Order of the Sith Lords

A Human male Sith Lord known as Bane established the Order of the Sith Lords around one thousand years before the Battle of Yavin. Bane, initially a member of the Brotherhood of Darkness, distinguished himself from his peers by delving deeply into the ancient Sith Lords' secrets to augment his knowledge and power. His investigations led him to believe that the Brotherhood was a distorted version of the Sith, essentially a copy of their mortal adversaries, the Jedi Order. Disillusioned and contemptuous of the Brotherhood, Bane journeyed to the planet Lehon, where he discovered the holocron of Darth Revan. The ancient Dark Lord of the Sith inspired Bane. Revan's philosophy on the dark side of the Force revealed the power and discipline that Bane believed a Sith should possess, qualities he felt had been lost within the Brotherhood of Darkness.

Upon adopting the name Darth Bane, the newly proclaimed Dark Lord of the Sith became even more convinced that the Brotherhood could never defeat the Jedi Order. He believed that a radical transformation of the Sith was necessary, one that required the Brotherhood's destruction. During the Seventh Battle of Ruusan, Bane betrayed the Brotherhood to the Jedi, enabling the Republic to dispatch crucial reinforcements to the struggling Army of Light. Consequently, the final battle of the New Sith Wars concluded with the Jedi Order and the Galactic Republic victorious. With the exception of Bane, all members of the Brotherhood were annihilated by the thought bomb, an ancient Sith technique unleashed by the Sith's own leader, Lord Kaan.

With the Brotherhood's destruction, the galaxy widely believed the Sith to be extinct. Darth Bane did nothing to dispel this notion, believing that as long as the Jedi remained convinced that the Sith could never return, he was free to proceed with his plans to establish a new Sith Order. His work began shortly after discovering a Force-sensitive Human female child on Ruusan. Sensing her potential in the Force, Bane took the orphaned Zannah as his Sith apprentice. Throughout Zannah's training, Bane not only instilled in her a devotion to the ancient tenets of the Sith Code but also introduced her to his own modifications, which were incorporated into the new Sith philosophy. In contrast to the thousands admitted into the former Brotherhood of Darkness, the Order of the Sith Lords only allowed two members: a Master, embodying the dark side's power, and an apprentice, the disciple aspiring to that power. This creed, known as the Rule of Two, became the cornerstone of Bane's Sith Order. Its primary objective, as envisioned by Bane, was to prevent the Sith from being destabilized by the ambitions and intrigues of too many members. Furthermore, Bane wanted the dark side's power to be concentrated in just two individuals, believing that its power was finite and had been diluted among the Brotherhood's numerous members.

The Rule of Two also ensured the Sith's continued survival by mandating that the Order operate in secrecy. Bane believed that limiting membership to just two Sith Lords would allow him to conceal his machinations from the Jedi. While he fully believed in the dark side's power, he also recognized that two Sith Lords could never defeat the entire Jedi Order in a direct confrontation. Instead of openly challenging the Jedi through martial means, the Dark Lord concluded that the Sith's rise to power would be better achieved through cunning, stealth, subterfuge, and—borrowing a virtue from their enemies—patience.

Together, Darth Bane and Darth Zannah worked steadily toward their organization's ultimate goal from their hidden base on the planet Ambria. Besides the Jedi Order, Bane also targeted the Galactic Republic as another victim of the Sith's plot for revenge. However, rather than completely destabilizing the galactic government, the Dark Lord sought to ensure its survival throughout the coming centuries. Given that the Republic unified much of the known galaxy under a single system of government, Bane believed that its collapse would lead to the creation of numerous small, independent states. In Bane's view, destroying these numerous smaller states would be a far more difficult task than overthrowing the Republic's single, large government. Consequently, he dispatched his apprentice on missions aimed at preempting Anti-Republic movements, such as a Separatist movement on Serenno. Through Bane and Zannah's machinations, the Separatists were provoked into launching their insurrection prematurely. Following their failed attempt to kidnap Supreme Chancellor Tarsus Valorum, the Separatist organization was eventually disbanded, and Serenno remained part of the Republic. Simultaneously, Bane and his apprentice also focused on studying Sith magic, learning long-forgotten dark side techniques found in ancient scrolls. This task was largely left to Zannah, as Bane admitted that he had no affinity for such arcane abilities.

Bane's fledgling Order was nearly destroyed when the Jedi Knight Johun Othone convinced the Jedi High Council to investigate the possibility of the Sith's survival. Along with Jedi Master Valenthyne Farfalla, Othone led a Jedi task force to hunt down the resurgent Sith. Tracking Bane and Zannah to Tython, the Jedi attempted to kill both master and apprentice. The Sith ultimately survived the confrontation, but Bane was severely wounded during the fight. Darth Zannah was unwilling to let her Master die, primarily because she felt she had much more to learn from him. She returned to Ambria to seek help from the healer Caleb, whom she believed offered Bane the best chance of survival. However, upon arrival, Caleb refused to help them, even under threat of torture or death. Darovit, Zannah's cousin, offered to persuade Caleb to help Bane, but only if Zannah agreed to surrender herself and Bane to Jedi custody. Zannah agreed to her cousin's terms, and he contacted the Jedi Temple, requesting a team to take custody of the two Sith. However, Zannah had deceived Darovit, pledging to surrender to the Jedi solely to convince him and Caleb to heal Bane's injuries. Once their task was completed, Zannah killed Caleb and used the dark side to drive her cousin insane. The team sent by the Jedi Council arrived to find Darovit utterly consumed by madness. In his madness, he attacked the Jedi task force but was quickly killed. Darovit's behavior led the Jedi to believe that he was the Sith Lord they had been sent to apprehend, driven mad by drawing too heavily on the dark side's power. As such, they believed the Sith menace to be truly extinct at last. This assumption led them to leave Ambria without conducting a more thorough investigation; Zannah and Bane had been hiding, cloaked by the dark side, in the very hut where Darovit had been killed.

When Darth Bane recovered, his apprentice explained how she had manipulated the Jedi Order into believing that the Sith were finally destroyed. Darth Zannah also explained that—despite the risk of discovery and capture—she still needed her Master to complete her training but would not hesitate to kill him as soon as her powers surpassed his. The Dark Lord was pleased by Zannah's ambitions and felt confident in the Sith's future.

By 980 BBY, Bane and Zannah had established a civilian cover on Ciutric IV. Posing as siblings—Sepp and Allia Omek—they lived in a mansion and possessed considerable wealth, acquired from the vast accounts of former Brotherhood member Qordis. Much of this wealth was used to create an extensive network of spies and contacts. However, by this time, Darth Bane's health had begun to deteriorate rapidly due to the harmful side effects of his deep immersion in the dark side of the Force. While unafraid to die, Bane feared for his Sith Order's future. In the ten years since his near-death experience on Tython, Bane had waited for his apprentice to kill him and become the next Dark Lord of the Sith. Yet, Darth Zannah seemed content to serve him or was simply waiting until he was too weak to pose a challenge. Consequently, Bane became obsessed with finding a way to prolong his life to train a new apprentice.

Unbeknownst to Bane, Zannah had decided that the time had come to challenge him and claim the title she had desired for so long. She also decided to select an apprentice in advance, choosing the Dark Jedi Set Harth. However, Harth's selection was a rushed decision; Zannah would have preferred someone more interested in continuing Bane's Sith than a fallen Jedi who cared only about himself. By the time Zannah and her apprentice tracked Bane to Doan, the Dark Lord had discovered information on how to prolong his life. Through the holocron of Darth Andeddu, Bane learned of the ability to transfer his own spirit into another body. Shortly after learning this, Bane was captured by an Iktotchi female known as the Huntress and her small strike team. Employed by Caleb's daughter Serra, the Huntress had brought Bane to Stone Prison on Doan, where Serra intended to kill him, believing he had killed her father. Zannah and Harth arrived on Doan shortly thereafter, with Zannah intending to kill Bane and take his place. Bane managed to escape his captors and encountered Zannah, who accused him of betraying the Rule of Two and attacked him.

During Bane's confrontation with Zannah, the unarmed Bane managed to hold her off long enough to escape. However, Serra, learning of Bane's escape, activated explosives in the prison, intending to collapse it. During the duel, Harth abandoned Zannah and stole Andeddu's holocron. Intending to flee Doan with it, he went to the prison's hangar, where he attempted to steal a ship belonging to the Huntress. She confronted him, and when he attacked her, she pursued him. However, Harth managed to evade her, leading her on a fruitless chase throughout the hangar. Eventually, they called a truce, knowing that the prison was about to collapse and that their confrontation would likely result in both their deaths if they stayed much longer. Reluctantly, the Huntress allowed him to escape just as Bane arrived in the hangar. Realizing through the Force that Bane could give purpose to her meaningless existence, she pledged herself to him. Having been looking for a suitable apprentice, Bane accepted her pledge. The two of them then escaped Doan on the Huntress's ship, setting course for Ambria.

Zannah later tracked Bane to Ambria, the planet where she had vowed to kill him a decade earlier. There, she encountered Bane and the Huntress, who had been renamed Darth Cognus. Unwilling to be denied the position she had prepared for throughout her life, Darth Zannah challenged the Dark Lord to a final duel, which Darth Bane eagerly accepted. Cognus, instructed by Bane on the importance of the Rule of Two, promised not to interfere in the duel and to pledge her allegiance to whoever emerged victorious. The Master and his former apprentice fought as near-equals, but Zannah was outmatched in lightsaber skills and raw power. In desperation, Zannah used her knowledge of Sith magic, tapping into the dark side nexus on Ambria to unleash a wave of dark side tendrils against the Dark Lord. Bane tried to avoid the conjured tendrils, but one grabbed his arm and vaporized it. On the verge of defeat, Bane made one final attempt to thwart his apprentice. Using the knowledge he gained from Darth Andeddu's holocron, Bane released his essence from his body and transferred it into Zannah's, vaporizing his own body in the process.

The duel then became a battle of wills; Zannah's spirit fought to reject Bane's essence and maintain control of her body. The struggle lasted briefly before Darth Zannah overcame her master, expelling him to Chaos. Although Bane had left a slight psychic imprint on her, the being that remained was wholly and unmistakably Zannah. With Bane dead, leadership of his Sith Order passed to Darth Zannah, the new Dark Lord of the Sith. Claiming Darth Cognus as her apprentice, Zannah declared that they were both part of Darth Bane's legacy; the Order of the Sith Lords lived on through them, as did its founder's plot for revenge against the Jedi.

Darth Cognus eventually took her own apprentice, the three-eyed Human mutant Darth Millennial. A staunch believer in Darth Bane's Rule of Two, Cognus found herself in philosophical conflict with her disciple. Millennial believed that the Rule of Two was too restrictive and detrimental to the Sith's growth in power.

The Dark Lord eventually considered Millennial a heretic, an apostate with views contradicting the Rule of Two. She disavowed her apprentice and expelled him from the Order of the Sith Lords. Millennial narrowly escaped his former Master's wrath and later settled on Dromund Kaas, where he founded a splinter Sith group known as the Prophets of the Dark Side and their philosophy, the Dark Force religion. Centuries later, the new Jedi Order assumed that Cognus continued Bane's "lineage" by taking on a new apprentice after her wayward student's disappearance.

The lineage of Darth Bane and Darth Zannah continued unbroken for a millennium, typically through the endless cycle of the Rule of Two. Many Sith Lords after Cognus contributed to the Grand Plan in various ways, usually by integrating into public life or experimenting with the dark side of the Force. One such Sith Lord was Darth Vectivus.

Around 533 BBY, the Sith Lord Darth Gravid rejected the dark side of the Force. He came to believe that the Sith had to become more like the Jedi by embracing the light to survive. His apprentice, Darth Gean, did not share her Master's new beliefs and was appalled by his apparent blasphemy. In line with his new philosophy, Gravid began destroying nearly five hundred years of accumulated Sith lore. Gravid was ultimately killed by Gean, but not before he had managed to destroy most of the artifacts and writings in his fortress. Consequently, many ancient dark side techniques and rituals—including essence transfer—were lost to future dark side practitioners. Though his actions set the Grand Plan back by decades, Gravid's madness had an unintended positive effect on future generations of Sith. By depriving his successors of the essence transfer ritual, he unintentionally eliminated centuries of obsession that distracted the Sith from further developing the Grand Plan and exacting vengeance against the Jedi Order.

Though Darth Gean sustained severe injuries during her confrontation with Gavid, her actions ensured that the Order of the Sith Lords remained true to its tenets and the dark side of the Force. Bane's line continued, eventually producing Darth Ramage, a scientist who preserved his life's work—including the procedure on how to combine the effects of pyronium and bota—in a Sith holocron, designated SD41263.I. The line of Sith Lords proceeded after Ramage's time, eventually leading to the reign of Darth Tenebrous around 167 BBY. His own Master was the Sith Lord who created a wound in the Force, allowing the Jedi to sense the dark side for the first time in centuries. Shortly before killing his Master, Tenebrous theorized that the dark side was merely an energy source to be manipulated, rather than an omnipresent and malevolent mystical force.

In his public persona, Darth Tenebrous was known as Rugess Nome, a celebrated designer of starships. Through the Force, Tenebrous predicted the arrival of a potent darksider, destined to be his apprentice. Consequently, he bore indirect responsibility for the very conception of his apprentice, the Muun Sith Lord Darth Plagueis. Born as Hego Damask, Plagueis's parents were brought together through the machinations of Darth Tenebrous, who sought to ensure the birth of his future protégé. After decades of servitude as an apprentice, Darth Plagueis extinguished his Master's life while Tenebrous was preoccupied with maintaining a Force barrier.

Similar to some of his predecessors, the new Sith Master, Darth Plagueis, held the Rule of Two in contempt. Rather than merely instructing an apprentice, only to be ultimately slain and supplanted, Plagueis yearned to terminate the millennium-spanning cycle initiated by Darth Bane and Darth Zannah. According to his vision, the Sith would depend on mutual trust and collaboration to realize the Grand Plan, although Plagueis intended to uphold the restriction of only two Sith Lords. While scouring the galaxy for a promising apprentice, one possessing both a keen intellect and formidable Force abilities, Plagueis operated openly under his birth name as Magister Hego Damask of Damask Holdings. As a powerful corporate figure, Plagueis maintained political and financial ties to diverse companies and industries across the galaxy, including the InterGalactic Banking Clan and the Trade Federation.

Unbeknownst to the Dark Lord, Tenebrous had secretly trained another apprentice behind Plagueis's awareness. Following his Master's demise, Darth Venamis confronted Plagueis, seeking recognition as Tenebrous's rightful heir. Plagueis ultimately triumphed over Venamis, subjecting him to experiments in his personal quest to deepen his understanding of midi-chlorian manipulation.

Around 65 BBY, Darth Plagueis, under the guise of Hego Damask, journeyed to the planet Naboo to influence the outcome of the election for the people's next ruler. However, what commenced as a routine business excursion to a Mid Rim world evolved into what Plagueis perceived as a pivotal moment in his destiny, shaped and influenced by the will of the dark side. On Naboo, the Dark Lord discovered a teenage Human aristocrat named Palpatine, the seventeen-year-old offspring of Cosinga Palpatine, an aristocrat of modest stature. To outward appearances, Palpatine seemed friendly, unassuming, and sincere; an astute young man, somewhat reserved and introverted, with a sharp political acumen and a penchant for competitive speeder racing.

Although proud to be a member of House Palpatine, one of Naboo's Royal Houses, Palpatine was frustrated by his family's lack of wealth and prestige compared to other aristocratic families. He blamed his father, viewing him as an incompetent, self-absorbed, uninspired, and lazy fool devoid of business or political talent. Furthermore, he held resentment towards his mother for her weakness in challenging her husband's will, and his siblings for treating him as an outsider. His animosity towards his family was intensified by his fear of his father, not from physical harm, but from the fear of being disowned and cut off from his privileged life.

Before long, Darth Plagueis became Palpatine's mentor and idol, whom the young man regarded as a blessing. In Palpatine's eyes, Plagueis embodied the wealth and power he had desired throughout his life. Exploiting the boy's hatred, Plagueis manipulated Palpatine into committing patricide by murdering his entire family. Once the act was completed, the Dark Lord persuaded the orphaned aristocrat to embrace the dark side, becoming a Sith apprentice. From that moment forward, Palpatine's true identity became Darth Sidious, using his family's name solely as a public facade.

The initial decade of Darth Sidious's apprenticeship centered on fundamental lessons in lightsaber dueling and Force abilities, along with indoctrination into Sith ideology. Concurrently, Sidious's contribution to the Grand Plan involved his gradual ascent in politics. By the year he turned twenty-seven, Sidious was publicly known as Ambassador Palpatine, a young diplomat within the entourage of Naboo Senator Vidar Kim. Through Darth Plagueis's influence, Sidious also cultivated close alliances with figures such as Kinman Doriana and Sate Pestage, both of whom played pivotal roles in Palpatine's rise through the galactic political structure.

Once his Master permitted him to explore worlds connected to Sith history, Darth Sidious traveled to Dathomir. The world was the home of Mother Talzin's Nightsisters, and also the Nightbrothers, a clan of Zabrak males bred as fighters and servants to the Witches of Dathomir. While wandering the streets of Blue Desert City, Sidious was approached by a mysterious Nightsister who implored him to take her child. The infant, a male Zabrak named Maul, possessed a strong connection to the Force, and the Nightsister hoped that Sidious's care would provide her son with a better life than that of a Nightbrother. After some convincing, Sidious agreed to take Maul from Dathomir, though he initially lacked a clear plan for the child.

Sidious later disclosed his adoption of Maul to Plagueis, reminding him of his Master's instruction to watch for Force-sensitive beings. Given the risk of compromising their secrecy, Sidious proposed training Maul in the Sith arts, allowing the Zabrak to bear the burden of potential detection or even death when required. Despite technically violating the Rule of Two, Plagueis approved Sidious's plans for Maul, with the strict understanding that the Zabrak's training would be limited to the role of an assassin rather than a full-fledged Sith Lord. Darth Plagueis oversaw Maul's training—initially at their secret droid-operated facility on Mustafar and later at the Orsis Academy—through Sidious's reports and acknowledged him as a capable fighter, eventually accepting him as Sidious's apprentice, despite their original agreement. Darth Sidious bestowed the titles of Dark Lord of the Sith and Darth on Maul circa 37 BBY.

Over the years, Darth Maul evolved into a lethal combatant, trained as a ruthless killer wielding the double lightsaber. However, even Maul suspected his training was incomplete, questioning his readiness to succeed Darth Sidious given his limited understanding of galactic society. He only suspected that his Master answered to another Master shortly before his defeat on Naboo.

While still apprenticed to Plagueis, Sidious took steps to eliminate certain potential problems in the form of Sith-based cults that posed a threat to the Grand Plan. More often than not, these cults were harmless and disorganized, consisting of youngsters engaging in thoughtless rebellion against their parents' conventional world. Many lacked genuine knowledge of Sith ideology or the power of the Force. However, some were perceived as dangerous, both to Sidious and to innocent individuals. To ensure the long-term success of the Grand Plan, he either brought these wayward cults under control or eradicated them.

Among the factions in question was the Thyrsian Sun Guard, a Sith-centered mercenary group. While not Force-sensitive, their members possessed exceptional fighting skills. Plagueis and Sidious eventually recruited the Sun Guard to serve as their covert bodyguards, spies, and assassins. A detachment of the Guard protected Plagueis during his years of isolation while studying midi-chlorians. Other members were stationed in the Dark Lord's LiMerge Building, located in The Works on Coruscant.

Another potential threat that the Sith Lords transformed into an advantage was the Prophets of the Dark Side, the heretical group established by the apostate Darth Millennial centuries ago. Discovered by the Sith on Dromund Kaas, the Prophets comprised Force-users and Sith enthusiasts united under the leadership of a diminutive fallen Jedi named Kadann. Intrigued by Millennial's legacy, Sidious approached Kadaan and recruited the Prophets to the Sith cause.

At Sidious's direction, Kadaan assembled a select group of Sith devotees known as Dark Force. These darksiders possessed unique talents for perceiving portents and omens in the Force. Consequently, the Prophets of the Dark Side became an extension of the Order of the Sith Lords, with Kadaan serving as their Supreme Prophet. Years later, during the reign of the New Order, Kadann became one of Darth Sidious's most trusted—and secret—advisors.

As Palpatine, Darth Sidious's political career advanced steadily through Darth Plagueis's machinations. At the Dark Lord's personal request, King Ars Veruna appointed Palpatine to represent Naboo's interests in the Galactic Senate on Coruscant. Sidious successfully convinced many that he was an honest and trustworthy politician, a rare quality given the corruption and decadence prevalent in Coruscant politics. Even experienced Jedi Masters such as Dooku and Jedi Knights such as Ronhar Kim not only failed to detect Palpatine's true nature but also befriended him.

Over the following years, the Sith Lords gradually implemented the Grand Plan. With Sidious acting as his proxy, Plagueis instigated the Yinchorri Uprising; orchestrated the assassination of Black Sun's leader and Vigos by Darth Maul; facilitated Nute Gunray's ascension to the position of Viceroy of the Trade Federation; all aimed at positioning Darth Sidious to attain the highest office in the Galactic Republic's political structure.

Another critical aspect of the Grand Plan was the clandestine creation of an army that would enable the two Sith Lords to systematically eliminate the thousands of Jedi. Plagueis initially intended to create an army of Yinchorri clones, hiring the cloners of Kamino to fulfill his wishes. However, the Kaminoans discovered that Yinchorri DNA was not sufficiently manipulable to effectively instill traits like obedience into the clones. They suggested to Plagueis that a Human template would be easier to replicate and modify to meet his exact specifications. The Grand Plan was further revised after Sidious advised his Master that the Jedi could not simply be destroyed; they needed to be demonized in the eyes of the galactic populace to justify and gain acceptance for the Sith's actions. Consequently, Plagueis decided that the Human clone army would fight for the Galactic Republic under the command of Jedi officers, rather than against the Jedi Order. However, their loyalty would ultimately lie with the Supreme Chancellor alone. To prevent the Jedi from discovering the Sith's involvement in the creation of clone troopers, Plagueis knew he needed a Jedi to commission the Kaminoans to create an army for the Republic. As Hego Damask, the Dark Lord manipulated Jedi Master Sifo-Dyas into placing the order for an army with Kamino without the Jedi High Council's authorization or knowledge. The endeavor's cost was covered by Plagueis's vast wealth through Damask Holdings.

The next phase of the Grand Plan manifested as the Invasion of Naboo in 32 BBY. By that time, Viceroy Gunray had become an operative of the Order of the Sith Lords. Under Darth Sidious's instructions, the Neimoidian ordered a Trade Federation armada to seal off the planet of Naboo. Events unfolded according to Darth Plagueis's plan until Chancellor Finis Valorum dispatched two Jedi ambassadors, Master Qui-Gon Jinn and his apprentice Obi-Wan Kenobi, to negotiate an end to the blockade with the Trade Federation. This unexpected development prompted the Sith Lords to accelerate their plans, forcing Gunray to order an illegal, full-scale invasion of Naboo using the Federation's droid army.

The capture of Naboo, a peaceful and lightly defended world, was swiftly accomplished. With the entire planet under military occupation, including the main metropolis of Theed, the next step was to compel Queen Padmé Amidala to sign a treaty ceding Naboo's sovereignty to the Trade Federation, thereby legitimizing the occupation. Amidala, the young member of House Naberrie who had ascended to the throne with Senator Palpatine's support, refused to comply with Gunray's demands. The Grand Plan was further complicated when Jinn and Kenobi rescued the Queen and spirited her away from Naboo. Although Maul tracked Amidala and her Jedi protectors to the arid world of Tatooine in the Outer Rim, he failed to prevent their escape to Coruscant, where Darth Sidious greeted them as Senator Palpatine.

While Queen Amidala's escape was not part of the Grand Plan, her arrival on Coruscant proved more advantageous to the Sith Lords than her imprisonment on Naboo. Darth Sidious realized that persuading the Queen to propose a Vote of No Confidence in Chancellor Valorum would position him to succeed to the executive office sooner than anticipated. To achieve this, he needed Amidala to witness Valorum's leadership style firsthand. Upon observing the Chancellor's inability to navigate Senate politics and bureaucratic procedures, Amidala proposed the motion that abruptly ended the controversial career of the Republic's unpopular leader. Under the guise of Hego Damask, Darth Plagueis utilized his considerable political and financial influence to create conditions that would ensure Senator Palpatine's election as the next Supreme Chancellor.

Around the same time, just before Amidala's return to Naboo, Palpatine learned that Qui-Gon Jinn had discovered the supposed Chosen One. Anakin Skywalker, a young Human boy formerly enslaved with his mother, possessed the highest midi-chlorian count—over twenty thousand per cell—of any Force-sensitive being in galactic history. Furthermore, his conception occurred without a natural father. According to Jedi prophecy, the Chosen One would be created by the will of the Force to destroy the Sith, restoring balance to the Force. Sidious was amazed by this revelation, but not as surprised as his Master. Upon learning of Skywalker's existence and his origins, Darth Plagueis was struck by a mixture of shock, awe, outrage, and even fear. Despite his progress in manipulating midi-chlorians, his attempt to coerce them into spontaneously creating life had not only failed but had backfired. The Dark Lord suspected from the outset that the Force had intentionally created Anakin to undermine the Sith Grand Plan as a countermeasure to Plagueis's machinations. At that moment, it seemed to Plagueis that centuries of planning and patient waiting had been in vain.

Regardless of Skywalker's status as the Chosen One, Darth Plagueis refused to abandon his decades-long plot. He instructed Sidious to order Maul to kill Qui-Gon Jinn at all costs. As Jinn was acting as Anakin's sponsor within the Order, Plagueis believed that the Jedi Council would simply send Anakin back to Tatooine if Jinn died. While Amidala led an alliance of Naboo resistance fighters and the Gungan Grand Army against the Trade Federation, the Senate elected Palpatine as the new Chancellor. With his apprentice finally holding the highest office in the Republic's government, Plagueis intended to share control of the executive branch once Palpatine proclaimed him Co-Chancellor. However, Darth Sidious—who had subtly manipulated Plagueis into setting the stage for the Clone Wars—had other plans. Shortly before being sworn into office, Sidious manipulated Plagueis into becoming overly intoxicated. Once the Dark Lord was too incapacitated to defend himself, the apprentice tormented his Master with Force lightning before ultimately killing him, ending his long tenure as a Sith apprentice.

The new Sith Master soon found himself without an apprentice. Darth Maul had been defeated during the Battle of Naboo. Although the Zabrak Sith assassin slew Qui-Gon Jinn, Maul's overconfidence led to his defeat at the hands of Obi-Wan Kenobi. With Maul lost and presumed dead, Sidious traveled to his homeworld, where he was welcomed by the victorious Naboo and Gungan forces. Supreme Chancellor Palpatine promised Queen Amidala that his term would usher in the restoration of the Republic's honorable principles; as Darth Sidious, the Dark Lord of the Sith continued to execute the Grand Plan that would eventually lead to his ascension as Galactic Emperor.

Regarding Darth Maul's replacement, Sidious was determined to eventually make Anakin Skywalker his apprentice. For the time being, however, he was content to allow the Jedi Order to instruct the boy. Aside from his fascination with the Chosen One's potential, Sidious was reminded of his own youth by Skywalker's personality. The child—much like a young Palpatine—yearned for adventure and a life of significance but resented authority and was adept at concealing his anger. In the meantime, Sidious decided that the former Jedi Master Dooku would serve as a sufficient placeholder as an apprentice until Skywalker's fall to the dark side was complete.

Like Plagueis, Sidious had no intention of being killed and replaced by an apprentice. However, while Plagueis had envisioned a system of loyalty and trust where master and apprentice worked together, Sidious desired to rule alone. Therefore, he created a Sith doctrine known as the Rule of One. The new doctrine nominally adhered to Bane's Rule of Two, stipulating that only two beings could hold the Darth title at any given time. However, it deviated significantly from Bane's philosophy in all other respects. While Bane's doctrine dictated that the master should train an apprentice earnestly, intending to make them as powerful as possible, Sidious's doctrine emphasized the need for an apprentice to function solely as an instrument of the master's will, not as a potential usurper. Consequently, Sidious never imparted teachings to his apprentices that might have enabled them to challenge his power. Furthermore, while the Rule of Two dictated that the dark side should be concentrated in just two beings, Sidious planned to eventually create a cadre of lesser darksiders, in addition to a Sith apprentice, to help enforce the rule of his Empire. While these beings would receive no Sith training and were technically not Sith, they were nonetheless darksiders who answered to Sidious's authority.

Formerly known as Jedi Master Dooku, Darth Tyranus took Darth Maul's place as Sidious's new apprentice. Soon after swearing loyalty to the Sith, his new Master charged Tyranus with finding the perfect individual to serve as the template for the clone army. Jango Fett, a bounty hunter, was selected by Tyranus. In the decade that ensued, while Fett oversaw the training of his clones on Kamino, Tyranus spearheaded a growing movement of star systems becoming increasingly dissatisfied, leading them to secede from the Galactic Republic. This insurrection, led by the Sith Lord who was known as Count Dooku of Serenno, eventually gained the support of major corporations, including the Trade Federation, the InterGalactic Banking Clan, and the Techno Union.

The Senate granted Supreme Chancellor Palpatine near dictatorial authority in 22 BBY, an action reserved only for times of crisis, to effectively combat the insurrection led by the newly formed Confederacy of Independent Systems. Subsequently, the Chancellor commissioned the clone troopers on Kamino as the Grand Army of the Republic. Furthermore, members of the Jedi Order were appointed as high-ranking officers within the new military. After the Republic secured victory in the first battle of the Clone Wars, Sidious assured Tyranus that everything was proceeding according to the Grand Plan.

Over the course of three years, the Clone Wars spread conflict throughout the galaxy, with Jedi-led clone forces battling the Separatist Droid Army on numerous fronts. Simultaneously, the Chancellor's political power and public approval grew in proportion to the Republic's increasing desperation to end the war. During this conflict, Darth Maul resurfaced, having survived being bisected by Kenobi on Naboo. Discovering that Dooku had taken his place, Maul sought revenge against Kenobi for his injuries, and he took his brutish sibling, Savage Opress, as his apprentice. With his brother, Maul even considered overthrowing Sidious and ruling the galaxy as the Dark Lord of the Sith. Unfortunately for the brothers, Sidious ultimately decided that Maul had become too much of an annoyance and needed to be dealt with personally. Shortly after Maul's coup on Mandalore, Sidious traveled to the Sundari Royal Palace, where he engaged Maul and Oppress in a duel. He easily defeated the two fledgling Sith Lords, killing Oppress and abducting Maul for reasons unknown. By 19 BBY, the final stage of the Grand Plan was set in motion. It began with Palpatine orchestrating his own kidnapping during a Separatist surprise attack on Coruscant itself. Jedi Generals Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker successfully rescued the Chancellor, but only after Skywalker murdered Tyranus in cold blood at Palpatine's instigation.

With Darth Tyranus dead and the Separatists nearing defeat, Palpatine subtly manipulated Anakin Skywalker further towards the dark side of the Force. Eventually, he revealed his true identity as Darth Sidious to Skywalker, knowing that the young Jedi would report this revelation to the Jedi High Council. Masters Mace Windu, Kit Fisto, Saesee Tiin, and Agen Kolar confronted the Dark Lord of the Sith, but they were ultimately unsuccessful in arresting him. Their failure resulted not only in their deaths but also in Anakin Skywalker's fall to the dark side. Accepting his new role as a Sith, Skywalker was initiated into the Order of the Sith Lords by his new Master. From that moment forward, the fallen Jedi Knight was no longer Anakin Skywalker but Darth Vader.

Soon after being anointed as a Sith Lord, Darth Vader led the 501st Legion, a renowned unit celebrated for its elite clone troopers, back to the Jedi Temple. While Sidious's new apprentice carried out Operation: Knightfall, the mission to eliminate all Jedi within the Temple, the Dark Lord issued Order 66—a contingency directive activated in the event of a Jedi Rebellion—to the clone commanders. Unsuspecting of the impending betrayal, numerous Jedi officers were mercilessly shot down by the clone troopers. Although a few Jedi survived, including Grand Master Yoda and General Kenobi, the majority of the Order was annihilated on Coruscant and various other locations throughout the galaxy.

By sunrise on Coruscant, Darth Sidious convened a special session of congress. Within the Grand Convocation Chamber of the Senate Building, the Chancellor accused the Jedi Order of acts of rebellion, including an attempt on his own life. Consequently, he declared the Order's surviving members as enemies of the state, subject to immediate execution upon discovery. What followed was the Declaration of a New Order, which outlined the Republic's transformation into the first Galactic Empire; a New Order governed by the self-proclaimed Emperor Palpatine. After a millennium of schemes and patience, the Order of the Sith Lords achieved its two primary objectives: the systematic purge of the Jedi Order and the resurgence of Sith galactic dominance.

Despite the Sith's successful revenge on the Jedi, Darth Sidious's victory was somewhat bittersweet due to his apprentice's near-fatal condition. Obi-Wan Kenobi confronted Darth Vader, his former Jedi Master, on Mustafar. Overconfident in his abilities, Vader was dismembered by his former master and left to burn to death on the lava banks of Mustafar. These injuries, coupled with the psychological trauma inflicted by his transformation and recent choices, diminished his potential power in the Force. The Emperor rescued Vader and rebuilt his body, but this process transformed Vader into a cyborg; a being more machine than man. Furthermore, he was forced to live the rest of his life encased in a fully-enclosing suit of armor, equipped with life support technology, just to survive.

Despite Darth Vader's diminished potential, he became the Emperor's chief enforcer and a feared symbol throughout the Galactic Empire. Although he believed that Vader could still reach his full potential with complete psychological recovery, Sidious remained vigilant for a Force-sensitive individual who could replace his crippled disciple. However, Sidious also knew that finding another apprentice as powerful as Vader was highly unlikely, and, despite Sidious's sociopathic tendencies, he had even developed some affection for Vader. Nevertheless, as Sidious never intended to be replaced by an apprentice, it is uncertain whether Vader's condition genuinely concerned him. In fact, it seems quite probable that Sidious actively hindered his apprentice's recovery and training, deliberately limiting Vader's abilities to prevent him from rebelling.

Through the Galactic Empire, the Order of the Sith Lords maintained control over the known galaxy through military force and state-sponsored terror. Planets that opposed the New Order's policies were swiftly made examples of by the Empire's clone soldiers, newly designated as Imperial stormtroopers. For over two decades, Emperor Palpatine governed the galaxy by imposing peace through oppression and order through fear. The few remaining members of the Jedi Order went into hiding; others were hunted down and eliminated.

However, unrest was brewing beneath the seemingly stable surface of the Empire. As the brutality of the Sith regime became increasingly apparent, civil discontent grew correspondingly throughout the burgeoning Empire. Several Imperial Senators began to contemplate open rebellion, and some even started funding anti-Imperial extremist groups such as Rahm Kota's militia. Sidious had long suspected these Senators of treason, but the Emperor could not find any evidence of their rebel affiliations. Additionally, many of the suspected Senators were among the most respected members of the Senate, making it impossible to simply execute them without provoking widespread public outrage. Consequently, Sidious had no effective means of eliminating these insurrectionist Senators and had to tolerate their actions. Even worse, Darth Vader, though seemingly loyal to the Emperor, harbored deep anger towards his master and sought to overthrow his rule.

For years, the Dark Lord personally trained a young Human orphan as his own Sith apprentice. This apprentice, codenamed Starkiller, was abducted by Vader shortly after his Jedi father was killed on Kashyyyk. Starkiller then spent years preparing for the day when he and his Master would overthrow Darth Sidious, allowing him to become a true Sith Lord. However, Sidious eventually discovered the young human and, instead of executing him, decided to use him to gather the rebellious members of the Senate under the guise of forming an armed insurrection against the Empire.

For reasons unknown, Darth Vader seemingly changed his mind about attempting to overthrow his master with Starkiller. After the apprentice fulfilled his purpose by assembling the rebellious senators in one location on Corellia, Vader betrayed Starkiller, nearly killing him, and apprehended the rebel leaders. In an act of redemption for his past as a Sith assassin, Starkiller defeated Darth Vader and rescued the senators, but ultimately perished during a struggle with Darth Sidious. The apprentice's sacrifice led to the formation of the Alliance to Restore the Republic, a galactic insurrection aimed at overthrowing Palpatine and restoring democracy. Sidious, frustrated by the setback of Starkiller's demise, also worried that the Rebel Alliance—secretly created by himself and Vader through Starkiller's actions—would eventually destroy the Order of the Sith Lords unless every rebel was exterminated first.

The Galactic Civil War resulted from Darth Sidious's failure to prevent the creation of the Rebel Alliance, which was partially a consequence of the Emperor's own schemes. Despite being significantly outmatched in terms of resources and manpower, the fledgling Alliance remained dedicated to the cause of rebellion, even as Darth Vader and the Imperial Military hunted them throughout the galaxy. The Alliance, however, presented the Emperor with an opportunity to seize even greater political power. Citing increased security concerns, Sidious announced the Dissolution of the Imperial Senate; the legislative body that originated from the Senate of the former Republic ceased to exist as Imperial governors gained direct control over their respective star systems.

The removal of the last vestige of the Old Republic was followed by the Battle of Yavin, where the Galactic Empire suffered an unexpected defeat against the Rebel Alliance. The Empire's loss at Yavin 4 was further compounded by the destruction of the Death Star, a massive battle station designed to inspire submission through the fear of its ability to destroy entire planets. However, the Emperor was even more concerned about the Death Star's destroyer, Luke Skywalker, than the Battle of Yavin itself.

Luke Skywalker, a young Rebel pilot and the son of Anakin Skywalker, became a high-priority target for the Emperor and his apprentice. Sidious and Vader both agreed that Skywalker had the potential to be a powerful asset to the Order of the Sith Lords, provided he could be turned to the dark side first. As with Starkiller, Vader hoped to exploit his son in a plot to dethrone Sidious from the galactic throne. Similarly, the Emperor intended to claim the Jedi aspirant as his new apprentice, freeing him from the need to rely on Vader's services any longer. However, turning Skywalker was not his preferred option, as he initially attempted to have Skywalker assassinated by one of his personal assassins, Mara Jade, while the former was trying to rescue Han Solo from Jabba the Hutt. Only after her assassination attempt failed, and Sidious had no other options, did he decide to try turning Skywalker to the dark side.

Four years after the Battle of Yavin, Darth Sidious resolved to achieve two objectives simultaneously: Luke Skywalker's fall to the dark side and the end of the Rebellion. Consequently, he allowed the Alliance's Bothan spies to discover the location of the second Death Star, as well as the shield generator protecting the station during its construction. Furthermore, he chose to personally oversee its production, knowing that the Rebels could not afford to miss the opportunity to assassinate their primary target.

Neither Sith Lord succeeded in their goals. While Skywalker came close to embracing the dark side, he ultimately refused to murder Darth Vader in hatred, thus declaring himself a Jedi as his father once was. Realizing that Skywalker was lost to the Sith and would not turn, the Emperor unleashed his anger through the use of Force lightning, which he used to slowly torture the Jedi. However, during this act, the Emperor's apprentice underwent another transformation, triggered by the sight of his son in excruciating pain. The Emperor failed to recognize that Darth Vader no longer stood by his side; the fallen Jedi Knight had reclaimed his former identity as Anakin Skywalker.

In a single act of redemption for all his deeds as a Sith Lord, Anakin Skywalker suddenly seized Darth Sidious to save his son. Shrieking in utter surprise and terror, the Dark Lord turned the full force of his lightning against his now former apprentice. Despite suffering critical damage to his armor's life support systems, Skywalker withstood the attack and hurled his former Master into the Death Star's reactor shaft. With Darth Sidious's body destroyed and Anakin Skywalker succumbing to his mortal wounds, the Order of the Sith Lords ceased to exist. After a millennium of concealment, their Order had finally avenged itself on the Jedi, only to be destroyed by its last two members, who ultimately killed each other.

At some point before his death, Darth Sidious became obsessed with achieving immortality, much like his Master, who also sought to circumvent the tradition of the Rule of Two. After rediscovering the lost ability to transfer his soul into another vessel, the Emperor secretly commissioned the creation of a series of clones with himself as the genetic template. Hidden within the Imperial Citadel of Byss, these clones were part of Sidious's plan to avoid the fate of many Sith Lords before him. With the destruction of his original body on the Death Star II, the fallen autocrat used his new technique for the first time, preventing his spirit from being banished into the Void. Upon claiming one of his clones as a host for his essence, Darth Sidious was alive once more. He then remained hidden on Byss for several years, plotting to regain control of the galaxy.

The use of a cloned body was only a temporary solution. The artificial creation of a clone made it more susceptible to the detrimental effects of the dark side. As a result, the clones inhabited by Sidious experienced rapid age acceleration and decay, causing young clones to age prematurely in a short period. Nevertheless, Sidious considered this dilemma an acceptable price for immortality. Although he found the dying process painful and the transition uncomfortable, the Dark Lord believed he would live forever as long as there was a constant supply of fresh clones for him to possess.

Without Sidious's presence, the Galactic Empire fragmented into various factions controlled by ambitious Moffs and Imperial officers who sought to capitalize on the massive power vacuum left by the fall of the Sith Lords. The discord that engulfed the Empire benefited the New Republic—the successor state to the Rebel Alliance—and its goal of liberating the galaxy from Imperial control.

When Sidious resurfaced in 10 ABY, he briefly turned Luke Skywalker into his apprentice. Convinced that the Emperor's defeat could only be achieved through the dark side, Skywalker accepted his father's former position at Sidious's side. However, through the intervention of Leia Organa Solo, daughter of Anakin Skywalker, Skywalker broke free from the Emperor's influence. With the assistance of both Leia and her unborn son Anakin, Skywalker managed to disrupt Sidious's connection to the dark side. This action caused Sidious to lose control over the Force storm he had been using to destroy the Rebel fleet at Pinnacle Moon. The storm obliterated Sidious's flagship along with his current body. Although Skywalker returned to his role as a Jedi, the Emperor cheated death once more by possessing another clone.

As Sidious focused his full attention on destroying the New Republic and Luke Skywalker's new Jedi Order, a plot was orchestrated by a group of Imperial conspirators, led by Imperial Sovereign Protector Carnor Jax, who sought to permanently end the Emperor's reign. They poisoned the last remaining supplies of clone bodies, diminishing the Emperor's ability to evade his final death. Sidious, desperate and nearing oblivion as his last body deteriorated, decided to inhabit the infant body of Anakin Skywalker's grandson, Anakin Solo.

The dying Emperor traveled to Onderon, where he destroyed his last clone body, releasing his spirit in an attempt to seize control of Anakin Solo. His efforts were thwarted by the intervention of Empatojayos Brand, a survivor of the Jedi Purge. Using his mortally wounded body to trap the Emperor, Brand bound Sidious's life essence to his own, taking Sidious's spirit with him as he became one with the Force. The final death of Darth Sidious ended the lineage of Darth Bane, and the Order of the Sith Lords was finally destroyed.

The Order of the Sith Lords ended with Darth Sidious in 11 ABY, but the Sith legacy persisted in three separate cults. The first to confront the New Jedi Order was Lumiya's Sith, a group of darksiders loosely connected to Darth Bane's Order. As an Emperor's Hand, Lumiya possessed limited knowledge of Sith teachings and dark side techniques from her training under Emperor Palpatine and Darth Vader. When both Sith Lords perished at each other's hands during the Battle of Endor, Lumiya declared herself their successor, a Dark Lady of the Sith. Strictly adhering to the teachings of Darth Bane, Lumiya upheld the Rule of Two in her Order, seeking only one Sith apprentice to serve alongside her. After rejecting two failed apprentices, Flint and Carnor Jax, the Dark Lady successfully trained Jacen Solo, a grandson of Darth Vader and a Jedi Knight of the Galactic Alliance, as her successor by 40 ABY. With Lumiya's guidance, Solo embraced the Sith mantle as Darth Caedus, the first active Dark Lord of the Sith since the era of Sidious and Vader.

In 43 ABY, a few years after the death of Darth Caedus, the Jedi Order discovered the Lost Tribe of Sith, a secluded society that traced its origins to the Sith Empire of Naga Sadow. The Lost Tribe, which existed long before the emergence of Darth Bane and the Rule of Two, consisted of numerous Sith individuals, all governed by a Grand Lord. They briefly allied with Luke Skywalker's Jedi Order to defeat a powerful entity named Abeloth, but then betrayed the Jedi, preparing for galactic conquest.

The One Sith, established by Darth Krayt, emerged as the third major organization following Sidious's downfall. Krayt, formerly A'Sharad Hett, served as a Jedi Knight of the Old Jedi Order and fought for the Republic during the Clone Wars. Despite surviving Order 66 and the subsequent Jedi Purge, Hett's faith in the light was shattered by his thirst for revenge against both the Galactic Empire and the Sith Order. Ultimately, Hett became convinced that embracing the dark side was the only path to defeating Sidious and Vader. Reborn as Darth Krayt, this self-proclaimed Sith Lord disregarded Bane's Rule of Two. Krayt's Rule of One dictated that the New Sith Order would consist of numerous members, all utterly devoted to a single Dark Lord of the Sith. In 130 ABY, Darth Krayt formed a new Galactic Empire after seizing the Imperial throne for himself.

Darth Wyyrlok later seized control of this organization by assassinating Darth Krayt, only for Darth Krayt to eventually regain command after managing to revive himself. The One Sith's demise occurred when Darth Krayt met his final death, his remains being cast into the sun, with some Sith-aligned survivors, such as Darth Talon, retreating into hiding. The One Sith were ultimately eradicated by a renegade Sith named Darth Wredd, who eliminated nearly all Sith except himself in an attempt to reinstate the Rule of Two. Wredd's efforts to find an apprentice in the form of the Imperial Knight Yalta Val failed, as she remained loyal to the light, and Wredd was killed by Ania Solo, seemingly bringing a definitive end to both the One Sith and the Order of the Sith Lords, though Empress Marasiah Fel hinted that this might not be the whole story.

Darth Vectivus, and later Darth Ramage, also held power sometime between the reigns of Darth Cognus and Darth Tenebrous' Sith Master. A humanoid Sith Master also reigned during this period, taking a male Devaronian as his apprentice at some point.

To guarantee the Sith's continued existence, Darth Bane established the Rule of Two. This meant that only two Sith Lords could exist at any one time: a master and an apprentice. The new principle was also intended to encourage the apprentice to murder their master, thus eliminating the weak from the Order and ensuring only the strongest could become Sith Lords. Both members held the title Dark Lord of the Sith and were required to choose a Sith name that began with the title of Darth.

Sith Master

The Sith Masters were the leaders of the Order. Only one master was permitted at a time, and each was expected to have only one apprentice to serve them. Notable Sith Masters included Darth Bane, Darth Plagueis, and Darth Sidious.

Sith apprentice

Sith apprentices were novices learning the ways of the dark side of the Force. While they were taught to embrace absolute submission during their training, apprentices also had a tendency to become utterly fixated on the power that the Master embodied as the senior Dark Lord of the Sith. A dynamic designed by Darth Bane led to a tradition in which the apprentice eventually killed the Master and usurped the role of leadership. Upon appointing an apprentice of their own, the cycle would be renewed as the new apprentice waited until his or her power eclipsed the Master.

Notable Sith apprentices included Darth Zannah, Darth Maul, and Darth Vader.

Unlike a Dark Jedi acolyte or a formal Sith apprentice, a secret apprentice was someone inducted into the Order and trained by a Master to replace a failed apprentice, or by an apprentice to overthrow the Master. With the exception of Darth Maul, of whom Darth Plagueis was aware, and possibly Marek, due to Palpatine implying in his duel with him that he had been aware of Vader training Marek from the start, the following apprentices were trained in absolute secrecy.

• Darth Venamis (Apprentice of Darth Tenebrous) [14]
• Darth Maul (Apprentice of Darth Sidious) [6]
• Vergere (Apprentice of Darth Sidious) [22]
• Asajj Ventress (Apprentice of Darth Tyranus) [68]
• Savage Opress (Apprentice of Darth Tyranus) [67]
• Galen Marek (Apprentice of Darth Vader) [40] Starkiller clone (Apprentice of Darth Vader)[42] Dark Apprentice (clone) (Apprentice of Darth Vader)[42]
• Lumiya (Apprentice of Darth Vader) [54]
• Flint (Apprentice of Darth Vader[12] and Lumiya) [54]
• Carnor Jax (Apprentice of Lumiya) [54]