Why and How Did Revan Turn to The Dark Side?

Revan is one of the most popular characters from the extended Star Wars universe. He was one of the most powerful Force users defined by his wishes to do well in the universe. But how did this man who was dubbed the Hero of the Republic turned into one of the most well-known and most powerful Sith Lords of all time?

Revan turned to the Dark side once he got consumed by the power he gained and realized how much he could do with it. His final push into the Dark side was once the Sith Lord they were after controlled his mind to make the transition to the Dark side.

If you want to learn more about this character and the factors that made him turn to the Dark side keep reading this article.

Why did Revan turn to the Dark side? 

Ever since he was adopted by the Jedi order, Revan wanted to learn as much as possible. He stood out among other padawans in the temple as completely devoted to his studies.

A he grew older this thirst for knowledge only grew and Revan started to develop certain traits that set him apart from other students. The most important one is the fact that he did not commit to one teacher.

He often changed his teachers and he tried to learn as much as possible which is why he tried to study from every available master. The Jedi master he preferred was Lady Kreia.

She was regarded as one of the most powerful Jedi and was known to be extremely Force-sensitive. She experimented with the Force a lot and didn’t stray away from using the Dark side to achieve her goals.

Although she was a Jedi around the time Revan started training with her she began questioning her own beliefs and led her students, including Revan further away from the Council’s teachings. This eventually led her to the Dark Side of the Force. She continued her journey as a Sith once she was exiled because most of her students followed Revan in disobeying the Council.

Her influence was one of the most important factors which led Revan into the exploration of the Dark Side. From a young age, he wanted to master as much of the Force as he could and her way of teaching as well as her liberal use of the Force just made Revan want to do it more.

Another thing that worked as a catalyst for his transition was his involvement in the Mandalorian War. He went against the Council’s wishes since believed it was Jedi’s duty to step in and settle the war since the Republic could not resist the Mandalorian army.

The Jedi however did not believe it was their place to get themselves involved in the conflict and that resulted in Revan temporarily separating himself from the Jedi. 

This later proved to be his first step toward turning himself over to the Dark side. Most of his beliefs regarding the Dark side only get amplified once he got more involved in the war. As the war went on, Revan was forced to make more difficult decisions and sacrifice more than ever which took a toll on him.

How did Revan turn to the Dark side? 

Revan is a character in the Star Wars roleplaying video game Star Wars: Knights of the old Republic. As a child, he was found by the Jedi Order and due to his thirst for knowledge and promising traits, the Order started training him.

Revan quickly rose among his peers and was regarded as one of the most promising pupils. During the time of the Mandalorian Wars, once he became more active as a Jedi he started exhibiting his critics towards the Orders approach to the Wars. 

During this time he started defying the Jedi Council. Since he was regarded as a skilled warrior and extremely competent in battle he separated from the Jedi and started his own movement, the Revanchist movement, to achieve better results against the Mandalorian Republic.

During this time he started excepting the Dark side inside himself due to his own desire for power and control. However, despite this, he still regarded himself as a Jedi who simply did not follow the orders because he believed he knew better.

As the war went on, Revan took more and more moral compromises to achieve his goals which drew him further into the Dark side. This culminated once he confronted and defeated the Mandalorian army commander after which he destroyed the Mass Shadow Generator. This made him win the war; however, he destroyed both armies and surrounding planets, killing countless innocent in the process.

After the war has ended Revan and Malek went to seek out the reason behind the Mandalorian power. They determined the power originated from a Sith lord.

He controlled the two Jedi through the Force and made the turn to the Dark side. However, surprisingly, Revan managed to break free of Sith’s control. Regardless of that, he chose to stay on the path of the Dark side since after breaking free from the mind control, Revan realized the power that the Dark side holds. 

Who turned Revan to the Dark side? 

Technically you could say that Revan got turned to the Dark side by the Sith Emperor. Once Revan and Malak discovered that the Manalorian’s army power was coming from the ancient Sith they decided to visit the unknown regions alongside their remaining forces.

Once the forces reached the temple and found the Sith Lord, the two friends decided to camp out and wait for the time most appropriate to strike the Sith Lord down.

However, unbeknownst to them, the Sith Lord was immediately aware of their presence and their plan. To take advantage of their confidence in their own plan, the Sith Lord started to influence them by infiltrating their minds using the Force. 

This brought up the worst in the two. The combination of their disobedience towards the Jedi and the torment of the war and or the sacrifices the two had to make during the Mandalorian war, the Force brought up their anger and hatred. 

In such a state of mind, the transition towards the Dark side was extremely easy. So technically the Sith Lord used the Force to influence them to turn to the Dark side.

However, one thing to consider is the fact that the two were on their way to turn to the Dark side on their own. It’s fair to assume that the two would make the transition on their own haven’t they met the Sith Lord when they did.

They were already dabbling into the Dark side and harbored the wishes to explore the Force and master it in its full capacity. Ever since the war started it took a toll on both of them and Forced them to sink deeper into the Dark Side of the Force.

This paired with the fact that once Revan broke free of the mind control he continued using the Dark side and stayed a Sith all the way until he got captured and brainwashed into becoming into A Jedi should serve as enough evidence that if the Sith Lord didn’t force him into the Dark side Revan would have done it on his own eventually.

This is why we can say that Revan turned to the Dark side himself despite the fact that he got mined controlled and became a Sith through the influence of another Sith. 

Is Darth Revan the most powerful Sith?

Darth Revan was one of the most powerful Sith Lords of his time. He was so influential that his teachings remained among the Sith kind for centuries after he died.

Revan was one of the most powerful force users of his time and he had extensive knowledge of the Force itself. he was very strong mentally, even managing to fight out of the Vitiate’s mind control.

He still had all of the traits which made him a great Jedi. He was a great leader and had immense knowledge and tactical skill. 

After he got reformed and regained his memory, Revan managed to find the perfect balance between the Dark and the light side which made him more powerful than he ever was.

If you consider some other influential Siths and their powers Darth Revan remains one of the most powerful Sith and most dangerous Force users. However, if you are going off the influence and the threat he presented during his time as a Sith you could say he was the most powerful Sith.