Star Wars Lore: Sith,Ro2, and Prophecy
For 1000 generations the Jedi have been a beacon of peace and Hope throughout the galaxy. So 10,000 to 25,000 years depending on your view of how long a generation spans. But thats not important to my essay. I will examine the known history of canon star wars. So anything preBane is a mystery until season 3 of Rebels reveals the Sith holocron's secrets.
First we will assume a couple things. Darth Plagueis is still a Muun. The book was well done within the scope of star wars but things like Tenebrous and his second apprentice didn't fit in with the philosophy of star wars. Im not saying the breaking the rule of two is anathema, i'll get to that later. Right now Plagueis. Why is he still a Muun? First George Lucas himself made this decision. Second and far more importantly it is the only way the Sith could have manipulated an entire galaxy from the sidelines. What do I mean by that? The Muun are basically the Swiss of the star wars world. They have the money to support anyone and anything they choose and keep it hidden from curious eyes. They have never been given a life expectancy unlike humans and most humanoids which we are led to believe follow the standard expectancy in real life. What does that have to do with this? Well Plagueis is probably the most important Sith in canon. The dark side would have extended his life. So lets say your average Muun lives 100-150 years. He could have been alive for 200-300 years. Accounting for a third of the time the Sith were out of the picture. Whoever his master was must have come up with the grand scheme when he took Plagueis as his apprentice. Essentially i am implying that any Sith between Bane and Plagueis' Master were like Maul. Tools to further the cause but otherwise unimportant. Plagueis being a Muun is essential to the grand scheme. It is the only way that factions could have been manipulated so deftly into the political quagmire present in the prequels. In Tarkin we get a glimpse of the beginning of the Jedi betraying their values and becoming a symbol of conflict rather than peace. Money moves nations or in this case Planets. Bribery must have abounded and we see this in the ineffectiveness of the senate. So corrupt that the Jedi must take the place of interventionists and begin their downfall.
Next let us look at the Rule of Two. What is it? Was it passed down directly from the Dark Side? Was it trully Bane's legacy that kept Sith in line to accomplish their revenge? Or was it a fallacy told to the Jedi in Bane's last days to eventually manipulate the jedi?
The Rule of Two states that only two Sith can exist at one time. A Master and an Apprentice. But we have canon breaking this rule several times during Palpatines rise to emperor. He seduced Dooku before Maul died perhaps even before he made his exit from the Order. Both Palpatine and Dooku were friends before Dooku's fall. They both were political enthusiasts and Palpatine would have used this friendship to turn Dooku in the same manner he did Anakin. Dooku twice took an apprentice and although Asajj was once called a Sith Assassin that was retconned very recently. Savage was clearly a Sith from the moment Dooku took him as his apprentice. He desired to take Palpatines spot, although canon now states he was not a Sith until Maul took him in. Sidious let Maul live and in doing so made the rule of two unimportant. Canon now has three Sith Masters existing for decades. Of course Maul says he isn't a sith anymore but just like Ashoka you cannot make that decision the force does it for you. Then you have the Inquisitorious. Not sith but like Asajj they are essentially dark acolytes or sith padawans. Potential sith. So what does that mean for the rule of two? Well nothing really. These 'sith' padawans never were real sith. The Sith have a direct link to the dark side. A link these acolytes never achieved. Even Maul may never have been a true Sith but a figure to distract like Asajj and Savage were. In Son of Dothomir Obiwan makes an exclamation that Maul and Dooku are the master and apprentice. This leads me to believe that beforehand they had believed Asajj was the apprentice and dooku the master before Maul returned. Why? Because the Jedi had absolute belief in the rule of two. It is something that has bothered me since Mace and Yoda made the declaration way back in '99. How did they know about it at all? Did they torture Bane to death to make him reveal the Sith's new law? Maul vs Sidious was a great example of WHY the Sith needed to follow the rule of two. The Sith were way more of a threat to each other than the Jedi could ever be. But it was more of a guideline to them than a law. It didnt need to be followed. I often wonder if Dothmir was a grand experiment by Plagueis to create a Sith army from the strongest force bloodlines(humans and zabrak). Talzin was the most dire threat to Palpatines scheme period. The planet produced three of the most powerful force users in star wars canon. All three were on par with Jedi who had seats on the council. Imagine if you will Plagueis creating a standing army of 'sith' padawans that could wipe out the Jedi outright. Unfortunately Palpatine killed him and discovered the planet. Instead of using the entire planet he stole the son of Talzin one of the most promising dark side users and created an enemy stronger than he knew til it was almost too late. But i digress. The Jedi somehow believe this rule to a fault. It leads them to not checking their corners and dismissing clues that could have led them directly to the source of manipulation. So was it all subterfuge? Bane told them about the rule of two and they believed him. So they had to have caught two sith at the time and executed them while a third sith remained in hidding. Meaning the rule of two was broken already and it was made just to convince the jedi they won. Essentially i am saying the rule of two was a lie believed only by the jedi and practiced by the sith only when it fit into their plans.
That leads me to my final theory. The prophecy of the chosen one. Balance. To the jedi that meant the fall of the dark side...but that to me never made sense. They were misinterpreting the prophecy. The force had been out of balance for a millennia. To the point where even the Jedi couldnt be sure between right and wrong. Ten thousand jedi existed at the beginning of the clone wars. 5000:1 ratio between light and dark. This resulted in the Jedi losing their grip on keeping things peaceful. Losing their values as ambassadors and becoming figures of conflict. So the dark sides power grew to balance the equation. It corrupted Plagueis and Palpatine two figures that could manipulate an entire galaxy and gave them power greater than some of the greatest Jedi masters of the time. All in the name of balance. Even the Mortis Arc, which I found to be the worst star wars media since the Yuzhan Vhong or the star wars christmas special showed anakin wasnt there to destroy just the sith but the imbalance of the light side as well. When all the jedi died the force was closer to balance but the fulcrum had overcompensated and leaned to the dark side. But wait theres yoda and obiwan then vader and palpatine. That IS balance. No. That is balance by numbers. Not balance in the force. If that were the case we could claim it was still out of balance toward the light side. Yoda, Ashoka, Kanan and Obiwan existed simultaneously on the light side. Maul and the inquisitors!!! There we go. Yes imbalanced toward the dark side. The original trilogy was the second part of the balancing of the force. For a moment the entire force was balanced. Anakin fufilled the prophecy. One redeemed sith and one jedi. Together they would have kept the balance. But Vader died and the force cannot exist without both sides. Enter Snoke. How he came to be is not for me to surmise here.
I hope you enjoyed this read. I have not read the book with Vader And Palpatine stranded and i imagine that holds some big clues to the Sith so if i missed anything important from canon dont hesitate to troll on my ignorance
First we will assume a couple things. Darth Plagueis is still a Muun. The book was well done within the scope of star wars but things like Tenebrous and his second apprentice didn't fit in with the philosophy of star wars. Im not saying the breaking the rule of two is anathema, i'll get to that later. Right now Plagueis. Why is he still a Muun? First George Lucas himself made this decision. Second and far more importantly it is the only way the Sith could have manipulated an entire galaxy from the sidelines. What do I mean by that? The Muun are basically the Swiss of the star wars world. They have the money to support anyone and anything they choose and keep it hidden from curious eyes. They have never been given a life expectancy unlike humans and most humanoids which we are led to believe follow the standard expectancy in real life. What does that have to do with this? Well Plagueis is probably the most important Sith in canon. The dark side would have extended his life. So lets say your average Muun lives 100-150 years. He could have been alive for 200-300 years. Accounting for a third of the time the Sith were out of the picture. Whoever his master was must have come up with the grand scheme when he took Plagueis as his apprentice. Essentially i am implying that any Sith between Bane and Plagueis' Master were like Maul. Tools to further the cause but otherwise unimportant. Plagueis being a Muun is essential to the grand scheme. It is the only way that factions could have been manipulated so deftly into the political quagmire present in the prequels. In Tarkin we get a glimpse of the beginning of the Jedi betraying their values and becoming a symbol of conflict rather than peace. Money moves nations or in this case Planets. Bribery must have abounded and we see this in the ineffectiveness of the senate. So corrupt that the Jedi must take the place of interventionists and begin their downfall.
Next let us look at the Rule of Two. What is it? Was it passed down directly from the Dark Side? Was it trully Bane's legacy that kept Sith in line to accomplish their revenge? Or was it a fallacy told to the Jedi in Bane's last days to eventually manipulate the jedi?
The Rule of Two states that only two Sith can exist at one time. A Master and an Apprentice. But we have canon breaking this rule several times during Palpatines rise to emperor. He seduced Dooku before Maul died perhaps even before he made his exit from the Order. Both Palpatine and Dooku were friends before Dooku's fall. They both were political enthusiasts and Palpatine would have used this friendship to turn Dooku in the same manner he did Anakin. Dooku twice took an apprentice and although Asajj was once called a Sith Assassin that was retconned very recently. Savage was clearly a Sith from the moment Dooku took him as his apprentice. He desired to take Palpatines spot, although canon now states he was not a Sith until Maul took him in. Sidious let Maul live and in doing so made the rule of two unimportant. Canon now has three Sith Masters existing for decades. Of course Maul says he isn't a sith anymore but just like Ashoka you cannot make that decision the force does it for you. Then you have the Inquisitorious. Not sith but like Asajj they are essentially dark acolytes or sith padawans. Potential sith. So what does that mean for the rule of two? Well nothing really. These 'sith' padawans never were real sith. The Sith have a direct link to the dark side. A link these acolytes never achieved. Even Maul may never have been a true Sith but a figure to distract like Asajj and Savage were. In Son of Dothomir Obiwan makes an exclamation that Maul and Dooku are the master and apprentice. This leads me to believe that beforehand they had believed Asajj was the apprentice and dooku the master before Maul returned. Why? Because the Jedi had absolute belief in the rule of two. It is something that has bothered me since Mace and Yoda made the declaration way back in '99. How did they know about it at all? Did they torture Bane to death to make him reveal the Sith's new law? Maul vs Sidious was a great example of WHY the Sith needed to follow the rule of two. The Sith were way more of a threat to each other than the Jedi could ever be. But it was more of a guideline to them than a law. It didnt need to be followed. I often wonder if Dothmir was a grand experiment by Plagueis to create a Sith army from the strongest force bloodlines(humans and zabrak). Talzin was the most dire threat to Palpatines scheme period. The planet produced three of the most powerful force users in star wars canon. All three were on par with Jedi who had seats on the council. Imagine if you will Plagueis creating a standing army of 'sith' padawans that could wipe out the Jedi outright. Unfortunately Palpatine killed him and discovered the planet. Instead of using the entire planet he stole the son of Talzin one of the most promising dark side users and created an enemy stronger than he knew til it was almost too late. But i digress. The Jedi somehow believe this rule to a fault. It leads them to not checking their corners and dismissing clues that could have led them directly to the source of manipulation. So was it all subterfuge? Bane told them about the rule of two and they believed him. So they had to have caught two sith at the time and executed them while a third sith remained in hidding. Meaning the rule of two was broken already and it was made just to convince the jedi they won. Essentially i am saying the rule of two was a lie believed only by the jedi and practiced by the sith only when it fit into their plans.
That leads me to my final theory. The prophecy of the chosen one. Balance. To the jedi that meant the fall of the dark side...but that to me never made sense. They were misinterpreting the prophecy. The force had been out of balance for a millennia. To the point where even the Jedi couldnt be sure between right and wrong. Ten thousand jedi existed at the beginning of the clone wars. 5000:1 ratio between light and dark. This resulted in the Jedi losing their grip on keeping things peaceful. Losing their values as ambassadors and becoming figures of conflict. So the dark sides power grew to balance the equation. It corrupted Plagueis and Palpatine two figures that could manipulate an entire galaxy and gave them power greater than some of the greatest Jedi masters of the time. All in the name of balance. Even the Mortis Arc, which I found to be the worst star wars media since the Yuzhan Vhong or the star wars christmas special showed anakin wasnt there to destroy just the sith but the imbalance of the light side as well. When all the jedi died the force was closer to balance but the fulcrum had overcompensated and leaned to the dark side. But wait theres yoda and obiwan then vader and palpatine. That IS balance. No. That is balance by numbers. Not balance in the force. If that were the case we could claim it was still out of balance toward the light side. Yoda, Ashoka, Kanan and Obiwan existed simultaneously on the light side. Maul and the inquisitors!!! There we go. Yes imbalanced toward the dark side. The original trilogy was the second part of the balancing of the force. For a moment the entire force was balanced. Anakin fufilled the prophecy. One redeemed sith and one jedi. Together they would have kept the balance. But Vader died and the force cannot exist without both sides. Enter Snoke. How he came to be is not for me to surmise here.
I hope you enjoyed this read. I have not read the book with Vader And Palpatine stranded and i imagine that holds some big clues to the Sith so if i missed anything important from canon dont hesitate to troll on my ignorance
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