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Dark Lord of the Sith/Legends

Click here for Wookieepedia's article on the Canon version of this subject.  This article covers the Legends version of this subject. 

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There are two conflicting sources for this article: Darth Bane: Rule of Two and The Dark Side Sourcebook.

Lucasfilm has not established a cohesive timeline regarding this subject. Editor discretion is advised.

"The Sith must be ruled by a single leader, the very embodiment of the strength and power of the dark side. If the leader grows weak, another must rise to seize the mantle."
Darth Revan's Sith Holocron[8]

The title Dark Lord of the Sith, or Jen'ari in the Sith language, originally referred to the rulers of the Sith Empire, such as those entombed in Korriban's Valley of the Dark Lords; subsequently, it was shared by multiple Sith Lords simultaneously. Some Sith Lords had the prefix Darth, but not all were Dark Lords. From the Golden Age of the Sith until their fall in the New Sith Wars, there was typically only one Dark Lord of the Sith at a time who headed the Sith Order, with one Dark Lord succeeding the other, as was the case with Marka Ragnos and his successor, Naga Sadow, who initiated the failed Great Hyperspace War. The Sith Lord Vitiate declared himself Sith Emperor and founded a reconstituted Sith Empire, where all of his twelve Dark Councillors held the title of Dark Lord at the same time. The fallen Jedi Darth Revan and Darth Malak also claimed the Dark Lord title for themselves during the Jedi Civil War, as did the Sith Triumvirate that succeeded them.

After deceiving Skere Kaan's Brotherhood of Darkness into destruction at Ruusan, Darth Bane instituted the Order of the Sith Lords' Rule of Two, dictating that there should only be one master and one apprentice at a time—both individuals of these Sith, such as Darth Sidious and Darth Vader, were Dark Lords of the Sith. The term referred to individuals of any gender, though Lumiya claimed the title of Dark Lady of the Sith. The Lost Tribe of Sith, who descended from Sith survivors of the Great Hyperspace War, were ruled by a Grand Lord and his Circle of Lords rather than a Dark Lord, while Darth Krayt of the One Sith assumed the mantle of Dark Lord.

History

Sith Empire

"I now complete your initiation to the power of the dark side...so that you may bring to pass the great destiny foretold...Exar Kun, because of you, the Sith will never die...you have rightly earned the title of...Dark Lord of the Sith!"
―Marka Ragnos bestows upon Exar Kun the title of Dark Lord of the Sith[3]
NagaIsTheDarkLord

Xendor, leader of the Legions of Lettow during the First Great Schism, was seen by Sorzus Syn of the Hundred-Year Darkness's Exiles as a predecessor to the Lords of the Sith Empire they had created. Although Xendor was not a Sith Lord in his lifetime,[10] his spirit was rumored to have returned as the Sith Dark Underlord during the New Sith Wars.[11]

The first Dark Lord of the Sith was Ajunta Pall, the leader of the exiled Dark Jedi who, after their defeat in the Hundred-Year Darkness, conquered the Sith species and ruled over them as gods.[10] The title was subsequently passed down from Dark Lord to Dark Lord, Tulak Hord among them,[12] until the time of Marka Ragnos, whose century-long reign brought about the Golden Age of the Sith. Ragnos' death in 5000 BBY created a power struggle between the Sith Lords Naga Sadow and Ludo Kressh, who held opposing views on the future of the Empire.[2] Though both claimed the title of Dark Lord, Sadow, plotting to incite a war between the Sith and Galactic Republic, convinced the Sith Council to appoint him Dark Lord[13] and forced Kressh's faction to flee into exile.[14] After the Republic defeated the Sith invasion fleet, Kressh came out of exile with his followers and declared himself the Dark Lord, but Sadow's faction quickly killed him and wiped out his faction.[15]

1003 years after the fall of the Sith Empire,[16] the spirit of Marka Ragnos[17] declared Exar Kun Dark Lord of the Sith.[3] At the same time, everyone on the Dark Council of the Sith Emperor Vitiate's Sith Empire also held the title of Dark Lord of the Sith, a first in Sith history.[5] After discovering the long lost Star Forge,[18] Revan broke free of Vitiate's mental control[19] and declared himself the Dark Lord of the Sith of his new empire. Malak succeeded Darth Revan as the Dark Lord of the Sith after overthrowing him, until he was defeated by his former Sith Master.[4]

Rule of Two

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"When your power eclipses mine I will become expendable. This is the Rule of Two: one Master and one apprentice. When you are ready to claim the mantle of Dark Lord as your own, you must do so by eliminating me. The confrontation is inevitable. It is the only way the Sith can survive. It is the way of the dark side."
―Darth Bane, to Zannah[6]

More than two thousand years later, Lord Kaan also granted the title to all members of the Brotherhood of Darkness, thus making it a title shared by many Sith for the second time. After the institution of the Rule of Two, the title was naturally held by only two members at a time, one being the Sith Master and the other being the Sith apprentice. It remained so until the rise of the Rule of One, which like the original Sith Empire recognized only a single Dark Lord of the Sith, bringing the title full circle.

Behind the scenes

The term Dark Lord of the Sith was in the script of A New Hope as a title of Darth Vader,[20] and although not mentioned in the dialogue of the Original trilogy, was mentioned in the novelizations and comic adaptations.

While writing The Thrawn Trilogy, author Timothy Zahn originally conceived the Noghri to be the Sith; thus making the man they worshipped, Darth Vader, the "Dark Lord of the Sith". However, this idea came into conflict with Lucasfilm and thus Zahn was forced to change it.[21][22]

The background of the Dark Lords of the Sith and their nature as Jedi who turned to the dark side of the Force was first explored in 1994 with Tales of the Jedi – The Freedon Nadd Uprising 1.[23] Further information was provided in Star Wars: Tales of the Jedi - Dark Lords of the Sith[20] and Star Wars: Tales of the Jedi – The Golden Age of the Sith.[24]

Appearances

This in-universe list is incomplete. You can help Wookieepedia by expanding it.

Non-canon appearances

Sources

Notes and references