The Twisted History Of The Dark Sides Chosen One
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With the advent of the Star Wars prequel trilogy, George Lucas greatly expanded the lore and mythology of the Star Wars universe by introducing fans to many new concepts that have become essential elements, including the Jedi’s prophecy of the Chosen One, as well as the Jedi’s dark side adversaries, the Sith, and some of their practices, including the so-called “Rule of Two.” We learn that the Jedi’s Chosen One prophecy was believed to be about Anakin Skywalker and the coming darkness, during which Skywalker would play a pivotal role in vanquishing the Sith and restoring balance to the Force. Most likely not commonly known by many casual Star Wars is that, at least in Legends, the Sith had their own “chosen one” prophecy and that the central figure in it was believed to have been the Sith Lord, Darth Bane.
Although Darth Bane has yet to be fleshed out much in the official Star Wars Canon, much was developed about him in Star Wars Legends, which is what this article will chiefly reference. However, the Sith and their “Rule of Two” exist as Canon and Bane himself. What is also common in both renderings of the character is that he is the last survivor of the original order of Sith Lords, which was wiped out by the Jedi approximately one thousand years prior to The Phantom Menace.
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To ensure the Sith’s survival and eventually triumph over the Jedi, Darth Bane instituted the “Rule of Two,” limiting Sith disciples to two at any given time, a Master and an Apprentice. Bane reasoned that this would prevent the Sith Lords from falling upon themselves, as had been the case with the Sith Lords in the past, and made victory over the Jedi impossible to achieve. Under his Rule of Two, the Master would train an apprentice, who would eventually kill their Master and take on their own apprentice if they were worthy enough to continue the cycle. This cycle lasted for a thousand years, during which the Sith remained hidden in the shadows, waiting for the day when they would finally conquer the Jedi and the galaxy.
In Star Wars Legends, Darth Bane was born as Dessel in 1026 on the world of Apatros. He endured a harsh upbringing with an abusive father and eventually fled to Korriban (aka Moraband), where he became a member of the Sith Order, known as the Brotherhood of Darkness, after a Sith Lord, Kopecz, encountered Dessel serving in a Sith infantry unit and came to believe Dessel to be the “Sith’ari,” or the Sith Chosen One. Dessel was re-christened Darth Bane and trained by the Sith on Korriban. However, eventually, Bane became disenchanted with them, believing them not to be serious about actually defeating the Jedi. In turn, he wiped out the remaining Sith Lords so that he could institute his own long-term plans for the Sith to eventually achieve victory over the Jedi and overthrow the Republic. He took on an apprentice, Darth Zannah, to whom he imparted his new Rule of Two.
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When Zannah finally killed Bane, the Jedi erroneously believed that the Sith had finally been completely vanquished. However, Bane’s Rule of Two lived on in secret over several centuries, leading to the Sith finally revealing themselves to the Jedi during the events of The Phantom Menace. The Sith Lord, Darth Maul, who attempted to kidnap Queen Amidala on Tatooine during the Naboo crisis, was believed to have been killed by Obi-Wan Kenobi during their pitched duel on Naboo. The Jedi Council, although alerted to the return of the Sith and aware of the Sith Rule of Two, did not know whether Maul had been the Master or the apprentice. As a result, the Jedi began an intensive search for the elusive missing Sith Lord, later revealed during Revenge of the Sith to be none other than the Supreme Chancellor of the Republic, Sheev Palpatine (aka Darth Sidious).
Darth Bane was not alive to see his long-term plans for the Sith come to fruition. However, under his spiritual descendants, Darth Sidious, and his new apprentice, Anakin Skywalker (aka Darth Vader), the Sith finally eliminated the Jedi Order and established their own Sith-led Empire, at least for some time. Following in the footsteps of their Sith predecessors, Vader, the apprentice, unsuccessfully attempted to enlist his newfound son, Luke Skywalker, in overthrowing Darth Sidious during the events of The Empire Strikes Back.
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For his part, Darth Sidious had learned of Luke being Vader’s son and sought to replace Vader with Luke as his apprentice, knowing how young and powerful he was compared to Vader, who had been crippled during his duel with his former Master, Obi-Wan Kenobi, nearly two decades earlier. However, during the events of Return of the Jedi, Luke successfully turned Vader back to the light side of the Force, and, in turn, Vader sacrificed his own life to save Luke and destroyed Sidious by hurling him down the reactor shaft of the second Death Star, seemingly ending the Sith once and for all.
Before Sidious perished, however, he was able to transfer his essence to an imperfect clone body (or series of bodies in Legends). Sidious subsequently attempted to rebuild his shattered empire. However, in both Canon and Legends continuities, Sidious was eventually permanently vanquished. In Legends, however, the Sith survived Sidious’ final demise, and Bane’s legacy continued to endure. Approximately forty years after the Battle of Yavin, Han and Leia’s son, Jacen Solo, originally a Jedi Knight, was trained by the Sith Lord, Lumiya, and eventually took on the Sith title of Darth Caedus.
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Caedus began training his own apprentice, Tahiri Veila, in the ways of the Sith after Lumiya’s untimely death at the hands of Luke Skywalker and Skywalker’s son, Ben’s refusal to join him. Although Cadeus was ultimately killed by his twin sister, Jaina Solo, a new order of Sith Lords emerged and eventually rose up to defeat the Jedi yet again and established a new empire nearly a century after Sidious’ final demise.
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Source(s): Wookieepedia