| Several of the female Imperials featured
on this website served Palpatine as his so-called "Emperor's Hands". The
"Hands" were a class of elusive Force sensitive elite agents that existed
outside the normal chain of command. They were answerable only to Palpatine
himself; and their true function was such a well-kept secret that even
the Emperor's Hands themselves didn't know which other person was a "Hand".
Mara Jade, for instance, believed that she was Palpatine's only Hand, and
that Roganda Ismaren - another Emperor's Hand - was merely a concubine.
The Emperor's Hands performed many difficult tasks for Palpatine. They served him as assassins, but also in other functions, and saw to it that the Emperor's will was done across the galaxy. In Mara Jade's words, they "exposed traitors for him, brought down his enemies, helped him keep the kind of control over the mindless bureaucracies that he needed." Some of the Hands, such as Mara and Roganda, were trained from childhood; while others were enlisted for this service as adolescents or adults, like Shira Brie who attracted Palpatine's attention as an outstanding member of COMPNOR. All the Emperor's Hands received extensive training in many areas, including hand-to-hand combat, infiltration techniques, and the use of the Force. There were both male and female Hands. All of them were humans - not surprising, considering Palpatine's racism. Theoretically, though, it can't be completely excluded that there was also a non-human Emperor's Hand, just like there was one non-human Grand Admiral. The total number of Emperor's Hands was Palpatine's personal secret; going by speculations, there were between 10 and 12 of them. Read all about the Emperor's Hands in this article on the Wizards of the Coast website |