Darth Plagueis

Biography

Reaching the Rank of Master

A Muun of immense renown, Darth Plagueis stood as a Dark Lord of the Sith, having been instructed by the Sith Master known as Darth Tenebrous. At some point, Plagueis came into possession of the protocol droid designated 11-4D. Throughout his tenure as a Sith Lord, Plagueis amassed considerable understanding of the dark side and its principles through the study of the Force.

During the era of the High Republic Era, Plagueis actively undermined the efforts of the Jedi. By the year 132 BBY, he had taken a former Jedi, a human known as "the Stranger" or under the alias "Qimir," as his apprentice. In that year, Plagueis was present on an island located on a planet inhabited by the Stranger. From the shadows of the Stranger's cave, he observed the Stranger and the former Jedi Padawan Verosha Aniseya, who would become the Stranger's Sith acolyte, as they departed the planet aboard their ship, Exile II. Plagueis remained hidden until the Stranger and Aniseya returned, with Aniseya now serving as the Stranger's apprentice.

Mentor to Darth Sidious

The specific time at which Plagueis acquired his new Sith apprentice remains uncertain, but the Dark Lord selected Sheev Palpatine, a human hailing from Naboo, to be his student. As master and apprentice, Plagueis and Palpatine, who adopted the Sith name Darth Sidious, collaborated for years in an attempt to unlock the secrets of immortality, driven by Plagueis's yearning for it, and to fulfill the Sith Order's long-percolating plan to replace the Galactic Republic with a new Sith Empire.

During Sidious's training, Plagueis emphasized the necessity of two Sith for their dangerous schemes. He explained that by adhering to the Rule of Two, with one serving as bait for the dark side of the Force and the other as a vessel, they could successfully harness the full power of the dark side and reign immortally for ten thousand years. While under Plagueis's tutelage, Sidious also constructed his own lightsabers.

Convinced that science held the key to immortality, Plagueis undertook extensive research into the biological foundations of life. This research involved unnatural experiments aimed at manipulating midi-chlorians through his abilities, seeking to defy death. These efforts, though incomplete, inspired his apprentice. The Sith Order had long desired immortality, rejecting the Jedi Order's acceptance of death as a natural part of life. However, generations of Sith Lords had failed to unlock the secret to eternal life over the centuries. Plagueis became so consumed by this pursuit that he overlooked the alarming progress his "faithful apprentice" was making.

According to Darth Sidious's book, The Secrets of the Sith, Plagueis discovered a form of immortality through transference, a Force power that allowed the user to transfer his consciousness to another body, essentially using bodies as vessels. Plagueis also attempted to forge a Force dyad with Sidious, a unique Force-bond as strong as life itself and which was the predecessor to the Rule of Two. However, Plagueis was unsuccessful in forming the dyad.

Darth Plagueis orchestrated Palpatine's election as the Senator of Naboo and the broader Chommell sector, which occurred in 52 BBY. By the time Sidious, under his public identity of Sheev Palpatine, was appointed to the Galactic Senate as the Senator of Naboo, Plagueis continued to instruct him. This allowed Palpatine to refine his political skills, as envisioned by his master, before their return to Coruscant.

The Demise of Darth Plagueis

Sidious claimed that Plagueis possessed the power to manipulate midi-chlorians to create life and prevent the death of those he valued, earning him the title "the Wise." However, Plagueis also came to believe that the Force might "strike back" at him due to his power. Ultimately, his greatest fear became the potential loss of his power.

Inevitably, Plagueis's greatest fear materialized. Sidious, having absorbed all he could from his distracted master, decided that Plagueis had outlived his usefulness. In accordance with the Rule of Two, Sidious infiltrated Plagueis's apartment and eliminated him, committing a cold-blooded murder in his sleep. This act allowed Sidious to ascend to ultimate power and claim the title of Sith Master. Sidious noted that Plagueis was too slow to prevent his own demise. Either before or after Plagueis's death, Sidious acquired Darth Maul, the son of Mother Talzin of the Nightsister, a young Dathomirian Zabrak whom Sidious had accepted from Talzin as a child.

Legacy

The Ascension of Darth Sidious

Sidious's rise to power as a Dark Lord of the Sith was achieved through the murder of Plagueis, adhering to the Sith tradition in which the apprentice completes their dark-side training by killing their master. Plagueis's legacy lived on through Sidious. With Plagueis's death, Sidious not only gained the status of Master but also inherited 11-4D, the late Sith Lord's multi-limbed assistant. Additionally, Sidious inherited Plagueis's research into the biological underpinnings of life, aimed at discovering how to cheat death.

Plagueis's death served as a cautionary tale for Sidious. He viewed his master's trust in him as a mistake he would never repeat. During the Clone Wars, Sidious was aware that his second apprentice, Darth Tyranus, plotted to usurp his title of Sith Master. Sensing Tyranus's impending betrayal, Sidious orchestrated his student's death at the hands of his intended replacement, the Jedi Knight and prophesied Chosen One Anakin Skywalker.

The Tragedy of Darth Plagueis the Wise

In the final days of the Republic, Sidious recounted the history of his deceased master to Skywalker, whom he had befriended years before the Clone Wars in an attempt to sway him to the dark side of the Force. Skywalker, unaware that his friend was a Sith Lord and plagued by premonitions of his secret wife's death in childbirth, was intrigued by Plagueis's story, particularly his ability to prevent death. When the fear of loss drove Skywalker to betray the Jedi Order, transforming him into Darth Vader, Sidious reformed the Republic into the Galactic Empire and proclaimed himself Emperor. Simultaneously, he ordered the systematic execution of the Jedi throughout the galaxy via Order 66, completing the Sith plan that had spanned over a millennium.

One of the few Jedi survivors was a Padawan named Ferren Barr. Barr investigated the rapid fall of the Jedi and discovered Plagueis's existence, adding his file to a list of individuals involved in the crisis. Following his rise to power, Sidious developed a genuine, albeit posthumous, appreciation for Plagueis as a planner and prophet. Sidious often pondered how his late master would have handled the mundane aspects of Imperial politics, noting that Plagueis had never foreseen his own ascension to Emperor. Sidious desired not only the immortality his master had craved and achieved but also the power to fashion a universe of his own creation, ensuring that the Force could not "strike back".

Plagueis's failure to establish a dyad with his apprentice convinced Sidious that his master was unworthy. However, Sidious also failed to recreate the dyad with his own disciple, Vader, despite their combined power as descendants of the strongest Force-sensitive bloodlines, the Palpatines and the Skywalkers. In 3 ABY, cultists exploring the catacombs beneath the Sith Citadel on the planet Exegol, a secret Sith world that Palpatine had claimed, chanted Plagueis's name alongside those of other Sith.

Transference

During the Battle of Endor in 4 ABY, Sidious was killed by a redeemed Anakin Skywalker, who returned to the light side of the Force and threw Sidious down a reactor shaft to protect his son Luke Skywalker. As he fell, Sidious recalled that he had prepared for this eventuality, unlike Plagueis. He summoned the full power of the dark side to abandon his body and transfer his consciousness to a cloned body created by the Sith Eternal on Exegol.

By using Plagueis's secret to immortality and his own research into a blend of Sith sorcery and technology to resurrect his spirit in a new vessel, Sidious temporarily cheated death, but immortality remained elusive. The transfer was imperfect; upon awakening in the new cloned vessel, Sidious realized the painful, temporary existence he now inhabited. The body was decaying due to the immense power of the dark side within, leading to his eventual permanent death. Sidious mused that perhaps Plagueis was having the last laugh, as karma for his demise.

In the years following the Empire's end, during the final stages of the war between the First Order and the Resistance, Sidious's granddaughter, Rey, tracked him down to Exegol as the Resistance and the Sith Eternal prepared for a final showdown. Before a redeemed Ben Solo came to her rescue, Sidious urged his granddaughter to strike him down as he had done to Plagueis, allowing Rey to glimpse his mind and understand how he had returned thanks to Plagueis's teachings. Ultimately, Rey harnessed the voices and power of past Jedi to destroy Sidious and the Sith for good.

Following the victory at the Battle of Exegol, the Exegol Excavation Project was initiated to excavate the Sith Citadel. The archaeological endeavor, led by Beaumont Kin, uncovered a file pertaining to Darth Plagueis within the Arcane Library. According to Kin's notes in The Rise and Fall of the Galactic Empire, the file was notably defaced, but the information it contained revealed the existence of Darth Plagueis and helped piece together an incomplete hierarchy of known Sith Lords.

Personality and traits

Darth Plagueis was a sagacious Dark Lord of the Sith, possessing extensive knowledge of the dark side of the Force. As a Muun, he had orange eyes. He was a meticulous planner, striving to achieve the Sith's goal of replacing the Galactic Republic with a Sith Empire. His powers also led to paranoia, as he believed the Force could "strike back".

Obsessed with achieving immortality, Plagueis sought to discover the path to eternal existence alongside his apprentice, Darth Sidious, aiming to rule together for millennia. He believed the key lay in science. His desire to cheat death represented a subversion of the natural order and an ultimate act of manipulating the universe and the will of the Force. While Plagueis feared losing his power, he never anticipated that his apprentice would be the cause. Ultimately, Plagueis trusted and underestimated Sidious, who betrayed and murdered him unexpectedly. Although Plagueis did not live to see his goals realized, Sidious managed to survive his own death. However, given the imperfection of his transfer, he wondered if Plagueis had the last laugh after all, mocking his failure.

Powers and abilities

Darth Sidious described Darth Plagueis as a powerful Sith Lord capable of using the Force to influence midi-chlorians to create life, a rare ability among Force-sensitives. This power could also be used by certain Sith Lords to prolong life or even cheat death. Plagueis used this ability to conduct unnatural experiments in his quest for immortality. His vast knowledge of the dark side of the Force could also help him prevent the death of those he cared about.

Focused on achieving immortality through science and the biological foundations of life, Darth Plagueis discovered a way to become immortal by transferring his consciousness to another body, using it as a vessel. However, Plagueis did not have the opportunity to use this skill to avoid death when his student struck him down. His apprentice, Darth Sidious, later survived his first death using this method, though the transfer was imperfect.

Darth Plagueis may have possessed the ability to see into the future, as his apprentice later appreciated him as a prophet. However, Plagueis never foresaw his apprentice's rise to power.

Behind the scenes

Darth Plagueis was first mentioned on-screen in the 2005 film Star Wars: Episode III Revenge of the Sith, the third and final installment of the Star Wars prequel trilogy. Although the movie never explicitly confirmed Palpatine as Plagueis's apprentice, a link to the official encyclopedia on StarWars.com identified Sidious as having been "trained by Darth Plagueis." He made his first unnamed appearance in "The Acolyte," the eighth episode of the 2024 television series The Acolyte, with his identity later confirmed by showrunner Leslye Headland in an interview. In that episode, the character's appearance was created entirely using computer-generated imagery, without the use of motion capture.

George Lucas created the character as early as the first draft of Revenge of the Sith, dated April 2003, and possibly earlier. His story was greatly expanded in the 2012 Star Wars Legends novel Darth Plagueis, written by James Luceno. This novel established Plagueis as a Muun, as Lucas had proposed, a trait reused in The Acolyte. Plagueis was always intended to appear in the season 1 finale of The Acolyte. Headland later confirmed that Plagueis was the Master of "the Stranger" when speaking with Entertainment Weekly. Having been talking immediately beforehand about the character's cameo in the episode alongside that of Yoda, Headland stated "We wanted to show Qimir's master. We weren't going to wait a second season for that."

Although Legends works indicate that Plagueis had power over life and death, Lucas himself stated Palpatine's tale about Plagueis's abilities was a lie. Canon also dispensed with the idea of these powers being a lie. The Biography gallery of Darth Sidious's Databank entry and the "Senator Palpatine" card from the 2020 Topps Star Wars Holocron Series both state that Sidious killed Plagueis after taking Darth Maul as his apprentice. However, the 2019 reference book Ultimate Star Wars, New Edition lists Plagueis's murder at Sidious's hands as occurring before Sidious takes Maul under his wing.