There are two main factions in George Lucas’ Star Wars universe – the Jedi and the Sith. The former represent the Light Side of the Force and are the protagonists of Lucas’ world, while the latter are practitioners of the Dark Side of the Force and are the antagonists. The Sith are extremely powerful Force users but are presented as the antagonist with a very dark history, which is why we haven’t seen too many members of the Sith Order. With that lack of info, you might wonder who are the most powerful Sith?
Some of these characters are quite skilled and are among the most powerful characters to ever have existed in George Lucas’ fictional universe. In this article, we at Fiction Horizon are going to bring you a list of the 20 most powerful Sith Lords of all time, as they appeared in Lucas’ franchise. As we’ve only seen a handful of Sith Lords in the main movie series, we are going to borrow material from the expanded universe to make our list. Enjoy!
Who Are the Most Powerful Sith Lords?
20. Darth Traya
Full Name: Kreia
Species: Human
Home Planet: Unknown
Kreia was a highly controversial, unconventional power-sensitive human Jedi master in exile who set out to build a new Jedi Order from her vision to free sentient beings in the galaxy from the slavery of the Force.
Although Kreia’s desire to gain a full understanding of the essence of the Force led her to submit to the Dark Side of the Force and ultimately become the bitter Sith Lord Darth Traya, as well as her consolidation of a Sith Order from other fallen Jedi, Kreia was betrayed once more by her own Sith apprentices, prompting her to put the Dark Side of the Force aside and go in search of purification.
The former Darth Traya found the Jedi Exile, a human woman named Meetra Surik, whom Kreia accepted as a teacher. In exile, Kreia brought down the Jedi who remained from the Sith purge she had previously initiated, the remnants of her own Sith Order, and an aspiring Sith – the Jedi Master Atris – before finally completing Surik’s training by forcing the exiled Jedi to let her die.
It is not known exactly when the former Jedi left the Jedi Order; it was probably in the period shortly after the Mandalorian Wars. Because of her unorthodox training methods, the Council accused her of being to blame for the case of her student Revan. Because of this, she was expelled from the Order.
Dejected by the Council’s decision, she sought an answer for Revan’s behavior, wondering if it had been her belief in Gray Philosophy. So she decided to focus on Revan and traveled to the places her disciple had once been in an attempt to find an answer.
Their journey ended on Malachor V, an inhospitable, asteroid-like world. As she searched the lower layers of the planet, she came across a high concentration of the Dark Side and surrendered to it. The actual reason she switched to the Dark Side was disappointment with the Jedi, but just as Revan had been influenced by his actions in the Mandalorian Wars, she was so influenced in this place that her gray outlook eventually shifted through the Dark Side turned into a dark disposition.
Like Revan before her, she became a Sith Lord in this place and assumed the title of Darth Traya. On Malachor V she had found her answers to the question about Revan’s transition to the Dark Side, because at that place was the Trayus Academy, an old training place of the Sith with access to the dark core of the planet, in which many of the darkest secrets of the Sith were to be found.
She could learn a lot about the Sith in the academy and realized what her student had learned in the academy, namely a more dangerous and “more powerful” Force with which he could easily defraud the Republic and build a huge Sith empire.
Kreia believed that Revan had recognized something more important and greater than compassion and tolerance, so that she ultimately perceived the fall of her student as a rise and an increase in power.
19. Darth Malak
Full Name: Alek
Species: Human
Home Planet: Quelii
Darth Malak was a Dark Lord of the Sith during the Jedi Civil War. Together with his master Revan, he was trained under the name Alek Squinquargesimus – often abbreviated as Squint – in the Jedi enclave on Dantooine.
After the outbreak of the Mandalorian Wars, the two charismatic leaders gathered many like-minded Jedi to work with the fleet of the Galactic Republic against the Mandalorians, initially acting against the decision of the Jedi Council not to intervene in the conflict.
During the course of the war, the Jedi finally took on the name Malak, which, as a result of the events on Cathar and the authorization of the war effort by parts of the Jedi Council, as well as the name of his master, should become a symbol of their cause.
Following the successful victory during the Battle of Malachor V, Revan, Alek, and their fleet flew to the Unknown Regions and returned shortly afterward as Sith Lords Darth Revan and Darth Malak, plunging the galaxy into a devastating war.
Only through a trick of the Jedi could Revan be brought back to the Light Side and defeat his former student Malak at the star forge. Only the Exile, the only Jedi from Revan’s and Malak’s army who had faced the judgment of the Jedi Council after the Battle of Malachor V, were finally able to put a stop to the renewed advance of the Sith and ensured the ultimate downfall of Malachor, as well as Revan’s and Alek’s former teacher Darth Traya and her Sith triumvirate.
During her journey through the galaxy, she learned a lot about Revan and Alek from Kreia, who describes herself as the Gray Jedi, was confronted by G0-T0 with the fundamentally different strategies of Darth Revan and Darth Malak, and thus at least in some way clarified Revan’s true intentions which Malak would have almost completely destroyed by his submission crusade.
She also had to face a vision of her recruitment by Alek in Ludo Kressh’s grave on Korriban. Once again she lived through his speech and the “desertion” of her fellow padawans, but ultimately refused to give in to the Dark Side and was then attacked by the visions, which disappeared immediately after contact with the lightsaber.
18. Tulak Hord
Full Name: Tulak Hord
Species: Unknown
Home Planet: Unknown
Tulak Hord was a male Jedi who lived around 5300 BBY to 5100 BBY. For reasons unknown, he turned to the Dark Side of the Force and left the Jedi Order to discover the Sith Worlds. He finally found it and took over the leadership of the Sith Empire there.
He took the title of the new Dark Lord of the Sith and thus continued the line of the Jen’ari after the death of Ajunta Pall. Hord was considered an exquisite fighter, of whom it was said that no one could defeat him in a lightsaber duel, as he was a brilliant lightsaber fighter and strategist.
On the planet Korriban, where he finally discovered the Empire, he noticed that the former leader Ajunta Pall had passed away nearly two thousand years ago. Therefore, together with his loyal servant and companion, the Dashade Khem Val, he fought for rule over the Sith and proclaimed himself the Dark Lord of the Sith, the Jen’ari.
He expanded the Sith’s influence on the surrounding systems and fought in many battles. He also taught a student named Ortan Cela, about whom little is known. The ambitious Sith Aloysius Kallig, a Sith Lord and architect of the Temple of the Dark Side on Dromund Kaas, lived in Tulak Hord’s time.
He belonged to a well-respected Sith family and lived on the Colony World of Dromund Kaas; occasionally he visited Korriban. Over time, Kallig became Hord’s closest acquaintance and friend. But he got stronger and stronger and so Hord decided to kill Kallig.
Kallig died in an ambush by the Dark Lord and shortly before his death was able to take the Sith Holocron Hords and keep it in the Temple of the Dark Side. A few years later, the exact numbers are not known, Hord also died under unknown circumstances. Like several other Sith, he was buried in a tomb in the Valley of the Dark Lords after his death.
17. Darth Maul
Full Name: Maul
Species: Dathomirian Zabrak
Home Planet: Dathomir
Darth Maul was a Dathomir Zabrak and Sith Lord. Originally he was a Dathomirian night brother and was called Maul. In 32 BBY, during the blockade of Naboo, Darth Sidious sent Darth Maul to Naboo to assist the Trade Federation in its attempt to take control of the planet.
After the Jedi Qui-Gon Jinn and Obi-Wan Kenobi helped the young Queen Padmé Amidala to take back the planet, they met Maul on arrival at the palace. The Jedi decided to fight the Sith Lord in pairs, where Maul managed to kill Qui-Gon with a stab in the chest. Although Maul almost succeeded in sending Obi-Wan to his death as well, the Padawan managed to split the Zabrak in two and make it fall into the reactor shaft.
The fallen Sith spent nearly ten standard years in exile on the junk planet Lotho Minor while the Jedi believed he was long dead. One day the night nurse Talzin learned that Maul had survived the division of his body. Talzin sent Maul’s brother Savage Opress, who had recently killed his and Maul’s brother Feral, to bring Maul to her. This plan was successful and Savage delivered his brother to the night nurse who had stayed on Dathomir.
She gave Maul new cybernetic legs that allowed him to walk better. He decided to start a campaign of revenge with the help of Savage to take the life of the Jedi Obi-Wan Kenobi, whom he hated most. His goal was to wipe out the Jedi with a self-assembled army.
When they got involved in a fight with Obi-Wan, Savage lost his right arm. Maul decided to flee, one of his artificial legs falling off. When they escaped from the planet, they were rescued by the leader of the Death Watch, Pre Vizsla, who in turn attached new legs to Maul. Maul and Vizla agreed to form an alliance to conquer Vizla’s home planet Mandalore.
When the planet was in Vizla’s hands, Vizla decided to throw the two Zabrak brothers in state prison. The two escaped with the Force, however, and Maul made out with Savage to kill Vizla in a single battle to usurp rule. When this happened, Darth Maul agreed with the former Prime Minister Almec that man should rule the people.
When Obi-Wan found out about Maul’s machinations, he decided to free the Duchess Satine Kryze from his hands. Maul achieved his goal of taking revenge on Kenobi by executing Satine in front of the Jedi.
Palpatine, his old master, felt a tremor in the Force at this event and traveled with his ship to the planet. Sidious killed Savage in the duel and disempowered Maul, with whom he – as he claimed – had other plans.
During the subsequent imprisonment on Stygeon, Maul was freed from his super-commands. Towards the end of the Clone Wars, he was attacked on Mandalore by the Republic and Ahsoka Tano, who captured him. During his extradition, Order 66 came into effect and he, too, became the target of the clone warriors. However, Maul was able to escape.
During a long exile on Malachor, he gave up the title Darth and called himself just Maul again. When he tried to make Ezra Bridger his apprentice, he came across new information about Obi-Wan, whom he pursued 2 VSY to Tatooine and was killed there by him.
16. Count Dooku
Full Name: Doku of Serenno (later Darth Tyranus)
Species: Human
Home Planet: Serenno
Count Dooku of Serenno, alias Darth Tyranus, was a Jedi Knight and the master of Qui-Gon Jinn. Dooku was the son of Count Gora and Countess Anya. He was also the big brother of Ramil and Jenza. As a small child he was taken to the Jedi Temple, where he was trained by Yoda.
After the death of his student Qui-Gon Jinn, he turned away from the Jedi and succumbed to the Dark Side of the Force and, as Darth Tyranus, became the disciple of the Sith Lord Darth Sidious. Tyranus convinced several powerful corporations to turn against the Republic. He commissioned the manufacture of large numbers of battle droids and led the armed forces of the Confederation of Independent Star Systems to fight the Republic.
His master Darth Sidious wanted to use the civil war that had broken out in the identity of Supreme Chancellor Palpatine as an occasion to grant himself emergency powers and to set up a clone army. In the Clone Wars that followed, Tyranus wiped out both parties so that Sidious’ takeover would seem like a redemption.
After the Battle of Geonosis, there was a fight between Darth Tyranus, on one side, and Anakin Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi, on the other, in which he got the upper hand. He cut off Anakin’s right forearm and incapacitated the Jedi. However, he could not hold his own against his old master Yoda, who intervened in the fight, and fled.
During the Battle of Coruscant, Tyranus encountered Obi-Wan and Anakin again but was defeated by Anakin after wounding Obi-Wan. Tyranus was then beheaded by Anakin Skywalker on the orders of Chancellor Palpatine. This would lead Anakin to the Dark Side, as Sidious had picked him as his new apprentice.
Tyranus is one of the most powerful and wisest Sith Lords in the saga. Through his connection to the Dark Side of the Force, he was able to learn many complicated techniques that were almost on par with Yoda’s abilities. He also used a lightsaber style for hand-to-hand combat. This made him superior to most Jedi whose style focused on fighting soldiers’ blasters.
15. Darth Malgus
Full Name: Veradun
Species: Human
Home Planet: Dromund Kaa
Darth Malgus was a Sith Lord who lived during the Great Galactic War and later the Cold War and was a skilled fighter with both lightsaber and Force. He was born on Dromund Kaas under the name Veradun. In the battle for Korriban he killed his master, Darth Vindican and shortly after being appointed Darth, he launched an attack on the republican core world Alderaan.
During the fight, however, he was seriously injured and from then on had to wear life-sustaining armor. He later led a group of about fifty Sith Juggernauts who infiltrated the Jedi Temple on Coruscant. In the course of the fight, he killed the Jedi master Ven Zallow, who would later be considered his most famous victim.
Unlike most Sith, Malgus then carried out expeditions to the Unknown Regions to conquer new territories for the Sith and did not participate in their usual power games. Years after Coruscant was sacked, a new member entered the Dark Council that had been formed in the past.
Darth Malgus learned that the Emperor was attacked and injured by Jedi, which is why the Emperor took a rest. Malgus used the Emperor’s “retreat” to ascend the Emperor’s throne and establish a new empire. Many military officers and Moffs joined Malgus’ forces, giving Malgus almost half of all Imperial military units on his side.
On top of that, Malgus had the factory rebuilt, which is what he also did with Revan’s former HK-47 assassin droid, which he also upgraded.
Through the crystals of Ilum, Malgus created a camouflage fleet that was completely invisible; Malgus also made his space station invisible with these crystals and began to restore the droids from the factory. When Malgus announced his betrayal via an open com channel, he said the dark council had been dissolved and it was time for a new empire.
14. Darth Sion
Full Name: Sion (possible)
Species: Human
Home Planet: Unknown
Darth Sion was a Sith Lord and disciple of Darth Traya. He was best known for the numerous fractures all over his body. Because of this, he was also known as the Lord of Pain. He was spiritually in league with Darth Nihilus, so he felt the hunger of the Sith.
His body was held together by sheer willpower and hatred alone. The most striking feature of Darth Sion was undisputably his body, marked by numerous broken bones and scars, which could only be held together by his hatred, his pain, the Dark Side, and the will to follow his master.
Among other things, Sion was responsible for the great Jedi massacre, which only a few council members of the Old Jedi Order survived, who hid in various corners of the galaxy after these events. After the great Jedi massacre, the Sith decided to hide and wait until the enemy showed itself to them.
The Sith assumed that they had destroyed the Jedi and that there was only one left. This was a Jedi exiled by the Jedi Order after the Mandalorian Wars for following Revan. In search of the Exile, he set a trap for a ship of the republic: his apparently damaged it and abandoned ship was salvaged by the Harbinger.
The Republicans took Sion, who they believed was the only survivor, to the medical ward. The doctors suspected that he was a Sith and wondered why he was not dead yet. Sion broke out of his Kolto tank and captured the ship with his numerous Sith killers, with which he then docked at the mines of Peragus to wipe out Kreia and the Exile.
But both managed to escape with the Ebon Hawk and the Peragus station was destroyed during the chase by the Harbinger on the orders of Sion, and the Harbinger also seemed to have been destroyed. Darth Sion was believed dead until he later met the Exile again on Korriban. Sion faced the Exiled Jedi again on Korriban, but they managed to escape there.
The Force reunited Sion and the Exile on Malachor V in the Trayus Academy, where the Jedi confronted him and was finally able to defeat him after a lengthy battle. Despite Sion’s power to be physically immortal, the Exile convinced him that his master, Darth Traya, wanted to sacrifice him and finally delivered Sion from his eternal pain.
Sion deactivated his lightsaber and his body, marked by eternal pain, sank to the ground. During the fight, Sion felt personally offended because he had to realize that he was not Darth Traya’s most powerful student and thus could not outstrip the far more powerful Revan, which was always his goal.
Sion could only be defeated because the Exile had convinced him not to follow his master anymore. Thus, Sion’s will, which had always kept him alive, was broken.
13. Kylo Ren
Full Name: Ben Solo
Species: Human
Home Planet: Chandrila
Ben Solo, aka Kylo Ren, is a fictional character from the Star Wars universe who first appeared in The Force Awakens, the first episode of the so-called Sequel Trilogy. He served as the main antagonist in the trilogy and as leader of the Knights of Ren, and later the Supreme Leader of the First Order, a status which made him the successor of Darth Vader, the cult classic villain of the original trilogy, who is also Ben Solo’s maternal grandfather.
Son of Leia Organa and Han Solo, Ben was originally trained by Luke Skywalker to become a Jedi. However, he succumbed to the Dark Side of the Force, and put himself at the service of the First Order and its supreme leader, Snoke.
He murders his father in The Force Awakens, which is a highlight of this film. Then in the next film, The Last Jedi, he also executes his master Snoke and takes his place as Supreme Leader of the First Order. In The Rise of Skywalker, he experiences redemption, especially through his connection to his mother Leia and the appearance of his father’s ghost, Han Solo, which influences him to switch back to the good side of the Force when Leia dies.
He travels to the planet Exegol to help Rey in her fight against Emperor Palpatine, who is none other than her grandfather. Rey defeats him, but the Force of her action kills her. Kylo Ren, having become Ben Solo once again, then transmits all his energy to her to bring her back to life, then dies and disappears in the Force.
12. Darth Nihilus
Full Name: Unknown
Species: Human
Home Planet: Unknown
Darth Nihilus was a human Sith Lord who played a pivotal role in eliminating the Jedi in 3951 BBY. He had the unique ability to absorb the power from all beings or objects, which led to the fact that he robbed or destroyed not only living beings but entire planets of their power, such as Katarr, a colony of the Miraluka.
Nihilus was also spiritually in league with Darth Sion, which is why he could feel the pain of the Sith Lord. He spoke an ancient Sith language, which is why others could only understand him through his thought transmission, since the language had long been forgotten. This made it impossible for Darth Krayt to translate his Holocron in the year 137 ABY.
He trained a student, Visas Marr, who soon defected to the Jedi and later fought against him. He was considered one of the most dangerous, feared, and powerful Sith.
While Nihilus launched an attack with the Ravager and other Sith ships on the planet Telos IV in order to destroy the Jedi Academy hidden there, the Exile landed on the Ravager and stood together with Visas Marr Nihilus on the bridge of the ship, after they had made their way through countless legions of Sith assassins.
Although Darth Nihilus was an incredibly powerful Sith Lord, the Jedi ultimately defeated him. With the help of some torpedo cores that Meetra Surik had previously attached on board, the Ravager was finally destroyed.
The exact identity of the Sith Lord could not be determined until today, as he always wore a mask and hid his face. This was taken from him by Visas Marr after his death and given to the Exile, but his face could not be recognized. After Nihilus’ defeat, the Dark Side consumed his lifeless body.
What happened to his ensouled object, his armor, and thus also his life, remains unknown. Accordingly, it cannot be clarified whether Darth Nihilus is really dead, or whether he continues to live trapped in his armor, in an interim between life and death.
11. Naga Sadow
Full Name: Naga Sadow
Species: Human/Sith hybrid
Home Planet: Ziost
Naga Sadow was a Dark Lord of the Sith who lived around 5000 BBY at the time of the Sith Empire. He rose to the title of Dark Lord after the death of Marka Ragnos. Soon enough, an idea occurred to him to expand the Sith Empire to include the territory of the Galactic Republic and thus initiate a campaign of conquest that went down in galactic history as the Great Hyperspace War.
His arch-rival Ludo Kressh was too conservative and too slow to prevent Sadow’s rise. However, Sadow failed in the execution of his plans, so that he was instrumental in the fall of the Sith Empire.
After his defeat, he retired to his exile on the jungle moon Yavin IV, where he locked himself in a temple and put himself into a kind of stasis with the help of his Sith powers, waiting for an age before his return.
After many centuries, his mind was awakened by the Jedi Freedon Nadd, whom Sadow then instructed as an apprentice. After Nadd received all of his master’s knowledge, he finally killed Sadow’s ghost in 4400 BBY. His grave is on the planet Korriban.
10. Darth Vader
Full Name: Anakin Skywalker (later Darth Vader)
Species: Human
Home Planet: Tatooine
After losing most of his limbs in his clash with Obi-Wan Kenobi, Darth Vader not only had to change his preferred lightsaber fighting style, but also suffered severe pain every day. As the Emperor’s right-hand man and because of his brutality, Vader was feared even in his own ranks. Nevertheless, the service on his flagship was considered a safe career springboard within the Empire’s ranks.
In the wake of the Galactic Empire’s struggle against the Rebel Alliance, Vader became the executor of Emperor Palpatine’s will. Although he did not succeed in retrieving the plans of the first Death Star captured by rebel spies in time, he nevertheless found the base of the rebel alliance on Yavin IV a short time later with the help of the imperial Grand Moff Tarkin.
However, the Death Star – a super weapon with which he tried to destroy the moon – was destroyed by Luke Skywalker. In retaliation for the destruction of the Death Star, the rebel base on Yavin IV was overrun by Imperial troops. Vader pursued the fleeing rebels halfway across the galaxy, who eventually hid on the ice planet Hoth.
But he even managed to find them there with the help of spy probes. Vader ordered a ground attack to destroy the base. Although the rebel line of defense was broken, many escaped using transport ships. In order to move his son Luke to turn to the Dark Side of the Force, he captured Han Solo and Leia Organa on Bespin.
Luke, who wanted to free his friends, fell into the trap and had to face Vader. In the course of the ensuing argument, Vader revealed to Luke that he was his father. In this fight Luke lost his right arm, but resisted Vader’s attempt to make him fall away from the Light Side of the Force and was able to save himself by fleeing from him.
When the rebels launched an attack on the Empire’s second Death Star, Vader encountered Luke again. He wanted to save his father from the Dark Side, but was brought to the Emperor by him. But even Vader’s master failed to convince Luke of the need to turn to the Dark Side. When the Emperor was finally about to kill Luke aboard the second Death Star, Vader turned on the Emperor, killed him and saved Luke.
He died on the spot in the arms of his son and with his helmet off, from his injuries from fighting Luke and the Emperor. In his last breaths he acknowledged the Light Side of the Force once again, which enabled him to become one with the Force like Obi-Wan Kenobi and Master Yoda – contrary to what the prophecy had been interpreted, he was able to restore balance to power. His body was brought to Endor by Luke and burned there along with his armor.
9. Darth Bane
Full Name: Dessel
Species: Human
Home Planet: Apatros
Bane was trained by Master Qordis but he never finished his training and instead became one of the most powerful Sith of the Brotherhood of Darkness. a group of 20,000 dark warriors led by Lord Kaan. He was a cruel and ruthless man who did not hesitate to kill enemies or allies to carry out his purposes.
Kaan, fearing that Bane would finish him off to lead the Sith, poisoned him. But he survived and went in search of Kaan to the planet Ruusan. There, he temporarily put aside his personal grudges and his contempt for those who called themselves “Lords” without being so to dedicate himself to defeating the Army of Light, the Jedi led by Lord Hoth who faced the Sith on Ruusan.
Bane believed that the way to defeat the Jedi was to attack as one, pushing aside personal resentments and thus ending them all as a group, but the other Sith did not trust his strategies and followed Kaan’s plan, although they knew they would probably lose.
Bane survived the devastation and decided to establish a new Sith Order with strict precepts that would safeguard it from defeat. From then on, there would only be two Sith, a Master and an apprentice. Bane formulated the concept of the Rule of Two after discovering a Holocron in the Temple of the Elders in Lehon.
The Holocron belonged to the ancient Sith Lord Darth Revan who, just like Exar Kun before him, had used an early version of the Rule of Two when he trained his apprentice, Darth Malak. With the knowledge gained from Darth Revan’s Holocron, Bane was able to avoid further conflict among the Sith and continue with the Sith Order.
He also dictated that the Dark Lords must receive a nickname when they are declared apprentices, and to create it the title Darth was used followed by a “surname”. Sith training methods were brutal and uncompromising, based on outright despotism and the direct pursuit of power.
The apprentices were terribly vexed, their fortitude toppled, their body battered, and their minds tortured, all according to their master’s wishes and all done openly and frankly. All of this had to be learned and mastered in order to achieve the final and longed-for Sith revenge.
Bane found and adopted a lost girl, Darth Zannah, as a would-be apprentice on Ruusan. He set out for Dxun’s moon in search of ancient Sith lore, but an accident caused by the spirits of his former master, Qordis, and his rival, Kaan, led to the destruction of his ship and he was stranded in Dxun.
There he arrived at Freedon Nadd’s grave where he found a Sith Holocron and obtained his orbalisk armor, made from symbiotic crustaceans that attached to his body forming protective plates. They also added substances to his body that made him stronger and more resistant.
One of Dxun’s winged beasts attacked him, but his orbalisk armor and his dominance of the Dark Side saved him, and Bane used the beast to fly to the neighboring planet Onderon, where he trained his apprentice Zannah.
8. Freedon Nadd
Full Name: Freedon Nadd
Species: Human
Home Planet: Onderon (adopted)
Freedon Nadd was a Jedi who succumbed to the Dark Side of the Force and elevated himself to the rank of a Sith Lord. As long as his master lived, he was unable to become a dark lord, which is why he fled to Onderon and rose there to be king. For the Jedi, Nadd only became a nuisance after his death, when his sarcophagus became the center of dark energy.
In the Onderonian Civil War, he was the master of King Ommin and leader of the Naddists. After he realized that Ommin would no longer be of any use to him, he killed him and accepted Satal and Aleema Keto as his apprentices, who were on Onderon at the time.
Jedi apprentice Exar Kun found the exiled sarcophagus while searching for Sith artifacts. Kun awakened Nadd’s mind and was almost killed by him. The ghost forced him to devote himself to the Dark Side in order to save his life. With an amulet, Kun finally destroyed Nadd’s spirit. Five years after Revan and Malak had threatened the galaxy, the Exile assembled a party of her loyal companions to destroy the Sith and their soldiers entrenched in the tomb on Dxun.
Since the Dark Side was very strong in this place, three Sith masters tried to gain greater strength through a power ritual. When the Exile got there with her troops, it was almost complete. Ultimately, however, she and her companions managed to defeat the Sith.
Freedon Nadd owned a short orange lightsaber that was found in his sarcophagus by the companions of the Exile. He also made a Holocron that he used in his final resting place on Dxun.
7. Ulic Qel-Droma
Full Name: Ulic Qel-Droma
Species: Human
Home Planet: Alderaan
Ulic Qel-Droma was a Jedi Knight of the Old Jedi Order. He was the apprentice of the Jedi master Arca Jeth. After the death of his master, for which he made himself responsible, he made the decision to avert the threat of the Sith sect called Krath from within. However, he was captured in the attempt and tortured with Sith poison.
In a lightsaber duel against Exar Kun, the spirit of the old Sith Lord Marka Ragnos appeared and appointed Kun as the new Dark Lord of the Sith and Qel-Droma as his apprentice. Together they were destined subdue the Galaxy. Ulic Qel-Droma took command of the Krath Army, which he led from one victory to another.
On the planet Ossus, however, Ulic killed his own brother Cay in a blind rage. Cast out by the Jedi and plagued by remorse, he becomes a shamed hermit. Then the hermit, who had been deprived of power, went in search of quiet places to wait for his end there. He finally finds an old Jedi citadel on the icy planet Rhen Var, where he settled and waited in vain for his death.
Instead, the young Vima Sunrider went to see him there and asked him to teach her and train her to be a Jedi. Ulic hesitated at first, but then decided to teach the young Jedi Knight in the ways of the Force. When Vima’s mother Nomi and Sylvar, who were also Jedi and were looking for revenge for Dromas’ deeds, later landed on Rehn Var, a fight broke out.
A spaceman named Hoggon eventually killed Ulic. Thereupon the latter passed over to the Force, although he had been separated from it. His grave is also on Rehn Var.
6. Marka Ragnos
Full Name: Marka Ragnos
Species: Sith/Human hybrid
Home Planet: Korriban
Ragnos was born as a Sith-human hybrid on the planet Korriban and fought with the Sith Lord Simus for the title of Dark Lord of the Sith and rule over the Sith Empire. But Simus was inferior to his rival and lost the fight with terrible injuries.
Ragnos now became the rightful ruling Dark Lord of the Sith. Under his strong hand the Sith flourished, their influence in the Unknown Regions of the galaxy was great; likewise their wealth. But, as is so often the case, it only took a single event to throw a solid structure into chaos.
This happened when Marka Ragnos died in 5000 BBY after his reign that lasted for a century. After his death, he was placed in a grave specially built for him. His death sparked an internal power struggle that led to the Great Hyperspace War. Though Ragnos left his grave on Korriban to appeal to rivals Naga Sadow and Ludo Kressh – who were not ashamed of starting their bickering when the door to Ragno’s tomb had just closed – it was all in vain, as the Sith Empire’s downfall was evident.
Ten years after the Battle of Yavin, the Dark Jedi, Tavion Axmis, Desann’s pupil, got her hands on an extremely powerful scepter that had belonged to Ragnos. She decided to take power energy from many places where the power was very strong, e.g. Hoth, Bespin, Dagobah and many other places to save. When she went to Korriban to revive the Sith Lord, a large part of the Jedi followed her to prevent her endeavor.
The Jedi Jaden Korr managed to put Tavion in the burial chamber before he succeeded in resuscitation. In the battle close to death, however, she managed to summon the spirit of the Sith Lord, who immediately took possession of Tavion. After a fierce battle with Ragnos, Korr was able to destroy the scepter and prevent Ragnos’ return.
The scepter was destroyed, causing the spirit to wander back into the tomb and Tavion collapsing dead. Tavion’s body, like the rest, was sealed in the tomb of Jaden Korr.
5. Revan
Full Name: Revan (real name unknown)
Species: Human
Home Planet: Outer Rim (home planet unknown)
Revan was a Jedi in the time of the Galactic Republic. He played a key role in the Mandalorian Wars, which he – through the movement of revanchists he founded – was able to decide in favor of the Republic, but against the will of the Order. After defeating the Mandalorians and destroying Malachor V, he was often close to succumbing to the temptations of the Dark Side.
When he met the Sith Emperor years later, the Emperor was able to get him and Malak to leave the Dromund system as his new apprentices. Well, as a high-ranking and powerful Sith Lord, under the name Darth Revan, he should find the Star Forge for their new master together with Darth Malak. With their help, the Sith Empire could have carried out its Great Galactic War on the known galaxy much earlier than planned.
After the two Sith found the Star Forge, however, they betrayed their new master, and Darth Revan began creating his own Sith empire. They returned in 3959 BBY to known space, raided the Republic and the Jedi, and sparked a conflict known as the Jedi Civil War. During the war, however, Darth Revan was betrayed by his apprentice Malak, who attacked his ship and believed to have killed him in this way.
However, Darth Revan was found unconscious by a group of Jedi and taken to the Jedi Council on Coruscant. It was there that the Jedi Order made a difficult decision. They erased his memory and hoped to be able to convert him back to the Light Side of the Force. After this was successful, Revan led the Jedi on the path he had already taken to the Star Forge, which was attacked by the Republic with a last contingent after its location was announced.
On board the station, Revan then faced his old apprentice, defeated him and destroyed the center of the new Sith Empire. So he ended the bloody Jedi Civil War, which lasted about 3 years and dealt a heavy blow to the Republic and the Jedi Order. Revan then flew to the Unknown Regions to continue fighting the evil.
However, he was captured by Darth Nyriss and held in her fortress for years. Revan partially sneaked the trust of the Sith Lord Scourge, and got him to free him when Nyriss betrayed the Sith Emperor. Together with Meetra Surik, his little astromech T3-M4 and the Sith Lord Scourge they faced the Emperor, but were betrayed by Scourge.
T3-M4 was destroyed in the middle of the fight and Meetra was stabbed from behind by Scourge, with the now outnumbered Revan being defeated and put into stasis by the Sith Emperor so that he could draw on Revan’s strength. A few centuries later, a Republican task force managed to free Revan, who had been a prisoner for around 300 years, after they were able to locate his whereabouts in the Maelstrom Prison.
His legacy as Sith Lord, however, was to have an impact for several thousand years: The teachings that he recorded in his Holocron during his time as Sith were to have a significant influence on Darth Bane and his rule of two.
4. Darth Plagueis
Full Name: Hego Damask II
Species: Muun
Home Planet: Mygeeto
Darth Plagueis was a Dark Lord of the Sith. According to legend, he was so powerful that he learned to use midichlorians to prevent the death of his loved ones and create life, among other things. He was excessively cautious, he had a lot of power and the only thing he feared was losing it; so he taught his pupil Darth Sidious everything he knew, except the ability to create and sustain life.
His apprentice, having obtained most of his knowledge, betrayed him and killed him while he slept. It is unknown if Darth Plagueis planned to teach Darth Sidious his secret techniques and Palpatine killed him earlier or if he never planned to do so. He is mentioned in the first episode of Star Wars by Qui-Gon Jinn when he tells Yoda about Anakin.
In the case of Darth Plagueis being Anakin’s creator, this would give us the reason why Palpatine would kill his master without having acquired the secrets of the legendary Sith. Namely, the creation of a superior being in all aspects meant that Palpatine would have to fear for his life and would also feel betrayed by his master, so he killed him beforehand as a precautionary measure. It is also unknown if Plagueis really tried to kill him.
His real name was Hego Damask II, head of the Banking Clan, an an alien of the Muun race. He was trained by a bith alien named Darth Tenebrous, whom he killed when he had nothing more to learn from him; his Master believed in science and did not see Darth Plagueis as capable enough to be the next Sith Master, as he confessed to him on his deathbed.
The original plan of Plagueis was dominion over the galaxy. He began to carry out courses of action that would facilitate the plan and thus eliminate the possible strong elements in the force not identified by the Jedi. This led him to the 21-year-old Palpatim, whom he took on as an apprentice and trained him to use his political ability and charisma to become the Supreme Chancellor of the Republic.
Darth Plagueis, by this pointm had full control of the midichlorians and, eight years before Palpatine’s election, he had summoned the Force to send him an envoy, a being created by the Force itself. It is unknown for sure if it was by order of Plagueis or if the Force simply created Anakin in response to the dark times ahead.
Knowing that the Jedi Order was going to die, he trained the most sinister Sith of his era. Celebrating Palpatine’s choice, he became careless and was intoxicated by Darth Sidious, who, taking advantage of the fact that Plagueis allowed himself a rest after 20 years, he murdered him slowly. Darth Plagueis was convinced of Darth Sidious’s loyalty and even said that with the death of his teacher, Darth Tenebrous, Darth Bane’s rule of there only being two Sith at one time – a Master and an Apprentice – had died.
Darth Sidious killed him taking advantage of his low guard and showed him that this rule would never end; he also had nothing more to learn from his master, as the knowledge on how to influence life went to the grave with Darth Plagueis.
that was ultimately his tragedy: Darth Plagueis, the Wise, could save other people’s lives, but not his own. Darth Sidious considered that Plagueis was his teacher but not his master and that despite his incredible power, he had strayed from the original Sith plan for dominance of the galaxy, and had been concerned with himself and his quest for the immortality.
3. Darth Vitiate
Full Name: Tenebrae (also Valkorion)
Species: Sith
Home Planet: Medriaas
Valkorion, also known as Darth Vitiate, born under the name Tenebrae, was a Sith Lord who lived around 5000 BBY, during the time of the Old Sith Empire and ruled his home planet Nathema at that time. After the defeat and destruction of the Sith Empire by the Galactic Republic and the Jedi Order, as a result of the Great Hyperspace War, he took control of the Sith shortly after the Second Battle of Korriban and ordered them to retreat from the Republic.
After the surviving Sith found a new home on the planet Dromund Kaas, Vitiate promised them revenge on the Republic and the Jedi and rose to become Emperor of the Sith Empire. At the same time, he was the first Sith to carry this title.
Vitiate, who was then often only called the Sith Emperor, rebuilt the Sith Empire and largely left the planning and execution of his campaign of revenge to the newly formed Dark Council, a body of twelve powerful Sith Lords. He himself extended his life over millennia with the help of dark rituals and machines. He was also able to indirectly influence numerous events in the galaxy.
For example, he was also responsible for the conversion of Revan and Malak and thus also the Jedi Civil War. In 3681 BBY, the Sith Empire, which had regained its strength under him, finally went to war against the Republic. Although the onslaught of the Sith hit the Republic completely unprepared, the war dragged on for too long, so that 28 years later he surprisingly offered the Republic a peace treaty.
However, while Imperial and Republic diplomats met to negotiate on Alderaan, the Sith Empire forces attacked Coruscant, the Republic capital itself. With Coruscant as leverage, Vitiate forced the surrender of numerous worlds to the Empire and a ceasefire agreement that would go down in history as the Treaty of Coruscant.
The Emperor then temporarily withdrew from the Empire, leaving the planning of the war to the Dark Council and pursuing other activities. He spoke to his subordinates through a body he possessed, the so-called voice of the Emperor. After he had lost one of these voices in 3641 BBY on Voss to Sel-Makor, he looked for a new one with which he was preferably staying on Dromund Kaas in the temple of the dark side.
When the Republic and the Jedi planned to kill the Emperor, the hero of Tython managed to destroy his voice, so that the Emperor was initially thought to be dead and a new war broke out in the galaxy. He was the founder and emperor of the Eternal Empire of Zakuul and was thus the supreme leader of this realm.
He was extremely confident of victory and firmly believed in the eternity of his Empire, of which he was extremely proud. Furthermore, he was sure of the fact that with the help of Zakuul’s fleet he could reshape the galaxy according to his own ideas.
2. Exar Kun
Full Name: Exar Kun
Species: Human
Home Planet: Unknown
Exar Kun was one of the most powerful Sith Lords in the time of the Galactic Republic. Together with Ulic Qel-Droma, the Krath and the Mandalorians, he plunged the galaxy into the Great Sith War, to which he ultimately fell victim himself.
After an archaic ritual in the Massassi Temple on Yavin IV, he was locked into it and his spirit, which had detached itself from the body, lasted for millennia until it finally found peace in the year 11 ABY. In addition, Exar Kun is considered to be the inventor of the lightsaber with a double blade.
On Yavin IV, Exar Kun came across the degenerate descendants of the ancient Massassi culture, which had been created by Naga Sadow himself. The Massassi warriors immediately captured him to offer him as a blood sacrifice to a monster. Exar Kun was only able to avoid this sacrifice thanks to the Dark Side of the Force.
He called on dark forces to help him. Again it was Freedon Nadd who heard his cries for help and demanded an oath of allegiance from him. This time, however, Kun refused to submit to the old master, but destroyed him once and for all in order to proclaim himself the Dark Lord of the Sith. With the help of a Sith amulet that fell into his hands as part of the sacrifice, Exar Kun subjugated the Massassi and made them his servants.
Forcing them to build artifacts of the dark power for him, he continued to study the teachings of Naga Sadow. Finally he discovered Naga Sadow’s old battleship, which was half-buried in the woods, and appropriated it. Through the knowledge that he gained from the Sith artifacts of Naga Sadow, Exar Kun became one of the most powerful Sith lords of his era within a very short time.
It was his old ally himself, Ulic Qel-Droma, who finally led the Jedi fleet to Yavin IV in 3996 BBY to put an end to Exar Kun and his regime once and for all. A huge armada circled the planet and so Exar Kun called the Massassi together for one last great ritual. Inside the temple, Exar Kun was forged on an obelisk while the Massassi united their powers and sacrificed themselves for it to provide the energy required for the ritual.
As the Jedi circled the temple and attacked with a wave of light of bright power, Exar Kun separated his mind from his body while giving up his body. Such power was unleashed at the height of the ritual so that the Jedi felt the shock painfully. Their combined strength fought back the energy of the Sith and eventually Yavin IV caught fire.
The jungles were completely consumed by the flames and the temple was also badly damaged. The Jedi were convinced that no one could have survived this fire and left. But Exar Kun’s spirit, which had previously been loosened in the ritual, had been trapped in the ruined temple since that day and sealed there forever.
At the time of the Second Galactic War, the spirit of Exar Kun wandered on the jungle moon Yavin 4 between the ruins of the ancient Sith lords, which were occupied by the Revanites and Massassi.
1. Darth Sidious
Full Name: Sheev Palpatine
Species: Human
Home Planet: Naboo
Sheev Palpatine, aka Darth Sidious is the main Dark Lord of the Sith, former politician and the main antagonist of the Star Wars saga created by George Lucas. Master of Darth Maul, Darth Tyrannus (aka Count Dooku), and Darth Vader, and the creator of Snoke, he appears as the central character of the original trilogy.
He first appeared in Episode V, The Empire Strikes Back (1980). He is portrayed by Ian McDiarmid in all the nine films. A native of Naboo, Palpatine was trained in the Dark Side of the Force from an early age by his master, Darth Plagueis. His mission was to restore the Sith order and destroy the Jedi by launching a vast galaxy-wide plot.
Using his mastery of the Dark Side, his talents as a politician and his knowledge of the workings of the Republic, he became Senator for the planet Naboo in the Galactic Senate in 52 BBY, and then Supreme Chancellor of the Galactic Republic in 32 BBY (as shown in The Phantom Menace). He comes to power by igniting a war between the Separatists and the Republic.
Succeeding in concealing his identity as a Dark Lord of the Sith, Palpatine takes advantage of the secession crisis he secretly instigated to get full powers voted by the Senate in 22 BBY. Controlling both the Separatists and the Republic, he made sure to make the Clone Wars last, allowing him to increase his stranglehold on the Galaxy.
In 19 BBY, after implementing the Great Jedi Purge via Order 66, he proclaims himself Emperor before the Senate, and transforms the Republic into an Empire. He plunges Jedi Anakin Skywalker into the Dark Side of the Force and makes him Darth Vader, his new apprentice and right-hand man.
Palpatine’s reign comes to an end in Episode VI, at the end of which he is killed by Darth Vader in 4 ABY in the final battle against the second Death Star. He makes his comeback in Episode IX, where he is permanently eliminated by Rey, his granddaughter.
