Star Wars Reveals the Moment Palapatine and Vader Were Almost Taken Out
Star Wars has revealed another previously unknown and pivotal chapter of the Skywalker Saga: the moment that Emperor Palpatine and Darth Vader were almost taken out of play and imprisoned within an ancient artifact designed to defeat the Sith! In fact, one unlikely figure almost delivered Sidious his big defeat – if not for the intervention of other wielders of the dark side!
WARNING: SPOILERS FOLLOW!
Star Wars: Hidden Empire has been the big finale of the Crimson Dawn Trilogy that has been unfolding in Star Wars comics since 2021. That storyline saw Han Solo's childhood love Qi'ra re-emerge in the galaxy as the new leader of Crimson Dawn, after killing her former boss Dryden Voss (in Solo: A Star Wars Story) and spending years working for Maul until his disappearance. Through vast networks of spies, informants, assassins, and sleeper agents, Qi'ra's Crimson Dawn launched an ambitious secret war, as she was one of the few to learn that "Emperor" Palpatine was also a Sith Lord that controlled the entire galaxy.
Despite many distractions and misdirects, Qi'ra's true plan was scouring through history to find a weapon that could defeat even the most powerful Sith Lord – and she managed to do just that. Crimson Dawn's forces located an artifact called a Fermata Cage, and the key to unlocking it – a portal to a pocket dimension outside space/time could trap a Sith Lord in a limbo existence, for eternity. Qi'ra lured Sidious and Vader in with the false story of the Fermata Cage actually containing a powerful Sith Lord – one who would rival Sidious if released. Instead, Palpatine and Vader found themselves as the intended target of the trap, as Qi'ra successfully caught Palpatine and Vader in a frozen bubble that would take them out of play potentially forever.
By all accounts, Qi'ra is the one person in Star Wars lore to successfully outwit Darth Sidious, and bring him down. Unfortunately, some of Qi'ra's allies couldn't overcome their own fears: the Knights of Ren betray Qi'ra and Crismon Dawn at the moment of truth, opting instead to throw their lot behind Palpatine. Ren uses his ship to attack and disable the Fermata Cage, freeing Palpatine and Vader.
In the end, Palpatine enslaves the Knights of Ren as his servants and goes on to reign until Luke and/or Rey Skywalker would later defeat him. However, Qi'ra gets the more ambiguous ending of disappearing into the galaxy, as we see her alone and in cold comfort the day that Palpatine's apparent death and the Empire's fall is announced to the galaxy.
Star Wars: Hidden Empire is on sale from Marvel Comics.