Steven Sansweet (Fan Relations) answers a question from a fan. (
StarWars.com)
Q: What exactly is a Sith Lord? What is the history of the Sith? I have not seen anything about this group of people except that they were defeated by the Jedi Order at some point.
A: The history of the Sith Lords is a long and fearsome one, running the gamut from nameless dark apparitions to the most fearsome Dark Lord of the Sith, Darth Vader, the one-time Anakin Skywalker, under whose reign of terror entire civilizations were exterminated and the Jedi Knights nearly wiped out.
It is a history filled with bloody internal strife, wars against the Galactic Republic and constant battles against the Jedi Knights, the upholders of the light side of the Force. If there is one recurring theme, it is that the Jedi over and over believed that they had exterminated the Sith threat forever, only to find it had merely lain dormant for ages.
While the details are lost in the mists of time, Galactic historians believe there has been a rift between the light side and the dark side of the Force almost since the foundation of the Jedi Order some 25,000 standard years before the Battle of Yavin. Many think it was one rogue Jedi who fell to the dark side, turned others, and eventually built an entire army of dark siders. For the next century, a deadly war swept the galaxy, destroying planets and civilizations before the Jedi Knights prevailed.
Vanquished, the few remaining dark Jedi fled across the galaxy into the unknown region. It was there that they landed on an unmapped world and encountered a primitive species known as the Sith. The Sith treated the dark Jedi like gods, and almost willingly let themselves be enslaved. With unlimited resources and manpower, and eons to forge an evil empire far from the prying eyes of the Republic or the Jedi Knights, the Sith entered a Golden Age.
But about 5,000 standard years before the Battle of Yavin, the Republic discovered the Sith empire. An ambitious Dark Lord of the Sith named Naga Sadow decided he could conquer the vast Republic and began the Great Hyperspace War. His armies were defeated by the Jedi Knights. Other outbreaks of warfare between Jedi and Sith, and among the Sith themselves, took place over the next thousand years.
Around a thousand standard years before the Battle of Yavin, a new Sith Lord arose, one whose life still remains mostly in the shadows, but who had a major impact on events in the galaxy. Darth Bane understood well how the Sith order nearly self-destructed and knew that without a new self-discipline, and the utmost stealth, the Sith would never survive to truly vanquish the Jedi.
It was Darth Bane who enforced the single most important diktat of the New Sith Order, that there could be but two Sith, a Master and an apprentice. He enforced a new restraint that was so complete and lasted so long that the Jedi Council believed that the Sith had been completely vanquished. But in utmost secrecy, and in an unbroken chain for nearly a millennium, the evil Sith ways of the Force were passed down from Master to apprentice.
Finally, some 32 standard years before the Battle of Yavin, around the time of the blockade of Naboo, the Sith made their presence known. While Darth Sidious, a shadowy Sith Lord, manipulated Galactic politics behind the scenes, his fearsome apprentice Darth Maul took on the Jedi openly.
That brings us to the story of the Sith Lords in the Star Wars films, those already made and those yet to be released. For a colorful retelling of all of all that is known up to now, as well as some new nuggets of information, be on the lookout this October for a cool new photo book from Random House, Star Wars: Secrets of the Sith.
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Cleric "Cosmic" Vor'soth
CoT/BG Cosmic/HCA-3/SL/3SQD/2PLT/1COMP/1BAT/Tadath/VEA/VE [OPE][OTH][OPA][EW1][CDS][IH][GS][LM][SoS][CoH][PoC][MSM][SCP][SoA][IOC]
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Cleric "Cosmic" Vor'soth
SL/KPR Cosmic/Lion 1-1/Lopen/VEDJ/VE [VP][WoS2][KC1][SoY][EoP][OAK]
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