A Sith disciple, sometimes called a Sith acolyte, was an agent serving the Sith. These individuals operated outside the established Sith Master and Sith apprentice dynamic dictated by the Rule of Two. The intended purpose of a Sith acolyte was to receive training as a subordinate operative, not as a genuine Sith. However, in reality, they could potentially be exploited in attempts to overthrow existing Sith Lords.
A Sith disciple, alternatively referred to as a Sith acolyte, was a student instructed in the ways of the dark side of the Force by a Sith, like a Sith Lord. "The Stranger," a Sith, defined a Sith acolyte as someone capable of destroying "the dream" of the Jedi Order, the Sith's ancient adversaries, without needing a physical weapon. Verosha "Osha" Aniseya, the Stranger's eventual disciple, fulfilled this requirement by using a Force choke to execute Jedi Master Sol, drawing upon her anger. According to the Rule of Two, established by the Sith Lord Darth Bane, the Sith Order was restricted to only two members: the Sith Master and the Sith apprentice whom the master trained. Despite this limitation, Sith adhering to the Rule of Two could still train individuals in the dark side to serve as their personal agents. These agents would be designated as Sith acolytes rather than Dark Lords of the Sith, Sith apprentices, Sith Masters, or even Sith Lords.
The intention was that Sith acolytes would receive limited training, enabling them to function as lesser agents incapable of challenging the two true Sith. Instead of operating as Sith Lords, they would follow the commands of their superiors, performing what Darth Tyranus, the Sith apprentice, once contemptuously termed "grunt work." Furthermore, Sith acolytes could be eliminated once they had served their purpose or become too powerful. Given the deceitful nature inherent in the Sith, it was entirely plausible for a Sith apprentice to attempt to train an acolyte with the goal of overthrowing their own master. The apprentice could then claim the master's title and elevate their acolyte to the position of true Sith apprentice. For instance, Tyranus trained his acolyte, Asajj Ventress, as though she were a Sith apprentice. He informed her of their plan to overthrow his master, the Sith Master Darth Sidious, and jointly rule the galaxy. However, Sidious sensed Ventress's growing power and ordered her termination, a command Dooku reluctantly carried out.
Mae-ho "Mae" Aneiseya, the Stranger's Sith acolyte, also functioned as a Sith assassin, a role Ventress also fulfilled. As a member of Tyranus's Confederacy of Independent Systems, Ventress held a leadership position in the Confederacy military in addition to her role as an assassin. She wielded considerable authority within the military structure of the Confederacy.
During the High Republic Era, the Dark Lord of the Sith Darth Plagueis chose a human known only as "the Stranger" to be his apprentice. Over time, the Stranger desired an acolyte to train himself. He also sought to unlock what he called "the power of two" and use his disciple's help to overthrow the Jedi Order, ensuring he could live as he wished. At that time, the Sith were believed to be extinct but had secretly survived under the Rule of Two established by the Sith Lord Darth Bane, forcing the Stranger to operate secretly and conceal his identity. Eventually, the Stranger found a candidate in Mae-ho "Mae" Aneiseya, a witch seeking vengeance against four Jedi—Jedi Masters Indara, Torbin, Kelnacca, and Sol—who were involved in the destruction of her witch coven years earlier. Driven by her desire for revenge, she agreed to become his disciple and Sith assassin without hesitation. Although she wanted to please him, the Stranger later realized that Mae only wanted revenge and had no interest in his broader "power of two" plans.
In 132 BBY, Mae, acting on her master's orders and hoping to please him, began a quest to kill all four Jedi Masters involved in the Brendok mission, with at least one death to occur without a weapon. However, after killing Indara and Torbin, Mae decided to abandon the quest upon learning that her sister, Verosha "Osha" Aniseya, had survived. Osha had been trained as a Jedi Padawan under Sol after the Brendok mission but ultimately abandoned the Jedi path. However, she agreed to work with the Jedi to stop her sister. Meanwhile, Mae abandoned her position as the Stranger's pupil, hoping to reunite with her sister. However, the Stranger revealed himself, killed Kelnacca himself, and wiped out Sol's Jedi team. Mae switched places with her sister and left with Sol, while the Stranger took Osha back to his island base. There, the Stranger began to tempt Osha to the dark side of the Force.
Ultimately, their paths converged on Brendok, Osha and Mae's homeworld, where Osha learned that Sol had killed her mother, Aniseya, during the Brendok incident years earlier. While Mae abandoned her desire for revenge and instead wanted to see Sol face justice, Osha used a Force choke to kill Sol in anger, thus killing a Jedi without a weapon. Meanwhile, the Stranger learned that Aniseya had artificially created Mae and Osha from Sol's conversation with Mae. After the Jedi Master's death, Osha agreed to become the Stranger's new acolyte, while Mae had her memories of her sister erased and was taken into the custody of a newly arrived Jedi team. However, she could not tell them anything. Nevertheless, the leader of the newly arrived team, Jedi Master Vernestra Rwoh, briefly sensed the presence of the Stranger, who was none other than her former Padawan. Although Mae would later learn about her sister's existence from Rwoh, the duo's actions allowed the Stranger and Osha to escape back to his island hideaway.
The invasion of Naboo, a planet in the Mid Rim, by the Sith-aligned Trade Federation in 32 BBY finally revealed the Sith Order's survival to the Jedi. First, Sith apprentice Darth Maul was sent by his master, the Sith Lord Darth Sidious, to Tatooine, where he clashed with Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jinn. Later, Sidious sent Maul to Naboo, where he killed Jinn but was himself defeated by Jinn's Padawan, Obi-Wan Kenobi. Although Maul survived, Sidious moved on by naming Count Dooku, a former Jedi Master who had secretly been working with the Sith, as his second apprentice, Darth Tyranus. Despite the Rule of Two, Dooku took on his own apprentice, Asajj Ventress, a Nightsister and former Jedi Padawan, and trained her in the dark side.
As long as Ventress remained an agent and was not trained as a Sith Lord, Sidious was unconcerned by her existence and even used her in his plans. Officially, she was simply a Sith acolyte and Sith assassin, also known as a Dark Acolyte. However, Ventress's ultimate ambition was to be recognized as a true Sith with the title of Sith Lord. Dooku secretly told her that they could overthrow Sidious and rule the galaxy together, and he trained her as a Sith apprentice to help him overthrow Sidious. As Dooku's disciple, Ventress served him as a member of the Confederacy of Independent Systems, holding ranks such as Supreme Leader and commander during the Clone Wars between the Galactic Republic and Dooku's Confederacy, a war that fit into the Sith Order's Grand Plan. During a mission to Cato Neimoidia, she also expressed interest in capturing Mill Alibeth, a Jedi Initiate, promising her a future under a true master away from the Jedi ways. However, she was stopped by Anakin Skywalker, a Jedi Knight, who, along with Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi, became one of her greatest enemies.
Early in the war, Ventress carried out the capture of Republic Outpost 716, a posting that even Grievous, Dooku's greatest general and a cyborg, was unable to conquer. In return for her victory, Ventress demanded the title of Sith Lord, but Dooku insisted that she had not proven herself. Instead, he ordered her to track down a Jedi artifact that they could use to overthrow Sidious. However, she eventually abandoned the quest, realizing that Dooku only cared about his own interests. Upon returning empty-handed, Dooku declared that she would never become a true Sith Lord and left her, to which she privately stated that she would never give him what he wanted. Despite this, Ventress decided to continue loyally serving him as his apprentice, and Dooku continued her training.
In 21 BBY, Sidious sensed Ventress's growing power and, recognizing that Dooku was using her as a Sith apprentice to help him overthrow Sidious, ordered Dooku to eliminate Ventress. Although he initially protested, Dooku obeyed and ordered Separatist forces under her command at the Battle of Sullust to turn on the assassin. He contacted her via hologram to inform her that she was no longer his apprentice. Believing her dead, Dooku contacted Sidious to report that he had followed his master's orders, much to Sidious's satisfaction. However, Ventress secretly survived and returned to her homeworld of Dathomir, where she reunited with the Nightsisters and plotted revenge on Dooku. Her plan involved allowing Dooku to take Savage Opress, a Nightbrother who was, unbeknownst to her, Maul's brother, as his new apprentice and Dark Acolyte. In this role, he would be trained by and grow close to Dooku. Unbeknownst to Dooku, Oppress would be a sleeper agent whom Ventress would activate when the time was right.
As he had with Ventress, Dooku planned to train Oppress as a Sith apprentice to help him overthrow Sidious. However, Dooku was enraged by his failure to capture King Katuunko alive during a mission to the planet Toydaria. Dooku only promised Oppress redemption when Ventress suddenly revealed herself aboard their Providence-class Dreadnought. Although Ventress activated Oppress, he broke free of the Nightsister spell and betrayed both Ventress and Dooku. He ultimately left on a quest to find his brother Maul, with whom he would form a splinter Sith Order that Sidious later crushed in 19 BBY. Meanwhile, Ventress remained a fugitive from the Confederacy and was branded a traitor, leading to the eradication of the Nightsisters on Dooku's orders in 20 BBY. She then became a bounty hunter and, in 19 BBY, joined Jedi Master Quinlan Vos in a mission to assassinate Dooku.
During their collaboration, Ventress and Vos fell in love before finally attacking Dooku on Raxus Secundus, the CIS capital world. However, the mission failed, and Dooku captured Vos and tempted him to the dark side, making him his newest apprentice. Dooku later proclaimed Vos as the Dark Lord of the Sith that Ventress could never become. Although Vos hoped to use Dooku to get close to and eliminate Sidious, his plan drew him into the dark side, from which he only broke free when Ventress seemingly sacrificed herself to protect him during the second battle of Christophsis. Like Vos, whose fall into darkness Kenobi blamed on himself and the Jedi High Council for approving an assassination mission, Ventress also returned to the light side through her actions. She survived past Dooku's death as an independent agent active during the Imperial Era.
In his book The Secrets of the Jedi, Jedi Master Luke Skywalker reflected on Ventress, referring to her as a Sith disciple. Sidious also reflected on Dooku's attempts to usurp him with Ventress, Opress, and Vos in his book The Secrets of the Sith.
The role of Sith acolyte was first presented in the current Star Wars canon through Asajj Ventress in the 2008 film Star Wars: The Clone Wars. However, the title "Sith acolyte" was not used to describe her until the 2015 reference book Ultimate Star Wars, which described her as a "Sith-acolyte-turned-bounty-hunter." The 2015 novel Dark Disciple by Christie Golden then used the term "Sith acolyte" on its own, confirming that the hyphen in Ultimate Star Wars was for grammatical purposes only and not part of the formal name. At Dok-Ondar's Den of Antiquities at Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge, a mask is displayed. Some attendants claim it is a Sith acolyte mask, while others identify it as the mask of the Sith Lord Darth Momin. However, the mask does not resemble the latter item.
The rank of Sith acolyte, also known as Sith adepts, also existed in Star Wars Legends continuity as a position in the pre-Rule of Two Sith Order, where they served as disciples. In Legends, the Rule of Two-era Sith continued to use the term for certain subordinate agents, including the Legends version of Asajj Ventress, until the Sith Lord Darth Krayt re-established the Sith Order as an organization with multiple Sith, including acolytes. In Legends, the Sith Acolyte position first appeared through Ventress in the 2003 comic Jedi: Mace Windu, but she was not explicitly confirmed as a Sith Acolyte in Legends until Star Wars Insider: Lords of the Sith, a 2017 Star Wars Insider compilation that included the Legends-era article "The Sultry Sith" by Jonathan Wilkins, originally published in Star Wars Insider 122 from December 14, 2010. In its contents page, the 2017 compilation referred to Ventress as a Sith Acolyte in its blurb for "The Sultry Sith."