Emperor Palpatine carefully concealed the fact that he was a Sith Lord, but there were several Star Wars Heroes and villains who knew the truth. Darth Sidious has always been a schemer, preferring to work in the shadows rather than stand in the spotlight. When he finally became emperor in Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith, He did not see that he had to give up the treatment that had served him so well during the years. The empire he ruled was characterized by deceit and mistrust, with only the upper classes knowing the truth about their leader.
The first Star Wars Novelization suggests The Emperor managed to fool the entire galaxy into believing he was a kind and generous man. The evils of the empire were blamed on Palpatine’s advisors and military leaders, with the public believing that the emperor himself was unaware of what was happening. This was the greatest deception of all, perpetuated over the course of decades, though he had clearly abandoned it at the time of the Star Wars Sequel trilogy. Here are all of Palpatine’s friends, allies and enemies who knew the Emperor was a Sith Lord.
Darth Vader
As Palpatine’s apprentice, Darth Vader was well aware of his master’s true identity; The revelation that Palpatine was Sidious was instrumental in Anakin Skywalker’s fall to the dark side in Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith. Darth Vader became the public face of the dark side cult, known to the galaxy as the Dark Lord of the Sith but in reality subject to his master. Few knew enough of the Sith to understand that there should not be one Sith but two, and anyone who probably accepted one of Vader’s Inquisitors was actually a Sith apprentice.
Darth Maul
Although Darth Maul was considered a Sith Apprentice, Palpatine always thought of him as little more than a tool. As such, until Star Wars: The Clone Wars Season 7 It was hard to say exactly how much Maul knew – including whether he knew Darth Sidious’ true identity. These questions were answered during the Siege of Mandalore, when Maul teased Ahsoka Tano with just enough information to suggest that he knew all about Order 66 and Darth Sidious’ plans for Anakin Skywalker. in the dark times, Maul planned to use this knowledge as leverage to undermine and destroy Palpatine.
Mas Amedda
A Shagrian politician who served in the Senate from the time of Chancellor Valorum onwards, Mas Amedda was one of Palpatine’s closest political allies. He proved useful during Palpatine’s rise to power, helping him navigate the treacherous waters of galactic politics and witnessing the Sith Lord’s ascension to Emperor. He remained implacably loyal to Palpatine over the next few decades, but curiously, he was not approached by the Emperor’s droids in order to participate in Operation Cinder after Palpatine’s death in Return of the Jedi.
Sly Moor
Sly Moore served as Palpatine’s Chief of Staff during his time as Chancellor. Not only was Sly Moore aware of Darth Sidious’ true nature, She herself was actually Force-sensitiveSuccessfully hiding her own dark side powers from the Jedi. The Umberish woman’s past is still something of a mystery, but she remained unfathomably loyal to the emperor throughout his reign, and she was still a power player in Palpatine’s government until shortly before. Return of the Jedi. She seems to have disappeared after the destruction of the second Death Star, perhaps heading to Exegol.
Grand Moff Tarkin
One of the first military minds of the empire, James Luceno’s novel Tarkin Confirms the Grand Moff got close enough to figure out his master, the Emperor, is actually a Dark Lord of the Sith; He also deduces that Darth Vader is Anakin Skywalker. But Tarkin had no real interest in the secrets of the SithAnd he was no longer interested in challenging the emperor’s rule. He proved to be a loyal ally, with his so-called “Tarkin doctrine” – of using fear to bring the galaxy to heel – which fits nicely into the Sith philosophy. Tarkin died on the first Death Star.
Grand Admiral Throne
The Chiss strategist Grand Admiral Thrawn was the only foreigner to achieve such a high military rank in the Imperial Navy, primarily because his knowledge of the Unknown Regions was useful to the Emperor. Timothy Zahn’s novels strongly suggested that Thrawn – like Tarkin – quickly deduced Palpatine’s true identity as a Dark Lord of the Sith. Lacking any real interest in the ways of the Jedi and the Sith, Thrawn viewed all this as a sort of intellectual curiosity and disregarded it in order to continue doing his duty in service to the Emperor.
Gallius rocks
Gallius Rax was a Sith cultist who was introduced in Chuck Wendig’s Aftermath Trilogy. He appears to be numbered among the Emperor’s closest advisors, even anticipating his ascension after the Battle of Endur. Still, for all the rocks held Palpatine in high esteem, he did not fully understand the ways of the dark side; He was aware that the Emperor sensed a dark presence in the Unknown Regions, most likely the ancient Sith world of Exegol, but he was unable to understand why only Palpatine could detect it. He really thought the emperor had gone mad.
Ochi of Beston
The Sith assassin Ochi of Beston was first mentioned in Star Wars: The Rise of SkywalkerIdentified as the agent of Palpatine who killed Rey’s parents. He has been woven into the since then Star Wars Timeline, introduced in the current Darth Vader Run as an agent of the Emperor who was assigned to target Vader himself for his failure in The empire strikes back. Ochi seems to know far more of the Emperor’s secrets than even Darth Vader, with dialogue hinting he was aware of Palpatine’s attempts to conquer Death and the cultists based on Exegol.
Lord Yoda
Lord Yoda learned the painful truth about Palpatine in Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the SithAnd he even engaged the Dark Lord of the Sith in a desperate duel in the Senate chambers. Yoda then retreated to the planet Dagobah to meditate on the ways of the Force and continue his apprenticeship to the Force Ghost of Qui-Gon Jinn. He was well aware that he was not the one who would put the galaxy to rights.
Obi-Wan Kenobi
As Master Yoda, Obi-Wan Kenobi learned Palpatine’s true identity Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith. Where Yoda went after Palpatine, Obi-Wan targeted Darth Vader himself. He then retreated to the desert planet Tatooine to watch over the infant Luke Skywalker, believing that Luke was the true chosen one destined to destroy the Sith. Obi-Wan seems to have largely kept his head down during Empire, wary of drawing too much attention to himself for fear of exposing Luke to danger, and he died in the first Star Wars Film.
It is hard to say whether any of the rebel leaders knew that Palpatine was a Sith Lord
It is hard to say whether any of the rebel leaders knew that Palpatine was a Sith Lord. Although Bail Organa overhears Yoda and Obi-Wan talking after their fateful battles with Darth Sidious and Darth Vader, he is never actually told. But he may have put the pieces together.
Ahsoka Tano
Anakin Skywalker’s old apprentice Ahsoka Tano was one of the few who found out that Palpatine was a Sith Lord. EK Johnston’s novel Ahsoka is largely set soon after the events of Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the SithAnd it sees Ahsoka being hunted by one of the Imperial Inquisitors.
“The shadow was almost certainly one of the dark side’s creatures. Ahsoka had no idea what kind of thing it could be, but whatever it was couldn’t be that powerful because she couldn’t track down Hedala. That ruled out Palpatine himself, not that the Emperor could just show up on a planet without causing a major scare.“
Ezra Bridger
The fateful meeting in the world between worlds almost certainly saw Ezra Bridger reveal that the Emperor was a dark lord of the Sith. Ezra was no stranger to the ways of the Sith, as he had learned from a Sith massacre and accidentally had an alliance with Darth Maul, and he would no doubt recognize Satan Blitz. The interesting question is whether he ever chose to tell any of his friends; Ezra may have simply thought that everyone higher up in the Rebel chain of command knew this, and kept it to themselves.
Grape row
A Rebel spy did, however, discover Palpatine’s Sith powers. The Emperor recruited an agent named Eneb Ray to gather all the rebel spies on Coruscant to make an assassination attempt that played into his hands. Eneb Ray manages to escape the trap and launch an attack on Palpatine himself, only for the Emperor to block the blaster bolts and project a deadly volley of Force lightning. Although Eneb Rey survived, he left the Rebel Alliance because he believed their tactics were too weak, and sought revenge on Palpatine and the Empire. Needless to say, he didn’t last long.
Kiera
Han Solo’s former love interest, Qi’ra became involved with Darth Maul’s criminal empire known as Crimson Dawn. As seen at the end of Solo: A Star Wars StoryKira learned to do Darth Mal. He taught her much, including the secrets of the Sith, and she dedicated herself to continuing her master’s work. Qi’ra taught many of Crimson Dawn’s upper echelons the secret of Palpatine’s true identityled them in an attempt to overthrow the Sith. Key members of Crimson Dawn included:
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An expert in Sith and Jedi lore, known as the Archivist
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A Nightsister assassin named Deathstick
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Qi’ra’s closest advisors, Trinia and Margo
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The generous hunter Hanat Tsah
The Knights of Ren
Introduced in the Star Wars Sequel trilogy, the Knights of Ren are feared across the Outer Rim. Agents of the dark side, they lack the kind of power you’d expect from the Sith, but only came to the Emperor’s attention when Qi’ra recruited them to try to undermine his reign. It is unclear whether the Knights of Ren already knew that Palpatine was a Sith Or whether they said so through Kira, but they nevertheless worked against Palpatine first before bowing to his rule.