Sheev Palpatine, also known as Darth Sidious or simply as The Emperor, is a Dark Lord of the Sith and the main antagonist of the Star Wars franchise. Starting out as a senator, Palpatine was elected the Supreme Chancellor of the Galactic Republic while hiding his Sith identity. With his Sith apprentices Darth Maul and Darth Tyranus, Sidious orchestrated the Clone Wars and various other crises to achieve galactic dominance, being responsible for the fall of the Republic and the genocide of the Jedi Order.
Shortly after betraying Tyranus and orchestrating his death, Palpatine lures Anakin Skywalker to the dark side as his new apprentice, Darth Vader, and reorganizes the Republic into the Galactic Empire, declaring himself Emperor. During the Galactic Civil War, the Emperor tried to replace him with his son, Luke Skywalker. When Luke refuses to join him, the Emperor attempts to kill him, but is stopped by Vader, who renounces dark side and kills his master to protect Luke.
However, Palpatine was later able to use the dark side to resurrect himself inside a cloned body. Upon reviving, he aimed to take revenge on the Skywalkers and return to power. His plans culminated in the emergence of the First Order and destruction of the New Republic, the establishment of the Sith Eternal's fleet (the Final Order), besides luring Ben Solo (the heir to the Skywalker bloodline) to the dark side by communicating with him through the Force and creating Supreme Leader Snoke, who eventually becomes Kylo Ren's master. During the Battle of Exegol, he was finally killed by his granddaughter, Rey, who called upon the strength of past Jedi and turned his own power against him.