The book assembled a group of philosophical and journalistic writings by various dark siders spanning from writings by Palpatine himself, all the way back to the Second Great Schism nearly 7,000 years prior. Besides Sidious, authors included Sorzus Syn of the old Sith Empire, Darth Malgus of the reconstituted Sith Empire, founder of the Order of the Sith Lords Darth Bane, Nightsisters leader Mother Talzin, and Sidious' own master, Darth Plagueis.
As a result of Operation: Knightfall, which saw the Jedi Temple's occupants and stewards executed as traitors to the Republic, the Archives were opened to Sidious' exploration. It was in the ruins of the Temple that he uncovered many of these ancient documents, and compiled them into a single volume.
Each of the documents had marginal notes hand-written by the various people who held them over time. These included Yoda, Mace Windu, Quinlan Vos, Count Dooku, and Asajj Ventress. Sidious added his own marginalia after assembling the documents into the book, and Darth Vader made his own notes after being made to study the texts by Sidious.
In 24 ABY, the book was rediscovered by Luke Skywalker amid the ruins of the Emperor's storehouses of Mount Tantiss on Wayland, after stumbling upon a chamber that, until that year remained hidden.
Rather than turn it over to the New Republic Historical Council when he discovered it, Skywalker took the book into his own possession. He feared it may have contained dangerous secrets which could not be made public, and kept it for study before deciding on its fate. Besides Skywalker, the only other individuals aware of his discovery were his wife, former Emperor's Hand Mara Jade Skywalker, and his sister Leia Organa Solo. He did, however, implement page numbers into the text and put them into chronological order for the New Republic Intelligence Service's reference, as part of a favor for Wedge Antilles and his wife, Iella Wessiri Antilles of the NRI wanting to review the book.
These pages are from the chronicle of Sorzus Syn, a Dark Jedi survivor of the Second Great Schism who was among the exiles who first arrived on Korriban after being exiled from Republic space.
She details her encounters with and opinions of the Sith Pureblood species, her experiments in alchemy, and the origins of the old Sith Empire.
During the Outer Rim campaigns in the opening years of the Great Galactic War, Darth Malgus kept a journal to record his thoughts and experiences. These pages recall some of his struggles in the first years of the war.
There is only two; one to embody the power, and the other to crave it. Some time after the end of the New Sith Wars and Darth Bane's foundation of the Rule of Two, he collected philosophies that would guide the Sith Order for the next thousand years, entitling his work The Rule of Two.
Wild Power, an instructional manual by Mother Talzin exploring the Nightsisters' use of the dark side and their role as dark side mercenaries in the galaxy.
A scientific journal by Darth Plagueis with notes about his experimentation with and manipulation of the Force.
Darth Sidious's manifesto, Absolute Power, about the philosophy and political manipulation that marked his rise to power and established his Empire.
- Note from Luke Skywalker
- Scrap of a Sith burial shroud
- Coruscant battle map from the Great Galactic War
- Diagram detailing Palpatine's political strategies during the Clone Wars
- Propaganda poster for the Galactic Empire
- Sith lightsaber crystal
- Nightsister talisman
- Book of Sith: Secrets from the Dark Side