History Monster / StarWars

->'''Cosinga Palpatine:''' Murder has always been in your thoughts, hasn't it? You've merely been waiting for someone to grant you permission to act.\\
'''[[Characters/StarWarsEmperorPalpatine Sheev Palpatine]]:''' I don't need anyone's permission.\\
'''Cosinga:''' Precisely. You're an animal at heart.\\
'''Sheev:''' King of the beasts, Father.
-->-- ''Literature/DarthPlagueis'', before Palpatine murders his family

* [[Recap/StarWarsTheCloneWarsZygerrianSlaversArc Zygerrian Slavers arc]]: [[FatBastard Keeper Agruss]] is the cruel [[Characters/StarWarsZygerria Zygerrian]] taskmaster of the Kadavo mining facility. Charged with breaking the will of Obi-Wan Kenobi, Agruss starts by [[MakeAnExampleOfThem executing several slaves just to make a point to the Jedi Master]]. Setting his slaves to work in horrible conditions, Agruss has other slaves tortured if Obi-Wan tries to help them, intending to make his help unproductive and alienate those whom Obi-Wan wants to aid. When the Republic arrives to free Kenobi and the other slaves, Agruss sets the mining facility's system to drop all of the slaves to their deaths, and smashes the control panel to prevent Obi-Wan from undoing this. Agruss then taunts Obi-Wan by claiming that he cannot retaliate because of his Jedi beliefs, prompting the normally merciful Obi-Wan to subtly order Rex to kill Agruss. Even in a society of slavers, [[SlaveryIsASpecialKindOfEvil Keeper Agruss]] is a despicable being who places [[LackOfEmpathy no value on innocent lives beyond their use to him]].

* ''Boba Fett: Agent of Doom'': Mir Tork and his [[MadScientist chief scientist]] Leonis Murthé are the masters of the ship ''Azgoghk'' and the worst that the Empire's human culture has to offer. In their service to the Empire, Tork would land the ''Azgoghk'', abduct entire species and ionize the weak, sick, elderly and children before forcing the survivors to work to death. Murthé would regularly take specimens to [[TortureTechnician torture to death]] in hideous science experiments just to cause them pain, while Tork would often simply walk into a holding pen and gun everything there down. After the Empire's fall, the two return to the ''Azgoghk'' and continue their work while one survivor of a race they destroyed hires [[BountyHunter Boba Fett]] to kill them. Murthé is seen carving up a victim with a lightsaber and admitting he has no more pretense at science whatsoever, instead doing it [[ForTheEvulz for fun]]. Tork is simply driven by a genocidal need to [[FantasticRacism exterminate anything that isn't a human]]. Before Fett's arrival, Tork calmly informs Murthé they have found a new world to "cleanse".

** Issues #1-6--"Slaves of the Republic" arc: [[SlaveryIsASpecialKindOfEvil The Keeper]] of the Kavado mining facility is a smug Zygerrian tasked with breaking their slaves, the latest being the population of planet Kiros. Tasked with breaking the will of Obi-Wan Kenobi, the Keeper drops few of them into the lava to show Kenobi the consequences of disobedience. The Keeper places Obi-Wan with other slaves and has ones whom he tries to help beaten to break Kenobi's spirit and alienate him from the other slaves. When the Jedi and the Republic attack his prison, the Keeper threatens to drop all of the slaves into lava. After Separatists attack to destroy his facility and frame the Republic for the deaths of the people of Kiros, the Keeper desperately tries to kill all of the slaves in hopes of saving his own life.

* [[Recap/StarWarsTheCloneWarsUmbaraArc Umbara arc]]: [[InsaneAdmiral General Pong Krell]] first comes across as a heavily abrasive and unpleasant Jedi Master with a particularly [[FantasticRacism burning hatred for Clone Troopers]], only to turn out to be far worse than anyone imagined. Infamous for having ridiculously high casualty numbers due to him [[WeHaveReserves callously throwing his troops' lives away to secure a victory]], Krell takes command of the 501st legion and forces them into following disastrous battle plans that are designed to kill as many of them as possible. When troopers Fives and Jesse disobey his orders so they can secure a victory against the Separatists without too many casualties, he orders the reluctant Captain Rex to have them executed. When it doesn't pan out, Krell instead [[ManipulativeBastard orchestrates a battle]] between two Clone battalions and tricks each side into thinking that the other consists of disguised enemy infiltrators, which results in several deaths before the Clones catch on. Exposed as a traitor, Krell slaughters dozens of Clone Troopers while smugly revealing that he was planning to help the Separatists strike a crippling blow to the Republic by leaking sensitive information to them, and then join the Sith Lord Count Dooku due to foreseeing the Jedi losing the Clone Wars and desiring a place on the victorious side. When defeated and questioned, Krell is smug and unapologetic about his crimes and gleefully reveals that he manipulated and murdered the Clones out of nothing more than pure, spiteful bigotry.

* [[Characters/StarWarsWilhuffTarkin Grand Moff Wilhuff Tarkin]] is one of the highest-ranking officers in the Galactic Empire and one of their most infamously cruel. Even before his integration into the Empire, the utterly sociopathic Tarkin showed resentment towards the Jedi, despite them saving his life many times. During his time in the empire, Tarkin infamously destroyed Alderaan simply to [[MakeAnExampleOfThem set an example]] of what would happen if anyone crossed the empire. Tarkin's only response to any of his atrocities is a cold, smug sense of satisfaction. A KnightTemplar par excellence, Tarkin exercised cruelty nightmarish even by the standards of the Empire despite not even being a Sith, coldly dismissing Berch Teller's words to his protocol with "[E]vil will have to do." His multitude of said evil can be found in various canon works below; in the ''Legends'' section (which includes ''Literature/DeathStar'') and the ''Legends'' video game ''VideoGame/EmpireAtWar''; and in "Others".

* [[Manhua/StarWars 1980 manhua]]: [[Characters/StarWarsWilhuffTarkin Tarkin]] is the tyrannical leader of the Galactic Empire who is hellbent on [[GalacticConqueror taking over the entire galaxy]], crushing any opposition on the planets he has conquered. Upon capturing [[Characters/StarWarsLeiaOrgana Leia]], Tarkin would proceed to torture her endlessly, requesting information on the rebel base, but after she refused, he would [[EarthShatteringKaboom use the Death Star to destroy her home planet of Alderaan]] in a fit of pure rage. After locating the rebels on Yavin, Tarkin prepares to use the Death Star once again to completely decimate the planet, [[CrushingThePopulace planning to crush the rebellion for good]].

*** [[Characters/StarWarsWilhuffTarkin Grand Moff Tarkin]] is the Imperial officer in charge of the first Death Star. When [[Characters/StarWarsLeiaOrgana Princess Leia]] is captured by [[Characters/StarWarsDarthVaderAndServants Darth Vader]], Tarkin orders her tortured. He threatens to destroy Leia's homeworld of Alderaan unless she gives up the location of the rebel base, only to have [[EarthShatteringKaboom Alderaan destroyed]] anyway. Finding out that the rebel base is on Yavin IV, Tarkin plans to destroy it, along with any other planet that rebels against the Empire. A cruel and ambitious man, Tarkin even starts to consider using the Death Star to [[TheStarscream overthrow the Emperor]].

* ''[[WesternAnimation/StarWarsTheCloneWars The Clone Wars]]'' & ''[[WesternAnimation/StarWarsRebels Rebels]]'': [[PresidentEvil Chancellor Palpatine]], aka [[BigBad Darth Sidious]], is the instigator of the Clone Wars and the Dark Lord of the Sith. Desiring an army of Force-users to serve his will, Sidious hired Cad Bane to kidnap Force-sensitive infants, so that Sidious could perform horrific and potentially fatal experiments upon them, coldly disregarding their possible deaths. When he felt that Asajj Ventress was growing too powerful, Sidious commanded [[Characters/StarWarsCountDooku Count Dooku]] to kill her, ignoring his protests and mockingly praising his apprentice for his "loyalty" when Dooku believed that he had carried out the order. Later, after deciding that his former apprentice, [[Characters/StarWarsDarthMaul Darth Maul]], had grown too powerful, Sidious attacked him on Mandalore, gleefully murdering Maul's brother, Savage Opress, and sadistically torturing Maul himself into submission, later [[ComicBook/DarthMaulSonOfDathomir using Maul]] in a plot to kill Mother Talzin. When Fives discovered [[ThePurge Order 66]]--about which it is later [[Recap/StarWarsTheCloneWarsS7E11Shattered revealed]] that the clone troopers who executed the order were [[AndIMustScream fully aware of what they were made to do]]--Palpatine had him drugged into insanity to prevent the truth from being revealed, a plan which ended in Fives's death. When Yoda sets out on a vision quest, Sidious takes the opportunity to try and destroy the vulnerable Jedi Master, using Sith sorcery in an attempt to corrupt and kill Yoda. Decades later, he attempted to tempt Ezra Bridger into using The World Between Worlds to return to his parents, which would give Palpatine control over time itself, to remake all of existence [[InTheirOwnImage in his image]]. As always, Darth Sidious is a malevolent, sadistic monster who employs exceptionally cruel methods in his quest for power.

** Issues #7-9--"In Service of the Republic" arc: [[FatBastard Warlord Unger Gout]] is the [[Characters/StarWarsRiseOfTheEmpireEraSeparatists Separatist]] leader on Khorm, who [[SlaveryIsASpecialKindOfEvil enslaved]] his own people and works them to death in his mines, feeding corpses to the slaves to save money on food. He uses a WeatherControlMachine to keep the Republic forces off of Khorm, even though it devastates the planet's ecosystem and causes many deaths. A [[DirtyCoward coward]] who runs and hides from battle, at Asajj Ventress's suggestion, he plants bombs in the mines to kill the slaves if the Jedi come after him. When Ventress goes to kill the Jedi, Gout attempts to kill them with an ice storm, not caring that Ventress could also die.

[[caption-width-right:340:"Now, [[Characters/StarWarsLukeSkywalker young Skywalker]]...[[Characters/StarWarsEmperorPalpatine you will die]]."]]

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[[quoteright:340:[[Film/ReturnOfTheJedi https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/bzzzzzz_8_2.png]]]]

* ''VideoGame/BattlefrontEliteSquadron'' (UsefulNotes/NintendoDS version): X1 is a clone trooper who, alongside his brother X2, were cloned from the genes of a Jedi. X1 [[FaceHeelTurn gleefully turns on the Jedi Order]] during the Clone Wars upon Palpatine's order, and becomes one of the Empire's top Jedi hunters alongside X2 in the process. After X2 [[HeelFaceTurn abandons the Empire]] when X1 massacres an entire village to kill one Jedi, X1 instantly [[CainAndAbel orders his brother be killed]] for treachery, and, upon meeting the Jedi they were cloned from, X1 pretends to redeem himself solely to stab the man in the back. Working his way up in the Empire, X1 greatly assists in the construction of the Death Star, [[BadBoss killing one of his men for a mistake]] in the process, and later uses a Star Destroyer to lay waste to any escape transports trying to flee from a war between the Empire and the Rebellion. Once the Emperor and Darth Vader are killed, X1 rallies the remaining Imperial forces to his side, planning to use Luke Skywalker as a baseline for an army of Dark Jedi that X1 will use to bring destruction and death across the galaxy, for no reason other than the fact that [[WarIsGlorious he loves war]]. After X2 stumbles across many of X1's failed cloning experiments, the brothers do battle, and X1 uses his last moments to attempt to murder X2 after the latter spares his evil brother.