TheForce.Net - Completely Unofficial Star Wars Encyclopedia

Emperor's Hand

Description

Additional Info

Related Entries

Sources

Images

Legend

this was the codename given to many beings, including Mara Jade, by Emperor Palpatine. Like nearly every other member of this secret group, Mara believed that she was the only person given the codename, until Grand Admiral Thrawn suggested that she was one of many "Hands." In fact, records from the years following the Clone Wars revealed that there many Emperor's Hands. Roganda Ismaren was one of them, and Maarek Stele's rise to prominence revealed that the Emperor's Secret Order of the Empire was overseen by them. Shira Brie and Arden Lyn were also discovered to have served as an Emperor's Hand. The Emperor's Hand was an agent dispatched to do the work that stormtroopers and Imperial officers couldn't handle. The Emperor's Hand was chosen because of their sensitivity to the Force, which allowed Palpatine to call to them from across great distances. The Hands could also report status across this link. Among the many roles of the Emperor's Hand were executioner, spy, and informant, and they were assigned missions that helped ensure Palpatine retained control of the bureaucracy of the Empire. Most beings who served as an Emperor's Hand believed themselves to be unique, the only being chosen to be Palpatine's special agent. This was a mentality that was fostered by Palpatine at every turn, for he believed that men and women needed to feel unique and irreplaceable. By withholding the true nature of the Emperor's Hands, Palpatine was able to motivate them to do incredible things. Often, however, individual Hands discovered that they were not unique, and found themselves torn between their so-called loyalty to Palpatine and their feelings of anger at his betrayal.