Why only two Sith at a time?

[aTOMiC]

Yodo explains with some unique passion that there can only be two sith. No more no less. A master and an apprentice. Seems kind of rude to me that they won't allow more members into their order. I suppose what Yoda meant was that the Master will not allow any competition outside of his pet project.

[Fist and Faith]

The Sith had come into being almost two thousand years ago. They were a cult given over to the dark side of the Force, embracing fully the concept that power denied was power wasted. A rogue Jedi Knight had founded the Sith, a singular dissident in an order of harmonious followers, a rebel who understood from the beginning that the real power of the Force lay not in the light, but in the dark. Failing to gain approval for his beliefs from the Council, he had broken with the order, departing with his knowledge and his skills, swearing in secret that he could bring down those who had dismissed him.

He was alone at first, but others from the Jedi order who believed as he did and who had followed him in his study of the dark side soon came over. Others were recruited, and soon the ranks of the Sith swelled to more than fifty in number. Disdaining the concepts of cooperation and consensus, relying on the belief that acquisiton of power in any form lends strength and yields control, the Sith began to build their cult in opposition to the Jedi. Theirs was not an order created to serve; theirs was an order created to dominate.

Their war with the Jedi was vengeful and furious and ultimately doomed. The rogue Jedi who had founded the Sith order was its nominal leader, but his ambition excluded any sharing of power. His disciples began to conspire against him and each other almost from the beginning, so that the war they instigated was as much with each other as with the Jedi.

In the end, the Sith destroyed themselves. They destroyed their leader first, then each other. What few survived the initial bloodbath were quickly dispatched by watchful Jedi. In a matter of only weeks, all of them died.

All but one.

Darth Maul shifted impatiently. The younger Sith had not yet learned his Master's patience; that would come with time and training. It was patience that had saved the Sith order in the end. It was patience that would give them their victory now over the Jedi.

The Sith who had survived when all of his fellows had died had understood that. He had adopted patience as a virtue when the others had forsaken it. He had adopted cunning, stealth, and subterfuge as the foundation of his way - old Jedi virtues the others had disdained. He stood aside while the Sith tore at each other like kriks and were destroyed. When the carnage was complete, he went into hiding, biding his time, waiting for his chance.

When it was believed all of the Sith were destroyed, he emerged from his concealment. At first he worked alone, but he was growing old and he was the last of his kind. Eventually, he went out in search of an apprentice. Finding one, he trained him to be a Master in his turn, then to find his own apprentice, and so to carry on their work. But there would only be two at any one time. There would be no repetition of the mistakes of the old order, no struggle between Siths warring for power within the cult. Their common enemy was the Jedi, not each other. It was for their war with the Jedi they must save themselves.

The Sith who reinvented the order called himself Darth Bane.

A thousand years had passed since the Sith were believed destroyed, and the time they had waited for had come at last.

The Phantom Menace, by Terry Brooks - based on the screenplay and story by George Lucas

The question I have is, how does Yoda ("Yodo"? Yoda and Yoko Ono's love-child?) know about the "only 2" rule at all??

[Revan]

Thanks for that F&F!

[Fist and Faith]

np

[Revan]

Got any more information on the Sith for us Fist?

[Fist and Faith]

Well, ummm... They're usually pretty mean?

I don't remember anything else of importance in the book, but if I do, I'll post it also.

Though it doesn't fit into the continuity of the movies, the Star Wars comic books had a big history of the Sith all set up. Nothing like the Sith we know, but very cool, with different ways of using the Force. Actually, the comics and many of the non-movie books were written with each other in mind. There was a timeline and everything. So for example, the comics fill us in a lot about Exar Kun, who we met in Kevin Anderson's Jedi Academy.

[Revan]

Well, ummm... They're usually pretty mean?

LOL! Thanks for that Fist

[Revan]

Though it doesn't fit into the continuity of the movies, the Star Wars comic books had a big history of the Sith all set up. Nothing like the Sith we know, but very cool, with different ways of using the Force. Actually, the comics and many of the non-movie books were written with each other in mind. There was a timeline and everything. So for example, the comics fill us in a lot about Exar Kun, who we met in Kevin Anderson's Jedi Academy.

Exar Kun! We here about him in the game KOTOR.

[hierachy]

so who's your apprentice Revan, or are you the aprentice?

[Revan]

Darth Malak is my apprentice

[dANdeLION]

Darth Malak is my apprentice

And here I thought it was Dartholomew.....

[Revan]

You thought wrong. heh.

[dANdeLION]

One possible reason that there are only 2 at a time may be due to there only being one bathroom in the Sith hideout....

[Revan]

er...ok

[dANdeLION]

One possible reason that there are only 2 at a time may be due to there only being one bathroom in the Sith hideout....

....or they ran out of red lightsabres at the local armory.

[dANdeLION]

Yodo explains with some unique passion that there can only be two sith. No more no less. A master and an apprentice. Seems kind of rude to me that they won't allow more members into their order. I suppose what Yoda meant was that the Master will not allow any competition outside of his pet project.

Maybe Yoda lied. Maybe he didn't want his 500 Jedi to get scared that there were more than two. Maybe he just wanted to cover the fact that he didn't know what was going on. Maybe he even taught Obi-Wan to be the big fat liar you think he is. Maybe it's just part of Jedi training.

Anyway, just how long does it take to train a sith apprentice? Darth Maul in episode I, Dooku in episode II; it seems Palpatine is spitting them out quite frequently to me.

[Fist and Faith]

I thought about that too. Maybe Dooku only turned evil between the two movies. He didn't need any physical training, he only had to see things Palpatine's way. I don't remember off hand what the book says, but it's possible that he even left the Jedi order before the first movie, hung around doing whatever, and Palpatine turned him after Maul died.

[hierachy]

Maybe there are only two sith, maybe there are more. Unless we find out, we will never know.

[Revan]

How amazingly perceptive you are Hierachy

[hierachy]

Thank you!