keep himself warm in arctic temperatures.
By the time he left Kim's office the weather had turned sharply colder. Snow flurries were swirling around the palace towers, and the shallows to the Solleu tributaries were sheened with ice. The agent from Coruscant whom Plagueis had provided—Sate Pestage—was waiting in a small plaza behind the Parnelli Art Museum, warming his hands with his breath.
"The Naboo have never heard of climate control?" he commented as Palpatine approached.
Recalling his early conditioning sessions on glacial Mygeeto, Palpatine almost laughed at the man's remarks.
--Darth Plagueis
Darth Sidious manipulates fire.
From the head of the table, Pax Teem gawked at him as if he might be a creature escaped from his most horrifying nightmare. And yet he wouldn't be the first to taste Plagueis's blade but the last; once he had been forced to watch the rest of his party butchered, from hooves to eyestalks; the painted ceiling brought down by Sidious's Force pull; the flames of a gentle gas blaze in the room's fireplace incited to a blistering inferno that Sidious tugged behind him as he soared from the table to the floor and closed on his final victim.
In desperate flight from the Sith and the spreading flames, Pax Teem had backed himself to a tall window framed by floor-to-ceiling curtains. Entreaties of whatever sort tried to thrust themselves through his stricken voice box and past his square teeth, but none succeeded.
Deactivating the lightsaber, Sidious beckoned the flames with his fingers, encouraging them to leap from the table to the curtains. A bleating scream finally emerged from Teem's narrow muzzle of a mouth as the blazing fabric collapsed around him, and Sidious watched him roast to death.
--Darth Plagueis
Sidious heats up stones.
"Not fast enough," Sidious said as a stone smashed into Maul's lower back.
Maul crouched and grabbed the nearest rock. He no sooner lifted it from the ground than he felt it burning into his hand. He yelped as he reflexively opened his fingers and let the rock fall. How could the rock have generated such intense heat? He suspected it was his Master's trickery.
--The Wrath of Darth Maul
Sidious creates a flaming circle.
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Sidious notes how blowing up an entire room with Combustion is child’s play.
(★) The Emperor can unleash a fireball of death.
He could, with the full power of his anger, unleash a fireball of death.
--Rebel Force: Target
(★) Emperor Palpatine creates fire across galaxy-wide distances.
"Anger concentrated by Will in the vital center of the body creates a portal, through which vast energies are released. The energies of the dark side of the Force. This is the power I command, now that I am one with the dark side. With these energies, I have slain my enemies across the empty reaches of space. I have created lightning, and unleashed devastating fires.”
--Palpatine's hologram recording
"Standing watch with the mind, in my meditation of Anger, I have slain my enemies from great distances through the dark side power that permeates the galaxy. I have created lightning, and unleashed its destructive fire."
--The Book of Anger
(★) The Reborn Emperor blows up Leia’s lightsaber with Combustion.
EMPEROR: Brave little Jedi. But really, such an old lightsaber is not a worthy weapon for you.
Sound: The Force roars again--the deepest and darkest we've heard yet. The lightsaber in Leia's hands explodes.
(★) A mere hologram of Sidious causes weather storms from across the galaxy.
Outside, the wind picked up another notch, shrieking and groaning among the eleven chimneys as if to announce the arrival of a hideous guest. Dooku's comm console chimed. He glanced over, expecting the daily report from General Grievous, or perhaps a message from Asajj Ventress. He reached over to open the channel, ecognized the digital signature of the incoming transmission, jabbed the channel open, and snapped to his feet. "You called, my Master?"
The hologrammic projector on his desk sprang to life, and the wavering form of Darth Sidious regarded him. As always the picture was oozy and unclear, as if light itself were uneasy in the presence of the Lord of the Sith. Dark robes, purple shadows—a patch of skin, pale and mottled under his hooded cloak like a fungus growing under a rotten log. From under heavy lids the Master's eyes, snake-cold and serpent-wise, regarded him.
"What would you have of me, Master?"
"From you? Everything, of course." Darth Sidious sounded amused. "There was a time when I wasn't sure if you would be able to overcome that... independent streak of yours. After all, you were born to one of the wealthiest families in the galaxy, with gifts and abilities far, far greater than any amount of wealth could bestow. Your understanding is deep; your will, adamant. Is it any wonder you should be proud? Why, how could it be otherwise?"
Dooku said, "I have always served you well and faithfully, my Master."
"You have. But you must admit, your spirit was not made for fidelity. After all, a man who will not bow to the Jedi Council, or even Master Yoda... I wondered if perhaps loyalty was too mean, too confining a thing to ask from so great a being as yourself."
Dooku tried to smile. "The war progresses well. Our plans are on schedule. I have dealt out your deaths, your schemes, your betrayals. I have paid for your war with my time, my riches, my friends, and my honor."
"Holding nothing back?" Sidious asked lightly.
"Nothing. I swear it."
"Excellent," Darth Sidious said. "Yoda came to the Chancellor's office this morning. He is going on a very special mission. Top secret." He laughed, a harsh sound like the bark of a crow. The wind rose again, shrieking around the mansion like a creature in torment. "When he arrives, Dooku... see that you treat him."
Darth Sidious laughed. Dooku wanted to laugh along, but couldn't quite manage it before his Master cut the connection and disappeared.
[...]
Dooku paced his office. With the end of Sidious' call, the storm had slackened, and the shrieking wind outside now only sobbed quietly under the gables of Château Malreaux.
--Yoda: Dark Rendezvous
The Emperor’s mere anger cause a weather storm.
Reeling, Ferus stood next to Vader as the Emperor approached them. Clouds had rolled in like a great gray carpet; a storm was brewing. The thickness of the air and the coming storm seemed to give a hard change to the atmosphere.
Ferus felt the blast of the Emperor's fury, though he remained calm. Palpatine came straight to Vader.
Chancellor Palpatine spent many years studying ancient Holocrons to learn the secrets of the Sith. The Holocrons enabled him to channel Sith spirits, who taught him how to harness dark-side energy and release lethal bolts of lightning.
--The Ultimate Visual Guide: Updated and Expanded
He does this during a ritual (and presumably during other similar rituals as well).
Gallery
(★) Emperor Palpatine can rip other people’s spirits out of their bodies and place them into other bodies, as he did to Bevel Lemelisk seven times in total.
Bevel Lemelisk shuffled aside as something small but iridescent poked out of the opening: a beetle of some kind. The eight-legged, hard-shelled insect shone a deep blue as it clambered into the light and paused to probe the air with waving antennae. From other openings five identical beetles emerged. They fluttered their wing cases, then took flight, buzzing around the enclosed space. Lemelisk swatted at one, but the blue beetle detected the motion and swooped toward him, sinking mandibles with serrated razor edges into the thick flesh of his palm.
"Oww!" Lemelisk flailed his hand until the beetle lost its hold. He stomped on it, cracking its carapace. But the scent of blood attracted the other beetles to him. He watched in horrified fascination as a dozen more of the insects emerged from the floor holes, fluttering their wing cases and buzzing toward him.
"Those are piranha beetles," the Emperor said, lounging back in his swiveling black chair. "They are native to Yavin 4, and I considered them too precious for extinction when your Death Star was expected to destroy the moon. So I rescued them."
The beetles swarmed over Lemelisk now. He slapped at them, shouting, paying little attention to Palpatine's words. "Stop this!" he yelled.
"Not yet," the Emperor said.
The beetles sliced through his clothing to the skin on Lemelisk's arms, his thighs, his chest, his cheeks. Blood flowed around him, drenching his shredded clothes. He could not keep up with the new injuries. Hundreds more beetles swarmed out, battering themselves against the cage mesh.
"These fine insects are not in danger of becoming extinct after all, though," Palpatine said, "since your Death Star did not work! You have failed me, Bevel Lemelisk," he said, slowing his words. His wrinkled, rubbery lips bent upward in a fiendish grin.
"And now, I'm going to watch these beetles devour you, bit by bit. They are very hungry, you see, and don't get satisfied easily. But if they gorge themselves and begin to slow down, don't worry—I have plenty more." The Emperor let out a glacial laugh, but Lemelisk could no longer hear.
The beetles buzzed in his ears, tearing at his flesh, his hair, his clothes. He struck at himself, throwing his body against the cage mesh. In the process, some of the beetles were stunned, and their own companions fell upon them, cracking through the iridescent shells and chewing to the soft organs within.
Lemelisk screamed and begged—to no avail. The agony went beyond his comprehension, beyond his imagination. His vision turned black after the piranha beetles devoured his eyes—but the pain continued for a long time afterward....Later, Lemelisk had awakened, blinking his restored eyes, and was completely disoriented. He found himself in the same vaulted chamber, wrapped in a clean, white uniform. His body felt young and strong, without the paunch and the flab from spending too much time working on projects in his mind and too little effort maintaining his health.
Lemelisk bent his arms and looked at his hands, blinking in astonishment. Hearing a small buzz and clatter, he glanced over to find the wire-mesh cage still filled with buzzing, clacking piranha beetles that scampered up and down the walls, snapping their mandibles. Spattered patterns of fresh blood made arcs along the walls of the cage. Inside, he saw a carcass that had been stripped down to gnawed bones and shreds of clothing—the clothing he himself had worn only moments ago.
"You'll grow accustomed to your clone in a moment," the Emperor said, rubbing his knobby fingers over a strange ancient-looking artifact. "I trust that all of your memories have been transferred properly? It is an uncertain skill at best, and the Jedi I stole the technique from was reluctant to give me thorough instruction. But it seems to work."
Lemelisk nodded weakly, wanting to faint but knowing he didn't dare.
"Now don't fail me again, Lemelisk," the Emperor said. "I'd hate to have to think of an even worse execution for next time."
--Darksaber
Simply hearing the word execution brought back to his mind the full horrors of the Emperor's executions, the excruciating deaths Palpatine had inflicted upon Lemelisk each time he made an error...
The deaths remained in Lemelisk's mind, ever-present shadowy nightmares—seven executions in all. Once, Palpatine had launched him out an airlock; the pain had been excruciating, though the death was mercifully swift as the sudden drop of pressure and the freezing cold destroyed his internal organs.
He also remembered being slowly lowered into a vat of molten copper, watching his body burn away inch by inch. (Why molten copper? Lemelisk had wondered. Finally one day, more than a month later, he asked the Emperor. Palpatine’s answer had proved surprising in its utter mundanity. “It’s what the smelter used that day.”)
Lemelisk had also been trapped in a vault filled with thickening acid mist so that his lungs dissolved and he coughed blood, and the acid continued to eat him from the inside out. The other deaths had been as imaginative and just as painful.
--Darksaber
The Death Star worked as planned, but fell victim to a design flaw at Yavin. As a result, the Emperor punished the engineer with the torture of flesh-eating piranha-beetles. Lemelisk died in agony, then awoke in the body of a clone. Motivated by fear, he set to work designing the second Death Star, and also built the Tarkin super-laser. Lemelisk died seven times in total, dark side magic shuttling his consciousness through seven clones.
--The New Essential Guide to Characters
Emperor Palpatine can separate his essence from his body and possess his clones.
Utilizing long lost magic and science of cloning, Palpatine created a steady supply of clones, into which he could throw his being and thus rule the galaxy forever.
--Handbook #3: Dark Empire
On a hidden world, deep in the Galactic Core, Palpatine prepared a genetic clone of himself, and raised this clone to young manhood.
At the moment when his diseased and crippled flesh could no longer sustain itself, he moved, as mind and formless energy, into the youthful replica!
However, because of imperfections in the cloning process, the new vessel was more vulnerable to the depredations of the Dark Side. As a result, the Emperor's new body would age even more rapidly than the old, becoming corrupted and useless within a short few years.
But other clones were being prepared, and others after them. With an inexhaustible supply of young and healthy receptacles at his disposal, the Emperor could spit in the eye of death... and rule confidently over the Empire... forever.
When Darth Vader hurled Emperor Palpatine to his doom, it seemed to Luke and the Alliance that the rule of Darkness had come to an end. But in that moment when flashing blue energy rushed from exploded flesh, the Emperor entered a bodiless transitional state. As conscious Dark Force he was translated across the Galaxy...
--Dark Empire endnotes
“Through the art of dark transfer, I will soon move myself to a younger body cloned from my own cells."
--Darth Sidious, Book of the Sith
He did this many times:
As the villainous Emperor explains to Luke, it was to Byss that his living energy was transported when his diseased and corrupted body was destroyed by Darth Vader. On Byss he took a new clone body - as he had many times before.
--Dark Empire
(★) Emperor Palpatine transports his essence across the galaxy into Jeng Droga’s body, upon his death at the Death Star II.
The moment the Emperor "died" at the Battle of Endor, Droga fell into an inexplicable insanity, butchering his crew and causing the Emperor's Shadow to plunge into Kaal's oceans. Even as he perished, Palpatine used the dark side knowledge the Sith Lords had granted him years earlier to rend space itself and transmigrate his essence across lightyears to Droga's body. The infusion of Palpatine's overwhelming dark side energies reduced Droga to incoherent madness.
--Gamer #5
An alternate telling of this event has Palpatine drifting for over a year as a disembodied spirit until he finally reaches Byss.
Following the destruction of the Death Star, Palpatine's consciousness spent over a year drifting across space. On reaching Byss, he awakened and recuperated in the body of a clone, one of many kept in reserve.
--The Ultimate Visual Guide
He had spent over a year disembodied, formless, drifting through the maddening void of the Dark Side.
--Dark Empire Sourcebook
Note: Since the latter depiction of Palpatine’s death is more recent, it retcons the former. With that in mind, it is noted that all Sith spirits require some sort of object or a boost in power to maintain their existence. Evidently, this is not the case for Palpatine, who survived for over a year as a spirit without any dark side nexus aiding him. Thus, we can conclude he is an exception to the rule and superior to every other spirit ever.
Each dark side spirit has a focal point of power that anchors it in the physical world. For example, the interred Sith Lords of Korriban use their burial sarcophagi to hold their spirits for millennia after death. Freedon Nadd clung to his tomb for countless centuries, waiting for the right opportunity to turn his successor to the dark side. Exar Kun - who didn't technically die so much as merge with the dark side and retain his identity - resisted the dissolution of his spirit by drawing on the remarkable focusing energies of the Massassi temples on Yavin 4.
--The Dark Side Sourcebook
This does in fact include Valkorion, despite popular belief. He has never been witnessed as a spirit on a world or a place that was not especially strong in the Force, or without being connected to some individual to retain his identity. Dromund Kaas, Yavin IV, Ziost, Zakuul and Odessen - worlds where Valkorion has been witnessed as an incorporeal entity - were all Force nexuses that would have boosted his power and prevent his spirit from disappearing into the void. In places where the Force did not run any stronger than usual, Valkorion was connected and bound to the Outlander (similar to Mother Talzin being bound to Darth Maul), so he was not at his natural strength during those situations either. He is not an exception to the above rule in any way.
Even though the planet is bristling with the energy of the dark side, it is the Imperial military that has the largest visible presence on Dromund Kaas.
--The Old Republic Holonet
The powerful electrical storms were a physical manifestation of the dark side power that engulfed the entire planet—a power that had brought the Sith back here a millennium before, when their very survival had been in doubt.
--The Old Republic: Revan
Hundreds of years ago, the Sith Emperor ordered the construction of the Dark Temple as a burial place for his dead and defeated enemies, "to aid them in becoming one with the Force." Little is known of what rituals the Emperor performed there, but the Dark Temple has become a nexus of powerful dark side energy, and a place where ancient weapons and ancient secrets of the Sith lay sealed away in cavernous chambers.
Although the Dark Temple grounds have always been a dangerous place for the weak-willed (the expansion of the Kaas City power grid into tunnels beneath the temple drove a thousand slaves mad), the temple itself remained sealed until recently, when an expedition of power-hungry Sith Lords and their servants breached the gateway.
--The Old Republic Codex: The Dark Temple
For well over a thousand years now, the dark side of the Force has flowed through Yavin 4 in an ever-increasing magnitude.
--The Old Republic Codex: Yavin 4
“The dark side permeates everything here. Saturates it. I've been to Oricon, this is another level entirely."
--Satele Shan, The Old Republic: Shadow of Revan
Located in an unremarkable system well off the Hydian Way, Oricon seems an almost arbitrary choice for the Dread Masters’ home. But anyone with an affinity for the Force can sense that the rocky Outer Rim moon is immeasurably strong with the dark side.
--The Old Republic Codex: Oricon
“The dark side is strong on Ziost. Using the outpost’s resources, our former Emperor can massacre the defenceless to fuel him.”
--Rane Kovatch, The Old Republic: Rise of the Emperor
Situated in the heart of Imperial Space, Ziost has long played a vital role in the intricate history of the Sith. For thousands of years, in fact, the craggy, arid world served as the ancient Sith Empire's capital until infighting splintered its leadership. Today, Ziost remains an important commercial, political and population center of the Empire--this in spite of its shift from a warm climate with dense forests to a bitterly cold tundra. Whether this environmental turnabout is due to geological reasons or eons of dark side influence remains a subject of scholarly consideration.
--The Old Republic Codex: Ziost
Sparsely populated and largely unexplored, Dathomir wasn’t Korriban or Ziost, but it was powerful in the Force, in part because of its fecundity, but mainly due to the presence of groups of female adepts who practiced dark side magicks.
--Darth Plagueis
“On Odessen, light and dark exist in perfect balance, forming a nexus in the Force. There is another world like it… Zakuul.”
--Satele Shan, The Old Republic: Knights of the Fallen Empire
But back to Palpatine, several sources even state he did not get any weaker as spirit compared to his flesh-and-blood form and is more energy than flesh.
Skywalker was responsible for some of the greatest setbacks Emperor Palpatine ever suffered. But despite the young Jedi Knights's best efforts, Palpatine's grasp on the dark side - and power over the galaxy - remained unshaken.
--Handbook 3: Dark Empire
With her presence, the two Skywalker twins were temporarily able to repulse Palpatine.
Unabated, the Emperor continued his scourge.
--Databank: Palpatine (old)
The key to Luke's turning is the moment when he and Leia realize the Emperor is no longer defined by his physical form
--Dark Empire endnotes
When Luke had been brought before the Emperor, Palpatine's visage had been familiar to him from images that had reached even remote Tatooine, and his inherent power was immediately evident.
The Supreme Overlord, however, was a void Luke could not fathom. He wasn't a shell of a human in a hooded cloak, more energy than flesh. Nor was his face that of a Sith Master, prematurely wizened by years of calling on dark power.
--The Unifying Force
“After all... I live primarily as energy... formlessness... and power!”
--Reborn Emperor Palpatine, Dark Empire
(★) The Emperor’s essence can exist in multiple places at once. For example, he separated it between multiple hosts - his numerous Dark Side Adepts and Hands - making them extensions of his will.
Recently, certain facts have come to light about Mara Jade: she once trained and served as the “Emperor’s Hand,” a personal agent that the Emperor used to enforce his will. Though Mara refuses to discuss the matter in detail, she has hinted that she was, in fact, a direct extension of Palpatine’s will.
--The Last Command Sourcebook
Mara Jade had been the Emperor’s Hand. That was her code name in his inner court. She served him throughout the galaxy as an extension of his own dark will.
--The Thrawn Trilogy Sourcebook
Whatever they do, they enact the Emperor's will and policies with his total trust and confidence because their link to him through the Force allows him to always observe them.
--Dark Empire Sourcebook
Palpatine: You, Tedryn-Sha and Xecr Nist, kneel before me!
Sha: M-my Lord?
Palpatine: Kneel!
Sha and Nist: Yes, my Lord!
Palpatine: I have watched you... You have advanced in submission to my will! I will make you Dark Jedi... extensions of my own power!
--Dark Empire II audio drama
In Mara Jade's case, a part of the Emperor's essence remained in her, even after his death at Endor, He could speak to her and give her individual commands as well as visions.
Entering the Imperial Palace brought back a flood of memories. It was here that her life had effectively begun. And it was here, five years ago, that it had ended while she waited for the Emperor to come back from a trip that ended in his death. She saw the Emperor’s frowning, wrinkled face in every palace window. She felt his overwhelming presence still commanding her: YOU WILL KILL LUKE SKYWALKER.
--Dark Force Rising Sourcebook
So it was down to this: the same battle she'd been fighting with herself since the day they met. "You don't have to do it," he said quietly. "The Emperor's dead. That voice you hear is just a memory he left behind inside you."
"I know that," she snapped, a touch of fire flickering through the cold dread. "You think that makes it any easier to ignore?"
--The Last Command
Mara took a deep breath. The very existence of the place had been a sacred trust, known to only a handful of people - the Emperor had made that clear time and time again. But for Thrawn to have a renewable army of clones to throw against the galaxy... "I think I know where Thrawn's Spaarti cylinders are."
Even with her rudimentary sensing abilities she could feel the wave of shock that rippled outward from Organa Solo. "Where?" she asked, her voice tightly controlled.
"The Emperor had a private storehouse," Mara said, the words coming out with difficulty. His wizened face seemed to hover before her, those yellow eyes gazing at her in silent and bitter accusation. "It was beneath a mountain on a world he called Wayland - I don't know if it even had an official name. It was where he kept all of his private mementos and souvenirs and odd bits of technology he thought might be useful someday. One of the artificial caverns held a complete cloning facility he'd apparently appropriated from one of the clonemasters."
--The Last Command
The clone shrieked - the first sound Mara could remember hearing him make - as he staggered backward. He spun toward the sound of her lightsaber, his face twisted with anger and fear, his eyes still dazzled. He raised his lightsaber to attack-
YOU WILL KILL LUKE SKYWALKER.
She ducked beneath the slashing blade, gazing into his face. Skywalker's face. The face that had haunted her nightmares for nearly six years. The face the Emperor had ordered her to destroy.
YOU WILL KILL LUKE SKYWALKER.
And for the first time since she'd found Skywalker and his crippled X-wing floating in deep space, she let herself give in to the voice swirling through her mind. With all her strength, she swung her lightsaber and cut him down.
The clone crumpled, his lightsaber clattering to the floor beside him.
Mara gazed down at him... and as she took a ragged breath, the voice in the back of her mind fell silent.
It was done. She had fulfilled the Emperor's last command.
And she was finally free.
--The Last Command
This applies to his incorporeal spirit as well. He can exist everywhere at once, making him “omnipresent” while incorporeal.
Palpatine: Very well, then I must die! (laughs)
Luke: He's vanished!
Palpatine: Vanished, Skywalker? I exist as energy, remember? I am all around you! Here! And here! And here! And here!
--Dark Empire Audio Drama
The Reborn Emperor claims he can possess anybody, including Leia’s unborn child.
The Reborn Emperor threatens to possess Luke before possessing one of his clones.
Gallery
(★) One of the Emperor’s Dark Side Adepts, Nefta, states that Palpatine could be trapped in the Netherworld of the Force for a thousand years, indicating that he believes Palpatine could escape on his own one day.
“We had to do it, Sedriss… Palpatine is trapped in the Netherworld--he could be there for a thousand years!”
--Nefta, Dark Empire II
In fact it is revealed that Palpatine actually did manage to pull this off.
Palpatine's body was destroyed. Separated from his clones, Palpatine was forced to survive in the maddening, bodiless existence of the void. Through sheer will he retained his identity, crossing the gulf of space to again take up residence in his clone body.
--The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia
(★) The Reborn Emperor transports his essence into one of his clones upon his death at Da Soocha V
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Palpatine's body was destroyed. Separated from his clones, Palpatine was forced to survive in the maddening, bodiless existence of the void. Through sheer will he retained his identity, crossing the gulf of space to again take up residence in his clone body.
--The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia
Note:Dark Empire Sourcebook takes place only a few days after the first Dark Empire. Within it is a short story about Palpatine in his study on Byss, meaning that he would have had to transport his essence across the galaxy in just a few days. Last time it took him over a year to pull this off, indicating a huge increase in skill and power.
Set only days after the events of Dark Empire, this sourcebook provides detailed information on the elements of this saga.
--Dark Empire Sourcebook
Palpatine paused in his study on Byss, holding the Jedi Holocron aloft in his hand. A mere trinket, a brief glimpse of the limitless power of the Force. He considered his next move. It was almost time to make himself known again…
--Dark Empire Sourcebook
(★) The Reborn Emperor attempts to possess Anakin Solo, but accidentally possesses Empatojayos Brand as he intervenes.
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But as his spirit rose from his body and shot towards the defenseless child, the Jedi Empatojayos Brand, mortally wounded during the battle, intercepted it and took Palpatine within himself.
--Handbook #3: Dark Empire
As the Emperor fell towards death yet again, he attempted to send his spirit into the baby Anakin - but Empatojayos Brand intercepted the dark essence.
--The New Essential Chronology
Before his soul could enter Anakin's body, Palpatine was intercepted by a newfound Jedi Empatojayos Brand.
--The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia
Note: The above scan reveals something interesting: Palpatine can exist inside another person’s body and speak with his voice without actually possessing or taking them over. Every other user of Essence Transfer has had to vanquish the soul of the body’s owner before they can take residence in it; they cannot coexist with another consciousness in the same vessel. This proves Palpatine has attained an unparallelled control and command of the Essence Transfer technique and his consciousness.
"Choose your new vessel carefully. If you select a living being, be warned that their own spirit will fight you as you try to possess their body. If their will is strong, you will fail and your consciousness will be cast into the void, doomed to an eternity of suffering and torment."
Sidious devours the life force of an animal as it dies.
The moment the vibroblade stuck, the creature’s eyes rolled back and grew opaque; hot blood spurted but quickly ceased to flow—the Force departing, and Sidious drawing its power deep into himself.
--Darth Plagueis
Emperor Palpatine leeches off of the life force of the populace of Byss, casually and from across the galaxy, decades on end.
Almost mindless under the oppression of the Emperor's dark side influence, the people of Byss find their life energies constantly leeched off during the Emperor's vile machinations.
--Byss and the Deep Core
Slowly but steadily, he used his dark Force powers to enslave the people on the world and drain their life energies to fuel his own vile experiments.
--Byss and the Deep Core
Throughout the worlds submissive to the Empire, Byss is renowned as a paradise, whose siren call multitudes to willingly apply for emigration to its shores. Once there, wrapped in the power of the dark side, the immigrants become completely submissive, their life energy forever enslaved to the mind that would devour a galaxy.
--Dark Empire endnotes
Imperial ships ferried millions of immigrants to the planet Byss, where the Emperor fed off their life energies through the dark side.
--The New Essential Guide to Characters
“The entire population feeds me even now… slowly surrendering their life energies to add to mine.”
--Emperor Palpatine, Evasive Action: Recruitment
Palpatine planned for millions to permanently reside here, where he and his minions could use their Dark Side skills to feed off their life energy.
--Dark Empire Sourcebook
Years ago, Emperor Palpatine chose Byss as his private retreat, and Imperial architects and engineers were commissioned to build him an opulent palace. Several million humans were allowed to emigrate to the world, where the Emperor and his adepts used the dark side to feed off their life energies. The planet's population eventually reached almost 20 billion, and all outgoing communications were censored by security agents.
--The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia
They rediscovered forgotten and long taboo applications of the Force, chief among them the draining of life itself from the populace. What better lure for multitudes than Byss’s siren call of beauty and peace? Once there, their wills are destroyed by the Emperor and his Adepts, and replaced with an illusion of tranquility as they blissfully surrender their life energy to sustain the Emperor.
--Dark Empire Sourcebook
This is where the Emperor’s Dark Side skill comes into play. Just as he can siphon off the vital life force of his subjects on Byss, he can will his own personality, his very life, into a waiting receptacle body.
--Dark Empire Sourcebook
His body destroyed, the Emperor’s spirit journeyed to Byss. Entering one of his many clone bodies, the Emperor was born once again. However, the long journey had taken a lot out of him, and Palpatine had to bide his time. Drawing his loyal dark side adepts to him and growing stronger every day by absorbing the energies of the prisoners of Byss, Palpatine watched and waited.
(★) The Emperor’s mere holographic presence almost prevents Luke from moving and freezes him in Place.
Palpatine's hologram: ...and I have come to realize that the dark side is my only ally. The dark side is the only means to power.
R2-D2: (beeb beeb)
Luke: Be quiet, R2, I don't care about the time, but can you do something about the heat? I suddenly... feel... cold...
Palpatine's hologram: My explorations of the Force have revealed to me many wonderful secrets.
Luke: Cold... like a dead hand pressing on my heart...
Palpatine's hologram: I have learned that Anger and Will, when joined together, forge a most unholy and devastating alliance.
Luke: Maybe R2's right... time to leave... but it's like a great weight... pressing down on me... I... can't move... can't... leave...
Palpatine's hologram: Using Anger, I have learned to unlock the hidden reservoirs of the glorious dark side power.
Luke: No...
Palpatine's hologram: Anger concentrated by Will in the vital center of the body creates a portal, through which vast energies are released. The energies of the dark side of the Force. This is the power I command, now that I am one with the dark side.
Luke: Is this what my father felt?
Palpatine's hologram: With these energies, I have slain my enemies across the empty reaches of space.
Luke: I shouldn't... listen...
Palpatine's hologram: I have created lightning, and unleashed devastating fires.
Luke: ...but I can't... stop...
Palpatine's hologram: With this knowledge, I can unleash dark side energies that swirl invisibly around us, even to shatter the fabric of space itself. In this way, I have created Storms.
Luke: Got... to break... free!
R2-D2: (beeb beeb)
Luke: I'm... alright, R2. (panting). This place... is still strong with the dark side. And the presence of the Emperor, even in a hologram, is almost overpowering.
The Reborn Emperor kills and wounds several Jedi with Force blasts.
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Rayf Yasnna and Empatoyajous Brand were both mortally wounded in the confrontation.
--The New Essential Chronology
But as his spirit rose from his body and shot towards the defenseless child, the Jedi Empatojayos Brand, mortally wounded during the battle, intercepted it and took Palpatine within himself.
--Handbook #3: Dark Empire
Note: Exar Kun, once the most powerful of all Sith Lords, required Sith amulet gauntlets to fire Force Blasts and even then could barely control them.
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The most powerful and dangerous of all Sith Lords, Exar Kun was once the apprentice of the Jedi Master Vodo-Siosk Baas.
--The Official Star Wars Fact File #1
Once the most powerful and dangerous of the Dark Lords of the Sith, he was responsible for the deaths of millions four millennia before the rise of the Empire.
--The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia
Yet in order for Sith practitioners to use their magic, they needed a token or some physical object to help focus and channel the magic. That's why Exar Kun and Ulic Qel-Droma use Sith artifacts.
The Emperor can amplify Mara Jade from across the galaxy. She is so dependent on the Emperor's power that she loses touch with the Force after his death on Endor.
She learned to listen for his telepathic "voice," even across the galaxy, and to draw strength from his own vast reserves of power.
--The Dark Side Sourcebook
But the Emperor's intensive training had included direct manipulation of the Force as well as the long-range communication abilities that had been her primary value to his regime. Those skills had vanished at the moment of his death, reappearing only briefly and erratically in the years since then.
--Dark Force Rising
C'baoth seemed to study her. "I could destroy you, you know," he said. The menace had vanished from his voice now, leaving something almost conversational in its place. "Right there where you stand, before you even knew the attack was coming. But I won't. Not now. I've felt your presence over the years, Mara Jade; the rising and falling of your power after the Emperor's death took most of your strength away. And now I've seen you in my meditations. Someday you will come to me, of your own free will."
--Dark Force Rising
Before the Emperor died, Mara Jade served as his Hand, one of his personal assassins and spies. She was trained in the Dark Side of the Force. The Emperor’s intensive training included direct manipulation of the Force, as well as long-range communication techniques that served in her primary function. Mara believed her abilities had died with the Emperor, for they vanished at the moment of his death. They reappeared briefly and erratically in the years since, but never in full.
--Dark Force Rising Sourcebook
Emperor Palpatine makes the non-Force sensitive Baron Kithriss resistant to Force powers and augments his loyalty to him by exposing him to Sith techniques in his presence.
For weeks, Kithriss was the personal guest of Emperor Palpatine but unknown to the Baron, the Emperor was secretly exposing him to a variety of Sith techniques intended to build up resistance to Force powers. The conditioning will wear off in a matter of months, but while it lasts, the Baron's loyalty to Palpatine will remain at zealous levels.
[...]
As a result of the exposure to Emperor Palpatine's dark side energies on Byss, Baron Kithriss gains a +5 bonus to any defenses and damage threshold against Use the Force checks.
Though Baron Kithriss possesses a limited amount of resistance to Force powers, he does not know it, and he will not rush to engage any heroes openly showing displays of the Force.
--The Queen of Air and Darkness
(★) The Emperor amplifies all of his servants’ powers.
During the Rebellion era, dark side devotees become a bit more open, drawn by the power of the Emperor and their acceptance into his court. They are much easier to find anywhere in the Empire, especially in the Imperial Palace, where their power is focused and augmented by that of the Emperor.
--The Dark Side Sourcebook
"I have also empowered lesser minions with the dark side."
--Darth Sidious, Book of the Sith
In the period immediately following Grand Admiral Thrawn's death, the Emperor Reborn imbued a number of Force-sensitives with raw dark side power.
--The Dark Side Sourcebook
The Emperor Reborn has amplified Sedriss to the point where he is powerful enough to defeat Luke Skywalker in combat.
Sedriss tracked Skywalker to Ossus, a wasted world, once a great center for Jedi learning. Sedriss and Vill Goir met Luke Skywalker and recent Jedi recruit Kam Solusar on the plains of Ossus. Had it been merely a contest between dark side adepts and Jedi, Sedriss might have been victorious.
--Handbook #3: Dark Empire
(★) The Reborn Emperor amplifies the powers of two of his Dark Side Adepts, Xecr Nist and Tedryn-Sha, causing galaxy-wide shock waves in the process.
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Palpatine: You, Tedryn-Sha and Xecr Nist, kneel before me!
Sha: M-my Lord?
Palpatine: Kneel!
Sha and Nist: Yes, my Lord!
Palpatine: I have watched you... You have advanced in submission to my will! I will make you Dark Jedi... extensions of my own power! Xecr Nist, you will replace Sedriss as my military commander.
Nist: Yes, my Lord!
Palpatine: Tedryn-Sha, you will be second in command.
Sha: My Lord!
Palpatine: I now vest you both with the full rank of Dark Jedi. Let this power enter you, and fill you with the knowledge and strength of the dark side of the Force that is mine to give you!
Sha and Nist: (screaming)
Palpatine: (laughing) Can you fathom this mysterious power? In my hands, the dark side can bestow the most malevolent gift!
Nist: I feel the power!
Palpatine: Or it can cause the most delicious pain!
Luke: (screaming)
Kam: Luke, what's wrong?
Luke: I... uh... I don't know... Something... A great disturbance in the Force... A terrible... uh... and all too familiar...
Darth Sidious is confirmed to be capable of suppressing other Force users’ power.
Though Vader found Rillao had all the makings of a Jedi healer, Hethir possessed Darth Sidious' rare talent to cast a dark side shadow over Force users, dulling their abilities.
--Aliens in the Empire, Part II
(★) Sidious hinders the entire Jedi Order’s ability to draw on the Force.
For a decade, there was no physical signs of the remaining Dark Lord, but evidence of his power began to appear.
The Jedi ability to use the Force inexplicably began to diminish.
--Databank (2008): The Jedi Order
(★) Sidious’ mere holographic presence strips Dooku of his Force augmentation and his power.
Physically, the Count's age was rarely a handicap. Deft as he had become with the Force—unimaginably more subtle than the boy who had watched waterskeeters in the Jedi gardens all those years ago—he wore his eighty-three standard years better than most humans half his age. He was still in superb physical shape, senses keen, health undiminished by even the memory of a cold.
Only in this situation, stooped before the image of his Master, did he feel his years. Even via hologram, the flickering figure of Darth Sidious, hideous in blue and shadows, seemed to strip his false youth away, leaving his bones brittle, his joints worn thin and knotted with tension.
--Yoda: Dark Rendezvous
Sidious suppresses Vader’s ability to properly sense things.
(★) Darth Sidious created a doppelgänger of himself from across the galaxy and masked it as the deceased Jedi Master Sifo-Dyas. The latter is also an application of Force Illusion.
(★) Emperor Palpatine acquired the Force Storm ability somewhere around 19-18 BBY at the beginning of his reign.
“This technique can be increased into a Force Storm
[...]
It may take decades to master this art, but once I have perfected it, I will be invincible.”
--Darth Sidious, Book of the Sith
“From the context, I believe Palpatine assembled this volume soon after declaring himself Emperor, or sometime around 19-18 B.B.Y.”
--Luke Skywalker, Book of the Sith
Note: Even at that point, Palpatine’s Storms could annihilate a thousand enemies at once, fold space and consume literally anything it touches, including entire armies.
“It must be understood that anger can funneled through the body and released near the heart at the ‘vital gate.’ The destruction can can be unleashed by this method is immense. Thousands of enemies can be annihilated in a single act of malice.”
--Darth Sidious, Book of the Sith
“The churning energy mass of a Force Storm can consume everything it touches for at its eye is pure hate. Just as a black hole devours a star, this storm can swallow armies and fold space.”
--Darth Sidious, Book of the Sith
(★) The Emperor learns to trigger Force Storms just by thinking about it.
"Using this knowledge, I can unleash the dark side energies that are all around us, even to shatter the fabric of space itself. In this way, I have created storms.
Through a simple act of will, I can generate Force Storms, energy storms that are vastly destructive and virtually unstoppable. Although triggering such storms requires merely thought and inclination, I admit I am not yet able to completely control the phenomenon. Among my goals is to perfect this control."
--Darth Sidious, Jedi vs Sith: The Essential Guide to the Force
(★) The Emperor learns to use Force Storms from across the galaxy through hyperspace, slaying his enemies with the omnipresent dark side energies that permeate everything.
“...and I have come to realize that the dark side is my only ally. The dark side is the only means to power. My explorations of the Force have revealed to me many wonderful secrets. I have learned that Anger and Will, when joined together, forge a most unholy and devastating alliance. Using Anger, I have learned to unlock the hidden reservoirs of the glorious dark side power. Anger concentrated by Will in the vital center of the body creates a portal, through which vast energies are released. The energies of the dark side of the Force. This is the power I command, now that I am one with the dark side. With these energies, I have slain my enemies across the empty reaches of space. I have created lightning, and unleashed devastating fires. With this knowledge, I can unleash dark side energies that swirl invisibly around us, even to shatter the fabric of space itself. In this way, I have created Storms.”
--Palpatine’s hologram recording, Dark Empire audio drama
“I have learned that Anger and Will, joined together, are the greatest Power. I have learned to meditate upon Anger and Will with clarity and precision, and I have learned to open the hidden reservoirs of Dark Side Power. Anger concentrated by Will in the vital center of the body creates a portal through which vast energies are released — the energies of the Dark Side of the Force. Standing watch with the mind, in my meditation of Anger, I have slain my enemies from great distances, through the Dark Side Power that permeates the Galaxy. I have created lightning, and unleashed its destructive fire. Using this knowledge, I can unleash the Dark Side energies that are all around us, even to shatter the fabric of space itself. In this way, I have created storms.”
--Emperor Palpatine, Book of Anger
"The Force Storm is truly an awe-inspiring demonstration of pure natural energy. After using the Force to open a hyperspace wormhole, tremendous shockwaves will ripple through the fabric of space.”
--Luke Skywalker, The Jedi Path
Vast energy storms that connect wildly disparate spots across the galaxy, hyperspace wormholes are unpredictable and devastating.
--Handbook #3: Dark Empire
According to the Emperor, when the Force is sensed and moved by emotion, from the very center of the body, and meditated from the lowest vital centers of the being, it acts with the destructive power of a storm... and the savagery of a beast.
Anger is considered the most potent catalyst for this kind of power. And anger becomes rage, when channeled through the “vital gate” in the center of the body, and can unleash absolutely unstoppable potency throughout the body.
Add the exquisite control of a fine intelligence standing watch over anger, and you have aggression that can kill with precision, crush cartilage from afar... or (he claims) murder opponents from a great distance.
--Dark Empire Endnotes
Emperor Palpatine’s first volume deals the use of emotion to control the Force. He considers anger to be the most potent emotional form. With anger, the Jedi can call upon the Dark Side, harnessing it for great power and destruction. Palpatine teaches that anger and rage, mixed with intelligent control, call upon the Dark Side with a very fine level of control, and can even kill from a great distance.
--Dark Empire Sourcebook
The Emperor rends space and teleports to Jeng Droga’s mind during his death at the Battle of Endor, presumably with Force Storm.
The moment the Emperor "died" at the Battle of Endor, Droga fell into an inexplicable insanity, butchering his crew and causing the Emperor's Shadow to plunge into Kaal's oceans. Even as he perished, Palpatine used the dark side knowledge the Sith Lords had granted him years earlier to rend space itself and transmigrate his essence across lightyears to Droga's body.
--Gamer #5
(★) The Reborn Emperor improves upon his Force Storm, to the point it can now swallow entire fleets of starships and tear the surfaces off worlds, and even alter time itself. It has become arguably the single most destructive Force power ever.
This is perhaps the single most destructive Force power known. This power allows the Jedi to twist the space-time continuum to create vast storms of force. The power also allows limited control of these storms. Capable of creating annihilating vortices, the storms can swallow whole fleets of spaceships or tear the surfaces off worlds.
--Dark Empire Sourcebook
(★) The Reborn Emperor learns to fully control Force Storms, when he couldn’t do so before. It can be argued that at this point, he attained absolute and full mastery of this technique.
Vast energy storms that connect wildly disparate spots across the galaxy, hyperspace wormholes are unpredictable and devastating. It was to the Rebel Alliance's detriment that Emperor Palpatine was able to not only control these storms, but to create them.
--Handbook #3: Dark Empire
“I’ve read his dark books. According to his own word, he has unleashed a chaos even he cannot control!”
“You’re both wasting your time! I can control the dark side of the Force! My Force Storm is reducing your Rebel fleet to dust! All your friends will die!”
--Luke Skywalker and The Emperor Reborn, Dark Empire
According to the Emperor, through a simple act of will he is able to generate energy storms, vastly destructive, virtually unstoppable. “Force Storms,” he calls them.
What he also admits in his Book of Anger, is that he is not completely able to control such phenomena, once he has triggered their onset. However, in the years since he wrote those words, the Emperor has continued to perfect his Dark Side abilities, and now he boasts to Luke that he has perfect control of his Force Storms.
--Dark Empire Endnotes
(★) The Reborn Emperor learns to internalize the Force Storm ability so that he can burst open the fabric of space and as such, teleport, without the need for summoning external energy storms.
The key to Luke's turning is the moment when he and Leia realize the Emperor is no longer defined by his physical form, but has become a chaotic nexus of dark energies that swell and burst open the fabric of space, tearing apart everything in the vicinity, human and machine.
--Dark Empire endnotes
This is supported by Palpatine musing that the center of the body is where the dark side energies are concentrated in Force Storms.
“Anger concentrated by Will in the vital center of the body creates a portal through which vast energies are released — the energies of the Dark Side of the Force.”
--Darth Sidious, Book of Anger
Palpatine's Dark Side Adepts have also shown themselves capable of teleporting, and given that all they know they learned from the Emperor, it is solid evidence that Palpatine can teleport himself.
(★) The Reborn Emperor unleashes a Force Storm upon Coruscant, from across the galaxy and teleports Luke to Byss.
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Sound: A proximity alarm has gone off.
CAPTAIN SNUNB: What is it?
ANTARES SIX CREWMAN: Some kind of.....wormhole...opening up in space. It's huge! Fifty times the size of our ship! Energy readings off the scale!
Sound: Comlink goes on.
CAPTAIN SNUNB: Antares Six calling the Millenium Falcon. Our scanners just picked up a gigantic hyperspace wormhole--an energy storm of undetermined magnitude is--
ANTARES SIX CREWMAN: It's no good, sir--there's too much interference. Your message isn't getting through.
Sound: A huge maelstrom of sound--lightning, hail, laser blasts, and more all joined in a capohony of noise--is blasting straight at the Antares Six.
CAPTAIN SNUNB: Blast.....
ANTARES SIX CREWMAN: It's heading right for us!!!
CAPTAIN SNUNB: EVASIVE ACTION! FULL RIGHT THRUSTERS!!!
ANTARES SIX CREWMAN: THEY'RE NOT RESPONDING, CAPTAIN!!! WE'VE LOST LATERAL GUIDANCE!!!
CAPTAIN SNUNB: FULL REVERSE!!!! BACK US AWAY!!!
ANTARES SIX CREWMAN: TOO LATE--!!!!
Sound: The sound of the energy storm is deafening, and growing closer.....closer.... ....and fades off into the distance again.
ANTARES SIX CREWMAN: Wha--What happened?
CAPTAIN SNUNB: The energy storm....swept right by us.....ignored us like we weren't even here.
ANTARES SIX CREWMAN: Captain....it's heading right for the surface of the planet! It's heading right for--
CAPTAIN SNUNB:--right for the ruins of the Imperial City. And our friends are in it's path. May the Force be with them......
LUKE: Leia, please! You all must leave now!!!
HAN: Listen kid, all-powerful Force or no Force, we can't just leave you to--
Sound: The storm is now audible in the distance.
ARTOO: WHOOPS AND SQUEALS IN ALARM.
THREEPIO: Don't interrupt, Artoo!
ARTOO: SQUAWKS IN PANIC.
THREEPIO: What's that?
ARTOO: ELABORATES WITH SOME SPEED.
THREEPIO: An energy storm? Well, I don't hear anything.S
ound: The storm becomes VERY audible.
THREEPIO: OH MY!!!
LANDO: (hushed) Look at that sky.
THREEPIO: What is it!?!?
LEIA: The sky's on fire!
HAN: Must be that same magnetic storm we hit earlier--
LUKE: It's a storm--but not caused by anything natural. It's almost upon us. There's no need for you to die too!
LEIA: We can't leave you!!!
LUKE: It doesn't want you! It wants me! Leave, all of you, or you'll be destroyed!
LEIA: No, Luke!! We're brother and sister--
LUKE: We are brother and sister! But my destiny is not yours! You.....your children....are the future of the Jedi. Protect them!!! LEAVE!!!!
HAN: (reluctantly) Come on, Leia. We've got to get back to the ship.
LEIA: But Luke won't--
HAN: Luke can take care of himself. Even if he is crazy.A
RTOO: LETS OUT A DEFIANT WHISTLE.T
HREEPIO: Artoo--? Oh, NO! He thinks he belongs with Master Luke! Stop him, someone, please!
HAN: No time! Luke will have to save Artoo while he's busy saving himself. Get on board, Threepio!
Sound: The heroes bundle into the Falcon, and the ramp closes. Artoo's treads are heard coming up to Luke. The storm is closing, fast.
LUKE: Good. They've escaped. Oh, Leia.....you don't understand the power I've achieved since our father died. But I still don't know why our father betrayed his friends....and himself. I must find out what he learned....what made him give in to the Dark Side. It's the Dark Side that's coming. My presence triggered such hatred that it rends the fabric of space.
Sound: The Falcon's engines ignite, and the ship blasts out of ground zero.
ARTOO: MOANS WITH WORRY.
LUKE: Yes, Artoo. I know they're leaving. They've made the right decision.
Sound: The storm is now deafening again.
LUKE: I only wonder......have I?
Sound: The storm drowns out all background noise, drowns out everything.....except a lone man's scream.
--Dark Empire Audio Drama
Note: This Storm was beyond any demonstration of dark side power Luke had ever seen.
“Han… You don’t understand. There is a great disturbance in the Force… Someone… or something… is using the dark side of the Force with unbelievable power!”
--Luke Skywalker, Dark Empire
Note: This Storm is so powerful it could alter entire dimensions with its power.
The swirling vortex of dimension-altering energy consumed Luke, and deposited him far away on the Deep Core world of Byss.
--Databank (2008): Luke Skywalker
Note: Even six years later, the Great Western Sea had yet to recover from the damage of this Storm.
The shore of the western sea had been a glittering playground, a gay and glorious world that never slept, before the clone Emperor's Force storm had ravaged Coruscant. It had yet to fully recover.
--Black Fleet Crisis: Before the Storm
(★) The Emperor Reborn unleashes multiple Force Storms on different worlds at the same time, from across the galaxy.
"The energy storm that took Commander Skywalker, this is not an isolated event. Similar Storms have been detected in several systems."
--Mon Mothma, Dark Empire audio drama
Note: These Storms were large enough to envelop and teleport entire starships to the other side of the galaxy.
ACKBAR: Glad to be in one piece, Mon Mothma, after what we've seen. We penetrated as far as we could into the star systems still controlled by the Empire. We got as far as the planet Byss. It was ringed with thousands of warships. Something of great consequence is happening there. We saw Imperial ships from both sides of the civil war vanishing into the farthest reaches of the Galactic Core.
MON MOTHMA: Our spies and probe droids report similar sightings in other sectors. Whole fleets of ships vanishing from our tracking screens. What can it mean?
--Dark Empire Audio Drama
(★) The Reborn Emperor transported Luke and R2-D2 from across the galaxy to Byss and dumped them into a prison ship.
Note: Given how small the room is, the Force Storm would also have to have been very small. This leads me to believe Palpatine can alter the size of his Storms on the fly and use them in combat just as effectively as any other Force ability.
(★) The Reborn Emperor unleashes a Force Storm upon Da Soocha V, consuming the Rebel fleet and their Pinnacle Base and eventually the Eclipse.
Gallery
"One of the Emperor's Force Storms destroyed the Alliance base on the moon of Da Soocha and the entire fleet above it. Every day I'm reminded how lucky we are that Palpatine is lost to Chaos forever."
--Luke Skywalker, Book of the Sith
Note: This Storm was far more powerful than the one Palpatine unleashed on Coruscant.
He summoned up a huge Force storm, far more powerful than the one that had swept Coruscant.
--The Essential Chronology
Note: Mon Mothma notes how the Storm is taking over the entire moon (she erroneously referred to it as a planet), and Luke concluded that the Storm had the power to destroy entire worlds after seeing it in action, implying that Palpatine is a moon buster. The background visuals of the scene also support this, showing Palpatine’s Storm going around the entire moon.
Luke: He's created another energy storm.
Leia: It’s descending on Pinnacle Base, consuming all the ships in its path. (Sound of comlink activating.) Mon Mothma, can you hear me?
Mon Mothma: Princess Leia. There’s an energy storm. It’s suddenly taken over the planet! We have twelve ships lost already. All our hands are being lost. We’re being wiped out!
Han: Leia, Leia! (Sound of comlink deactivating.)
Leia: You’re going to slaughter all those people.
Palpatine: Yes. Did I not warn you? I’ve played along with your Jedi dueling games long enough. Now, you will experience my full potency. I live as energy. I am the dark side!
--Dark Empire audio drama
"The Reborn Emperor used this at Da Soocha. It has the power to kill worlds."
--Luke Skywalker, The Jedi Path
There are no rings in any other depiction of Da Soocha V, so it must be the Storm.
Note: This Storm is noted to be able to eventually consume all of space, indicating omniversal levels of power.
Unleashing the full power of his hatred, he conjures a Force Storm that threatens to consume all of space, including the New Republic fleet.
--The Comics Companion
Although Palpatine never reached this level, his Storms would eventually have been able to destroy entire planets in a fraction of a second.
“In time, the channeled anger of the dark side will prove just as destructive as the Death Star. There will no longer be a need for costly constructions.”
As an infant, Sheev fights his Father with unnatural strength and then remarks how he was born mature and fully grown, indicating that his strength matched an adult’s even as an infant.
“I knew this day would come. I’ve known it since the first moment I tried to swaddle you, and you fought me with a strength that was too powerful for your size or age.”
Palpatine looked out from beneath his quirked brows. “I was born mature, Father, fully grown, and you hated me for it, because you grasped that I was everything you can never be.”
--Darth Plagueis
Sheev slaughters his family and their guards, and in doing so strangles his Mother to death, beats up his Father to death, tosses a guard clear across a room, and tears many more apart limb from limb and smashes their skulls.
The hatch began to slide to, and he heard the voice of the guard who had escorted him from the Jafan III. “Stop!”
“Cosinga!” his mother screamed.
Palpatine pressed the palms of his hands to his head, then in eerie calm streaked to the hatch, pulled the surprised guard through the threshold, and tossed him clear across the cabin.
[...]
Once more Sidious allowed his memories to unfold, and he relived the crime—the event, as he had at last come to think of it. His father's limp and bloodied body. The smashed skulls of the bodyguards.
[...]
“Fool,” Plagueis derided him. “Success doesn’t come from summoning help from the Force, but from taking control of it and generating the power from within yourself.” He sighed theatrically. “Still, I’m somewhat encouraged by the progress you’ve made. Mere centimeters from me now, almost within arm’s reach. Soon I’ll be able to feel your breath on my neck and perceive the heat of your rage—your desire to kill me, as if by doing so, you could lay claim to the authority I embody.” He paused but didn’t move, much less glance over his shoulder. “You want to strangle me, like you did your poor, misunderstood mother; tear me limb from limb as you did the bodyguards. Fair enough. But to do so you will have to make a greater effort, Apprentice.”
--Darth Plagueis
Darth Sidious crashes through closed doors.
Then: through a warren of expensively appointed rooms to another set of closed doors, from behind which issued the sounds of a banquet in progress—one that had probably commenced hours earlier and wasn’t meant to end until hours later, with the deaths of Senator Palpatine, Hego Damask, and the other Muuns an accomplished fact.
Now Sidious gave full vent to his ire. Crashing through the doors, he landed in the center of a table covered with plates of grains and grassy plants and surrounded by a herd of grazing Gran, whose boisterous laughs froze in their throats.
--Darth Plagueis
(★) Sidious casually wards of Maul and Savage’s combined strength.
Maul and Savage didn’t waste time seeking an advantageous position. They simply charged, blades shimmering, trying to overpower Sidious with the animal ferocity of their attack. Sidious caught their sabers on his, the weapons howling and crackling where they touched. Maul saw that Savage was startled by the seemingly frail man’s enormous strength. Maul stared at his Master’s face. He saw the strain as Sidious called upon the Force to keep the brothers at bay. But there was something else there, too—a terrible pleasure. Sidious began to grin.
--Darth Maul: Shadow Conspiracy
Sidious overpowers Darth Maul in a bladelock.
Chancellor Palpatine shows remarkable strength during his rescue mission aboard the Invisible Hand.
Aboard Grievous's devastated flagship, Palpatine shows remarkable strength and dexterity by negotiating a precarious elevator shaft and corridors turned topsy-turvy by ruined gravity projectors.
--The Complete Visual Dictionary
(★) Emperor Palpatine is able to match Yoda in bladelocks.
Gallery
Emperor Palpatine is able to effortlessly carry the burnt body of Darth Vader.
And on Mustafar, below the red thunder of a volcano, a Sith Lord had already snatched from sand of black glass the charred torso and head of what once had been a man, and had already leapt for the cliffbank above with effortless strength, and had already roared to his clones to bring the medical capsule immediately!
--Revenge of the Sith novelization
The Emperor lifts Vader to his feet with uncanny strength.
Immediately she bucked, tentacles flailing, and he drove his lightsaber down into her back. To his surprise, the blade only bit partially and then slipped to the side. She screamed and hissed with agony. He grasped it two-handed again, preparing another blow, but she reared up hard, bucking, and flung him to the floor. He landed near his Master, who grabbed him by the arm and heaved him to his feet with uncanny strength.
--Lords of the Sith
(★) The Reborn Emperor pushes Luke Skywalker to his limit with his strength.
Darth Sidious jumps like a feline at Darth Plagueis, several times.
Like a feline, Sidious leapt from the scree, his curled fingers aimed for Plagueis.
[...]
Sidious whirled, flinging himself at Plagueis, only to meet an irresistible force and be hurled backward to the frozen ground.
--Darth Plagueis
Sidious keeps up with a herd of animals alongside his Master.
In mad pursuit of their prey and all but taking flight, the two Sith, Master and apprentice for eleven years now, bounded across the grassy terrain, their short capes snapping behind them, vibroblades clenched in their hands and bare forearms flecked with gore; blood caked in the human's long hair and dried on the Muun's hairless brow. Twisting and swirling around them was a herd of agile, long-necked quadrupeds with brown-and-black fur; identical and moving as if possessed of a single mind, leaping at the same instant, reversing direction, cycloning gregariously over the short-napped savanna.
“This is not a chase,” Plagueis said as he ran, “this is a summoning. You need to get behind the eyes of your target and become the object of its desire. The same holds true when you summon the Force: you must make yourself desirable, fascinating, addictive, and whatever power you need will be at your command.”
Blended into the herd, the animal Sidious had fixed his sight on would have been indistinguishable to normal beings. But Sidious had the animal in his mind and was now looking through its eyes, one with it. Alongside him suddenly, the creature seemed to intuit its end and tipped its head to one side to expose its muscular neck. The moment the vibroblade stuck, the creature’s eyes rolled back and grew opaque; hot blood spurted but quickly ceased to flow—the Force departing, and Sidious drawing its power deep into himself.
--Darth Plagueis
Sidious and Plagueis deflect omnidirectional blaster fire from rings of droids totaling 200.
On Hypori they were the prey, standing back-to-back in their black zeyd-cloth hooded robes at the center of concentric rings of droids, retrofitted by Baktoid Armor to function as combat automata. Two hundred programmed assailants—bipedal, treaded, some levitated by antigrav generators—armed with a variety of weapons, ranging from hand blasters to short-barreled burst-rifles. Plagueis hadn't allowed his young apprentice to wield a lightsaber until a few years earlier, but Sidious was brandishing one now, self-constructed of phrik alloy and aurodium, and powered by a synthetic crystal. Made for delicate, long-fingered hands—as much a work of art as a weapon—the lightsaber thrummed as he waved the blade from side to side in front of him.
"Every weapon, manufactured by whatever species, has its own properties and peculiarities," Plagueis was saying, his own blade angled toward the ferrocrete floor of the battledome's fabricated cityscape, as if to light a fuse. "Range, penetrating power, refresh rate... In some instances your life might depend on your ability to focus on the weapon rather than the wielder. You must train yourself to identify a weapon instantly—whether it's a product of BlasTech or Merr-Sonn, Tenloss or Prax—so that you will know where to position yourself, and the several ways to best deflect a well-aimed bolt."
Plagueis put his words into action as the first ring of droids began to converge on them, staggering the attack and triggering bursts at random. Orbiting Sidious, the Muun's blade warded off every volley, returning the bolts to their sources, or deflecting them into the facades of the faux buildings surrounding them or into other droids. At other times Plagueis made no attempt to redirect the attacks, but simply torqued his rangy body, allowing the bolts to miss him by centimeters. Around the two Sith, the automata collapsed one after the next, gushing lubricants from holed reservoirs or exploding in a hail of alloy parts, until all were heaped on the ferrocrete floor.
"The next ring is yours," Plagueis said.
Rugged, uninhabited Hypori belonged to the Techno Union, whose Skakoan foreman, Wat Tambor, owed his seat in the Republic Senate to Damask Holdings. In exchange, the bionic humanoid had made Hypori available as a training ground for members of the Echani Sun Guard and provided the necessary battle droids. Calling in another favor, Hego Damask had requested a private session in the fabricated cityscape, so that Plagueis and his apprentice could be free to employ lightsabers—though only for the purpose of deflecting bolts rather than dismemberment or penetration.
When it came Sidious's turn to demonstrate his skill, Plagueis spoke continuously from behind him, adding distraction to the distinct possibility of inadvertent disintegration.
"A being trained in the killing arts doesn't wait for you to acquire him as a target, or establish him or herself as an opponent, as if in some martial arts contest. Your reactions must be instantaneous and nothing less than lethal, for you are a Sith Lord, and will be marked for death."
The droids continued to converge, ring after ring of them, until the floor was piled high with smoking husks. Plagueis issued a voice command that brought the onslaught to an abrupt end and deactivated his lightsaber. The pinging of cooling weapons, the hiss of escaping gas, the unsteady whir of failing servomotors punctuated the sudden silence. Alloy limbs spasmed and photoreceptors winked out, surrendering their eerie glow. The recycled air was rotten with the smell of fried circuitry.
--Darth Plagueis
(★) Sidious and Plagueis defeat an army of Kursid warriors without sustaining a single hit.
The location of the planet known to the Sith as Kursid had been expunged from the Republic records in distant times, and for the past six hundred years had been reserved for use as a place of spectacle. Masters and apprentices of the Bane lineage had visited with enough regularity that a cult had come into being in that part of the world based on the periodic return of the sky visitors. The Sith hadn't bothered to investigate what Kursid's indigenous humanoids thought about the visits—whether in their belief systems the Sith were regarded as the equivalent of deities or demons—since it was unlikely that the primitives had yet so much as named their world. However, visiting as apprentice and—more often than not—as Master, each Sith Lord had remarked on the slow advancement of Kursid's civilization. How, on the early visits, the primitives had defended themselves with wooden war clubs and smooth rocks hurled from slings. Two hundred years later, many of the small settlements had grown to become cities or ceremonial centers built of a crude sort, and magical guardian symbols had been emblazoned on the sloping sides of defensive walls. At some point previous to Darth Tenebrous's visit as an apprentice, replicas of the Sith ships had been constructed in the center of the arid plateau that served as a battleground, and enormous totemic figures—visible only from above—had been outlined by removing tens of thousands of fists-sized volcanic stones that covered the ground. On Plagueis's first visit, some fifty years earlier, the warriors he and Tenebrous had faced had been armed with longbows and metal-tipped lances.That the Sith had never demanded anything other than battle hadn't kept the primitives from attempting to adopt a policy of appeasement, leaving at the ships' perpetual landing site foodstuffs, sacrificial victims, and works of what they considered art, forged of materials they held precious or sacred. But the Sith had simply ignored the offerings, waiting instead on the stony plain for the primitives to deploy their warriors, as the primitives did now with Plagueis and Sidious waiting. Announcing their arrival with low runs over the city, they had set the ship down and waited for six days, while the mournful calls of breath-driven horns had disturbed the dry silences, and groups of primitives had flocked in to gather on the hillsides that overlooked the battleground.
"Do you recall what Darth Bane said regarding the killing of innocents?" Plagueis had asked.
"Our mission," Sidious paraphrased, "is not to bring death on all those unfit to live. All we do must serve our true purpose—the preservation of our Order and the survival of the Sith. We must work to grow our power, and to accomplish that we will need to interact with individuals of many species across many worlds. Eventually word of our existence will reach the ears of the Jedi."
To refrain from senseless killing, they wielded force pikes rather than lightsabers. Meter-long melee weapons used by the Echani and carried by the Senate Guard, the pikes were equipped with stun-module tips capable of delivering a shock that could overwhelm the nervous systems of most sentients, without causing permanent damage.
"The next few hours will test the limits of your agility, speed, and accuracy," Plagueis said, as several hundred of the biggest, bravest, and most skilled warriors—their bodies daubed in pigments derived from plants, clay, and soil—began to separate themselves from the crowds. "But this is more than some simple exercise in our rise to ultimate power, and therefore servants of the dark side of the Force. Centuries from now, advanced by the Sith, they might confront us with projectile weapons or energy beams. But then we will have evolved, as well, perhaps past the need for this rite, and we will come instead to honor rather than engage them in battle. Through power we gain victory, and through victory our chains are broken. But power is only a means to an end."
To the clamorous beating of drums and the wailing of the onlookers, the warriors brandished their weapons, raised a deafening war cry, and attacked. A nod from Plagueis, and the two Sith sped across the plain to meet them, flying among them like wraiths, evading arrows, gleaming spear tips, and blows from battle-axes, going one against one, two, or three, but felling opponent after opponent with taps from the force pikes, until among the hundreds of jerking, twitching bodies sprawled on the rough ground, only one was left standing. That was when Plagueis tossed aside the stun pike and ignited his crimson blade, and a collective lament rose from the crowds on the hillsides.
"Execute one, terrify one thousand," he said.
Hurling the warrior to the ground with a Force push, he used the lightsaber to deftly open the primitive's chest cavity; then he reached a hand inside and extracted his still beating heart.
--Darth Plagueis
Sidious kills a pair of Dugs so fast that he looked like a blur to human senses and a phantom to security cameras.
Crawling to the first egress—a distance of scarcely ten meters—he lowered himself into a murky storage room and once more called the weapon’s crimson blade from the hilt. Constructed to fit the Muun’s large hand, the lightsaber felt unwieldy in Sidious’s, so he switched to a two-handed grip. Moving with a caution that belied his murderous intent, and on the alert for cams or other security devices, he eased out of the room into a tight corridor and followed it toward the front of the building. There, in a formal entryway, two Dugs were standing guard in a desultory way. Moving quickly, a blur to human senses, he caught them by surprise, splitting open the chest and abdomen of one and beheading the other while the first was attempting to prevent his entrails from spilling onto the glossy mosaic floor. A brief scan of the foyer revealed the presence of cams installed in the walls and high ceiling. He wondered how the killings appeared to anyone monitoring a display screen. It must have seemed as if the two Dugs had been butchered by a phantom.
--Darth Plagueis
(★) Sidious speedblitzes Maul multiple times.
Maul parried the blow and reversed, coming at Sidious from the opposite side. But Sidious had already vanished, leaving Maul to lunge at the empty air. As Maul lost his balance, his body fell against the cave's wall.
Sidious said from behind Maul, "You are that pathetic. You are weak. Not worthy of being a Sith Lord. I have misjudged you."
Maul's anger burned to rage. He spun fast and swung his lightsaber again, but again he failed to strike Sidious, who moved faster than he could follow.
--The Wrath of Darth Maul
I parry the blow and reverse, come at him from the opposite side. But he is already gone by the time I am able to make my attack. The lunge throws off my balance. I weave, the cave walls blurring. He laughs.
--Episode 1 Journal: Darth Maul
The lightsaber whirls in the air, twirling, held in my Master's hand. I can't track it, it moves so fast. But I know it's heading for me. Lord Sidious moves faster than my eye can follow. I smell heat and smoke. The laser traces the outline of my body, my face, my hands. The buzz is loud in my ear. One flinch, one involuntary twitch of a muscle, and I am dead.
--Episode 1 Journal: Darth Maul
Sidious raised his saber and flew at Maul, who parried desperately, his mechanical legs whirring as he sought to counter his former Master’s blows. Sidious’s sabers were a blur, a whirling cage of deadly plasma. Maul danced away from one blow, then reversed his movement to avoid another, and then there were too many to count, and then there were even more than that.
Maul’s saber spun out of his hand, bouncing away across the floor.
--Darth Maul: Shadow Conspiracy
(★) Sidious is the fastest fighter in the movies according to Ian McDiarmid.
“But I didn't know he could use a lightsaber, and twice as fast, in fact, no, five hundred times as fast as anyone else.”
--Ian McDiarmid, Becoming Sidious
“So it was to my astonishment when I got the script, and I saw that indeed I had a lightsaber, and that I seemed to be the fastest fighter in the universe.”
--Ian McDiarmid
Maul is in awe of Sidious’ speed.
But strong as he had become, Maul found himself in awe of Sidious. The Sith Lord was astonishingly fast and efficient, and the Force flowed through him effortlessly.
--Darth Maul: Shadow Conspiracy
(★) Sidious speedblitzes Agen Kolar, Saesee Tiin and Kit Fisto.
Before the Jedi could react, Palpatine sprang into action and killed all of them except Mace Windu.
--Databank: Emperor Palpatine/Darth Sidious
Before Mace realizes what has happened, Kolar, Tiin, and Fisto have fallen to Sidious's blade.
--The Complete Visual Dictionary
Here - in a lavish Senatorial office atop one of the tallest buildings on Coruscant - the endgame of the conflict between Sith and Jedi begins. Revealed as a Dark Lord of the Sith - Chancellor Palpatine vaults across his desk with the uncanny speed of a master in the Force - his lightsaber blazing to life. Its blade carries the swift death of no less than three Jedi.
--Jedi vs Darth Sidious 5-Pack
In the inner recesses of his private office, the Jedi confronted the Chancellor. Palpatine produced a lightsaber hidden in his sleeve and let the dark side flow through him. It granted him unnatural dexterity and speed—enough to quickly kill three Jedi Masters and force the mighty Mace Windu back.
--The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia
(★) Sidious moves so fast that Anakin only sees him as a blur.
Anakin blinked and rubbed his eyes again. Maybe he was still a bit flash-blind—the Korun Master seemed to be fading in and out of existence, half swallowed by a thickening black haze in which danced a meter-long bar of sunfire. Mace pressed back the darkness with a relentless straight-ahead march; his own blade, that distinctive amethyst blaze that had been the final sight of so many evil beings across the galaxy, made a haze of its own: an oblate sphere of purple fire within which there seemed to be dozens of swords slashing in all directions at once.
The shadow he fought, that blur of speed—could that be Palpatine?
Their blades flared and flashed, crashing together with bursts of fire, weaving nets of killing energy in exchanges so fast that Anakin could not truly see them—but he could feel them in the Force. The Force itself roiled and burst and crashed around them, boiling with power and lightspeed ricochets of lethal intent. And it was darkening.
--Revenge of the Sith novelization
(★) The Emperor keeps up with Yoda’s speed, both moving so fast that they form a tornado.
In that lightning-speared tornado of feet and fists and blades and bashing machines, his vision finally pierced the darkness that had clouded the Force.
--Revenge of the Sith novelization
Emperor Palpatine speedblitzes three Jedi.
The Emperor moves with preternatural speed, so fast that his lightsaber appears as a blur to Vader.
Vader turned and looked down to the floor below, where his Master, surrounded by a dozen or more lyleks, was spinning, whirling, leaping, his lightsaber moving so fast it blurred. He looked tiny amid their bulk but moved with preternatural speed, his blade stabbing and slashing and severing. He was laughing, the familiar cackle somehow audible above the sounds of the horde.
--Lords of the Sith
The Emperor dodges the lylek queen’s attacks which were described as “rapid.”
She lurched sidewise and lashed out with a tentacle, which struck him squarely and knocked him to the floor. She turned as though to advance on him, but his Master sprang before her, jumping, twirling, and ducking under the rapid swings of her tentacles and the spikes of her legs. His lightsaber slashed rapidly at every opening, striking the tentacles but scarring them only, not severing them.
The queen lunged toward his Master and he flipped backward, landing a few paces away.
[...]
He saw his Master dodging the rapid, repeated strikes of the queen's tentacles. The Emperor twisted and spun and leapt, slashing with his lightsaber where he could, and where the blade bit into the thick tentacles it opened black gashes that leaked a thick ichor. The pain seemed only to make her angrier.
Vader leapt high and landed at his Master's side. The queen roared and loosed a flurry of strikes. Working in tandem, they parried her blows, counterstruck, opened dozens of holes in her tentacles, their blades spinning blurs before them. Her very bulk slowly pushed them backward, and from time to time they had to turn their attention to a lylek that rushed them or tried to jump them from the side. Moving almost as one, the two Sith Lords turned and spun around an unspoken central point, parrying, slashing, killing.
--Lords of the Sith
The Emperor moves faster than Galen Marek, preventing the latter's attempt to speedblitz him.
(★) The Emperor speedblitzes Galen Marek.
(★) The Emperor Reborn moves far faster than Luke Skywalker and dances circles around him despite being unarmed, and then defeats him very quickly in lightsaber combat.
Palpatine: Too late, Skywalker! Too late!
Luke: (swings his lightsaber)
Palpatine: Yes, you missed one clone.
Luke: (swings his lightsaber)
Palpatine: And one is all I need, for now.
Luke: (swings his lightsaber)
Palpatine: Look at me, I am young again!
Luke: (swings his lightsaber)
Palpatine: I will live forever!
Luke: (swings his lightsaber) Not if I can help it! (grunts)
Palpatine: (laughs) Too slow, Skywalker?
Luke: (swings his lightsaber) (grunts)
Palpatine: You think you could conquer me by coming here?
Luke: (swings his lightsaber) (grunts)
Palpatine: To Byss...
Luke: (swings his lightsaber) (grunts)
Palpatine: ...to the very heart of the dark side!
Luke: (swings his lightsaber) (grunts) You forget, I am a Jedi Master now, and I know something about the dark side! (Force pushes Palpatine)
Palpatine: (grunts) You try to use the Force against me? All you've succeeded in doing, is hurling me within reach of my collection of Jedi weapons. As for your dark side knowledge... (draws his lightsaber) ... does it tell you how many so-called Jedi Masters failed to vanquish me?
Luke: (swings his lightsaber)
Palpatine: Does it tell you that I have already beaten you?
Luke: (swings his lightsaber)
Palpatine: Good, Jedi... Your kind will soon be extinct...
Luke: (swings his lightsaber)
Palpatine: ...and how fitting that one of their precious lightsaber brings an end to the Jedi delusion!
Luke: (grunts)
Luke and Palpatine: (clash lightsabers)
Luke: (grunts)
Luke and Palpatine: (clash lightsabers)
Palpatine: What's the matter, Skywalker?
Luke and Palpatine: (clash lightsabers)
Luke: (swings his lightsaber)
Palpatine: Getting tired?
Luke and Palpatine: (clash lightsabers)
Palpatine: Not quite as young as you were when you fought you father?
Luke and Palpatine: (clash lightsabers)
Luke: You have filled the galaxy with your darkness... (swings his lightsaber) ...but I have seen what my father could not see.
Luke and Palpatine: (clash lightsabers)
Luke: I have seen that ultimately, the dark side will fail!
Luke and Palpatine: (clash lightsabers)
Palpatine: Jedi fool! In spite of the stories you tell yourself, I am the stronger!
Luke and Palpatine: (clash lightsabers)
Palpatine: Did I not warn you?
Luke: (swings his lightsaber)
Palpatine: Now, take the consequences of your failure, like you father before you! (disarms Luke)
--Dark Empire audio drama
After a brief lightsaber battle, the Emperor subdued Luke and broke his will.
--Handbook 3: Dark Empire
(★) The Reborn Emperor moves so fast that Leia can barely see him.
"Be careful, Luke! The Force is so strong... They’re both moving so fast, I can hardly see them."
(★) Sidious withstands the pain of multiple lightsaber burns over the course of several weeks and soldiers on.
Clawing his way across the tundra, his body rashed with lightsaber burns, Sidious looked up at Plagueis, imploringly.
"How much longer, Master?"
Plagueis deactivated his weapon's crimson blade and scowled. "Perhaps a moment, perhaps an eternity. Stop thinking of the future, and anchor yourself in the present. A Sith apprentice is the antithesis of a Jedi youngling nurtured in the Temple, battling a floating remote with a training lightsaber. A Sith acquaints himself with pain from the start, and inflicts it, as well. A Sith goes for the throat, just as you did on your family's starship."
Sidious continued to gaze at him. “I meant, how much longer will it take me to learn?”
The Muun sized him up with a look. “Hard to tell. Humans are their own worst enemies. Your body isn’t meant to withstand real punishment. It is easily injured and slow to heal. Your olfactory and tactile senses are relatively acute, but your auditory and visual senses are extremely limited.”
“Have I no strengths, Master?”
Plagueis dropped to one knee in front of him. “You have the Force, apprentice, and the talent to lead. More, you have the bloodlust of a serial killer, though we need to hold that in reserve unless violence serves some extraordinary purpose. We are not butchers, Sidious, like some past Sith Lords. We are architects of the future.”
Sidious swallowed and found his voice. “How long?”
Plagueis stood, reigniting the lightsaber as he did so. “Not a standard day sooner than a decade.”
--Darth Plagueis
Sidious is unharmed by a thirteen-story fall.
The Malastare ambassador’s residence occupied three mid-tier stories of a slender building located at the edge of the government district. The front of the residence looked out on the stand-alone Galactic Courts of the Justice Building, but the rear faced a narrow canyon that was more than fifty levels deep and off limits to traffic. Following directions furnished by Pestage, Sidious rode turbolifts and pedestrian walkways to a meager balcony ten levels above the upper story of the residence. His fury notwithstanding, he would have preferred to linger until nightfall, which came early to that part of Coruscant, but he was certain that the Gran were expecting word that the Maladians had satisfied the terms of the contract, and he couldn’t risk having them flee for the stars before he got to them. So he lingered on the balcony until it and the walkway in both directions were unoccupied, then jumped from the overlook and called on the Force to deliver him safely to a narrow ledge that ran beneath the lowest floor of the residence.
--Darth Plagueis
(★) Sidious can survive bisection from the waist.
Like his master, Maul is resilient and has the uncanny ability to cheat death, surviving a potentially fatal encounter with Obi-Wan Kenobi on Naboo.
--Studying Skywalkers: Darth Sidious Is Your Master Now
(★) Sidious is unharmed by Savage ramming into him and the latter’s horns are unable to pierce his skin.
Sidious is unarmed by a rage-amped Darth Maul’s kick.
Emperor Palpatine withstands being hurled into his chair.
Emperor Palpatine withstands being kicked by Yoda.
The Emperor withstands being rammed into by the lylek queen.
Frustrated, the queen rushed toward them with surprising speed. Her huge body slammed into them both, knocking them backward. Quick as a lightning strike, she struck with snapping mandibles.The Emperor fell flat to the floor to avoid the bite and she slammed her legs down at him like so many pikes, each blow chipping the stone of the floor.
--Lords of the Sith
The Emperor casually tanks Galen Marek's blunt force trauma and Force Lightning, only to laugh at his attempt and not even bother to fight back.
Gallery
(★) The Reborn Emperor shrugs off the impact of a ton of machinery.
Gallery
LEIA: (echoing, thinking to herself) Come on, Leia. If there was ever a time to prove you're a Jedi, now's the time. Wait--that power generator's suspended from the ceiling. It's heavy enough to crush a Bantha. If I can just use the Force.....
ARTOO: BEEPS IN SURPRISE.
THREEPIO: Power surge? I don't sense a power surge anywhere.
Sound: The Force is getting louder.....
EMPEROR: Long ago, I found my flesh could not withstand the awesome demands of the Dark Side. The great Emperor himself discovered he was dying.
LEIA: (whisper) Fall.....fall.....
EMPEROR: My body was literally consumed by the energies I had released. Fortunately there was a way....a road to eternal life....
LEIA: (whisper) now.....
Sound: The power generator cracks, falls on the Emperor--and explodes.
EMPEROR: (roars with laughter)
LEIA: (gasping with the effort).....how?!?
EMPEROR: Well done, my daughter! Your first step toward the Dark Side of the Force! But it will take more than a Jedi apprentice and a falling object to kill me. Now, let ME show YOU something!
--Dark Empire Audio Drama
When Leia tried to kill the Emperor by dropping a cooling unit on him, Palpatine shrugged off the crushing impact of a ton of machinery.
(★) Sidious endures weeks in an arctic tundra with no environmental suit, food, drink, or sleep while enduring lightsaber burns.
Scarcely listening, Sidious moved with utmost care, his hands and knees seeking firm purchase on the stones. For weeks Darth Plagueis had deprived him of sleep, food, and water. Now if only he could reach the Muun, his thirst would be slaked, his hunger sated, his contusions healed. Countless times the broad expanse of rock debris had slipped and he’d had to ride the slide almost to the shore of the lake, tumbling, surfing on his front and back, abrading his ruddy skin, bruising nearly every part of himself. Only to have to pick his way back to the top.
Seething in silence, he managed to scale a meter more of the slope, calling on the Force to ensure his balance, to render him weightless.
“Fool,” Plagueis derided him. “Success doesn’t come from summoning help from the Force, but from taking control of it and generating the power from within yourself.” He sighed theatrically. “Still, I’m somewhat encouraged by the progress you’ve made. Mere centimeters from me now, almost within arm’s reach. Soon I’ll be able to feel your breath on my neck and perceive the heat of your rage—your desire to kill me, as if by doing so, you could lay claim to the authority I embody.” He paused but didn’t move, much less glance over his shoulder. “You want to strangle me, like you did your poor, misunderstood mother; tear me limb from limb as you did the bodyguards. Fair enough. But to do so you will have to make a greater effort, Apprentice.”
Like a feline, Sidious leapt from the scree, his curled fingers aimed for Plagueis. But instead of vising themselves around the Muun’s slender neck, his hands went through thin air and met each other, leaving him to collapse face-first atop the outcropping. Off to one side he heard his Master laugh in scorn. Either Plagueis had moved faster than Sidious could discern or, worse yet, he had never been there to begin with.
“So easily tricked,” Plagueis said, confirming the latter. “You waste my time. More of this and the dark side will never take an interest in you.”
Sidious whirled, flinging himself at Plagueis, only to meet an irresistible force and be hurled backward to the frozen ground.
The Muun’s shadow fell over him. Arms folded across his chest, Plagueis loomed.“
If you’re to succeed in inhabiting both realms, Sidious—the profane world and that of the Force—you need to learn how to use guile to your advantage, and to recognize when others are employing it.” Without extending a hand, Plagueis tugged him to his feet. “If you can survive a few more days without sustenance or rest, I may be inclined to teach you.”
[...]
Clawing his way across the tundra, his body rashed with lightsaber burns, Sidious looked up at Plagueis, imploringly.
"How much longer, Master?"
Plagueis deactivated his weapon's crimson blade and scowled. "Perhaps a moment, perhaps an eternity. Stop thinking of the future, and anchor yourself in the present. A Sith apprentice is the antithesis of a Jedi youngling nurtured in the Temple, battling a floating remote with a training lightsaber. A Sith acquaints himself with pain from the start, and inflicts it, as well. A Sith goes for the throat, just as you did on your family's starship."
Sidious continued to gaze at him. “I meant, how much longer will it take me to learn?”
The Muun sized him up with a look. “Hard to tell. Humans are their own worst enemies. Your body isn’t meant to withstand real punishment. It is easily injured and slow to heal. Your olfactory and tactile senses are relatively acute, but your auditory and visual senses are extremely limited.”
“Have I no strengths, Master?”
Plagueis dropped to one knee in front of him. “You have the Force, apprentice, and the talent to lead. More, you have the bloodlust of a serial killer, though we need to hold that in reserve unless violence serves some extraordinary purpose. We are not butchers, Sidious, like some past Sith Lords. We are architects of the future.”
Sidious swallowed and found his voice. “How long?”
Plagueis stood, reigniting the lightsaber as he did so. “Not a standard day sooner than a decade.”
--Darth Plagueis
(★) Sidious and Plagueis defeat an army of Kursid warriors in a fight that lasted multiple hours without breaking a sweat.
The location of the planet known to the Sith as Kursid had been expunged from the Republic records in distant times, and for the past six hundred years had been reserved for use as a place of spectacle. Masters and apprentices of the Bane lineage had visited with enough regularity that a cult had come into being in that part of the world based on the periodic return of the sky visitors. The Sith hadn't bothered to investigate what Kursid's indigenous humanoids thought about the visits—whether in their belief systems the Sith were regarded as the equivalent of deities or demons—since it was unlikely that the primitives had yet so much as named their world. However, visiting as apprentice and—more often than not—as Master, each Sith Lord had remarked on the slow advancement of Kursid's civilization. How, on the early visits, the primitives had defended themselves with wooden war clubs and smooth rocks hurled from slings. Two hundred years later, many of the small settlements had grown to become cities or ceremonial centers built of a crude sort, and magical guardian symbols had been emblazoned on the sloping sides of defensive walls. At some point previous to Darth Tenebrous's visit as an apprentice, replicas of the Sith ships had been constructed in the center of the arid plateau that served as a battleground, and enormous totemic figures—visible only from above—had been outlined by removing tens of thousands of fists-sized volcanic stones that covered the ground. On Plagueis's first visit, some fifty years earlier, the warriors he and Tenebrous had faced had been armed with longbows and metal-tipped lances.That the Sith had never demanded anything other than battle hadn't kept the primitives from attempting to adopt a policy of appeasement, leaving at the ships' perpetual landing site foodstuffs, sacrificial victims, and works of what they considered art, forged of materials they held precious or sacred. But the Sith had simply ignored the offerings, waiting instead on the stony plain for the primitives to deploy their warriors, as the primitives did now with Plagueis and Sidious waiting. Announcing their arrival with low runs over the city, they had set the ship down and waited for six days, while the mournful calls of breath-driven horns had disturbed the dry silences, and groups of primitives had flocked in to gather on the hillsides that overlooked the battleground.
"Do you recall what Darth Bane said regarding the killing of innocents?" Plagueis had asked.
"Our mission," Sidious paraphrased, "is not to bring death on all those unfit to live. All we do must serve our true purpose—the preservation of our Order and the survival of the Sith. We must work to grow our power, and to accomplish that we will need to interact with individuals of many species across many worlds. Eventually word of our existence will reach the ears of the Jedi."
To refrain from senseless killing, they wielded force pikes rather than lightsabers. Meter-long melee weapons used by the Echani and carried by the Senate Guard, the pikes were equipped with stun-module tips capable of delivering a shock that could overwhelm the nervous systems of most sentients, without causing permanent damage.
"The next few hours will test the limits of your agility, speed, and accuracy," Plagueis said, as several hundred of the biggest, bravest, and most skilled warriors—their bodies daubed in pigments derived from plants, clay, and soil—began to separate themselves from the crowds. "But this is more than some simple exercise in our rise to ultimate power, and therefore servants of the dark side of the Force. Centuries from now, advanced by the Sith, they might confront us with projectile weapons or energy beams. But then we will have evolved, as well, perhaps past the need for this rite, and we will come instead to honor rather than engage them in battle. Through power we gain victory, and through victory our chains are broken. But power is only a means to an end."
To the clamorous beating of drums and the wailing of the onlookers, the warriors brandished their weapons, raised a deafening war cry, and attacked. A nod from Plagueis, and the two Sith sped across the plain to meet them, flying among them like wraiths, evading arrows, gleaming spear tips, and blows from battle-axes, going one against one, two, or three, but felling opponent after opponent with taps from the force pikes, until among the hundreds of jerking, twitching bodies sprawled on the rough ground, only one was left standing. That was when Plagueis tossed aside the stun pike and ignited his crimson blade, and a collective lament rose from the crowds on the hillsides.
"Execute one, terrify one thousand," he said.
Hurling the warrior to the ground with a Force push, he used the lightsaber to deftly open the primitive's chest cavity; then he reached a hand inside and extracted his still beating heart.
--Darth Plagueis
Sidious had only begun to tap into his Force reserves during his fight with Maul.
But I have been weakened by my ordeal, and my Master maneuvers me against the cave wall. I am gasping, trying to suck in enough air to keep going. My vision blurs as Lord Sidious raises his lightsaber. I parry the blow, but my lightsaber suddenly flies out of my hand, torn by the power of my Master directing the dark side. I realize then that he has just begun to tap into his own reserves. Mine are played out.
--Episode 1 Journal: Darth Maul
(★) Sidious showed no signs of fatigue during his duel with Mace Windu, and could have possibly fought for all eternity.
But there was still only the cycle of power, the endless loop, no wound taken on either side, not even the possibility of fatigue.Impasse.Which might have gone on forever, if Vaapad were Mace's only gift.
--Revenge of the Sith novelization
Emperor Palpatine forgoes sleep entirely for the rest of his life.
Envy, hatred, betrayal... They were essential to mastering the dark side, but only as a means of distancing oneself from all common notions of morality in the interest of a higher goal. Only when Sidious had understood this fully had he acted on it, killing his Master while he slept. Unlike Plagueis, Sidious knew better than to sleep.
--Dark Lord: The Rise of Darth Vader
Close aides say that Palpatine sometimes works for days without sleeping.
--The Complete Visual Dictionary
(★) The Emperor maintains his Byss draining and domination, and galaxy-wide Battle Meditation 24/7 for his entire reign, 23 years, without running out of Force reserves.
Almost mindless under the oppression of the Emperor's dark side influence, the people of Byss find their life energies constantly leeched off during the Emperor's vile machinations.
Throughout the worlds submissive to the Empire, Byss is renowned as a paradise, whose siren call multitudes to willingly apply for emigration to its shores. Once there, wrapped in the power of the dark side, the immigrants become completely submissive, their life energy forever enslaved to the mind that would devour a galaxy.
--Dark Empire endnotes
For the first time, the Death Star rocked. The collision with the exploding destroyer was only the beginning, leading to various systems breakdowns, which led to reactor meltdowns, which led to personnel panic, abandonment of posts, further malfunctions, and general chaos. Smoke was everywhere, substantial rumblings came from all directions at once, people were running and shouting. Electrical fires, steam explosions, cabin depressurizations, disruption of chain-of-command. Added to this, the continued bombardments by Rebel Cruisers—smelling fear in the enemy—merely heightened the sense of hysteria that was already pervasive. For the Emperor was dead. The central, powerful evil that had been the cohesive force to the Empire was gone; and when the dark side was this diffused, this nondirected—this was simply where it led.
Confusion.
Desperation.
Damp fear.
--Return of the Jedi novelization
Palpatine knew precisely why the Empire couldn’t last without his dread power: he had designed it that way. No one ever suspected how much he relied on the Dark Side of the Force. He shaped those of his government by using the Force against them. He used it to control his fleets and to drive his soldiers on to victory. He used it to destroy his enemies from a distance and learn of conspiracies against him. Without it, there was no way the Empire could endure, as he had designed it. The Dark Side flowed through him like some primordial ichor and was the key to all his power.
Darth Sidious bolsters his balance on a slippery slope.
Scarcely listening, Sidious moved with utmost care, his hands and knees seeking firm purchase on the stones. For weeks Darth Plagueis had deprived him of sleep, food, and water. Now if only he could reach the Muun, his thirst would be slaked, his hunger sated, his contusions healed. Countless times the broad expanse of rock debris had slipped and he’d had to ride the slide almost to the shore of the lake, tumbling, surfing on his front and back, abrading his ruddy skin, bruising nearly every part of himself. Only to have to pick his way back to the top. Seething in silence, he managed to scale a meter more of the slope, calling on the Force to ensure his balance, to render him weightless.
--Darth Plagueis
Chancellor Palpatine roots himself to the floor with the Force so as to not fall out of the window.
Out where the shadow's fear turned some of its Force-powered speed into a Force-powered grip on the slippery permacrete.
--Revenge of the Sith novelization
The Emperor and Vader hold themselves in their seats with the Force during a shuttlecrash.
“Brace yourselves, my lords,” came the shuttle pilot’s voice over the comm. He tried to sound calm, but tension tightened his words.The blast wave slammed into the side of the shuttle, knocking it sidewise, carrying it along for tens of kilometers, and causing it to list sharply. Vader and the Emperor, seated, used the Force to hold their position, but the four members of the Royal Guard were thrown hard against the bulkhead. A wall-mounted comp station spit sparks. An alarm rang. The cabin lights blinked, browned, and failed, casting the cabin in darkness and silencing the alarm. In the quiet, Vader’s breathing was the only sound.
--Lords of the Sith
The Emperor and Vader root themselves to the floor with the Force so as to not get sucked out into space.
Darth Sidious trained Darth Maul in numerous exotic and forbidden martial arts, being skilled in them himself.
"I trained him in numerous exotic and forbidden martial arts, disciplined him constantly, and personally applied the Sith tattoos that were evidence of his complete dedication to the dark side."
--Darth Sidious, Jedi vs Sith: The Essential Guide to the Force
(★) Sidious trained Count Dooku to an even greater level of mastery in the art of dueling.
His prowess was both exceptional and deadly, and many regarded him as one of the greatest warriors in the history of the Jedi Order. However, once Dooku left the Jedi Order to become an apprentice to the Sith Lord Darth Sidious, his skills became even more formidable.
--The Official Star Wars Fact File #68
For ten long years, Count Dooku lived in hiding, honing his Jedi skills and crafting his vision of the galaxy's future.
--Unleashed Collectibles
Note: Dooku was already the greatest Jedi duelist in history, after Mace Windu and Yoda, as a Jedi. This would mean Sidious is more skilled than any Jedi duelist in history aside from Mace and Yoda.
Under Yoda's tutelage, Dooku became one of the greatest sword masters the Order had ever produced - eclipsed only by Mace Windu and Yoda himself.
--The Official Starships & Vehicles Collection #48
Yoda taught many pupils throughout his years, including Dooku, who became one of the finest sword masters the Order ever produced - eclipsed only by Mace Windu and Yoda himself.
--The Official Starships & Vehicles Collection #48
(★) Sidious is able to identify any type of weapon, and is a master of every weapon and every fighting style.
Sidious can appear frail and slow, but the Sith Lord should not be underestimated - he is a master of all forms of lightsaber combat.
--The Clone Wars Episode Guide
"Sidious is a master of every weapon and every style."
--Nick Gillard, the prequel stunt coordinator
"Every weapon, manufactured by whatever species, has its own properties and peculiarities," Plagueis was saying, his own blade angled toward the ferrocrete floor of the battledome's fabricated cityscape, as if to light a fuse. "Range, penetrating power, refresh rate... In some instances your life might depend on your ability to focus on the weapon rather than the wielder. You must train yourself to identify a weapon instantly—whether it's a product of BlasTech or Merr-Sonn, Tenloss or Prax—so that you will know where to position yourself, and the several ways to best deflect a well-aimed bolt."
--Darth Plagueis
As an example of his technical mastery and knowledge, Sidious instructed Dooku to construct a curve-hilted lightsaber in order to have a greater edge against ordinary Jedi, displaying his knowledge regarding the curve-hilted lightsaber.
He was fully aware that his apprentice would eventually engage in duels against other Jedi, and believed Dooku’s emphasis on pure lightsaber combat to be a tremendous advantage.
Once he became Dooku’s Master, Sidious encouraged to make this strategic edge even sharper. After leaving the Jedi, Dooku discarded the weapon he had constructed as a Padawan under Master Yoda and began work on a new device. The end result was a lightsabre that featured a curved hilt, which was a standard configuration when Form II was at the height of its popularity.
--The Official Star Wars Fact File #68
Another example: Sidious stored schematics of the double-bladed lightsaber in his holocron, indicating that he knows how to build and use one.
In his Master's Sith Holocron, Maul found patterns for Sith speeders, probe droids, and a double-bladed lightsaber, and reproduced them with faithful precision.
--The New Essential Guide to Characters
Upon seeing the Zabrak's lightsaber produce two blades, Plagueis drew in his breath. "A saber-staff! The weapon of Exar Kun! Did he construct that?"
"The prototype was two lightsabers he had wielded pommel-to-pommel in imitation of the Iridonian zhaboka. I furnished the knowledge that allowed him to construct the one he is using."
--Darth Plagueis
Sidious is ambidextrous with a lightsaber.
"Pertaining to whether Sidious is right-handed or left-handed with a lightsaber, he's ambidextrous. He's just that good."
--Nick Gillard
(★) Sidious has a fighting style shrouded in mystery that is constantly changing and is supposedly unbeatable.
Grievous wasn't the only villain given his own unique lightsaber method. For Episode III Gillard also was tasked with designing an impressive style for a character fans saw fight only briefly (via Force lightning) in Return of the Jedi -- the Emperor.
--The Official Star Wars Website
"It took a really long time for Nick (Gillard) to work out Sidious' fighting style, and he has a style that's constantly changing. His style is one in which you'll never get the better of him. It is ambiguous --- he'll fight less than you and draw you in; you're a sucker if you think you're going to better him."
--Nikki Gooley, the prequel makeup supervisor
"His character is so shrouded that his fighting style should be shrouded as well. The Emperor is deadly dangerous."
--Nick Gillard
Sidious uses everything available to him in lightsaber combat, indicating a pragmatic approach to combat.
"I think we've got time for a few more exercises," Skywalker decided, turning back to face her. "That technique of yours is very interesting - Obi-Wan never taught me anything about using the tip of the lightsaber blade."
"The Emperor's philosophy was to use everything you had available," Mara said.
--The Last Command
(★) Sidious is at the highest level of lightsaber fighting, level nine, better than Yoda and the best duelist in the films.
Level nine, the highest level of lightsaber fighting, is occupied by a small number of capable sword masters, including Yoda and Darth Sidious. At so high a ranking, it comes down to individual fighting styles as well as the circumstances of the surroundings that make a difference.
--The Official Star Wars Website
In the Jedi levels of lightsaber fighting, Obi-Wan is an eight, while Anakin, Yoda and Darth Sidious are nines.
--The Official Star Wars Website
"He's better than Yoda in a way because he has the extra power of the dark side.”
--Nick Gillard
Outwardly frail, Palpatine was in truth a cunning warrior capable of besting even the greatest Jedi warrior in lightsaber combat or by conjuring powerfully destructive Force lightning.
--Star Wars 101: Servants of the Dark Side
"Sidious' abilities are beyond anything we've experienced."
--Nick Gillard
Note: There is a big difference between each level, and a huge difference inside the levels themselves. Only Yoda, Anakin and Sidious are nines, whereas everyone else is an eight or lower, including the likes of Obi-Wan Kenobi, Darth Maul, Count Dooku, so Sidious should be far above them as a duelist.
"Yes, but it's like a Richter scale - an earthquake - and so the difference between seven and eight and eight and nine is enormous."
--Nick Gillard
"Dooku & Maul are 8, but there is a huge difference inside the numbers themselves. It's not about how well they fight, it's about how well they learned."
--Nick Gillard
Note: Yoda was the greatest Jedi duelist in history. Given Sidious’ superiority to him, he is also better than any other Jedi in history and possibly the greatest lightsaber duelist of all time.
Under Yoda's tutelage, Dooku became one of the greatest sword masters the Order had ever produced - eclipsed only by Mace Windu and Yoda himself.
--The Official Starships & Vehicles Collection #48
Yoda taught many pupils throughout his years, including Dooku, who became one of the finest sword masters the Order ever produced - eclipsed only by Mace Windu and Yoda himself.
--The Official Starships & Vehicles Collection #48
Though it was true that he had slowed slightly in the years that Windu had known him, Yoda's skill with a lightsaber was still second to none on the council.
--Darth Maul: Shadow Hunter
"We've not seen Mace fight yet, and we know that he's second only to Yoda."
--Nick Gillard
"Mace Windu's fighting abilities are second only to Yoda."
--Nick Gillard
(★) Obi-Wan deems that even the combined might of Yoda and himself wouldn’t be enough to defeat Sidious.
"Palpatine faced Mace and Agen and Kit and Saesee—four of the greatest swordsmen our Order has ever produced. By himself. Even both of us together wouldn't have a chance."
--Obi-Wan Kenobi, Revenge of the Sith novelization
(★) Yoda deemed that fighting Sidious was a very different experience from fighting Dooku, indicating that Sidious is much better than Dooku.
Duelling with the Sith Lord Darth Sidious was a very different experience to fighting Dooku. Yoda was almost overwhelmed by the sheer hatred and fury of the Emperor.
--Fact File
Emperor Palpatine claims he can defeat seven of his Hands at once.
Another of his games, though. Perhaps he has tasked the Cuis clones to kill me. “You are in danger, master.”
“I can handle seven Dark Jedi, Lord Vader.”
--Two-Edged Sword
The Lambda was a small craft, 20 meters stem to stern, and Palpatine could fight as well with his Force powers from the day cabin as he could within lightsaber range of an enemy. Vader cook his calm reaction as tacit proof that the Emperor knew he was not at risk but that Vader was.
Sheev vs his family and their guards: Sheev massacres his entire family and their bodyguards in a slaughter that results in heads being torn off and limbs ripped apart, among other brutalities.
Cosinga exhaled deeply. “I know that you are of my blood, because I had you tested, just to be certain. But in truth, I don’t know where you came from—who or what you’re actually descended from.” He glared at Palpatine. “Yes, there it is: that glower I have been on the receiving end of for seventeen long years. As if you want to murder me. Murder has always been in your thoughts, hasn’t it? You’ve merely been waiting for someone to grant you permission to act.”
A darkness came over Palpatine’s face. “I don’t need anyone’s permission.”
“Precisely. You’re an animal at heart.”
“King of the beasts, Father,” Palpatine said.
“I knew this day would come. I’ve known it since the first moment I tried to swaddle you, and you fought me with a strength that was too powerful for your size or age.”
Palpatine looked out from beneath his quirked brows. “I was born mature, Father, fully grown, and you hated me for it, because you grasped that I was everything you can never be.”
“Hated you more than you know,” Cosinga said, allowing his ire to rise once more. “Enough to want to kill you from the start.”
Palpatine stood his ground. “Then you had better do it now.”
Cosinga took a step in Palpatine’s direction, only to be hurled back against the bulkhead separating the communications room from the main cabin. A female voice from behind the closed hatch asked in distress, “What was that?”
Nursing an injured shoulder, Cosinga looked suddenly like a trapped animal, his eyes wide with surprise and fear. He made a move to strike the handplate that opened the hatch, but Palpatine thwarted his effort without raising a finger. Twisting violently around, Cosinga fell over one of the acceleration chairs, bloodying his face as it struck the armrest.
A pounding began on the hatch.
“Guards!” Cosinga shouted, but the word had barely left his lips when the bulkhead against which he was slouched buckled inward, heaving him face-first to the floor and driving the breath from him.
Palpatine stood rooted in place, his hands trembling in front of him and his face stricken. Something stirred behind his incandescent eyes. He heard the pounding on the hatch and whirled.
“Don’t come in! Stay away from me!”
“What have you done?” It was his mother’s voice, panicked. “What have you done?”
Cosinga pushed himself to his knees and began a terrified retreat, leaving smears of blood on the deck. But Palpatine was advancing on him now.
“If the Force birthed you, then I curse it!” Cosinga rasped. “I curse it!”
“As I do,” Palpatine growled.
The hatch began to slide to, and he heard the voice of the guard who had escorted him from the Jafan III. “Stop!”
“Cosinga!” his mother screamed.
Palpatine pressed the palms of his hands to his head, then in eerie calm streaked to the hatch, pulled the surprised guard through the threshold, and tossed him clear across the cabin.
[…]
Once more Sidious allowed his memories to unfold, and he relived the crime—the event, as he had at last come to think of it. His father's limp and bloodied body. The smashed skulls of the bodyguards.[...]
“Fool,” Plagueis derided him. “Success doesn’t come from summoning help from the Force, but from taking control of it and generating the power from within yourself.” He sighed theatrically. “Still, I’m somewhat encouraged by the progress you’ve made. Mere centimeters from me now, almost within arm’s reach. Soon I’ll be able to feel your breath on my neck and perceive the heat of your rage—your desire to kill me, as if by doing so, you could lay claim to the authority I embody.” He paused but didn’t move, much less glance over his shoulder. “You want to strangle me, like you did your poor, misunderstood mother; tear me limb from limb as you did the bodyguards. Fair enough. But to do so you will have to make a greater effort, Apprentice.”
--Darth Plagueis
Darth Sidious and Darth Plagueis vs 200 training droids: the duo take turns deflecting blaster fire and leave their assailants as piles of scrap metal.
On Hypori they were the prey, standing back-to-back in their black zeyd-cloth hooded robes at the center of concentric rings of droids, retrofitted by Baktoid Armor to function as combat automata. Two hundred programmed assailants—bipedal, treaded, some levitated by antigrav generators—armed with a variety of weapons, ranging from hand blasters to short-barreled burst-rifles. Plagueis hadn't allowed his young apprentice to wield a lightsaber until a few years earlier, but Sidious was brandishing one now, self-constructed of phrik alloy and aurodium, and powered by a synthetic crystal. Made for delicate, long-fingered hands—as much a work of art as a weapon—the lightsaber thrummed as he waved the blade from side to side in front of him.
"Every weapon, manufactured by whatever species, has its own properties and peculiarities," Plagueis was saying, his own blade angled toward the ferrocrete floor of the battledome's fabricated cityscape, as if to light a fuse. "Range, penetrating power, refresh rate... In some instances your life might depend on your ability to focus on the weapon rather than the wielder. You must train yourself to identify a weapon instantly—whether it's a product of BlasTech or Merr-Sonn, Tenloss or Prax—so that you will know where to position yourself, and the several ways to best deflect a well-aimed bolt."
Plagueis put his words into action as the first ring of droids began to converge on them, staggering the attack and triggering bursts at random. Orbiting Sidious, the Muun's blade warded off every volley, returning the bolts to their sources, or deflecting them into the facades of the faux buildings surrounding them or into other droids. At other times Plagueis made no attempt to redirect the attacks, but simply torqued his rangy body, allowing the bolts to miss him by centimeters. Around the two Sith, the automata collapsed one after the next, gushing lubricants from holed reservoirs or exploding in a hail of alloy parts, until all were heaped on the ferrocrete floor.
"The next ring is yours," Plagueis said.
Rugged, uninhabited Hypori belonged to the Techno Union, whose Skakoan foreman, Wat Tambor, owed his seat in the Republic Senate to Damask Holdings. In exchange, the bionic humanoid had made Hypori available as a training ground for members of the Echani Sun Guard and provided the necessary battle droids. Calling in another favor, Hego Damask had requested a private session in the fabricated cityscape, so that Plagueis and his apprentice could be free to employ lightsabers—though only for the purpose of deflecting bolts rather than dismemberment or penetration.
When it came Sidious's turn to demonstrate his skill, Plagueis spoke continuously from behind him, adding distraction to the distinct possibility of inadvertent disintegration.
"A being trained in the killing arts doesn't wait for you to acquire him as a target, or establish him or herself as an opponent, as if in some martial arts contest. Your reactions must be instantaneous and nothing less than lethal, for you are a Sith Lord, and will be marked for death."
The droids continued to converge, ring after ring of them, until the floor was piled high with smoking husks. Plagueis issued a voice command that brought the onslaught to an abrupt end and deactivated his lightsaber. The pinging of cooling weapons, the hiss of escaping gas, the unsteady whir of failing servomotors punctuated the sudden silence. Alloy limbs spasmed and photoreceptors winked out, surrendering their eerie glow. The recycled air was rotten with the smell of fried circuitry.
--Darth Plagueis
Sidious and Plagueis vs an army of Kursid warriors: the duo wield non-lethal Force pikes and are able to incapacitate every single Kursid warrior without sustaining a single hit.
The location of the planet known to the Sith as Kursid had been expunged from the Republic records in distant times, and for the past six hundred years had been reserved for use as a place of spectacle. Masters and apprentices of the Bane lineage had visited with enough regularity that a cult had come into being in that part of the world based on the periodic return of the sky visitors. The Sith hadn't bothered to investigate what Kursid's indigenous humanoids thought about the visits—whether in their belief systems the Sith were regarded as the equivalent of deities or demons—since it was unlikely that the primitives had yet so much as named their world. However, visiting as apprentice and—more often than not—as Master, each Sith Lord had remarked on the slow advancement of Kursid's civilization. How, on the early visits, the primitives had defended themselves with wooden war clubs and smooth rocks hurled from slings. Two hundred years later, many of the small settlements had grown to become cities or ceremonial centers built of a crude sort, and magical guardian symbols had been emblazoned on the sloping sides of defensive walls. At some point previous to Darth Tenebrous's visit as an apprentice, replicas of the Sith ships had been constructed in the center of the arid plateau that served as a battleground, and enormous totemic figures—visible only from above—had been outlined by removing tens of thousands of fists-sized volcanic stones that covered the ground. On Plagueis's first visit, some fifty years earlier, the warriors he and Tenebrous had faced had been armed with longbows and metal-tipped lances.That the Sith had never demanded anything other than battle hadn't kept the primitives from attempting to adopt a policy of appeasement, leaving at the ships' perpetual landing site foodstuffs, sacrificial victims, and works of what they considered art, forged of materials they held precious or sacred. But the Sith had simply ignored the offerings, waiting instead on the stony plain for the primitives to deploy their warriors, as the primitives did now with Plagueis and Sidious waiting. Announcing their arrival with low runs over the city, they had set the ship down and waited for six days, while the mournful calls of breath-driven horns had disturbed the dry silences, and groups of primitives had flocked in to gather on the hillsides that overlooked the battleground.
"Do you recall what Darth Bane said regarding the killing of innocents?" Plagueis had asked.
"Our mission," Sidious paraphrased, "is not to bring death on all those unfit to live. All we do must serve our true purpose—the preservation of our Order and the survival of the Sith. We must work to grow our power, and to accomplish that we will need to interact with individuals of many species across many worlds. Eventually word of our existence will reach the ears of the Jedi."
To refrain from senseless killing, they wielded force pikes rather than lightsabers. Meter-long melee weapons used by the Echani and carried by the Senate Guard, the pikes were equipped with stun-module tips capable of delivering a shock that could overwhelm the nervous systems of most sentients, without causing permanent damage.
"The next few hours will test the limits of your agility, speed, and accuracy," Plagueis said, as several hundred of the biggest, bravest, and most skilled warriors—their bodies daubed in pigments derived from plants, clay, and soil—began to separate themselves from the crowds. "But this is more than some simple exercise in our rise to ultimate power, and therefore servants of the dark side of the Force. Centuries from now, advanced by the Sith, they might confront us with projectile weapons or energy beams. But then we will have evolved, as well, perhaps past the need for this rite, and we will come instead to honor rather than engage them in battle. Through power we gain victory, and through victory our chains are broken. But power is only a means to an end."
To the clamorous beating of drums and the wailing of the onlookers, the warriors brandished their weapons, raised a deafening war cry, and attacked. A nod from Plagueis, and the two Sith sped across the plain to meet them, flying among them like wraiths, evading arrows, gleaming spear tips, and blows from battle-axes, going one against one, two, or three, but felling opponent after opponent with taps from the force pikes, until among the hundreds of jerking, twitching bodies sprawled on the rough ground, only one was left standing. That was when Plagueis tossed aside the stun pike and ignited his crimson blade, and a collective lament rose from the crowds on the hillsides.
"Execute one, terrify one thousand," he said.
Hurling the warrior to the ground with a Force push, he used the lightsaber to deftly open the primitive's chest cavity; then he reached a hand inside and extracted his still beating heart.
--Darth Plagueis
(★) Darth Sidious vs Darth Maul: Sidious stomps Maul repeatedly while holding back enormously each time.
Maul had fought his Master many times, starting when he was little more than a child and continuing through his apprenticeship. His body bore innumerable scars from those duels—lessons in the peril of being too slow or two quick, too weak or too distracted. During Maul’s apprenticeship he had always known that Sidious had been willing to kill him. The Sith had not survived their centuries of exile by being sentimental, and a student who couldn’t stand against his Master in a mere training exercise was worse than useless—he was a waste of valuable resources better used elsewhere. But Maul had never faced his Master when he was actually trying to kill him.
--Darth Maul: Shadow Conspiracy
Here is a detailed description of their last duel: Sidious casually speedblitzes Maul, and once Maul becomes consumed by rage unlike anything he had every felt before, he seemingly pressures his Master only to realize he had only begun tapping into his reserves.
It was while he was trying to eat a tough-skinned lizard at the base of a cliff that two droids attacked. Maul defeated both droids but sustained a blaster wound to his thigh. Limping into a ravine, he found a large cave and hauled his body into it. Maul knew he had to recover before he could fight again. But without his survival pack, he had no healing bacta or bandages. The wound festered. The pain was blinding. He listened for approaching droids but heard none. The days blurred, but Maul was almost certain that a full month had passed since he had arrived on Hypori. As he fell into and out of restless sleep, Maul began to wonder if his Master had forgotten him.
His wound became worse. The pain was beyond excruciating. He had no doubt that death would come soon. He thought he was hallucinating when he saw a cloaked figure appear at the mouth of the cave.
It was Sidious.
Maul could not believe his eyes. He felt not only relieved to see his Master, but genuinely glad. His Master would help him.
Sidious moved into the cave. He came to a stop near Maul. Smiling as he looked down at his apprentice, he said, "Now it is time for your final battle."
Maul wondered if he had heard correctly. He knew his Master must have been able to see plainly that he was not fit to stand. And yet he also knew his Master never tolerated weakness of any kind. Maul scrabbled at the cave's walls and pulled himself up. His balance was off. Searing pain shot through his leg as he lurched forward. Sidious handed Maul a lightsaber. Maul fumbled with the weapon and activated it. The cave's walls shimmered with light.
Maul did not realize how parched his throat was until he rasped, "Where is the assassin droid, Master?"
Stepping back from Maul, Sidious drew his own lightsaber and ignited its red blade. "I will be your opponent."
Maul stared at his Master with disbelief. And then his disbelief changed to anger. He summoned up the dark side of the Force. He felt a burning sensation flicker and grow within him, a trickle of strength. He took a step toward his Master.
Sidious sneered. "You cannot be as pathetic as you look." He raised his lightsaber and attacked.
Maul parried the blow and reversed, coming at Sidious from the opposite side. But Sidious had already vanished, leaving Maul to lunge at the empty air. As Maul lost his balance, his body fell against the cave's wall.
Sidious said from behind Maul, "You are that pathetic. You are weak. Not worthy of being a Sith Lord. I have misjudged you."
Maul's anger turned to rage. He spun fast and swung his lightsaber again, but again he failed to strike Sidious, who moved faster than he could follow. He fell against the opposite wall and gasped for breath.
Sidious howled with laughter. "I expected your failure. I saw your weaknesses long ago. Your doubts in your own abilities. Your lack of faith in my teaching. Your inability to embrace the dark side. And that is why, over these long years, I have secretly trained another apprentice."
Maul stared hard at Sidious.
"Oh, poor Maul. All he ever wanted was a friend. Does it please you to know I have another apprentice? Does it make you fell less alone?"
Still trying to catch his breath, Maul said, "More than one apprentice...is against the rules of the Sith."
"You are right," Sidious said with a grin. "A spark of intelligence, at last." He gestured to the mouth of the cave. "My second apprentice is on the other side of the planet. He conquered all the assassin droids sent after him. He only sustained a flesh wound. He is healthy. He is strong. Unlike the pathetic weakling I see before me."
Maul realized his opponent had not really been the assassin droids. He thought of all the punishment he had endured over the past month, and then of the unending punishments of his entire life. He thought of his true opponent, the unseen adversary, chosen by Sidious to become a Sith Lord. Maul felt robbed of his past and future. And then a rage unlike anything he had ever felt before swelled through him. The rage was so overwhelming that he thought it might consume him.
No. I can direct it. My rage will consume my enemy. It will consume my Master. Glaring at Sidious, Maul saw the true face of his enemy.
Sidious snickered. "Can you understand? Focus. If there can be only one apprentice, then one of you must die. Who do you think I have chosen to die, Maul?"
Maul felt his rage flowing through his veins, pumping energy into every muscle. He felt so powerful that he believed he could accomplish anything. And more than anything else, he wanted his Master's blood.
Maul sprang at Sidious. Sidious barely missed the first blow from Maul's lightsaber, an upward swing that aimed to rip Sidious in half. Maul swung again but Sidious deflected the blow and retreated. As Maul moved across the rough cave floor, sweat stung his eyes, but he did not stumble. He somersaulted through the air, his lightsaber whirling in the darkness. Sidious raised his lightsaber to parry the next move, which was so powerful it made him stagger backward. As Maul struck, he thought, I'm going to kill him.
Sidious parried every blow, but Maul could tell his Master was working hard to keep him at bay. As Sidious backed up against the wall, he said, "You want to kill me? You want to kill your Master?"
"Yes," Maul grunted.
"You hate me?"
"Yes!" Maul screamed through clenched teeth.
Sidious shifted like a liquid shadow, maneuvering around his apprentice. Maul was suddenly up against the wall, gasping for breath as his vision blurred. His strength was evaporating. He turned fast to see Sidious. Sidious lashed out with his lightsaber. Maul parried the blow, but then his lightsaber suddenly flew from his hand. As Maul heard his lightsaber deactivete and clatter across the cave's floor, Sidious raised his own lightsaber and advanced. Maul knew he was about to die, but he did not cringe. As Sidious swung his lightsaber, Maul leaped forward, grabbing Sidious's wrist, and sank his teeth into his hand. Maul tasted blood and spat it back at Sidious.
Sidious brought his lightsaber down on Maul. Maul waited for the pain and the shock of death. He was surprised when the lightsaber's blade bounced off his shoulder.
Sidious cackled merrily. He stood and looked at Maul. Then he tossed the lightsaber aside. Maul realized his Master had been using a harmless training lightsaber.
Maul leaned back against the cave wall. The rock bit into his back but he concentrated on the pain while his Master continued to laugh without mercy. When Sidious was done, he faced Maul and said, "Do you feel the hate?"
Maul nodded.
"Good. It is the source of your strength. You will hate me. No matter. Today you have delivered yourself into my hands. I have the power of life or death over you, Maul. Someday you will hold that power over another. It is the honor of the Sith. You will devote yourself to the idea of domination."
"But...what about the other apprentice?"
"There is no other apprentice."
Maul was astonished. He didn't know what to say.
"You have passed the test."
Maul could still taste his Master's blood on his lips, but his rage was rapidly ebbing. He shifted his feet and realized he was standing on his lost lightsaber. He picked it up and shoved it into his belt.
"From this day forward," Sidious said, "you are a Sith Lord. You have chosen a path of darkness, the path of power. You are Lord Maul. You are my instrument."
"Yes, Master."
Sidious smiled proudly. "Your rage. You enjoyed it? You enjoyed wanting to kill me?"
"I took pleasure in it."
Sidious laughed again, but it was not a mocking laughter. "You will do well, Lord Maul."
Maul realized he no longer felt any anger toward Sidious. He felt only...loyalty.
--The Wrath of Darth Maul
One battle with two assassin droids almost undoes me. I sustain a bad blaster wound to my thigh. I drag myself to a cave to hide. I have no bacta, no bandages. Yet I know I must recover before I fight again. The wound festers. It is a searing, blinding pain. I am too weak to forage for food. The days blur. I no longer know how long I've been on this planet. Surely it has been more than a month. Has my master forgotten me?
I am close to hallucinating when Lord Sidious appears at the mouth of the cave. I am so glad to see him that my bones turn to water. I look at him hopefully.
"Now it is time for your final battle," he says.
Another battle? I can't even walk.
Yet his power over me is so strong that I rise on my watery legs. The cave walls shimmer in front of my eyes. My balance is off. I fumble for my lightsaber and activate it.
"Where is the assassin droid, Master?" I ask. My voice emerges hoarsely from thick, swollen lips. I need water. I would kill for water.
My Master powers up his lightsaber. "I will be your opponent."
I take a step toward him. I know this is my final test. I summon up the dark side of the Force. I take all my pain and anger and form it into a tightly packed ball. I set that ball aflame in my chest. I feel a trickle of strength enter me. That encourages me. I use that strength to stoke the fire inside me.
"You cannot be as pathetic as you look," my Master says. He raises his lightsaber and attacks.
I parry the blow and reverse, come at him from the opposite side. But he is already gone by the time I am able to make my attack. The lunge throws off my balance. I weave, the cave walls blurring. He laughs.
"I take it back," he says. "You are that pathetic."
He tells me I am weak, not worthy of being a Sith Lord. He tells me he has misjudged me. I attempt to attack him. The ball of anger inside me turns to howling rage. It is painfully obvious that he is playing with me. He can kill me in a heartbeat. Yet something in me will not accept this, even from my Master. My life force won't allow it. I struggle on, even in the face of his laughter. He tells me that he has expected my failure. He saw my weaknesses long ago. Secretly, over the long years, he has trained another apprentice. I have not been alone.
I point out, gasping, that more than one apprentice is against the rules of the Sith.
"You are right," he says. "A spark of intelligence at last."
The second apprentice is on the other side of the planet. He conquered all the assassin droids sent after him. He did not sustain more than a flesh wound. He is healthy and strong.
"Unlike the pathetic weakling I see before me," my Master says.
I realize dully what this means. My opponents had not really been the droids. My opponent had been someone I had never seen. My enemy has been chosen by my Master. He will become a Sith Lord. He will receive the honor I was due. He will reap the glory I had punished my body and disciplined my mind in order to receive. A slow rage begins to burn through me. It is a terrible anger, no less fierce because it starts as a kernel of disbelief and then builds. I have never felt anything like it. I know it can consume me.
No. I can direct it. My rage will consume my enemy. It will consume my Master.
Yes, my Master is now my enemy. He is my betrayer. Hatred sears me, hardens me.
"Can you make the next leap in logic?" Lord Sidious asks me contemptuously. "Try to focus, Maul. If there can be only one apprentice, then one of you must die. Who do you think I have chosen to die. Maul?"
The rage rockets within me, pumping energy into my muscles. I can do anything. I can kill my Master. I want to kill him. My hatred is so huge it blots everything else but my desire for his blood.
With a howl torn from the depths of my belly, I spring at him. He barely misses the first blow from my lightsaber, for even in my rage I have employed strategy, coming at him from below, hoping to rip him in two. He parries my next blow. Sweat stings my eyes as I move across the rough cave floor. I do not stumble. I am nothing but the pulse of my anger, pure energy, pure darkness. I streak across the cave floor and come at him again, somersaulting through the air. My lightsaber whirls in the darkness. When he parries the blow, he staggers.
I am going to kill him. Every beat of my blood exults in my power. Every blow I deliver is meant to be the killing blow. I use reserves of strength I did not know I had. My blows are sure and precise, my footwork flawless. I gather in the power of the dark side. I feel my power clash with his. The air is thick, charged with our dark, titanic powers.
He parries every blow. But I see that he has to work hard to keep me at bay. Triumph roars through me at my Master's weakness. He is not as powerful as he appears.
"You want to kill me?" he taunts. "You want to kill your Master?"
"Yes," I grunt.
"You hate me?"
"Yes!" I scream out the word through gritted teeth.
But I have been weakened by my ordeal, and my Master maneuvers me against the cave wall. I am gasping, trying to suck in enough air to keep going. My vision blurs as Lord Sidious raises his lightsaber. I parry the blow, but my lightsaber suddenly flies out of my hand, torn by the power of my Master directing the dark side. I realize then that he has just begun to tap into his own reserves. Mine are played out.
I will not be able to deflect the next blow. It will rend me in two. In a blur of heat and pain I see the mighty power of my Master raised against me, see the lightsaber come toward me, see my death as clearly as a bone-white moon in an ebony sky.I lunge forward and sink my teeth into his hand. I strike like an animal, so quickly he doesn't have time to step away. I taste his blood and spit it back at him in contempt.
Yes, he will kill me. But I will die with his blood on my lips.
The lightsaber comes down. I wait for the pain and shock. I wait to die.
My Master laughs. He tosses the lightsaber aside. It is a training saber. It does not harm me.
I am alive. He will not kill me. My muscles fail me but I don't let him see it. I lean slightly against the cave wall in back of me. The rock bites into my back and I concentrate on the pain while my Master continues to laugh. I will never forget the sound of that laughter. There is no mercy in it.
"Do you feel the hate?" he asks.
I nod.
"It is the source of your strength. You still hate me," he says. "No matter. Today you have delivered yourself into my hands. I have the power of life or death over you, Maul. Someday, you will hold that power over another. It is the honor of the Sith. You will devote yourself to the idea of domination."
Confused, I ask him about the other apprentice. But there is no other apprentice. It had been a lie.
"You have passed the test," Lord Sidious tells me.
I deactivate my lightsaber and shove it into my belt. I taste my Master's blood on my lips. The world is returning to me slowly. My rage is ebbing, but I have not fully grasped what has happened.
My Master fixes his gaze on me, the ice-gaze that holds such power.
"From this day forward, you are a Sith Lord. You have chosen the path of darkness, the path of power. You are Lord Maul. You are my instrument."
"Yes, Master."
"Your rage," he says. "You enjoyed it? You enjoyed wanting to kill me?"
"I took great pleasure in it," I say.
He laughs again. But this time, his laughter does not mock me. "You will do well, Lord Maul," he says.
And my rage against him leaves, never to return. I am a Sith Lord. I am his instrument.
--Episode 1 Journal: Darth Maul
Darth Sidious vs Darth Plagueis: Sidious gives Plagueis, per the latter's own admission, a good fight in a sparring match.
"You have made him fearsome," Plagueis remarked without turning from the recording, as the athletic Zabrak cleaved a Collicoid Eradicator droid down the middle and whirled to cut two other in half. The yellow-eyed humanoid's hairless head bore a crown of small horns and geometrical patterns of black and red markings.
"Fearless, as well," Sidious said. "Still, they are only droids. He's even more formidable against living beings."
Plagueis looked over his should, his eyes narrowed in question. "You've fought him in a serious way?" Reconstructed vocal chords and trachea imparted a metallic quality to his voice, as if he were speaking through an enunciator.
"I stranded him on Hypori for a month without food and with only a horde of assassin droids for company. Then I returned to goad and challenge him. All things considered, he fought well, even after I deprived him of his lightsaber. He wanted to kill me, but was prepared to die by my hand."
Plagueis turned fully to face him. "Rather than punish him for disobedience, you praise his resolve."
"He was already humbled. I chose to leave his honor intact. I proclaimed him my myrmidon; the embodiment of the violent half of our partnership."
"Parthership?" Plagueis repeated harshly.
"His and mine; not ours."
"Regardless, you allowed him to believe that he is more skilled than he actually is."
"Did you not do the same for me?"
Plagueis' eyes reflected in disappointment. "Never, Sidious. I have always been truthful with you."
--Darth Plagueis
(★) Darth Sidious vs Darth Maul and Savage Opress: Sidious easily defeats both brothers, exerting no effort at all in the sheer stompage that he administers. After killing Savage, he fights a rage-amped Maul and stomps him just as easily while casually toying with him.
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The unmarked shuttle landed on the royal palace’s platform, reserved for Mandalore’s rulers and their most important advisers. The ramp lowered and a hooded figure in dark robes descended. The commandos rushing to intercept him reached for their throats, gagging, and the cloaked figure swept past them without a sideways glance, gaze fixed straight ahead.
[...]
The feeling had begun as a faint stirring in the Force, like the tiniest ripple of something moving slowly through deep water, far away but drawing steadily closer. It intensified, until it felt like the Force itself was roiling, heaving like the sea in the grip of an enormous storm.
“I sense a presence,” Maul warned Savage. “A presence I haven’t felt since...”
And then Maul knew.
“Master,” he said, leaning forward on the throne.
The commandos guarding the royal chamber reached for their throats. As Maul watched, an unseen forced lifted them high in the air, then slammed them to the floor, where they lay motionless in their red-and-black armor. The doors opened, then closed behind a figure in dark robes. A deep cowl hid most of the face, leaving only a pale chin and a downturned mouth visible. To most eyes the man in those simple robes of rough cloth was unremarkable, just another being making his way in the universe. But to those who could feel the Force he was anything but ordinary. To them, he was a dark sun blazing with power that was simultaneously hypnotizing and terrifying to behold.
Darth Sidious, the reigning Dark Lord of the Sith, had come to Mandalore.
Savage stared at the new arrival in astonishment, transfixed by the sight. Maul felt himself leap from the throne, mechanical legs clacking down the steps and toward his old Master. The motion was almost automatic, involuntary. Maul’s earliest memories were of that hooded figure—his tests, his teachings, and also his torments. He had been Maul’s father, his protector, his torturer. He had been everything.
Maul halted before Sidious and kneeled, bowing his head.
“Master,” he said simply.
Sidious stopped. For a moment all was silent.
“I am most impressed to see you have survived your injuries,” he said, the voice as rough and cracked as Maul remembered.
“I used your training, Master,” Maul said. “And I have built all of this in hopes of returning to your side.”
Sidious lifted his head slightly, and Maul saw his yellow eyes beneath the hood. They were as cold as space.
“How unfortunate that you are attempting to deceive me,” Sidious said.
“Master?” Maul asked.
“You have become a rival,” Sidious declared.
He raised his arms and both Maul and Savage flew through the air, smashing into the elegantly patterned walls of the royal chamber and crashing to the floor. Maul sprang to his feet and ignited his lightsaber. Savage did the same. The two Zabraks stared grimly at the hooded figure. Sidious retrieved a pair of elegant-looking lightsabers from within the depths of his robes and ignited them. The blades turned his pale face a hellish red.
Maul and Savage didn’t waste time seeking an advantageous position. They simply charged, blades shimmering, trying to overpower Sidious with the animal ferocity of their attack. Sidious caught their sabers on his, the weapons howling and crackling where they touched. Maul saw that Savage was startled by the seemingly frail man’s enormous strength. Maul stared at his Master’s face. He saw the strain as Sidious called upon the Force to keep the brothers at bay. But there was something else there, too—a terrible pleasure. Sidious began to grin.
[...]
The three-pronged duel between Sidious, and Maul and Savage had moved, like some deadly ballet, from the throne room to the steps of the palace. Sidious’s lightsabers twirled swiftly and elegantly, turning aside the furious blows Maul and Savage rained down upon him as the three Sith leapt and spun.
Maul had fought his Master many times, starting when he was little more than a child and continuing through his apprenticeship. His body bore innumerable scars from those duels—lessons in the peril of being too slow or two quick, too weak or too distracted. During Maul’s apprenticeship he had always known that Sidious had been willing to kill him. The Sith had not survived their centuries of exile by being sentimental, and a student who couldn’t stand against his Master in a mere training exercise was worse than useless—he was a waste of valuable resources better used elsewhere. But Maul had never faced his Master when he was actually trying to kill him.
Maul had grown more powerful since the last time he’d been in Sidious’s presence, before the Neimoidian invasion of Naboo had turned disastrous and Obi-Wan had bested him inside the Theed power core. His hermitage on Lotho Minor, his lessons on Unbara, his restoration by Mother Talzin, and his training of Savage had all strengthened him, made him a more worthy vessel for the dark side to fill with its power.
But strong as he had become, Maul found himself in awe of Sidious. The Sith Lord was astonishingly fast and efficient, and the Force flowed through him effortlessly. His sabers stabbed and slashed through the smallest hole in an opponent’s guard, his movements never carried him a millimeter out of position, and he could sense every attack Maul and Savage made before it developed.
Maul tried to slash past Sidious’s guard, only to find his Master had given ground, causing Maul to extend his arms too far and leave himself slightly unbalanced. It was the smallest stumble, easily corrected, but Sidious saw it—and pounced before Maul could draw himself back. Snarling, he reached out with the Force and slammed Maul against the wall, leaving him lying stunned in a heap.
Savage knew the dangers of facing the Sith Lord alone, and pressed his attack before Sidious draw his hand back from Force-shoving Maul into the wall. Teeth bared, Savage windmilled his double saber, hoping to disarm Sidious or force him to give ground. If he did, that would allow the yellow-and-black Zabrak to follow his initial attack with a lightning-quick thrust that would penetrate Sidious’s defenses and wound or even kill him.
Maul tried to shake off his attack, rocketing up from the floor. Sidious neatly side-stepped Savage’s assault, drawing back as the massive Zabrak raised his double-bladed saber high to try to pummel him with it. Savage didn’t think Sidious was fast enough to take advantage of the brief opening in his defenses, but he was wrong.
Sidious rammed one of his blades through Savage’s black armor, the glowing crimson tip of the saber appearing between his shoulder blades. Savage gasped, his saber tumbling from his grasp. Sidious yanked his weapon back and Savage seemed to hang suspended for a moment, as if he were being levitated by with the Force. Then he crashed to the ground.
Sidious stepped back as Maul rushed to his fallen brother’s side. A mist seemed to rise from Savage’s body, emerging from his wounds and then from his eyes, ears, nose, and mouth. As Maul and Sidious watched, Savage’s horns shrank and the massive bands of muscle melted away from his chest and shoulders. The last misty remnants of Mother Talzin’s magic grew hazy and tattered, then dispersed and vanished, leaving the dying Savage lying in the shell of his now-oversized armor.
His eyes turned to Maul.
“Brother, I am an unworthy apprentice,” Savage said. “I am not like you. I never was.”
He took a last breath and lay still.
Maul looked up, saber in his grasp, and stared into Darth Sidious’s blazing eyes.
“Remember the first and only reality of the Sith,” Sidious said. “There can only be two, and you are no longer my apprentice. You have been replaced.”
Sidious raised his saber and flew at Maul, who parried desperately, his mechanical legs whirring as he sought to counter his former Master’s blows. Sidious’s sabers were a blur, a whirling cage of deadly plasma. Maul danced away from one blow, then reversed his movement to avoid another, and then there were too many to count, and then there were even more than that.
Maul’s saber spun out of his hand, bouncing away across the floor. Then Sidious seized his former apprentice with the Force, hurling him against the wall. Maul’s vision swam. He tried to get up, but realized he was already in the air, held aloft by the Force. Sidious slammed him into the floor. Then Maul was off the ground again, legs kicking for purchase in empty air. He could taste blood in his mouth. His head hit the wall with a sickening crunch.
A rhyme crept into his head, a nagging sing-song bit of poetry.
Far above, far above,
We don’t know where we’ll fall.
Far above, far above.
What once was great is rendered small.
Maul could no longer remember where he had heard it, or what it meant. He was broken, helpless, useless.
“No,” Maul heard himself gasp. “Have mercy. Please...”
“There is no mercy,” Sidious said.
Bolts of energy ripped out from the Sith Lord’s fingers, tendrils of brilliant blue and purple that danced across Maul’s tattooed skin and ripped through his muscles, his organs. His mechanical legs convulsed, shorting out.
“You belong to me,” Sidious said. “Your existence is now perfectly meaningless.”
He stretched out his fingers and the energy tore through Maul again. Sidious watched the lightning build in intensity, his eyes unblinking, his teeth gritted in a triumphant, terrible smile.
--Darth Maul: Shadow Conspiracy
Meanwhile, Sidious duels the Sith brothers, never wavering from his position of superiority.
--The Lawless Episode Gallery
Upon arrival, Sidious declared the Sith brothers to be his rivals. In an intense duel, he killed Savage and toyed with Maul, ultimately deciding not to kill his former apprentice.
--Databank: Darth Maul
Sidious was on his way. Darth Maul had become a threat that the Sith Lord could not allow to exist. Even as Kenobi was rescued by Satine’s sister and left for Coruscant, even as civil war erupted again on Mandalore, Darth Sidious casually slaughtered his way through Maul’s guards until he faced the Nightbrothers. In the lightsaber battle that followed, Darth Sidious was barely tested. Using two lightsabers, he soon killed Opress and then disarmed Maul.
--Fact File
If Darth Maul hoped his effort would impress his old Master, Darth Sidious, he was disappointed. Sidious killed Opress and then easily defeated Maul.
--Fact File
“Well, that was definitely one of our biggest challenges, Maul and Savage versus Sidious, because we wanted to have an epic lightsaber fight. We hadn’t really had a big one in awhile, and I really thought this is our chance to show everyone why Sidious is the Sith Lord. Why no one can compete with this guy.”
--Dave Filoni
“At the end of the day, with Sidious, nobody was really going to be able to touch him. He had to be the strongest, most dangerous guy. And you could see at a certain point, he just puts his lightsabers away at the end of the fight and says, ‘I’m done with this,’ and goes in and mauls Maul, so to speak. I love the part where Maul begs at the end, because that’s the thing about Sith. At the end of the day, if you break them…”
--Dave Filoni
“It’s nice to see the villain of Star Wars really kick the butt of other villains you think are powerful, which helps establish Sidious as ‘Oh, yeah. This is why he is the Sith Lord.’”
--Dave Filoni
IGN: He really always does have the upper hand in that fight.
Filoni: And he's enjoying himself while he does it.
--The IGN Website
Darth Sidious vs Mother Talzin: Sidious stomps and disarms her in a few moves.
(★) Chancellor Palpatine vs Mace Windu and the B-team (Agen Kolar, Saesee Tiin and Kit Fisto): Sidious stomps and speedblitzes the B-team members and then proceeds to duel Mace, outmanuevering him, but not deciding to take the killing blow due to a plot designed to lure Anakin to the dark side. He then fights Mace to a standstill until finally purposefully throws the fight and allows himself to be disarmed.
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The Coruscant nightfall was spreading through the galaxy. The darkness in the Force was no hindrance to the shadow in the Chancellor's office; it was the darkness. Wherever darkness dwelled, the shadow could send perception. In the night, the shadow felt the boy's anguish, and it was good. The shadow felt the grim determination of four Jedi Masters approaching by air. This, too, was good.
As a Jedi shuttle settled to the landing deck outside, the shadow sent its mind into the far deeper night within one of the several pieces of sculpture that graced the office: an abstract twist of solid neuranium, so heavy that the office floor had been specially reinforced to bear its weight, so dense that more sensitive species might, from very close range, actually perceive the tiny warping of the fabric of space-time that was its gravitation.
Neuranium of more than roughly a millimeter thick is impervious to sensors; the standard security scans undergone by all equipment and furniture to enter the Senate Office Building had shown nothing at all. If anyone had thought to use an advanced gravimetric detector, however, they might have discovered that one smallish section of the sculpture massed slightly less than it should have, given that the manifest that had accompanied it, when it was brought from Naboo among the then-ambassador's personal effects, clearly stated that it was a single piece of solid-forged neuranium.
The manifest was a lie. The sculpture was not entirely solid, and not all of it was neuranium. Within a long, slim, rod-shaped cavity around which the sculpture had been forged rested a device that had lain, waiting, in absolute darkness—darkness beyond darkness—for decades. Waiting for night to fall on the Republic.
The shadow felt Jedi Masters stride the vast echoic emptiness of the vaulted halls outside. It could practically hear the cadence of their boot heels on the Alderaanian marble. The darkness within the sculpture whispered of the shape and the feel and every intimate resonance of the device it cradled. With a twist of its will, the shadow triggered the device. The neuranium got warm. A small round spot, smaller than the circle a human child might make of thumb and forefinger, turned the color of old blood.
Then fresh blood.
Then open flame.
Finally a spear of scarlet energy lanced free, painting the office with the color of stars seen through the smoke of burning planets. The spear of energy lengthened, drawing with it out from the darkness the device, then the scarlet blade shrank away and the device slid itself within the softer darkness of a sleeve.
[...]
As shouts of the Force scattered Redrobes beyond the office's outer doors, the shadow gestured and lampdisks ignited. Another shout of the Force burst open the inner door to the private office. As Jedi stormed in, a final flick of the shadow's will triggered a recording device concealed within the desk.
Audio only.
"Why, Master Windu," said the shadow. "What a pleasant surprise."
[...]
Shaak Ti felt him coming before she could see him. The infra-and ultrasound-sensitive cavities in the tall, curving montrals to either side of her head gave her a sense analogous to touch: the texture of his approaching footsteps was ragged as old sacking. As he rounded the corner to the landing deck door, his breathing felt like a pile of gravel and his heartbeat was spiking like a Zabrak's head. He didn't look good, either; he was deathly pale, even for a human, and his eyes were raw.
"Anakin," she said warmly. Perhaps a friendly word was what he needed; she doubted he'd gotten many from Mace Windu. "Thank you for what you have done. The Jedi Order is in your debt—the whole galaxy, as well."
"Shaak Ti. Get out of my way."
Shaky as he looked, there was nothing unsteady in his voice: it was deeper than she remembered, more mature, and it carried undertones of authority that she had never heard before. And she was not blind to the fact he had neglected to call her Master.
She put forth a hand, offering calming energies through the Force. "The Temple is sealed, Anakin. The door is code-locked."
"And you're in the way of the pad."
She stepped aside, allowing him to the pad; she had no reason to keep him here against his will. He punched the code hungrily. "If Palpatine retaliates," she said reasonably, "is not your place here, to help with our defense?"
"I'm the chosen one. My place is there." His breathing roughened, and he looked as if he was getting even sicker. "I have to be there. That's the prophecy, isn't it? I have to be there—"
"Anakin, why? The Masters are the best of the Order. What can you possibly do?" The door slid open.
"I'm the chosen one," he repeated. "Prophecy can't be changed. I'll do—" He looked at her with eyes that were dying, and a spasm of unendurable pain passed over his face. Shaak Ti reached for him—he should be in the infirmary, not heading toward what might be a savage battle—but he lurched away from her hand. "I'll do what I'm supposed to do," he said, and sprinted into the night and the rain.
[...]
[the following is a transcript of an audio recording presented before the Galactic Senate on the afternoon of the first Empire Day; identities of all speakers verified and confirmed by voiceprint analysis]
PALPATINE: Why, Master Windu. What a pleasant surprise.
MACE WINDU: Hardly a surprise, Chancellor. And it will be pleasant for neither of us.
PALPATINE: I'm sorry? Master Fisto, hello. Master Kolar, greetings. I trust you are well. Master Tiin—I see your horn has regrown; I'm very glad. What brings four Jedi Masters to my office at this hour?
MACE WINDU: We know who you are. What you are. We are here to take you into custody.
PALPATINE: I beg your pardon? What I am? When last I checked, I was Supreme Chancellor of the Republic you are sworn to serve. I hope I misunderstand what you mean by custody, Master Windu. It smacks of treason.
MACE WINDU: You're under arrest.
PALPATINE: Really, Master Windu, you cannot be serious. On what charge?
MACE WINDU: You're a Sith Lord!
PALPATINE: Am I? Even if true, that's hardly a crime. My philosophical outlook is a personal matter. In fact—the last time I read the Constitution, anyway—we have very strict laws against this type of persecution. So I ask you again: what is my alleged crime? How do you expect to justify your mutiny before the Senate? Or do you intend to arrest the Senate as well?
MACE WINDU: We're not here to argue with you.
PALPATINE: No, you're here to imprison me without trial. Without even the pretense of legality. So this is the plan, at last: the Jedi are taking over the Republic.
MACE WINDU: Come with us. Now.
PALPATINE: I shall do no such thing. If you intend to murder me, you can do so right here.
MACE WINDU: Don't try to resist.
[sounds that have been identified by frequency resonances to be the ignition of several lightsabers]
PALPATINE: Resist? How could I possibly resist? This is murder, you Jedi traitors! How can I be any threat to you? Master Tiin—you're the telepath. What am I thinking right now?
A fountain of amethyst energy burst from Mace Windu's fist. "Don't try to resist."
The song of his blade was echoed by green fire from the hands of Kit Fisto, Agen Kolar, and Saesee Tiin. Kolar and Tiin closed on Palpatine, blocking the path to the door. Shadows dripped and oozed color, weaving and coiling up office walls slipping over chairs, spreading along the floor.
"Resist? How could I possibly resist?" Still seated at the desk Palpatine shook an empty fist helplessly, the perfect image of a tired, frightened old man. "This is murder, you Jedi traitors! How can I be any threat to you?"
He turned desperately to Saesee Tiin. "Master Tiin—you're the telepath. What am I thinking right now?" Tiin frowned and cocked his head. His blade dipped. A smear of red-flashing darkness hurtled from behind the desk. Saesee Tiin's head bounced when it hit the floor. Smoke curled from the neck, and from the twin stumps of the horns, severed just below the chin.
Kit Fisto gasped, "Saesee!"
The headless corpse, still standing, twisted as its knees buckled, and a thin sigh escaped from its trachea as it folded to the floor.
"It doesn't..." Agen Kolar swayed. His emerald blade shrank away, and the handgrip tumbled from his opening fingers. A small, neat hole in the middle of his forehead leaked smoke, showing light from the back of his head. "...hurt..." He pitched forward onto his face, and lay still.
Palpatine stood at the doorway, but the door stayed shut. From his right hand extended a blade the color of fire. The door locked itself at his back.
"Help! Help!" Palpatine cried like a man in desperate fear for his life. "Security—someone! Help me! Murder! Treason!"
Then he smiled. He held one finger to his lips, and, astonishingly, he winked. In the blank second that followed, while Mace Windu and Kit Fisto could do no more than angle their lightsabers to guard, Palpatine swiftly stepped over the bodies back toward his desk, reversed his blade, and drove it in a swift, surgically precise stab down through his desktop.
"That's enough of that."
He let it burn its way free through the front, then he turned, lifting his weapon, appearing to study it as one might study the face of a beloved friend one has long thought dead. Power gathered around him until the Force shimmered with darkness.
"If you only knew," he said softly, perhaps speaking to the Jedi Masters, or perhaps to himself, or perhaps even to the scarlet blade lifted now as though in mocking salute, "how long I have been waiting for this..."
[...]
Anakin's speeder shrieked through the rain, dodging forked bolts of lightning that shot up from towers into the clouds, slicing across traffic lanes, screaming past spacescrapers so fast that his shock-wake cracked windows as he passed.
He didn't understand why people didn't just get out of his way. He didn't understand how the trillion beings who jammed Galactic City could go about their trivial business as though the universe hadn't changed. How could they think they counted for anything, compared with him? How could they think they still mattered? Their blind lives meant nothing now. None of them. Because ahead, on the vast cliff face of the Senate Office Building, one window spat lightning into the rain to echo the lightning of the storm outside—but this lightning was the color of clashing lightsabers.
Green fans, sheets of purple—
And crimson flame. He was too late. The green fire faded and winked out; now the lightning was only purple and red.
His repulsorlifts howled as he heeled the speeder up onto its side, skidding through wind-shear turbulence to bring it to a bobbing halt outside the window of Palpatine's private office. A blast of lightning hit the spire of 500 Republica, only a kilometer away, and its white burst flared off the window, flash-blinding him; he blinked furiously, slapping at his eyes in frustration. The colorless glare inside his eyes faded slowly, bringing into focus a jumble of bodies on the floor of Palpatine's private office. Bodies in Jedi robes.
On Palpatine's desk lay the head of Kit Fisto, faceup, scalp-tentacles unbound in a squid-tangle across the ebonite. His lidless eyes stared blindly at the ceiling. Anakin remembered him in the arena at Geonosis, effortlessly carving his way through wave after wave of combat droids, on his lips a gently humorous smile as though the horrific battle were only some friendly jest. His severed head wore that same smile. Maybe he thought death was funny, too.
Anakin's own blade sang blue as it slashed through the window and he dived through the gap. He rolled to his feet among a litter of bodies and sprinted through a shattered door along the small private corridor and through a doorway that flashed and flared with energy-scatter. Anakin skidded to a stop.
Within the public office of the Supreme Chancellor of the Galactic Republic, a last Jedi Master battled alone, blade-to-blade, against a living shadow.
Sinking into Vaapad, Mace Windu fought for his life. More than his life: each whirl of blade and whipcrack of lightning was a strike in defense of democracy, of justice and peace, of the rights of ordinary beings to live their own lives in their own ways. He was fighting for the Republic that he loved.
Vaapad, the seventh form of lightsaber combat, takes its name from a notoriously dangerous predator native to the moons of Sarapin: a vaapad attacks its prey with whipping strikes of its blindingly fast tentacles. Most have at least seven. It is not uncommon for them to have as many as twelve; the largest ever killed had twenty-three. With a vaapad, one never knew how many tentacles it had until it was dead: they move too fast to count. Almost too fast to see. So did Mace's blade.
Vaapad is as aggressive and powerful as its namesake, but its power comes at great risk: immersion in Vaapad opens the gates that restrain one's inner darkness. To use Vaapad, a Jedi must allow himself to enjoy the fight; he must give himself over to the thrill of battle. The rush of winning. Vaapad is a path that leads through the penumbra of the dark side. Mace Windu created this style, and he was its only living master. This was Vaapad's ultimate test.
Anakin blinked and rubbed his eyes again. Maybe he was still a bit flash-blind—the Korun Master seemed to be fading in and out of existence, half swallowed by a thickening black haze in which danced a meter-long bar of sunfire. Mace pressed back the darkness with a relentless straight-ahead march; his own blade, that distinctive amethyst blaze that had been the final sight of so many evil beings across the galaxy, made a haze of its own: an oblate sphere of purple fire within which there seemed to be dozens of swords slashing in all directions at once.
The shadow he fought, that blur of speed—could that be Palpatine?
Their blades flared and flashed, crashing together with bursts of fire, weaving nets of killing energy in exchanges so fast that Anakin could not truly see them—but he could feel them in the Force. The Force itself roiled and burst and crashed around them, boiling with power and lightspeed ricochets of lethal intent. And it was darkening.
Anakin could feel how the Force fed upon the shadow's murderous exaltation; he could feel fury spray into the Force though some poisonous abscess had crested in both their hearts. There was no Jedi restraint here. Mace Windu was cutting loose.
Mace was deep in it now: submerged in Vaapad, swallowed by it, he no longer truly existed as an independent being. Vaapad is a channel for darkness, and that darkness flowed both ways. He accepted the furious speed of the Sith Lord, drew the shadow's rage and power into his inmost center—
And let it fountain out again. He reflected the fury upon its source as a lightsaber redirects a blaster bolt.
There was a time when Mace Windu had feared the power of the dark; there was a time when he had feared the darkness in himself. But the Clone Wars had given him a gift of understanding: on a world called Haruun Kal, he had faced his darkness and had learned that the power of darkness is not to be feared. He had learned that it is fear that gives the darkness power. He was not afraid. The darkness had no power over him. But—
Neither did he have power over it.
Vaapad made him an open channel, half of a superconducting loop completed by the shadow; they became a standing wave of battle that expanded into every cubic centimeter of the Chancellor's office. There was no scrap of carpet nor shred of chair that might not at any second disintegrate in flares of red or purple; lampstands became brief shields, sliced into segments that whirled through the air; couches became terrain to be climbed for advantage or overleapt in retreat. But there was still only the cycle of power, the endless loop, no wound taken on either side, not even the possibility of fatigue.
Impasse.
Which might have gone on forever, if Vaapad were Mace's only gift. The fighting was effortless for him now; he let his body handle it without the intervention of his mind. While his blade spun and crackled, while his feet slid and his weight shifted and his shoulders turned in precise curves of their own direction, his mind slid along the circuit of dark power, tracing it back to its limitless source. Feeling for its shatterpoint. He found a knot of fault lines in the shadow's future; he chose the largest fracture and followed it back to the here and the now—
And it led him, astonishingly, to a man standing frozen in the slashed-open doorway. Mace had no need to look; the presence in the Force was familiar, and was as uplifting as sunlight breaking through a thunderhead. The chosen one was here.
Mace disengaged from the shadow's blade and leapt for the window; he slashed away the transparisteel with a single flourish. His instant's distraction cost him: a dark surge of the Force nearly blew him right out of the gap he had just cut. Only a desperate Force-push of his own altered his path enough that he slammed into a stanchion instead of plunging half a kilometer from the ledge outside. He bounced off and the Force cleared his head and once again he gave himself to Vaapad.
He could feel the end of this battle approaching, and so could the blur of Sith he faced; in the Force, the shadow had become a pulsar of fear. Easily, almost effortlessly, he turned the shadow's fear into a weapon: he angled the battle to bring them both out onto the window ledge. Out in the wind. Out with the lightning. Out on a rain-slicked ledge above a half-kilometer drop. Out where the shadow's fear made it hesitate. Out where the shadow's fear turned some of its Force-powered speed into a Force-powered grip on the slippery permacrete. Out where Mace could flick his blade in one precise arc and slash the shadow's lightsaber in half.
One piece flipped back in through the cut-open window. The other tumbled from opening fingers, bounced on the ledge, and fell through the rain toward the distant alleys below. Now the shadow was only Palpatine: old and shrunken, thinning hair bleached white by time and care, face lined with exhaustion.
"For all your power, you are no Jedi. All you are, my lord," Mace said evenly, staring past his blade, "is under arrest."
"Do you see, Anakin? Do you?" Palpatine's voice once again had the broken cadence of a frightened old man's. "Didn't I warn you of the Jedi and their treason?"
"Save your twisted words, my lord. There are no politicians here. The Sith will never regain control of the Republic. It's over. You've lost." Mace leveled his blade. "You lost for the same reason the Sith always lose: defeated by your own fear."
Palpatine lifted his head. His eyes smoked with hate. "Fool," he said. He lifted his arms, his robes of office spreading wide into raptor's wings, his hands hooking into talons.
"Fool!" His voice was a shout of thunder. "Do you think the fear you feel is mine?"
Lightning blasted the clouds above, and lightning blasted from Palpatine's hands, and Mace didn't have time to comprehend what Palpatine was talking about; he had time only to slip back into Vaapad and angle his blade to catch the forking arcs of pure, dazzling hatred that clawed toward him. Because Vaapad is more than a fighting style. It is a state of mind: a channel for darkness. Power passed into him and out again without touching him. And the circuit completed itself: the lightning reflected back to its source. Palpatine staggered, snarling, but the blistering energy that loured from his hands only intensified. He fed the power with his pain.
"Anakin!" Mace called. His voice sounded distant, blurred, as if it came from the bottom of a well. "Anakin, help me! This is your chance!"
He felt Anakin's leap from the office floor to the ledge, felt his approach behind—
And Palpatine was not afraid. Mace could feel it: he wasn't worried at all.
"Destroy this traitor," the Chancellor said, his voice raised aver the howl of writhing energy that joined his hands to Mace's blade. "This was never an arrest. It's an assassination!"
That was when Mace finally understood. He had it. The key to final victory. Palpatine's shatterpoint. The absolute shatterpoint of the Sith. The shatterpoint of the dark side itself. Mace thought, blankly astonished, Palpatine trusts Anakin Skywalker...
Now Anakin was at Mace's shoulder. Palpatine still made no move to defend himself from Skywalker; instead he ramped up the lightning bursting from his hands, bending the fountain of Mace's blade back toward the Korun Master's face.
Palpatine's eyes glowed with power, casting a yellow glare that burned back the rain from around them. "He is a traitor, Anakin. Destroy him."
"You're the chosen one, Anakin," Mace said, his voice going thin with strain. This was beyond Vaapad; he had no strength left to fight against his own blade. "Take him. It's your destiny."
Skywalker echoed him faintly. "Destiny..."
"Help me! I can't hold on any longer!" The yellow glare from Palpatine's eyes spread outward through his flesh. His skin flowed like oil, as though the muscle beneath was burning away, as though even the bones of his skull were softening, were bending and bulging, deforming from the heat and pressure of his electric hatred. "He is killing me, Anakin—! Please, Anaaahhh—"
Mace's blade bent so close to his face that he was choking on ozone. "Anakin, he's too strong for me—"
"Ahhh—" Palpatine's roar above the endless blast of lightning became a fading moan of despair. The lightning swallowed itself, leaving only the night and the rain, and an old man crumpled to his knees on a slippery ledge. "I... can't. I give up. I... I am too weak, in the end. Too old, and too weak. Don't kill me, Master Jedi. Please. I surrender."
Victory flooded through Mace's aching body. He lifted his blade. "You Sith disease—"
"Wait—" Skywalker seized his lightsaber arm with desperate strength. "Don't kill him—you can't just kill him, Master—"
"Yes, I can," Mace said, grim and certain. "I have to."
"You came to arrest him. He has to stand trial—"
"A trial would be a joke. He controls the courts. He controls the Senate—"
"So are you going to kill all them, too? Like he said you would?"
Mace yanked his arm free. "He's too dangerous to be left alive. If you could have taken Dooku alive, would you have?"
Skywalker's face swept itself clean of emotion. "That was different—"
Mace turned toward the cringing, beaten Sith Lord. "You can explain the difference after he's dead." He raised his lightsaber.
"I need him alive!" Skywalker shouted. "I need him to save Padme!"
Mace thought blankly, Why? And moved his lightsaber toward the fallen Chancellor. Before he could follow through on his stroke, a sudden arc of blue plasma sheared through his wrist and his hand tumbled away with his lightsaber still in it and Palpatine roared back to his feet and lightning speared from the Sith Lord's hands and without his blade to catch it, the power of Palpatine's hate struck him full-on.
He had been so intent on Palpatine's shatterpoint that he'd never thought to look for Anakin's. Dark lightning blasted away his universe. He fell forever.
Anakin Skywalker knelt in the rain. He was looking at a hand. The hand had brown skin. The hand held a lightsaber. The hand had a charred oval of tissue where it should have been attached to an arm.
"What have I done?" Was it his voice? It must have been. Because it was his question. "What have I done?"
Another hand, a warm and human hand, laid itself softly on his shoulder. "You're following your destiny, Anakin," said a familiar gentle voice. "The Jedi are traitors. You saved the Republic from their treachery. You can see that, can't you?"
"You were right," Anakin heard himself saying. "Why didn't I know?"
"You couldn't have. They cloaked themselves in deception, my boy. Because they feared your power, they could never trust you."
Anakin stared at the hand, but he no longer saw it. "Obi-Wan—Obi-Wan trusts me..."
"Not enough to tell you of their plot."
Treason echoed in his memory.
...this is not an assignment for the record...
That warm and human hand gave his shoulder a warm and human squeeze. "I do not fear your power, Anakin, I embrace it. You are the greatest of the Jedi. You can be the greatest of the Sith. I believe that, Anakin. I believe in you. I trust you. I trust you. I trust you."
Anakin looked from the dead hand on the ledge to the living one on his shoulder, then up to the face of the man who stood above him, and what he saw there choked him like an invisible fist crushing his throat. The hand on his shoulder was human. The face...wasn't.
The eyes were a cold and feral yellow, and they gleamed like those of a predator lurking beyond a fringe of firelight; the bone around those feral eyes had swollen and melted and flowed like durasteel spilled from a fusion smelter, and the flesh that blanketed it had gone corpse-gray and coarse as rotten synthplast. Stunned with horror, stunned with revulsion, Anakin could only stare at the creature. At the shadow. Looking into the face of the darkness, he saw his future.
"Now come inside," the darkness said.
After a moment, he did.
--Revenge of the Sith novelization
MACE arrives with THREE JEDI to arrest PALPATINE.
PALPATINE: Master Windu. I take it General Grievous has been destroyed then. I must say, you're here sooner than expected.
MACE WINDU: In the name of the Galactic Senate of the Republic, you are under arrest, Chancellor.
MACE WINDU and the other JEDI ignite their lightsabers.
PALPATINE: Are you threatening me, Master Jedi?
MACE: The Senate will decide your fate.
PALPATINE: (burst of anger) I am the Senate!
MACE: Not yet!
PALPATINE stands, a laser sword appears out of his cloak sleeve, and he spins toward the JEDI.
PALPATINE: It's treason, then.
A close shot of PALPATINE as the fight begins. Close shots of THREE JEDI getting cut down by PALPATINE. PALPATINE and MACE continue to fight. Jedi Master MACE WINDU and the Sith Lord fight their way down the hallway and into the main office area. PALPATINE is able to use the Force to slam MACE against the wall, but he recovers before the Chancellor can cut him down. ANAKIN lands his speeder, jumps out, and runs down a long corridor toward the Chancellor's office. In the heat of battle, MACE cuts the window behind the Chancellor's desk, and it crashes away. MACE is forced out onto the ledge, which is twenty stories up. They fight over the precipice. ANAKIN arrives to see PALPATINE and MACE fighting. They stop as MACE forces PALPATINE to drop his sword. PALPATINE and MACE start yelling at each other.
MACE WINDU: You are under arrest, My Lord.
PALPATINE: Anakin! I told you it would come to this. I was right. The Jedi are taking over.
MACE WlNDU: You old fool. The oppression of the Sith will never return. Your plot to regain control of the Republic is over . . . you have lost . . .
PALPATINE: No! No! You will die!
PALPATINE raises his hands, and lightning bolts shoot out. They are blocked by MACE's lightsaber. PALPATINE is pushed back against the window sill.
PALPATINE: He is a traitor, Anakin.
MACE WlNDU: He's the traitor. Stop him!
PALPATINE: Come to your senses, boy. The Jedi are in revolt. They will betray you, just as they betrayed me.
MACE WlNDU: Aarrrrggghhhhh . . .
PALPATINE: You are not one of them, Anakin. Don't let him kill me.
MACE WlNDU: Aarrrrggghhhhh . . .
PALPATINE: I am your pathway to power. I have the power to save the one you love. You must choose. You must stop him.
MACE WlNDU: Don't listen to him, Anakin.
PALPATINE: Help me! Don't let him kill me. I can't hold on any longer. Ahhhhhhh . . . ahhhhhhh . . . ahhhhhhh . . .
MACE pushes PALPATINE out to the edge of the ledge. As the Jedi moves closer, the bolts from Palpatine's hands begin to arch back on him. The Chancellor's face begins to twist and distort. His eyes become yellow as he struggles to intensify his powers.
PALPATINE: I can't ... I give up. Help me. I am weak ... I am too weak. Don't kill me. I give up. I'm dying. I can't hold on any longer.
MACE WlNDU: You Sith disease. I am going to end this once and for all.
ANAKIN: You can't kill him, Master. He must stand trial.
MACE WlNDU: He has too much control of the Senate and the Courts. He is too dangerous to be kept alive.
PALPATINE: I'm too weak. Don't kill me. Please.
ANAKIN: It is not the Jedi way . . .
MACE raises his sword to kill the CHANCELLOR.
ANAKIN: (continuing) He must live . . .
PALPATINE: Please don't, please don't . . .
ANAKIN: I need him . . .
PALPATINE: Please don't . . .
ANAKIN: NO!!!
Just as MACE is about to slash PALPATINE, ANAKIN steps in and cuts off the Jedi's hand holding the lightsaber. As MACE stares at ANAKIN in shock, PALPATINE springs to life. The full force of Palpatine's powerful Bolts blasts MACE. He attempts to deflect them with his one good hand, but the force is too great. As blue rays engulf his body, he is flung out the window and falls twenty stories to his death. No more screams. No more moans. PALPATINE lowers his arm.
PALPATINE: Power! Unlimited power! His face has changed into a horrible mask of evil. ANAKIN looks on in horror. PALPATINE cackles.
ANAKIN: What have I done?
ANAKIN sits.
PALPATINE: You are fulfilling your destin, Anakin. Become my apprentice. Learn to use the dark side of the Force.
ANAKIN: I will do whatever you ask.
PALPATINE: Good.
ANAKIN: Just help me save Padme's life. I can't live without her. I won't let her die. I want the power to stop death.
PALPATINE: To cheat death is a power only one has achieved, but if we work together, I know we can discover the secret.
ANAKIN kneels before PALPATINE.
ANAKIN: I pledge myself to your teachings. To the ways of the Sith.
PALPATINE: Good. Good. The Force is strong with you. A powerful Sith you will become. Henceforth, you shall be known as Darth . . . Vader.
ANAKIN: Thank you. my Master.
PALPATINE: Rise, Darth Vader. Palpatine moves over to his desk.
--Revenge of the Sith script
Here - in a lavish Senatorial office atop one of the tallest buildings on Coruscant - the endgame of the conflict between Sith and Jedi begins. Revealed as a Dark Lord of the Sith - Chancellor Palpatine vaults across his desk with the uncanny speed of a master in the Force - his lightsaber blazing to life. Its blade carries the swift death of no less than three Jedi. Even the great Mace Windu will be fought to a standstill in this - the first battle in a conflict that will end with the extermination of the Jedi.
--Jedi vs Darth Sidious 5-Pack
A powerful Jedi warrior - Mace Windu has mastered skills that only the most trained minds could hope to attempt. He is slain in a desperate act of betrayal by Anakin Skywalker after fighting Chancellor Palpatine to a standstill in a battle that costs the lives of three Jedi.
--Mace Windu (Revenge Of The Sith - The 30th Anniversary Collection, 2007)
But there was still only the cycle of power, the endless loop, no wound taken on either side, not even the possibility of fatigue.Impasse.Which might have gone on forever, if Vaapad were Mace's only gift.
--Revenge of the Sith novelization
Before the Jedi could react, Palpatine sprang into action and killed all of them except Mace Windu.
--Databank: Emperor Palpatine/Darth Sidious
Before Mace realizes what has happened, Kolar, Tiin, and Fisto have fallen to Sidious's blade.
--The Complete Visual Dictionary
In the inner recesses of his private office, the Jedi confronted the Chancellor. Palpatine produced a lightsaber hidden in his sleeve and let the dark side flow through him. It granted him unnatural dexterity and speed—enough to quickly kill three Jedi Masters and force the mighty Mace Windu back.
--The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia
(★) Emperor Palpatine vs Yoda: Palpatine almost overwhelms Yoda initially, but is then forced back by him to the Chancellor’s podium. They both trade advantages and disadvantages during the fight, with Yoda ultimately disarming Palpatine due to the environment, but Palpatine retaliates with the Force, winning the fight.
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Yoda rose.
A gesture opened the grating of the vent shaft where he had waited in meditation, revealing the vast conic well that was the Grand Convocation Chamber of the Galactic Senate. It was sometimes called the Senate Arena. Today, this nickname would be particularly apt.Yoda stretched blood back into his green flesh. This was his time. Nine hundred years of study and training, of teaching and of meditation, all now focused, and refined, and resolved into this single moment; the sole purpose of his vast span of existence had been to prepare him to enter the heart of night and bring his light against the darkness. He adjusted the angle of his blade against his belt. He draped his robe across his shoulders. With reverence, with gratitude, without fear, and without anger, Yoda went forth to war.
[...]
The holding office of the Supreme Chancellor of the Republic comprised the nether vertex of the Senate Arena; it was little more than a circular preparations area, a green room, where guests of the Chancellor might be entertained before entering the Senate Podium—the circular pod on its immense hydraulic pillar, which contained controls that coordinated the movement of floating Senate delegation pods—and rising into the focal point of the chamber above. Above that podium, the vast holopresence of a kneeling Sith bowed before a shadow that stood below. Guards in scarlet flanked the shadow; a Chagrian toady cringed nearby.
"But the danger is real; be mindful."
"I will, my Master. Thank you."
The holopresence faded, and where its huge translucency had knelt was now revealed another presence, a physical presence, tiny and aged, clad in robes and leaning on a twist of wood. But his physical presence was an illusion; the truth of him could be seen only in the Force. In the Force, he was a fountain of light. "Pity your new disciple I do; so lately an apprentice, so soon without a Master."
"Why, Master Yoda, what a delightful surprise! Welcome!" The voice of the shadow hummed with anticipation. "Let me be the first to wish you Happy Empire Day!"
"Find it happy, you will not. Nor will the murderer you call Vader."
"Ah." The shadow stepped closer to the light. "So that is the threat I felt. Who is it, if I may ask? Who have you sent to kill him?"
"Enough it is that you know your own destroyer."
"Oh, pish, Master Yoda. It wouldn't be Kenobi, would it? Please say it's Kenobi—Lord Vader gets such a thrill from killing people who care for him..."
Behind the shadow, some meters away, Mas Amedda—the Chagrian toady who was Speaker of the Galactic Senate—heard a whisper in Palpatine's voice. Flee.
He did.
"So easily slain, Obi-Wan is not."
"Neither are you, apparently; but that is about to change." The shadow took another step, and another.
A lightsaber appeared, green as sunlight in a forest. "The test of that, today will be."
"Even a fraction of the dark side is more power than your Jedi arrogance can conceive; living in the light, you have never seen the depth of the darkness."
The shadow spread arms that made its sleeves into black wings.
"Until now."
Lightning speared from outstretched hands, and the battle was on.
In the Senate Arena, lightning forked from the hands of a Sith, and bent away from the gesture of a Jedi to shock Redrobes into unconsciousness.
Then there were only the two of them.
Their clash transcended the personal; when new lightning blazed, it was not Palpatine burning Yoda with his hate, it was the Lord of all Sith scorching the Master of all Jedi into a smoldering huddle of clothing and green flesh.
A thousand years of hidden Sith exulted in their victory.
"Your time is over! The Sith rule the galaxy! Now and forever!"And it was the whole of the Jedi Order that rocketed from its huddle, making of its own body a weapon to blast the Sith to the ground.
"At an end your rule is, and not short enough it was, I must say."
There appeared a blade the color of life.
From the shadow of a black wing, a small weapon-a holdout, an easily concealed backup, a tiny bit of treachery expressing the core of Sith mastery-slid into a withered hand and spat a flame-colored blade of its own.
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 take all.
There came a turning point in the clash of the light against the dark.
It did not come from a flash of lightning or slash of energy blade, though there were these in plenty; it did not come from a flying kick or a surgically precise punch, though these were traded, too.
It came as the battle shifted from the holding office to the great Chancellor's Podium; it came as the hydraulic lift beneath the Podium raised it on its tower of durasteel a hundred meters and more, so that it became a laserpoint of battle flaring at the focus of the vast emptiness of the Senate Arena; it came as the Force and the podium's controls ripped delegation pods free of the curving walls and made of them hammers, battering rams, catapult stones crashing and crushing against each other in a rolling thunder-roar that echoed the Senate's cheers for the galaxy's new Emperor.
It came when the avatar of light resolved into the lineage of the Jedi; when the lineage of the Jedi refined into one single Jedi.
It came when Yoda found himself alone against the dark.
In that lightning-speared tornado of feet and fists and blades and bashing machines, his vision finally pierced the darkness that had clouded the Force.
Finally, he saw the truth.This truth: that he, the avatar of light, Supreme Master of the Jedi Order, the fiercest, most implacable, most devastatingly powerful foe the darkness had ever known...
just-
didn't-
have it.
He'd never had it. He had lost before he started.
He had lost before he was born.
The Sith had changed. The Sith had grown, had adapted, had invested a thousand years' intensive study into every aspect of not only the Force but Jedi lore itself, in preparation for exactly this day. The Sith had remade themselves.
They had become new.
While the Jedi-
The Jedi had spent that same millennium training to refight the last war.
The new Sith could not be destroyed with a lightsaber; they could not be burned away by any torch of the Force. The brighter his light, the darker their shadow. How could one win a war against the dark, when war itself had become the dark's own weapon?
He knew, at that instant, that this insight held the hope of the galaxy. But if he fell here, that hope would die with him. Hmmm, Yoda thought. A problem this is . . .
The end came with astonishing suddenness.
The shadow could feel how much it cost the little green freak to bend back his lightnings into the cage of energy that enclosed them both; the creature had reached the limits of his strength. The shadow released its power for an instant, long enough only to whirl away through the air and alight upon one of the delegation pods as it flew past, and the creature leapt to follow-
Half a second too slow.
The shadow unleashed its lightning while the creature was still in the air, and the little green freak took its full power. The shock blasted him backward to crash against the podium, and he fell.
He fell a long way.
[...]
The base of the Arena was a hundred meters below, littered with twisted scraps and jags of metal from the pods destroyed in the battle, and as the little green freak fell, finally, above, the victorious shadow became once again only Palpatine: a very old, very tired man, gasping for air as he leaned on the pod's rail. Old he might have been, but there was nothing wrong with his eyesight; he scanned the wreckage below, and he did not see a body.
He flicked a finger, and in the Chancellor's Podium a dozen meters away, a switch tripped and sirens sounded throughout the enormous building; another surge of the Force sent his pod streaking in a downward spiral to the holding office at the base of the Podium tower. Clone troops were already swarming into it. "It was Yoda," he said as he swung out of the pod. "Another assassination attempt. Find him and kill him. If you have to, blow up the building." He didn't have time to direct the search personally. The Force hummed a warning in his bones: Lord Vader was in danger. Mortal danger.
Clones scattered. He stopped one officer. "You. Call the shuttle dock and tell them I'm on my way. Have my ship warmed and ready." The officer saluted, and Palpatine, with vigor that surprised even himself, ran.
With the help of the Force, Yoda sprinted along the service accessway below the Arena faster than a human being could run; he sliced conduits as he passed, filling the accessway behind him with coils of high-voltage cables, twisting and spitting lightning. Every few dozen meters, he paused just long enough to slash a hole in the accessway's wall; once his pursuers got past the cables, they would have to divide their forces to search each of his possible exits. But he knew they could afford to; there were thousands of them.
He pulled his comlink from inside his robe without slowing down; the Force whispered a set of coordinates and he spoke them into the link. "Delay not," he added. "Swiftly closing is the pursuit. Failed I have, and kill me they will."
The Convocation Center of the Galactic Senate was a drum-mounted dome more than a kilometer in diameter; even with the aid of the Force, Yoda was breathing hard by the time he reached its edge. He cut through the floor beneath him and dropped down into another accessway, this one used for maintenance on the huge lighting system that shone downward onto Republic Plaza through transparisteel panels that floored the underside of the huge dome's rim. He cut into the lightwell; the reflected wattage nearly blinded him to the vertiginous drop below the transparisteel on which he stood.
Without hesitation he cut through that as well and dived headlong into the night.
Catching the nether edges of his long cloak to use as an improvised airfoil, he let the Force guide him in a soaring free fall away from the Convocation Center; he was too small to trigger its automated defense perimeter, but the open-cockpit speeder toward which he fell would get blasted from the sky if it deviated one meter inward from its curving course. He released his robe so that it flapped upward, making a sort of drogue that righted him in the air so that he fell feetfirst into the speeder's passenger seat beside Bail Organa.While Yoda strapped himself in, the Senator from Alderaan pulled the rented speeder through a turn that would have impressed Anakin Skywalker, and shot away toward the nearest intersection of Coruscant's congested skyways.Yoda's eyes squeezed closed.
"Master Yoda? Are you wounded?"
"Only my pride," Yoda said, and meant it, though Bail could not possibly understand how deep that wound went, nor how it bled. "Only my pride."
--Revenge of the Sith novelization
As the hologram faded, Yoda stumped into the room. Before the guards could react, he used the Force to fling them against the walls. They collapsed in motionless heaps as Yoda said to the Sith Lord, “A new apprentice, you have, Chancellor. Or should I call you ‘Emperor’?”
“Master Yoda.” The Emperor inclined his head. “You survived.”
“Surprised?”
“Your arrogance blinds you, Master Yoda,” Darth Sidious hissed. “Now you will experience the full power of the dark side.” He raised his arms, and the Force pulsed as blue lightning blasted Yoda across the room.
Mas Amedda looked from the Chancellor to Yoda, his eyes narrowed maliciously. He turned and left the room. Another wave of dark power lifted Yoda and flung him hard against the wall. Yoda used the Force to cushion the impact, but he pretended to be knocked unconscious. A surprise, I will give him.
“I have waited a long time for this moment, my little green friend,” Darth Sidious sneered. He stepped forward, and Yoda pushed off, propelling himself straight at the Sith Lord. He knocked Darth Sidious over the desk and stared down at him.
“At an end your rule is,” Yoda told the Emperor. “And not short enough it was, I must say.” He ignited his lightsaber and brought it down, to be met by the Emperor’s blood-red Sith blade.
Strong, this Sith Lord is, Yoda thought as their lightsabers whirled and clashed and whirled again. It should not have been a surprise. With the strength of the dark side growing, the Sith must, logically, have grown stronger, too. But always before, his own years of study and practice and his own strength with the Force had been more than enough to prevail. This time, he wasn’t sure.
But Palpatine didn’t seem entirely sure, either. Suddenly, he launched himself into the air, heading for the door. Yoda did a back flip, bounced off the wall, and reached the entrance before him. “If so powerful you are, why leave?”
“You will not stop me,” the new Emperor croaked. “Darth Vader will become more powerful than either of us.”
“Faith in your new apprentice, misplaced may be,” Yoda replied. As is your faith in the dark side of the Force. Even if Palpatine killed him here, today, the dark side would not truly win. For the dark side was anger, hatred, despair — all the forces of ruin and decay. Powerful, they were, to tear down and destroy, but they could not build anything lasting. Palpatine’s ten-thousand-year Galactic Empire would be lucky to outlast his lifetime.
That thought gave Yoda new energy, and he pressed his attack. He drove Palpatine back across the room, into the Chancellor’s podium. Palpatine hit the controls, and the podium began to rise, carrying him up into the Senate. But the podium moved slowly; Yoda had plenty of time to flip himself into the air and land beside the Emperor, to continue the fight.
As the podium rose into the Senate arena, the fight intensified. Twice, Yoda came near to pushing Palpatine over the edge. They were high enough now that a fall could be fatal, even to a Sith Lord. Or a Jedi Master. The cramped space within the pod left little room for maneuvering.
An end, I must make. Yoda redoubled the speed of his blows. Palpatine parried one, then another — and then the red lightsaber spun out of his hands and over the edge. Yoda raised his weapon for the final blow.
Force lightning spat from the Emperor’s gray fingers, surrounding Yoda in a blue nimbus. But Yoda had faced Force lightning before. To deflect the first bolts, he had to stop his intended strike at the Emperor. Once his initial surprise was over, he reached out to the living Force. The lightning bent, arcing back toward the Emperor.
“Destroy you, I will,” Yoda said grimly. “Just as Master Kenobi, your apprentice will destroy.”
The Sith Lord only redoubled his attack. Hurling Force lightning, the Emperor backed away, to the very edge of the platform. Following him was like walking against hurricane winds. Never had Yoda faced one so strong in the dark side. Before he came within reach, a particularly strong blast knocked Yoda out of the pod.
As he plunged over the edge, Yoda realized that Palpatine was right about one thing. He, Yoda, had indeed been arrogant. It is a flaw more and more common among Jedi, he had told Obi-Wan once. Too sure of themselves, they are. And he had fallen into the same trap himself.
He landed much sooner than he had expected, in an empty Senate pod floating below the Chancellor’s. As he climbed to his feet, the pod jerked, throwing him sideways and knocking him down once more. Palpatine was using the dark side to rip more pods free, crashing them into Yoda’s pod to keep him off-balance.
This game, two can play. Yoda reached out with the Force and caught one of the hurtling pods. He threw it back at Palpatine, who barely dodged in time. Then Yoda leaped, using the flying pods to get back up to the Chancellor’s level.
As he reached Palpatine’s pod, the Sith Lord hit him with another blast of blue lightning that knocked Yoda’s lightsaber out of his hand. Palpatine’s lips curled in anticipated triumph, and the dark side pulsed as he drew even more Force lightning to his bidding.
Yoda caught it. The blue energy built into a glowing ball in his hand, ready to throw back at the Sith Lord the moment his attack stopped. But Palpatine didn’t stop; the Force lightning came in a steady crackle, building more and more, until neither of them could hold it any longer, and the blast knocked them both out of the pod.
Palpatine was larger and heavier; he managed to catch hold of the edge of the pod as he fell. But Yoda was small and light. The explosion threw him high into the air, with nothing to grab to break his fall. Half-stunned, he began the long fall to the Senate floor.
--Revenge of the Sith junior novelization
YODA enters, using the Force to throw two RED GUARDS against the wall, knocking them unconscious. DARTH SIDIOUS turns his chair toward YODA. MAS AMEDDA stands behind SIDIOUS's desk.
YODA: I hear a new apprentice, you have. Emperor, or should I call you Darth Sidious.
DARTH SlDIOUS: Master Yoda, you survived.Y
ODA: Surprised?
DARTH SlDIOUS: Your arrogance blinds you, Master Yoda. Now you will experience the full power of the dark side.
The Dark Lord raises his arms, and LIGHTNING BOLTS shoot out, surrounding YODA.
YODA is picked up and thrown across the room, hitting the wall and sliding down in a crumpled heap. DARTH SIDIOUS chuckles.
MAS AMEDDA leaves the room. PALPATINE approaches a stunned YODA.
DARTH SlDIOUS: I have waited a long time for this moment, my little green friend. At last, the Jedi are no more.
YODA: Not if anything I have to say about it, Lord Sidious.Y
ODA uses the Force to throw DARTH SIDIOUS back, knocking him clear over his desk and onto the floor in a heap.
YODA: (continuing) At an end your rule is and not short enough it was, I must say.
DARTH SIDIOUS flies through the air, cape flapping, heading toward the exit. At the last second, YODA flies into the exit and stops the Dark Lord.
YODA: (continuing) If so powerful you are, why leave??
YODA ignites his lightsaber.
DARTH SlDIOUS: You will not stop me. Darth Vader will become more powerful than either of us.
DARTH SIDIOUS ignites his lightsaber.
YODA: Faith in your new apprentice, misplaced may be, as is your faith in the dark side of the Force.
Their swords CLASH. The battle is extremely fast and furious.
PALPATINE seeks refuge in the vast Senate Chamber. He gets into the Chancellor's Podium and it starts to rise up into the Arena. YODA makes a giant leap into the control pod. The sword fighting is intense in the confined space.
YODA unleashes a ferocious assault on PALPATINE, causing him to almost go over the edge. The Dark Lord drops his lightsaber but recovers with a BLAST OF ENERGY from his hands that surrounds YODA. YODA is deflecting the Sith Lord's lightning bolts.
The energy bolts begin to arc back on the Emperor. It looks as if the Dark Lord is doomed.
YODA: Destroy you I will, just as Master Kenobi, your apprentice will destroy.
YODA jumps to a lower Senate Pod. PALPATINE reaches out with one hand, and a Senate pod is released from its mooring and heads toward the Podium. PALPATINE uses the Force to hurl pod after pod at YODA, who ducks and jumps from one flying pod to another.
YODA leaps away from the pods. He uses the Force to hold one pod suspended in the air. The pod spins and YODA throws it back at PALPATINE, who leaps away at the last moment.
YODA leaps after him, but PALPATINE quickly turns and aims the full force of his energy bolts at the tiny green Jedi, catching him in mid-air and throwing him back hard against the Podium. The force causes YODA to drop his lightsaber. YODA blocks the lightning and throws PALPATINE backwards off the podium. YODA is knocked off the Podium and falls several hundred feet to the base of the Podium. PALPATINE follows in his pod, searching for YODA.
--Revenge of the Sith scrip
Duelling with the Sith Lord Darth Sidious was a very different experience to fighting Dooku. Yoda was almost overwhelmed by the sheer hatred and fury of the Emperor.
--Fact File
Wheless' team worked out three key poses to tell the story:
1) Yoda and Darth Sidious lock lightsabers
2) Yoda is forced back by Sidious' power, and grimaces in pain
3) Yoda uses all of his strength to push Sidious back
[...]
"The shot is only three seconds long, but it communicates to the audience that Yoda has met his match," he says.
--Insider #86: Yoda’s Right Arm
Inside the spacious interior of the Galactic Senate chamber, Yoda challenged the Emperor. The two engaged in a spectacular duel—a contest between the most powerful practitioners of the Force’s Light and Dark Sides. The Emperor proved too powerful to defeat. Although Yoda held his own for much of the duel, in the end the Sith bested him. He realized that continuing to directly confront Palpatine would mean failure. Defeated, Yoda slunk away into the shadow's of the Senate chamber's cavernous depths, leaping into a waiting getaway speeder piloted by Bail Organa.
--The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia
Yoda went after Palpatine in the empty Senate chamber, but could not defeat the most powerful Sith Lord in history.
--The New Essential Chronology
His true criminal colors revealed after Order 66 wipes out the Jedi Order on a galactic scale, Chancellor Palpatine accepts the title of Darth Sidious and all that goes with it. Reveling in his power, he is challenged by a feisty Yoda in the empty Coruscant Senate chamber. It’s a furious, unprecedented battle royale, with both adversaries hurling and dodging chamber pods. Ultimately, an overmatched Yoda flees to fight another day.
--Star Wars Trading Card Game
Though Yoda is a tough combatant, the Emperor uses his Sith powers to release lightning bolts and hurl floating platforms at his foe. Ultimately the battle proves too much for Yoda, who barely escapes and is whisked away to safety by Senator Bail Organa.
--Ultimate Star Wars
Yoda confronted Sidious in the heart of the Senate chambers. This erupted into an intense duel between these masters of the Force, a fight that Yoda ultimately lost and was forced to flee.
--Databank: Yoda
Master Yoda made a last-ditch attempt to stop him, and their fight spilled over into the now-empty Senate rotunda. Darth Sidious overwhelmed Master Yoda with the destructive energy of the dark side, and the Jedi Master fled Coruscant.
--Databank: Emperor Palpatine/Darth Sidious
Yoda is eventually outmatched by Sidious.
--Revenge of the Sith Story Gallery
The Jedi Master and the Sith Lord dueled in the Senate chamber, but Sidious was too strong for Yoda to defeat.
--Coruscant History Gallery
A fierce duel commenced. Yoda and Darth Sidious each used his side of the Force to try to defeat the other. But the Sith Lord's powers were too strong.
--Revenge of the Sith Canon Junior Novelization
Even the greatest warriors of the Jedi - Mace Windu, Kit Fisto, even Yoda - could not defeat the Sith.
--The Last of the Jedi: Underworld
Note: Yoda did not disarm Sidious because he was better. At level nine, only the environment and personal fighting styles dictate the winner. Sidious’ style has been stated to be unbeatable, so the logical conclusion is that Yoda only bested Sidious due to the environment: a small podium leaving Palpatine with very little room to maneuver whereas Yoda could freely jump around.
Level nine, the highest level of lightsaber fighting, is occupied by a small number of capable sword masters, including Yoda and Darth Sidious. At so high a ranking, it comes down to individual fighting styles as well as the circumstances of the surroundings that make a difference.
--The Official Star Wars Website
As the podium rose into the Senate arena, the fight intensified. Twice, Yoda came near to pushing Palpatine over the edge. They were high enough now that a fall could be fatal, even to a Sith Lord. Or a Jedi Master. The cramped space within the pod left little room for maneuvering.
--Revenge of the Sith junior novelization
Gallery
The Emperor vs three Order 66 survivors: Palpatine stomps and speedblitzes them all in one sweep.
The Emperor vs 12+ lyleks: Palpatine stomps all of them causally while holding back tremendously.
Vader turned and looked down to the floor below, where his Master, surrounded by a dozen or more lyleks, was spinning, whirling, leaping, his lightsaber moving so fast it blurred. He looked tiny amid their bulk but moved with preternatural speed, his blade stabbing and slashing and severing. He was laughing, the familiar cackle somehow audible above the sounds of the horde.
--Lords of the Sith
The Emperor and Vader vs the lylek queen: Palpatine appears to struggle a bit in order to test Vader, but in reality the fight was relatively easy for him.
Vader and the Emperor stood in the shadow of the queen's towering form. Her respiration was audible in the sudden lull, loud and wet. Each of her six legs was a meter and a half in circumference, and the spikes they ended in looked like sword blades. Her squirming tentacles (four instead of two) were ten meters long, as thick as a man's waist, and ended in glistening points of chitin that leaked some kind of ichor, or perhaps poison. Her mouth could easily bite a person in half.
She advanced slowly, tentacles squirming, the ends of her legs striking the ground with a clipped, staccato rhythm. She lowered her head and hissed as she came on. Her mandibles worked the empty air.
Vader's Master wore the same knowing half smile he seemed always to wear. Shall we begin, Lord Vader?
Vader answered only with the sound of his breathing.
The queen exploded into motion and so, too, did Vader and the Emperor. A tentacle lashed at Vader and he leapt over it, sidestepping a second tentacle, and chopped down with his blade. He missed as the queen snapped the tentacle back, his blade putting a charred furrow in the stone of the floor. He leapt high over her, flipping at the apex of his trajectory, and as he descended he took his blade in a two-handed grip and pointed it downward to impale her.
She lurched sidewise and lashed out with a tentacle, which struck him squarely and knocked him to the floor. She turned as though to advance on him, but his Master sprang before her, jumping, twirling, and ducking under the rapid swings of her tentacles and the spikes of her legs. His lightsaber slashed rapidly at every opening, striking the tentacles but scarring them only, not severing them.
The queen lunged toward his Master and he flipped backward, landing a few paces away. Vader jumped to his feet, spinning out of the way of her attempt to stab him with the chitinous spike at the end of one of her tentacles. He found himself face-to-face with five lyleks, all of them hissing, tentacles squirming. He stabbed one through the head, backflipped high over another, hit the ground, and severed its rear legs.
To his right his Master gestured and, with the Force, lifted two of the lyleks from the floor. Vader and his Master exchanged no words, but each knew precisely what the other intended. With a casual throwing motion, the Emperor flung the two lyleks in Vader's direction, their legs and tentacles squirming, bellies exposed. Slashing and turning a rapid spin, Vader bisected both of them; the four gory pieces that remained fell to the floor in a heap.
From above, blaster shots slammed into the lylek that remained before him, with several shots bouncing off its carapace before one finally caught it in the head and put it down. Vader glanced up to see Deez kneeling in the tunnel's mouth, blaster rifle lowered, firing down into the melee.
Vader reflexively slashed with his lightsaber as another lylek scrabbled toward him. The blade took off the legs and left the creature squealing and spasming. He saw his Master dodging the rapid, repeated strikes of the queen's tentacles. The Emperor twisted and spun and leapt, slashing with his lightsaber where he could, and where the blade bit into the thick tentacles it opened black gashes that leaked a thick ichor. The pain seemed only to make her angrier.
Vader leapt high and landed at his Master's side. The queen roared and loosed a flurry of strikes. Working in tandem, they parried her blows, counterstruck, opened dozens of holes in her tentacles, their blades spinning blurs before them. Her very bulk slowly pushed them backward, and from time to time they had to turn their attention to a lylek that rushed them or tried to jump them from the side. Moving almost as one, the two Sith Lords turned and spun around an unspoken central point, parrying, slashing, killing. Frustrated, the queen rushed toward them with surprising speed. Her huge body slammed into them both, knocking them backward. Quick as a lightning strike, she struck with snapping mandibles.
The Emperor fell flat to the floor to avoid the bite and she slammed her legs down at him like so many pikes, each blow chipping the stone of the floor. He rolled and spun underneath the mountain of her body while Vader slashed at her tentacles, the ichor from her many wounds spraying in all directions. She was trying simply to smash his Master with her mass, but Vader perceived her intent, raised a hand, and held her up, straining, grunting for the fraction of a moment that it took for his Master to roll out from under her. And then they were at her again, their blades humming and cutting. She hissed, wounded tentacles flailing, legs stomping, and bounded backward in a crouch.
Emperor! Deez shouted from above, and fired at the queen as rapidly as he could pull the trigger.
The shots bounced off her carapace and ricocheted wildly around the chamber. Vader used his lightsaber to deflect one into the face of the lylek nearest him, killing it. Beside him, his Master split the head of a lylek that lunged at him. Vader decided to finish matters.
Master, he said, and nothing more.
Go, the Emperor said.
Vader sprinted forward and leapt high. The moment he reached the apex of his jump, his Master seized him with the Force and flung him the rest of the way so that he landed atop the queen's back.
Immediately she bucked, tentacles flailing, and he drove his lightsaber down into her back. To his surprise, the blade only bit partially and then slipped to the side. She screamed and hissed with agony. He grasped it two-handed again, preparing another blow, but she reared up hard, bucking, and flung him to the floor. He landed near his Master, who grabbed him by the arm and heaved him to his feet with uncanny strength.
She whirled around at them and whipped her tentacles at Vader and his Master, following with a lunge forward and a vicious bite at Vader. They sidestepped her attacks, once more falling into their usual rhythm, and crosscut at her head with their lightsabers. Both blades struck home. The Emperor tore a long gash in the armored exoskeleton of her head, and Vader destroyed one eye. She shrieked and reared backward, eye socket leaking gore, tentacles whipping wildly. Deez continued to pour down fire at her, but the shots appeared to do her little or no harm. Still, the distress of their queen drove the remaining lyleks into a frenzy, and they charged from all sides.
Vader bounded backward, leapt high up on the wall, and hung with one hand from a narrow ledge, his boots planted on the stone. He'd assumed his Master would do the same, but he hadn't. Instead, his Master stood in the center of a crowd of the creatures, spinning, whirling, slashing, killing. Deez diverted his fire from the wounded queen to the lyleks attacking the Emperor, but the frenetic motion of the combat prevented him from aiming accurately, and his shots bounced off their carapaces in all directions.
The queen recovered enough to survey the scene and her eye fell on Vader, perched as he was on the wall, seemingly vulnerable, and she lurched toward him, shrieking. She pushed through the lyleks around her, her tentacles squirming wildly, grasping for him. Her remaining eye fixed on him and her mouth opened wide in a prolonged hiss.
Below, an explosion of Force lightning shredded a handful of lyleks and left his Master standing in the center of a circle of charred, dead creatures. He made eye contact with Vader, nodding, and Vader knew to hold his position as the queen closed.
His Master raised both hands and sent a storm of Force lightning into the queen, enmeshing her in sizzling blue lines. She screamed and spasmed in agony, her mandibles parting wide to reveal the rows of her teeth as the lightning tore at her carapace and the organs underneath, burning her inside and out.
Vader acted quickly. Drawing on the Force, he leapt off the wall straight at her head. Despite her pain, she managed to snatch him out of midair with a tentacle, seizing him around the waist and squeezing. His armor creaked under the strain and he shouted with pain but, as ever, let the pain draw him deeper into the Force.
She lifted him high and jerked him toward her slashed face, the ruin of her eye, her mouth opened wide to hiss, exactly as he'd anticipated.
Finish her! his Master shouted.
He threw his lightsaber at her open mouth, guiding it with the Force, causing it to spin as rapidly as a rotor as it flew into her gullet. She gagged, recoiled, one good eye wide with pain and confusion, as Vader maintained his mental hold on his spinning blade, cutting her apart from the inside out. Desperately, instinctively, she drove the spiked, poisoned tip of another tentacle at his chest.
Enmeshed in the Force, he caught the spike in his gauntleted fist and stopped it before it reached his armor. He grunted with pain, with exertion, the thick, muscular appendage of the giant creature straining against his Force-fueled strength. He was the stronger, and stared into her face as his lightsaber tore through her innards and his Master's lightning charred her flesh.
She screamed again in a final burst of agony, and the hulking remains of her body collapsed to the floor, taking Vader, clutched now in a limp tentacle, with her. He hit the floor in a crouch along with the bulk of her carcass, shook off the tentacle, and recalled his lightsaber to his hand. The blade cut through her carcass and returned to his hand, slick with fluid.
The remaining lyleks shrieked and chittered, tentacles and legs jerking wildly. Deez continued to blast at them.
Vader met the eyes of his Master, standing five meters away, and both nodded. Immersed in the Force, they set about slaughtering the remaining lyleks. The lines of their lightsabers rose and fell, rose and fell, and the confused, stunned beasts barely defended themselves. Soon the floor was carpeted in carcasses, and Vader and his Master were the only living things standing amid the carnage.
His Master's cackle filled the silence. Both deactivated their blades.
Well done, my friend, the Emperor said.
Back up in the tunnel, Deez used the high-tensile cable integrated into his belt to rappel down the wall. He picked his way through the slaughter, obviously trying and failing to control the expression of awe on his face, until he stood before Vader and the Emperor. He took a knee, his fist to his chest.
My Emperor.
The captain? Vader asked.
Killed by one of the creatures, Lord Vader, Deez said as he stood. His body is not recoverable.
To Vader, the Emperor's mind seemed to be elsewhere. He may have heard Deez or not; Vader could not tell.
I think we should leave this place before it starts to stink, the Emperor said finally. This is the way to the surface, I'm quite sure.
Together, Vader, the Emperor, and Deez moved quickly through the tunnels, ever upward, back toward the surface. They stayed alert for lyleks, but the tunnels were empty. The entire nest must have been annihilated.
The creatures struggled when the queen died. When the head is removed, the body must soon die,†the Emperor commented.
Vader said nothing, merely looked at his Master.
Do you not see? That's why we're hunted, Lord Vader. The rebels hope to cut the head from the Empire.
Of course, Vader said. It was unlike his Master to state something so obvious except with a purpose. And?
His Master adorned his face with his usual half smile. Many things are that way, even some relationships. If the head is removed, the body cannot exist alone. The relationship is complementary, almost symbiotic.
Vader understood his point then. Yes, Master.
The roll of thunder reverberating through the stone told them they were nearing the surface. The tunnel they traversed gradually narrowed until they could move only single-file. Deez led, and Vader came last.
Ahead, Vader saw that the tunnel was blocked. He could hear the sound of dripping water and falling rain from behind the blockage. Deez climbed amid the rubble, trying to peer through it.
We're right at the end, he said. I can see the outside through a crack in this rockfall. Probably a rockslide caused by the rain. We'll need to clear it, my lords.
Vader and the Emperor stepped around Deez, faced the tons of rock and dirt, and both felt deeply into the Force. As one, they raised their hands, summoned their collective power, and loosed a sudden blast that was more powerful than a grenade. Rock and dirt exploded outward, no doubt traveling high into the night sky.
Beyond, they could see the trunks of trees and falling rain.
It's clear, Sergeant, said the Emperor with a smile.
--Lords of the Sith
The Emperor and Vader vs the lylek horde: the duo causally stomps them all.
The remaining lyleks shrieked and chittered, tentacles and legs jerking wildly. Deez continued to blast at them.
Vader met the eyes of his Master, standing five meters away, and both nodded. Immersed in the Force, they set about slaughtering the remaining lyleks. The lines of their lightsabers rose and fell, rose and fell, and the confused, stunned beasts barely defended themselves. Soon the floor was carpeted in carcasses, and Vader and his Master were the only living things standing amid the carnage.
His Master's cackle filled the silence. Both deactivated their blades.
--Lords of the Sith
The Emperor vs Galen Marek: Palpatine duels him a bit, but throws the fight in order to lure him to the dark side. In the dark side version of the event, Palpatine stomps and speedblitzes Marek.
Lightsabers clashed inside the Emperor's observation dome, but Starkiller was ultimately no match for the power of Darth Sidious.
--The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia
Gallery
The Reborn Emperor vs Arden Lyn: Palpatine killed her, although it was not revealed how.
Arden Lyn defected from Imperial service and started training her own students. She even tried to help rogue Admiral Zaarin kidnap Palpatine, but Inquisitor Tremayne thwarted the attempt. Arden Lyn fled, hoping to locate an ancient Kashi Mer talisman that would bring her power enough to defeat the Empire. She was eventually hunted down and killed by Palpatine himself.
--The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia
(★) The Emperor Reborn vs Luke Skywalker, Round 1: Palpatine toys with Luke, dancing circles around him while unarmed and then defeating him very quickly in lightsaber combat.
Gallery
Palpatine: Too late, Skywalker! Too late!
Luke: (swings his lightsaber)
Palpatine: Yes, you missed one clone.
Luke: (swings his lightsaber)
Palpatine: And one is all I need, for now.
Luke: (swings his lightsaber)
Palpatine: Look at me, I am young again!
Luke: (swings his lightsaber)
Palpatine: I will live forever!
Luke: (swings his lightsaber) Not if I can help it! (grunts)
Palpatine: (laughs) Too slow, Skywalker?
Luke: (swings his lightsaber) (grunts)
Palpatine: You think you could conquer me by coming here?
Luke: (swings his lightsaber) (grunts)
Palpatine: To Byss...
Luke: (swings his lightsaber) (grunts)
Palpatine: ...to the very heart of the dark side!
Luke: (swings his lightsaber) (grunts) You forget, I am a Jedi Master now, and I know something about the dark side! (Force pushes Palpatine)
Palpatine: (grunts) You try to use the Force against me? All you've succeeded in doing, is hurling me within reach of my collection of Jedi weapons. As for your dark side knowledge... (draws his lightsaber) ... does it tell you how many so-called Jedi Masters failed to vanquish me?
Luke: (swings his lightsaber)
Palpatine: Does it tell you that I have already beaten you?
Luke: (swings his lightsaber)
Palpatine: Good, Jedi... Your kind will soon be extinct...
Luke: (swings his lightsaber)
Palpatine: ...and how fitting that one of their precious lightsaber brings an end to the Jedi delusion!
Luke: (grunts)
Luke and Palpatine: (clash lightsabers)
Luke: (grunts)
Luke and Palpatine: (clash lightsabers)
Palpatine: What's the matter, Skywalker?
Luke and Palpatine: (clash lightsabers)
Luke: (swings his lightsaber)
Palpatine: Getting tired?
Luke and Palpatine: (clash lightsabers)
Palpatine: Not quite as young as you were when you fought you father?
Luke and Palpatine: (clash lightsabers)
Luke: You have filled the galaxy with your darkness... (swings his lightsaber) ...but I have seen what my father could not see.
Luke and Palpatine: (clash lightsabers)
Luke: I have seen that ultimately, the dark side will fail!
Luke and Palpatine: (clash lightsabers)
Palpatine: Jedi fool! In spite of the stories you tell yourself, I am the stronger!
Luke and Palpatine: (clash lightsabers)
Palpatine: Did I not warn you?
Luke: (swings his lightsaber)
Palpatine: Now, take the consequences of your failure, like you father before you! (disarms Luke)
--Dark Empire audio drama
After a brief lightsaber battle, the Emperor subdued Luke and broke his will.
--Handbook 3: Dark Empire
The Emperor Reborn vs Luke Skywalker, Round 2: After being amplified by Leia’s Battle Meditation, and having his potential unlocked by her, Luke finally manages to defeat the Galactic Emperor. This was Palpatine’s one and only genuine loss. It should be noted though that Luke did not operate under his normal fighting capacity.
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