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- "Darth Plagueis was a Dark Lord of the Sith, so powerful and so wise, he could use the Force to influence the midi-chlorians to create life. He had such a knowledge of the dark side, he could even keep the ones he cared about from dying."
- ―Sheev Palpatine to Anakin Skywalker
Darth Plagueis (pronounced /'pleɪɡ.əs/) was a Muun Dark Lord of the Sith who secretly trained "the Stranger" and Darth Sidious in the ways of the Sith as his apprentices. Plagueis lusted for immortality, believing the secret lay in science. To that end, he researched bioengineering with Sidious, who possessed a strong connection to the Force, and experimented with his ability to influence the midi-chlorians to create life. In doing so, Plagueis acquired considerable knowledge of the Force, but was ultimately betrayed and murdered by his own apprentice in accordance with the Rule of Two, which limited the Sith Lords' ranks to one master and one apprentice. Sidious later recounted the "legend" of his master's demise to lure the Jedi Knight Anakin Skywalker to the dark side of the Force, calling the fallen Sith Lord Darth Plagueis the Wise. After his own demise, Sidious used his master's teachings to cheat death, but he was permanently destroyed by his granddaughter, Rey.
Biography
Dweller in the Dark
The mysterious Darth Plagueis (pictured in shadow) rose to masterhood as part of the Sith Grand Plan.
The mysterious[8] Darth Plagueis was a legendary[9] Muun[4] Dark Lord of the Sith[3] trained by the Sith Master Darth Tenebrous.[5] At some point during his life, Plagueis acquired the protocol droid 11-4D.[10] During his time as a Sith Lord and studying the Force, Plagueis acquired a vast amount of knowledge about the dark side and its teachings.[3]
During the High Republic Era, Plagueis was actively working against the Jedi.[2] By 132 BBY,[11] he had taken on[6] a former Jedi—a human[4] known as "the Stranger" or by the pseudonym "Qimir"[12]—as his apprentice.[6] In that year,[11] Plagueis was present on an island on[4] the planet[13] Bal'demnic,[14] which was inhabited by the Stranger. While there, he lurked in the shadows of the Stranger's cave abode as he observed the Stranger and the former Jedi Padawan Verosha Aniseya, whom the Stranger would take on as a Sith acolyte, depart from the planet in their ship, Exile II.[4] Plagueis was still lurking there when the Stranger and Aniseya returned,[8] with Aniseya by that time having chosen to become the Stranger's acolyte.[4] Plagueis's lurking—combined with the Stranger's preference to consider himself someone without a name, rather than directly calling himself a Sith—called into question the Stranger's ties to the Sith and loyalty to Plagueis.[15]
Master of Darth Sidious
- "My mentor taught me everything about the Force, even the nature of the dark side."
- ―Sheev Palpatine
Darth Sidious was the secret persona of Sheev Palpatine and the Sith apprentice of Darth Plagueis.
The precise time when Plagueis came to acquire his new Sith apprentice was unknown,[16] but the Dark Lord chose Sheev Palpatine, a human from Naboo, as his pupil. As master and disciple, Plagueis and Palpatine—who took the Sith moniker Darth Sidious—worked together for years, trying to unlock the secrets of immortality as Plagueis lusted for it[10] and to execute the Sith Order's long-percolating plan of supplanting the Galactic Republic with a new Sith Empire.[17]
While training Sidious, Plagueis taught him that two Sith were required for their perilous machinations. So, if they worked together in accordance to the Rule of Two, with one of them serving as a bait for the dark side of the Force and the other as a vessel, they would succeed in acquiring the ability to harness the full power of the dark side and rule immortal for ten thousand years.[10] While apprenticed by Plagueis, Sidious also built his own lightsabers.[18]
Believing the secrets to immortality to lie in science, Plagueis conducted in-depth research into the biological underpinnings of life. Some of that research constituted unnatural experiments, through his ability to coax the midi-chlorians, in an attempt to cheat death, that, though incomplete, were encouraging to his apprentice.[16] The Sith Order had long coveted the ability to live forever, unwilling to accept the Jedi Order's belief that death was a natural part of life, but over the centuries generations of Sith Lords failed to unlock the ability that led to eternal life.[19] He was so obsessed with the subject that he ignored the signs that his "faithful apprentice" was progressing in a disturbing way for him.[20]
Inspired by the Doctrine of the Dyad, Plagueis tried to facilitate a powerful bond with Sidious.
According to Darth Sidious' 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.[19] Plagueis also attempted to forge a Force dyad with Sidious, a unique Force-bond as strong as life itself, which was discovered from the Doctrine of the Dyad, the predecessor to the Rule of Two. However, Plagueis was unsuccessful in forming the dyad.[21]
Darth Plagueis had arranged for his apprentice to become the Senator of Naboo and the rest of the Chommell sector[20] with Palpatine being elected in 52 BBY.[22] By the time that Sidious, under his public persona of Sheev Palpatine, was appointed to the Galactic Senate as the Senator of Naboo, Plagueis was still teaching him,[10] which allowed Palpatine to sharpen his political skills within the plan imagined for him by his master, before they returned to Coruscant.[20]
The death of Darth Plagueis
- "Unfortunately, he taught his apprentice everything he knew. Then his apprentice killed him in his sleep."
- ―Sheev Palpatine
According to Sidious, Plagueis was powerful enough that he could use the Force to influence the midi-chlorians to create life and keep the ones he cared about from dying, a precious knowledge that awarded him the epithet of "the Wise."[7] However, Plagueis also developed a belief that the Force could "strike back" at him for his power.[10] In truth, he became so powerful that the only thing he still dreaded was losing his power.[3]
Under the Rule of Two, Sidious killed his master and trained his own Sith apprentice, Darth Maul.
Ultimately, Plagueis' only fear was bound to come true; at some point, Sidious had learned everything he needed from his[3] distracted master,[20] after which he decided that he had no further use for his teacher. In accordance with the Rule of Two tradition,[16] Sidious broke into his master's apartment[20] and disposed of Plagueis, murdering his mentor in cold blood, killing him in his sleep,[3] and ascending to ultimate power and acquiring the title of Sith Master for himself.[16] As noted by Sidious, Plagueis did not act fast enough to prevent his own demise.[21] Sometime before or after Plagueis' demise, Sidious acquired his own pupil in the Nightsister Mother Talzin's son, Darth Maul,[7] a young Dathomirian Zabrak whom Sidious had accepted from Talzin when he was only a child.[23]
Legacy
The rise of Darth Sidious
- "But darkness is eternal. Unlike the light, it cannot be extinguished. It will always find a way to rise again. And I, Darth Sidious, have risen with it."
- ―Darth Sidious
Plagueis' legacy was inherited by Sidious, who used his mentor's knowledge to further his own ambitions.
Sidious accomplished his ascendance as a Dark Lord of the Sith by killing Plagueis, adhering to the Sith Order's tradition in which the apprentice completed his dark-side training by killing his master.[19] Plagueis' legacy continued through Sidious; With the death of Plagueis, Sidious not only gained the status of Master, but also acquired 11-4D, the late Sith Lord's multi-limbed assistant.[10] In addition, Sidious also inherited Plagueis' studies; in depth research into the biological underpinnings of life with the end goal of discovering how to cheat death.[16]
Plagueis' death served as an example to the apprentice who betrayed and killed him; Sidious regarded his master's trust in him as a mistake, which he vowed to never make. During the Clone Wars, Sidious was aware that his second apprentice, Darth Tyranus, plotted to usurp his title of Sith Master by killing him. Sensing that Tyranus' betrayal was imminent, Sidious successfully conspired to have his student killed by his intended replacement, the Jedi Knight and prophesied Chosen One Anakin Skywalker.[19]
The Tragedy of Darth Plagueis the Wise
- "Did you ever hear the Tragedy of Darth Plagueis the Wise?"
- ―Sheev Palpatine, to Anakin Skywalker
Anakin Skywalker learned about the late Darth Plagueis as recounted by Sheev Palpatine.
In the waning days of the Republic, Sidious recounted the history of his late master to Skywalker, whom he befriended years before the Clone Wars in an effort to gradually turn him to the dark side of the Force. Skywalker, who was unaware at the time that his friend was in fact a Sith Lord, and having developed premonitions of his secret wife's death in childbirth, was intrigued by the story of Plagueis, particularly his ability to prevent death. When the fear of loss drove Skywalker to betray the Jedi Order, turning him into the Sith Lord Darth Vader, Sidious reformed the Republic into the Galactic Empire and declared himself Emperor. At the same time, he had the Jedi systematically executed throughout the galaxy by Order 66, completing the Sith plan that lasted for over a millennium.[3]
One of the few Jedi to survive was a Padawan named Ferren Barr. Barr began investigating as to why the Jedi fell so quickly and learned of Plagueis' existence, putting his file on him in his list of individuals involved in the crisis.[24] In the years that followed his rise to power, Sidious came to genuinely, if posthumously, appreciate Plagueis for the planner and prophet he had been. Sometimes, Sidious mused about how his late master would have reacted when confronted with the trivial, day-to-day matters of Imperial politics, remarking that Plagueis never foresaw that he would become Emperor. Sidious desired not just the immortaltiy his master had craved[10] and achieved,[19] but the power to fashion a universe of his own creation, and make it so the Force could not "strike back".[10]
Plagueis' apprentice ultimately became the Emperor of the First Galactic Empire.
Plagueis' failure to form a dyad with his apprentice had convinced Sidious that his master was unworthy of the task. However, Sidious also failed to recreate the dyad with his own disciple Vader, despite their combined power as scions of the two strongest Force-sensitive bloodlines, the Palpatines and the Skywalkers.[19] In 3 ABY,[25] cultists searching the catacombs beneath the Sith Citadel on the planet Exegol, a secret Sith world that Palpatine had taken over, repeated Plagueis' name in something similar to a chant, along with the names of other Sith.[26]
Transference
- "For centuries, our Order has seen the dark side of the Force as a means of achieving immortality. Yet none were able to unlock that secret…until Darth Plagueis the Wise. My master discovered ways to use the Force to keep others from perishing. But, alas, for all his infinite wisdom, he still could not save himself from death at the hand of his trusted apprentice."
- ―Darth Sidious
Sidious used Plagueis' methods to transfer his consciousness to a new body after his first demise.
During the Battle of Endor in 4 ABY,[27] Sidious was killed by a redeemed Anakin Skywalker, who turned back to the light side of the Force and threw Sidious down a reactor shaft to save his son Luke Skywalker.[28] While falling, however, Sidious reflected that he had prepared himself for that scenario unlike Plagueis and called on all the power of the dark side to leave his body and thrust his consciousness to a cloned body created by the Sith Eternal on the secret Sith world of Exegol.[21]
When Sidious used Plagueis' secret to immortality[21] and his own research into mix of Sith sorcery and technology[20] to resurrect his spirit in a new vessel,[19] he was able to stave off death for a time, but immortality still eluded the Dark Lord. To this end, the transfer was imperfect;[16] when Sidious thrusted his essence toward the new cloned vessel, and had awoken, he realized the painful, temporary existence he was now within, the body racked with decay in consequence to his massive power within the dark side of the Force, leading the Sith Lord toward death permanently if not dealt with. Because of this, Sidious mused that perhaps Plagueis, in the end, was having the final laugh over his apprentice, as karma for his demise.[21]
Sidious managed to cheat death by transfering his soul to the clone body using Plagueis' techniques.
In the years following the Empire's end, during the final stages of the war between the First Order and the Resistance, Sidious' granddaughter, Rey tracked him down to Exegol as the Resistance and the Sith Eternal prepared for a final showdown.[29] Before a redeemed Ben Solo came to her rescue, Sidious insisted his granddaughter to strike him down as he did with Plagueis, allowing Rey to read his mind and discover how he came back thanks to Plagueis' teachings. Ultimately, Rey used the voices and power of the past and deceased Jedi to permanently destroy Sidious and the Sith for good.[21]
In the wake of victory at the aftermath of the Battle of Exegol, the Exegol Excavation Project was launched to excavate the Sith Citadel on Exegol. The archeological endeavor led by Beaumont Kin managed to uncover a file regarding Darth Plagueis within the Arcane Library. According to Kin's notes as provided in the book The Rise and Fall of the Galactic Empire, the file was notably defaced, but the information contained within brought to life the existence of Darth Plagueis and help construct an incomplete hierarchy of information about the known Sith Lords.[30]
Personality and traits
- "He became so powerful, the only thing he was afraid of was…losing his power, which eventually of course he did."
- ―Sheev Palpatine, to Anakin Skywalker
Darth Plagueis (silhouette pictured) was a wise Sith Lord who became paranoid as he grew in power.
Darth Plagueis was a Dark Lord of the Sith who possessed a vast knowledge of the dark side of the Force.[7] He was a Muun[2] and had yellow and red eyes.[4] He was a meticulous planner, who tried to accomplish the Sith's goal to replace the Galactic Republic with a Sith Empire. Due to his powers, he also became paranoid, believing that the Force could "strike back."[10]
Obsessed with achieving immortality, Plagueis strived to discover the path towards becoming an eternal being alongside his apprentice Darth Sidious and rule together for thousands of years,[10] and believed the secret to it laid in science. His desire to cheat death represented a subversion of the natural order of things and an ultimate act of manipulation of the universe and the will of the Force.[16] While Plagueis became afraid of losing his power, he never expected his apprentice to be the reason he would lose power. Ultimately, Plagueis had trusted[19] and underestimated Sidious, who betrayed and murdered him when he least expected it. Though Plagueis did not live to achieve his goals, Sidious succeeded to survive his own death, but given that his transfer was imperfect, he asked himself if maybe Plagueis got the last laugh after all at his failure.[21]
Powers and abilities
- "Ironic. He could save others from death, but not himself."
"Is it possible to learn this power?"
"Not from a Jedi." - ―Sheev Palpatine and Anakin Skywalker
Sidious remembered Plagueis as a powerful Sith who discovered the ability to achieve immortality.
According to Darth Sidious, Darth Plagueis was a powerful Sith Lord who was able to use the Force to influence the midi-chlorians to create life,[3] a power that was reportedly to be extremely rare for one sensitive to the Force to possess, and could even be used by certain Sith Lords to prolong their life or even cheat death. Utilizing this ability, Plagueis was able to conduct unnatural experimentations in his bid to discover immortality.[16] His great knowledge of the dark side of the Force could also even aid him in keeping the ones he cared about from dying.[3]
Focused on achieving immortality through sciences and the biologicial underpinnings of life,[16] Darth Plagueis managed to discover a way to become immortal, which consisted on transferring his consciousness to another body and use it like a vessel. Plagueis did not have time, however, to use this skill to evade death when his student cut him down. His apprentice Darth Sidious was later able to survive his first death through this method, yet the transfer was imperfect.[21]
Darth Plagueis may have had the ability to see into the future as his apprentice later mused in appreciation of him for the prophet he had been. However, what Plagueis never saw coming was his apprentice's rise to power.[10]
Behind the scenes
Origins and development
Darth Plagueis made his first "appearance" in canon through a silhouette in the reference book Star Wars Made Easy.
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.[3] Although Palpatine was never confirmed to be Plagueis' apprentice in the movie itself, a link to the official encyclopedia on StarWars.com did refer to Sidious as having been "trained by Darth Plagueis."[7] He first appeared unnamed in "The Acolyte," the eponymous eighth episode of the 2024 television series Star Wars: The Acolyte,[4] his identity in the episode being later confirmed by showrunner Leslye Headland in an interview.[31] There, the character's appearance in the episode was rendered entirely with computer-generated imagery, without the use of motion capture.[32] Before his appearance in The Acolyte,[4] Plagueis was first pictured via silhouette in the reference book Star Wars Made Easy.[33]
The character was created by George Lucas as early as the first draft of Revenge of the Sith—dated April 2003—and possibly earlier.[34] His story was massively expanded upon in the 2012 Star Wars Legends novel Darth Plagueis, written by James Luceno.[35] It notably established Plagueis to be a Muun, just as Lucas proposed,[36] a trait that was used once more in The Acolyte[4] and had been canonized prior by the reference book Endless Vigil.[37] All the same, prior to The Acolyte,[4] Plagueis' canon appearance was kept hidden via his silhouettes in Star Wars Made Easy[33] and Star Wars: The Secrets of the Sith.[19] Plagueis was always intended to appear in the season 1 finale of The Acolyte.[38] 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."[6]
Canon details
Darth Plagueis, as depicted in Star Wars Legends
Although Legends works show that Plagueis had power over life and death, Lucas himself stated Palpatine's tale about Plagueis' abilities was a lie.[39] Canon also dispensed with the idea of these powers being a lie.[21] The Biography gallery of Darth Sidious' Databank entry[7] and the "Senator Palpatine" card part of 2020 Topps Star Wars Holocron Series[40] both state that Plagueis was killed by Sidious after he took Darth Maul as his apprentice. However, the 2019 reference book Ultimate Star Wars, New Edition lists Plagueis' murder at Sidious' hands as taking place before Sidious takes Maul under his wing.[41]
Luceno's Legends novel also established Plagueis's public identity of Hego Damask, head of the clandestine financial group Damask Holdings.[35] The 2015 canon reference book Ultimate Star Wars went onto feature a mention of Damask, taking[18] an exchange about the Naboo city of Theed between "Damask" and a young Palpatine from before he became the Muun's Sith apprentice.[35] However, Pablo Hidalgo of the Lucasfilm Story Group later confirmed this mention of Damask was not meant to be featured in the finalized book.[42] Nonetheless, Damask Holdings itself has since been confirmed to exist within canon,[22] but no source at this time has linked the company to Plagueis in canon.
LEGO media
In the 2025 limited Disney+ series LEGO Star Wars: Rebuild the Galaxy - Pieces of the Past's fourth episode, Darth Plagueis is mentioned by Jedi Palpatine when Sig Greebling gives a speech, saying Sig talked more than Darth Plagueis "the Long-Winded."[43]
Appearances
Star Wars: The Acolyte — "The Acolyte" (First appearance)- The Skywalker Saga (Mentioned only)
- Star Wars: The Prequel Trilogy – A Graphic Novel (Mentioned only)
- Star Wars Journeys: Beginnings (Indirect mention only)
- Star Wars: Episode III Revenge of the Sith (First mentioned)
- Master of Evil (and audiobook) (Mentioned only)
- Darth Vader (2017) 14 (Mentioned only) (In Aurebesh text)
- Tarkin (and audiobook) (Mentioned only)
- The Odyssey of Star Wars: An Epic Poem (Mentioned only)
- Darth Vader (2020) 38 (Mentioned only)
- "Masters" — Stories of Jedi and Sith (and audiobook) (Indirect mention only)
- Shadow of the Sith (and audiobook) (Mentioned only) (In flashback(s))
- Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker: Expanded Edition (and audiobook) (Mentioned only)
- Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker: A Junior Novel (and audiobook) (Mentioned only)
Non-canon appearances
- Disney Infinity 3.0 (Mentioned only)
- Fortnite Battle Royale (Mentioned only)
- LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga (Picture only)
- LEGO Star Wars: Rebuild the Galaxy - Pieces of the Past — "Part Four" (Mentioned only)
Sources
Notes and references
External links
- Darth Plagueis on Wikipedia
- 'The Acolyte' Finale Is a Plagueis on Both Their Houses, Leslye Headland Tells Us by Sarah Shachat on IndieWire (July 17, 2024) (backup link archived on July 17, 2024)
