Triclops, identified as a Human mutant and slave, asserted his lineage as the offspring of Emperor Palpatine. This familial claim might not denote a conventional biological connection. Instead, Triclops could have been a product of Darth Plagueis's experiments focused on manipulating midi-chlorians to achieve zygote creation solely through the Force within a receptive humanoid female.
Possessing white hair, Triclops was a mutant defined by three eyes, including one situated at the back of his cranium, and bore scars near his temples resulting from electroshocks inflicted by the Galactic Empire. Trained to serve as an Emperor's Eye, Palpatine deemed him a profound disappointment, leading to his imprisonment. He spent numerous years confined in an Imperial prison located on Kessel, where he fathered a son, Ken, with Kendalina, a former Jedi.
Ultimately, he managed to break free from the Empire's control and, in an act of betrayal against his father, aligned himself with the Rebel Alliance alongside his son Ken, before vanishing completely from the galaxy.
Rumors suggested that Triclops, the mutant notable for his three eyes, was born to Sly Moore, an Umbaran female who served as a close advisor to the Supreme Chancellor and subsequently to Galactic Emperor Palpatine. Moore, deeply interested in the genetic experiments conducted by the deceased Dark Lord of the Sith Darth Plagueis, had acquired Force-sensitive DNA from an unspecified origin. According to these rumors, she died in her home region of Ghost Nebula while giving birth to Triclops. The infant was then immediately taken away by her former associate, Sarcev Quest. Considering that Moore was still alive in 18 BBY, one year after the establishment of the Galactic Empire, Triclops' birth would have occurred after that time. Irrespective of the accuracy of these reports, Triclops was regarded as Palpatine's actual son, both by Palpatine himself and by the few high-ranking officials aware of his existence.
The responsibility for Triclops' education was given to the Prophets of the Dark Side, an ancient cult loyal to Palpatine's Galactic Empire. He underwent training to become an Emperor's Eye, a Dark Side Adept notable for his ability to perceive events through the Force. However, the trainee prophet with three eyes proved to be disappointing, and the Emperor himself considered him a personal failure. According to Rajah Ubooki, a Bimm con artist who impersonated the false Supreme Prophet Kadann, Palpatine sensed that Triclops possessed the potential to surpass him in Force power and was also a pacifist who advocated for disarmament instead of warfare. Rather than executing him, the Emperor relegated his own son to the status of a common slave within the spice mines of Kessel.
During his imprisonment in the Kessel mines asylum, Triclops frequently endured whippings at the hands of the Supreme Slavelord himself, another three-eyed individual named Trioculus. Despite also being a product of Palpatine's schemes, albeit through experimentation, the Supreme Slaver harbored jealousy towards Triclops' position as the Emperor's true son. While whipping him, Trioculus would proclaim his intention to one day assume Triclops' identity and seize control of the Empire. In 7 BBY, Triclops developed feelings for Kendalina, a gray-eyed "Jedi Princess" who had been compelled to pledge allegiance to the Empire and was assigned to work as a nurse within the asylum. Their relationship resulted in a son, whom they named Ken. Upon discovering their relationship, the Empire executed Kendalina, an event that remained etched in Triclops' memory. Secretly, the infant Ken was transported to the Lost City of the Jedi on Yavin 4, where he would remain for twelve years, while Triclops remained under the Empire's control. In addition to enduring regular torture, Palpatine's son was unknowingly fitted with a HoloNet transceiver implant within his upper right molar. This device not only transmitted Triclops' thoughts to Imperial probe droids but also replicated the mind-controlling effects of Nihil smokestone, sending electromagnetic signals into his brain while he was asleep.
Following Palpatine's death, rumors circulated about the Emperor having a three-eyed son. However, the Imperial Grand Moffs considered Triclops both unstable and perilous, partly due to his pacifistic views and calls for disarmament. Grand Moff Bertroff Hissa capitalized on this situation, positioning Supreme Slavelord Trioculus as Palpatine's successor.
Triclops was subsequently transferred to the new Imperial Reprogramming Institute, a prison and asylum for the mentally disturbed located in the Valley of Royalty on Duro, near ancient monuments. The Empire housed its most dangerous prisoners within the Institute. Palpatine's son was placed in Experimental Section Two, where—according to the false Kadann—even the most deranged prisoners eventually learned to obey the Empire. Triclops was placed under the supervision of Defeen, a male Defel tasked with reprogramming him.
One day in 5 ABY, Triclops finally escaped Experimental Section Two with the assistance of an Imperial assassin droid whose assassination protocols had been deactivated. However, Triclops was unable to cross the Great Wall without a spaceship or a floating vehicle, leading him to seek refuge somewhere within the Valley of Royalty. With the help of the reprogrammed assassin droid, he descended into the mouth of the monument of Queen Rana Mas Trehalt in hopes of finding a path to freedom. Instead, he and the droid became trapped within a network of tunnels. He remained there until an intervention team dispatched by the Alliance to Restore the Republic discovered the tunnel and liberated him. The team consisted of Commander Luke Skywalker, his wartime companion Han Solo, the protocol droid C-3PO, and a young Human who turned out to be Ken, Triclops' long-lost son. Now allied with his rescuers, Triclops joined the Alliance with the assistance of his son and Skywalker, but was placed under close surveillance by Mon Mothma, who feared he might be an Imperial spy.
Around this time, the Empire's motives for keeping Triclops alive became apparent: during his sleep, he would dream up designs for lethal new war machines, which the Empire would subsequently produce. During these dreams, he would often experience convulsive fits, and even the formidable Chewbacca struggled to restrain him. However, he had no recollection of these dreams upon awakening, remaining unaware that he was aiding the Empire he despised.
On Yavin 4, Triclops, after penning a heartfelt letter to Ken, fled into the moon's jungles. Several months later, he became enslaved by the false Kadann and assisted him in escaping the Lost City of the Jedi and leaving the planet. He was last observed storming into the Grand Audience Chamber of the Massassi Temple, where the wedding ceremony of Han Solo and Leia Organa was about to commence, and attacking the attendees in a fit of madness triggered by his mind-controlling implant.
Triclops' character was conceived by Paul and Hollace Davids for their Jedi Prince series geared towards young readers. He received his initial mention in The Glove of Darth Vader, but only appeared in person within the final three books of the series: Mission from Mount Yoda, Queen of the Empire, and Prophets of the Dark Side.
Within the Jedi Prince series, Triclops was presented as Emperor Palpatine's son, a fact that author Paul Davids intended to be literally true in-universe. However, in 2007, authors Abel G. Peña and Rich Handley authored Aliens in the Empire, an online supplement to Star Wars Insider 96 and 97, which questioned the literal interpretation of "son of Palpatine." The article referenced a three-eyed mutant born to a Bordali woman named Niobi, who was a product of Imperial genetic manipulation. At the time, Peña hinted on the Jedi Council Forums that the mutant in question was Triclops.
Nevertheless, in 2013, Peña and Handley created a new series of articles for the official Star Wars Blog, titled Barely Tolerable: Alien Henchmen of the Empire. The first installment revealed that the three-eyed son of Niobi was, in fact, Trioculus, thus disproving the speculation on the Jedi Council Forums.
In the third installment of the article series, released on September 12, 2013, Handley and Peña connected Triclops with Sly Moore, but refrained from explicitly identifying the father. Later that year, Peña and Greg Mitchell jointly wrote another blog article titled The Star Wars Spy Game: SPIN Declassified, which explicitly identified Triclops as Palpatine's actual son, not merely a purported one.