The ruler of an Empire, usually but not always The Empire. Historically, Emperors outranked Kings, so when you need an authority figure to convey the highest possible power and rank, you can't get any higher than making them The Emperor (unless you go to The Pope, or into the speculative realms of Celestial Paragons And Archangels, Demon Lords and Archdevils, and Galactic Conqueror and at the [...] [tvtropes.org]