History Comicbook / DarkEmpire

* TheMole: Luke. Oddly, TheEmpire sees nothing strange about taking orders from Lord Skywalker, who is, essentially, a [[JustForPun Darth Mole]]. Of course, Palpatine likely ordered them to, and one does not disobey the Emperor.

* CloningBlues: During his time as the Emperor's apprentice, Luke lets himself get cloned twice. Instead of another [[EvilKnockoff Luuke]], he's given a pair of immensely strong mutated bodyguards, who are left behind to die when Leia rescues him. At least Luuke got a ''name''.

In the old EU canon (now ''Legends''), this series tended to be ignored by other writers, largely because it is difficult to fit with ''Literature/TheThrawnTrilogy'' (both were made independently around the same time) and [[HappyEndingOverride it sets back a lot of what was accomplished during the films]]. Still, occasional references were made to it. The E-wing starfighter, which made its debut here, became the most iconic Star Wars fighter that didn't debut in a film, eventually making the jump to live-action in ''Series/{{Ahsoka}}''. It was an important piece of backstory for ''Literature/TheHandOfThrawn'', where Mara Jade called Luke out on his behaviour during and since that time. It also turned out to be a surprising influence on ''Film/TheRiseOfSkywalker'', which reused many of its plot elements,

In the old EU canon (now ''Legends''), this series tended to be ignored by other writers, largely because it is difficult to fit with ''Literature/TheThrawnTrilogy'' (both were made independently around the same time) and [[HappyEndingOverride it sets back a lot of what was accomplished during the films]]. Still, occasional references were made to it. The E-wing starfighter, which made its debut here, became the most iconic Star Wars fighter that didn't debut in a film, eventually making the jump to live-action in ''Series/{{Ahsoka}}''. It also turned out to be a surprising influence on ''Film/TheRiseOfSkywalker'', which reused many of its plot elements,

In the old EU canon (now ''Legends''), this series tended to be ignored by other writers, largely because it is difficult to fit with ''Literature/TheThrawnTrilogy'' (both were made independently around the same time) and [[HappyEndingOverride it sets back a lot of what was accomplished during the films]]. Still, other works made references to it and the E-wing starfighter that made its debut here became the most iconic fighter not from the films. ''Film/TheRiseOfSkywalker'' would later reuse some of its plot elements, despite ''Dark Empire'' and all of ''Legends'' stories being non-canon to that iteration of the ''Star Wars'' franchise.

In the old EU canon (now ''Legends''), this series tended to be ignored by other writers, largely because it is difficult to fit with ''Literature/TheThrawnTrilogy'' (both were made independently around the same time) and [[HappyEndingOverride it sets back a lot of what was accomplished during the films]]. Still, other works made references to it and the E-wing starfighter that made its debut here became the most iconic fighter not from the films. And while the 2014 ContinuityReboot made it non-canon, ''Film/TheRiseOfSkywalker'' would reuse some of its plot elements.

[[caption-width-right:300: Darth Luke and "the Emperor had clones!"]]

!!Provides examples of:

* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: For fans who have seen the Prequels, Luke never getting a Darth title despite becoming Palpatine's apprentice seems perplexing. However the Darth title wasn't firmly established as a Sith thing until ''The Phantom Menace'' and its associated material , with the introduction of Darth Maul and Palpatine getting his own Sith title as Darth Sidious. Before then Sith Lords still used their given names like Exar Kun and Naga Sadow in the ''ComicBook/TalesOfTheJedi'' miniseries. InUniverse, it can be taken as a sigh Palpatine didn't fully buy Luke's FakeDefector act.

* CanonDiscontinuity: Despite originally praising the series, Creator/GeorgeLucas disregards ''Dark Empire'' as part of the ''Franchise/StarWars'' story. In 2008, Lucas [[https://twitter.com/LaFamiliaFilm/status/540508589891526657/photo/1 stated]] that the story of the saga is Darth Vader's tragedy and that once he dies in ''Film/ReturnOfTheJedi'', the Emperor never gets brought back to life because that's where the story ends. This is fairly believable, as the Prequel Trilogy contradicted ''Dark Empire'' by establishing Anakin Skywalker as the Chosen One destined to bring balance to the Force by destroying the Sith, a revelation which caused many fans to criticize the series for making Darth Vader's HeroicSacrifice seem pointless (although obviously Tom Veitch could hardly have known what Lucas would include in the prequels, nor was Vader even concerned about the prophecy when making his sacrifice). On the other hand, Palpatine's desire for immortality in ''Film/RevengeOfTheSith'' forced some fans to reexamine their positions. Anyway, with Creator/{{Disney}}'s buyout of Creator/{{Lucasfilm}} and the subsequent canon reboot, ''Dark Empire'' never actually happened. [[spoiler:But ''Film/TheRiseOfSkywalker'' did, in which J.J Abrams confirmed he spoke to George Lucas about Palpatine's return and got his consent for it, meaning that Lucas' feelings on the matter came full circle.]]

* CanonDiscontinuity: Despite originally praising the series, Creator/GeorgeLucas disregards ''Dark Empire'' as part of the ''Franchise/StarWars'' story. In 2008, Lucas [[https://twitter.com/LaFamiliaFilm/status/540508589891526657/photo/1 stated]] that the story of the saga is Darth Vader's tragedy and that once he dies in ''Film/ReturnOfTheJedi'', the Emperor never gets brought back to life because that's where the story ends. This is fairly believable, as the Prequel Trilogy contradicted ''Dark Empire'' by establishing Anakin Skywalker as the Chosen One destined to bring balance to the Force by destroying the Sith, a revelation which caused many fans to criticize the series for making Darth Vader's HeroicSacrifice seem pointless (although obviously Tom Veitch could hardly have known what Lucas would include in the prequels). On the other hand, Palpatine's desire for immortality in ''Film/RevengeOfTheSith'' forced some fans to reexamine their positions. Anyway, with Creator/{{Disney}}'s buyout of Creator/{{Lucasfilm}} and the subsequent canon reboot, ''Dark Empire'' never actually happened. [[spoiler:But ''Film/TheRiseOfSkywalker'' did, in which J.J Abrams confirmed he spoke to George Lucas about Palpatine's return and got his consent for it, meaning that Lucas' feelings on the matter came full circle.]]

* CanonDiscontinuity: Despite originally praising the series, Creator/GeorgeLucas disregards ''Dark Empire'' as part of the ''Franchise/StarWars'' story. In 2008, Lucas [[https://twitter.com/LaFamiliaFilm/status/540508589891526657/photo/1 stated]] that the story of the saga is Darth Vader's tragedy and that once he dies in ''Film/ReturnOfTheJedi'', the Emperor never gets brought back to life because that's where the story ends. This is fairly believable, as the Prequel Trilogy contradicted ''Dark Empire'' by establishing Anakin Skywalker as the Chosen One destined to bring balance to the Force by destroying the Sith, a revelation which caused many fans to criticize the series for making Darth Vader's HeroicSacrifice seem pointless (although obviously Tom Veitch could hardly have known what Lucas would include in the prequels). On the other hand, Palpatine's desire for immortality in ''Film/RevengeOfTheSith'' forced some fans to reexamine their positions. Anyway, with Creator/{{Disney}}'s buyout of Creator/{{Lucasfilm}} and the subsequent canon reboot, ''Dark Empire'' never actually happened. [[spoiler:But ''Film/TheRiseOfSkywalker'' did.]]

Despite what some may say, the old EU canon (now ''Legends'') was more internally consistent than most, but this series tended to be [[CanonDiscontinuity ignored fairly often during the early era of the EU]], mostly due to all the [[ResetButton retrogressive]] things that happened during it. A few things are acknowledged: Han and Leia had a son that they named [[DeadGuyJunior Anakin]], who went on to be pretty important. The first ''VideoGame/RogueSquadron'' game, mostly set between the movies, had a final level where the player was Wedge Antilles on Mon Calamari, trying to take down the World Devastators. In the ''Literature/HandOfThrawn'' duology, the subject of the Emperor's return comes up and Mara Jade -- who was his Hand and could hear his instructions from across the galaxy -- doubts that this Emperor was really Palpatine. Mara, having gone to the Dark Side herself for a while, also suggests that Luke has been slightly tainted by it ever since. ''Literature/LukeSkywalkerAndTheShadowsOfMindor'' has a {{body surf}}ing villain think about how Palpatine had a similar plan to his, but involving clones, and since the villain in question was never able-bodied, he's going a [[GrandTheftMe different route]]. Additionally, the E-wing starfighter makes its debut, and in later books and comics would become one of the most common go-to machines when a writer wanted to utilize a fighter other than the four Rebel fighters from the films.

However, with the release of the prequel trilogy, Palpatine's resurrection through cloning is made much more in-character to the point that it almost seems like a CallForward. He apparently never discovered the secret of eternal life in the same body that Darth Plagueis strived towards, so he settled for possessing clones instead. Also notably, this comic also brought back Boba Fett ("The Sarlacc found me [[TooSpicyForYogSothoth somewhat indigestible.]]"), who made many further EU appearances post-''Film/ReturnOfTheJedi'' as a result.

Last but not least, even after the 2014 ContinuityReboot, the final film of the sequel trilogy, ''Film/TheRiseOfSkywalker'', would end up sharing several plot elements with ''Dark Empire''. Most notably by having Palpatine once again resurrect himself by possessing a clone body, along with attempting to build a New Empire by mass-producing superweapons on a secret Sith planet.

* AllThereInTheManual: You know that hump-backed ship in Dark Empire that was briefly seen when Luke is first brought to Byss? Well, that ship was the ''Bellator''-class dreadnought, which was created at some point during the Empire's creation as a fast dreadnought and successor to the ''Mandator I'' and ''Mandator II''-class dreadnoughts. Also, the ISD-like large ships frequently seen in the series are the ''Allegiance''-class battlecruisers, which were an example of the Star Cruiser line of Imperial Naval vessels, of which the ''Allegiance'' (the ship that the New Republic blew up before they could send a full transmission) was also a part of (and possibly the lead ship). The small Star Destroyers that are sometimes seen in the comics, and most certainly seen during the instance where the ''Allegiance'' was blown up were ''Procursator''-class Star Destroyers. Lastly, the odd Star Destroyer-like vessel that had what resembled towers seen in Luke's arrival on Byss was the ''Secutor''-class Star Destroyer, a carrier-type Destroyer that was created either during the late Clone Wars or the early formation of the Galactic Empire. This info was first revealed in the guidebook ''The Essential Guide to Warfare'' made in 2012, and their names were given in the Endnotes, and their names and detailed designs were also supplied by fan artist Ansel Hsiao.
** Also, the name of the empire that Palpatine was running, according to the Essential Atlas, was the Dark Empire, just like the comic book series.
** The rare but brilliant ''[[TabletopGame/StarWarsD6 Dark Empire Sourcebook]]'' for the old RPG makes a world of difference in understanding the comic and appreciating its scope. It also [[FixFic tries to fix]] some of the ContinuitySnarl referred to below that the nigh-simultaneous release of Timothy Zahn's books caused.
** And the original series itself included a prose supplement that explained and elaborated on various aspects of the plot and its background, up to and including notional quotes from the Emperor's philosophical tractates and other fluff gold. Regrettably, most of the reprint editions have consistently omitted this.
* AndIMustScream: [[spoiler: Palpatine's final fate in the Netherworld is described as "disembodiment in darkness, perpetual madness as if to always live with an open wound; terror without respite".]]

* DeaderThanDead: [[spoiler: Palpatine's spirit is dragged into the Force and trapped there by ''every single Jedi spirit'', making sure that he can ''never'' return, clones or not.]]
* DecompressedComic: This comic goes to the other extreme. Important events happen in a few panels or entirely off-page.

* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: For fans who seen the Prequels, Luke never getting a Darth title despite becoming Palpatine's apprentice seems perplexing. However the Darth title wasn't firmly established as a Sith thing until ''The Phantom Menace'' and its associated material , with the introduction of Darth Sidious, Darth Maul, and Darth Bane. Before then Sith Lords still used their given names like Exar Kun.

Last but not least, even after the 2014 ContinuityReboot, the final film of the sequel trilogy, ''Film/TheRiseOfSkywalker'', would end up sharing several plot elements with ''Dark Empire''. Most notably by having Palpatine once again resurrect himself by possessing a clone body, along with attempting to build a New Empire by mass-producing superweapons.

Last but not least, even after the 2014 [[ContinuityReboot]], the final film of the sequel trilogy, ''Film/TheRiseOfSkywalker'', would end up sharing several plot elements with ''Dark Empire''. Most notably by having Palpatine once again resurrect himself by possessing a clone body, along with attempting to build a New Empire by mass-producing superweapons.

A series of ''Franchise/StarWarsLegends'' comic books (''Dark Empire'', ''Dark Empire II'' and ''Empire's End'' -- often all three together collectively called [[http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Dark_Empire ''Star Wars: Dark Empire'']]) released between 1991 and 1992. It was also made into an [[http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Dark_Empire:_The_Collector%27s_Edition audio drama,]] which had a somewhat modified script. A sample can be heard [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P_ARzFT6P9I here.]]

Six years after the Battle of Endor -- that's one year after [[Literature/TheThrawnTrilogy Grand Admiral Thrawn's return]], retaking of much of the Empire, and death -- Luke hears rumors of a new Emperor taking the reins, except it turns out not to be so. Enter Palpatine, having moved his spirit to a clone body in a hidden place at the center of the galaxy. And boy, does he have a revenge plan. It involves turning Luke Skywalker to the Dark Side, {{Body Surf}}ing from clone to clone in order to be immortal, using a planet-destroying gun, sending out machines called World Devastators to chew up the Mon Calamari homeworld, and [[TakeOverTheWorld enslaving the universe]]. He's been plotting to enslave the universe since he was smacking other babies with his rattle, so of course he's not finding new goals now.

A series of ''Franchise/StarWars'' comic books (''Dark Empire'', ''Dark Empire II'' and ''Empire's End'' -- often all three together collectively called [[http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Dark_Empire Dark Empire]]) released between 1991 and 1992. It was also made into an [[http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Dark_Empire:_The_Collector%27s_Edition audio drama,]] which had a somewhat modified script. A sample can be heard [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P_ARzFT6P9I here.]]

Six years after the Battle of Endor -- that's one year after [[Literature/TheThrawnTrilogy Grand Admiral Thrawn's return]], retaking of much of the Empire, and death -- Luke hears rumors of a new Emperor taking the reins. Enter Palpatine, having moved his spirit to a clone body in a hidden place at the center of the galaxy. And boy, does he have a revenge plan. It involves turning Luke Skywalker to the Dark Side, {{Body Surf}}ing from clone to clone in order to be immortal, using a planet-destroying gun, sending out machines called World Devastators to chew up the Mon Calamari homeworld, and [[TakeOverTheWorld enslaving the universe]]. He's been plotting to enslave the universe since he was smacking other babies with his rattle, so of course he's not finding new goals now.

The old EU canon (now ''Franchise/StarWarsLegends'') was more internally consistent than most, but this series tended to be [[CanonDiscontinuity ignored fairly often]], mostly due to all the [[ResetButton retrogressive]] things that happened during it. A few things are acknowledged: Han and Leia had a son that they named [[DeadGuyJunior Anakin]], who went on to be pretty important. The first ''VideoGame/RogueSquadron'' game, mostly set between the movies, had a final level where the player was Wedge Antilles on Mon Calamari, trying to take down the World Devastators. In the ''Literature/HandOfThrawn'' duology, the subject of the Emperor's return comes up and Mara Jade -- who was his Hand and could hear his instructions from across the galaxy -- doubts that this Emperor was really Palpatine. Mara, having gone to the Dark Side herself for a while, also suggests that Luke has been slightly tainted by it ever since. ''Literature/LukeSkywalkerAndTheShadowsOfMindor'' has a {{body surf}}ing villain think about how Palpatine had a similar plan to his, but involving clones, and since the villain in question was never able-bodied, he's going a [[GrandTheftMe different route]]. Additionally, the E-wing starfighter makes its debut, and in later books and comics would become one of the most common go-to machines when a writer wanted to utilize a fighter other than the four Rebel fighters from the films.

However, with the release of the prequel trilogy, Palpatine's resurrection through cloning is made much more in-character to the point that it almost seems like a CallForward. He apparently never discovered the secret of eternal life in the same body, but settled for clones instead.

Last but not least, this comic also brought back Boba Fett ("The Sarlacc found me [[TooSpicyForYogSothoth somewhat indigestible.]]"), who made many further EU appearances post-''Film/ReturnOfTheJedi'' as a result.

* ContinuitySnarl: With the rest of the Legends ExpandedUniverse. The first series is definitely part of it, but the timelines diverge after that, with the Jedi Academy books taking place during or after the second series. Even the first series isn't totally exempt from this; the first trade paperback did a HandWave in an attempt to smooth out the relationship (such as mentioning that the Empire retook Coruscant, and the massive civil war in the Empire occurred after Thrawn's death), but these references were removed in later editions.
** Downplayed in that later reference books would set all three miniseries in the time-span post Isard's Revenge and before the Jedi Academy Trilogy, while smoothing over the timeline inconsistancies.

* OutOfContinues: Palpatine comes BackFromTheDead via cloning. Every time he dies, he just [[BodySurf body surfs into one of his clones.]] [[spoiler: the heroes eventually manage to destroy his clone factory on Byss, and Han Solo shoots his last clone InTheBack. Even then, Palpatine's spirit tries to [[DemonicPossession possess the unborn Anakin.]] Luckily, another Jedi blocks him from doing so using the Light Side (albiet at the [[HeroicSacrifce cost of his own life,]] and Palpatine is finally [[DraggedOfToHell dragged off to Chaos forever.]]]]

* OutOfCotinues: Palpatine comes BackFromTheDead via cloning. Every time he dies, he just [[BodySurf body surfs into one of his clones.]] [[spoiler: the heroes eventually manage to destroy his clone factory on Byss, and Han Solo shoots his last clone InTheBack. Even then, Palpatine's spirit tries to [[DemonicPossession possess the unborn Anakin.]] Luckily, another Jedi blocks him from doing so using the Light Side (albiet at the [[HeroicSacrifce cost of his own life,]] and Palpatine is finally [[DraggedOfToHell dragged off to Chaos forever.]]]]

* PowerCreepPowerSeep: The battle fleet-destroying Force Storms that Palpatine never had before. Palpatine is so absurdly powerful in this series that many fans call him [[FanNickname "Wankatine".]]
** It's hinted that this power was actually the result of his returning from the dead, so it's more of a case of "MyDeathIsOnlyTheBeginning". The fact that he was also extremely powerful even before his death and revival, which was implied in ''Literature/DarthPlagueis'' to be due to his being literally conceived by the Dark Side of the Force, might also have been a contributing factor as well.

* CanonDiscontinuity: Despite originally praising the series, Creator/GeorgeLucas disregards ''Dark Empire'' as part of the ''StarWars'' story. In 2008, Lucas [[https://twitter.com/LaFamiliaFilm/status/540508589891526657/photo/1 stated]] that the story of the saga is Darth Vader's tragedy and that once he dies in ''Film/ReturnOfTheJedi'', the Emperor never gets brought back to life because that's where the story ends. This is fairly believable, as the Prequel Trilogy contradicted ''Dark Empire'' by establishing Anakin Skywalker as the Chosen One destined to bring balance to the Force by destroying the Sith, a revelation which caused many fans to criticize the series for making Darth Vader's HeroicSacrifice seem pointless (although obviously Tom Veitch could hardly have known what Lucas would include in the prequels). On the other hand, Palpatine's desire for immortality in ''Film/RevengeOfTheSith'' forced some fans to reexamine their positions. Anyway, with Disney's buyout of Lucasfilm and the subsequent canon reboot, ''Dark Empire'' never actually happened. [[spoiler: But ''Film/TheRiseOfSkywalker'' did.]]