Emperor Palpatine, played by Ian McDiarmid, is the main Sith villain of the Star Wars saga, first appearing on screen in The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi before his larger role in the prequel trilogy. His speeches about the dark side, especially while tempting Anakin Skywalker in Revenge of the Sith from 2005, became endlessly quotable online. Fans clip his calm, sinister delivery for memes about corruption, power and bad decisions, which keeps the sound popular long after the films.