46 pages • 1-hour read
Darth Plagueis
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Symbols & Motifs
Content Warning: This section of the guide contains depictions of graphic violence, physical and emotional abuse, illness, and death.
Masks and Hidden Identities
The motif of masks and hidden identities is central to the novel. The Siths’ adoption of an alternative Sith name is symbolic of the alteration in their identity when they turn to the dark side. Their previous identity becomes a form of mask in the wider world, enabling them to carry out their schemes in plain sight. Plagueis’s false identity, Damask, references this directly by containing the word “mask.”
When Plagueis is permanently injured by assassins, he wears a transpirator mask to preserve his life. The transpirator mask appears once earlier in the novel, in Chapter 1, when Plagueis and Tenebrous visit the mine. The masks are worn to protect them from the atmosphere and enables Plagueis to cause and control the death of Tenebrous. When Plagueis adopts the mask, it simultaneously becomes a form of life extension, and a mark of his increasing vulnerability, symbolizing the dramatic irony of his self-destructive pursuit of immortality and his destiny to share the fate of his master.
Midi-chlorians
The midi-chlorians are a powerful symbol of Darth Plagueis’s ultimate ambition and his fatal hubris in seeking to control the Force. These microscopic, Force-communicating organelles represent the tangible, biological component of the mystical power of life. For Plagueis, they are the key to unlocking immortality. His life’s work revolves around manipulating them, not as a Jedi would through symbiosis, but through scientific domination. He views them as “interlopers, running interference for the Force and standing in the way of a being’s ability to contact the Force directly” (19). This perspective defines his unique approach to the dark side, framing his arrogant view of the Force as a system to be conquered and commanded. His experiments on countless beings and his intense study of dying midi-chlorians are all driven by this singular, arrogant goal: to impose his will on the fundamental mechanisms of life itself.
Plagueis’s quest symbolizes the theme of The Hubris of Seeking to Control the Forces of Nature, and his end provides the ultimate critique of this ambition. After decades of research, Plagueis achieves a measure of success, learning to manipulate the midi-chlorians to save others from death. Yet, the narrative frames his achievement with deep irony. As Sidious reflects after murdering his Master, “in the end—though he could save others from death—he had failed to save himself” (3). This failure underscores the idea that the Force is not a resource to be exploited. By attempting to subvert the natural order of life and death through scientific coercion, Plagueis challenges the essence of the Force, which ultimately resists his control. His death serves as a powerful symbol of the futility of trying to dominate a power that, by its very nature, refuses to be conquered.
Storms and Cosmic Disturbances
The recurring symbol of storms and cosmic disturbances externalizes the galaxy-altering impact of the Sith’s actions and the growing influence of the dark side. Throughout the novel, seismic tremors, atmospheric storms, and celestial perturbations mirror the violent shifts in power and the unnatural order the Sith impose on the Force. This symbol illuminates the destructive nature of the Sith’s pursuit of power, presenting their transgressions as tangible, physical events that shake the galaxy to its core. The narrative opens with Sidious’s murder of Plagueis, an act that triggers a literal tremor on the planet that radiates outward “to shake the stars themselves” (1). This planetary quake represents a fundamental disruption in the cosmic balance, signifying the dark side’s anointment of its new Lord and the violent inauguration of a new era of Sith dominance. The symbol portrays the Sith’s power as a force of unnatural disaster, one that fundamentally unsettles the universal order.
These cosmic disturbances illustrate the chaotic consequences of the Sith’s manipulations and emphasize the novel’s sense of jeopardy. As Sidious basks in his newfound power, he observes that “the heavens had been perturbed, tugged by dark matter into novel alignments” (4). This imagery reinforces that the Sith Grand Plan is a violent perversion of the galaxy’s destiny, twisting the stars from their course. The consistent linking of Sith succession and cosmic upheaval symbolizes that their path to power threatens the natural order and all beings. It suggests that an ideology built on dominating the natural order can only result in universal instability and destruction, tearing the fabric of the galaxy apart.
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