Heinsnake plot The Heinsnake plot was an event that occurred in the early stages of the Imperial Period . Background . For generations there was a cult of dark side sorcerers wielding magic that rivaled that of even a Sith Lord ' s . They had been believed by the Sith to have died out by the time of the Clone Wars years later . The plot . Assassination attempt . After the Declaration of a New Order and the creation of the Galactic Empire in 19 BBY , Darth Vader had killed the son of a wealthy industrialist , which led to the industrialist to arrange a hit on Darth Vader as revenge , sending nine assassins to kill Vader , with all but one being killed by Vader . Shortly thereafter , Vader narrowly foiled an assassination attempt on Emperor Palpatine . When summoned by the Emperor , the Sith commander unexpectedly Force pushed Palpatine away and then Force pushed his throne out of the window , due to the throne having a bomb planted underneath . The explosion was great enough to severely damage most of the office , even from a distance . Vader then proceeded to kill the two Royal Guards standing near the throne for failing to protect the Emperor by throwing them out of the window , as well , although not before making clear that they deserved to die slowly and he only shoved them out of the window because he couldn ' t afford the time to do that approach . He then berated the rest of the guards when they subsequently entered the room . After the guards accepted responsibility for their failure to protect the Emperor , Vader , after beheading two of the guards for failing to kneel , then proceeded to assign two to stand guard over Palpatine , two to accompany himself , and one to cover up the assassination attempt from the public . Afterwards , the group discovered the party responsible to be the Heinsnake cult , after encountering a member on a tavern off - world that blew himself up to prevent any intel being revealed about their motives . This action also prevented the ninth assassin from moving in close to attack Vader . Palpatine , realizing the threat the cult posed to both his reign and the survival of the Sith Order , ordered Vader to locate and vanquish the cult . Vader was then sent out with two Royal Guards on a Theta - class shuttle to locate the cult near a moon . Meanwhile , a cultist saboteur with a homing beacon infiltrated an Imperial " Venator " - class Star Destroyer in orbit of an unknown moon and used a very powerful energy beam from the moon to destroy the Star Destroyer . Investigating the moon . Upon arrival at the coordinates , the Royal Guards and Vader were shocked to discover the destroyed " Venator " - class Star Destroyer in orbit . Vader then requested to bring him in close to the doomed Star Destroyer , but the Royal Guards protested that it was unsafe to land the shuttle on the wreck . Undeterred , Vader exited the ship via the airlock , using his magnetic boots to traverse the ship . Upon inspecting the ship , he deduced that the ship was taken out by a gigantic blast , although despite this the ship had surprisingly few bodies accounted for , indicating that most of the crew had evacuated from the vessel . Upon more searching through the vessel ' s wreck , he eventually found the datalog terminal and patched the logs through to the Royal Guards , also requesting he be picked up " where he was dropped off . " Upon reviewing the logs , the Royal Guards were shocked at the magnitude of the blast that destroyed the Star Destroyer , noting that it had far more power output than any of the Imperial Army ' s functional weapons . They traced the point of origin of the blast to the moon from the logs , also learning that the Heinsnake cult was responsible as well from the Captain ' s entry . Vader and the Royal Guards then sought out the evacuation landing point , hoping to find the crew alive so they could find out more about the Heinsnake Cult ' s plot against the Emperor . However , by the time they arrived at the landing point , all they could find were abandoned vessels , with Vader suspecting that the crew had been eaten by the native wildlife . Suddenly , Vader and the Royal guards were ambushed by a giant beast . One of the guards ended up squished by the creature , although Vader threw his lightsaber at it , killing it . Vader and the remaining Royal guard then arrived at the temple that was suspected to be the origin of the blast . However , they were tailed by the ninth assassin , with the guard being silently killed by the assassin . Vader then entered the temple , but deduced that he was being followed . He eventually encountered the Heinsnake cultists on the moon , and learned their history and motives . The elder cultist then lured Vader over to the basis , and mentioned it was only enough for him to peer into the basis . Vader then had vines cover him , and he then envisions himself defeating Obi Wan Kenobi and Palpatine with ease , as well as his bearing the Heinsnake cult ' s logo in place of his chest box computer of his life - support armor . The elder told to Vader their history and beliefs , almong this the prophetizated coming of a black - armored leader that will guide the cult to glory ; the elder explained that they believed that Vader was this warrior , and all the plot was instrumental to lured Vader in their temple , and offered their allegiance in killing Palpatine and destroying the Empire . Vader however refused and slaughtered all the cultists , ending the cult . Later as Vader was exiting the temple , he met and finally dueled the assassin , who was defeated , and some time later made a " visit " to the assassin ' s mandant , as well as delivered the crystal to Tarkin for the Death Star and visited the industrialist as well . In the end Palpatine revealed to Vader that he knew all that transpired and had arranged everything as a test of loyality for Vader , even permitting the tentative assassination of himself .