“The goal is to extend my life indefinitely. To conquer death.”
“Did you ever hear the tragedy of Darth Plagueis the Wise?” Chancellor Sheev Palpatine asks Anakin Skywalker in Revenge of the Sith (2005). “It’s a Sith legend. Darth Plagueis was a Dark Lord of the Sith, so powerful and so wise he could use the Force to influence the midi-chlorians to create life… He had such a knowledge of the dark side that he could even keep the ones he cared about from dying. The dark side of the Force is a pathway to many abilities some consider to be unnatural. He became so powerful… the only thing he was afraid of was losing his power, which eventually, of course, he did. 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.”
James Luceno’s 2012 novel Darth Plagueis, one of the later books that was published during the Star Wars Expanded Universe era (before the Disney takeover of the franchise), is a meticulously-researched, dense –almost encyclopedic– Star Wars novel that provides an incredible amount of background and exposition to the prequel films, answering many previously unanswered questions. Suffice it to say this book is a remarkable gift to fans of Star Wars, but at the same time, this is decidedly not for the casual reader. Many persistent wrinkles that are rife throughout the clumsy prequel films are addressed in Darth Plagueis such as: What is the Trade Federation? And why are they blockading Naboo? What are midi-chlorians? What exactly is at stake in the galactic civil war? How does Palpatine remain undetected as a Sith for so long? How is Anakin congealed via the Force without a father? Why did Sifo-Dyas initially order a clone army from Kamino? And who paid for the clones if not the Senate or the Jedi Order? And who is Count Dooku? These and many other questions are addressed by James Luceno in Darth Plagueis.
Darth Plagueis is a complex political tale which portrays the gradual downfall of the galactic republic from the eyes of the Sith. This novel is a truly impressive undertaking –the scope of its narrative is utterly astounding. It begins many years prior to The Phantom Menace (or 67-65 standard years before the Battle of Yavin, and 47 standard years before the reign of Emperor Palpatine). The republic is in a steady state of increasing disarray as the Outer Rim worlds begin rebelling against the prosperous Core. A Muun Sith apprentice named Darth Plagueis and his Bith master Darth Tenebrous travel to an Outer Rim planet called Bal’demnic in the Auril sector where a vast undiscovered crystalline cavern of Cortosis has been located. Cortosis is “a fabled ore, some called it –owing to its scarcity, but even more for its intrinsic ability to diminish the effectiveness of the Jedi lightsaber” (11). The Jedi Order have long restricted the mining of Cortosis, but with information from the Mining Subtext Group, the two Sith proceed inside a walled escarpment, safe from the azure expanse of Bal’demnic’s Northern Sea, wearing environmental suits that protect them from scorching heat and noxious atmosphere. However, while investigating this particular ore deposit, the two Sith are betrayed by their treddroid which suddenly stops listening to commands and begins drilling near a gas deposit causing a large lethane accident, sending rocks crashing down upon them. At the last moment, Darth Plagueis decides to betray his master Tenebrous, much like so many Sith before him in the “rule of two” legacy leading back to Darth Bane. As he dies, Tenebrous claims the task now falls to his Sith apprentice Plagueis to “bring the Sith imperative to fruition” to “bring the Jedi Order to its knees” and “save the galaxy’s sentients from themselves.” In this case, the Sith view themselves as self-righteous heroes in their own story, defenders of peace and order in a galaxy ruled by corruption and a cohort of wayward Jedi knights.
After killing his master (is he truly dead?), Plagueis manages to escape from this remote cavern and survive a harsh journey only to stowaway aboard a trade ship called the Woebegone where he viciously slaughters the entire crew (this scene is brilliantly conveyed through the cold eyes of a droid). The droid 11-4D, a former medical on Obroa-skai, then becomes Plagueis’s personal assistant for the rest of the novel.
Who is Darth Plagueis?
He was not raised on Muunilinst like most Muuns, but rather on Mygeeto where his clan father Caar Damask was a geneticist and administrator. He was born to his father’s second wife, or what the Muuns call a “codicil partner.” Plagueis was actually deliberately conceived by Tenebrous to be handed over to the Sith at a young age. At this time, Tenebrous ran an organization which gathered intelligence on every criminal, smuggler, pirate, and potential terrorist in the galaxy while Plagueis posed as his accountant, traveling widely and facilitating anarchy on outer worlds. In contrast to Tenebrous, Plagueis is hardened, plotting, scientific figure.
In time, we learn that Darth Plagueis’s publicly-facing name is actually Magister Hego Damask, an ultra-wealthy financier and businessman who serves in a critical role for the flow of intergalactic commerce through his company Damask Holdings (his master, the late Darth Tenebrous, had the public name of Rugess Nome). In this way, Damask serves as a grand puppeteer over the galaxy not unlike Fritz Lang’s Dr. Mabuse. Damask conducts his public business from the moon of Sojourn where he has constructed a vast resort-like fortress guarded by his Echani Sun Guards, surrounded by Greel trees, and stocked with all manner of rare cloned species, like veermoks, who roam about the forests for hunting (the animals have been cloned by the Kaminoans). Once every standard year, Damask invites all of his fellow titans of industry to Sojourn for a regular convention called “The Gathering,” where a large cohort of politicians, lobbyists, and businessmen discuss free trade and other topics relevant to inter-galactic commerce –it brings to mind present-day secret societies like the Bohemian Grove or the Bilderberg Group. Damask meets with his covert steering committee representing Sestina, Aargau, and Bank of the Core, as well as elite members of the Order of the Canted Circle and the Trade Federation Directorate, and gifted ship designers like Narro Sienar, whom Plagueis planned to support in his bid to become chief operating officer of Santhe/Sienar Technologies. “The committee met periodically, though seldom on Sojourn, to assure the swift passage of corporate-friendly legislation; fix the price of such commodities as Tibanna gas, transparisteel, and starship fuel; and keep Senators in place on Coruscant as career diplomats, as a means of distancing themselves from what was really taking place outside the Core” (80). They share the common goal of oligarchy, though not everyone agrees with Damask’s strategy of “tactical astriction” for keeping the republic off-balance and thus ripe for manipulation. Damask sees them all as mere pawns in his covert Sith busines. At this particular Gathering, Gardulla the Hutt is given control of Tatooine along with its spice and slave trades, as well as its pod-racing revenues (hoping to claim these profits from Nal Hutta which has grown too close with the Desilijic Clan). Also at this Gathering, the presumably traitorous Muuns within the Mining Subtext Group are punished for feeding the Bal’demnic Cortosis survey information to Rugess Nome and for the sabotage of the disobedient droid. In response, the Mining Subtext Group claims that the accident was actually caused by another group, a faction opposed to the monarchy on an Outer Rim world called Naboo –a plasma-rich kingdom torn between isolationism versus free trade. Nevertheless, as punishment, Plagueis sends the Gossams of the Mining Subtext to the most remote world in the Tingel Arm in case of further need in the future.
Who is Sheev Palpatine?
At this point in the novel, our attention turns to the complicated internal politics of Naboo, a hermit world in the mid-rim and the capital of the Chommell Sector (located relatively close to Tatooine). The central issue at stake on Naboo concerns whether or not the planet should open itself up to galactic trade or else remain a second-tier world. The governor of Naboo’s capital city of Theed wants to pursue free trade whereas the isolationist King of Naboo, Bon Tapalo, opposes it. The Mining Subtext and The Trade Federation conduct mining surveys with permission from the king’s opposition. Presently, the Senate is on the verge of creating free trade zones which will break up shipping cartels and increase business competition, but it will give the Trade Federation voting rights in the senate –an act which even the Jedi had lobbied to help pass thereby making the Jedi complicit in the apparent corruption of the republic. Now, the free trade zones have become areas easily exploited by pirates and greedy business conglomerates like the Trade Federation, however the zones have greatly enriched the Core planets and the Senate on Coruscant. In the debate over free trade on Naboo, Damask Holdings has asked for exclusive rights to transport plasma from a giant untapped reservoir surveyed beneath the plateau of Theed.
Meanwhile, there has been a Secret Source among the opposition to King Tapalo on Naboo, the source is later revealed to be a fervent young seventeen-year-old boy, the son of a royal family named Palpatine. Plagueis travels to Naboo to meet this young Sheev Palpatine at the university where he has gained a name for himself within the Legislative Youth Program. Impressed, Plagueis and Palpatine quickly strike up a friendship, against the strident wishes of Palpatine’s father Cosinga who remains a close ally of King Tapalo, and it gives Plagueis the chance to subtly cultivate the dark side within Palpatine the younger. Palpatine confesses: “I don’t want to live as ordinary beings live… I want to rule.” As time passes, resentments reach a boiling point between Sheev Palpatine and his father Cosinga and, inspired by a half-true story of Plagueis killing his family, Sheev mercilessly slaughters his whole family (this scene is particular harrowing and memorable). Palpatine then devotes himself to the Sith –he becomes Darth Sidious, the apprentice to Darth Plagueis. However, the death of his whole family is publicly messaged as a mysterious “accident” and it only garners further sympathy for Palpatine, so he continues to pursue his promising political career, slowly rising in the Senate where he is praised as a man of the people among the Outer Rim worlds, while covertly undergoing a brutally rigorous Sith training regimen under Plagueis (these scenes offer some truly incredible insight into the nature of the Sith). They travel to numerous harsh planets together, testing their strength and endurance –in one instance, they viciously battle a native species like wild animals. The fight only ends when Plagueis rips a still-beating heart out of a creature’s chest and takes a bite out of it. He does this to expose the “myth of equality” which the republic tells itself as a self-evident truth, and to show that they are not living in an “age of giants.” Therefore, he believes, the Sith must encourage anarchy and destruction in order to bring down the corrupt Jedi Order along with the crumbling republic, believing this will provide salvation to the lesser beings of the galaxy. In this way, the Sith wear a two-faced mask. They are able to “hide in plain sight” in society, operating under the “cloak of the profane,” while the complacent republic descends into “decadence and turmoil.” The following are a few quotations from this section of the book:
“The future of the Sith no longer hinges on physical prowess but on political cunning. The new. Sith will rule less by brute force than by means of instilling fear” (86).
“We Sith are an unseen opposition… A phantom menace. Where the Sith once wore armor, we now wear cloaks. But the Force works through us all the more powerfully in our invisibility. For the present, the more covert we remain, the more influence we can have. Our revenge will be achieved not through subjugation but by contagion” (96).
“Tenebrous had told him from the start, that the Republic, with help from the Sith, would continue to descend into corruption and disorder, and that a time would come when it would have to rely on the strengths of an enlightened leader, capable of saving the lesser masses from being ruled by their unruly passions, jealousies, and desires. In the face of a common enemy, real or manufactured, they would set aside all their differences and embrace the leadership of anyone who promised a brighter future. Could this Palpatine, with Plagueis’s help, be the one to bring about such a transformation?” (140).
“We are not some cult like the Tetsu’s Sorcerers of Tund. Descended from Darth Bane, we are the select few who refuse to be carried by the Force and who carry it instead –thirty in a millennium rather than the tens of thousands fit to be Jedi. Any Sith can feign compassion and self-righteousness and master the Jedi arts, but only one in a thousand Jedi could ever become a Sith, for the dark side is only for those who value self-determinism over all else that existence offers. Only once in the last thousand years has a Sith strayed into the light, and one day I will tell you that tale. But for now, take to heart the fact that Bane’s Rule of Two was at the start our saving grace, putting an end to internecine strife that allowed the Jedi Order to gain the upper hand. Part of our ongoing task will be to hunt down and eliminate any Sith pretenders who pose a threat to our ultimate goals” (184).
“Execute one, terrify one thousand” (187).
“…Sidious, know that you are the blade that will drive through the heart of the Senate, the Republic, and the Jedi Order, and I, your guide to reshaping the galaxy. Together we are the newborn stars that complete the Sith constellation” (286).
“The power of the dark side is an illness no true Sith would wish to be cured of.”
Darth Plagueis is a book which features numerous secret societies, political conspiracies, assassinations, and paranoid intrigue around every corner. It reminds us that in spite of all the advanced technology in Star Wars as well as the complex mysticism surrounding the Force, the one thing that still governs the galaxy is good old-fashioned greed. One of the more notable scenes of a secret society in the book concerns a betrayal within the Order of the Canted Circle (an order of Muuns) wherein assassins suddenly appear and begin wantonly decapitating Muuns. Flying decapitator disks slice off a portion of Plagueis’s neck and jawbone, severing his trachea and several blood vessels, forcing him to wear a respirator for the rest of his life. He has been apparently betrayed by the Gran Protectorate which leads to a brutal path of vengeance (he is rescued by Sidious and an associate named Pestage). Another key moment occurs when King Ars Veruna of Naboo attempts to assassinate Hego Damask/Plagueis on Sojourn by detonating an atomic bomb, but Plagueis escapes and quietly invades Veruna’s remote palace on Naboo. He patiently sits beside the former king’s bed and drains him of his midi-chlorians. Like Macbeth, the Sith are keen to tear everything down and murder everyone in their way. Consider the scene in which Palpatine/Sidious is also called upon to murder Kim Vidar, his own political mentor.
What are the Midi-chlorians?
First introduced to bewildered fans in the film The Phantom Menace, in Darth Plagueis midi-chlorians are described as a biological translators of the Force: “The Jedi thought of the cellular organelles as symbionts, but to Plagueis midi-chlorians were interlopers, running interference for the Force and standing in the way of a being’s ability to contact the Force directly. Through years of experimentation and directed meditation, Plagueis had honed an ability to perceive the actions of midi-chlorians, though not yet the ability to manipulate them” (18-19). And Plagueis hopes to one day “succeed in imposing his will on the midi-chlorians to keep them aggregate.”
“A common misconception held that midi-chlorians were Force-carrying particles when in fact they functioned more as translators, interlocutors of the will of the Force. Plagueis considered his longstanding fascination with the organelles to be as natural as had been Tenebrous’s fixation on shaping the future. Where Bith intelligence was grounded in mathematics and computation, Muun intelligence was driven by a will to profit. As a Muun, Plagueis viewed his allegiance to the Force as an investment that could, with proper effort, be maximized to yield great returns” (19).
“Even in life, did midi-chlorians behave in a Jedi as they did in a devotee of the dark side? Were the organelles invigorated by different impulses, prompted into action by different desires?” (19). Plagueis admits he may have to study a Jedi to learn more about their midi-chlorians. “In Bane’s age a Sith might have had to guard against an attempt at essence transfer by the deceased –a leap into the consciousness of the Sith who survived—but those times were long past and of no relevance; not since the teachings had been sabotaged, the technique lost. The last Sith possessed of the knowledge had been inexplicably drawn to the light side and killed, taking the secret process with him…” (20).
How does Darth Plagueis learn to conquer death?
Throughout the novel, we learn that Darth Plagueis has captured more than a dozen species for experimentation –volition, telepathy, healing, regeneration, and life extension. In addition to his compound on the moon of Sojourn, Plagueis also adopts Muunilinst as his home planet, which is the seat of the Intergalactic Banking Clan. He primarily resides in a vast lair on an island called Aborah located along the Western Sea. Aborah is his “his place of sacrosanct solitude” and has been in the province of the Damask clan for several generations. Inside his lair, he boasts “one of the finest libraries outside Obroa-Skai or the Jedi Temple or Coruscant” buried in a climate-controlled facility filled with centuries of well-organized Sith treatises and commentaries like the following:
- Rakata and the Vjun
- Texts devoted to the followers of Palawa,
- The Chatos Academy
- The Order of Dai Bendu
- Archives that once belonged to House Malreaux
- Annals of the sorcerer’s of Tund and of Queen Amanoa of Onderon
- Biological studies of the ysalimiri and vornskyrs of Myrkyr
- The taozin of Va’art
- Galleries of the Wookies, Hutts, Falleen, and Toydarians
Plagueis also possesses a large collection of cages and bacta tanks filled with creatures from all over the galaxy, some collected, others studied and experimented on, so that he can study species durability and hybridization –but most importantly, he is studying the creation and extension of life itself. Plagueis conducts numerous experiments on force sensitive beings, such as a unique moment following his annual Gathering event when an intruder in the forest of Sojourn, turns out to be a “second apprentice” of Darth Tenebrous, a Bith known as Darth Venamis. After a fierce battle, Plagueis compels Venamis to consume a poisoned flower and then keeps him suspended in a bacta tank, conducting various experiments upon his body which eventually kills Venamis only to be revived again and again until his organs finally give out. Plagueis manages to manipulate the Force by harnessing midi-chlorians, however since the Force is always seeking balance, Plagueis’s experiments ultimately become his own downfall (if you stare into the void long enough, the void stares back at you…)
What is going on with the monarchy on Naboo?
Many fans were confused in the prequels to see Padme serve as queen in the first film, only to apparently become a galactic senator in another. In Darth Plagueis it is explained that sixty standard years ago there was a war between the Naboo and the Gungans in which King Bon Tapalo struck a deal, and from that day forward the monarchy became elective rather hereditary. King Tapalo is later compelled to hand the kingship over to King Veruna who is forced to resign before he himself is murdered. The monarchy is then bestowed upon a teenage popular governor of Theed, Padme Naberrie (who takes on the name of Queen Amidala during her reign).
Who is Sifo-Dyas and where did the clones come from?
In the novel, Darth Tenebrous initially introduces Plagueis to the planet Kamino (where the Kaminoans are known to conduct cloning experiments). This was in order to stack Sojourn’s greel forests with exotic and rare flora and fauna. Despite the appearance of an aquatic past, the Kaminoans were actually land dwellers for millions of years preceding a great flood that inundated Kamino. They constructed tilted cities while oceans were rising, outside galactic control, perform their cloning gas experiments as a means of preserving their species, working in secret and usually for the ultra-wealthy clients. It takes 12 standard years to grow an expansion of the facilities, and by the end of Darth Plagueis, it is revealed that Hego Damask/Plagueis offers to fund an army through Sifo-Dyas, a Jedi who is skeptical about recent decisions made by the Jedi Council and concerned about the impending collapse of the republic. Fearful of a coming civil war, Sifo-Dyas agrees to accept covert funding from Damask Holdings as a down payment to the Kaminoans for the army (the Kaminoans greatly revere the Jedi and thus would likely not construct an army for a vulgar businessman like Hego Damask/Plagueis).
What is Darth Maul’s story?
To avoid risking detection by the Jedi Order, Sidious decides to train an assassin, not someone who could ever be a Sith Lord necessarily, but a moderately Force-sensitive male Dathomiri Zabrak who is willing to fulfill his master’s wishes. His mother initially sought to save him (albeit not his brother) from the clutches of the Nightsisters on Dathomir, especially their leader Mother Talzin. Sidious brought Maul to an accounting facility maintained by Damask Holdings on Mustafar in the care of custodial droids. Then, as he grew up, Sidious delivered instructions to take Maul to Orsis to an elite training center run by a Falleen combat specialist named Trezza. From here, Darth Maul was sent on numerous assassination missions all over the galaxy until, in the end, he was later “killed” by Obi-Wan Kenobi (as depicted in The Phantom Menace).
Maul’s “saber-staff” is the weapon of Exar Kun (who was introduced in the Kevin J. Anderson’s Jedi Academy trilogy of Star Wars books) –he welded two lightsabers together in imitation of the Iridonian zhaboka and has grown skilled at using the Jar’Kai technique. He also names his speeder bike “bloodfin” and has a droid C-P3X, along with a wrist-mounted projectile launcher known as the lanvorak. He later names his Infiltrator ship the “Scimitar.” These are but a few examples of the dense intricate details afforded in Darth Plagueis.
Who is Count Dooku?
A native son of the planet Serenno, Dooku hails from a noble lineage analogous to the Palpatines on Naboo. Throughout the novel, like Sifo-Days, Dooku continues to grow dissatisfied with the current state of the republic and the Jedi Order. He began as a Jedi but lost a padawan and began expressing disappointment in his Jedi apprentice Qui-Gon Jinn. In the end, Dooku turns to the dark side with help from Palpatine/Sidious.
Who are the Neimoidians of the Trade Federation?
When the time is right, Darth Sidious reveals himself to the Neimoidian Nute Gunray with the gift of a bird known as a pylat, a symbol of wealth –though it is actually a clone made by the Kaminoans to stock the greel forest on Sojourn. Wanting to earn Gunray’s full trust, he sends Maul to a planet called Dorvalla in the Vivenda Sector, a source of lommit ore which is essential to transparisteel (the Trade Federation has long had its eye on this planet). In time, Gunray rises to the top of the seven-tier directorate of the Trade Federation and he follows all of Sidious’s orders (including a blockade of Naboo, an act which is publicly criticized by Senator Palpatine, but secretly orchestrated by his alter ego, Darth Sidious).
How are we to make sense of Anakin’s miraculous birth?
A plotpoint that felt utterly baffling and far too on-the-nose in The Phantom Menace, the miraculous birth of Anakin was actually the inadvertent result of Plagueis’s experiments manipulating the midi-chlorians in the Force. The existence of Anakin is revealed to the Sith by Count Dooku. Some of the more mystical Jedi believe he is a fulfillment of “the one” redeemer prophecy of a figure who will bring balance to the Force, while only Darth Plagueis knows the secret, horrid truth.
How does the story end?
By now, after years of the Sith secretly fomenting rebellion, the republic has become unwieldy –it is blamed as much for what it does as what it doesn’t do. An aging Plagueis/Damask retires from public life while he obsessively devotes himself to his experiments. He lives like a hermit on Sojourn –becoming gaunt, stooped, emaciated, and erratic. Whereas Plagueis is narrowly enmeshed in the extension of his own life, Sidious is committed to continuing the line of Sith Lords in the tradition of Darth Bane. However, before long Plagueis is given a vague flashing vision of a coming war and a black helmeted cyborg. He is unsure of this Force Vision but he believes Maul must now kill Qui-Gon Jinn to prevent the rise of Anakin.
In the Senate, tensions continue to increase between Naboo and the Trade Federation, and mutual contempt grows between the prosperous Core Worlds and the Outer Rim. As lawlessness rises in the Outer Rim, the Core is being taxed to pay for policing activities. Fatigued by carrying the burden of supporting extant planets, the only help granted to Naboo when the Trade Federation issues a blockade are two Jedi sent to negotiate with the Neimoidians –Qui-Gon Jinn and his padawan Obi-Wan Kenobi. This expedites the need for a full-scale invasion of Naboo in order to prevent The Trade Federation from backing down. Sidious orders the Neimoidians to kill the Jedi and he sends Darth Maul after them. Meanwhile the Senate remains splintered, and Chancellor Valorum becomes ensconced in corrupt ethics inquiries which have been secretly engendered by the Sith. He is eventually ousted following Queen Amidala’s call for a vote of no confidence, and Valorum is replaced by Palpatine, everyone’s favorite charming and charismatic senator who has been untouched by scandal despite having served in office for twenty years.
On the eve of his rise to power, Palpatine/Sidious and Plagueis/Damask meet one final time. Over several bottles of Sullustan wine, they review his victory speech before Sidious suddenly and maliciously turns on his drunken, sleepy master. He remorselessly murders Plagueis with the use of Force Lightning –a result of growing distrust and resentment between the two. Palpatine/Sidious then leaves Plagueis suffocating on the floor until he dies, making it appear as if his respirator malfunctioned. Sidious then becomes the galaxy’s only Sith Lord. Now he is finally able to accomplish the Sith plan of “returning the republic to what it once was by tearing it down.”
“The greater goal of the Sith involved toppling the Force itself, and becoming the embodiment of the galaxy’s animating principle… Only the Sith understood that sentient life was on the verge of a transformative leap; that through the manipulation of midi-chlorians –or the overthrow of the forceful group that supervised them—the divide between organic life and the Force could be bridged, and death could be erased from the continuum” (205).
Conclusions and Other Facts
Darth Plagueis is an extraordinary undertaking. It explains a great deal of confusion underpinning the prequel movies and for that it comes highly recommended from me, though I will admit Darth Plagueis is not a book for everyone. Below I have endeavored to highlight a handful of key facts that I found to be noteworthy in reading this immense novel (there are far too many callbacks and allusions in this novel for me to succinctly list them all):
- The Bith, like Darth Tenebrous, appear as musicians in the original trilogy. Notably, they have only a single lung. Even though Tenebrous and Plagueis know each other’s languages, they speak in Basic to one another. At the start of the novel, Plagueis has been apprenticed to Tenebrous for as many years as the average human lives. A century earlier, Tenebrous’s Twi’lek master opened a rend in the fabric of force allowing jedi order to witness the dark for the first time –“that had been the inauguration, the commence of the revenge of the Sith” (68).
- Muuns, like Darth Plagueis, are described as being thin and pallid, with cyaonotic flesh, and a smooth hairless cranium. They have three hearts. On first appearance, Muuns are stolid, lenient, and ascetic. Their home planet is the ocean world of Muunilinst, which is also the corporate headquarters of the inter-galactic banking clan (IBC). It is a pristine beautiful world with blue skies with a planetary capital called Harnaidan, the “nerve center” of the inter-galactic banking clan, filled with neo-classical structures, volcanic spires, 50 million Muuns live in the city which is described as “an orderly masterpiece of art and design” or the anti-Coruscant or anti-Denon. The rest of the planet is rife with incredible natural beauty –forests, plains, mountains and oceans—as well as volcanoes producing warm waters teeming with shellfish, tube worms and bioluminescent flora – or “smokers” as they became known- and it became the source of financial vaults of for the most powerful and prosperous clans.
- There are lots of ancient sages alluded to in this novel. Here are a few:
- Yanjon, one of the four law-giving sages of Dwartii.
- Core Founders who are featured on statues on Coruscant, like Tyler Sapius Praji.Darth Guile, Darth Gravid (who attempted straddle dark and light), Kibh Jeen (a padawan who fell to the dark side), King Ommin of Onderon, Darth Sion, and Darth Nihilus, as well as ancient Sith like Naga Sadow, Exar Kun, Cognus, Vectivus, Ramage, Freedon Nadd, Belia Darzu, and others.The words of the ancient Republic philosopher Shassium are quoted: “We are all two-faced beings, divided by the Force and fated for eternity to search out our hidden identities” (292).
- Darth Bane’s legacy is featured prominently in Darth Plagueis. Darth Bane redefined the Sith by limiting their numbers and operating from concealment. He mined Cortosis as a youth on Apatroslong before embracing the tenets of the dark side and taking a one-time apprentice named Zannah. In the thousand years since his death, Bane has become deified, his power the stuff of legend. It was Bane who instituted the rule of two: A master to embody a power and an apprentice to crave it.
- When Sidious first beholds a wounded Plagueis and wonders if his force powers have receded, Plagueis responds, “Do you think that Malak’s powers were weakened by Revan’s lightsaber? Bane by being encrusted in orbalisks? Do you think Gravid’s young apprentice was hindered by the prosthesis she was forced to wear fighting him?” (283).
- Early in the novel, Plagueis steals a ship called the Woebegone out of Ord Mantell (a planet featured in the Thrawn trilogy). The ship is intended to deliver fresh sea life to Auril (with a crew of eight and one droid known as 11-4D or “one one-four dee”) then it is headed onto Ithor on the far side of the Hydian Way. These characters include: Captain Ellin Lah, a female Togruta; the first mate, a Zabrak named Maa Kap; the pilot is a Balosar; the navigator is a Dresselian, plus three crew members –Klatooinian, Kaleesh, and an Aqualish of the Quarren race.
- Since the backdrop to this novel involves the taxation of trade in the Outer Rim, “The Hydian Way” is regularly alluded to. It is a hyper route used for trade that runs from the Core to the Outer Rim.
- This is the first time I believe I have encountered a “bacta patch” in Star Wars when Plagueis uses such a patch to heal wounds he sustained in killing the crew of the Woebegone (as opposed to a bacta tank).
- The following are some examples of the extraordinary detail provided for various planets, many of which can apparently be climate-controlled:
- On Coruscant, Damask/Plagueis is described as owning an entire building known as the Kaldani Spires which overlooks Monument Plaza with views of the Manari mountains and out to the Western Sea. Its architecture is fine from the Hassenan period. Other parts of Coruscant that are described in great detail include the Fobosi district, The Flats or The Works, the POTU, and the Galaxies Opera House on Coruscant which is owned by Romeo Treblanc.
- On Naboo, we revisit the Gallo Mountains and Solleu River, we learn about the ritual of mandatory public service, and particular areas of Theed like the Parnelli Art Museum, or the Livet Tower, or the eternal flame to honor the fallen heroes.
- Tatooine is mentioned several times, including a brief account of its backstory. Tatooine was apparently heir to an ecological catastrophe sometime in the past, and the ancient Sith once had an outpost on Tatooine.
- Other planets mentioned that I spotted include: Serenno, Abraxin, Bedlam, Lianna, Saleucami, Korriban, Dromund Kaas, Zigoola, Malastare, Mustafar, Chandrila, Kuat, Mechis, Murkhana, Felucia, Kol Horo, Ord Cestus, Yinchorr, Kursid, Sullust, Darknel, Sluis Van, Subterrel, Dxun, Yavin Four, Ziost and many others.
- The “Third Great Expansion” is referenced in which the worlds of the Core and Inner Rim expanded outward to settle colonies via the Colonization Act and the Planet Grant Amendment –though Muunilinst did not follow suit.
- Adegan crystals are referenced –these are kyber crystals in the building of lightsabers, this particular type is found in the Adega System.
- What are Holocrons? They contain specific and idiosyncratic knowledge. But Plagueis notes that real knowledge is passed down from Master to Apprentice.
- Why is it taboo for Anakin to marry Padme? Apparently because the Jedi ‘restrict marriage by dogma’ (179).
- There is a curious bit of lore explained during Palpatine/Sidious’s Sith training: the “Bogan” is explained to be separate from “Ashla,” the dark has always preceded the light, and the ancients –the celestials and Rakata– didn’t pronounce judgment on their works (moving planets and organizing star systems). The jedi are concerned with balance and saving people, so much so they have forgotten that sentient life is meant to evolve. Some of this lore reminded me of the mythology portrayed in The Clone Wars.
- The Maladians are a group of highly trained humanoid assassins –Mandalorian Death Watch has its own problems and the Bando Gora has its own galactic agenda. Assassinaton attempt in monospeedder on coruscant in public view, jedi ronhar escapes. Goal: to spread fear and apprehension.
- There are numerous secret societies governed by codes of silence, like the Order of the Canted Circle, the Gran Protectorate, Santhe Security, Bando Gora, the Black Sun, and the Jedi High Council.
- Jatz music is referenced –what is this? Is it related to Jazz?
- The Boonta Eve Classic pod-race on Tatooine is mentioned several times (the race that Anakin wins in The Phantom Menace).
- Senator Bail Antilles, a prince on his homeworld of Alderaan, chair of the senate’s internal activities committee and leading contender for chancellorship, is apparently unrelated to Wedge Antilles.
- The political leader Ranulph Tarkin proves to be a formidable opponent. He once played a role in the “Stark Crisis” in which Iaco Stark created a dilemma by pirating Trade federation ships during a bacta shortage.
- Jedi Master Jorus C’baoth appears briefly (his clone plays a prominent role in the original Thrawn trilogy), he is arbitrating a dispute among Alderaan’s royal houses, wild-eyed and arrogant like Count Dooku.
- Creatures who are known to be immune to Force Suggestion include: Toydarians, Yinchorri, and Hutts.
- The ships on Naboo as featured in The Phantom Menace are mentioned as constructed by the Nubian Design Collective to equip Naboo with the new yellow chrome N-1 starfighters.
Luceno, James. Darth Plagueis. Random House Worlds, New York, April 5, 2022 (Essential Legends Paperback Edition).