Duel on Byss

After Luke Skywalker's partial descent into the influence of the dark side of the Force, resulting in his role as an apprentice to Palpatine, his sister, Leia Organa Solo, journeyed to Byss, intending to liberate him. Regrettably, her efforts only led to the capture of herself, Han Solo, Chewbacca, and C-3PO. Palpatine swiftly exploited this situation, attempting to sway Leia to the dark side as well. He tempted her with the Tedryn Holocron, which he possessed, and fueled her anger by revealing his sinister plans for her unborn child. However, his attempt failed, and she fled in fury.

With the assistance of Luke, who had been covertly undermining the Emperor's schemes, she escaped alongside Han, Chewbacca, C-3PO, and R2-D2. Provided with the master control codes for the World Devastators attacking Mon Calamari, she enabled the New Republic forces to secure victory in the battle. Simultaneously, Luke openly defied Palpatine.

As the Emperor's current clone body was in its final moments within the laboratory, Luke Skywalker burst in and confronted Palpatine, his lightsaber activated. When Palpatine threatened to transfer his consciousness into Skywalker himself, Luke dismissed it as an empty threat. Relaxing, Palpatine allowed his current body to perish in a burst of Force energy. Realizing that Palpatine could only inhabit a living body, Luke embarked on a destructive rampage through the clone lab, destroying tank after tank, condemning the Sith Lord's genetic offspring to mindless, babbling deaths.

Unfortunately for Luke, one of the bodies was not completely deceased. The Dark Lord of the Sith arose in his new body and confronted the Jedi Master. Proclaiming his belief in Luke's inferiority, Palpatine was then hurled against one of the lab's walls by a Force Push.

Palpatine grabbed a lightsaber mounted on the wall beside him, a relic from the Jedi Purge, and ignited it before charging at Luke. Gathering strength rapidly, the newly embodied Emperor unleashed attacks with the Jedi weapon, pushing Skywalker to his absolute limits. Despite his proficiency in Form V lightsaber combat, Luke was compelled to utilize all his abilities merely to deflect the Emperor's strikes. Locking blades, they engaged in a brief exchange, with Luke expressing his conviction in the ultimate failure of the dark side, and Palpatine reaffirming his faith in the dark side and, consequently, his own superior power.

In a sudden demonstration of immense strength, Palpatine surged forward, breaking the blade lock, and swung his saber downward, pivoting to the side as he did so. This unexpected maneuver deflected Luke's lightsaber and caused the Jedi to lose his balance. As Luke stumbled, Palpatine advanced, his saber positioned at Luke's throat. Holding the Jedi at bladepoint, Palpatine completed Luke's descent to the dark side, transforming him into a subservient enforcer.

Furthermore, to solidify Luke's conversion to the Dark Side, he also invaded Luke's mind and systematically shattered his spirit until Luke was profoundly broken, even renouncing his own name.

Immediately following this, Palpatine traveled to the Pinnacle moon aboard his flagship, Eclipse, accompanied by a subservient Luke Skywalker. Contacting the leaders of the New Republic, he demanded Leia's presence and the return of his Jedi holocron, promising to discuss a truce with the Republic. Leia agreed to the Emperor's demand for her presence but left the holocron behind. Thanks to her actions, Luke managed to completely break free from the dark side's influence and turned against Palpatine.

After a quick rematch, Luke emerged victorious, but Palpatine, in a defiant act, summoned a Force storm and began to devastate the Republic fleet. Luke and Leia joined forces and temporarily severed Palpatine's connection to the Force, thus disrupting his control over the Force storm. While the uncontrolled storm destroyed Eclipse and resulted in the Emperor's demise, Luke and Leia escaped, and Luke declared his intentions to rebuild the Jedi Order.

The Duel on Byss was initially depicted in the comic book Dark Empire 5 from the Star Wars: Dark Empire series. The battle was conceptualized and written by Tom Veitch, with artwork by Dave Dorman and coloring by Cam Kennedy. Veitch incorporated this conflict as a key event leading to the final confrontation between Palpatine and the Skywalker twins during the Battle of Pinnacle Base.

The Duel on Byss was later adapted into the Dark Empire audio drama, where the intensity of the duel was heightened through the voice acting of John Cygan (Luke Skywalker) and Nick Jameson (Emperor Palpatine). This duel is among the shortest lightsaber duels depicted in comic form, spanning only three panels across two pages.

From a real-world publishing perspective, this marks the first lightsaber duel where both the Jedi and Sith Lord involved wield blue lightsabers. Palpatine's action of retrieving his lightsaber from the wall could be interpreted as a metaphor for the Chekhov's gun literary principle, which suggests that if a loaded gun (in this case, a lightsaber) is introduced, it should either be used or have no place in the story.