Werth Plouth, known as "The Herald," was a Nautolan male who was one of the leaders of the Path of the Open Hand cult during the High Republic Era. Formerly the leader of the cult before the arrival of the prophet known as the Mother, he was married to Opari Plouth and was the father of Kor Plouth. The Herald's appearance was distinctive due to his physical size and severed head tresses.
Around 382 BBY, he traveled to the Holy City on Jedha with the Path where they purchased and operated a healing house. Executing the plan Plouth had concocted with Elecia Zeveron beforehand, he went to address the Convocation of the Force, where he called for the immediate disbandment of the Convocation in order to preserve the "sanctity of the Force." When they refused without discussion, he proposed the alternative option of temporarily banning any usage of the Force until he provided proof that using it had massive negative repercussions, but they also refused this request without further discussion. After leaving the Convocation Chambers, he spewed rhetoric against the Convocation and the Jedi Order to a gathered crowd, convincing them that the council would not listen to reason and that they only sought to serve themselves, not the Force, sparking a riot that led to the breakout of the Battle of Jedha. While Plouth and a group of his associates were stealing the Rod of Daybreak from a vault inside the Final Protector, he combined the stolen rod with the Rod of Seasons to command the Great Leveler to kill Jedi Master Leebon. He also stabbed Oliviah Zeveron with her own lightsaber, severely injuring her. He was eventually captured and arrested for his role in starting the battle and the killing of Master Leebon. He was held in the Temple of the Kyber.
Following the battle the Mother framed Plouth to be a traitor, betraying the path and acting on his own will rather than on the paths or the Mother’s bidding, insisting he was consumed by a lust for greed and power, embodying the opposite of what the path sought to be, even appealing to him personally to take responsibility and show the galaxy the he is sorry for what he has done. By framing Plouth the Mother hoped to redirect blame from the path, finding another scapegoat instead.
Yana Ro, intent on freeing Plouth, managed to infiltrate the Temple of the Kyber and entered Plouth's holding cell with Feric Oranalli and the Rod of Daybreak. After the Herald managed to convince Oranalli that he was going to take responsibility for his crimes, Oranalli trusted him enough to hand the Rod of Daybreak to Plouth for him to demonstrate its powers. As soon as Plouth got a hold of the rod he stabbed Oranalli with the artifact, killing him. With the help of Yana Ro he escaped the Temple of the Kyber, returning to Dalna afterwards.
Because the Mother framed him as a traitor, Plouth, not knowing what the sentiment towards him was among the Path members, initially kept his return to Dalna a secret, hiding in an old abandoned barn at the edge of Ferdan where Yana Ro would visit him occasionally and report the current state the Path and his wife Opari were in to him. He instructed Yana to spread the lie that he died trying to escape confinement on Jedha. While Yana was delivering one of her reports to Plouth, they were discovered by Matthea Cathley igniting a short confrontation ending with the Jedi and the two Path members forging a temporary alliance to investigate the Mother. However the alliance fell apart quickly when a ship with additional Jedi landed in Ferdan, resulting in Plouth returning to the Path compound, warning it from the imminent arrival of Jedi on Path territory.
Upon his return to the Path he blamed the Mother for everything that had happened on Jedha and after, declaring her a false prophet and trying to claim her spot as rightfully his again. This however failed as he was interrupted by Marda Ro who went on to declare the Path of the Closed Fist. Plouth seized the opportunity, declaring his allegiance to the newly proclaimed Path of the Closed Fist, regaining his position of power without having to explain himself and rallying the path members for the coming Battle of Dalna. He also denounced her now former ally, Yana Ro, who did not pledge her allegiance to the Path of the Closed Fist.
During the Battle of Dalna Plouth fought alongside his fellow Path members, fighting with a Flechette launcher that launched streams of Durasteel darts. Eventually he was overwhelmed and taken prisoner by the Jedi Oliviah Zeveron, Matthea Cathley and Azlin Rell. Azlin Rell used the Force to retrieve information about the Rod of Power and Marda Ro wielding it from Plouth. Shortly after, he guided the Jedi to the last place he had seen Marda, eventually ending up in the listening chambers of the Mother. Upon finding out she had been Force-sensitive all along, using the Force to influence beings around her, Plouth attacked her. After a brief fight, the Mother managed to get hold of a lightsaber, igniting it, killing him instantly.
- Star Wars: The High Republic: Chronicles of the Jedi
- Star Wars: The High Republic Character Encyclopedia