Darth Plagueis

Published in 2012, Star Wars: Darth Plagueis belongs to the vast collection of novels, comics, and games in the Star Wars Universe, now known as the “Legends.” In 2012, The Walt Disney Company acquired Lucasfilm from George Lucas, including all Star Wars IP. In 2014, Disney separated the IP into “canonical” and “non-canonical.” The “Expanded Universe” of licensed books, comics and games created before 2014 became non-canonical and were rebranded as “Legends,” with the film franchise and The Clone Wars becoming canonical. As a result, the Canon and Legends have diverged into separate continuities, with post-2014 Disney releases belonging to the Canon.

Understanding the novel’s place in the Star Wars timeline is crucial to perceiving its context and meanings. The IP is huge, and the order of release is no guide to a work’s place in the chronology of the narrative. This chronology can be usefully broken into “eras,” following the BBY/ABY dating system. BBY/ABY is “Before” and “After the Battle of Yavin,” the point when the Death Star is destroyed at the end of Episode IV (the first-released movie, 1977). These eras are:

• The “Dawn of the Jedi”: 25,000 BBY.
• The “Old Republic”: 4,000 BBY.
• The “High Republic” to the “Fall of the Jedi”: 500-1 BBY, corresponding to the canonical “prequel” film trilogy (Episodes I-III).
• The “Age of Rebellion”: 0 BBY-2 ABY, corresponding to the canonical original trilogy (Episodes IV-VI).
• The “New Republic” and “Rise of the First Order”: 2-49 ABY onwards, corresponding to the canonical “sequel” trilogy (Episodes VII-IX).
• The “New Jedi Order”: 50 ABY and beyond, corresponding to forthcoming Lucasfilm movies.

The novel is part of the “prequel” era, with its action starting in 65 BBY. Within the fuller detail of the “Legends” mythology, Star Wars: Darth Plagueis is born between 147 and 120 BBY, in the time of the “High Republic,” a period when the Jedi, the Order of the light side of the Force, are flourishing. The Sith Lords were created in c. 1000 BBY by the first Sith Lord, Darth Bane, intended to gather secret power for the dark side in order to destroy the Jedi and their Republic. This is known as the Grand Plan. Under Darth Plagueis and his successor Sidious, the Grand Plan is finally put into operation, leading to Sith domination over the galaxy.

In the canon, Plagueis dies before Episode III, as Palatine references this. The front matter of Darth Plagueis includes a detailed timeline (viii-x) that helps locate the novel within the extensive non-canonical “Legends” narrative. The novel is situated within and alongside both the official film saga narrative and the “Legends” collection. It provides detail and backstory for these interrelated strands, often playing on assumed Star Wars knowledge of the reader to provide dramatic tension. For instance, by beginning with Plagueis’s murder at the hands of his apprentice, Darth Sidious directly references the intriguing speech of Palpatine’s in Episode III—Revenge of the Sith, which references Plagueis. This situates the novel as an explication of a major backstory. The novel explains significant parts of the Star Wars mythology, especially the battle between the dark side and the light side of the Force, which underpins its worldview and narrative tension.