Palpatine/Darth Sidious

Darth Sidious, a Force-sensitive human male, was the Sith Lord who served as the last Supreme Chancellor of the Galactic Republic and the first Emperor of the Galactic Empire, and was the last reigning Dark Lord of the Sith under Darth Bane's Rule of Two. Sidious, born as Sheev Palpatine, was trained in the dark side of the Force by Darth Plagueis. Eventually, he took on his own apprentice, Darth Maul, and killed his master. As he continued to train Maul, Sidious came into contact with Count Dooku of Serenno, a former member of the Jedi Order, who helped further Sidious' plans. In his public persona, Sidious was the unassuming Senator Palpatine of Naboo, a position he used to manipulate galactic events to his own design.

Thirteen years before his Imperial ascent, Sidious engineered the Invasion of Naboo and used the political crisis as a pretext to being elected Supreme Chancellor by the Galactic Senate. With Maul's defeat at the hands of the Jedi, Sidious chose Dooku as his new apprentice, and bestowed upon him the title "Darth Tyranus." Together, they formed the Confederacy of Independent Systems to spark a galactic civil war. As Chancellor Palpatine, Sidious was given sweeping central, emergency powers to handle the Separatist crisis, and he raised the Grand Army of the Republic to fight the Clone Wars. The clone troopers in the Grand Army had been secretly commissioned by the Sith, and each contained a bio-chip with a preprogrammed protocol to eliminate the Jedi, the sworn enemies of the Sith, when the order was given.

At the war's end, Sidious had gained almost total control over the Republic. With his new power, Sidious branded the Jedi as traitors and ordered the clones to execute Order 66, thus destroying the Jedi Order. With the Jedi all but extinct, Sidious declared himself Emperor and transformed the Republic into the Galactic Empire. Sidious also turned Jedi Knight Anakin Skywalker, the Chosen One, to the dark side and anointed him Darth Vader—Skywalker having slain Dooku at Sidious' urging. Over the next several years, Sidious transferred the daily management of the Empire to the Imperial Ruling Council and spent much of his time in an ancient Sith shrine beneath the Imperial Palace, attempting to use the dark side to reshape the Force to his own ends.

Meanwhile, the Empire expanded across the galaxy and constructed the Death Star to maintain order by inspiring fear. However, the Rebel Alliance was formed to resist Sidious' rule, and the Death Star was destroyed by Luke Skywalker. Sidious tasked Vader, Skywalker's father, with either destroying or turning the boy, and Vader ultimately brought Skywalker before his master during the Battle of Endor. There, Sidious attempted to turn Skywalker to the dark side, but Skywalker refused. As Sidious attempted to kill him, Vader was redeemed and turned on his master, killing himself and Sidious in the process. Through redemption, Anakin Skywalker destroyed the Sith, while the Rebels successfully destroyed the Death Star II. While Sidious had been defeated, the Empire would for many years attempt to maintain the charade of his survival, while struggling to fill the void left by his absence. Sidious, however, had never intended for the Galactic Empire to outlast him and instituted the Contingency in an attempt to prevent such a scenario.