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Darth Sidious

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this Dark Lord of the Sith was the driving force behind the Trade Federation, during the time it tried to subjugate the world of Naboo. He had control of specific elements of the Galactic Senate, and with the assistance of some 200 years of preparation by previous Masters - including his own mentor, Darth Plagueis - put in motion an intricate set of schemes to take control of the galaxy. Sidious had trained his apprentice, Darth Maul, and was ready to bring his plans to fruition when Chancellor Valorum dispatched two Jedi Knights to Naboo to negotiate a settlement. Qui-Gon Jinn and Obi-Wan Kenobi thwarted his initial plans, and forced him to send Darth Maul after the pair. Meanwhile, Sidious continued to manipulate the Neimoidians, pushing the situation at Naboo as far as he could. When Queen Amidala returned to Naboo to deal with the situation herself, Sidious saw his carefully laid plans fall apart as the Neimoidians were defeated and the planet freed of its blockade, and Darth Maul was killed in battle by Obi-Wan Kenobi. However, Sidious was never worried about these events, as he had several contingency plans. Among these plans was the recruiting of Count Dooku to serve as his new apprentice. Dooku, known as Darth Tyranus to the Sith, arranged to manipulate large numbers of star systems to secede from the Old Republic under the guise of the Separatist movement. Tryanus also began working with the major business guilds - such as the Commerce Guild and the Trade Federation - to re-establish a droid-based war machine. When the Battle of Geonosis was completed, the most important of Darth Sidious' plans had come to fruition: the acceptance of a huge army of clone troopers by the Old Republic miltary. The onset of the Clone Wars allowed Sidious' alter ego - Chancellor Palpatine himself - to gain unprecedented control over both the Galactic Senate and the Grand Army of the Republic. During the prelude to the Battle of Geonosis, Count Dooku was even so bold as to tell Obi-Wan Kenobi that the galaxy was under the control of a Sith Lord, but Obi-Wan refused to believe it. Despite his own beliefs, Obi-Wan brought this revelation back to the Jedi Council. The possibility of Sidious' existence served to divide the attention of the Jedi Order, pulling it further apart. Some members felt that Sidious was a real threat, while others believed that Darth Sidious was Count Dooku's alias. Obi-Wan's evidence of Darth Sidious' existence was borne out nearly three years later, when Nute Gunray's mechno-chair was captured on Cato Neimoidia. Recordings of the Neimoidian's conversations with Darth Sidious explained many of the Dark Lord's machinations. The Jedi began an intense search for Sidious, starting with the craftsbeings who devised the mechno-chair's systems, and leading them to an abandoned building in The Works district of Coruscant. However, the investigation was cut short when Coruscant was attacked by General Grievous, allowing Sidious to "escape" momentarily. In the wake of the First Battle of Coruscant, Palpatine revealed himself to be Darth Sidious to Anakin Skywalker, after drawing the young Jedi into his schemes. Later, Mace Windu arrived with three other Jedi Masters to arrest Palpatine. Sidious was finally able to fully reveal himself, and cut down Windu's deputies before confronting the Jedi Master himself. They were evenly matched for a short time, until Windu managed to deflect Sidious' lightsaber and corner him. Anakin arrived at this time, defying Master Windu's orders to remain at the Jedi Temple, and tried to stop Windu from killing Palpatine outright. When Windu hesitated, Sidious unleashed a horrific blast of Force lighting, which Windu blocked with his lightsaber. The reflected energy hit Sidious full in the face, causing an unusual transformation. All of Sidious' corruption and evil boiled over, and his face changed from that of a calm politician to that of his true self: an old, twisted, evil being who had been fully consumed by the Dark Side of the Force. After the so-called Jedi Rebellion, Palpatine assumed control of the entire galaxy, combining his two personae into the role of Emperor. He could then shed the ancient magicks he used to maintain his politician guide, claiming that the disfigurment had come at the hands of Mace Windu.