10 Video Game Villains Who Actually Killed The Hero

3. Emperor Palpatine (Star Wars: The Force Unleashed)

Star Wars: The Force Unleashed light side ending Starkiller death
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While Emperor Palpatine was unable to defeat Luke in Return of the Jedi and Rey in The Rise of Skywalker, he's not always completely useless when it comes to killing his enemies, as the likes of Mace Windu and Starkiller will attest to.

But even then, both of those men had Palpatine cornered and could've easily killed him if they'd acted more decisively. Starkiller - the protagonist and playable character in Star Wars: The Force Unleashed - fights and overpowers Palpatine in the game's light side ending, but before he can strike a fatal blow, he's stopped by Kota, who doesn't want Starkiller to strike his foe down in anger.

And unsurprisingly, the decision to spare Palpatine backfires drastically.

After pulling off one of his signature "I'm too weak" acts where he pretends to be defeated, Palpatine shoots two beams of lightning from his hands, knocking Kota aside. Starkiller then stands up to ol' Palpy once more, absorbing the lightning and ultimately succumbing to its immense power.

The Force Unleashed has another ending in which Starkiller lives, but the light side conclusion is considered the game's canon one. Not that it mattered anyway, because the sequel managed to bring him back by introducing clones, only to kill him off again in that game's dark side ending. This guy can't catch a break.

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Danny has been with WhatCulture for over ten years, and is currently Doctor Who Editor and WhoCulture Channel Manager, overseeing all of WhatCulture's Whoniverse coverage. In 2022, he took charge of WhoCulture and has grown it into the biggest Doctor Who channel on YouTube, and one of the biggest Doctor Who communities on the web full-stop. He has been writing and video editing since his early teens, and first got a taste for content creation after making his own Doctor Who trailers, off the back of a burning obsession with the Matt Smith era of the show. Like many his age, he first got into Doctor Who with the 2005 revival, but has since gone back and fallen in love with the classic years too. If you need someone to recite every Doctor Who episode in order, or to give you a random factoid about the making of Gridlock, Danny is the person to ask!