Those of you who have seen the Star Wars probably recognize only handful of Sith and maybe have heard of the Rule of Two established by Darth Bane long before events of the first movie. This concept says that at any time only two Sith lords can exist, master to embody the power of the dark side, and an apprentice to crave it.
Jedi and Sith both draw power from the Force but each utilize different kind of the Force. Jedi, often seen and proclaimed keepers of peace, draw on the Light side of the Force. Trying to live in harmony with all living things they use the Force to defend the weak, heal wounds their ultimate goal is to become one with the Force you could compare it to achieving Nirvana. They do not see the Force as a tool Sith on the other hand want to exploit the Force use it for their own needs and command it by their will. Dark side of the Force from which Sith draw their power is empowered by emotions. They use the Force to devastate foes and destroy anything standing in their way to become the most powerful. Although they have different goals they have same origin and could not exist without the other because for light to exist there must be darkness and vice versa. There must be balance between the Light and Dark side otherwise the Force will always try to maintain this balance, example of this could be Anakin Skywalker- child without a father.
I will try to explain the most important milestones in Sith history from the first Exiled Jedi to Darth Bane’s Rule of Two. This concept and its consequences are quite difficult, therefore I will write another article about it.
Sith or Sith purebloods originally were not the people that we imagine as Sith. They were a rare species in galaxy with red or crimson skin and fleshy tendrils hanging from their face. Having their own empire located outside of the main galactic core they were mostly unknown in galaxy but in a way the Republic didn’t want to see them. They were brute and had strong connection to the Dark side. Their society was divided into four castes- priests, warriors, engineers and slaves.
Sith order was created by humans that were formally Jedi. Thousands of years before the first movie there was a period called Hundred-years Darkness in which Jedi, disgusted or tired of the Jedi order rules, waged war against their formal brothers, the Jedi that decided to stay with the order. After many skirmishes the Jedi order won the war and exiled the surviving dark Jedi in uncharted space. But the exiles had knowledge of the Sith and were heading straight there. When they arrived with their lightsabers they were worshiped as gods. Sith admired power and the exiles, one of the best former Jedi in the Republic, conquered their empire and created a new one.
Around 5000 years before events of the first movie
Sith empire invaded the unprepared Republic and Great Hyperspace War began. Sith lords commanding the invasion were Naga Shadow and Ludo Kressh. At first the Sith were winning but when the Republic and Jedi regrouped the Sith empire was almost destroyed. Jedi order seeing the threat the Sith were decided to purge whole galaxy of them so they tracked and killed almost every Sith. But during this war one very clever Sith lord named Tenebrae, known as the Emperor, survived. He used an old Sith ritual and become immortal by sucking life force and the Force it self from all living things on his home planet Nathema. In secrecy he created new Sith empire with many major and minor Sith lords. He intrigued mandalorians to attack the Republic. Jedi Revan, tired by council’s decision not to interact, led the Jedi and the Republic to victory. With his friend Malak he traveled to uncharted space discovering the Sith empire. Unfortunately they were corrupted by the Emperor to attack the Republic. Revan turned back to the Light side thanks to powerful Jedi Bastila Shan which became his wife later on.
4000 years before the movie
Around 1000 years later the Sith empire attacked the Republic again. Coruscant, capital planet of the Republic, was invaded by Sith and Jedi temple destroyed. But the Republic weakened by Dark Jedi uprising couldn’t protect all the worlds so Sith managed to capture some of the systems.
For 3000 years, after defeat of the Emperor, the Sith empire was divided between different Sith lords each proclaiming he is the true leader of the Sith. There was lot of infighting and in coclusion everyone was attacking everyone.
1000 years before the movie
Then Sith lord Kaan united what was left of the Sith empire and formed the Brotherhood of Darkness. He saw infighting destroying the Empire so he united hundreds Sith to kill all the Jedi. During his reign powerful man was admitted to order later known as Darth Bane creator of the Rule of Two. But unexpectedly after Sith conquered insignificant planet Ruusan enormous army of Jedi, the Army of Light led by general Hoth, attacked them. Bane didn’t agreed with the way Kaan wanted to destroy Jedi he thought once attacked they will always unite they have to be destroyed in secrecy from inside. He discovered an ancient ritual Thought bomb and tricked Kaan into using this abomination destroying almost every Sith and one hundred Jedi including general Hoth.
After destroying the order Bane created a concept called Rule of Two. First rule of the Sith is kill or be killed strong kill the weak. In large number the underlings can unite to kill stronger foe, therefore power is united and the order is weakened. By setting the number of Sith to two in any given time there can be only master and an apprentice the order will grow stronger as in duel between the master and the apprentice only stronger shall survive. More about that later.
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