Darth Sidious (Powerstaark)

Darth Sidious, also known as Palpatine, was a dark lord of the Sith who was also the Supreme Chancellor of the Republic, hiding his true nature from the Jedi Order for many years. Sidious was trained by Darth Plagueis and had three apprentices of his own, Darth Maul, Darth Tyranus and Darth Vader. Possessing incredible patience and intelligence, Sidious was responsible for the outbreak of the Clone Wars which he used to gain more power in the Senate, in order to make way for his ultimate ambition; to rule the Galaxy.

Early life
Palpatine was born on Naboo but much of his life before joining the Sith is unknown; in fact it hasn't even been confirmed that Palpatine was his real name! However at a young age, Palpatine was discovered by the Sith Lord Darth Plagueis who realised that he possessed an incredibly strong connection to the Force and therefore decided to train him in the ways of the Sith.

Palpatine was a talented and ambitious student who forever wanted to increase his own power. He spent hours every day studying the Force, Sith holocrons and lightsaber combat. Palpatine was a very fast learner, quickly adapting to the ways of the Force and even finding time to study politics. Even from a young age he dreamed of ruling the Galaxy and destroying the Jedi Order though it was many years before he thought of the master plan that would allow him to do these things. Darth Plagueis was impressed by his talents and taught him some of the most closely guarded secrets of the Force as well as giving him the name Darth Sidious. However one of the few things Plagueis didn't teach him was how to create life by manipulating the midichlorians, keeping this secret to himself.

Finding Darth Maul
At some point before he killed Darth Plagueis in accordance to Darth Bane's Rule of Two, Sidious kidnapped a young Zabrak from Iridonia who would later become known as Darth Maul. Sidious broke the Rule of Two by training Maul in the ways of the Sith before killing his master. He was a brutal and harsh teacher but nevertheless Maul felt a degree of genuine attachment towards him though it is unknown - and unlikely - that Sidious felt any attachment to him in return.

The death of Darth Plagueis
Darth Plagueis was obsessed with immortality. He delved into forbidden teachings, and possessed—or sought to possess—knowledge that could sustain those who were dying, or even return them from death. Both the Jedi and the Sith had sought ways to survive death for thousands of years, without success. The most powerful of the ancient Sith Lords, particularly Darth Sion and Darth Andeddu, supposedly knew such secrets, but they had been lost or misplaced. Plagueis then began taking his research to its greatest extreme, to create new life from nothing. Eventually Plagueis told Sidious of an experiment to influence the midi-chlorians to draw life directly from the Force itself. The child that resulted, Plagueis insisted, would potentially possess incredible Force powers.

Sidious at once suspected that Plagueis's real intention was to "create" a new apprentice to replace him. His position threatened, Sidious decided that he had learned all he could from Plagueis, and he already had his own secret apprentice in the form of Darth Maul. Soon after, Sidious challenged Plagueis to a duel to the death, also revealing that he had been training his own apprentice by bringing Maul to their secret home on Korriban to watch the duel, thinking it would be "an eye opening experience" for the young Zabrak. Plagueis was angry that Sidious had broken the rule of two and told him that by breaking the rule he had weakened the Sith's power - though only slightly - as it had to be shared out between three people. Palpatine retaliated by saying that the rule wouldn't be broken for much longer as once he killed Plagueis there would be two Sith again. The elder Sith Lord had no choice but to engage his former apprentice in a ferocious duel.

Plagueis matched Sidious' mastery of Juyo with his own Juyo swordplay and neither Sith was able to gain advantage over the other. Realising that Juyo alone wasn't going to win this duel, Palpatine began to switch from one fighting style to another, successfully managing to confuse the elder Sith and disarm him by slicing his lightsaber in half with a precise Makashi technique.

However as Sidious attempted to kill his former Master, Plagueis used the Spell of Concealment to disappear from veiw. Sidious tried to sense Plagueis' presence with the Force but was hit from behind by the Bolt of Hatred which knocked him to the ground. Enraged Sidious summoned a Force Storm, the most advanced variant of Force Lightning, which went all around the room, forcing Darth Maul to shelter behind a pillar. Plagueis reappeared and summoned a Force Barrier in an attempt to deflect the lightning. He managed to absorb the worst if it but a few bolts broke through. Plagueis retaliated by hurling another Bolt of Hatred, towards Palpatine who formed his own Force Barrier to block it. The two Sith then started to telekinetically hurl debis at each other, seeking to crush each other with pillars or rocks.

Sidious' Force connection was stronger and he expertly weilded a large pillar telekinetically, forcing Plagueis to break off his barrage of debris in order to stop himself from being crushed under the pillar. As Sidious swung the pillar like a battering ram, Plagueis once more cast the Spell of Concealment before once again attempting to blast Palpatine with the Bolt of Hatred. Sidious used Force Absorb to catch and absorb the bolt before releasing its power in the form of a Force Repulse which blasted Plagueis into a pillar. Sidious then telekinetically lifted Plagueis into the air and used the "Draw Closer" technique to pull Plagueis onto his lightsaber killing the Dark Lord.

However even in death Plagueis still kept fighting, attempting to use "Transfer essence" to enter Palpatine's body. After a vicious battle of wills, Sidious proved victorious and Darth Plagueis' spirit was destroyed. Sidious later claimed that by entering his body, Plagueis had increased Sidious' power by adding his own power to Palpatines.