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The Order of the Sith Lords
The Sith Order created by Darth Bane following the destruction of the previous incarnation of the Sith, the Brotherhood of Darkness. Inspired by the teachings of Darth Revan, Bane structured his Order based on the Rule of Two; where there would only be one master and an apprentice at any given time, while hiding from the Jedi Order. For over 900 years, they remained in hiding while manipulating the galaxy, until re-emerging during the Naboo Crisis. Under Darth Sidious, the Sith were able to take over the Galactic Republic and forge the Galactic Empire after reducing the Jedi to a handful of survivors.
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Darth Bane
Darth Bane (Dessel)
Species: Human
Homeworld: Apatros
Appears in: Darth Bane | Jedi Vs. Sith | Bane of the Sith | The Clone Wars note
"I am the Dark Lord who will restore the Sith to glory. They call me Bane."
Star of the Darth Bane trilogy of novels. He destroyed the obsolete original Sith Order and created his own.
- Abusive Parents: His father beat him from childhood up until his late teens, when Bane accidentally killed him with the Force. For a given value of "parent", he would likely count as this towards Zannah, albeit more in the sense that he is The Corrupter and put her through a Training from Hell, not that he was ever pointlessly cruel to her for no reason.
- The Antichrist: Bane extensively researches the Sith'ari prophecy that is the Sith's equivalent to the Chosen One. Since he believes the Force is there for him to command, instead of vice versa, he discounts the prophecy, but if the Sith'ari does exist it's probably Bane himself. This was later confirmed by the Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia.
- Even though his plan takes one thousand years to pull off.
- Appropriated Appellation: His abusive father used to call him "the bane of [his] existence", and even after Hurst's death, his friends continued calling Dessel "Bane". After joining the Sith, he takes the name for his own as a symbol of turning his pain and suffering into a strength.
- Awesome, but Impractical: His Orbalisk armor ultimately proved to be this. The Orbalisks provided him with a Nigh-Invulnerable layer of defense, greatly increased his strength and connection to the Darkside, and granted him a Healing Factor. It also came with several problems. It made stealth practically impossible with how noticeable it was, the increased adrenaline flow could send him into a mindless rage if he didn't keep his anger in check, and if an Orbalisk dies it pumps its host full of lethal toxins. The last one is what almost killed him and is the main reason he had it removed.
- The Bad Guy Wins: At the end of the day, everything falls into place exactly as Bane envisions; he destroys the Brotherhood of Darkness, establishes his new Sith Order, and successfully trains a worthy apprentice. Even Bane's own death is in accordance with his doctrine, and even after he's gone, Bane's Sith continue on for a thousand years, a feat few other Sith can claim to match.
- Badass Bookworm: It's implied that much of Bane's knowledge of the Force comes entirely from his diligent study of Old Sith lore. It's especially impressive when you realize that Bane was a miner with little-to-no formal education and no training in the Force whatsoever until he was in his mid-twenties.
- Bald of Evil: He's gone bald from the toxic dusts he breathed in during his youth, while working in the cortosis mines of his homeworld.
- Batman Gambit: Him giving the Thought Bomb to Khan, as a token of loyalty toward him, knowing that Khan would sooner or later uses it as his situation grows desperate and wipes himself and the Brotherhood of Darkness with it.
- Benevolent Boss:
- As sergeant of the Gloom Walkers, Dessel led by example, saved his squadmates lives on many occasions, and actually mutinied against their commanding officer to prevent them from being led into a suicide mission. Sadly, the deeper he delves into the dark side, the more detached he gets from this camaraderie; by the time he meets one of his old friends again many years later, Bane doesn't care in the least for her (in fact, he only vaguely recalls her) and was ready to kill her despite the fact that she had just saved his life.
- While "benevolence" doesn't really enter into it anymore, Bane is a stern and merciless taskmaster, but he doesn't hesitate to praise Zannah when she manages to impress him.
- The Berserker: While wearing his orbalisk armor, Bane fights with a reckless abandon, employing pure brute force with no thought to defense, as the parasites grant him Nigh-Invulnerability.
- Character Tics: After narrowly surviving the destruction of his orbalisk armor, Bane develops a tremor in his left hand and he tends to open and close the hand repeatedly to keep it under control.
- The Chessmaster: Bane had established a massive network of spies and informants across the galaxy to keep him informed of various political movements. He also played Skere Khan and the rest of the Brotherhood of Darkness like a harp, giving Khan the Thought Bomb as a fake proof or his loyalty and ensuring his and the rest of the Brotherhood's annihilation by manipulating them and the Sith military forces into making disastrous moves, until Khan in desperation and having gone through Sanity Slippage uses the bomb.
- The Chosen One: Darth Bane is the prophesized Sith'ari, a legendary being foretold to lead the declining Sith into destroying the Jedi and conquering the galaxy.
- Combat Pragmatist: As befitting a Sith, Bane uses any trick necessary to win. When he realizes that he can't win against his former master Ka'sim in a lightsaber duel, he makes the Sith temple in which they are fighting crumble on him instead.
- Curb-Stomp Battle: Bane is on the receiving end of one when first dueling Sirak. He returns the favor later on.
- Deadly Upgrade: The orbalisk-armor he wore for ten years. The parasites provided him Nigh-Invulnerability upped by a Healing Factor strong enough to instantly heal lightsaber-cuts, and increased both his physical and Force powers to monstrous levels. However at the same time they were constantly poisoning him, feeding on his Dark Side energies, and caused him to flew into Unstoppable Rages, that completely clouded his mind and judgement. Even when he finally gets rid of them, their dying act leaves his body with damage that lasts the rest of his life.
- Dented Iron: By Dynasty of Evil, a combination of age, traumatic injury, and a lifetime of using the corruptive power of The Dark Side has done a great deal of damage to Bane. While still a force to be reckoned with, he's not what he once was.
- Determinator: Nothing stops Bane when he sets his mind to it.
- Entertainingly Wrong: As he gets older and starts feeling his age, Bane fears that Zannah is just waiting for him to grow weak and helpless so she can take the title of Sith master with ease. The reality is that Zannah is biding her time because she's worried that Bane is just faking his declining health (knowing that he's exactly the kind of cunning opponent who'd do something like that) and wants to make sure she's capable of beating him before trying her luck.
- Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Love may or may not be an exaggeration, but he certainly liked Zannah enough that the whole reason the Rule of Two isn't the Rule of One was essentially just because he wanted to include her in his plans.
- Evil Cannot Comprehend Good: While he can understand how Jedi tend to think, by the time of Dynasty of Evil he's so far into the Dark Side that when Lucia, an old army comrade from his days in the Sith footsoldiers, frees him from imprisonment he's baffled by her given reasons, and figures she's either a dribbling idiot or trying to get something from him. The notion she is legitimately trying to free him out of hideously misplaced loyalty to her former squadmate just doesn't click.
- Evil Counterpart: He's kind of the anti-Luke Skywalker: both of their mothers died in child-birth. Bane's father was an Abusive Parent, and he was partially responsible for Bane growing up to be a sociopath. Luke's father didn't even know of his existence, and during their first meeting cut off Luke's hand in a duel, and tried to tempt him to join The Dark Side. Both Bane and Luke are immensely powerful in the Force. Both have brought around the destruction of the Sith Order of their time. As Bane rebuilt the Sith in accordance with his vision, so did Luke rebuild the Jedi Order. As if trying to lampshade this, when Bane made an appearance in Star Wars: The Clone Wars he was voiced by Mark Hamill.
- Feeling Their Age: Although barely middle-aged by Dynasty of Evil, Bane's lifelong use of The Dark Side has done a number on his health, to the point that he worries that Zannah is just waiting for him to decay to the point where she can kill him with ease instead of proving her superiority over him at his best (since that would implicitly weaken his new Order, not strengthen it as he intended).
- Freudian Excuse: Darth Bane was abused as a child by his father and grew up on an armpit of a planet. Bizarrely, while it's easy to see how this shaped him into a monster, he makes no attempt to justify his actions with it.
- From Nobody to Nightmare: An abused, unloved, poor miner living on a complete backwater mining colony. No one would have expected him to end up being the one to reinvent the Sith and kickstart a thousand-year Grand Plan that culminated in the rise of the Empire and Palpatine.
- Genius Bruiser: Unlike most other Sith at the Academy on Korriban, Bane spent a great deal of his time reading and studying the histories and philosophies of past Sith Lords, and by the end of his life was an expert on these subjects. He was capable of formulating incredibly complex and long-term plans, manipulating others easily, without even using the Force, and he accumulated an immense wealth of both money and information by using his facade as a trader,. He also happens to be a master lightsaber duelist, and an immensely powerful user of The Dark Side.
- Genocide from the Inside: He orchestrates the deaths of everyone except himself and Zannah so he can create the Rule of Two.
- Grand Theft Me: To learn to stave off death in Dynasty of Evil, Bane learns Darth Andeddu's ritual of essence transfer, which would allow him to transfer his soul into someone else's body. He tries it in a last ditch effort to win his final duel with Zannah, but he fails and dies, although he does leave an impression on her.
- Greater-Scope Villain: Put the Rule of Two that he put into place would govern the Sith all the way to Sidious's death, and in fact Sidious's conquest of the Galaxy and creation of the Galactic Empire was ultimately the culmination of his plan.
- Hero-Worshipper: In his time at the Sith Academy, Bane comes to idolize Darth Revan, finding him to be the ideal Sith Lord despite his eventual redemption. It's finding Revan's Sith holocron and his example in taking on a single apprentice that inspires Bane to create the Rule of Two.
- Hidden Depths: He's very good at massages, having learned to use them during his life as a minor to help soothe and rearrange his back and joints after long days in the mine.
- Hypocrite: Subverted; Zannah derides him as one when he starts looking for a means of immortality, but she eventually catches on to the truth, that Bane doesn't want to be truly immortal, just to extend his life long enough to see his vision through.
- I Am Not Left-Handed: One of the reasons Zannah held off on killing him was the suspicion that he was holding back some technique for a rainy day. He was. But it doesn't save him.
- I Have Many Names: Born as Dessel, he takes the name "Bane" upon joining the Brotherhood of Darkness, extending it to "Darth Bane" after being inspired by Darth Revan. As the Dark Lord of the Sith, Bane uses a number of aliases, including "Lord Eddels" and "Sepp Omek" to gain wealth and power for his long-term plans.
- Ignored Epiphany: After killing a fellow student in the Brotherhood of Darkness, Bane had a conscience crisis, being unable to justify it besides it had been out of rage. He also realizes that he murdered his father with the Force without knowing it and feels haunted by this realization. This only lasted for a while, of course, and Bane returned into being the ruthless Sith he was before.
- Immortality Seeker: When he feared that Darth Zannah would never become powerful enough to strike him down, he attempted to discover the secret of immortality so that he would live long enough to destroy the Jedi himself. When Zannah found out, she pointed out that this violated the Rule of Two that he himself created (though she later conceded that it didn't truly, since the Master still had to do everything they could to survive, and she realises that he only did it because he feared that since she still hadn't try to kill him that she lacked the necessary ambition).
- Irony: Bane is disdainful of petty sadism, preaches that there should only be two Sith at any given time, and feels that the Apprentice must overthrow the Master in the Duel to the Death rather than through trickery or deceit, to prove that the next Master is stronger than the last. Flash forward a thousand years, and Palpatine- the Sith who brings all of Banes' plans and ambitions to fruition- is the exact opposite of all of this, a sadistic psychopath with a warped sense of humour, who trains an apprentice Darth Maul while still serving under Plagueis, whom he murders by getting him drunk and torturing him to death with Force Lightning while he starts to sleep, partly out of fear that he might be slightly stronger than he is.
- Jerkass: Downplayed; Bane is a cold, cruel social Darwinist who, by his own admission, doesn't feel things like pity, gratitude, or remorse, and who inflicts pain and suffering on others without hesitation, but he rarely goes out of his way to Kick the Dog unnecessarily, and is too disciplined and pragmatic to indulge in petty acts of malignance.
- Large and in Charge: He was two meters tall, and very muscular in build.
- Laser Blade: He wielded the blade of his Fencing Master's Master.
- Lightning Bruiser: Bane is very fast, in spite of his size.
- Long Game: So long in fact that he was fully aware it could not be obtained in his life time, hence the Rule of Two he established.
- Manipulative Bastard: Bane, when he destroys the Brotherhood by playing on Kaan's ego.
- Master Swordsman: Effortlessly took on the Jedi Grandmaster and the Jedi Weaponmaster of his time simultaneously. Of course, it helped that most of his body was invulnerable to lightsabers.
- Mechanically Unusual Fighter: For a Force wielder Bane is an oddity in that he lacks any precognitive abilities whatsoever, not even vague dreams. It's something of a problem for him what with that whole "Grand Plan" thing meaning an ability to see problems coming often puts him on the backfoot, which is why he takes a shine to the Huntress.
- No Body Left Behind: His body was destroyed when he tried to take over Zannah's body.
- Pragmatic Villainy: While Bane's a coldblooded killer, he's not a petty sadist, doesn't kill on a whim, and will spare people's lives if they prove themselves useful. He also sabotages many plots to split up the Republic, not because he cares about it, but because a fractured galaxy is more work to subvert and conquer.
- Rule of Two: He created the rule that only two Dark Lords of the Sith could exist in any given time: a master and an apprentice.Darth Bane: Two there should be; no more, no less. One to embody power, the other to crave it.
- The Sleepless: Path of Destruction states that after Bane started learning and training at the Sith Academy, he found that he needed almost no sleep and instead relied on just an hour or two of daily meditation to keep his body energized and his mind invigorated. After wandering the wastelands of Korriban for two weeks, he did need to sleep, but only for a few hours.
- The Social Darwinist: He's a firm believer of "survival of the fittest". This is part of the Rule of Two: a Sith Lord remains in charge by proving himself the strongest until his apprentice eventually becomes strong enough to defeat him. Notably, Bane doesn't exclude himself from this belief; while held captive at the mercy of a vengeful enemy, Bane acknowledges that, by his own ideals, if he's not strong enough to save himself, he deserves to die. Likewise, he refuses to find a way to use the Force to heal himself or fix the damage the years do to his body, figuring if it kills him, he deserves it. This is why he always had disdain for the Jedi, even long before joining the Sith, as he believed that the Jedi helping the weak was an error, and that the weak would only drag them and the Republic down.
- Stern Teacher: To Zannah. While hardly kind or merciful, he wasn't cruel.
- The Stoic: By the end of Path of Destruction, Bane has evolved into a stone cold killer who rarely lets any emotion shine through (and even when he does, it's usually murderous rage).
- Tragic Villain: Although by the end of the first book all his sympathetic traits are swept away he was a good man forced into a bad situation in the beginning.
- Took a Level in Jerkass: Dessel starts out capable of appreciating things like loyalty, generosity, and compassion. Over time, Bane strips himself of these qualities, becoming utterly cold-blooded, merciless, and cruel.
- Übermensch: Sought to make the Sith Order greater than it was before by destroying it and remaking it with the Rule of Two.
- The Unfettered: Bane doesn't do morality, or indeed any kind of rule other than the exaltation of strength.
- Ungrateful Bastard: After his old comrade Lucia saves his life in Dynasty of Evil, Bane barely comprehends why she helped him, makes it clear that he doesn't feel a shred of gratitude or obligation to her, and would have killed her if Zannah hadn't interrupted and killed Lucia first.
- Villains Never Lie: When captured and tortured by Serra, she demands he tell her who killed her father. While drugged too much to give a fully coherent response, Bane does at least answer her questions truthfully in as much as he's able, so when she asks if he killed her father, he says he didn't.
- Villain Protagonist: Of the eponymous Darth Bane novels.
- Visionary Villain: Bane's vision of a new Sith Order and the ultimate dominance of the Sith over the Jedi and the Republic is what drives his actions, and it outlives him by centuries, culminating in Darth Sidious and the rise of the Galactic Empire.
- Would Hurt a Child: Bane has no qualms about threatening or murdering children if it gets him something he needs.
- Wrong Assumption: In order for Bane's plan to defeat the Jedi to succeed, he assumed that all of the future Sith would follow the Rule of Two to the letter. However, at least three Sith Lords before this occurred, Darth Tenebrous, Darth Plagueis and Darth Sidious, ignored parts of the rule for their own benefit: seeking ways to achieve immortality, murdering their master in a dishonorable way, training more than one apprentice at a time or training one behind their master's back. Darth Bane failed to take into account that Sith in general are driven by not just their desire to destroy the Jedi, but also by their passion and lust for power.
Darth Zannah
Darth Zannah (Rain)
Species: Human
Homeworld: Somov Rit
Appears in: Darth Bane | Jedi Vs. Sith
"This is the way of our Order. An individual may die, but the Sith are eternal."
Originally a homeless orphan discovered by Bane. He noted her great potential in the Force and took her on as his apprentice.
- Badass Bookworm: Given that her specialty in the Force is sorcery, which requires intensive study in the Force. Her only education was also through her study of the Force under Bane.
- Bastard Understudy: During most of the Bane trilogy she was acting as Darth Bane's apprentice.
- Cain and Abel: A cousins variant with Darovit. She's the Cain, using the Force to shatter his mind and leave him as a patsy for the Jedi to kill.
- Child Mage: Even at the age of 10, Zannah is strong enough in the Force to disintegrate her cousin's hand.
- Clingy Jealous Girl: Invoked by Zannah, who tells her lover Kel that if she ever finds her with another woman, she'll cut the woman's heart out. Downplayed, because Zannah is neither clingy nor jealous enough to do it, but she is cruel enough.
- Combat Tentacles: She summoned tentacles made of pure Dark Side energy in her final duel against Darth Bane.
- Crippling Overspecialization: Double-fold at that:
- The only lightsaber-style she mastered is the defensive Soresu. This means, that while she can protect herself from almost any opponent, she herself can't go on the offensive until the opponent tires out and/or makes a mistake- and if that doesn't happen she's in a risk of tiring out herself!
- Similarly she only developed her sorcery-related Force-abilities, which as powerful as they are, they take immense concentration to use, leaving her unable to perform them while defending herself in a lightsaber-duel, and conversely unable to defend herself while using them.
- Dark Action Girl: A powerful and scary warrior who happens to be female.
- Disproportionate Retribution: When she found out a woman had slept with her boyfriend, she put her in a permanent coma, with what little was left of her mind forced to suffer nightmares for the rest of her life. Never mind that she'd been using the boyfriend for one of Bane's schemes, which ended with him dying.
- Double Weapon: Wields a double-bladed lightsaber.
- The Dragon: To Bane in the Darth Bane novels.
- Dragon Ascendant: The trilogy concludes with her as the first in a long line of these.
- Enfant Terrible: Young Zannah takes some time to fully embrace her role as Bane's apprentice, but once she does, she becomes a cold-blooded killer.
- Evil Orphan: Zannah's parents are dead, and she's Darth Bane's apprentice.
- Evil Sorcerer: More so than other Sith Lords, for Zannah has an innate gift for 'Sith Sorcery'.
- Face of an Angel, Mind of a Demon: Zannah is much more physically pleasing than her master, avoding the usual pitfall of Evil Makes You Ugly, but no less a monster.
- Faux Affably Evil: Unlike the more stone-faced Bane, Zannah can put up a good front of civility and friendliness, but beneath that, she's thoroughly sadistic and wholeheartedly devoted to her master's vision of Sith domination of the galaxy.
- Femme Fatale: She's described as very attractive, and she's perfectly aware of it, using her beauty on numerous occasions to get information from unsuspecting males she encounters.
- Foil: For Johun in Rule of Two. Both are young students just coming into their power when the story begins, but where Johun becomes a capable Jedi, Zannah goes further and further into evil. Just to show they're not so different, the story has a scene where both use the Force to nudge the minds of those around them for their own goals.
- Gaining the Will to Kill: Commits her first murder by accident at age ten. A kindly ship-owner from Ruusan and his kids follow next.
- I Know What You Fear: See Mind Rape.
- Karma Houdini Warranty: The Bane novels end with her killing Bane and becoming the next Dark Lord (or Lady) of the Sith, but the way they work means she will one day be supplanted by her own apprentice, who will be killed by her apprentice in turn, and so on.
- Kid Sidekick: A villainous version. Zannah is this to Bane in the first half of Rule of Two.
- Killed Offscreen: Considering she was succeeded by Darth Cognus, she evidently was eventually killed by her. However, the actual event has not been shown.
- Laser Blade: Her double-bladed lightsaber.
- Little Miss Badass: Young Zannah is a villainous version in Rule of Two, but only briefly before the time-skip jumps to her as a young adult.
- Magic Knight: While this is a common attribute for all Jedi and Sith, Zannah deserves special mention for her aptitude in Sith Sorcery and developing many unique force skills.
- Mind Rape: One of her skills is being able to bring forth the most terrifying nightmares from a person's subconscious in the form of hallucinations.
- Ms. Fanservice: Very pretty, and fully aware of it.
- Pragmatic Villainy:
- When Bane is injured, Zannah attempts to save his life. The reason for this is because he hadn't fully taught her all of his dark side abilities, yet.
- Why she's Nice to the Waiter. People are more likely to help someone who's nice to them, giving her a small network of contacts of her own for a minimal cost.
- Zannah believes in no killing without a good reason. That said, the minute she has a reason... out comes the lightsaber.
- Sadist: Unlike the more pragmatic Bane, Zannah clearly enjoys inflicting pain on others.
- A Sinister Clue: She's left-handed, and is one of the few Star Wars characters (let alone Sith) to be described as such.
- The Starscream: A very successful one, as she succeeds in killing Darth Bane.
- Stealth Expert: One of Zannah's abilities is to use the dark side to conceal her presence.
- Stone Wall: Zannah is trained in Soresu, a form of lightsaber combat that places heavy emphasis on defense and endurance.Zannah: Defense will not slay my enemy.
Bane: You lack the physical strength required for the powerful attacking strikes of Djem So or the other aggressive forms. You must rely on quickness, cunning and, most of all, patience to best your enemies. - Supernatural Fear Inducer: Capable of using the Sith magic power of "summon fear" as noted under Mind Rape and I Know What You Fear.
- That Man Is Dead: An unusual version where she goes back to using her birth name in this instance.
- Used to Be a Sweet Kid: Rain was a sweet little girl but circumstance molded her into every bit the sociopathic monster it takes to become a Sith.
- Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds: After watching her friend be killed in front of her by her rescuer and losing all of her family to a fate worse than death, all at the age of 10, is it any wonder she turned to the dark side?
Darth Cognus
Darth Cognus ("The Huntress")
Species: Iktotchi
An Iktotchi assassin turned Dark Lord of the Sith, and the apprentice of Darth Zannah.
- Affably Evil: She's never unnecessarily cruel, and she even accepts Set Harth's proposal to stop fighting and go their separate ways.
- Dark Action Girl: A ruthless assassin turned Sith Lord.
- Dragon Ascendant: It's never shown, but she eventually overthrows and kills Darth Zannah, taking her place as Dark Lord of the Sith.
- Dreaming of Things to Come: One of her special skills is having incredibly accurate visions of the future in her dreams.
- Dual Wielding
- Horned Humanoid: Comes with being an Iktotchi.
- No Name Given: Before taking her Sith name, she was only ever known as 'the Huntress'.
- Power Nullifier: Cognus has an innate talent for disrupting and suppressing other people's ability to use the Force, making Jedi and other Force-users easy prey.
- Professional Killer: She enters the story when she is contracted to kill Bane.
- Psycho for Hire: Unlike Bane or Zannah, she was already rather psychotic before joining the Sith.
- Psycho Knife Nut: Before becoming a Sith Lord, she favored a pair of knives as her main weapons.
- Slasher Smile: She's very fond of these in Dynasty of Evil.
- Tattooed Crook: Cognus has four black tattoos shaped like lines that run down from her lower lip; when she smiles, they look like fangs.
- Vibroweapon: She wields vibroblades instead of lightsabers as a Sith Lord.
Darth Millennial
Darth Millennial
Species: Human (Mutant)
A failed Sith Apprentice of Darth Cognus who rejected the Rule of Two and went on to found the Dark Force religion and the Prophets of the Dark Side.
- Born in the Wrong Century: He opposed the changes Darth Bane made to the order and would've fit in perfectly in Lord Kaan's Brotherhood of Darkness.
- The Heretic: He abandoned the Rule of Two.
- Mutants: A mutant human with three eyes.
- Start My Own: The founder of the Dark Force religion and through them the Prophets of the Dark Side.
- Third Eye: Has a literal one in the center of his forehead, showing him to be a Mutant. Unlike his two blue eyes normally, this one is yellow.
Darth Vectivus
Darth Vectivus
Species: Human
A human businessman who developed the ability to summon Force phantoms, and is one of the only Rule of Two Sith known to have died of old age, rather than being killed.
- Boring, but Practical: The other Sith enjoy crushing their enemies and destroying all who oppose them, but Vectivus cared more about learning and researching the Dark Side, a rarity among the antagonistic, forceful Sith before and after him. His achievements mostly amount to still being truly beloved despite being a Sith, and a few other deeds.
- Even Evil Has Loved Ones: When he wasn't being a Sith, he was a caring family man with numerous close friends by his side when he died.
- Genius Bruiser: Was primarily concerned with learning and was extremely intelligent...however, he could summon hundreds of "Force Phantoms", and is notably one of the only Rule of Two Sith to die of old age, meaning his Apprentice was never able to kill him.
- Good Is Not Soft: Well, good might not be the right word for a Sith Lord. Still, despite being a mostly pacific and non-antagonistic being, Vectivus by all accounts died on his bed surrounded by his loved ones by natural causes, meaning his apprentice never got a chance to kill him, with the most likely explanation is that Vectivus despite being amicable was not toothless and must have been incredibly powerful to be taken down.
- It Amused Me: The reason he delved into learning about the Dark Side was pure curiosity after a Dark Side nexus sprang up in one of his mines.
- Honest Corporate Executive: Formerly. An example is shutting down a mining operation when a Dark Side Force nexus began to negatively effect his employees. He was stated to use his Sith learnings hand-in-hand with iron self-discipline to continue running his business in a ruthless, but practical and ultimately fair way.
- Master of Illusion: Able to conjure up lifelike "Force phantoms" using a technique he devised. He could summon hundreds of them at once.
- Noble Demon: Ruthless and a Sith, but notably one of the very few who could be considered while not good, not evil either, simply concerned with learning.
- Strike Me Down with All of Your Hatred!: Attempted this on Jedi Knight Nelani Dinn when summoned as a phantom by Lumiya, but failed.
- Sympathetic Magic: Darth Vectivus had the ability to create phantoms that were tied to the life force of random people throughout the galaxy, and if any of them were damaged or destroyed, so were the beings they were connected to. He also knew how to summon hundreds of these creatures at once.
- Token Good Teammate: To a degree. He was still a Sith through and through and ruthless, but he was more concerned with learning and advancing than anything else, and had no interest in doing anything except that. He's explicitly said to have done no evil and proof being a Sith does not necessarily equal being evil.
- Unreliable Narrator: Almost all we know about him comes from Lumiya as she was trying to corrupt Jacen Solo into a Sith, so the nicer sides of his character are doubtful at best.
Darth Gravid
Darth Gravid
Appears in: Darth Plagueis (mention only)
A Sith Lord who was the master of Darth Gean.
- Accidental Hero: Gravid ironically did more to hinder the Sith than any Jedi or freedom fighter ever has.
- Barrier Warrior: He could create powerful force fields massive enough to shield entire fortresses.
- Book Burning: Performed the Star Wars equivalent by destroying nearly all Sith holocrons and documents under the belief that the Sith's history had to be buried to move forward. This ironically did much good for the Galaxy as it retarded the Sith Grand Plan for several centuries.
- Go Mad from the Revelation: Drove himself to insanity trying to fit the Dark and Light Sides together.
- Light Is Not Good: One of the few light-sided Sith lords. While he did incorporate Jedi teachings of mercy and compassion, ultimately he was driven to madness as he tried in vain to incorporate Light Side philosophies into Sith teachings, which of course would never have worked out. Also, there's no indication he ever underwent an actual Heel–Face Turn.
- Hand Wave: Darth Gravid solely exists as a historical Plot Device to explain why the Sith grew so much weaker in the interim between Bane's institution and the prelude to the Clone Wars.
- Historical Villain Upgrade: From the Sith's standards at least, Darth Gravid is viewed in hindsight with disdain by all subsequent Sith Lords because of his grand scale cock-up in destroying the Sith archives. Plagueis brings him up as a cautionary tale to his apprentice to warn him to never stray to the Light when the Dark path has already been trodden.
- Sanity Slippage: After learning a little about Jedi teachings, he decided to try to integrate them with Sith teachings, but the attempt drove him insane, leading Darth Gean to kill him.
- Spanner in the Works: In his madness, he destroyed several Sith documents, artifacts, and holocrons, setting the Sith cause back several hundred years. Darth Plagueis mused that the Jedi Order may have been destroyed centuries ago if it hadn't been for him.
- Visionary Villain: Had visions of restructuring the Sith Order from the ground up while sneakily incorporating his Jedi-influenced philosophies, necessitating his attempted erasure of all Sith history.
Darth Gean
Darth Gean
Species: Twi'lek
Appears in: Darth Plagueis (mention only)
A Twi'lek Sith Lord who was the apprentice of Darth Gravid.
- Artificial Limbs: She required a new arm after her final duel with her master.
- Dark Action Girl
- Handicapped Badass: The loss of her arm didn't hamper her fighting abilities and Force powers.
- Mercy Kill: Darth Gean's eventual murder of her master Gravid could be seen as this, as Gravid's insanity and senility made him a threat to Darth Bane's Grand Plan that all Sith were supposed to be working towards.
Darth Tenebrous
Darth Tenebrous (Rugess Nome)
Species: Bith
A Sith Lord with a day job as a starship designer. He was the master of Darth Plagueis.
- And I Must Scream: When Darth Plagueis killed him, he entered his body in virus form. However, after seeing a brief vision of Plagueis being killed, he panicked and exited his body, only to find he was now endlessly reliving his own death.
- Awesomeness by Analysis: A racial trait of the Bith. He could see patterns everywhere and predict future events without having to use his Force abilities. He introduced Hego Damask's parents to each other because he predicted that their child would become a powerful Force Sensitive who would be a worthy apprentice.
- Darwinist Desire: He had one of his agents seduce a Force-sensitive businessman, correctly predicting that their child would be strong in the Force and make for an ideal apprentice.
- Do Wrong, Right: When Darth Plagueis mortally wounded him, he congratulated him for finally killing him, but then berated him for recklessly putting their ship in danger in the process. If the ship had been destroyed, Plagueis would have been stranded on the planet they were on and the Sith Order would have been finished.
- Equivalent Exchange: He sacrificed his ability to see visions of the future to gain the ability to transfer his consciousness into a retrovirus upon death that could infect and possess others.
- Even Evil Has Standards: His horrified reaction to his vision of Sidious killing Plagueis is partly fear of the fate of the body he was intending to take over, partly disgust at how wrong Sidious is.
- Evil Genius: He was a legendary starship builder and designer, who imagined and made the plans for the Invisible Scimitar, who also did his own experiments on midi-chlorians, creating a virus turning his midi-chlorians into Maxi-Chlorians in order to retain his consciousness after his death and possess his apprentice's body.
- Family Theme Naming: If one counts Sith apprentices as family, but Tenebrous gave very similar infection-themed titles to both of his apprentices, Plagueis and Venamis.
- Immortality Seeker: He settled for transferring his consciousness upon death into a retrovirus that could infect and possess others.
- Neck Snap: After he was mortally wounded, Plagueis finished him off with one.
- Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: Not solely Tenebrous (though he was likely involved as well), but Tenebrous's unnamed Twi'lek master is the one responsible for unwittingly allowing the Jedi to sense the presence of the Sith for the first time in centuries as he opened a wound in the Force.
- Secret Other Family: In blatant defiance of the hallowed Rule of Two, Darth Tenebrous secretly trained a Bith named Venamis in the Sith arts despite already having an apprentice in Plagueis. Venamis's existence was kept hidden from Plagueis but Venamis knew of Tenebrous's "official" apprentice and was in fact ordered by Tenebrous to assassinate Plagueis, likely as a final test to determine who was most worthy to hold the title of Darth. For bonus points, Venamis is very heavily implied to be Tenebrous's biological son or at least a relative.
Darth Plagueis
Darth Plagueis (Hego Damask)
Species: Muun
A Sith Lord and lobbyist, Darth Plagueis the Wise was the apprentice of Darth Tenebrous and the master of Darth Sidious.
- Affably Evil: Plagueis is often so polite that it's hard to believe he's a deceptive, megalomaniac Dark Lord. It helps that he sincerely believes that his work will bring true balance to the Galaxy.
- The Ageless: Plagueis' preferred form of immortality
- Authority Equals Ass Kicking: Put simply: Palpatine would rather kill him in his sleep than face him in direct combat as mandated by the Rule of Two. In fact, even after he died, Palpatine was fearful his master would somehow rise from the dead and kill him, implying Palpatine genuinely doubts he would best him in a fight.
- Badass Bookworm: A brilliant occult scientist dedicated to studying the force, and he can kick ass like nobody's business.
- The Big Guy: As a Muun, he's naturally much taller than an ordinary human. Despite despising physical combat, he's still depicted as being big enough to palm a human head during a fight.
- Bald of Evil: Well, it's out of his control, Munns don't grow hair.
- Black Sheep: Plagueis claims that he was one to his father's side of the family due to him being the son of Caar's codicil wife and that no matter what he did, his half-siblings and their mother would try to deny him of his birthright. However, whether Plagueis is being honest is up to debate as he said this in a story that was an amalgamation of fact and fiction.
- The Chessmaster: Plagueis was a very skilled political mover, given that he was the one to plant the clone army idea in Sifo-Dyas' mind.
- The Corrupter: Subverted. He thought he was turning Palpatine, a reckless but otherwise normal delinquent, to the dark side. In truth, Palpatine was always a cunning and ruthless chessmaster.
- Designer Babies: His entire existence was the result of his master Tenebrous' manipulation.
- Death by Irony: He dies the exact same way many of his "experiments" did: his body cut off from air, the midichlorians living in his cells unable to accomplish his demand of healing him. He could save others from death but not himself.
- Due to the Dead: Despite torturing him to death and all, Palpatine arranged a funeral and cremated Plagueis, whose remains are actually in one of the large vases leading to the Chancellor's office. Decades later, Palpatine would also document Plagueis as one of the most important Sith in advancing their cause.
- Emperor Scientist: Plagueis is a lethal combatant and seeks to conquer the galaxy like all other Sith, but he puts particular emphasis on the esoteric nature of the Force, conducting extensive experiments in attempt to directly control midi-chlorians.
- Enfante Terrible: As a child, he used his Force abilities to torment the kids around them and made one he especially didn't like jump out a window to his death.
- Entertainingly Wrong: In The Book of Sith, his writings mention the idea that certain Force-users might be able to use the Unifying Force or the “Aperion” as he calls it, to fold space and time in order to send their consciousness to whatever point they desire. Plagueis has no idea that the Ang-Tii Monks had already developed such a technique called Flow-Walking.
- Even Evil Has Loved Ones: In contrast to how most Sith treated their apprentices, Plagueis came to consider Sidious a surrogate son and genuinely wanted to share power as immortal rulers of the galaxy. Too bad for him this affection was not mutual.
- Even Evil Has Standards: He finds Sidious' sadism and bloodlust to be excessive at times.Plagueis: We are not butchers, Sidious, like some past Sith Lords. We are architects of the future.
- Evil Genius: One of his defining traits compared to other Sith. While he's quite capable of handling himself in combat, he was much more interested in intellectual pursuits (in particular, studying the force through experiments with midichlorians) and gaining political power than he was in getting into fights. Ultimately He was much better at the former than the latter, while a brilliant researcher, to the point that Palpatine can't replicate his work later on, Palpatine is far better at more practical areas of knowledge like manipulation and politicking. This proves Plagueis's undoing.
- Extreme Omnivore: He once ate dead fish and bats in caves on the planet where he killed his master. He and Palpatine also one shared a fresh heart that he pulled out of a dead alien they had just killed during a training session. Ironically Muun are herbivores, and somewhat hypocritically Plagueis looks down on non-Muuns for eating meat (something he himself does either to fit in with humans or other aliens, or as stated out of desperation or as part of Sith ritual).
- Fiction 500: As a high-ranking member of the Muun-controlled Banking Clan, Plagueis was an exceedingly rich man, and it was he who provided the funds for creation of the Clone Army.
- Gentleman and a Scholar: Darth Plagueis's first person narration reveals much about Plagueis's personal philosophies which are all highly meticulous, contemplative and esoteric, worthy of his educated background. Plagueis's knowledge of the Force and Sith history is unrivalled.
- Godhood Seeker: He seeks immortality so as to become a god.
- Healing Factor: His very specific type of seeking immortality. Plagueis has no interest in spending eternity as a Force ghost or a spirit bound to an object or place, and he has no desire to possess the bodies of others or mindless clones; he wants to live forever in the body he was born with. To this end he uses the Force to coerce the midichlorians living in his cells into rejuvenating his body.
- Hypocrite: He repeatedly looks down on pretty much every other person in the galaxy as merely a pawn in the Siths' Grand Plan, and like many Sith believes that the Dark Side serves him (or is at least an ally) rather than the other way round. Except that Plagueis own birth was orchestrated by Darth Tenebrous so that he could serve as the perfect Sith apprentice, he made no attempt to step out from the shadow of his master until the Dark Side presented him with (and even suggested) the opportunity (Tenebrous even privately worries that Damask lacks the ambition to try), he is saved repeatedly by the Dark Side or Palpatine intervening when he is in a life-or-death situation, and he himself is merely a pawn of Palpatine who was playing him like a fiddle since the day they met.
- Immortality Seeker: Plagueis is hellbent on securing immortality.
- Lean and Mean: As a Muun, Plagueis is naturally tall and thin.
- Mad Scientist: A brilliant occult scientist, Plagueis' exploration of midichlorians and the esoteric nature of the force required considerable scientific experimentation. On living test subjects, no less. So, yeah... not mad, but certainly evil.
- Master Swordsman: He is even described as this by his master. Ironically, even passing the notion down to Palpatine, Plagueis despises lightsaber combat and views fighting as tedious.
- Man of Wealth and Taste: Plagueis is said to be very well dressed and elegant.
- Money Is Not Power: Despite his status as a financial superstar, Plagueis points this out to Veruna. This is understandable, given his immersion in the Dark Side.
- Morally Bankrupt Banker: Even as a Sith Lord, he had a day-job as a banker.
- Murder in the Family: He claims to do this to his half-siblings and their mother in order to be the sole inheritor of the Damask family fortune and to get rid of his competition within the family. However, whether it happened is debatable as Plagueis admits that the story is a mix of fact and fiction.
- Noble Demon: Particularly in comparison to his apprentice, Plagueis is more loyal and honest than most Sith.
- No Cure for Evil: An assassination attempt does some serious damage to his face, requiring him to don a respirator, but his skills with manipulating midichlorians allow him to eventually heal some of the damage.
- Nuke 'em: An attempt at assassinating him was slipping a literal nuke in his home.
- One-Man Army: Both Plagueis and Palpatine demonstrated that they could defeat and kill hundreds of enemies at once.
- Parental Substitute: Won Palpatine over to his side by being a better father figure than Cosinga was.
- Pet the Dog: Plagueis is pretty nice and polite to any droids in his service in direct contrast to pretty much 75% of the galactic community.
- Posthumous Character: Subverted. His titular novel reveals that he was still alive for the majority of Phantom Menace, having been murdered the exact moment Darth Maul was defeated by Obi-Wan Kenobi on Naboo.
- Pragmatic Villainy: Part of the reason he tried to curb Palpatine's bloodlust and sadism was because it'd be detrimental to their plans.
- Pretender Diss: Prior to his first meeting with Palpatine, Plagueis dedicated himself to personally hunting down any Sith pretenders and miscellaneous Dark Side adepts that could have posed a threat to his own schemes. The most notable of these was the secret, illegitimate apprentice of his master Tenebrous, Darth Venamis.
- Puny Earthlings: Plagueis secretly has a dim, overtly racist view of humans even though he ironically ended up with one as an apprentice. He expresses some admiration for their adaptability but nevertheless despises many of their, as he perceives them, frivolous customs that became Galactic norm, particularly their grating talent at finding any excuse to eat a meal (Muun do not care nearly as much for food).
- Sadist Teacher: His several year-long training regimens for Palpatine was horrifically barbarous and relentless. It's clear the means in which Palpatine was trained would give him his own ideas for training Maul.
- Secret Identity: Hego Damask the unassuming Banking Clan ambassador.
- Smug Snake: It should be noted despite claiming Palpatine and him were to rule as equals, Plagueis still clearly thinks he's in charge first and foremost. He intended to even manipulate the flow of politics behind Palpatine as he saw fit.
- Too Dumb to Live: As Palpatine notes to Plagueis while killing the latter: why did he think that Sidious would let him live? Sith operate on Klingon Promotion and Chronic Backstabbing Disorder policies, after all.
- Unwitting Pawn: He thought he was the one in charge, but Sidious had been manipulating him from the day they met.
- Villain Protagonist: Of the eponymous novel.
- Visionary Villain: Summarised by his aforementioned pearl of wisdom to Sidious about the Sith's true role as architects of the future rather than mindless butchers. Plagueis seeks to succeed where the more short-sighted and belligerent Sith of the past failed.
- We Can Rule Together: Unlike previous Sith Lords, Plagueis cares little for Darth Bane's Rule of Two and intends to rule the galaxy alongside his apprentice forever as immortal beings. Unfortunately for him, Sidious had other plans...
- Wicked Cultured: Plagueis was more used to the finer things in life.
