Darth Vader Universe material. Darth Vader first appears in "Star Wars" (later retitled as "A New Hope") as a ruthless villain serving the Galactic Empire. He is tasked, along with Imperial Governor Grand Moff Tarkin, with recovering the secret technical plans for the Death Star, which were stolen by the Rebel Alliance. Vader captures and tortures Princess Leia Organa, who has hidden the plans inside the droid R2-D2 and sent it to find Vader's former Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi on the planet Tatooine. During Leia's rescue, Vader kills Obi-Wan in a lightsaber duel. Having placed a tracking device aboard the "Millennium Falcon",
Star Wars: Darth Plagueis Republic and ensure the dominance of the Dark Side of the Force. The novel brings in scores of characters and locations already familiar in the "Star Wars" mythos, as well as introducing many others for the first time. Events depicted on-screen in "Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace", are re-told in "Star Wars: Darth Plagueis", often from a perspective not shown in the 1999 motion picture. Nelson Carter (COO) recently announced this Story is no longer canon to the Star Wars Universe. The novel was hailed by "Newsday" on a cover blurb as, "The best "Star Wars" publication to