History Literature / DarthPlagueis

** [[spoiler:Why did Vidar's Maladian Assassin go off-script and try to kill Ronhar despite being given explicit orders to ''only'' kill the Senator and to leave the Jedi alone? Pestage speculates it may have been her career ambitions (as she'd already killed another Jedi earlier in her career and such an act would only enhance her resume). But since the Assassin killed herself before being taken into custody, Pestage, Palpatine, and her handler (and the audience) will never know her exact motives.]]

** Back during the flashbacks of 'Star Wars: Republic'' #64, Vidar Kim had made veiled referencs to intrigues on Naboo while trying to get Ronhar to renounce his fealty to the Jedi. ''Darth Plagueis'' finally reveals what specifically Vidar was referencing (Veruna and Tapolo's crooked deals with the Trade Federation and their suspected role in the deaths of [[spoiler:Vidar's family]]).

* ResolvedNoodleIncident: Back in ''Cloak of Deception'', Luceno had given the broad strokes of Sidious and Gunray's first meeting: Sidious had apparently contacted Gunray out of the blue and 'enlisted' him by [[{{Blackmail}} casually mentioning]] details of some of Gunray's more illicit (and secret) activities. That first meeting is finally dramatized in its entirety here, as we find out the specific corporate/financial crimes Gunray committed (and which Sidious found out about thanks to the Sith's information network and Plagueis' ties to the Trade Federation).

** It's also established in-universe that this is actually an unavoidable part of every Sith Lord's training process (or at least the Bane train. After first being claimed by the Dark Side, each Apprentice is basically drunk with dark power and there's no getting around it. It's up to the Sith Master to try and keep them on the straight and narrow (relatively speaking) until they come up for air and perfect their power.

* FailedASpotCheck: Palpatine is unnerved when Dooku is describing Anakin as extremely gifted in the Force and it occurs to Palpatine that he had been standing right next to the boy and sensed nothing about him.

* RiddleForTheAges: [[spoiler: Was the Speeder crash that killed the Kims secretly engineered by Tapalo and Veruna to force Vidar from the Senate out of grief and/or fear? Or was it really a genuine malfunction and tragic accident? Luceno gives enough evidence to go either way and it's up to the reader to decide.]]

** Kinda with Plagueis and Pax Teem after the Gran's falling out with Damask Holdings. For over the next decade, Teem is a thron in Damask's side and does everything in his power to politically hurt the Muuns. Plagueis tolerates it because while the Sith's original plans for Teem died with Tenebrous, the Gran's corruption still has its uses for weakening the Republic. More, Plagueis ''can't'' just unilaterally assassinate Teem (as their feud is with his civillian identity, meaning he needs leverage to justify an assassination to his allies). By the Palpatine becomes Naboo's Senator, though, Plagueis has finally had ''enough'' of Teem and events finally transpire which give him the opening to obtain that leverage.

** This is what stops the Sith from (initially) including the Bando Gora on their post-Sojourn Hit List. Prior to the attack, Jabba the Hutt shares a rumor with Plagueis: That the cult's now being led by Dooku’s former Padawan Komari Vossa. Plagueis and Sidious decide to postpone their vengeance until they can confirm or disprove the rumor. If true, then they can use it to widen the growing schism between Dooku and the Jedi Council (since they signed off on Vossa joining the disastrous Baltizaar mission that led to her fall and refused to send backup after its failure). [[spoiler: This postponement pays off in the epilogue, as both confirmation of Vossa’s fall and Qui-Gon’s death occurring back-to-back end up being the very last straws for Dooku.]]

** Veruna also becomes one gradually over the course of the novel. While initially partnering with the Muuns to help secure Bon Tapalo's election (and his own after Tapalo's tenure ends), Veruna becomes increasingly resentful of his patron and done with Damask after 20 years.

* AbdicateTheThrone: After Veruna proves to [[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness be a complete liability to the Sith]], Palpatine and Plagueis maneuver to force him into a situation where he would be forced to end his kingship early and put Padme on the throne. [[spoiler:Veruna only does so after the failed attack on Sojourn in order to protect himself from Damask and Palpatine's retribution. And that plan ''might'' have worked...if his enemies were just a corrupt banker and politician rather than also secretly Sith Lords who are now feeling vengeful after Sojurun. As Damask tells the former King on his deathbed, the irony is that had Veruna abdicated instead of trying to nuke him, he ''would'' have been safe and the Sith ''would'' have left him alone to rot away in exile.]]

* AbdicateTheThrone: After Veruna proves to [[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness be a complete liability to the Sith]], Palpatine and Plagueis maneuver to force him into a situation where he would be forced to end his kingship early and put Padme on the throne. [[spoiler:Veruna only does so after the failed attack on Sojourn in order to protect himself from Damask and Palpatine's retribution. And that plan ''might'' have worked...if his enemies were just a corrupt banker and politician rather than also secretly Sith Lords who are feeling vengeful in the wake of Sojurun. As Damask tells Veruna on his deathbed, the irony is that had Veruna abdicated instead of attacking Sojurun, he ''would'' have been safe and the Sith ''would'' have left him alone to rot away in exile.]]

* AbdicateTheThrone: After Veruna proves to [[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness be a complete liability to the Sith]], Palpatine and Plagueis maneuver to force him into a situation where he would be forced to end his kingship early and put Padme on the throne.

* DidNotThinkThisThrough:

** A very subtle and well-executed example in the Prologue. As stated under Foregone Conclusion, Luceno doesn’t hide that Palpatine killed Damask or play it as false suspense. However, if you pay close attention, [[spoiler: you’ll realize that Luceno doesn’t divulge any details about how old Palpatine (or Plagueis) is or even their actual planetary location.]] This foreshadows the reveal in the climax that [[spoiler: Plagueis won’t actually die until the climax of ''The Phantom Menace''.]]
** An in-universe example with Sith Holocrons during Part II. Plagueis cautions Palpatine about consulting them -- at least at this stage of his Sith training before he's found his own path to the Dark Side. As Plagueis explains, each Holocron contains knowledge specific and idiosyncratic to each Sith Lord who constructed them. ''Real' knowledge is passed by Master to Apprentice during one-on-one training sessions where nothing is codified, recorded, or diluted -- and thus can't be forgotten or altered.

** The death of Darth Tenebrous is an in-universe example for Palpatine in the Prologue. Sidious knows the broad strokes from Plagueis -- that Tenebrous was his Master's Master and that he obviously died prior to Palpatine's enlistment. But Palpatine knows little else beyond that, as Plagueis never discussed the exact circumstanses of his Master's death. [[spoiler: It's implied Palpatine's Flow Walking at the end of the Prologue to witness the fateful event for himself and answer these longstanding mysteris out of personal curiosity.]]
** Subverted with Plagueis's murder of Kerred Santhe. It starts off as this in Part I, but is subverted when he relays the whole story to Palpatine halfway through the book.

** Plagueis gets another one when he, under the guise of Hego Damask, attempts to see the young Anakin Skywalker, only to be told by one of Padmé's handmaidens that he's already been taken to the Jedi Temple. While Plagueis clings to the hope that the Jedi Council will reject Anakin on the grounds of his age (which does happen), he notably falls back a step and exhibits an understated but palpable fear that the Force itself may have screwed the Sith over.
-->'''Plagueis:''' Are we undone? ''Have you undone us?''

* PassThePopcorn: This is basically Jabba the Hutt's response to [[spoiler: Plagueis requesting to use his ship's comm systems to contact Veruna and inform the Naboo King thst his ass is grass for the Sojourun strike]].

* NobleDemon: Plagueis is a rare example of a Sith that has enough redeeming qualities to make him relatively sympathetic even without being compared to the fully twisted Palpatine. He is actually capable of true loyalty, opposes the StupidEvil facet of the Dark Side as much as he can, and is kind of a WellIntentionedExtremist in his views. Unfortunately, this ends up becoming his own destruction to the hands of Palpatine.

* NotMeThisTime: [[spoiler: If Vidar Kim's family ''was'' assassinated by Veruna and Bon Tapolo]], then it's ironically the one murder in the book that Palpatine and Plagueis ''weren't'' involved in. Even Palpatine sees no reason to believe it was anything other than a tragic accident.

** And again when he learns that Anakin's been taken to the Jedi.

* PassThePopcorn: This is basically Jabba the Hutt's response to [[spoiler: Plagueis using his ship's comm systems to 'call' Veruna and inform the King his ass is grass for the Sojourun strike]].

** Although this happens when Palpatine is [[spoiler: Killing Darth Plagueis, he does tell his master that he is grateful for Plagueis teaching him.]]

** Possibly [[spoiler: the Speeder accident that kills the Kims. Vidar believes Veruna and Bon Tapolo engineered the crash because he's opposed to their policies (and also knows about their dirty dealings with the Trade Federation). The problem is Tapolo ''can't'' just relieve Kim of his post, because his appointment was a necessary poltical concession to the opposition; recall him and the King's political enemies will break out the knives. So, Vidar thinks the accident was instead an attempt to force him from the Senate out of grief and/or fear. Luceno never confirms if Vidar ''was'' right or simply paranoid and delusional...though Veruna ''does'' mention to Palpatine during the Kim Family Funeral that he was surprised Vidar didn't decide to retire in the wake of such a tragedy...]]

* EvilIsPetty: [[spoiler: During his murder of Plagueis and his VillainousBreakdown, Darth Sidious spitefully and furiously brings back against his master all the moments when Plagueis supposedly wronged him in any way from the moment they have met, such as manipulating him into killing his family or the TrainingThroughHell he put Sidious through, while also bringing back minor or insignificant moments such as Plagueis telling him that he made Maul too arrogant and other minor slights. This moment shows how truly wicked, petty and spiteful Sidious is beneath his calculating, manipulative and pragmatic façade.]]

** Subtext Mining and [[spoiler: Kerred Santhe II]] sabotaging the probe droid on Bal'demnic. While it gets Rugess Nome killed, they of course had no way of knowing the Bith was actually a Sith Lord. So, it also allows Damask to become the senior Sith Lord and to begin pulling the trigger on the Grand Plan in his lifetime. Worse, Plagueuis' subsequent investigation and interrogation of the Subtext Mining Executives brings Naboo and its plasma reserves to Damask Holdings' attention, which in turn introduces him to the young Palpatine.

* EvilIsPetty: [[spoiler: During his murder of Plagueis and his VillainousBreakdown, Darth Sidious spitefully and furiously brings back against his master all the moments when Plagueis supposedly wronged him in any way from the moment they have met, such as manipulating him into killing his family or the TrainingThroughHell he put Sidious through, while also bringing back minor or insignificant moments such as Plagueis telling him that he made Maul too arrogant and other minor slights. This moment shows how truly wicked, petty and spiteful Sidious is beneath his calculating, manipulative and pragmatic façade.]]

** The Maladian assassins are elite killers with the best training and gear, so much that they are officially a bane even for Jedi knights. However, it proves to be insufficient: although Plagueis is left grievously wounded just before their battle, he manages to fend off almost ''three dozens'' of them until a healthier Sidious comes to the rescue.

* EvilIsPetty: [[spoiler: During his murder of Plagueis and his VillainousBreakdown, Darth Sidious spitefully and furiously brings back against his master all the moments when Plagueis supposedly wronged him in any way from the moment they have met, such as manipulating him into killing his family or the TrainingThroughHell he put Sidious through, while also bringing back minor or insignificant moments such as Plagueis telling him that he made Maul too arrogant and other minor slights. This moment shows how truly wicked, petty and spiteful Sidious is beneath his calculating, manipulative and pragmatic façade.]]

* TheHedonist: Thoris Darus, the supreme chancellor of the Republic thirty years before the crisis of Naboo, is a shameless womanizer and lover of sports, opera, gambling, and gastronomy. He's in great part responsible for the decadence and the endemic corruption plaguing Coruscant and the Senate in the last decades of the Galactic Republic. This makes Dooku particularly and openly resentful of him.

* EvilIsPetty: [[spoiler: During his murder of Plagueis and his VillainousBreakdown, Darth Sidious spitefully and furiously brings back against his master all the moments when Plagueis supposedly wronged him in any way from the moment they have met, such as manipulating him into killing his family or the TrainingThroughHell he put Sidious through, while also bringing back minor or insignificant moments such as Plagueis telling him that he made Maul too arrogant and other minor sligths. This moment shows how truly wicked, petty and spiteful Sidious is beneath his calculating, manipulative and pragmatic facade.]]

** While he's happy to make deals with corrupt politicians, crime lords and syndicates, ruthless corporations, and bellicose and violent species, as Hego Damask and the president of Damask Holding, Plagueis disapproves of the traffic of spices and slavery and won't agree to finance such activities. He also remarks to himself during his meeting with Jabba that unlike the Hutt he never deals or surrounds himself with low criminals.

* CultureClash: Plagueis, like the rest of the Muun, finds annoying the human practice of eating and drinking during ceremonies and business or diplomatic discussions, though he does acknowledge Cosinga Palpatine's efforts to give him meals without any meat.

** Plagueis himself is a skilled one, to a lesser extent. [[spoiler: He was involved in the incident at Galidraan that began Dooku's dissent with the Jedi, manipulated the Jedi and Senate into giving a seat in the Senate to the Trade Federation and later to the Techno Union too,increasing the mega corporations' power at the detriment of the Republic which would later make the CIS possible, and, more importantly, was the one who gave Sifo-Dyas the suggestion to clone an army for the Republic...]]