Palpatine didn’t even begin to hint at all the dark Sith experiments his master Darth Plagueis conducted before his “tragic” death. Before the events of Star Wars’ Skywalker saga, Palpatine was discovered and trained in the ways of the dark side by Darth Plagueis the Wise, becoming his apprentice Darth Sidious. However, Palpatine’s tales about his master fail to reveal the full extent of his master’s power.

In the established Star Wars canon, Darth Plagueis was first referenced by Palpatine during the events of Revenge of the Sith. Telling Anakin Skywalker about Plagueis in a bid to seduce the young Jedi to the dark side, the unique abilities Darth Plagueis was said to have possessed were meant to entice Anakin to the dark side and play upon his fears with the promises of power. However, Legends’ non-canon Darth Plagueis novel by James Luceno would later reveal that Plagueis had conducted several Sith experiments in the dark corners of the Star Wars galaxy.

Darth Plagueis’ Canon Force Powers Explained

Revealed During Revenge of the Sith

Custom Image by Lewis Glazebrook

In Revenge of the Sith, Palpatine shares with Anakin the “Tragedy of Darth Plagueis the Wise”. Claiming that it was a Sith legend, the tale was in truth Palpatine’s personal recounting of his master and eventual demise by Sidious’ own hand. According to Palpatine, Plagueis became so powerful that “he could use the Force to influence the midi-chlorians… to create… life. He had such a knowledge of the dark side, he could even keep the ones he cared about… from dying.”

A very rare and unique Force ability, the ability to communicate and manipulate midi-chlorians to create life itself is an incredible power. To that end, Legends’ Darth Plagueis novel confirms that it was Plagueis’ experiments with midi-chlorians and an attempt to saturate the galaxy with dark side energy that motivated the Force itself to respond with the conception of Anakin Skywalker as the Chosen One. Despite its non-canon status, many of the concepts in the Darth Plagueis novel (such as this one) are considered by fans to still be part of the timeline.

It was also confirmed by Palpatine that Plagueis could prevent those he cared about from dying, though not himself (something Palpatine felt was quite ironic). This was another incredible power granted by Plagueis’ decades of work in the dark side, as confirmed in the Legends novel. However, Plagueis also did much more in Legends which Palpatine never referenced in Revenge of the Sith.

Palpatine Only Shared What Was Needed To Seduce Anakin

To Save Padmé…

Rather than giving Anakin a full account of all his dark master could achieve, the secret Sith Lord was incredibly calculated in what he did share with the young Jedi. Sidious intended to gradually seduce Anakin to the dark side to become his new apprentice, following years of cultivating a relationship with Anakin as a caring mentor. To that end, Palpatine’s plan in Revenge of the Sith began with specifically playing upon Anakin’s fears of losing Padmé.

Palpatine knew Anakin desperately wanted to prevent his envisioned deaths of those he loved (his secret wife Padmé). This is why Palpatine focused on Darth Plagueis’ midi-chlorian manipulations to both create life and prevent death, knowing that it would entice Anakin to want to know more about what the dark side could provide that the Jedi path could not. However, Legends revealed that Plaguies’ had worked on multiple dark-side experiments connected to his ongoing goals of immortality, greater power, and galactic dominance for the Sith.

Legends Revealed More of Plageuis’ Various Force Experiments

Far Beyond Midi-Chlorian Manipulation

In James Luceno’s Darth Plagueis novel, it’s revealed that Plagueis’ own master Darth Tenebrous tried creating a virus meant to sever the Jedi’s connection to the Force. However, this proved unsuccessful, as there was no way to target the light side of the force without also affecting the dark, as well as non-Force sensitive beings who still held smaller amounts of midi-chlorians, due to the Force residing in all living things. As such, Plagueis took a different approach after killing his master, seeking to conquer death and achieve true immortality by learning the language of the midi-chlorians itself.

Plagueis’ experiments with midi-chlorians resulted in breakthroughs surrounding the ability to create life and prevent death as noted by Palpatine in Revenge of the Sith. However, he also discovered how to achieve much more within those years of study. Plagueis kept Tenebrous’ secret apprentice Darth Venamis as his comatose prisoner for years, along with many other sentient and non-sentient test subjects: “Dozens of beings, subjecting them to a wide range of experiments involving volition, telepathy, healing, regeneration, and life extension”.

Through his extensive midi-chlorian studies, Darth Plagueis learned how to undermine and dominate the will of others, breaking their spirits and turning them into compliant agents (even more Force-resistant species like Toydarians and Hutts). Additionally, a clear distinction is made between Plagueis’ work and the Sith of the Old Republic who sought to extend their lives by draining the energies of others or through spirit transference. Those methods more often than not backfired for those ancient Sith in the long run, rather than purer forms of immortality Darth Plagueis was after, seeking to “erase death from the continuum”.

Will We Soon See More of Darth Plagueis’ Powers In The Star Wars Canon?

The Acolyte’s Finale Opens Some Exciting Future Stories

Following Plagueis’ cameo and first-ever appearance on screen in The Acolyte’s finale, it will be interesting to see what Lucasfilm might have in store for Darth Plagueis, especially after elements of his midi-chlorian manipulating powers to generate new life were also referenced in the recent Star Wars show. To that end, the hope would be that more of Palgueis’ darkly fascinating work from Legends could find its way back to the official canon, whether it’s in a potential Acolyte season 2 or some other pre-Skywalker saga project.