Darth Plagueis

"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."

- Palpatine

Darth Plagueis, also known as Darth Plagueis the Wise, was a Muun Dark Lord of the Sith, heir to the lineage of Darth Bane and a master of midi-chlorian manipulation, who lived during the century leading up to the Battle of Naboo. Obsessed with eternal life, Plagueis experimented with ways to cheat death and create new life from the midi-chlorians.

He played a large role in galactic events, inciting Darth Sidious, whom he trained in the ways of the Sith and the dark side of the Force, to take control of the galaxy and bring about an age of the Sith. Sidious, concerned with being replaced as Plagueis' apprentice, eventually killed the Muun in his sleep. The legend of Plagueis was later used by Sidious to sway Anakin Skywalker to the dark side, though Plagueis himself remained a mysterious figure to the Jedi and their allies well into the time of the Galactic Alliance.

Biography
Darth Plagueis was a Muun, in the Sith lineage of Darth Bane, who reigned in the time around 60 BBY. By the time of the Galactic Alliance, nothing was known of Plagueis' origins, and no one was sure how he came to train Palpatine. At some point, though, he took on Palpatine, a gifted student, as his apprentice and named him Darth Sidious. With the longevity granted to his species, Plagueis would spend a lifetime seeking power over death.

Plagueis and Sidious
"Tell me what you regard as your greatest strength, so I will know how best to undermine you; tell me of your greatest fear, so I will know which I must force you to face; tell me what you cherish most, so I will know what to take from you; and tell me what you crave, so that I might deny you."

- Darth Plagueis

Sidious learned from Plagueis over the course of decades, during which Plagueis taught his apprentice everything he knew to prevent the power he had amassed from being lost forever. During Sidious' training, Plagueis gave his apprentice access to his Sith holocrons. Plagueis' lessons involved forcing Sidious to face his fears, denying him pleasures, and taking from him the things he loved. He taught Sidious that emotions such as envy and hatred, though necessary to master the dark side, were simply means to the end of casting aside usual notions of morality for a greater goal. Plagueis also lectured his apprentice on the means of taking power, with the eventual goal of control over the galaxy.

Sidious, meanwhile, began training his own apprentice, Darth Maul, without Plagueis' knowledge, and may even have trained other apprentices before Maul. Sidious would not kill his master, however, until he understood the lessons of Plagueis and had become powerful enough to defeat him.

The death of Darth Plagueis
"He became so powerful, the only thing he was afraid of was losing his power, which eventually, of course, he did. Unfortunately, he taught his apprentice everything he knew. Then, his apprentice killed him in his sleep."

- Palpatine to Anakin Skywalker

Plagueis, who had discovered a way to prevent death with the Force, intended to explore an extreme application of his power&mdash;the ability to create life from nothing, using the Force to directly manipulate the midi-chlorians found in a living being's blood. When the Dark Lord revealed his plans for this experiment to Sidious, Sidious grew concerned. When Plagueis then stated that a being created in this manner would be the living embodiment of the Force, Sidious realized that his master intended to create his replacement, and determined to kill Plagueis before that happened. Plagueis never suspected his impending death. Shortly after, at some point between 52 BBY and 46 BBY, Sidious murdered Darth Plagueis as he slept.

Legacy
"Did you ever hear the Tragedy of Darth Plagueis the Wise?"

- Palpatine

Plagueis' experiments in creating life may have succeeded. It was speculated that Plagueis initiated his plans before dying, and according to the Sith Lords, it was Plagueis who influenced the midi-chlorians to conceive Anakin Skywalker. Though Plagueis purportedly taught Palpatine all he knew, Palpatine himself was unable to use Plagueis' teachings to cheat death through the Force, and was forced to rely on clone bodies to hold his spirit instead.

Sidious spoke little of Plagueis to his apprentice Darth Tyranus, and in the following decades only gave hints to his apprentice Darth Vader. However, he did use Plagueis' story to seduce Anakin Skywalker into becoming Vader. The Tragedy of Darth Plagueis the Wise, Palpatine's Sith legend, told of Plagueis' abilities to create and preserve life; according to Palpatine, the tragic irony was that though he could keep others from dying, he could not save himself. Skywalker, seeking Plagueis' power to save his own wife Padmé, later apprenticed himself to Palpatine.

When historians in later years were unable to find much information on Plagueis, they suspected that Palpatine had destroyed everything about his master. The Ingo Wavlud Manuscript, one of the few sources of knowledge for the Jedi on the Sith and Sidious, revealed information on Plagueis to the Galactic Alliance and New Jedi Order.

Personality and traits
"You must begin by gaining power over yourself; then another; then a group, an order, a world, a species, a group of species&hellip; finally, the galaxy itself."

- Darth Plagueis

Darth Plagueis was a mystic, a devotee of the dark side, and a lover of things otherworldly and arcane. Obsessed with the prospect of eternal life and ideas of spontaneous generation, he remained focused on matters of the material world, though in later years Darth Vader mused that Plagueis had also desired a way to preserve the immaterial self after the death of the body.

Plagueis was wise and possessed of a logical mind, and his apprentice Palpatine believed that the extent to which he turned his sight inward was the source of his power and knowledge. He believed that power was to be gained incrementally, beginning with the self and culminating with control of the entire galaxy. As his own powers grew, he became afraid of nothing but losing that power. Nonetheless, though the death of the master by the hand of the apprentice was the usual means of Sith succession, He never saw his own death coming.

Powers and abilities
"Ironic. He could save others from death, but not himself."

- Palpatine and Anakin Skywalker

Plagueis was a master of esoteric and unnatural aspects of the Force. With it, he was able to manipulate the essence of life, a power Palpatine believed was directly tied to his inward sight. Plagueis could save others from death and, when his power was applied to the extreme, create new life from the midi-chlorians found in all lifeforms. Plagueis even discovered the ability to retain one's identity in the Force while becoming one with it, but this manner of surviving death did not appeal to him, as he was not concerned with the nonmaterial world.

Behind the scenes
Darth Plagueis was named as early as the first draft of Revenge of the Sith (April 2003), and possibly earlier than this. His name is clearly derived from the English word "plague."

Plagueis' first appearance of any sort was in the non-canon Tag & Bink: Revenge of the Clone Menace. In this comic it was stated that Plagueis' manipulation of the midi-chlorians produced Force-sensitivity in Tag Greenly and Bink Otauna. It also caused the destruction of a red sun and its planet, whose only survivor would go on to become a hero on Earth&mdash;references to Krypton and Superman, respectively.

Although strictly non-canon, the image of Plagueis in Tag & Bink appears to have inspired the design of his miniature in Star Wars Miniatures: Jedi Academy. The weapon and pose exhibited in Plagueis' miniature (and the accompanying card illustration) exactly match those in the comic image. Plagueis' appearance as a miniature in the Jedi Academy set marks his first representation in toy form.

The Darth Plagueis novel
James Luceno was scheduled to write a novel about Plagueis. The book's announcement on StarWars.com was the first source to identify Plagueis as a Muun. However, in March 2007 it was announced that the novel had been removed from the publishing schedule. Sue Rostoni's official explanation for the cancellation was that "this was not the right time to delve into Palpatine's back story and Plagueis's beginnings." The novel was replaced with Darth Bane: Rule of Two. Though Plagueis' species had been revealed in the novel's announcement, Leland Chee stated that its cancellation did not affect that decision, as it had not originated in the novel. A panel on continuity at the Celebration IV convention revealed that his identity as a Muun had originally come from George Lucas. Jedi vs. Sith: The Essential Guide to the Force confirmed his species as a Muun and was the first source to give him a canonical image.

The Force Unleashed
When creating the multimedia project Star Wars: The Force Unleashed, the development team looked to a number of unexplored characters and events for inspiration, amongst them Plagueis. The initial plan was to use Plagueis as a Sith spirit who would give the player of The Force Unleashed game new dark side powers and information. Another idea involved the Secret Apprentice, the main character, sent to find Plagueis as part of a plot by Darth Vader to resurrect Padmé Amidala. Still other ideas included revealing that the Apprentice was Plagueis reborn, or using a reformed Plagueis as the Apprentice's mentor.

As the team did not know much about Plagueis at first, they started with Human designs. Concept artist Greg Knight explored a number of directions, including the undead, a character from a different time, someone using machines to stay alive, eerie youthfulness, the occult, and a number of "freaky and exotic" ideas.

Appearances

 * Darth Plagueis novel
 * Tag & Bink: Revenge of the Clone Menace
 * Labyrinth of Evil
 * Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith
 * Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith comic
 * Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith novel
 * Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith junior novel
 * The Rise and Fall of Darth Vader
 * Dark Lord: The Rise of Darth Vader
 * Death Star