I've been a long time reader of this site, but this is my first post. So I apologize if this has already been discussed. The first time I read the novel "Tarkin," I thought there was a curious number of references to Darth Plagueis. I would guess there were probably five or six times James Luceno mentioned him. Luceno wrote the 2012 novel Darth Plagueis, which is now non-canon, so it is foreseeable that he wanted to canonize content from the book, some of which was. Notably, Plagueis's species was not canonized; his droid was though. I am re-reading Tarkin, and something Luceno wrote really piqued my interest. In the first reference to Plagueis, Luceno writes that Sidious got the droid 11-4D from Plagueis after Plagueis's death. It does not say how Plagueis died or that he was murdered, but the last clause of the excerpt about Plagueis states "...though in several different guises." The context is that Sidious got 11-4D after Plagueis's death, "though in several different guises." I am confident the clause does not refer to 11-4D, because the droid is described a few sentences earlier. I am intrigued by what that phrase is supposed to mean. "Guises" is a fairly common word, but in my opinion it could imply that Plagueis is not dead, or that there was several different theories about it. In the non-canon Darth Plagueis, it was clear how he died. Obviously Palpatine got away with it, but it was my understanding that Sidious hit Plagueis's respirator with Force lightning so it would appear to be natural causes. Did anyone else notice this? Does anyone else have a different take on it than I do? Incidentally, I don't know whether I think Snoke is Plagueis. We have the 1983 comments from the director of ROTJ who said that after talking to Lucas about Episodes 7-9, that we would be introduced to a "supreme intellect" in those episodes. If Disney followed this story, then I think Snoke is Plagueis. If not, I don't. I don't think The Operator from Aftermath is Snoke; I think he is more likely Brendol Hux, General Hux's dad. If Snoke is Plagueis, I think we will be introduced to the concept akin to Anakin's father being dead "from a certain point of view." In other words, Sidious killed Plagueis in his sleep "from a certain point of view." I think Plagueis was not happy with the Rule of Two, and wanted to do away with it. Is it at all possible that Plagueis and Sidious conspired to fake Plagueis's death in order to create insurance in the event Sidious dies and leaves the Empire leaderless. I have a hard time believing Sidious's ego would allow this, but I get the impression that we would be introduced to Plagueis in a way like that. I would appreciate any comments or discussion you guys are willing to have. Thanks!
There is an interesting argument fight mass brawl discussion over on the ST boards about who Plagueis is. Yeah, and several of your points have been raised on countless theories. Think someone posted a YouTube video on the "disguise" theory.
listening to the Plagueis audio book and I am already confused by how the opening scene murder of Plagueis takes place because it does not seem like he was just killed in his sleep. is that partly what you're referring to? I'm probably 8 hours deep into the audiobook. Very glad that some of this is canonized by Luceno.
The later murder scene explains it better: "Crackling from his fingertips, a web of blue lightning ground itself on the Muun’s breathing device. Plagueis’s eyes snapped open, the Force gathering in him like a storm, but he stopped short of defending himself. This being who had survived assassinations and killed countless opponents merely gazed at Sidious, until it struck him that Plagueis was challenging him! Confident that he couldn’t be killed, and in denial that he was slowly suffocating, he might have been simply experimenting with himself, actually courting death to put it in its place. Momentarily taken aback, Sidious stood absolutely still. Was Plagueis so self-deluded as to believe that he had achieved immortality." Check out this book on the iBooks Store: https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/darth-plagueis-star-wars/id438096458?mt=11" It's my reading that Plagueis fell into a drunken stupor after the opera the night before Palpatine was elected Supreme Chancellor; Palpatine then hit Plagueis with Force lightning while Plagueis was in said stupor; Plagueis awoke but Palpatine's onslaught had already begun, and a mix of Force lightning and Force choking killed him.
