Skip to main content

star wars - Is the title "Dark Lord of the Sith" reserved for the Sith Master?


For the Sith Order under the Rule of Two (i.e. from Darth Bane to Palpatine), does the Sith Apprentice hold the title "Dark Lord of the Sith"? Or is the title reserved for only the Sith Master?


In the (Legends) Bane trilogy, it appears to be reserved for the Sith Master. For example, from Dynasty of Evil:



That was why Bane had chosen Zannah as his apprentice: she had the potential to one day surpass even his own abilities. On that day she would usurp him as the Dark Lord of the Sith and choose an apprentice of her own.




Later, Darth Zannah affirms that the Apprentice becomes the Dark Lord upon killing the Master:



The Master will train his apprentice in the ways of the Sith, until one day she must challenge him. If she proves unworthy, the Master will destroy her and choose a new apprentice. If she proves the stronger, the Master will fall and she will become the new Dark Lord of the Sith, and choose an apprentice of her own.



However, Darth Vader -- who never became the Sith Master -- appears to hold the title. He is referred to as the "Dark Lord" in the movie scripts, as well as in the canon novel Tarkin (albeit always from the perspective of Moff Tarkin, who is not a Sith). Probably on this basis, Wookieepedia's canon article on the title says that the title was "shared" by the Sith Lords under the Rule of Two.


There appears to be a contradiction, in that the Bane trilogy reserves the title for the Master but the canon sources do not. How is this explained? Did the Sith Order start giving the title to the Apprentice sometime after Darth Bane and, if so, when? Is the Bane trilogy simply wrong to reserve the title for the Master (it's Legends, so canon supersedes it)? Or did Darth Vader not really hold the title?


The last option (that Vader didn't really hold the title, but was publicly assumed to hold it) seems possible for several reasons:



  1. Vader is never called the Dark Lord by Palpatine, and never calls himself the Dark Lord. He is only referred to as the Dark Lord from an out-of-universe perspective (e.g. in the scripts) or by non-Sith characters (e.g. Tarkin) who wouldn't know his true title(s). Within the Sith Order, it's possible Vader doesn't really hold the title.


  2. Palpatine was not known to be a Sith by the general public, so from the public point of view Vader was the only Sith and therefore the Dark Lord.

  3. Out-of-universe, there may be a bit of a retcon here: Lucas didn't initially intend Palpatine to be a Sith and started calling Vader the Dark Lord in the Episode V script; when the Emperor's character was changed to be a Sith, he was stuck with Vader's title.




Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

futurama - How much time is lost in 'Time Keeps on Slippin''

In time Keeps on Slippin' , Farnsworth creates a basketball team which he matures by abusing Chronitons. This leads to time skipping forward by random, but ever increasing amounts. How much time was skipped in this way? Answer Unfortunately, I don't think a good estimate can be made for this, for two reasons: Many of the time skips move forward by an indeterminate amount of time. At one point, the Professor mentions localized regions of space skipping forward much more than others. We then see two young boys on the street below complaining about having to pay social security, only to suddenly become senior citizens and start complaining about wanting their money. Thus, each individual could have experienced a different amount of time skippage.
Post a Comment
Read more

aliens - Interstellar Zoo story

I vaguely remember this story from my childhood: it was about an interstellar zoo that came to Earth with lots of bizarre and unusual species, and humans would file through and gape at all the crazy looking creatures from other planets. The twist came at the end when the perspective shifted to the other side of the bars and we discovered that the "creatures" were traveling through space on a kind of safari. They thought they were the visitors and we were the animals. Neither side knew that the other side thought they were the zoo creatures. Answer Got it. Zoo, by Edward D. Hoch. Published in 1958. Link to Publication History Link to PDF
Post a Comment
Read more

harry potter - What is the difference between Diffindo and Sectumsempra?

In the Harry Potter books, Diffindo is called the 'Severing Charm' and it’s most commonly used to cut ropes and the like. However, in the last book Hermione uses it on Ron but misses, creating a 'slash in his jeans' and his knee gets cut, causing him to 'roar in pain'. We've only seen Sectumsempra used once on screen when Harry directly uses it on Malfoy in the sixth book, but there it's mentioned that he is 'waving his wand wildly'. Wouldn't Diffindo, if used in such a fashion also cause a similar effect? Similarly, if it was able to cut Ron, it would also be able to, say, chop off an ear (George's)? In that case, how are these two spells different, except for Sectumsempra seemingly used exclusively to hurt humans? Answer While Diffindo and Sectumsempra both can be countered by other spells, Diffindo is far more easily countered. Reparo, a relatively common spell, can completely reverse its effect when used once. “He pulled the old cop...
Post a Comment
Read more

harry potter - How could Expelliarmus beat Avada Kedavra?

I want to be very careful about how I ask this question – I am not asking How did Voldemort die? [CLOSED] Below the text is the relevant passages from Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows if anyone wants to review them (I'm sorry for the amount of text). How did Expelliarmus beat Avada Kedavra and kill Voldemort? I feel the reason Harry's Expelliarmus overpowered Voldemort's Avada Kedavra curse has to do with who was master of the Elder Wand and how the Elder Wand works. I've always had trouble understanding fully how the Elder Wand works, though. How much did the fact that Voldemort never truly won or mastered the Elder Wand factor into how Expelliarmus reacted to Avada Kedavra and caused Avada Kedavra to rebound and kill Voldemort? An answer based in book canon would be especially welcome, but any canon source really is fine. Harry heard the high voice shriek as he, too, yelled his best hope to the heavens, pointing Draco’s wand: ‘ Avada Kedavra !’ ‘ Expelliarmus !...
Post a Comment
Read more