The Muun are a race we don’t see much of in the Star Wars films. They are the bankers, financiers, and the investors of the Star Wars universe. The capitalists, the movers and shakers. Even the Hutts, the Trade Federation, and the other crime syndicates largely answer to them. The whole race is known for its wealth, affluence, and influence.
However, Hego Damask is not just another Muun financier. He leads another life as a very powerful Sith Lord – and he does everything in his power to keep it a secret. He takes an interest in a young human from Naboo called Palpatine. He grooms him much in the same way Palpatine later grooms a young Anakin Skywalker. Eventually, Damask takes him on as his apprentice. We then see how Palpatine becomes Darth Sidious, and studies at the feet of one of the most powerful and influential Sith Lords ever.
Star Wars: Darth Plagueis is an exploration into the treacherous underground culture of the Sith, where only power, skill, and cunning are taught, acquired, and respected. It lets the reader see up-close the nature of the Sith, their ideology, and how it differs from the Jedi’s philosophy of the Force. It gives a closer examination of the Sith relationship between master and apprentice. We see the level of training a Sith as powerful as Darth Sidious goes through to become what we see in the Star Wars films.
Damask and Palpatine influence the course of elections and government policy on Naboo and other worlds. They influence Hutt crime lords on Tatooine. They even influence Jedi. Their fingerprints are all over the galaxy.
Then, as Palpatine becomes more influential as a politician, and more powerful as a Sith, they do the same thing in the Republic Senate. All for the ultimate purpose of fulfilling the Sith master plan that’s been a thousand years in the making: to eradicate the Jedi and rule the galaxy under the shroud of the dark side. Darth Plagueis believes that he and his apprentice, Darth Sidious, are the culmination of that plan.
And as we know from the Star Wars films, he’s not wrong. We see how deep the roots of Palpatine’s plans for the galaxy go.
The story begins about thirty-five years before the prequel films, and covers that time span all the way through the events of Star Wars: The Phantom Menace. All the major events of The Phantom Menace are told from the Sith point of view.
After reading Star Wars: Darth Plagueis, it becomes clear that the gulf between a writer and storyteller like James Luceno versus Disney’s Star Wars script writers is significant. It makes it even harder to take Disney’s Star Wars sequels seriously. It’s like comparing a professional storyteller who has experience writing Star Wars stories, and understands that universe, to fan-fiction writers. It’s the difference between reading a story from a writer who knows and understands the construct and nuance of Star Wars, and those who don’t understand that nuance and construct, and don’t care to.
In short, Star Wars: Darth Plagueis is a fantastic example of what Star Wars should be like in the post-Lucas era. It also makes Disney’s decision to de-canonize all of the Expanded Universe novels after they bought LucasFilm look increasingly worse. Disney should be drawing on writers like Luceno, not putting them on the back-burner. The soul of Lucas’s Star Wars shines through every chapter of Star Wars: Darth Plagueis. It stays consistent within the universe that Lucas created, and tells a story within that construct that is fantastic. Darth Plagueis is the ultimate prequel to the Star Wars prequel films.
It’s a story that excels as a novel, and could possibly exist as a movie or TV mini-series. It’s a different type of story than what we’ve seen in any of the Star Wars films. ‘Too much politics’ was one of the criticisms of the Star Wars prequel films, especially The Phantom Menace. Given that much of Darth Plagueis revolves around a financier and Republic Senator who are secretly Sith Lords, a certain amount of politics should be expected. There is a healthy amount of political and financial wheeling and dealing in Star Wars: Darth Plagueis, but it’s never dull or boring.
If Palpatine’s tale of Darth Plagueis that he told to Anakin Skywalker in Revenge of the Sith stimulated any curiosity – if the origin story of the Emperor sounds appealing to you – or if you just want an excellent Star Wars novel, read Star Wars: Darth Plagueis. It doesn’t disappoint.
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