Revenge of the Sith Darth Plagueis is first mentioned in the 2005 prequel film
Revenge of the Sith. While attending the opera, Palpatine, who is secretly the
Sith Lord Darth Sidious, tells
Anakin Skywalker about "the tragedy of Darth Plagueis the Wise". Palpatine explains that Plagueis was so powerful and wise, he had mastered the dark side of
the Force to such an extent that he could cheat death (mostly saving people he cared about from death) and create life; unnatural abilities which are unknown to the
Jedi. Ironically, Plagueis was unable to prevent his own death at the hands of his apprentice (Palpatine implies that the apprentice is himself), who killed him in his sleep. Later in the film, Palpatine, as Sidious, tempts Anakin to the dark side by promising to use its power to prevent Anakin's pregnant wife
Padmé Amidala from dying, as Anakin had foreseen.
The Rise of Skywalker novelization Darth Plagueis is mentioned in
Rae Carson's novelization of the 2019 film
The Rise of Skywalker. In the book, it is revealed that Palpatine had discovered Plagueis' "secret to immortality", using this knowledge to resurrect himself after his death in
Return of the Jedi. The novel further explains that Plagueis had attempted to create a powerful connection with Palpatine known as a 'Force dyad', a concept mentioned in the film as occurring naturally between
Rey and
Ben Solo. Plagueis' inability to use his powers to save himself from death is also detailed in the novelization; Plagueis "had not acted fast enough in his own moment of death" to prevent Palpatine from killing him.
The Acolyte Darth Plagueis made his first live-action appearance in the series
The Acolyte. During the final episode of the season, he made a small
cameo appearance from a distance as he watches his apprentice, "Qimir"/The Stranger and former Jedi, Osha, leave the planet to find latter's twin sister, Mae, and her former master, Sol. It is revealed that the twins were created by their mother using the Force. Plagueis appears as a frail, withered being with dimly glowing eyes, apparently of the same species as his
Legends counterpart.
Legends In April 2014, Lucasfilm rebranded most of the licensed
Star Wars Expanded Universe material produced since the originating 1977 film
Star Wars as
Star Wars Legends and declared it non-canon to the franchise.
Star Wars Legends literature elaborates on Plagueis' life, apprenticeship under the
Bith Sith Lord
Darth Tenebrous, and mentorship of Palpatine, up until his death at the latter's hands.
Databooks According to the 2005 book
Star Wars: The Ultimate Visual Guide, Plagueis had also discovered the ability to retain one's identity in the Force while becoming one with it, but this way of surviving death did not appeal to him, as he was mainly concerned with the material world. The
New Essential Chronology, published the same year, established Plagueis had found a way to prevent death with the Force, after which he desired to reach beyond and create life from nothing by directly manipulating midi-chlorians. Plagueis had possibly initiated his experiments before being murdered by his apprentice Sidious (which would have happened at some point between 52 and 46 years before the events of
A New Hope), and there was evidence to believe Anakin Skywalker's virginal birth was the result. Sidious failed to replicate Plagueis' way to prevent death and was forced to rely on clone bodies to hold his spirit, as shown in
Dark Empire comic book series. The book
Vader: The Ultimate Guide, centered around the character of
Darth Vader, confirmed Plagueis had achieved the abilities to prevent death and generate life by manipulating midi-chlorians. Through this method, Plagueis intended to create a living embodiment of the Force. However, Plagueis's apprentice Sidious grew concerned the resulting being would be his replacement, so he murdered Plagueis in his sleep. Sidious himself had already started training his own apprentice, Darth Maul, without his own master' knowledge. It was still believed Plagueis' experiment had produced Anakin Skywalker. The 2007
Essential Guide to the Force officialized Plagueis' race as a Muun and gave him a canonical image. It also revealed he had taught Sidious over several decades, while Sidious in turn later trained his own apprentice,
Darth Maul, although he might have trained others before Maul. The book establishes that after the events of
Return of the Jedi, New Republic historians suspected Sidious had destroyed all available information about Plagueis. The only source about him was a manuscript by a Sith sympathizer named Ingo Wavlud.
Dark Lord: The Rise of Darth Vader The character is mentioned at the background of
Dark Lord: The Rise of Darth Vader, a
Legends novel by
James Luceno published on January 1, 2006. It revealed Sidious' training under his tutelage, which involved being forced to face his fears, having his pleasures denied, and the things he loved taken from him. Plagueis also espoused that envy and hatred, although necessary to master the Dark Side, were only means to abandon morality for the greater goal of controlling the galaxy. Sidious desired to kill Plagueis, but refrained from doing so until acquiring all the possible knowledge from him.
Star Wars: Darth Plagueis The character is the focus of
Star Wars: Darth Plagueis, another
Legends novel written by James Luceno and published on January 10, 2012. The novel covers the later life and machinations of Darth Plagueis (born Hego Damask II), over a roughly fifty-year period pre-dating and culminating concurrently with the climax of
The Phantom Menace. The novel details Plagueis betraying and overthrowing his own master, Darth Tenebrous; his work as head of a powerful banking consortium on the
Muun homeworld; his discovery, recruitment, and training of the teenaged Palpatine of
Naboo; and the efforts of Plagueis to undermine the
Galactic Republic and ensure the dominance of the dark side of the Force. Even though Plagueis' plans to deceive and undermine the Galactic Republic were stopped by Palpatine, who betrayed and murdered him, Palpatine still succeeded in wiping out the Galactic Republic and driving the Jedi Order into ruins for his own plans. Daryl Thomen of
Newsday called
Darth Plagueis "the best
Star Wars publication to date." ==Reception==