History YMMV / DarthPlagueis

** As noted by WebVideo/Jensaarai1, it makes sense that Darth Plagueis is [[NiceToTheWaiter nice to droids]] because he's essentially one, himself: Darth Tenebrous, with the help of Plagueis's mother, "programmed" Plagueis to be the kind of person he is. Jensaarai even describes Plagueis as a "machine man following through on his programming"--but Plagueis doesn't fully comprehend this until Sidious kills him.

* CantUnhearIt: For many who've listened to the audio-drama, Daniel Davis '''IS''' Darth Plagueis.

** Sidious's decision to never use his given name again as a sign of disrespect towards his hated father. It causes some awkward interactions through the story, is a bit counterintuitive itself, and doesn't cover fully the fact that Luceno was forced to make up something like it in order to explain Lucas's refusal at the time to give Palpatine a first name. A few years later, it seems to be unnecessary as Palpatine's first name was soon revealed (in [[Literature/StarWarsTarkin a novel by Luceno no less]]). Though the fact that Palpatine's first name turns out to be [[TomTheDarkLord Sheev]] does make Sidious's decision humorously justified.

** Some of what Palpatine gloated about to a dying Plagueis seems dubious in the narrative, if not deliberately exaggerated in order for Palpatine to mock Plagueis further. For instance, Sidious claims he never had any bond to Plagueis, yet there are scenes of him explicitly feeling legitimately hurt at Plagueis's treatment of him. His claims of being one who came up with several of Plagueis' ideas also fail at fitting what we can read about them, given that Plagueis clearly always had some of them in mind even before meeting Palpatine.

** Some of what Palpatine gloated about to a dying Plagueis seems dubious in the narrative, if not deliberately exaggerated in order for Palpatine to mock Plagueis further. For instance, Sidious claims he never had any bond to Plagueis, yet there are scenes of him explicitly feeling legitimately hurt at Plagueis's treatment of him. His claims of being one who came up with several of Plagueis's ideas also fail at fitting what we can read about them, given that Plagueis clearly always had some of them in mind even before meeting Palpatine.

* CompleteMonster: Palpatine's [[StartOfDarkness backstory as a villain]] shows how much of a ManipulativeBastard he truly is, as we see him [[PlayingBothSides working with the Trade Federation]] to [[WoundedGazelleGambit plot the blockade]] that takes place in [[Film/ThePhantomMenace Episode I]]. It is revealed that he killed his own parents and siblings, and is incapable of feeling regret when committing heinous actions and various misdemeanors—such as when he ends up crashing his landspeeder and killing two people without any remorse on his part. When Darth Tenebrous foresaw Palpatine's future murder of Plagueis upon his death and possession of Plagueis after the latter betrayed him, he was noticeably horrified at not only Plagueis's murder at the hands of his apprentice Palpatine but at how evil Palpatine is, even for the Sith.

** Darth Plagueis is just as totalitarian, manipulative, and ruthless as most Sith are, and his experiments make him even more twisted than many of them - but in stark contrast to most, he actually has solid redeeming qualities. He really believes that the galaxy will benefit from the Sith rule instead of being merely power-hungry, abhors Bane's rule of betrayal so much as to try to dispose of it entirely, is loyal to those he considers true allies, and on top of it, he actually trusted them back. When he is killed by Sidious, the reader can feel that, regardless of how evil Plagueis's own designs were, the galaxy has just gone down a much darker path.

* ItWasHisSled: The novel's big MetaTwist, [[spoiler: that Plagueis was still alive during ''Film/ThePhantomMenace'' and died the night Palpatine was elected Supreme Chancellor, was a major shocker upon release since it went contrary to fan assumptions [[note]] and George Lucas's intention [[/note]] that Sidious had killed his master in his youth, years before the events of the prequels.]] Now, this is one of the book's most famous parts.

** In ''Revenge Of The Sith'', Palpatine says that "[Plagueis] had such a knowledge of the Dark Side, he could even save the ones he cared about... from dying". Now wait a second, just whom could a [[ReligionOfEvil Sith Lord]] ever actually care about? [[spoiler: Oh, his ''test subjects''...]] Though, considering he was willing to destroy a Sith tradition just to share the universe with what he saw as a son, maybe the guy just loved easily.

** Sidious's decision to never use his given name again as a sign of disrespect towards his hated father. It causes some awkward interactions through the story, is a bit counterintuitive itself, and doesn't cover fully the fact that Luceno was forced to make up something like it in order to explain Lucas's refusal to give Palpatine a first name. A few years later, it seems to be unnecessary as Palpatine's first name was soon revealed (in [[Literature/StarWarsTarkin a novel by Luceno no less]]). Though the fact that Palpatine's first name turns out to be [[TomTheDarkLord Sheev]] does make Sidious's decision humorously justified.

* NightmareFuel: Whenever Palpatine murders someone ([[spoiler: his own family, everyone at Senator Teem's mansion, eventually Plagueis himself, etc.]]) it's done with a frightening amount of well-detailed cruelty and lethal efficiency.

** Sidious's decision to never use his given name again as a sign of disrespect towards his hated father. It causes some awkward interactions through the story, is a bit counterintuitive itself, and doesn't cover fully the fact that Luceno was forced to make up something like it in order to explain Lucas's refusal to give Palpatine a first name. A few years later, it seems to be unnecessary as Palpatine's first name was soon revealed (in [[Literature/StarWarsTarkin, a novel by Luceno no less]]). Though the fact that Palpatine's first name turns out to be [[TomTheDarkLord Sheev]] does make Sidious's decision humorously justified.

** It's hard not to feel sorry for Darth Venamis. He is trained solely to serve as a foil to the true Sith apprentice, all the while hoping to prove himself to Tenebrous (who is heavily implied to be his father). Once defeated, he believes he'll at least become Plagueis' apprentice instead of dying, only to be force-fed a toxic plant and left comatose, spending the rest of his life as a test subject for Plagueis' experiments.

** Sidious's decision to never use his given name again as a sign of disrespect towards his hated father. It causes some awkward interactions through the story, is a bit counterintuitive itself, and doesn't cover fully the fact that Luceno was forced to make up something like it in order to explain Lucas' refusal to give Palpatine a first name. A few years later, it seems to be unnecessary as Palpatine's first name was soon revealed (in [[Literature/StarWarsTarkin a novel by Luceno no less]]). Though the fact that Palpatine's first name turns out to be [[TomTheDarkLord Sheev]] does make Sidious' decision humorously justified.

* AssPull: A [[WordOfGod self admitted one]] about Darth Gravid, who only exists so that the current Sith don't have knowledge they need.

* CompleteMonster: Palpatine's [[StartOfDarkness backstory as a villain]] shows how much of a ManipulativeBastard he truly is, as we see him [[PlayingBothSides working with the Trade Federation]] to [[WoundedGazelleGambit plot the blockade]] that takes place in [[Film/ThePhantomMenace Episode I]]. It is revealed that he killed his own parents and siblings, and is incapable of feeling regret when committing heinous actions and various misdemeanors—such as when he ends up crashing his landspeeder and killing two people without any remorse on his part. When Darth Tenebrous foresaw Palpatine's future murder of Plagueis upon his death and possession of Plagueis after the latter betrayed him, he was noticeably horrified at not only Plagueis's murder at the hands of his apprentice Palpatine, but at how evil Palpatine is, even for the Sith.

** Darth Plagueis is just as totalitarian, manipulative and ruthless as most Sith are, and his experiments make him even more twisted than many of them - but in stark contrast to most, he actually has solid redeeming qualities. He really believes that the galaxy will benefit from the Sith rule instead of being merely power-hungry, abhorres Bane's rule of betrayal so much as to try to dispose of it entirely, is loyal to those he considers true allies, and on top of it, he actually trusted them back. When he is killed by Sidious, the reader can feel that, regardless of how evil Plagueis' own designs were, the galaxy has just gone down a much darker path.

* ItWasHisSled: The novel's big MetaTwist, [[spoiler: that Plagueis was still alive during ''Film/ThePhantomMenace'' and died the night Palpatine was elected Supreme Chancellor, was a major shocker upon release, since it went contrary to fan assumptions [[note]] and George Lucas' intention [[/note]] that Sidious had killed his master in his youth, years before the events of the prequels.]] Now, this is one of the book's most famous parts.

* NightmareFuel: Whenever Palpatine murders someone ([[spoiler:his own family, everyone at Senator Teem's mansion, eventually Plagueis himself etc.]]) it's done with a frightening amount of well-detailed cruelty and lethal efficiency.

* CompleteMonster: Palpatine's [[StartOfDarkness backstory as a villain]] shows how much of a ManipulativeBastard he truly is, as we see him [[PlayingBothSides working with the Trade Federation]] to [[WoundedGazelleGambit plot the blockade]] that takes place in [[Film/ThePhantomMenace Episode I]]. It is revealed that he killed his own parents and siblings, and is incapable of feeling regret when committing heinous actions and various misdemeanors—such as when he ends up crashing his landspeeder and killing two people without any remorse on his part. When Darth Tenebrous foresaw Palpatine's future murder of Plagueis upon his death and possession of Plagueis after the latter betrayed him, he was noticeably horrified at not only Plagueis's murder at the hands of his apprentice Palpatine, but at how evil Palpatine is, even for the Sith.

** "Gravid". Seems good if you're going for the connotations of "grave", but less impressive if you know "gravid" is the equivalent word to "pregnant" for egg-bearing animals (and in some languages it just means pregnant). [[UnfortunateNames Darth Laying Hen]]?

*** As noted by WebVideo/Jensaarai1, it makes sense that Darth Plagueis is [[NiceToTheWaiter nice to droids]] because he's essentially one, himself: Darth Tenebrous, with the help of Plagueis's mother, "programmed" Plagueis to be the kind of person he is. Jensaarai even describes Plagueis as a "machine man following through on his programming"--but Plagueis doesn't fully comprehend this until Sidious kills him.

* ItWasHisSled: The novel's big MetaTwist, [[spoiler: that Plagueis was still alive during ''Film/ThePhantomMenance'' and died the night Palpatine was elected Supreme Chancellor, was a major shocker upon release, since it went contrary to fan assumptions [[note]] and George Lucas' intention [[/note]] that Sidious had killed his master in his youth, years before the events of the prequels.]] Now, this is one of the book's most famous parts.

* ItWasHisSled: The novel's big MetaTwist, [[spoiler: that Plagueis was still alive during ''Film/ThePhantomMenance'' and died the night Palpatine was elected Supreme Chancellor, was a major shocker upon release, since it went contrary to fan assumptions [[note]] and George Lucas' intention [[/note]] that Sidious had killed his master in his youth, years before the events of the prequels.]] Now, this is one of the book's most famous part.

** Sidious's decision to never use his given name again as a sign of disrespect towards his hated father. It causes some awkward interactions through the story, is a bit counterintuitive itself, and doesn't cover fully the fact that Luceno was forced to make up something like it in order to explain Lucas' refusal to give Palpatine a first name.

* CryForTheDevil: Darth Plagueis is just as totalitarian, manipulative and ruthless as most Sith are, and his experiments make him even more twisted than many of them - but in stark contrast to most, he actually has solid redeeming qualities. He really believes that the galaxy will benefit from the Sith rule instead of being merely power-hungry, abhorres Bane's rule of betrayal so much as to try to dispose of it entirely, is loyal to those he considers true allies, and on top of it, he actually trusted them back. When he is killed by Sidious, the reader can feel that, regardless of how evil Plagueis' own designs were, the galaxy has just gone down a much darker path.

* HilariousInHindsight:
** In 2011, Jake Lloyd claimed there was originally a six hour rough cut of ''Film/ThePhantomMenace'' which was supposedly excellent. Many have disputed this claim, among other reasons because the basic story of the film simply doesn't seem able to justify a trilogy worth of screentime. However, this became suddenly funny after the release of ''Darth Plagueis'' and the revelation that its author obtained permission to expand the novel's events into the story of ''The Phantom Menace''.
** The fact that Palpatine refuses to go by his first name is much more amusing in light of the bemused reactions many fans had to learning that his Canon first name is [[TomTheDarkLord Sheev]].

** Some of what Palpatine gloated about to dying Plagueis seems dubious in the narrative, if not deliberately exaggerated in order for Palpatine to mock Plagueis further. For instance, Sidious claims he never had any bond to Plagueis, yet there are scenes of him explicitly feeling legitimately hurt at Plagueis's treatment of him. His claims of being one who came up with several of Plagueis's ideas also fail at fitting what we can read about them, given that Plagueis clearly always had some of them in mind even before meeting Palpatine.