The Dark Empire, alternatively known as the Empire Reborn, represented a reconstructed Sith Empire situated within the Deep Core. This entity was governed by the resurrected Emperor Palpatine, also known as the Dark Lord of the Sith Darth Sidious, following the events of the Battle of Endor. Byss, a fortress steeped in the dark side, served as the Dark Empire's central base of operations. This newly established power sought to reclaim the territories once held by the Galactic Empire, which had fractured into various warring factions due to an internal civil war. Although Palpatine's revival in a clone body occurred in 4 ABY, the Dark Empire did not publicly emerge until 10 ABY, when the Sith Lord had amassed sufficient power to launch an assault against the New Republic. The Dark Empire's existence was short-lived, collapsing less than a year later in 11 ABY with Palpatine's ultimate demise on Onderon and the destruction of Byss, its primary stronghold.
The Dark Empire was openly administered by adherents of the dark side. The Emperor maintained a cadre of Force-sensitives, known as the Dark Side Elite, to execute his directives, akin to the Emperor's Hands of the preceding Empire. This group consisted of seven members at any given time, with replacements immediately appointed upon the death of a member. Despite receiving training and empowerment directly from the Emperor, the Elite suffered significant losses during Operation Shadow Hand and were ultimately annihilated by its conclusion.
The Emperor's ultimate ambition was to govern the Dark Empire solely through the power of the dark side of the Force, but until that goal was achieved, conventional military assets were necessary. His reign ushered in a new generation of superweapons intended to supplant the two Death Stars of his earlier Empire. Among these were the Eclipse-class dreadnoughts, colossal warships equipped with scaled-down superlasers. Both the Eclipse and its successor, Eclipse II, met their destruction. The former was consumed by Palpatine's own uncontrolled Force storm, while the latter was obliterated when R2-D2 redirected it into a collision course with the Galaxy Gun, another superweapon, analogous to the Tarkin.
Even before the Galactic Civil War, Emperor Palpatine, also identified as the Sith Lord Darth Sidious, had conceived plans to supersede the Galactic Empire with the Dark Empire.
Following Palpatine's death in 4 ABY at the hands of his former apprentice, Anakin Skywalker, who had been redeemed, the Emperor's essence journeyed to Byss by taking control of Jeng Droga, one of his Emperor's Hands. This process drove Droga to insanity until he secured a clone body. Droga then established contact with Sate Pestage, who also played a role in Palpatine's resurrection. Needing time to recuperate before resuming his conquest, the Emperor observed the decline of his former Empire from the shadows. Simultaneously, the New Republic, while aware of Byss's existence, remained ignorant of its connection to Palpatine, believing it to be merely a civilian settlement and thus refraining from investigation. Palpatine and Pestage also bore indirect responsibility for the Trioculus affair in 5 ABY, having leaked information about the Glove of Darth Vader to the false Kadaan. The resurrected Emperor and the Grand Vizier intended to acquire the Sith amulet to amplify Palpatine's weakened power and regain control of the galaxy. Furthermore, after Lord Cronal's supposed demise at the Battle of Mindor, rumors circulated that Lord Pestage adopted the late Prophet's codename and identity, Blackhole, to further promote the Dark Empire's public emergence.
In 10 ABY, having sufficiently regained his strength, Palpatine revealed himself by generating a Force-created wormhole that inflicted damage upon Coruscant. Coruscant had already suffered extensive damage from conflicts between warlords following its recapture by the Empire. Palpatine deliberately delayed intervening in the resulting mutiny, seeking revenge and desiring to "cull the weak." His Force Storm also led to the capture of the Jedi Luke Skywalker, who was brought to Byss. The Emperor then seemingly converted the Jedi Knight into his new Sith apprentice. Appointing Skywalker as Vader's replacement as Supreme Commander, Palpatine launched an attack on Mon Calamari using his World Devastators. However, Skywalker was feigning allegiance to Palpatine to undermine the dark side from within, and proceeded to leak the override codes for the World Devastators, although this deception was short-lived. The Dark Lord of the Sith eventually traveled to the New Republic's headquarters, Pinnacle Moon, aboard his flagship, the Eclipse, and unleashed a Force storm to destroy the Pinnacle Moon. This plan backfired when Skywalker and his sister, Leia Organa Solo, severed Palpatine's connection to the dark side, causing him to be consumed by his own creation.
However, Palpatine had previously established a contingency plan for such an event, transferring his consciousness into another clone body. His remaining clone bodies were destroyed by two treacherous Dark Jedi disciples, Sa-Di and Nefta, and he orchestrated Operation Shadow Hand. As a result of this near-death experience, the Dark Empire's leader suffered a decline in sanity and employed the Galaxy Gun to obliterate various targets, ultimately intimidating several former Imperial worlds into surrendering and scattering the New Republic. However, some Imperials grew concerned by Palpatine's erratic behavior and arranged for Carnor Jax, a member of the Emperor's Royal Guard and a Sith apprentice belonging to another Sith sect, to bribe his physician into manipulating the Emperor's DNA samples, accelerating the clones' degradation due to his dark-side presence. Palpatine was ultimately killed on Onderon, failing to possess Anakin Solo, and Byss was destroyed shortly before, bringing an end to the Dark Empire and severely weakening the remnants of the Galactic Empire beyond recovery. Remaining assets of the Dark Empire were reorganized into the Crimson Empire under the self-proclaimed Emperor, Carnor Jax, though this was short-lived due to a joint effort by the New Republic and Kir Kanos, who sought to avenge Palpatine's death.
The Dark Empire utilized components of the Imperial Military to enforce the Emperor's decrees through a Diet of Imperial Planetary Governors. In contrast to the Empire before 4 ABY, the Dark Empire was openly governed by Force users (specifically, Dark Jedi and Sith). The primary governing system was a dark-side magocracy, where the most powerful Force-wielder (Palpatine) held supreme authority, supported by Dark Side Adepts who enforced his will. The Emperor also intended to rely solely on the dark side of the Force to wage war, ultimately eliminating the need for superweapons to enforce his rule. Another distinction was that Palpatine designed the Dark Empire to operate autonomously in the event of his death before a soul transference could occur, at least while Byss remained intact.
Although the Dark Empire aimed to replace all superweapons and vessels with dark-side-based methods of enforcement, it was initially compelled to rely on them to combat the New Republic. Force-related weapons included Shadow Droids, biomechanical constructs created using Sith alchemy, and Chrysalides, rancors mutated through Sith alchemy. Imperial Sentinels, mindless bodyguards employed by Dark Side Adepts, frequently accompanied them on missions throughout the galaxy.
Conventional weapons and vessels included various capital ships, such as the Eclipse and Eclipse II of the Eclipse-class dreadnoughts, at least one Sovereign-class Super Star Destroyers, at least four Executor-class Star Dreadnoughts, at least two Vengeance-class dreadnoughts, at least three Mandator III-class dreadnoughts, at least one Bellator-class dreadnought, at least five Allegiance-class battlecruisers (including the Allegiance itself), at least one Secutor-class Star Destroyer, Imperial-class Star Destroyers, at least three Procursator-class Star Destroyers, many Modular taskforce cruisers of all varieties, Victory-class Star Destroyers, Interdictor-class heavy cruisers. Dreadnaught-class heavy cruisers, and Carrack-class light cruisers, Lancer-class frigates, Lictor-class dungeon ships, Guardian-class patrol ships, Imperial Hunters, Lambda-class T-4a shuttles, Delta-class DX-9 stormtrooper transports and Imperial Customs Frigates were also utilized. It also possessed asteroid siege platforms, which where used to attack Altyr V. Torpedo Spheres were also in use. Starfighters included TIE/LN starfighters (including the elite Dark Squadron), TIE/sa bombers, TIE/IN interceptors, TIE/D automated starfighters, I-7 Howlrunners and GAT-12 Skipray Blastboats. Security drones likewise included Hunter-Killer probots, Scorpenek annihilator droids, and Shadow Security Droids. The Dark Empire also wielded superweapons, including the World Devastators and the Galaxy Gun, in addition to the Eclipse-class dreadnoughts' superlasers. The standard infantry consisted of stormtroopers, scout troopers, and field stormtroopers. Ground vehicles comprised AT-ATs (and its aquatic variant), AT-STs, Century tanks, XR-85 tank droids, Reconnaissance Troop Transporters and AQ-5 Waveskimmers, with ground weaponry including the X-1 Viper "Automadon."
The position of commander-in-chief of the Dark Empire's forces was assigned to either the Supreme Commander or the Military Executor. During his brief service to Palpatine, Luke Skywalker was granted the position once held by his late father, Darth Vader: Supreme Commander. Meanwhile, Sedriss QL held the title of Executor; following Sedriss' death in 10 ABY, Palpatine replaced him with Xecr Nist. Additionally, the foot soldiers included a variant of stormtroopers amplified by the dark side of the Force, known as darktroopers. In 10 ABY, when the Dark Empire reclaimed the planet Balmorra, a number of SD-9 battle droids were sold to the Imperial arsenal.
The Dark Empire's inaugural appearance was in Tom Veitch's Star Wars: Dark Empire comic book series. The empire ruled by the resurrected Palpatine was not formally named upon the comic series' initial release. It was only later, in The Essential Atlas, that it received a name, which mirrored the title of the series in which it debuted. A similar occurrence transpired with its successor, the Crimson Empire.
While the Dark Empire is considered part of Star Wars Legends, the Final Order from the film Star Wars: Episode IX The Rise of Skywalker in the current Star Wars canon exhibits parallels to the Dark Empire. Like the Dark Empire, the Final Order was commanded by a resurrected Emperor Palpatine and sought to dominate the galaxy like its predecessor, the Galactic Empire, and reestablish Sith rule. Furthermore, both organizations featured a group of dark side warriors (Dark Side Elite/Knights of Ren), both have an alternative name with "Empire" in it (the Empire Reborn for the Dark Empire, and both the Sith Empire and the New Empire for the Final Order), both possessed starships equipped with superlasers and a fleet tasked with retaking control of the galaxy, operating from a secret Sith planet (Byss/Exegol), and both attempted to lure a Jedi to the dark side (Luke Skywalker/Rey).