Darth Plagius [SPOILERS]

[ForceUser]

As I watched RotS yesterday, I caught something huge that nobody's discussing. When Anakin joins Palpatine at the theater and they have their first discussion of the Dark Side and the Sith, Palpatine talks of "Darth Plagius the Wise," who was murdered by his apprentice. Though Anakin doesn't notice, the audience can infer through Palpatine's tone and facial expressions during the tale of Darth Plagius that it was he, presumably, that was the Sith Lord's traitorous apprentice.

Palpatine tells Anakin of Darth Plagius' phenominal Dark Side powers, one of which was the ability to use the Force to create life.

I wonder: was Palpatine inferring that it was the Sith who impregnated Shmi Skywalker? Was the creation of Darth Vader the plan all along? Did Palpatine usurp, rather than originate, the plan to corrupt the Republic and bring down the Jedi from within?

Discuss.

 

[Ankh-Morpork Guard]

Maybe.

Possibly.

But you have to remember, that was Palpatine talking. You can't trust a word he says, especially when its to Anakin before he was turned. Palpatine will lie one way and then the other to get things the way he wants. Its something that we won't even know for sure unless Lucas gives a definite answer...which I doubt he will.

I also doubt we'll find out if Palpatine really WAS Plagius' apprentice.

 

[Truth Seeker]

Maybe.

Possibly.

But you have to remember, that was Palpatine talking. You can't trust a word he says, especially when its to Anakin before he was turned. Palpatine will lie one way and then the other to get things the way he wants. Its something that we won't even know for sure unless Lucas gives a definite answer...which I doubt he will.

I also doubt we'll find out if Palpatine really WAS Plagius' apprentice.

Then again, Palpatine could have Anakin the truth...sometimes not telling a lie, seems to be solidfy a relationship in one sense. But then again, we will never know.

*a second echo *

 

[Aristotle]

Interesting...

A freind of mine, and the most fanatical Star Wars fan I know, came up with a theory after Episode I that the Emperor was somehow the father of Anakin. He thought that, that would radically change the climactic scenes at the end of Return of the Jedi ... with the Emperor, Vader, and Luke representing three generations of power and Vader ultimately choosing his love for his son over the approval of his father. Or something deep like that.

...Anyway, I thought it was an interesting spin.

 

[BiggusGeekus]

Assuming Palpatine was the truth and he was apprenticed to Plagius....

Things still aren't 100%.

PALP: Hey, this Plagius dude taught me everything he knew!
ANI: Sweet! How about that life saving and healing stuff?
PALP: Oh, well, not that.

So at some point or another, Palp had to have been lying about something. The smallest lowest-impact lie would be that he didn't know how to fend off death. He does, he just doesn't want Vader to be happy because he needs an evil Vader.

So if all of that is the case, we have a first rate reason for Sidious to kill Plagius. Plagius starts up the Prophecy and creates Ani with some random chick who no one is going to care about. But he has to hide her from Sidious, because Sidious isn't stupid. Sidious finds out about it and realizes that he's being scheduled for replacement. The Sith Lords have a notoriuos retirement policy so Sidious has no other choice than to kill Plagius because as soon as this kid grows up, Sidioius is history.

Which only leaves the problem of where the heck this kid is.

Sidious is in a win-win position at this point. If nobody finds the Chosen One, all Sidious has to do is outlive him. If the Chosen One does turn up, Sidieous can turn him. Of course, this supposes that Sidious' interpretation of the Prophecy is different than the Jedi Council's, but that's likely.

 

[Klaus]

Maybe it's the truth...


... from a certain point of view.

 

[Jdvn1]

Though Anakin doesn't notice, the audience can infer through Palpatine's tone and facial expressions during the tale of Darth Plagius that it was he, presumably, that was the Sith Lord's traitorous apprentice.

I have to disagree with this. Part of the story was something to the effect of, "Unfortunately, he taught his apprentice everything he knew, and his apprentice killed him in his sleep."

Later, Palpatine says that he doesn't know the ability of Plagius from the story, but that they could try to learn it.

Either Palpatine is lying somewhere or he's not the apprentice. I'm voting for both.

Edit: Ah, BG beat me to it.

 

[Ankh-Morpork Guard]

You have to remember, Palpatine never said that life was ACTUALLY created...just that Plagius had the ABILITY to do it. So, again, we can't be sure.

But yes, even if you believe Palpatine at one point, things don't add up. At first, he says that Plagius taught his apprentice everything he knew. Everything. All things. Nothing was missed. Everything.

But then, after Anakin has become Darth Vader, Palpatine says that HE doesn't know how to keep people alive/create life.

So, where was he lieing? It was somewhere. Or did he just make up the entire story to play to Anakin?

 

[Kid Charlemagne]

Nothin like putting your spoilers in the subject line....

 

[Aristotle]

Nothin like putting your spoilers in the subject line....

Except the subject line isn't spoiling anything. It gives you a name. That's it. The connection to Anakin's birth isn't a spoiler in any way since it isn't true (or at least not obviously so) as far as the movies are concerned.