Emperor Palpatine

Sheev Palpatine, also secretly known as Darth Sidious, later known as Emperor "Sheev" Palpatine (or simply Emperor Palpatine or The Emperor), is one of the primary antagonists of the Star Wars saga. He is the Bigger Bad and true main antagonist of the original trilogy and the primary antagonist of the prequel trilogy as well as a Big Bad/recurring villain in the television franchise and several novels within both the Star Wars Legends continuity and the current mainstream continuity.

He was an immensely powerful Sith Master who was also Darth Plagueis's former apprentice and the founder of the Galactic Empire. Darth Sidious also serves as one of two main (and most recurring) antagonists of the 2008 series Star Wars: The Clone Wars (set between the events of Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith) for appearing in many episodes of all 6 seasons as an evil embodiment, although his appearances are only seen sometimes and as holograms in the first seasons of the series.

A dark soul, a power hungry Dark Lord of the Sith and evil incarnate, Sidious plans to overthrow the Jedi by manipulating many of the events of the Clone Wars to bring himself to rule the whole galaxy. He is easily one of the most successful villains, as he managed to rule the galaxy, and had been unstoppable for years until his apprentice Darth Vader defeated him.

He was most famously portrayed in the movies by Ian McDiarmid. In Star Wars: The Clone Wars, he was voiced by the late Ian Abercrombie and later Tim Curry.