The Sith are an order of Force-sensitive beings and the main antagonists in the fictional universe of the Star Wars franchise. They are the ideological antithesis and ancient enemies of the Jedi. The Sith Order is depicted as an ancient cult of warriors who wield the dark side of the Force to seize power by any means necessary, including terrorism and mass murder with the ultimate goal of destroying the Jedi order and ruling the galaxy.
Several antagonistic factions in the franchise, including the Confederacy of Independent Systems, the Galactic Empire, the Imperial Remnant, and the First Order, are shown to have originated from the Sith.
Sith, known as Sith Lords, are by nature ruthless. Members of the order have the power to assume absolute authority amongst their kind and be granted the honorific Dark Lord of the Sith. Sith culture is based on perpetual treachery and betrayal. The fate of Sith Lords is to be killed and replaced by their own apprentices. The Sith teach their apprentices to revere the dark side of the Force, to give full rein to aggressive emotions of rage and hatred, and to believe that others are expendable in the pursuit of power, thus making the Lords' demise inevitable.
Like the Jedi, the Sith wield the lightsaber as their traditional weapon, a device that generates a blade-like plasma powered by a kyber crystal. In contrast to the Jedi, who use blue, green, purple, white, and yellow lightsabers, the color for a Sith Lord lightsaber is usually red, born of an unnatural corruption of the kyber crystal through the dark side's malignancy, causing it to "bleed," which affects the sound of ignition with a harsher hiss.
One thousand years before the Galactic Civil War, the Sith came close to extinction after the Battle of Ruusan. Despite this, they continued to covertly exist as two Dark Lords at a time, a master and an apprentice, until their later resurgence in the history of the galaxy.
George Lucas has acknowledged that many sources have inspired the concepts of the Jedi, Sith, and the Force. These include knighthood, chivalry, paladinism, samurai bushido, Shaolin Monastery, feudalism, Hinduism, qigong, Greek philosophy and mythology, Roman history and mythology, Sufism, Confucianism, Shintà Â, Buddhism and Taoism, and numerous cinematic precursors. The works of philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche and mythologist Joseph Campbell, especially his book The Hero with a Thousand Faces (1949), directly influenced Lucas and was what drove him to create the 'modern myth' of Star Wars. In particular, the Manichaean relationship between the dark side-using Sith and light side-using Jedi mirrors several modern and classical literary tropes.
The ongoing struggle of the humanistic "light side"-affiliated Jedi to permanently defeat the egoistic "dark side"-affiliated Sith is framed not only as a contest of values but as a deep metaphysical conflict: the dark side of the Force is viewed by the Jedi, and generally represented within Star Wars media, as not only a dangerous expedient but as a form of existential corruption that must be purged for the universe, or a person, to attain spiritual balance. Jedi are often depicted as imperfect individuals, but their cause of selfless heroism is ultimately on the right side of an inexorable cosmic struggle against evil, embodied in the power-hungry Sith and the dark side of the Force.
The dualistic relationship between these Sith and Jedi concepts of "purity" mirrors the philosophical and literary concept of "Apollonian and Dionysian": the Jedi are portrayed as embracing purity, reason, temperance, altruism, and other humanistic virtues. The Sith, by contrast, embrace curiosity, emotion, conflict, power, instincts, unfettered self-interest and other hedonistic vices. However, whereas the classic Greek concept did not necessarily view the Apollonian and Dionysian principles as opposed, Star Wars frames the Jedi and Sith as opponents in a dire moral struggle, with the Sith cast as corrupted villains apparently destined for defeat or self-destruction in the end. The Greek analogy also makes clear that the conflict between the Jedi and the Sith reflects the universe's eternal dichotomy between order (Apollonian) and chaos (Dionysian). Ironically, the Sith, and the Imperials generally, believe in an extreme social conservatism for sentient beings at large, enforcing order on society through brutal authoritarianism. However, the individual Sith soul is chaotic: a Sith is never at peace, wracked by jealousy and paranoia until he or she has achieved ultimate supremacy.
Within the Star Wars narrative, the Jedi and Sith naturally have differing understandings of the Force. In Sith rhetoric, the relationship between the philosophy of Jedi versus Sith closely mirrors German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche's concept of masterâÂÂslave morality; Sith value "master" virtues, such as pride and power, whereas the Jedi value altruistic "slave" virtues like kindness and compassion.
The goal of the Sith is tangible greatness: the ability to shape or destroy a world according to one's will alone. The goal of the Jedi is moral goodness: freedom from inner turmoil and selfish desires. However, the Sith consider the Jedi's aspirations to be either hopeless or pathetic. To the Sith, achieving greater power, following one's passion, and freedom from inhibition are more authentic ways of expressing the Force. While the Jedi strive for a harmonious connection to the Force, the Sith seek a deeper understanding through conflict, as they believe the Force is defined by it.
Originally, George Lucas conceived the Sith as an army of fanatical soldiers that served the Emperor in the same way that the Schutzstaffel had served Adolf Hitler. In developing the history for The Empire Strikes Back, Lucas condensed this into one character in the form of Darth Vader.
Sith philosophy values conflict as a catalyst for growth and as a means to purging the weak, disloyal, and undisciplined. Sith emphasize the maxims "because we feel like it" and "survival of the fittest" and view restraint as a weakness. Members of the order can be regarded as adhering to the Nietzschean master morality and are characterized by the desire to seize power by any means necessary, leveraging force (both physical and supernatural), social maneuvering, and political cunning to their advantage.
Throughout Star Wars media and in popular culture, the Sith are infamous as the dualistic antagonists to the Jedi, an affiliation of altruistic warriors who strive to use their own martial training and connection to the "light side" of the Force to promote peace and the common welfare throughout the galaxy. To counteract the Jedi's benevolent influence, the Sith instigate both large- and small-scale conflicts as part of their larger plan to destabilize the Republic and eventually take control of the galaxy.
The Sith are dedicated to the "Code of the Sith" and to mastering the dark side of the Force. The Code of the Sith identifies conflict as the fundamental dynamic of reality, and holds that the search for lasting peace, within or without, is both quixotic and misguided. Rather, Sith embrace strife and dark passion as salutary and emancipatory forces, as they believe that violent struggle purges the decadent and weak, and that emotions such as aggression and hate provide the strength and resolve to secure freedom through victory.<br />
Although Sith seek dominion, Sith philosophy stresses that power belongs only to those with the strength, cunning, and ruthlessness to maintain it, and thus "betrayal" among the Sith is not a vice but an endorsed norm. Accordingly, the Sith reject altruism, self-denial, and kindness, as they regard such attitudes as founded on delusions that fetter one's perceptions and power. In connection with their philosophy, the Sith draw on the dark side of the Force through severe negative emotions, a technique opposed to that of their archenemies, the Jedi, who rely on the Force's "light side," i.e., the Force as experienced through disciplined states of apathy. Notably, both the Jedi and Sith shun romantic and familial love, as well as other positive emotions; the Jedi fear that such love will lead to attachment, and thus selfishness, while the Sith fear it will compromise their ruthlessness and connection to the dark side of the Force.
Although the Sith are intimately linked to the dark side, not every user of the dark side is a Sith, nor is every user of the light side a Jedi.
The dark side of the Force is stigmatized as seductive, corruptive, and addictive by the Jedi, who view it as evil, whereas the Sith consider the dark side of the Force to be its most powerful manifestation, and regard the Jedi as blinded by false virtue. As portrayed in all Star Wars-related media, the dark side provides users with powers similar to those of the light side-using Jedi, but as it leverages passion and violence, its use is enhanced by negative raw and aggressive emotions and instinctual feelings such as anger, greed, hatred, and rage. By deciding to learn the ways of the dark side of the Force, the Sith may also acquire powers and abilities considered by some in the Star Wars universe to be unnatural. A notable example is "Force lightning", electricity projected from the fingertips as a means of attack and torture, most famously used by Darth Sidious to torture Luke Skywalker in '. In ', meanwhile, Palpatine claims that the dark side gave the Sith Lord Darth Plagueis power over death itself. Being uninhibited in their use of the Force, Sith could also repurpose abilities shared with the Jedi, such as telekinesis, to new and terrifying effect: Darth Vader was infamous for his use of telekinetic strangulation, or "Force choke," as a means of execution or intimidation. He even went so far as to murder individuals with his power, including at least two Imperial officers and his wife, Padmé Amidala (though it is unclear if Padmé's death was caused directly by the choke).
Extended use of the dark side strongly influences the user's nature, resulting in a loss of humanity, morality, and the ability to love, leaving every Sith, to varying degrees, amoral, cruel, and violent. Considering this dark change in personality to be a transformation into a different person altogether, some who turn to the dark side take on a different name, as they regard their former persona as dead and destroyed. Sith Lords, in particular, adopt a new name upon their initiation into the Order, prefixing it with the title Darth (e.g., "Darth Vader"). Severe saturation in the dark side may even lead to physical degradation. It is common for Sith who have immersed themselves in the dark side to have yellow eyes and pale skin, as evidenced by Darth Sidious in Return of the Jedi and the newly corrupted Vader in Revenge of the Sith. Although Sith are deeply affected by the methods and dark arts they practice, they are not portrayed as necessarily irredeemable: some Sith, most famously Darth Vader in the final moments of his life, have renounced the Order and the dark side of the Force.
Martial arts are a core part of the Sith tradition, and Sith featured in the Star Wars film series have all been highly trained warriors who further augment their abilities with the Force. Like the Jedi, the Sith's signature armament is a lethal focused energy melee weapon known as a lightsaber, which (generally) only those trained in the ways of the Force can use effectively, although General Grievous, a non-Force user, is able to murder numerous Jedi and seize their lightsabers as trophies. Sith use lightsabers in combination with Force-derived powers, such as telekinesis, enhanced dexterity and precognition, to achieve superhuman combat prowess. A well-trained Sith is depicted as being at least a match for a well-trained Jedi Knight, and either can handily defeat multiple ordinary attackers. In matters of dress, Sith may adopt any attire consistent with their plans or guise; they commonly favor black robes and armor.
The Sith's history prior to the events detailed in the films is portrayed in the comic book series Tales of the Jedi, published by Dark Horse Comics from 1993 to 1998 and considered part of the non-canonical Legends continuity. The Sith Order began around 6,900 BBY, during a period known as the Hundred Year Darkness. A series of conflicts began between the rebellious Dark Jedi, a faction of the Jedi Order, and the rest of the Order. The Dark Jedi were defeated and cast out, exiled to the unknown regions. These Exiles settled on the planet Korriban and encountered its native species, the Sith. This species consisted of ape-like humanoids with dark salmon-colored skin, chin tentacles, and long bones jutting from their faces. Their culture was reminiscent of both the ancient Egyptians (a monumental necropolis for deceased Dark Lords) and the Indo-Aryans of India (a rigid caste system). The strongest among the Exiles, Ajunta Pall, became the first to hold the title Dark Lord of the Sith. His contemporaries, such as Karness Muur and XoXaan, became Sith Lords. The human Dark Jedi interbred with the Sith species, who also had an affinity for the Dark Side. They would become the original Sith Empire.
One of the earliest leaders of this Sith Empire was Tulak Hord. He expanded the Sith territories and conquered the Dromund System, home to Dromund Kaas, later the capital of the Sith Empire. He was eventually followed by Marka Ragnos, the last ruler of a period known as the Golden Age of the Sith. Upon the passing of Ragnos, two contenders for the throne of Dark Lord, Naga Sadow and Ludo Kressh, duelled at his funeral. Eventually, after a series of conflicts, Sadow was victorious, and Kressh apparently killed.
Sadow began the Great Hyperspace War, by invading the Republic and laying siege to its planets. Sadow's efforts were initially met with success, his forces amplified by illusions that Sadow projected from his meditation sphere. Ultimately, however, his concentration broke when his apprentice turned on him. With his illusions dispersed, Sadow's forces were forced to retreat. Upon returning to Sith space, they found that Kressh had not been killed, and they engaged him in a space battle. Sadow was victorious once again, but they were soon attacked by Republic forces. Sadow escaped by causing the Denarii Binary Star to go supernova. The Sith Empire was saved from collapse by Darth Vitiate, another one of Ragnos's former acolytes, who led the Sith into hiding in the Unknown Regions.
In the Empire's absence, the influence of the Sith eventually led to the corruption of several Jedi Knights, including Freedon Nadd, Exar Kun, and Ulic Qel-Droma. Nadd, a former prodigy from the Jedi stronghold world of Ossus, made the conscious choice to embrace the dark side of the Force and sought out knowledge from Sadow's fallen empire, eventually leading him to Sadow himself, still alive and in exile on Yavin IV. After learning from Sadow, Nadd murdered his teacher and used his Sith status and power to conquer the planet Onderon and produce a royal lineage. After Nadd's death, Exar Kun sought out Sith arts from both Nadd's spirit and that of Marka Ragnos. The latter declared Kun Dark Lord of the Sith and made Qel-Droma his apprentice. Corrupting several Jedi to their cause and allying themselves with warriors such as the Mandalorians, Kun and Qel-Droma declared war on the Galactic Republic. During a raid on the Jedi Library at Ossus, Qel-Droma dueled and killed his brother but was captured. Qel-Droma was subsequently redeemed and was instrumental in Kun's downfall when the latter retreated to Naga Sadow's former stronghold on Yavin IV.
Exar Kun's invasion directly influenced the Mandalorian Wars, whereas the individuals known as Revan and Alek came across Darth Vitiate's empire in the Unknown Regions. Seduced to the dark side and declaring themselves Sith Lords, Revan and Alek became Darth Revan and Darth Malak, respectively. Vitiate had them seek out the Star Forge, an ancient, alien weapons plant that the Sith hoped to use to speed up their return to the galaxy. Revan and Malak instead opted to use the Star Forge to fuel their own imperial war machine and led a brutal and hugely successful campaign against the Republic. Revan was eventually betrayed by Malak, allowing a Jedi strike team to capture him. Malak continued his conquest without Revan's tactical leadership until a redeemed Revan defeated him, and the Star Forge, the source of the Sith fleet, was destroyed.
Remnants of Revan's Sith Empire were reorganized into a loose alliance of soldiers, assassins, and fallen Jedi led by the Sith Triumvirate, a triad of Sith Lords consisting of Darth Traya, Revan's former teacher; Darth Nihilus, a fallen Jedi and survivor of the Mandalorian Wars; and Darth Sion, a veteran Sith warrior from Exar Kun's war. The three of them began a shadow war against the Jedi, with Nihilus using his power to absorb Force energies to wipe out an entire planet of Jedi refugees, while Sion led a contingent of assassins to hunt down the survivors. This First Jedi Purge brought the Jedi Order to the brink of extinction. The Triumvirate's downfall came about when Meetra Surik, a Jedi who was exiled after the Mandalorian Wars, returned to known space. She defeated the three Sith, and without leadership and the destruction of their base of operations on Malachor V, the remaining Sith forces faded into obscurity. Surik's students were able to help the Jedi recover from the Triumvirate's purge.
Around 300 years later, the original Sith Empire, still under the leadership of a seemingly immortal Vitiate, emerged from the Unknown Regions and declared war on the republic. This war, dubbed the Great Galactic War, was halted when Vitiate, on the cusp of victory, was restrained by the telepathic prowess of Revan. After a period of non-fighting, called the Galactic Cold War, tensions boiled over, and the Galactic War began. The war briefly fell in favor of the Republic and the Jedi, with the Sith gradually losing ground, until both factions were forced to join in an alliance against a third faction of Force-users known as the Eternal Empire. Once the Eternal Empire was defeated, the war against the Sith resumed. Vitiate perished during the conflict, with Darth Malgus eventually taking control. Malgus proved to be a fairly successful leader but over time the Sith Empire eventually fell to infighting and mostly disappeared. Occasionally, a Dark Lord such as Darth Rivan or Darth Ruin would rise and fall, but the Sith did not become a major threat again until around 2,500 years later.
At this point the Brotherhood of Darkness arose, led by the Sith Lord Skere Kaan. They focused on controlling the infighting between the Sith. This policy allowed them to make great progress in their war against the Republic.
Ironically, one of their own, the Sith Lord Darth Bane, turned on them, engineering a civil war that ended with the deaths of every one of the Brotherhood's members, except for Bane himself. Bane then started the Rule of Two, which evolved into the Sith organisation as they are seen in the films: an order consisting only of two Sith Lords, a master and an apprentice.
The Star Wars saga began with the film Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope, which was released in 1977. Since then, additional films, as well as books, computer games, and comics set in the Star Wars fictional universe have been appended to the original trilogy. and have collectively expanded on the history of the Sith.
The schemes of the Sith are key to the overarching plot of the Star Wars films and much other fictional material in the franchise. Their background has varied among depictions, but the Sith have always been insidious archenemies of the Jedi leveraging dark arts in pursuit of power and revenge. The Sith were first mentioned in A New Hope in a scene ultimately cut from the film. They were expanded upon heavily in the following years in books, comics, games and other multimedia. The Sith were formally introduced on-screen with the release of ' in 1999 as a shadowy martial order manipulating the movie's political factions into a galaxy-spanning civil war.
' first aired on Cartoon Network in 2008. This series took place between ' and '. During this time, Anakin Skywalker is a full-fledged Jedi Knight, and the series shows how he progresses into his fall to the dark side of the Force. Count Dooku is the active Sith Lord and leader of the Separatist Alliance. The series also explores Dooku's attempts at training secret apprentices like Asajj Ventress and Savage Opress in order to eventually defeat Darth Sidious and become the ruling Sith Lord.
The origin, agenda, abilities, and philosophy of the Sith are collectively intertwined due to their relationship to the Force. With proper training, the Force may be called upon by rare individuals capable of "sensing" or "touching" it to achieve extraordinary feats such as telekinesis, precognition, and mental suggestion. Not all psychological states are conducive to employing the Force; discipline is required. However, both quietude and focused, intense passion alike can be effective. The Sith originated from a species of Force-sensitive warriors who discovered the efficacy of passion as a tool to draw on the Force at least 5,000 years prior to the events of the first Star Wars film. Fully embracing this approach, they became defined and corrupted by it.
The warriors who would become the first Sith were apparently heterodox members of the Jedi. The Jedi served as a space-faring knightly order within the Galactic Republic, a representative democracy encompassing most developed worlds. The Jedi Order sought to use the powers of the Force to help defend the weak and advance the rule of law across the galaxy, in keeping with their ethics of self-sacrifice and service to the common welfare. The Jedi creed mirrored their method of utilizing the Force, and Jedi doctrine favored states of serenity, detachment, compassion, and humility as the proper means of accessing its power. Controversy emerged when members of the Jedi Order began to experiment with passion as an alternative. The Jedi establishment saw these innovations as a threat to the ethos of the Jedi, opening members to the seduction of power and cruelty. Eventually, this controversy led to a conflict in which the rebelling Jedi were defeated and exiled.
In exile, the dissident Jedi were free to explore the relationship between passion and the Force. They concluded that the martial and ethical disciplines of the Jedi establishment were foolish and misguided. Passion, not quietude, was the most potent means of accessing the Force, and conflict, not peace, was the natural and healthy state of the universe. Rejecting the teachings of the light side of the Force, the exiles now embraced ruthless personal ambition, believing that power belonged to those with the cunning and strength to seize it. In their training, the dissidents would seek to master the Force by cultivating dark passions such as anger and hate, a practice condemned by the Jedi. Guided by their egoistic philosophy based on ruling by seizing power and armed with taboo Dark Side techniques, the former Jedi exiles reemerged to menace the galaxy as the Sith Order, aiming to conquer the Galactic Republic and exact revenge against the Jedi.
A succession of Sith-led regimes would arise to challenge the Jedi and the Galactic Republic, an era known as the "Great Hyperspace Wars". The Jedi-led Republic Armed Forces managed to repel the Sith invasion from Coruscant and then pursued them all the way back to Korriban and essentially killed and purged all of the Sith they could find; Republic historians would call this campaign the post-Great Hyperspace War counter-invasion but the Sith simply called it a genocide. However, internal power struggles would prove decisive in thwarting the Sith's designs. The paradox of reconciling endless personal ambition with the interests of the Sith as a whole became a great practical and philosophical concern for the Sith.
Ultimately, this paradox was "resolved" through a drastic reorganization by Darth Bane, who recast the Sith into a master-apprentice tradition called the Rule of Two. Starting with Darth Bane, there would be only two Sith at a time: one to embody power and the other to crave it. While concealing their identity as Sith, a succession of Sith masters and apprentices would work through the centuries to place themselves into positions of power and undermine the responsible authorities, preparing to overtake the Galactic Republic. The Banite tradition encouraged each apprentice to eventually challenge and murder his or her master and take an apprentice in turn. In this way, Darth Bane guaranteed the conspiracy remained a secret for a thousand years. He believed the Sith could exert their power and obtain their revenge against the Jedi by galactic domination. The first six Star Wars films chronicle this ancient scheme.
Darth Bane's plan would come to fruition through Senator Palpatine of Naboo, later Supreme Chancellor of the Galactic Republic, and secretly a Dark Lord of the Sith ("Darth Sidious"). By manipulating disgruntled factions within the Galactic Republic, Palpatine orchestrated a civil war. This conflict, known within the Star Wars universe as the "Clone Wars", provided a justification for consolidating power in the Galactic Republic's chief executive and assembling a large army of cloned soldiers conditioned to obey certain key commands issued by Palpatine. The Jedi eventually discovered Palpatine's identity as a Sith Lord and attempted to arrest him. Palpatine framed their actions as an attempted coup, using it as a pretext for annihilating the Jedi by activating "Order 66," one of the embedded protocols in the clone soldiers. In the course of effecting his designs, Palpatine also manipulated the most powerful Jedi Knight, Anakin Skywalker, into his service by promising to teach him how to save the life of Padmé Amidala. In a tragic irony, Padmé's sheer horror at discovering Anakin's collaboration with Sidious resulted in her death during childbirth. Sidious would trick Anakin into believing that he had killed Padmé in anger. Anakin's subsequent emotional collapse would lead him to fully embrace the dark side of the Force. Sidious would rule the newly created Galactic Empire for approximately 20 years as its Emperor with Darth Vader at his side. Initially unknown to Vader and Sidious, two children were delivered by Padme before her death.
The Rebels episode "Twilight of the Apprentice" features a forbidden planet called Malachor, home of an ancient Sith temple. The temple contains a super-weapon and can only be activated by placing a special Sith Holocron in an obelisk at the summit of the pyramid inside the temple. Thousands of years prior, a battle was waged on Malachor that resulted in the deaths of its inhabitants. Somewhere between the events of his last appearance in ' and this Rebels episode, Darth Maul had become stranded on the planet. When Ahsoka Tano, Kanan Jarrus and Ezra Bridger arrive, Ezra is separated from them. He is discovered by Maul, and together, they use the Force cooperatively to solve a series of tests and retrieve a Sith Holocron. With the help of Kanan and Ahsoka, they fight three Inquisitors, all of whom are killed by Maul. Maul then betrays his allies, blinding Kanan, and proceeds to activate the super-weapon.
Maul is defeated by a sightless Kanan, and Darth Vader arrives with the intention of retrieving the holocron, but is challenged by Ahsoka, his former Padawan. While the super-weapon is preparing to fire, Kanan and Ezra retrieve the holocron and escape, preventing the weapon of mass destruction from being used. Even though the temple is destabilized, Ahsoka and Vader keep fighting to the death within the rapidly crumbling building, until it eventually explodes, wounding Vader.
The Star Wars Resistance episode "The Relic Raiders" depicts a Sith temple hidden underneath a later Jedi temple.
Anakin's children, Leia and Luke Skywalker, would become crucial members of the Rebel Alliance to restore the Galactic Republic. Luke would be secretly tutored in the ways of the Force by Vader's own former Jedi Master, Obi-Wan Kenobi, and a powerful elder Jedi, Yoda, who also survived Darth Sidious's purge. Ironically, during a final confrontation between Luke Skywalker, Darth Vader, and the Emperor aboard a mobile battle station known as the Death Star, the Sith lineage would end as Darth Bane prescribed that it proceed.
Sidious offered Skywalker an ultimatum to enter his service or die, and proceeded to use his Force-derived powers to torture and threaten to kill Skywalker when the latter refused to embrace the dark side of the Force. Experiencing a crisis of conscience at the imminent death of Skywalker, whom Vader now knew to be his son, Vader chose to intervene and kill his former master, Sidious, fulfilling the prophecy of the Chosen One. Vader would die of his injuries shortly thereafter, thus apparently bringing an end to the Sith and their ancient vendetta.
The 2019 film The Rise of Skywalker depicts the climax of the conflict between the Sith and the Jedi, and features the group known as the Sith Eternal, led by a resurrected Darth Sidious. Sidious's second and final demise at the hands of his granddaughter Rey marks the irrevocable end of the Sith.