48
votes
To what extent can Emperor Palpatine actually see into the future?
What the Emperor tells Luke is actually:
Everything that has transpired has done so according to my design.
The difference may seem irrelevant (especially since the Emperor does tell Vader, ...
- 99k
41
votes
Accepted
Did Sidious not believe that Anakin would destroy the Sith and bring balance to the Force?
The prophecy of the Chosen One is a Jedi prophecy. As a Sith, Sidious has no reason to believe that it would come true in a way that favored the Jedi. He would regard it as no more than wishful ...
Null♦
- 70.2k
34
votes
Accepted
Would fewer Jedi be more powerful?
That's not how the force works! or why the Rule of Two works. The Rule of two was created by Darth Bane to allow the Sith Order to operate in secret, because greed and fighting amongst many Sith Lords ...
- 20.3k
31
votes
Accepted
Can Sith crystals be "bled" by Jedi?
They can be unbled, as done by Ahsoka Tano
The crystals that had powered his lightsaber were no longer contained by metal, but their song had not dimmed. She held them in one hand, almost shaking as ...
- 40.1k
29
votes
In canon, has a Jedi ever used the light side to kill a Sith?
Adamant's answer was right at the time he answered it, but with more recent episodes of Star Wars Rebels, the answer is a definitive yes.
- 4,509
25
votes
Accepted
What makes you a Sith Lord?
"Sith Lord" is a title bestowed by a person with the proper authority. This would be someone who already is a Sith Lord, specifically the Sith Master (not just the Sith Apprentice) due to ...
Null♦
- 70.2k
23
votes
Why does Darth Sidious need bodyguards?
This is addressed in a slightly tongue-in-cheek footnote in the new (canon) junior novelisation for Return of the Jedi. In short, the guards are basically window-dressing, for the most part, but the ...
- 709k
21
votes
What makes you a Sith Lord?
Null’s answer covers the basics for the current Disney Canon.
This answer is intended to cover the old pre-Disney lore based on the extended universe, now known as ‘Legends’, because it both gives ...
- 1,860
20
votes
Why did the Sith need the Clone Army at all?
Palpatine doesn't want the war over quickly
There are two main reasons for this:
As Jack points out in a comment on the question, the extended Clone Wars make the Jedi more vulnerable. This is ...
- 164k
19
votes
Accepted
Why did the Jedi turn totally Light side?
The Rakata invasion
The split of the Je’daii into Light and Dark is referred to as the Force Wars:
The planet Tython, in the Deep Core, provided the first-known conflict
between the Force’s light and ...
- 118k
18
votes
Has any Imperial ever thought about why they only know of one Sith Lord?
Yes, but they didn’t know about the Rule of Two
At least one Imperial thought along these lines: soon-to-be Grand Moff Tarkin. He went even further and concluded that the missing Sith was Emperor ...
- 118k
17
votes
Did Sidious not believe that Anakin would destroy the Sith and bring balance to the Force?
1. The Force was unbalanced due to having too many light-side users, who outnumbered the dark-side users.
The creation of the Jedi order ensured that the Jedi were always at peak strength; the ...
- 7,680
16
votes
Accepted
How many Sith masters obeyed the "Rule of Two"?
Bane's Order spans about a thousand years and most of the Sith Masters are unknown. We can only consider the few known Sith Masters, so we will underestimate the number of Sith Masters who obeyed the ...
Null♦
- 70.2k
15
votes
Accepted
What weapons did the Jedi/Sith use before lightsabers?
This is addressed in the Jedi Path: A Manual for Students of the Force factbook. In short, the early Jedi Order started with metal swords, then progressed to swords forged (and artificially hardened/...
- 709k
15
votes
Can a Sith/Jedi use the force to physically keep someone alive?
Indeed
Darth Maul used the Force to keep himself alive after being bisected by Obi-Wan on Naboo, as described in a canonical source (and elsewhere):
Q: How does Maul survive being cut in half?
...
- 118k
14
votes
Can Maul use Force Lightning?
It's useful to have an ace in the hole.
This dialog can be found in Witches of the Mist, an episode of Star Wars: The Clone Wars, between Savage Oppress and Count Dooku:
Savage: How does one ...
- 8,261
14
votes
Accepted
Are Sith Lord names based on menacing words?
There was not a single creative process used to devise the names of the Star Wars villains, and the origins were likely to be different for names that were invented in different eras. So I will ...
- 99k
13
votes
Was Darth Vader REALLY a Sith?
Sure he is
The nature of the relationship between Sith Master and Sith Apprentice is given more explicit treatment in the canon novel Lords of the Sith. According to Palpatine's teachings, the Master ...
- 164k
13
votes
Accepted
Was there ever a black Sith Lord in Star Wars canon or "Legends"?
As far as I can tell, no. The two closest would be:
Sora Bulq, who wasn't human but a Weequay humanoid with dark brown skin. He fell to the Dark Side and trained with Count Dooku, before being killed ...
- 6,477
13
votes
Why didn't Palpatine wait until after he learned the secret of cheating death before killing his master?
It was a ruse
It is uncertain if Darth Plagueis actually knew how to prevent death canonically. Consider the following:
"To cheat death is a power only one has achieved, but if we work
together, ...
- 32.6k
13
votes
Accepted
Do the Inquisitors break the Rule Of Two?
The use of dark side allies such as the Inquisitors and the Nightsisters was not a violation of the Rule of Two since they were not considered Sith. The distinction between a Sith and a mere dark side ...
Null♦
- 70.2k
13
votes
Accepted
Difference between Darth and Lord
Legends time (but lacking quotes etc, for now):
3000 years before the original trilogy, when there were more than two Sith, there was a distinction between Lord and Darth in political/social standing....
- 731
12
votes
Was there ever a black Sith Lord in Star Wars canon or "Legends"?
There are no black Sith Lords in canon.
In Legends, there are at least two human Sith Lords with dark skin like Mace Windu's. Both are from the video game Star Wars: The Old Republic, which takes ...
Null♦
- 70.2k
12
votes
Accepted
Was Tyranus just a placeholder for Anakin?
Tyranus was a placeholder in the sense that Sidious already wanted to turn Anakin to the dark side when he was just a boy (because Sidious wanted a young and powerful apprentice to help him advance ...
Null♦
- 70.2k
12
votes
To what extent can Emperor Palpatine actually see into the future?
Does the Emperor actually see the future as it exists at the moment of his vision, but the future can later be changed by other plot events a la the morphing photographs in Back to the Future?
Force ...
- 52.7k
12
votes
Why did Chancellor Palpatine reveal to Obi-Wan that Count Dooku was a Sith Lord?
Here are the facts.
What drives Anakin to the dark side is his feelings about family, his mother and his wife, but also about his nonexistent father.
The Jedi Council came to the conclusion that ...
- 3,498
11
votes
Accepted
Why do Kylo and Snoke follow the Rule of Two?
As the old Soviet joke goes, "Officer, I didn't steal those jeans. And they were dirty and all full of holes anyway!".
As such:
We don't know that they follow Rule of Two in the first place, in word ...
- 344k
11
votes
Accepted
How did Palpatine get the name "Sidious"?
His name was chosen by his mentor Darth Plagueis, presumably because of his insidious nature.
Plagueis planted his hands on his hips and laughed without mirth. “And of what possible use do you think ...
- 709k
10
votes
Accepted
What led Qui-Gon to conclude that Darth Maul was a Sith?
In-Universe
The film's junior novelisation is the only source that really seems to address this, and even then only obliquely. Qui-Gon apparently described his fight with Maul at considerable length., ...
- 709k
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