Darth Plagueis

Star Wars: Darth Plagueis (2012) is a science fiction novel by veteran Star Wars author James Luceno. A New York Times bestseller, the novel is part of the Star Wars Legends continuity and serves as a prequel to the film series, exploring events referenced in Star Wars: Episode III—Revenge of the Sith. Luceno, known for other franchise novels like Dark Lord: The Rise of Darth Vader, details the secret partnership between the Sith Master Darth Plagueis, obsessed with achieving immortality, and his apprentice, Darth Sidious, as they orchestrate the final stages of a plan to destroy the Jedi and take control of the galaxy. The novel explores themes of The Self-Destructive Nature of the Pursuit of Power, The Master-Apprentice Relationship as a Corruption of Patrilineage, and The Hubris of Seeking to Control the Forces of Nature.

This guide is based on the 2012 Del Rey mass market edition.

Language Note: The Sith lords and apprentices in the novel use two names, retaining their pre-Sith identities as public cover for their dark alter egos. This guide follows the source text by using these names to demonstrate which persona the character presents at each point in the action.

Content Warning: The source material and this guide contain depictions of graphic violence, death by suicide, suicidal ideation, physical and emotional abuse, animal cruelty and death, and illness or death.

Plot Summary

The narrative opens as Darth Sidious stands over the corpse of his master, Darth Plagueis, having just murdered him in his sleep. As Sidious feels the dark side of the Force anoint him as the new Sith Lord, he reflects on his master’s demise. Confident in his new power, Sidious prepares to enact the final stages of the Sith Grand Plan for galactic domination.

The story flashes back 35 years to the remote planet Bal’demnic, where Darth Plagueis, a Muun, serves as the apprentice to the Bith Sith Lord, Darth Tenebrous. While overseeing a mining operation for rare cortosis ore, an engineered explosion causes a cave-in. Tenebrous senses his own impending death at his apprentice’s hands and flees. Seizing the opportunity, Plagueis uses the Force to bring the cavern ceiling down on his master. As Tenebrous lies dying, Plagueis confesses to the murder. Furthering his obsession with conquering death, Plagueis observes the behavior of Tenebrous’s midi-chlorians, the microscopic life-forms that connect beings to the Force, before breaking his master’s neck.

Stranded and with his starship destroyed, Plagueis treks to the planet’s spaceport. He slices into the port’s network, identifies a freighter called the Woebegone, and stows away in a refrigerated cargo container. The freighter’s crew discovers him and, suspicious of his story, decides to contact the authorities. Refusing to be captured, Plagueis reveals his lightsaber and slaughters the crew, conducting crude experiments on the dying to observe their midi-chlorians. He spares only the medical droid, 11-4D, commanding it to fly to a demolition station where, using his public identity of Hego Damask, he orders the Woebegone destroyed.

Returning to his homeworld of Muunilinst, Damask meets with his aide, Larsh Hill, to discuss business matters. This includes the public “disappearance” of his associate Rugess Nome, Tenebrous’s public alter ego. On his private island of Aborah, Damask reveals his secret laboratory to 11-4D, a facility dedicated to his research on immortality. Damask then hosts his annual “Gathering” on the moon Sojourn, a secret summit for the galaxy’s elite. He brokers deals with figures like Gardulla the Hutt and makes an enemy of Gran Senator Pax Teem. He interrogates the Gossams responsible for the sabotage on Bal’demnic, who, under threat of death, reveal the existence of a massive, untapped plasma reserve on the planet Naboo. The Gathering is interrupted by an intruder: Darth Venamis, Tenebrous’s secret second apprentice. Plagueis duels and defeats Venamis, taking him captive.

Plagueis keeps Venamis in a coma, using him as a living subject for his midi-chlorian research. He also consolidates his power by eliminating the other Force-sensitive rivals Venamis had been tracking. As Hego Damask, he turns his attention to Naboo, backing a candidate for the monarchy in exchange for exclusive rights to the planet’s plasma. He learns that a 17-year-old noble, Palpatine, has secretly aided the campaign against his own family’s interests. Intrigued, Damask travels to Naboo and meets Palpatine, noting his immense ambition and conflict with his father, Cosinga. He recruits Palpatine as an informant. When Cosinga discovers his son’s dealings, he confronts Damask and threatens to send Palpatine away. Damask then meets with Palpatine and goads him into action by telling a fabricated story of murdering his own family to achieve power. During a subsequent confrontation aboard the family starship, Palpatine unleashes his latent Force power in a fit of rage, slaughtering his entire family. Damask senses the disturbance, dispatches his agents to cover up the massacre, and confronts the newly “emancipated” Palpatine. Recognizing the youth’s raw power and ruthlessness, Damask reveals his identity as a Sith Lord. Palpatine pledges his loyalty and begins his training, given the Sith name Darth Sidious.

The narrative jumps forward by 11 years. Sidious, now Senator Palpatine of Naboo, has become a master of political subterfuge. He and Plagueis plan the final stages of the Grand Plan: orchestrating a crisis to destabilize the Republic and propel Palpatine to the office of Supreme Chancellor. During this time, Sidious discovers a Force-sensitive Zabrak infant on Dathomir and, with Plagueis’s approval, takes him to be trained as a Sith assassin named Maul. An assassination attempt on Plagueis by agents of the Gran Protectorate leaves him with severe facial and throat injuries, and he goes to Sojourn to heal, now reliant on a transpirator mask to breathe. There, he and Sidious meditate and successfully shift the balance of the Force toward the dark side. This act convinces Plagueis he is on the verge of achieving true immortality. After King Veruna of Naboo betrays him and destroys his fortress on Sojourn, Plagueis escapes and murders Veruna in retaliation.

Sidious commands Viceroy Nute Gunray of the Trade Federation to blockade Naboo, creating the crisis that will elevate him to power. Chancellor Valorum secretly sends Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jinn and his Padawan, Obi-Wan Kenobi, to resolve the dispute, prompting the Sith to order the invasion of Naboo. The Jedi escape with Queen Amidala to Tatooine, and Sidious sends Maul to hunt them. Through his political contact, Jedi Master Dooku, Sidious learns that Qui-Gon has discovered a boy on Tatooine, Anakin Skywalker, who was apparently conceived by the Force and may be the “Chosen One” of Jedi prophecy. Plagueis is horrified, believing Anakin is the Force’s counter-strike to the dark side’s manipulations, and concludes that Qui-Gon must be killed to prevent the boy from being trained. When Queen Amidala arrives on Coruscant, Sidious manipulates her into calling for a Vote of No Confidence against Chancellor Valorum, paving the way for his own nomination.

On the eve of the election, with his victory all but certain, Sidious celebrates with Plagueis in the Muun’s penthouse. After plying him with wine, Sidious waits for the sleep-deprived and intoxicated Plagueis to finally lose consciousness. Seizing his moment, Sidious attacks his master with Force lightning, disabling his breathing apparatus. As Plagueis suffocates, Sidious taunts him, revealing that he had always planned to usurp him, He reveals that Plagueis was merely a stepping stone to his own mastery. Darth Plagueis dies.

In the epilogue, Palpatine is elected Supreme Chancellor. He travels to Naboo and learns that Darth Maul was killed by Obi-Wan Kenobi, leaving him the sole Dark Lord of the Sith. He takes satisfaction in witnessing Qui-Gon Jinn’s funeral, knowing the Jedi’s death is the beginning of the Order’s demise. He begins subtly grooming the disillusioned Dooku, who has just left the Jedi Order, to lead a future Separatist movement. Finally, as Chancellor, he meets the young Padawan Anakin Skywalker, recognizing the boy as the ultimate key to the Sith’s final victory and his own future apprentice.