What Palpatine Did in His Free Time [Legends]

Palpatine rose from a wealthy family on Naboo to senator, chancellor, and then Emperor. Although he was consumed by the dark side and gaining control over the galaxy, he must have had some free time too.

What did Palpatine do when he was not plotting his rise to power or ruling the galaxy? Some things he did coincide with his lust for power but others show surprising sides to his character. 

When Palpatine Was Younger

As many Star Wars fans know, Palpatine was born into the “conservative and isolationist” House Palpatine on Naboo and is the eldest son of Consigna Palpatine.

The young Palpatine came to resent his family’s less prominent position than other royal houses and hated his family. His father and he had a particularly contentious relationship.

As this video conveys, when Palpatine was a child and teenager, he mostly spent his free time alone, bought “forbidden texts on Sith lore,” and learned on his own how to achieve power.

This may not be surprising, but he also enjoyed speeder bike racing and wanted to become a professional racer.

Palpatine accidentally killed two people when driving his speeder bike, which may have shifted these plans.

When he was younger, Palpatine was discovered Darth Plagueis and wooed to the dark side.  He kept his knowledge about the Sith secret until his father tried to intervene.

Palpatine used his hidden dark Force powers on his father and killed him, along with the rest of his family. Palpatine then became the apprentice of Darth Plagueis.

Senator and Chancellor Palpatine

Palpatine entered his political career with a double identity that audiences discovered in the prequel movies. He became an ambassador, but then lost many elections and kept a low profile.

However, in 52 BBY, Palpatine arranged for the assassination of Senator Vidar Kim to take his place in the Galactic Senate. 

Palpatine developed relationships and became popular in the Senate.

He became known for his writing ability and eventually his political theories were taught at universities, but he remained largely private in his personal affairs.

Yet, as Palpatine rose to Supreme Chancellor, he broadened his activities and acquired more refined tastes. 

Palpatine regularly attended the opera, liked artwork and sculpture, and read poetry. He verged on becoming a real Renaissance Man.

The Separatist Crisis, however, curtailed the amount of time he could spend on these endeavors, as he initially claimed to seek a diplomatic solution and was busy pretending to do so.

When all out-war came with the First Battle of Geonosis, he was likewise granted emergency powers, and plotting his rise to Emperor took up a good amount of his time.

As this discussion post indicates, Palpatine was consumed with engineering a crisis to enable him to be Supreme Chancellor and practicing being “a master politician.”

Hence, social activities came back to the primary way he spent his time–seeking power. 

Emperor Palpatine

Once Emperor Palpatine emerged, we would imagine he had even less time for the opera, reading, and writing.

As he became busy ruling the galaxy, Palpatine had less time for the artistic side of life and shifted to vindictive activities, such as having the few surviving Jedi battle before him as a form of entertainment.

He also spent time training assassins to carry out tasks for him. He was initially highly involved with ensuring his rule and focused almost solely on it.

As time went on, though, and he consolidated his rule, Palpatine shifted his duties. As this discussion post indicates, Palpatine delegated “the day-to-day activities of the Empire” and engaged in “dark side research” and topics like the “ancient Sith.”

As Emperor, Palpatine had time to become a scholar of sorts and delve deeper into the mysteries of the Force.

Not as surprisingly, the Emperor also spent time sitting on his throne, pondering ways to bring Luke to the dark side or how to perfect his cloning operations. As this video points out, Palpatine found being the Emperor “extremely boring” so he turned to writing books.

Perhaps surprisingly, Emperor Palpatine wrote books on such topics as politics and power, the dark side, and Sith knowledge. 

Yet, Palpatine did become active in imperial affairs. As audiences saw in Return of the Jedi, he comes to inspect progress on completing the second Death Star.

His grand entrance reflects a proactive, micromanager role for the Emperor. He also busied himself with laying a trap for the Rebels and Luke. 

In the end, as we saw in The Rise of Skywalker, Palpatine spent quite a bit of time ensuring that he could live on and rise again, or try to, with the Sith eternal.

In Legends, Palpatine transferred himself into a cloned body, as in the movie, but also brought Luke Skywalker on board as his apprentice. That would take some plotting and planning, and time to figure out. 

Palpatine and His Free Time

Palpatine spent most of his time being consumed with ruling the galaxy. Yet, he did enjoy speeder bike racing in his younger years, became a solid writer, and frequently attended social outings like the opera before he became Emperor. These activities reflect a different side to Palpatine but most of his free time was spent immersed in the dark side. 

Todd Wahlstrom

Todd Wahlstrom is a creative and analytical freelance writer and life-long Star Wars fan. He has covered such topics as Darth Vader, the Jedi, Boba Fett, and AT-AT Walkers. Todd has published a non-fiction book, holds a Ph.D. in history, and enjoys hiking, running, and reading about science.