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Sith

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For other uses, see Sith (disambiguation).

The Sith are a group of characters in the fictional Star Wars universe.[1] They are the central antagonists of the franchise. Characterized by their single-minded lust for power and disdain for sentient life, they are an alliance of warrior priests who use the dark side of the Force and serve as counterparts to the Jedi Knights.[2]

The Sith are portrayed negatively in various Star Wars media as individuals who use the dark side to attain power at any cost. The Star Wars prequel films establish that they draw upon strong emotions, both negative and positive, as the source of their power, and care only about themselves. This is in contrast to the Jedi, who are portrayed as forsaking emotional attachment in order to serve others and the galaxy as a whole.

In their later history, members of the Order receive the ceremonial title of "Darth" to signify their membership into the Order.

Film use

The first use of the word "Sith" is in the Star Wars novelization for Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope, as a title for Darth Vader, the "Dark Lord of the Sith." The Sith are introduced on-screen with the prequel film Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace, where the order is represented by Darth Sidious and Darth Maul.

Depiction

The Master of the Sith Order throughout the movies was Darth Sidious, also known as Senator/Chancellor/Emperor Palpatine (played by Ian McDiarmid). Sidious' apprentices, also known as Dark Lords of the Sith included Darth Maul in Episode I (played by Ray Park and voiced by Peter Serafinowicz), Darth Tyranus (Count Dooku) in Episodes II and III (played by Christopher Lee), and Darth Vader in Episodes III through VI (played by Hayden Christensen and David Prowse and voiced by James Earl Jones).

Origin

The Sith ruled over an ancient interstellar empire which flourished some 7000 years before the events in Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope. The Sith order originated when a group of rogue Jedi left the order and rebelled. The Jedi eventually stopped them, but due to their beliefs, the Jedi sent them into deep space on a prison ship rather than executing them. The ship crashed on the then-undiscovered planet of Korriban, where they found a race of Force-using reptillian sentients known as the Sith. Though the rogue Jedi were unfamiliar with the Siths' powers, they easily conquered the planet and proclaimed themselves the rulers of the Sith, hence the title "Sith Lord".

Though they worked the Sith to extinction building their empire, the Sith Lords, through their descendents, were eventually able to get off of Korriban and retaliate against the Jedi, setting off the Great Hyperspace War. Though it is not known where or when the "Darth" title came from, it was speculated that it is derived from the Rakatan word "Daritha", meaning "ruler" or "emperor"[3]. The ancient Sith Lords had warred for centuries, and their common order - the New Sith Order - reflected this factionalism prior to Lord Kaan's unification of the warring Lords into the Brotherhood of Darkness.

After the collapse of the Sith Empire, the Sith order again degenerated into factional conflict, culminating in the cataclysmic Battle of Ruusan (which occurred 6000 years after the empire, or 1000 years before the events of A New Hope). As a result of this battle, the Brotherhood of Darkness was utterly destroyed--not by the Jedi, but by Bane himself (in order to instigate his "Rule of Two"), via a suicidal thought bomb. [4]

In the battle's aftermath came the reforms of Darth Bane. From a Sith holocron left behind by Darth Revan on the Rakatan planet of Lehon, in the Temple of the Ancients, Bane came to realize that the greater the Sith's numbers, the more self-destructive they tended to become (as opposed to the Jedi, who due to their collective nature, had no problems with civil war). On the other hand, the historical pairings of Exar Kun/Ulic Qel-Droma and Darth Revan/Darth Malak proved quite effective.

Bane thus instituted the "Rule of Two" which stipulates that only two Sith Lords may exist at a time: a Master and an apprentice. Two there should be; a master and an apprentice. One to embody the power, the other to crave it. The Sith apprentice becomes the Master only once his own Master dies, either by accident, natural causes, or the apprentice's own hand.[5] At this point, the new Sith Master will eventually seek out his own apprentice, and the cycle begins again. (Bane's own apprentice was Darth Zannah.)

The Jedi Order did not know of the continued existence of the Sith until the appearance of Darth Maul in Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace. Nonetheless, Master Yoda was already aware of the Rule of Two at that time, something of which the Jedi had been informed by the Dark Jedi Kibh Jeen 156 years earlier.[6]

Darth Maul was the apprentice of Palpatine/Darth Sidious, who had himself been the apprentice of Darth Plagueis the Wise.[7] After Maul's death, Sidious took the former Jedi Count Dooku as his new apprentice, giving him the name "Darth Tyranus". Sidious' plan was to eventually use Dooku as the victim of Anakin's fall to the dark side (in the words of the Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith novelization by Matthew Stover) and convince Anakin to join the Sith as his apprentice and heir apparent.

Prequel trilogy

The predations of Darth Sidious (Palpatine's Sith alter ego) and Darth Maul indicate the presence of the Sith in Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace. Meanwhile, Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jinn inadvertently meets Anakin Skywalker, a nine-year-old slave; Qui-Gon soon becomes convinced that the boy is the "Chosen One" of Jedi prophecy who is destined to "restore balance to the Force".

After killing Qui-Gon, Darth Maul dies at the hands of the Jedi's apprentice Obi-Wan Kenobi. But the Sith ultimately emerge victorious; Palpatine is elected to the office of Supreme Chancellor of the Galactic Republic, and sets his sights on making Anakin his new apprentice.

In Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones former Jedi Master Count Dooku is Palpatine's new Sith apprentice and re-named as Darth Tyranus. Dooku starts the separatist Confederacy of Independent Systems (CIS), which threatens the unstable Republic. A motion made in the Senate by Representative Jar Jar Binks, who was sent by Senator Padme Amidala, grants the Chancellor vast emergency powers - an idea planted in Jar Jar's head by the Chancellor himself. When the Jedi discover the threat, the Clone Wars begin with a battle to rescue captured Jedi on Geonosis.

As depicted in the animated series Star Wars: Clone Wars and myriad Expanded Universe novels, many Jedi lose their lives at the hands of the Separatists and their military leader, General Grievous. Throughout, the Jedi suspect that the war is part of a Sith plot to destroy the Jedi.

In Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith, they learn too late that their fears are correct; Palpatine reveals himself as Darth Sidious and manages to corrupt Anakin into becoming his apprentice. Being promised the safety of his wife, Anakin succumbs to the temptation and becomes Darth Vader. Leading the Republic's clone troopers to exterminate the Jedi, under the directive of "Order 66". Sidious then turns the Republic into the tyrannical Galactic Empire and appoints himself Emperor for life, effectively placing the galaxy under Sith control.

Original trilogy

Beginning in Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope, the Rebel Alliance arises to threaten the Empire's unchallenged sovereignty, and surviving Jedi Obi-Wan Kenobi and Yoda make plans to thwart the Sith utilizing their greatest hope, Luke Skywalker, the son of Anakin, who begins his Jedi training under Kenobi. In the film's climactic battle scene, the Rebels destroy the Empire's Death Star superweapon, and both Palpatine and Vader become aware of the young man's identity. Both Sith Lords hope to corrupt Luke to the dark side.

In Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi, Luke, by now having nearly completed his training under Yoda, nearly succumbs to the dark side when Palpatine and Vader threaten to kill his friends in the Rebellion. He pulls away from the brink at the last minute, however, and proudly declares his allegiance to the Jedi. The Emperor then tortures Luke with Force lightning. His son's suffering and pleas for help free Anakin Skywalker from the dark side's grip. Anakin throws his former master down the newly constructed second Death Star's reactor shaft, thus fulfilling the Jedi prophecy. While disposing of the emperor, however, Anakin subjects himself to the full force of the Emperor's lightning. Mortally wounded by the Emperor's assault, the redeemed Anakin Skywalker dies a few minutes later.

Expanded Universe

The Star Wars series' "Expanded Universe" of novels, comic books, and video games flesh out the Sith as characters, providing them with an extensive backstory.

Pre-Phantom Menace

The video game Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords explains that early dark-side users, cast out by the Jedi, intermarried with the species known as Sith, native to the planet Korriban. By the time depicted in the game, a handful of Jedi have defected from the Order of the Jedi to form their own group dedicated to the dark side. The Sith use the same powers as the Jedi with the exception that they also use certain powers banned by the Jedi Council.

In the comic book Tales of the Jedi: The Golden Age of the Sith, set five thousand years before The Clone Wars, the Sith rule an isolated part of the galaxy, calling themselves the "Sith Empire". The empire is unstable, however; its two most powerful Sith Lords, Ludo Kressh and Naga Sadow, throw the galaxy into chaos as they fight each other for supremacy. By the end of the sequel, The Fall of the Sith Empire, their power struggle effectively destroys the empire from within.

In The Phantom Menace, Yoda explains that the Sith exist only two at a time — one master and one apprentice, an idea which is explored in the Expanded Universe novels Darth Bane: Path of Destruction and Darth Bane: Rule of Two.

These novels explain that, one thousand years before the Phantom Menace, the Sith are equal to the Jedi in number, but are too focused on fighting each other for power to unite against the Jedi. The title character solves that problem by exterminating the entire Order, save himself and apprentice Darth Zannah, and instituting the "Rule of Two": "Only two shall there be, a master and an apprentice: one to embody power and the other to crave it."[8] Central to this rule is that the apprentice desires to one day overthrow the master, thus taking on his/her own apprentice and perpetuating the Order.

Post-Return of the Jedi

The Sith also appear in various "Expanded Universe" material set after the Empire's destruction in Return of the Jedi. Palpatine reappears in the comic books Dark Empire, and Empire's End, and Vader's former minion Lumiya is a main antagonist in the Marvel Comics Star Wars stories and the Legacy of the Force series. In the latter, she convinces Jacen Solo to learn the ways of the Sith. Solo (who is Anakin Skywalker's grandson) becomes the Sith Lord Darth Caedus, partly to restore the galaxy to order in light of a new civil war.

In the comic book series Star Wars: Legacy, set 130 years after Return of the Jedi, the Sith (led by former Jedi A'Sharad Hett, now Darth Krayt) once again defeat the Jedi and take control of the galaxy. Their one opponent is Anakin and Luke Skywalker's descendant, Cade, who had previously renounced his connection to the Force.

Powers and abilities

In addition to dark side aligned force powers, the Sith have the ability to use their own magic as well as their own brand of alchemy.

References

  1. ^ The Sith, Expanded Universe. Starwars.com, Lucasfilm. Last accessed 2007-11-25.
  2. ^ The Sith. Starwars.com, Lucasfilm. Last accessed 2007-11-25.
  3. ^ The Tales of the Jedi series.
  4. ^ "Bane of the Sith", Kevin J. Anderson, Star Wars Gamer #3 (2001)
  5. ^ The Dark Side sourcebook, Wizards of the Coast, 1st printing, 2001. Bill Slavicsek, J. D. Wiker, ISBN 0-7869-1849-7
  6. ^ The New Essential Chronology, 2005. Daniel Wallace, ISBN 0-345-49053-3
  7. ^ Darth Sidious. Starwars.com, Lucasfilm. Last accessed 2009-05-09.
  8. ^ Darth Bane Path of Destruction


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