Darth Plagueis

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

- Palpatine, to Anakin Skywalker

Darth Plagueis was a male Dark Lord of the Sith and the master of Darth Sidious. He acquired considerable knowledge in the field of midi-chlorian manipulation, but was ultimately betrayed and murdered by his own apprentice. Sidious later recounted the tale of his master's demise to lure Anakin Skywalker to the dark side.

Biography
"Unfortunately, he taught his apprentice everything he knew. Then his apprentice killed him in his sleep. Ironic. He could save others from death, but not himself."

- Palpatine, to Anakin Skywalker

Darth Plagueis was a male Dark Lord of the Sith and the master of the powerful Sith Darth Sidious. According to legend, Plagueis was powerful enough that he could use the Force to influence the midi-chlorians to create life and keep those he cared about from dying, a precious knowledge that awarded him the epithet of "the Wise." In truth, he became so powerful that the only thing he still dreaded was losing his power. Ultimately, Plagueis' only fear came true when his apprentice, to whom he taught his powers, killed him in his sleep.

At the end of the Clone Wars, Supreme Chancellor Palpatine&mdash;secretly the Sith Lord Darth Sidious himself&mdash;recounted "The Tragedy of Darth Plagueis the Wise" to Anakin Skywalker, using it to manipulate the Jedi Knight to the dark side of the Force; Skywalker had been having nightmares that his wife, Padmé Amidala, would die in childbirth. Later, upon revealing himself to Skywalker as the Sith Lord, Palpatine told him that they could work together to learn Plagueis' power. Skywalker agreed and became the Sith Lord Darth Vader.

Behind the scenes
Darth Plagueis was first referenced on-screen in the 2005 movie Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith, the third installment in the prequel trilogy of Star Wars. However, the actual first mention of Plagueis was in the novelization of Revenge of the Sith, which was released one month before the movie. Although Palpatine was never confirmed to be Plagueis' apprentice in the movie itself, a link to the official encyclopedia on StarWars.com did refer to Sidious as having been "trained by Darth Plagueis."

The character was created by George Lucas as early as the first draft of Revenge of the Sith&mdash;dated April 2003&mdash;and possibly earlier than that. His story was massively expanded upon in the 2012 novel Darth Plagueis, written by James Luceno. However, that story is part of the Expanded Universe, also known as Star Wars Legends, and is therefore not official canon. In the EU he is Muun it is however unknown what he really is.

Appearances

 * Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith
 * Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith novelization