When Did Star Wars First Give The Emperor His Palpatine Name?

In George Lucas' 1977 film "Star Wars," a military-run, fascist Empire rules the galaxy and it's up to a scrappy group of Rebels to attack them and destroy their ultimate weapon: a moon-sized space station capable of exploding entire planets with a single shot (known as the Death Star). In "Star Wars," the highest-ranking Empire official audiences see is Grand Moff Tarkin (Peter Cushing), a stern commanding officer who orders many to their deaths and who commands an eerie masked space wizard named Darth Vader (played physically by David Prowse, voiced by James Earl Jones). At one point, Tarkin mentions that the Empire has an Emperor, although we never actually see him in the flesh.

In the 1980 sequel "The Empire Strikes Back," it is revealed that Darth Vader was always a high-ranking individual in the Empire, as we now see him commanding entire Star Destroyers. It is also revealed that Vader answers directly to the mysterious Emperor, who only appears in the form of a hologram. In the original theatrical version of the movie, the Emperor was played physically by Elaine Baker and voiced by Clive Revill. In later editions of "Empire," the Emperor was played by Ian McDiarmid. In the film's credits, the character is simply called "The Emperor."

The credit remained in the 1983 sequel "Return of the Jedi," directed by Richard Marquand. McDiarmid returned to the role and finally appeared on screen. The character was impossibly ancient and could barely rise from his throne. Vader ended up throwing the Emperor down a shaft. But he survived somehow.

Fans have long called the character "Emperor Palpatine," however, despite the name never being used in a "Star Wars" film until ... was it 1999? When did the name first enter "Star Wars" lexicon?

A younger Senator Palpatine is a major player in many of the "Star Wars" films and TV shows set before the 1977 original. In George Lucas' "Star Wars: Episode I — The Phantom Menace," Ian McDiarmid plays the character and his name is spoken openly by other characters. A curious piece of trivia is that "The Phantom Menace" is the first time the character's name was spoken on screen in a feature film. If one is only going by the movies, The Emperor remained unnamed for 22 years.

Note that background characters that look exciting and interesting but are never addressed by their given monikers on screen have long been a staple of "Star Wars." Some of them are named in the films' scripts while, in other cases, their names only really become widely known among the public thanks to the miniature action figures based on them. A Starwoid, for instance, might be able to tell you who Ponda Baba is, but he's never named in "Star Wars." Likewise, most of the aliens and creatures seen in Jabba the Hutt's palace in "Return of the Jedi" are never named on screen, although in certain cases their full titles and monikers are mentioned in the script (see: Bib Fortuna).

What about the name "Palpatine"? In Michael Kaminsky's 2007 book "The Secret History of Star Wars," it was revealed that Lucas had originally envisioned a long line of corrupt Emperors — not just Palpatine — and that the Emperor on the throne at the time of "Star Wars" was to be named, no kidding, Cos Dashit. Some real Glup Shitto energy there.

In 1976, however, novelist Alan Dean Foster debuted the Palpatine name in the original "Star Wars" novelization.

George Lucas was originally the credited author for the "Star Wars" novelization, but Alan Dean Foster was in fact the real writer. The original title of the 1976 novelization was "Star Wars: From the Adventures of Luke Skywalker." In 1981, the novel was retitled "Star Wars: A New Hope," about the same time the 1977 film was altered to include "Episode IV — A New Hope" in its opening title crawl. It seems that the novel, based directly on Lucas' script, used the name "Palpatine" in print to describe the Emperor in a prologue. Despite never being addressed by name in the films until 1999, the Emperor was Palpatine as long ago as 1976. The name was further confirmed in the 1983 novelization of "Return of the Jedi" written by James Khan.

Of course, Palpatine has other names. In "The Phantom Menace," Palpatine is addressed openly, but he's also secretly manipulating people via holograms while wearing a cloak. He is the phantom menace. 

In the "Phantom Menace" novelization written by Terry Brooks and published in 1999, Palpatine's shadowy persona was first referred to as Darth Sidious, a name that would also appear in the finished film. This is Palpatine's evil Sith identity. We see in "Star Wars: Episode III — Revenge of the Sith" that Sith Lords are given ranks and titles by the Order. Anakin Skywalker (Hayden Christensen) is given the name Darth Vader. "Darth," it seems, is like calling a priest "Father."

It also seems that Palpatine has a Christian name. In the 2014 novel "Tarkin" by James Luceno, it's mentioned that Palpatine's first name is (sigh) Sheev. This name was invented by Lucas. 

As of 2023, no new names or titles have been invented for the character. Long live Emperor Sheev "Darth Sidious" Palpatine.