Unmasking “The Acolyte”: The Hidden History of the Sith
Scary as they might be, the Sith speak to the temptation of the dark side – and our fascination with them — in the Star Wars galaxy. Often hidden and opaque, their history is an exhaustive account of the true meaning of the Star Wars maxim: ‘Always two there are, no more, no less.’ Co-operative leaders would fall to murderous rivals, brothers would battle in duels to the death, a select few exiled themselves, plotting in the shadows for their return to power: arm in arm, their allegiance would reveal itself by the color of their uncloaked heads, red for a Sith Lord, black for a disciple. Their chosen symbol, a spiral, not only represented the pitch-black core of the galaxy (where the fearsome ominous red cloud took form) but also each leader’s place within the current Sith hierarchy. Next to Anakin Skywalker, his master, Darth Sidious, would become the emperor, with his own apprentice sitting at his feet. And so it would go deeper into the darkness. Not to worry if you’re hazy on the ins and outs of the Jedi-versus-Sith tale: we’re about to talk about the Sith with renewed context, thanks to the new Star Wars series, The Acolyte. As the show’s creators have suggested, these episodes are likely to delve into the history of the Sith, the ancient dark-side Jedi, once the rulers of vast galactic empires and, by the time the series debuted with the prequel films, hidden from view, leaving only their legacy behind.
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The Ancient Sith Empire: A Reign of Darkness
It all starts with a splitting of the Jedi Order, in a turbulent primordial dark age thousands of years before the rise of the Galactic Republic. Dissatisfied with the apathy of the Jedi Order, and seeing the dark side as a desirable, uncivilized alternative to ‘purely good’, a clique of rogue Jedi broke away, and laid the basis of the soon-to-be Sith Order.
The ancient age of Sith rule is expanded upon in ‘The Acolyte’, which will take place during the High Republic period of galactic prosperity and tranquility — 200 years before the Jedi’s worst nightmare oozed from the fiery ditch as Darth Vader, and before their serious showdowns between Darth Maul, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Anakin Skywalker, Yoda and Luke Skywalker. But the series also promises ‘the fears that won’t die and the dangers that won’t stay hidden’ — bringing us closer to discovering the shadowy machinations of the Sith, intent on undermining their Jedi and Republic rivals.
The Great Hyperspace War: A Turning Point
The Great Hyperspace War, a massive-scale war fought sometime around 5000 BBY, brought a shift in fortunes for the Sith. During this time, the Sith Empire fought a brutal war against the Republic, striking out from their mastery of hyperspace as a key secret to their success, and conquering worlds and territories one by one.
Though we know little to nothing about what transpired in this war, ‘The Acolyte’ can at least illustrate how the Jedi first came to harbor disdain for the Sith, and how this disdain helped set in motion the events that lead to the Great Hyperspace War, and its violent aftermath.
The Rule of Two: A New Path to Power
After the Great Hyperspace War that followed, it was thought that the Sith were wiped out entirely. However, Darth Bane, the last remaining Sith to survive the war, developed a groundbreaking new vision for the Sith Order.
Bane saw in this that the Sith’s dependency on mutual bloodletting and each other’s desire for power had been their great weakness. The only way for them to survive and then take their revenge was to be only two Sith Lords at a time: to sculpt the Dark Side as a two-pronged hunger, one for power that feeds an apprentice, and one for death that feeds a master. He called his plan the Rule of Two.
The Sith’s Rule of Two is at the heart of their philosophy (and is bound to lead us down a certain dark path, given Star Wars’ penchant for family trauma); as such, “The Acolyte” would be well-positioned to show us the life-and-death stakes of the master-and-apprentice relationship, as well as the constantly shifting balance of power. It also falls into the lineage of Star Wars media that show us the dangers of a system that promotes betrayal and ambition.
The Sith in Hiding: A Game of Shadows
Due to the Rule of Two, Sith became highly adept at deceit and subterfuge. They would infiltrate the Republic’s power structures, sowing division, and manipulating events to spur their grand designs.
That’s the kind of lost story that “The Acolyte” could fill in… The Sith have children, after all, who are trained to serve them — acolytes and apprentices, yes, but also those that the Sith select from young orphans or the lower classes for their mastery of the dark side (the ancient and powerful lords of the Sith actually leave their apprentices to ‘prove’ themselves by killing parents and siblings). The Sith rely on lies and false stories as much as they do the dark side of the Force, subsequently masking much of their history from the rest of the galaxy. Forcing characters who know the secret of the Sith to lie about it more and more each time they speak of it (and subsequently lying even about the lies they’ve told) is only a partial solution to maintaining secrecy. Acolytes know the truth, so the real-world details of who obeys whom may not matter; The Sith deceive the galaxy in turn, a system ‘built to feed off greater illusions, still, siphoning all light from the star’s heights’. “The Acolyte” could fill in this hidden part of Sith history by focusing on its many acolytes and apprentices, demonstrating the interlocking constellation of lies and acts of manipulation the Sith used to gain power and influence.
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The Rise of Darth Sidious: A Master Manipulator
The arc of the Sith’s covert machinations ended with the rise of Darth Sidious (alternately known as Emperor Palpatine). A deft man of power games who wanted to be emperor, Sidious set in motion a series of events that led to a state of planetary turmoil.
The origins of Sidious’s reign are familiar, but perhaps “The Acolyte” will take a look at his Sith apprenticeship. His rivalry with his master, Darth Plagueis, and ascension to the Triumvirate of the Sith are the things of centuries-old legends, but “The Acolyte” series will have an opportunity to reveal how one of the galaxy’s most notorious villains came to be that way.
The End of the Rule of Two and the Sith’s Legacy
The tenure of the ‘Wise’ as Sith Emperor was different. Sidious wanted a Sith dynasty. Taking the lucrative title for himself, and seeking to rule as Emperor alongside his apprentice Darth Vader, it was precisely this dynastic ambition that would spell the end for the Dark Lord.
Vader, racked with guilt and torn by love for his son, Luke Skywalker, betrays the Sith Lord and kills him — a feat that ensures him the Chosen One tag. With Sidious’s death, the Sith are once more presumably extinct.
But the bloodline of the Sith remained unbroken: the First Order, the remnant of the Empire, was an adherent of the dark side, whose aim was to bring back Sith dominance — before they too were defeated, by a Jedi who had been trained by Luke.
Meanwhile, another new antagonist, the cult the Sith Eternal, which is led by a resurrected Emperor Palpatine, also rose to challenge. It aims to renew the Sith’s rule over the galaxy, but is thwarted by Rey and her allies of the Resistance.
A lingering influence of the Sith, and a continued allure for the dark side, are surefire themes for “The Acolyte” to explore in a new way. If it unpacks the reasons that the Sith’s claims and worldview continue to attract disaffected young Padawans, it might reveal why, despite more than a decade of score-settling and attempted purges, the allure of the dark side hasn’t disappeared.
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Conclusion
Over centuries, the Sith hid their presence, but not their desire for power. Across the galaxy, they deposed other emperors and took their places, year after year, ruling by fear and violence. Finally, they gave up the trappings of the empire. From then on, the Sith hid in the shadows, manipulating others, striking when they could, pulling the strings, and scheming to lift themselves one more rung towards ultimate supremacy. When they had recruited armies or eerie spies, they struck boldly and consumed worlds, killing anyone who crossed them. Within each litter of Sith cubs, they sought special ones to take the secret operations even deeper into darkness, training new cadres and preparing to replace the old ones, should their secrets ever be exposed. In this way, Sith tradition argues, the sith survived to dominate the galaxy, time and again. However brutal and murderous the Sith became and however thoroughly they might have given over to their dark side, the real ill they inflicted was upon the galaxy’s Jedi, manipulating and even tempting them to do their bidding. Shaped by generations of Sith might-makes-right tales and preaching, the Jedi’s fear and their desire to stop Sith or sabotage Fellowship maintain an atmosphere of secrecy that saddles everyone with an unearned Sith’, and keeps most Jedi locked in the tarnished lower gears of Light allegiances. For Sith and Jedi alike, higher allegiances are always at risk of pulling back down into darkness. Initiates embrace the Sith way only to be pulled back toward the light Sith moons and Jedi skulls, and there is no gift that the Sith can offer that entices the Jedi from their own light worship. Bad behavior is contagious. The Sith cut off the Jedi from the Galaxy Wheel even while offering the enticing possibility of the true Self: the desire for Light, the fear of Darkness.
“The Acolyte” might expand on this tortuous history while explaining the rise of the Sith, delving into why they act with such malice and why their seeds of destruction continue to sow discord across the galaxy. By exposing the hidden elements of the Sith, the show might enrich the depiction of the faceless bad guys associated with this age-old concept. In the endless battle between the Force’s light and dark, we might feel a little less cynical knowing that some of the dark side’s mysteries have been brought into the light.
