Palpatine

Warning: Wikipedia contains spoilers.

Cos Palpatine is a character in the fictional Star Wars universe. At the beginning of The Phantom Menace, Palpatine represents Naboo in the Senate of the Galactic Republic and by the end of the movie manipulates events to become Supreme Chancellor of the Republic.

In Attack of the Clones set ten years later, Supreme Chancellor Palpatine further manipulates events to make the Senate grant him dictatorial emergency powers by engineering a Galactic conflict. He later proclaims himself Emperor and establishes the Galactic Empire, dissolving the now-Imperial Senate in the fourth film A New Hope.

In the second Star Wars trilogy, Palpatine is known simply as "The Emperor". He tries to make Luke Skywalker join the Sith (those who follow the dark side of the force), but in the end (in Return of the Jedi) his plot fails, and he is killed by Darth Vader, his own apprentice.

Like many personalities in the Star Wars univserse, Palpatine's character was clearly inspired by certain historical figures. Parallels to Julius Caesar, Napoleon Bonaparte and Adolf Hitler can all be found in the Galactic Emperor's words and actions.