Star Wars fans just realising Darth Plagueis was lurking in Phantom Menace this whole time

Star Wars fans realise that Darth Plagueis may have been lurking within the shadows in The Phantom Menace all along.

Considering he’s someone that we’ve barely ever seen, at least in live-action form, Darth Plagueis, the former master of Emperor Palpatine, aka Darth Sidious, he’s one of the most powerful and infamous villains of Star Wars lore.

Darth Plagueis was a Sith Lord who had an obsession with immortality. Due to his strong connection with the dark side of the Force and being able to manipulate midi-chlorians, it’s said that he had the power to create life from unnatural conception.

I am about to reveal a spoiler for the final episode of The Acolyte, so consider this to be your spoiler warning. That being said, The Acolyte has been cancelled after just one season, but still.

Towards the end of the final episode of The Acolyte, we see the infamous Darth Sidious rear his ugly head from the shadows of a cave, and he is revealed to be the mentor of The Stranger.

This would be the only time that we’d see Darth Plagueis in live-action form, and there’s no telling whether or not he might return in a new Star Wars series, unrelated to The Acolyte.

However, it’s been revealed that while not visible, it’s claimed that he had a behind-the-scenes influence in Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace.

“When was Darth Plagueis' death during The Phantom Menace?” asked Redditor RickyPlaysG. “I know it's debated if Darth Plagueis died in Episode I or years before.”

“In the Darth Plagueis book by Luceno (now Legends), he died at the same time as Maul, or maybe Qui-Gon Jinn, but definitely during the ‘Duel of the Fates’. A pivotal force moment and all,” replied Novel-Midnight7271.

“If you're following the now non-canonical novel, by James Luceno, Plagueis died during Episode I, the night Palpatine was elected Supreme Chancellor,” added Big_Palpy.

“Reading between the lines from what Palpatine sensed in the Force immediately after killing his master, it very likely happened at the same time that Maul was bisected.”

While Star Wars Legends is considered to be non-canonical, with Emperor Palpatine having killed his former master, Darth Plaguesis, it makes sense that we would do that, especially if he wanted to become the most powerful Sith Lord in the galaxy.

What's more, it’s the Sith way to kill a mentor to move up the ranks (so to speak), so the theory of Emperor Palpatine killing Darth Plaguesis during the events of The Phantom Menace checks out.

Hopefully, The Acolyte won't be the last and only time we’ll see Darth Plaguesis, because he has so many interesting live-action stories to tell.