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This article covers the Canon version of this subject.  Click here for Wookieepedia's article on the Legends version of this subject. 
For other uses, see Sith Empire (disambiguation).
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The Sith Empire was an empire ruled by the religious Force-wielders known as the Sith, that had a number of incarnations and at various points of history controlled most of the galaxy. It often fought against the Galactic Republic and the Jedi Order in a series of wars and battles, including the Great Hyperspace War, the Great Sith Wars, the Great Scourge of Malachor, the crusade of Krath, and other conflicts, until the last Sith Empire collapsed.

However, its legacy would endure, for the Sith reobtained galactic dominance once again by the end of the Clone Wars, by founding the Galactic Empire. After the Galactic Civil War saw the fall of this government, cultists in the era of the New Republic toiled to revive the Sith Empire of old itself.

History[]

Great Hyperspace War[]

Malachor-AoR-DM

The Sith Empire's legacy survived through the Sith Lords who sought revenge against the Jedi Order

Various Sith-led governments that shared the name the Sith Empire existed long before the Galactic Civil War.[12] The Sith Empire fought in the Great Hyperspace War against the Galactic Republic just over 5,000 years before the Imperial Era spurred by the development of the hyperdrive and the faster-than-light travel. By the Imperial Era, the now-mythological conflict[13] was recounted in the quasi-historical Qel-Droma Epics.[3]

According to the Qel-Droma Epics following its inception, a Sith Empire invaded the Deep Core planet of Empress Teta, with Sith forces being led by the Sith Lord Naga Sadow. The invasion led to Empress Teta to ally herself with the Jedi Order, which were mortal enemies of the Sith. The conflict resulted in the Great Hyperspace War, and the Jedi and Empress Teta supposedly managed to drive back Sadow's forces, resulting in their defeat and forcing the Sith to scatter throughout the galaxy. In another moment according to the Qel-Droma Epics, Naga Sadow decimated the Jedi world of Ossus when he triggered the stars in the Cron Cluster, resulting in the Cron Supernova which left Ossus scarred and barren.[3]

Great Scourge of Malachor[]

In another instance, a Sith Empire maintained a presence on the Sith world of Malachor. A Sith Temple was situated on the surface,[14] which contained a superweapon that was created by Darth Tanis.[15] Eventually the Jedi Order invaded the planet in what became known as the Great Scourge of Malachor, as during the battle[4] between the Jedi and the Sith Empire's thousands of Sith led by a Sith witch,[16] the superweapon activated and petrified the surface, killing all of the combatants.[4]

Galactic dominance and wars[]

During or after around 4,000 BBY,[17] a Sith Emperor ruled the Sith Empire. His chambers were once adorned by the Great Sith Wars Bas-Relief.[2] At another point, the Sith eventually controlled the majority of the galaxy, and as such, gemstones were freely traded, although this caused a flooding of the market and the value of gemstones dropped until bans and limits were put in place.[18] Additionally, many incarnations of the Sith Empire were built by slave labor.[1] Serenno was a particular planet under the rule of a Sith Empire according to legend, until it was overthrown by a victorious charge led by a member of House Serenno.[19] Around 3650 BBY,[20] a Sith Empire participated in the Sith Wars against the Galactic Republic and the Chiss Ascendancy.[21] Thousands of years before the Galactic Civil War[3] that took place from 4 BBY to 5 ABY,[22] various Sith Empires controlled the planet Auratera following an initial invasion, and the world shifted allegiance between the Republic and the Sith throughout millennia, according to whoever controlled the nearby regions.[3]

Legacy[]

"Once more the Sith will rule the galaxy, and we shall have peace."
―Darth Sidious, to Darth Vader[10]

Exar Kun's Sith Empire[]

Additionally, according to the Qel-Droma Epics, a millennium following the Great Hyperspace War, corrupt descendants from Empress Teta's nobility created the Krath, a dark side cult, after being empowered by Sith artifacts. The Jedi Knight Ulic Qel-Droma infiltrated the group after they launched a bloody crusade against the Jedi Order, but was corrupted by the dark side of the Force and alongside the fallen Jedi Exar Kun, led the Krath. Together, the two turned Empress Teta into a stronghold for a resurgent Sith Empire.[3]

Brotherhood of Darkness[]

The Brotherhood of Darkness,[23] was an army of Sith and[8] eventually[24] participated in the Jedi-Sith War.[8] The Sith Brotherhood was active on Auratera until it collapsed, becoming the last Sith Empire. The inhabitants who lived there coordinated with the Jedi to secretly alter official Republic records to misclassify the system as uninhabitable. As such, the inhabitants and the planet became nearly closed off to the rest of the galaxy, and eventually cut ties with the few remaining trading partners that they had when the Brotherhood fell.[3] At the end of the war around 1032 BBY, the Sith Brotherhood was defeated by the Republic and the Jedi, and all the Sith were thought destroyed when they all turned on each other. Darth Bane was the sole survivor, and established the Rule of Two, which served as a doctrine for the surviving Sith for the next thousand years.[8]

Long after the fall of the ancient Sith, Darth Maul was taken to Malachor by his Sith Master, the Sith Lord Darth Sidious. Using the history of conflict between the Sith and Jedi Order to instill a sense of hatred for the Jedi in his Sith apprentice, the Dark Lord compelled Maul to inhale the ashes of the fallen Sith, causing the Dathomirian Zabrak to experience the Great Scourge of Malachor through a Force vision.[4]

During the Republic Era, the Chiss Ascendancy maintained historical pieces in several rooms, with some dating back to the Sith Wars. Chiss officer Mitth'raw'nuru demonstrated the pieces to fellow officer Irizi'ar'alani.[21]

Restored as the Galactic Empire[]

Ultimately, the Sith obtained galactic dominance once again by the end of the Clone Wars after Darth Sidious, who had manipulated the war and kept his Sith identity hidden through his public persona as Supreme Chancellor Sheev Palpatine, reorganized the Republic into the Galactic Empire and proclaimed himself the Galactic Emperor with the approval of the Galactic Senate.[10] The Galactic Empire was a fascist[25] dictatorship, which was, unbeknownst to its subjects, secretly ruled by the Sith.[26] During his reign, the Emperor possessed various relics and artifacts that dated back to the Sith Empire of old.[12]

In 4 ABY, Darth Vader turned on his Sith Master, the Emperor, and killed him at the Battle of Endor in an effort to save his Jedi son, Luke Skywalker. Vader died from wounds inflicted upon him by the Emperor shortly thereafter,[27] which rendered the Sith extinct and resulted in the fragmentation of the Galactic Empire.[28]

Sith Eternal and the Final Order[]

SithEternal-DB

The cultists on Exegol plotted to conquer the galaxy by forging a new Sith Empire on Exegol.

Unbeknownst to the galaxy at large, Darth Sidious had secretly survived by inhabiting a clone body prepared for him by the Sith loyalists of the Sith Eternal on the hidden fortress world of Exegol.[29] In the decades following Endor, the Sith loyalists toiled to keep their Sith Lord alive and developed the Final Order (also known as the Sith Empire),[24] consisting of a massive fleet comprised of thousands of Xyston-class Star Destroyers, each armed with a miniaturized superlaser capable of destroying planets, as well as legions of merciless Sith troopers. While Sidious manipulated the New Republic and forged the remnants of the Galactic Empire into the First Order from afar,[30] the Sith Eternal groomed Ben Solo for his role as heir to the new Sith Empire through Snoke,[15] a creature Sidious created.

When Solo renounced the dark side, however, Sidious sought to initiate a Sith ritual that would transfer his spirit from his decaying clone body into a younger and healthier vessel: his granddaughter, Rey,[11] a Jedi Padawan trained by Luke Skywalker[31] and Leia Skywalker Organa Solo. When both she and Solo refused him, Sidious took the reins of Sith Emperor after draining the life force of their Force dyad when he discovered its existence, but he was ultimately destroyed while battling Rey as she was aided by the spirits of the Jedi past.[32] The destruction of his body caused a massive burst of energy to release that crumbled the Sith Citadel, its debris crushing the Sith loyalists, and killed Rey, but she was resurrected by Solo, who gave his life for hers. Meanwhile, the Sith armada was destroyed by the Resistance and a Citizens' Fleet above Exegol during the Battle of Exegol, resulting in the ultimate collapse of the Sith Empire and sparking uprisings against the First Order across the galaxy.[11]

Organization[]

The Sith Empires had several armed forces. The Sith Lord Naga Sadow led forces during the Great Hyperspace War,[3] while a Sith witch commanded thousands of Sith warriors on Malachor.[16]

Economy[]

"Long have Sith empires been built upon the backs of slaves."
―Darth Sidious, to Darth Tyranus[1]

When a Sith Empire dominated the galaxy, gemstones were freely traded, although this caused a flooding of the market and the value of gemstones dropped until bans and limits were put in place.[18] Additionally, trade occurred on at least one planet a Sith Empire controlled, Auratera.[3] Sith Empires traditionally used slave labor to build themselves.[1]

Society and culture[]

Being of the Sith, the Sith Empires used the dark side of the Force.[12] These governments were built up through the use of slave labor,[1] a practice that the Galactic Republic outlawed during its stewardship of the galaxy.[33] The idea of an enormous, spacefaring, planet-destroying superweapon had dated back a millennium prior to the rise of the Galactic Empire; in the days of the Sith Empire, tyrants were playing with the idea of a weapon so powerful that it could destroy entire worlds. Although only a few superweapons were produced by the Sith Empire, it wasn't until the successes of Darth Sidious and Darth Tyranus with the outbreak of the Clone Wars that the idea came to fruition in the form of the Death Star battle station.[16] According to legend, double-bladed lightsabers were originally constructed by Dark Lord of the Sith affiliated with the Sith Empire, long before the Imperial Era.[34]

Astrography[]

Empress Teta in the Deep Core was once invaded by a Sith Empire, and a millennium later became the stronghold of another Sith Empire when the Krath launched bloody crusades against the Jedi Order.[3] Additionally, a Sith Empire maintained a presence on the Sith world of Malachor that was located in the Outer Rim Territories.[4] Additionally, Serenno, also located in the Outer Rim, was a world under the control of a Sith Empire.[19] At one point prior to its collapse, the Sith controlled most of the galaxy.[18]

Behind the scenes[]

The Sith Empire was first identified in Star Wars canon in the 2017 novel Aftermath: Empire's End by Chuck Wendig.[12] The Sith Empire originated in the Star Wars Legends comic Tales of the Jedi – The Golden Age of the Sith 0 on July 1, 1996.[35]

Appearances[]

Sources[]

Notes and references[]

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 TCW mini logo Star Wars: The Clone Wars — "Escape from Kadavo"
  2. 2.0 2.1 2.2 AltayaCite "Coruscant" — Star Wars Encyclopedia
  3. 3.00 3.01 3.02 3.03 3.04 3.05 3.06 3.07 3.08 3.09 3.10 3.11 Nexus of Power
  4. 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 Darth Maul (2017) 2
  5. Star Wars: Timelines dates the beginning of the series of conflicts between the Jedi Order and the Sith to 5000 BBY, therefore the Sith Empire must have been established sometime around 5000 BBY
  6. The Star Wars Book dates the the fall of the Sith Empire to 1032 years before the events of Star Wars: Episode IV A New Hope, which corresponds to 1032 BBY according to Star Wars: Galactic Atlas.
  7. The Star Wars Book places the supposed destruction of the Sith, which occurred during the Jedi-Sith war according to Star Wars Propaganda: A History of Persuasive Art in the Galaxy, to 1,032 years before the events of Star Wars: Episode IV A New Hope. As Star Wars: Galactic Atlas states that A New Hope begins in 0 BBY, the Sith's supposed destruction must have occurred in 1,032 BBY.
  8. 8.0 8.1 8.2 8.3 8.4 Star Wars: The Dark Side
  9. Star Wars: Galactic Atlas
  10. 10.0 10.1 10.2 Star Wars: Episode III Revenge of the Sith
  11. 11.0 11.1 11.2 Star Wars: Episode IX The Rise of Skywalker
  12. 12.0 12.1 12.2 12.3 Aftermath: Empire's End
  13. Build the Millennium Falcon Star Wars: Build the Millennium Falcon 47 (Secrets of Spaceflight: Hyperspace)
  14. Rebels-mini-logo Star Wars Rebels — "Twilight of the Apprentice"
  15. 15.0 15.1 Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker: The Visual Dictionary
  16. 16.0 16.1 16.2 Dawn of Rebellion
  17. Star Wars 100 Objects establishes that the Great Sith Wars Bas-Relief was created around 4,000 BBY. Therefore, an unidentified Sith Emperor must have ruled the Sith Empire during or after around 4,000 BBY.
  18. 18.0 18.1 18.2 Master & Apprentice
  19. 19.0 19.1 Dooku: Jedi Lost
  20. Star Wars: Timelines
  21. 21.0 21.1 Thrawn Ascendancy: Chaos Rising
  22. The StarWars-DatabankII Mustafar History Gallery in the Databank (backup link) states that the action at Mustafar, which Star Wars: Galactic Atlas dates to 4 BBY, was one of the earliest rebel victories in the Galactic Civil War. Therefore, the Galactic Civil War must have begun by 4 BBY. Additionally, Galactic Atlas establishes that the war ended in 5 ABY.
  23. Endless Vigil
  24. 24.0 24.1 The Star Wars Book
  25. Star Wars Propaganda: A History of Persuasive Art in the Galaxy
  26. StarWars-DatabankII Galactic Empire in the Databank (backup link)
  27. Star Wars: Episode VI Return of the Jedi
  28. Aftermath
  29. Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker: Expanded Edition
  30. Star Wars: Episode VIII The Last Jedi
  31. StarWars-DatabankII Rey in the Databank (backup link)
  32. Star Wars: Episode I The Phantom Menace
  33. Collapse of the Republic
  34. HorselessHeadman Star Wars: Tales of the Jedi - The Golden Age of the Sith #0 (of 5) on Dark Horse Comics' official website (backup link)
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