The final episode of The Acolyte had two very exciting cameo appearances for Star Wars fans in store – and from opposite sides of the Force at that. Season 1’s final shot ended with a glimpse of Yoda, the Jedi Master old enough to have seen the Old Republic at its zenith and experience its fall. However, fans were a lot more taken by a shadowy figure lurking in a cave earlier during the episode – the Sith Lord, Darth Plagueis.
The Acolyte’s showrunner Leslye Headland confirmed that the man we see peeping on two other characters is indeed the Dark Side user whose legend Palpatine would later gleefully tell Anakin Skywalker in Revenge of the Sith.
And in case you haven’t yet heard the tragedy of Darth Plagueis the Wise, here’s an explainer on why this cameo is the hottest thing about The Acolyte – yeah, even hotter than Qimir’s abs.
The Acolyte: Who is Darth Plagueis?
Darth Plagueis is the Sith Lord who trained Palpatine, making him one of the most important figures in galactic history.
He is the mysterious alien we see in the cave around the 12-minute mark in Episode 8 of The Acolyte. This is the first ever appearance of Plagueis on screen and confirms that he’s still a member of the Muun species, just like in the Legends (pre-Disney) continuity, from which Leslye Headland drew much inspiration from.
The Muun hail from a mineral-rich planet called Muunilinst and used their home’s resources to become the Star Wars galaxy’s most important bankers, controlling the influential Intergalactic Banking Clan.
In the Legends novel “Darth Plagueis”, which was written by James Luceno and is the primary source on the man’s life we (and Headland) can draw on, we learn that just like Darth Sidious maintained his public identity as the benevolent politician Palpatine, Plagueis was publically known under the name Hego Damask, a rich and talented Muun owning an investment company. In the novel, Plagueis uses his immense wealth to subtly manipulate galactic politics, increase the corruption of the senate, and steer the Republic towards chaos.
Given that we see Plagueis hiding in some cave on a backwater world in The Acolyte, it’s difficult to know whether that part of his backstory has been kept.
Plagueis’ own master was called Darth Tenebrous (whose existence has been confirmed in material accompanying The Rise of Skywalker) and was killed by his apprentice on a world rich in cortosis ore, which already played a role earlier in The Acolyte as well – that may or may not be a coincidence. After Tenebrous’ death, Plagueis found out that his master had been training several other acolytes in secret, possibly looking to replace him as the principal heir of the Sith legacy, so the Muun got rid of them all.
Since we know that Plagueis eventually found a worthy apprentice in the form of a young nobleman from Naboo in both Legends and Disney continuity – Palpatine, who’d later become Darth Sidious and the founder of the Empire – the show’s titular acolyte is very likely doomed.
The Tragedy of Darth Plagueis the Wise
However, there is another major connection between The Acolyte and the tragedy of Darth Plagueis the Wise. Palpatine implied that Anakin was created through Plagueis’ manipulation of the Force and we hear of a similar occurrence in the show – one The Stranger (and thus, we can assume, Plagueis) appeared to be very interested in. This could well be a crucial element on Plagueis’ journey to learn the techniques Palpatine would later praise him for.
In the novel, Anakin’s conception through the Force was indeed the work of Plagueis and Sidious – but completely unintended. We are told in the story that the duo spent months meditating, literally battling the Force in order to boost the Dark Side’s power throughout the galaxy – and to their credit, they were successful. Remember when Yoda mentions in the movies how clouded the Force is and that he can’t clearly see the future? That’s the effect of the Siths’ work. But the Force is described as having its own will and as a counter reaction to the Siths’ machinations, it brought Anakin to life as the Chosen One.
Plagueis indeed learned how to manipulate the Midi-Chlorians to induce pregnancies and keep his own body from aging. He was able to reverse some of the horrific injuries he suffered from a nearly successful assassination attempt by his political enemies. Palpatine didn’t lie about any of that – he just left out the part where he killed Plagueis before he could teach him how to do that.
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