Thanks to The Acolyte, Darth Plagueis has made it onto the screen. As a Legends character previously described by Palpatine, Plaguies’s cameo provided a glimpse into his power.
Fans may know that Darth Plagueis the Wise is a dark, mysterious Sith lord, but he is way more powerful than we realize. Read more to find out why.
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The Power of Darth Plagueis
For many Star Wars fans, Darth Plagueis is the legendary Sith that gave rise to Palpatine. Plagueis is the Muun Dark Lord who trained Darth Sidious and sought immortality.
Before Palpatine took his life, Plagueis worked with him to fully understand how midi-chlorians interacted with the Force.
As Palpatine says in Revenge of the Sith, 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.”
In this scene with Anakin, Palpatine informs him of this legendary figure who could create a pathway to eternal life.
According to the novel Darth Plagueis, this Sith lord works behind the scenes helping Sidious’s rise in the Republic, Plagueis conducts midi-chlorian experiments, fends off an assassin attack, and acquires the ultimate power over life and death.
Plagueis learns about the Force birth of Anakin Skywalker, most likely because of his research work on midi-chlorians and the Force.
The appearance of Plagueis in The Acolyte teased out interesting possibilities of how Plagueis’s power could emerge on screen.
As this article contends, this show could be “setting Plagueis up to do arguably the most important thing in Star Wars history, create life out of the force.”
That is an incredible power, beyond what many of us may realize.
Why Darth Plagueis Is Way More Powerful Than You Realize
Plagueis is considered to be at least on the same level of power as Palpatine and a true threat to Darth Sidious.
According to this video analysis, Palpatine even admitted that he did not truly understand Plagueis’s power, while Plagueis’s presence with the Force caused weather pattern disturbances on Naboo.
The basis of Plaguies’s power is his deep, “microscopic,” and “molecular” understanding of midi-chlorians and the Force.
Plagueis’s greatest power is his manipulation of the midi-chlorians and potentially life itself.
As other videos capture, Plagueis harnessed an ability through “years of experimentation and direct meditation” to “perceive the actions of midi-chlorians.”
This knowledge is what sets Plagueis apart from other Sith and Jedi.
Plagueis experimented with extending life and enabling immortality. Plagueis developed the skill to transfer his consciousness before Sidious performed that act in The Rise of Skywalker.
He also sought to keep his physical form alive or hone in on the power to “cheat” death, but his pursuits were cut short when Sidious killed him in his sleep.
Articles like this one have dissected whether Plagueis was more powerful than Palpatine, siding with a positive answer.
Palpatine did not kill his master directly but deceptively, reflecting that Palpatine was in awe of Plagueis’s power.
From this perspective, Plagueis is way more powerful than we realized and perhaps the top Sith.
Is Darth Plagueis the Most Powerful Sith?
On some rankings, Darth Sidious is listed as the most powerful Sith because he managed to kill his master before orchestrating his takeover of the Republic.
He also has such abilities as Force lightning to devastate his opponents. Does that mean he outranks Darth Plagueis?
Perhaps not. Palpatine has been examined much more thoroughly in Star Wars canon, while Plagueis has been left largely in obscurity.
Likewise, Palpatine killing Plagueis does not necessarily mean the former is more powerful, as rankings tend to conclude.
Rather, we could see Plagueis as being so consumed by his quest for immortality that he was blinded by his own ambitions, a characteristic that Sidious also exemplified.
This recent ranking of Sith places Plagueis as the third most powerful. Yet, it does not place enough emphasis on the “wise” component of his name.
Instead of lightsaber skills or physical Force powers, we can prioritize Plaguesis’s intellect and deep understanding of the Force.
Sith like Marka Ragnos used his dark power to keep his spirit alive for a thousand years, and Darth Tenebrous (Plagueis’s master) sparked scientific research and midi-chlorians.
These Sith provide similar angles of power.
Yet, Plagueis is renowned for resurrecting Darth Venamis in his midi-chlorian experiments, and it was Plagueis knowledge that largely allowed Sidious to transfer his spirit into a cloned body.
Now, in The Acolyte, it appears he may be responsible for creating Osha and May.
Plagueis the Wise
Because of his flawed cloned body, Palpatine thought Plagueis was ultimately getting some revenge.
Palpatine not only drew on Plagueis’s more powerful knowledge but also was perhaps undermined by him in the end.
This denouement reflects some of the ways that we can see that Darth Plagueis is more powerful than we realized.
With his return in The Acolyte, we may see more of his knowledge and understanding of the Force materialize and unfold.
Todd Wahlstrom is a creative and analytical freelance writer and life-long Star Wars fan. He has covered such topics as Darth Vader, the Jedi, Boba Fett, and AT-AT Walkers. Todd has published a non-fiction book, holds a Ph.D. in history, and enjoys hiking, running, and reading about science.