Welcome to Dans on Fandoms. I’m Dan.
Long before the events of The Clone Wars, the Sith Order found themself on
the precipice of annihilation. The Sith Lord, Darth Bane,
then reorganized the Sith Order and created the doctrine that was known as the Rule of Two.
This doctrine stated that there could be only two Sith at any given time:
a master and an apprentice. From that point forward,
the Sith operated in the shadows, with a master and apprentice plotting and scheming to implement
the Sith Great Plan, which was to topple the Jedi Order and the Galactic Republic.
So,why and when was the Sith Rule of Two created? Let’s take a look at the origins of the Sith
Rule of Two, both in canon and legends, and discuss when and why this doctrine was created.
Starting with canon, The Sith Rule of Two was established following the
Sith Order’s near annihilation during the Jedi-Sith War in roughly 1032 BBY.
Although the Jedi believed they had wiped out the Sith Order, one Dark Lord of the Sith survived,
and that Sith was Darth Bane. As Bane dwelled on the failure
and near destruction of the Sith, Bane came to realize the Order’s large
numbers were the root cause of their downfall. Prior to Bane’s creation of the Rule of Two,
the Sith numbered in the thousands, which Bane believed ultimately hindered the Sith in
their ability to dominate and control the galaxy. He believed this was due to the fact that, at the
heart of the Sith Order, their focus has always been to obtain power and dominance over others
at any cost, even those within the order itself. Because of this, throughout the Sith’s history,
in-fighting and betrayal were rife amongst those of the Sith Order.
Bane concluded that the Sith's large numbers, greed, and in-fighting allowed the Jedi to
defeat and decimate the weakened Sith Order in the Jedi-Sith War.
The Sith Lord understood that the Sith’s large numbers were a hindrance, as the more Sith there
were, the more their focus deviated from destroying the Jedi and conquering the galaxy,
due to the vying for power and dominance amongst those within the Sith’s ranks.
With the Sith Order all but eradicated, aside from Darth Bane,
the Sith Lord knew that the Sith Order would have to be reformed if the Order were to survive.
Because of this, Bane believed that the Sith must limit their numbers in order to survive,
thrive, and eventually rule the galaxy. Thus, the Rule of Two was born.
In crafting the doctrine of the Rule of Two, Darth Bane took inspiration from the concept of a Force
dyad, which was the pairing of two Force-sensitive beings, making them one in the Force.
Most importantly, though, the doctrine stated that there could be only two Sith at one time,
a master and an apprentice. In creating the Rule of Two,
Bane assured two things: first, that one sith master would embody the power of the sith, while
their apprentice would crave that power and grow to eventually usurp that power from their master.
This would allow the Sith to continuously grow in strength from one sith master to the next,
as the Rule of Two encouraged the usurping of power by the hands of the more powerful Sith Lord.
This ensured that the power of both master and apprentice would grow from
generation to generation until the Sith were finally able to exterminate the Jedi
and usher in a new Galactic age. Secondly, the Rule of Two would
allow the Sith Order to operate in the shadows, unbeknownst to the Jedi order.
In doing so, the Sith would be able to sow seeds of destruction, turmoil,
and dissent across the galaxy without the Jedi and Republic knowing who was truly behind the discord.
Darth Bane’s intent was for his successors to be able to amass enough power in secret
to engineer the fall of the Republic and the destruction of the Jedi Order.
As such, the strength and power of the sith would grow throughout its lineage from the days of Darth
Bane to that of Darth Sidious, all while they worked in the shadows to subvert the Jedi and the
Republic with the ultimate goal of destroying both and maintaining ultimate power over the galaxy.
In Legends, the creation of the Sith Rule of Two shared very similar origins.
Like Canon, Darth Bane created the Rule of Two following the Sith’s near destruction during
the events of the New Sith Wars, after he tricked the Sith Master, Skere Kahn,
to perform a Sith ritual to create what was called thought bomb,
which killed the thousands of Sith in the Sith Brotherhood of Darkness, except for Bane.
Additionally, Bane’s inspiration for the Rule of Two actually came from another Sith
Lord that lived thousands of years before him, that Sith Lord was none other than Darth Revan.
In Legends, Darth Revan was a powerful Sith who was once a Jedi Knight that turned to
the dark side, before ultimately returning back to the light and rejoining the Jedi.
After disavowing The Sith Brotherhood of Darkness, Darth Bane, traveled to the planet Lehon,
also known as Rakata Prime, which was home to the extinct Rakatan Species and was their
secret capital of their Infinite Empire. Bane ventured to a temple on the planet
called the Temple of the Ancients, where he discovered a sith Holocron that had been
constructed 3,000 years prior by Darth Revan. Part of Revan’s message in the Hologram stressed
the importance of a single Sith Master training one apprentice at a time, among other things.
Revan argued that a Sith master that trained more than one apprentice was a fool,
because those apprentices would eventually grow in strength and overthrow their master.
Furthermore, Revan argued that the Sith could only have a single leader-one dark lord who
would embody the strength and power of the dark side, and a student to crave that power.
If the Sith Master grew weak, another would have to rise and seize the mantle.
This meant that there could only be 2 Sith at any given time, no more, no less.
In following this rule of two, Revan explained, the Sith would be able to create a system wherein
only the strongest of the dark siders would be able to hold the title of a dark lord of the Sith,
perpetuating a system that would purge the weak and maximize strength
Revan’s teachings resonated with Bane, as he felt that the Sith Brotherhood had grown weak,
despite their large numbers, and then worked to plant the seeds that would allow him to reorganize
the Order and implement the Rule of Two. As we can see, the Sith Rule of Two doctrine has
very similar origins in both legends and canon. Nevertheless, this doctrine was instrumental
in the Sith Order’s ability to slowly gain power over a millenia,
before Darth Sidious and Darth Vader were able topple the Jedi Order and Republic in 19 BBY.
But what do you guys think? And what’s your thoughts on the Sith Rule of Two?
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