“Did you ever hear the tragedy of Darth Plagueis the Wise?” Senator Palpatine asked a confused and troubled Anakin Skywalker in The Revenge of the Sith. Palpatine goes on to tell Anakin the story of the Sith Lord who was able to conquer death in an effort to save those he loved, before he was finally murdered in his sleep by his own apprentice. What Palpatine failed to mention was that he was that apprentice in the story and Plagueis was his Sith Master, the one who took a young Palpatine under his wing and taught him all there was to know about the Dark Side. So, “from a certain point of view,” this epic we call “The Star Wars Saga” got started when Plagueis found Palpatine and began grooming him as his Sith apprentice, because without Plagueis, there is no Darth Sidious, and without Sidious, there is no Darth Vader, and without Vader, well, there simply is no Star Wars.
I mean, sure, if you wanted, you could keep tracing the Sith lineage back as far as you want and keep making “Well, without so-and-so . . . ” arguments all the live long day, all the way back to, say, Darth Bane. But Darth Plagueis makes sense as a “Star Wars ground zero” because even though the entirety of the novel that shares his namesake may no longer be considered canon under the new Disney masthead, he is mentioned in Revenge of the Sith, so even though he may not appear in any of the movies as an actual character, he is still technically canon, and bearing that in mind, it would be cool to add the character to the Black Series who effectively got this whole ball rolling. Or to Figuarts. Or to Mafex. At least one of them. But the Black Series is the most likely candidate since it tends to go much deeper character-wise than the others.
That story Palpatine tells Anakin about Plagueis is probably the key turning point in Anakin’s life, when the “Dark Side” seed is effectively planted by Palpatine. It plays on Anakin’s emotions, which are already in a more than fragile state, and — worst of all — it gives him hope. It can be seen in his face and in the questions he asks Palpatine. It’s right there in that moment that Palpatine knows he has his new apprentice, and “Darth Vader” is about to become a reality. It’s my favorite part of The Revenge of the Sith because of its impact, both emotionally and narratively. Ian McDiarmid plays the conniving Palpatine to perfection as he patiently grooms Anakin into a being who will willfully pick up the Sith mantle. Now, while we already have representations of both Anakin and Sidious in the Black Series, we really need a Plagueis to close this circle, especially since there is speculation that Snoke from The Force Awakens may actually be Plagueis returned from the dead. That would be kinda cool, but we’ll see. I have my doubts.
Plagueis would make for an interesting addition to any 6-inch Star Wars collection. We’ve seen alien and non-humanoid Rebels and Jedi, but Plagueis would diversify the Sith/Empire/First Order 6-inch shelf by adding a creepy-looking alien to the ranks. And creepy-looking he is. If we go by details provided in the non-canon novel, Plagueis is a Muun, a lanky, hairless, narrow-faced species in the Star Wars universe. Until Palpatine, Sith tended to be alien in nature and, really, pretty darn creepy-looking. Not that Palpatine/Sidious isn’t creepy-looking, but Plagueis easily trumps him in that department. With this in mind, Plagueis would have to be an entirely new, dedicated sculpt, but that’s mostly what we get with the Black Series anyway. Heck, if Asty gets his own sculpt, Plagueis shouldn’t be an issue.
And there is precedent for a Plagueis figure. A 3 3/4-inch figure was released in the Black Series, complete with soft-goods robe and all. Just upscale that figure, Hasbro, and call it done (it probably isn’t exactly that easy, but let me dream). He could be part of a standard wave of figures, or, even better yet, what about a prequel-based “Lords of the Sith” box set that includes Plagueis, Sidious/Palpatine with a new and younger “politician” head sculpt, and Anakin/Vader? This way, those who missed out on Anakin can get him without resorting to secondary market prices, and we get a new Palpatine and a brand new Plagueis as part of the deal. But whatever it takes to get a Plagueis to add to my Sith shelves is fine with me.
In the Star Wars universe, the bad guys are often more interesting than the good guys, and, for me, this is especially true of the Sith and the Jedi. I want more Sith, and I can’t think of a character more deserving than Darth Plagueis.
What do you think? Would you be interested in a 6-inch Darth Plagueis as part of the Black Series? Sound off below!
