The Emperor Reborn A Not So Brief History Of The Biggest Star Wars Villain And Why He Matters

The Emperor Reborn: A Not-So-Brief History Of The Biggest ‘Star Wars’ Villain And Why He Matters

By Adam Frazier/Nov. 5, 2019 7:00 am EST

(Welcome to The Emperor Reborn, a three-part series examining the role of Sheev Palpatine and the long shadow he casts over the Skywalker Saga, including the upcoming Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker.)“No one’s ever really gone.” - Luke SkywalkerStar Wars: The Rise of Skywalker will be the ninth and final episode of the Skywalker Saga, according to director JJ Abrams and Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy. The film’s teaser trailer had fans losing their collective Bantha poodoo over the news that Ian McDiarmid will return to portray Palpatine, the Dark Lord of the Sith and Galactic Emperor who died in 1983’s Star Wars – Episode VI: Return of the Jedi. We also know the Knights of Ren are returning to the fold, after a brief introduction in Star Wars: The Force Awakens. It appears that we’ll be taking a journey back to some familiar settings, as the wreckage of the Death Star II factors heavily into the plot. Also, we know the mysterious, red-armored First Order Sith Troopers will join the fight against the Resistance, but under whose command?To unpack the revelation that Palpatine survived his Death Star II Nestea Plunge, and what his return means for The Rise of Skywalker, we have to go back to the character’s origins. After all, if one is to understand the great mystery, one must study all its aspects, not just the dogmatic, narrow view of the Jedi. If you wish to become a complete and wise leader, you must embrace a larger view of the Force.

Origins of Evil: The Prologue

The first mention of the name Palpatine appears in the prologue of Star Wars: From the Adventures of Luke Skywalker, Alan Dean Foster’s 1976 novelization of Star Wars. Foster writes: “Aided and abetted by restless, power-hungry individuals within the government, and the massive organs of commerce, the ambitious Senator Palpatine caused himself to be elected President of the Republic. He promised to reunite the disaffected among the people and to restore the remembered glory of the Republic. Once secure in office he declared himself Emperor, shutting himself away from the populace. Soon he was controlled by the very assistants and boot-lickers he had appointed to high office, and the cries of the people for justice did not reach his ears.” Star Wars creator George Lucas’ conceptualization of Palpatine and the role the character plays in his space-fantasy saga has changed over time. Initially, the character was a corrupt politician turned ruthless ruler inspired by Julius Caesar, Napoleon Bonaparte, Adolf Hitler, and Richard Nixon, with a dash of Flash Gordon’s Ming the Merciless for good measure. He became much more than that – an icon of American pop culture symbolizing the corrupt, greedy, and sinister among us. 

The Trilogy That Wasn’t: The Sequels That Never Materialized

Before we dive into the Expanded Universe – Lucasfilm’s stockpile of officially licensed books, comics, video games, television series, spin-off films, and other media created outside of the official canon – we’ve got to talk about the Return of the Jedi that almost was, and the Sequel Trilogy that never was. According to producer Gary Kurtz (American Graffiti, Star Wars, The Empire Strikes Back), after the massive success of Star Wars, he and George Lucas came up with the idea that the film was actually the fourth chapter of a nine-part series and penned rough outlines for each episode. After releasing The Empire Strikes Back, Lucas made Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) with Steven Spielberg. The success of that film – and booming Kenner Star Wars toy sales – convinced Lucas to increase the action and “toyetic appeal” of the sixth episode. In these rough outlines, the Emperor doesn’t make an appearance until Episode IX. There is no Death Star II. Luke and Leia aren’t siblings. In this incarnation of Return of the Jedi, Han Solo dies during a raid on an Imperial Base. Leia grapples with her duties as the newly elected Queen of her people, and Luke goes off into exile “like Clint Eastwood in the spaghetti westerns.” Sound familiar? Episode VII would focus on Luke’s life as a Jedi while Episode VIII would see him reuniting with his twin sister, Nellith Skywalker, who is mentioned in Leigh Brackett’s draft of The Empire Strikes Back. In Episode IX, Luke and Nellith would team up to battle the Emperor. Ultimately, Return of the Jedi became the end of the Skywalker saga, and Lucas’ third trilogy never materialized. Instead, Lucasfilm established the Expanded Universe as a way to enhance and extend the life of the theatrical films with books, comics, and video games about that galaxy far, far away.  

The Emperor Reborn: The Expanded Universe

In 1991, Palpatine returned in the Dark Horse comic book series Dark Empire, written by Tom Veitch and illustrated by Cam Kennedy.  In the series (set six years after Return of the Jedi), Palpatine is resurrected as the Emperor Reborn or “Palpatine the Undying.” His spirit returns from the netherworld of the Force and possesses the body of Jeng Droga, one of the Emperor’s Hands, a group of elite assassins not unlike the Knights of Ren or Snoke’s Praetorian Guard in the Sequel Trilogy.Then things get really wild. Sate Pestage, one of the Emperor’s advisors, exorcizes Palpatine’s spirit and channels it into a clone created by Palpatine before his death. Palpatine attempts to resume control of the galaxy but is defeated when Luke Skywalker and Leia Organa Solo, who has received Jedi training from her brother, repel a “Force Storm” conjured by Palpatine and turn it back onto him, destroying his physical form once again. In an interview with Star Wars Underworld, Tom Veitch discusses Palpatine’s master plan. In Return of the Jedi, when the Emperor says, “Strike me down with all your hatred, and your journey towards the dark side will be complete,” he seems indifferent to his own death. “He feels that whatever the outcome of this confrontation with Luke, he, Palpatine, will conquer.” According to Veitch, the Emperor chose this moment to come out of the shadows because he no longer feared for the safety of his physical form. With one swift stroke, Luke would fall to the dark side, and Palpatine would be reborn. “His mastery of the dark side had become such that he was now ready to make a transition he had been working toward for many years — namely the replacement of his aging, diseased, and crippled body with a young clone.“The decision to resurrect Palpatine was a controversial one. Many fans – and creators – took issue with the clone storyline. In Vision of the Future, Timothy Zahn includes a conversation that refers to the events of Dark Empire with Luke Skywalker mentioning “the resurrected Emperor” and Mara Jade countering with, “Whatever. Personally, I’m not convinced it was actually him.“Keep in mind that Dark Empire was eight years before Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace. While the concept of the Clone Wars existed, thanks to a brief reference in A New Hope, the mythology wasn’t sketched out, and the idea of cloning in the Star Wars universe felt more like science-fiction ala Star Trek than the established space-fantasy of Star Wars. That would change with the Prequel Trilogy.

This series will continue tomorrow with part two, which examines the Emperor’s role in the prequel films and beyond.

The Emperor Reborn: A Not-So-Brief History Of The Biggest ‘Star Wars’ Villain And Why He Matters

By Adam Frazier/Nov. 5, 2019 7:00 am EST

(Welcome to The Emperor Reborn, a three-part series examining the role of Sheev Palpatine and the long shadow he casts over the Skywalker Saga, including the upcoming Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker.)“No one’s ever really gone.” - Luke SkywalkerStar Wars: The Rise of Skywalker will be the ninth and final episode of the Skywalker Saga, according to director JJ Abrams and Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy. The film’s teaser trailer had fans losing their collective Bantha poodoo over the news that Ian McDiarmid will return to portray Palpatine, the Dark Lord of the Sith and Galactic Emperor who died in 1983’s Star Wars – Episode VI: Return of the Jedi. We also know the Knights of Ren are returning to the fold, after a brief introduction in Star Wars: The Force Awakens. It appears that we’ll be taking a journey back to some familiar settings, as the wreckage of the Death Star II factors heavily into the plot. Also, we know the mysterious, red-armored First Order Sith Troopers will join the fight against the Resistance, but under whose command?To unpack the revelation that Palpatine survived his Death Star II Nestea Plunge, and what his return means for The Rise of Skywalker, we have to go back to the character’s origins. After all, if one is to understand the great mystery, one must study all its aspects, not just the dogmatic, narrow view of the Jedi. If you wish to become a complete and wise leader, you must embrace a larger view of the Force.

Origins of Evil: The Prologue

The first mention of the name Palpatine appears in the prologue of Star Wars: From the Adventures of Luke Skywalker, Alan Dean Foster’s 1976 novelization of Star Wars. Foster writes: “Aided and abetted by restless, power-hungry individuals within the government, and the massive organs of commerce, the ambitious Senator Palpatine caused himself to be elected President of the Republic. He promised to reunite the disaffected among the people and to restore the remembered glory of the Republic. Once secure in office he declared himself Emperor, shutting himself away from the populace. Soon he was controlled by the very assistants and boot-lickers he had appointed to high office, and the cries of the people for justice did not reach his ears.” Star Wars creator George Lucas’ conceptualization of Palpatine and the role the character plays in his space-fantasy saga has changed over time. Initially, the character was a corrupt politician turned ruthless ruler inspired by Julius Caesar, Napoleon Bonaparte, Adolf Hitler, and Richard Nixon, with a dash of Flash Gordon’s Ming the Merciless for good measure. He became much more than that – an icon of American pop culture symbolizing the corrupt, greedy, and sinister among us. 

Star Wars creator George Lucas’ conceptualization of Palpatine and the role the character plays in his space-fantasy saga has changed over time. Initially, the character was a corrupt politician turned ruthless ruler inspired by Julius Caesar, Napoleon Bonaparte, Adolf Hitler, and Richard Nixon, with a dash of Flash Gordon’s Ming the Merciless for good measure. He became much more than that – an icon of American pop culture symbolizing the corrupt, greedy, and sinister among us. 

The Galactic Emperor: The Original Trilogy

The Trilogy That Wasn’t: The Sequels That Never Materialized

Before we dive into the Expanded Universe – Lucasfilm’s stockpile of officially licensed books, comics, video games, television series, spin-off films, and other media created outside of the official canon – we’ve got to talk about the Return of the Jedi that almost was, and the Sequel Trilogy that never was. According to producer Gary Kurtz (American Graffiti, Star Wars, The Empire Strikes Back), after the massive success of Star Wars, he and George Lucas came up with the idea that the film was actually the fourth chapter of a nine-part series and penned rough outlines for each episode. After releasing The Empire Strikes Back, Lucas made Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) with Steven Spielberg. The success of that film – and booming Kenner Star Wars toy sales – convinced Lucas to increase the action and “toyetic appeal” of the sixth episode. In these rough outlines, the Emperor doesn’t make an appearance until Episode IX. There is no Death Star II. Luke and Leia aren’t siblings. In this incarnation of Return of the Jedi, Han Solo dies during a raid on an Imperial Base. Leia grapples with her duties as the newly elected Queen of her people, and Luke goes off into exile “like Clint Eastwood in the spaghetti westerns.” Sound familiar? Episode VII would focus on Luke’s life as a Jedi while Episode VIII would see him reuniting with his twin sister, Nellith Skywalker, who is mentioned in Leigh Brackett’s draft of The Empire Strikes Back. In Episode IX, Luke and Nellith would team up to battle the Emperor. Ultimately, Return of the Jedi became the end of the Skywalker saga, and Lucas’ third trilogy never materialized. Instead, Lucasfilm established the Expanded Universe as a way to enhance and extend the life of the theatrical films with books, comics, and video games about that galaxy far, far away.  

The Emperor Reborn: The Expanded Universe

In 1991, Palpatine returned in the Dark Horse comic book series Dark Empire, written by Tom Veitch and illustrated by Cam Kennedy.  In the series (set six years after Return of the Jedi), Palpatine is resurrected as the Emperor Reborn or “Palpatine the Undying.” His spirit returns from the netherworld of the Force and possesses the body of Jeng Droga, one of the Emperor’s Hands, a group of elite assassins not unlike the Knights of Ren or Snoke’s Praetorian Guard in the Sequel Trilogy.Then things get really wild. Sate Pestage, one of the Emperor’s advisors, exorcizes Palpatine’s spirit and channels it into a clone created by Palpatine before his death. Palpatine attempts to resume control of the galaxy but is defeated when Luke Skywalker and Leia Organa Solo, who has received Jedi training from her brother, repel a “Force Storm” conjured by Palpatine and turn it back onto him, destroying his physical form once again. In an interview with Star Wars Underworld, Tom Veitch discusses Palpatine’s master plan. In Return of the Jedi, when the Emperor says, “Strike me down with all your hatred, and your journey towards the dark side will be complete,” he seems indifferent to his own death. “He feels that whatever the outcome of this confrontation with Luke, he, Palpatine, will conquer.” According to Veitch, the Emperor chose this moment to come out of the shadows because he no longer feared for the safety of his physical form. With one swift stroke, Luke would fall to the dark side, and Palpatine would be reborn. “His mastery of the dark side had become such that he was now ready to make a transition he had been working toward for many years — namely the replacement of his aging, diseased, and crippled body with a young clone.“The decision to resurrect Palpatine was a controversial one. Many fans – and creators – took issue with the clone storyline. In Vision of the Future, Timothy Zahn includes a conversation that refers to the events of Dark Empire with Luke Skywalker mentioning “the resurrected Emperor” and Mara Jade countering with, “Whatever. Personally, I’m not convinced it was actually him.“Keep in mind that Dark Empire was eight years before Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace. While the concept of the Clone Wars existed, thanks to a brief reference in A New Hope, the mythology wasn’t sketched out, and the idea of cloning in the Star Wars universe felt more like science-fiction ala Star Trek than the established space-fantasy of Star Wars. That would change with the Prequel Trilogy.

This series will continue tomorrow with part two, which examines the Emperor’s role in the prequel films and beyond.

This series will continue tomorrow with part two, which examines the Emperor’s role in the prequel films and beyond.