I know we’ve all looked into the moment when Anakin was inside Padmé Amidala’s room, and Darth Plagueis tried to come and see the nine-year-old boy. But that’s something we never actually see in The Phantom Menace. However, in the novel Darth Plagueis by James Luceno, we get details that confirm that Plagueis was indeed present during these events, secretly observing Anakin from the shadows.
But why? Why would a Sith Lord obsessed with manipulating life itself take such an interest in a seemingly ordinary slave boy from Tatooine? What made Plagueis so fixated on Anakin that he risked getting close to him?
The Moment Darth Plagueis Sought Out Anakin Skywalker, the Chosen One
We all remember the moment when Queen Padmé Amidala called for a vote of no confidence in Chancellor Valorum, shifting the political landscape of the Republic. But what we didn’t see in The Phantom Menace was that, during this exact moment, Darth Plagueis was making his own move. While Palpatine played his political game in the Senate, Plagueis was searching for someone far more important: Anakin Skywalker.
We already know Plagueis had been working in the shadows, manipulating the Force itself in ways no Sith had ever done before. But when Count Dooku reported back to Palpatine about Qui-Gon Jinn’s discovery on Tatooine, everything changed. Dooku revealed that Qui-Gon had returned with a former slave boy, telling Palpatine:
“Qui-Gon returned from Tatooine with a former slave boy. According to the boy’s mother, the boy had no father.”
That line alone was enough to make Palpatine stop and question everything.
“A clone?” he asked.
“Not a clone. Perhaps conceived by the Force. As Qui-Gon believes.”
Palpatine wasn’t convinced yet and pushed further:
“Does this have something to do with the prophecy you spoke of?”
Dooku’s answer was clear:
“Everything. Qui-Gon believes that the boy—Anakin is his name—stands at the center of a vergence in the Force and believes further that his finding him was the will of the Force. Blood tests were apparently performed, and the boy’s concentration of midi-chlorians is unprecedented.”
And that was it. Plagueis, who was supposed to be attending the Senate meeting, didn’t care about the politics unfolding. The moment he heard about this child, he abandoned everything and went straight to Palpatine’s apartment, desperate to confirm this for himself.
In the Darth Plagueis novel, we get an inside look at his thoughts in that exact moment:
“He had to see this Anakin Skywalker for himself; he had to sense him for himself. He had to know if the Force had struck back again, nine years earlier, by conceiving a human being to restore balance to the galaxy. Plagueis came to a halt at the entry to Palpatine’s apartment. Eventually, one of Queen Amidala’s near-identical handmaidens came to the door, a vision in a dark cowled robe. Her eyes fixed on the breath mask.
‘I’m sorry, sir,’ she said, ‘Senator Palpatine is not here.’
‘I know,’ Plagueis said. ‘I’m here to speak with a guest of the Senator. A young human boy.’”
Just imagine how insane that moment must have been. Plagueis—the Sith Lord who had spent decades trying to manipulate life itself—was now standing at the threshold of possibly his greatest success, staring down at the very child who might have been the result of his own experiments.
But it wasn’t meant to be. By the time Plagueis arrived, Qui-Gon had already taken Anakin to the Jedi Council for testing. The one chance Plagueis had to see the boy firsthand slipped through his fingers.
Why Plagueis Was Desperate to Find Anakin
The short answer is simple—Darth Plagueis feared that Anakin Skywalker would be the one to destroy everything he and his apprentice, Palpatine, had carefully built in secret to take over the galaxy. The moment Plagueis learned that Qui-Gon Jinn had taken Anakin to the Jedi Council, doubt crept in. For the first time, the Sith Grand Plan seemed at risk, all because of a single slave boy from Tatooine.
From the book Darth Plagueis, we see Plagueis’ growing concern unfold in real-time. When he arrives at Palpatine’s residence, a handmaiden informs him:
“You just missed him, sir.”
Plagueis, now tense, demands:
“Missed him? Where is he?”
The handmaiden answers:
“Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jinn came to collect him, sir. I suspect that you can find him at the Jedi Temple.”
At that moment, panic sets in. Plagueis realizes that if the Jedi accept Anakin into their ranks, everything could change. His thoughts spiral as he considers the possibility:
“There was still a chance that the Council would decide that Anakin was too old to be trained as a Jedi. That way, assuming he was returned to Tatooine… But if not… If Qui-Gon managed to sway the Council Masters, and they reneged on their own dictates… Plagueis ran a hand over his forehead. Are we undone? he thought. Have you undone us?”
That final thought says it all. Plagueis, the Sith Lord who had spent decades manipulating the Force and orchestrating galactic events from the shadows, was shaken. He understood that if Anakin was truly the Chosen One, the prophecy would come full circle—and the Sith’s long-awaited rule could come to an end.