Star Wars
Why? Because I can and I want to. Plus, it's better than thinking of sad, scary, angsty things as they pertain to my life.
So, how big of a Star Wars nerd are you? Well, I'm more of a Star Trek nerd myself, but I know... far too much about Star Wars, too.
Okay, I'm going to be referencing a lot of different sources. Books, the time of the movies (Episodes I-VI), and SWToR (aka Star Wars: The Old Republic, an MMORPG).
So, let's start off with how the Jedi and Sith even got started. This started tens of thousands of years before the movies. The first people who could sense and control The Force were known as "Force Users." They hadn't ever really gotten together and there weren't a large number of them. They decided to meet on a planet called Tython. Basically, they decided to compare notes on what they had learned. Eventually 2 philosophies emerged. What one would call the Light Side and the Dark Side of The Force. As one would think, their approaches were very different and they conflicted with each other. They fought it out. There were more Light Side Users and Dark Side Users, so naturally, the Light Side Users ended up winning. A few Dark Side Users were able to escape Tython. However, this fight did not start until a Force User taught the others how to make the famous Lightsabers that Jedi and Sith use.
Now, let's define a few things, so that it can be understood what I was talking about:
1. The Force - It's been described many ways by many different characters, but it's basically this energy that flows throughout the universe. Some might call it the energy of Life. Some might call it Spiritual Energy. There are plenty of ways to describe it. However, what is known is that those who can manipulate The Force are beings who's bodies contain a specific living organism in their cells called "Midichlorians." The more Midichlorians a being had, the greater their potential was for being able to manipulate The Force and determined how strongly they could do so in an innate fashion. With training, a being with fewer Midichlorians could learn to manipulate The Force more effectively and efficiently than a being with many more Midichlorians without training.
2. Force Users - Those who could sense and manipulate The Force. This was what they called themselves before they met on Tython, the 2 philosophies were defined, and they became Light Force Users and Dark Force Users.
The Light Force Users philosophy was one of control over one's emotions and the use of these powers to benefit the galaxy. Think about Buddhism and that's pretty close to it. The Dark Force Users philosophy was one of power and domination of those weaker than they were. "Might Is Right" and "The Strong Were Born To Rule The Weak" is a good way to put it.
The Light Force Users eventually became known as the Jedi and settled in with the Galactic Republic as peace keepers, negotiators, and then as Generals during war time.
The Origin of The Sith:
At a certain point, those who were part of the Jedi Order who refused to rely solely on the Light Side of The Force were basically deemed heretics/evil, a war started, the Jedi Order won out, and they exiled these Dark Jedi from known space. Some of these Dark Jedi came upon a planet called Korriban. This is the birthplace of the Sith. Now, the Sith is actually the name of the humanoid race that was native to Korriban that were subjugated and ruled by the Dark Jedi. So, originally, "Sith" was the name of a race of beings, not those who used the Dark Side of The Force. The Dark Jedi were able to hide on Korriban for many hundreds of years. During this time there was, of course, interbreeding of the Dark Jedi and the native Sith. So the Sith started to exhibit the same abilities to sense and use The Force. Eventually, the Sith was no longer how the race referred to itself but instead as a religion, much like the Jedi Order was a religion.
More than once the Sith struck out at the Jedi and many wars were fought. Oddly enough, the Jedi seemed to win the wars and the Sith would retreat and hide. Because, as we all know, the light/good always wins over the dark/evil. There's tens of thousands of years between the meeting on Tython and the time of Star War: The Old Republic and a different set of thousands of years between Star Wars: The Old Republic and the movies. So the collective timeline of these sources spans over 100000 years.
So, we've all seen the movies. Lots going on there. Here are some things that you might not know and might not care about, but if you've read this far then you might as well walk away with some random trivia that will impress no one at a party!
We'll skip past the boring stuff. Lots of things happen, there's fighting, special powerful Jedi and Sith are born with amazing abilities, blah, blah, blah. It is interesting to note that there was a Sith Lord who was so powerful that he was actually able to cause a star to explode and take everything in that solar system with it. Also, Luke Skywalker's name in the original screen play (which was written before all the books and the games) was Luke Starkiller. It was changed by Lucas during the second draft, I think. So that means that Anakin's last name would have been Starkiller, too.
The Order of the Sith & The Rule of Two:
There used to be many Dark Lords of the Sith. In fact, there was the Dark Emperor and the Dark Council. Over time there became the Rule of Two. That's why during the times of the movie and the books after that time, there is a Sith Master and a Sith Apprentice. How the Rule of Two came into existence is something I don't know. The only way for the Sith Apprentice to become a Sith Master is to kill his master. So if you're a Sith Master, why take on an apprentice, when you know that he will eventually become a Sith Master by killing them? Well, the Sith knowledge had to be passed down somehow and without the Dark Side there can be no Light Side. So, it's kinda necessary. Also, a Sith Master wouldn't live forever and would need someone to carry on the knowledge of the Sith. Killing their Master and becoming the new Master was a kind of Graduation Day thing. As a Sith Master, if you're not the stronger of the two of you then you should be killed so that the strongest would also be the Master.
Besides, when there were many Sith Masters (during the time of some of the books and SWToR MMORPG), some of whom had several Sith Apprentices at the same time, who's apprentices would eventually become powerful enough that their Master would either kill them or the Apprentice would run off on their own. That Sith Apprentice might one day become powerful enough to be considered a Sith Master and even possibly become a Dark Lords of the Sith (who were the Dark Council members).
You might even wonder if the Sith had to exist because the Light Side of the Force couldn't exist with the Dark Side of the Force to balance it, who because the Dark Lord of the Sith when Sidious was killed by Vader and Vader died. I'll tell you that at the end.
The Immortal Emperor:
There was a time when the Dark Emperor was immortal. He was known as the Immortal Emperor, a very unoriginal name. From what I have gathered from the books (which I have not read but have heard much about through my brother, who's read them all) the Immortal Emperor gained his immorality through subterfuge and manipulation of others. A Sith who uses other Sith's fears against them for his own gain!? *gasp* No! *eye roll* So, the Dark Emperor gathers up some of the most powerful Sith Masters one at a time. He tells them that there is a ceremony that he wants to do on a planet that is very rich in The Force (aka lots of Midichlorians in the lifeforms on the planet) that will increase the Dark Emperor's power greatly and he promises it will increase their power greatly, too. Also, the Emperor was going to invite a Sith Master who was a rival or outright enemy of the Sith Master he was having the audience with. The Dark Emperor told them that he would tell them what they needed to do in the ceremony and how to, at a specific moment, do something with the shaping of The Force that would allow that Sith Master to weaken their rival/enemy Sith Master so that they could be easily killed. "So you're telling me that I can both get a great increase in power plus the destruction of my enemy!? Where the fuck do I sign up!?" Yeah, that's pretty much how it went every time.
They go to the planet, each Sith Master knows just when and how to use The Force during the ceremony to weaken their enemies so they can be easily killed, and things start. Of course, during the ceremony all is going as it's intended to. Each of the Sith Masters do their parts and greatly weaken each other. This allowed the Dark Emperor to absorb, what amounts to, the life force of all the Sith Masters and all the time life on that Midichlorians rich planet. Thus, he became immortal. Which is why some refer to The Force as the energy of Life that pervades the universe.
Many in the Jedi Order sensed this great disturbance in The Force. The Jedi Council sends a few Jedi Master to investigate this disturbance and to report back. The Jedi Masters who landed on the now lifeless planet could feel just how wrong the balance of The Force was there and it even made them physically ill. Which is what they reported back to the Jedi Council.
The Immortal Emperor was eventually killed. He was immortal, not indestructible. He just wasn't going to age and die. He could get sick and die. He could get injured and die. Which is what happened.
Lightsaber Colors:
You'll notice in the original movies (Episodes IV, V, &, VI) there are only 3 different colors. Blue (Obi-wan and Luke), Green (Yoda), and Red (Darth Vader). So do they have an actual meaning? Yes.
Now, as books were written new special Jedi or Sith would show up a lightsaber of a different color from the original 3. The books explain them all. The evidence of a different color in the movies was in Episode II & III. Mace Wendu (portrayed by Samuel L. Jackson). He had light purple lightsaber blade. Mace saw a vision of himself building a lightsaber that had a purple blade but was never able to do it during training. So, at the age of 14, he asked the Jedi High Council for a true challenge. He was sent him to a planet called Hurikane or Hurrikaine, was chased off by the natives, and destroyed one with Shatterpoint ability (I'll tell you later). He put the native back together (So I guess the natives were made of something that could be broken into pieces? Yeah, I don't know.). So, apparently, because he shattered one of their people and then put the native back together they rewarded him with the purple crystal, which he then used to craft his signature lightsaber.
Now, that's the back story they used to explain why this special colored blade appeared. In reality, Samuel L. Jackson knew that he was leading 112 Jedi at the arena for the Battle of Geonosis scene and he wanted to be able to pick himself out of the sea of other Jedi. So he went to Lucas and said that he wanted a different colored lightsaber blade, like a purple one, so that he could find himself in the battle after the film's post-production work was done and the final film was made. Lucas explained that the 3 colors had always been green, blue, and red. A day or so later Lucas came to Jackson and gave him the purple lightsaber and told him that the controversy already being stirred up on message boards by die hard Star Wars fans was epic, but in the end when Samuel L. Jackson says he wants a purple bladed lightsaber, he gets a purple bladed lightsaber.
The original 3 were red for Sith, green for Jedi who focused on the powers and knowledge of The Force, and blue for Jedi who were guardians/protectors that focused more on lightsaber combat than Force Powers. However, you'll note that Yoda's lightsaber was green and he was considered to be the greatest lightsaber users during his time.
Yoda:
Considered one of the most powerful Jedi ever and the most powerful during the time of the movies, Yoda was exactly 900 years old when he died, so he had several human lifetimes to perfect his sword techniques and the powers of the Light Side of The Force. There are seven different fighting forms recognized by the Jedi Order by the time of the movie. The fighting style you saw Yoda use with his fight with Count Dooku was called Ataru. It was characterized by the use of acrobatics for both attack and defense. (You'll note that Yoda did a lot of flipping around during his fight with Dooku.) It was best used against a single opponent who did not have a blaster or ranged weapon, not in a confined space, and was not good for long fights as the extensive use of The Force to speed up movement and do acrobatics was very draining. Which is probably why he chose that fighting style when he faced Dooku. He also used this style while fighting Emperor Palpatine/Darth Sidious.
Yoda was known to be pretty much an expert in almost every kind of Light Side Force Power. Great focus is put on his Force Visions and we saw him use Force Telekinesis to lift Luke's fighter out of the swamp.
His species is never actually named. There were only a few that were ever talked about. His entire species is Force-sensitive. Every last one of them. So, while Yoda lived 900 years, it was common for those which a very high Midichlorian count to live very, very long lives given whatever species they were. So The Force seems to extend the natural lifespan of those who's Midichlorian count is high.
Yoda chose Dagoba to exile himself on for a reason. You'll remember that during Luke's training he has a kind of dream like vision of Darth Vader in which Luke cuts Vader's head off and sees his own face under the mask. The reason Yoda chose Dagoba is sometimes used to explain why Luke had that dream like vision. Dagoba was a planet where a very, very powerful Dark Lord of the Sith died a very long time before the time the movies took place. His dark essence kind of lingered there after his death, so Yoda used that dark essence to mask his own essence from Sidious/Vader. Yoda always said that the Dark Side clouds the vision of the future. So the Dark Side was able to make Force Vision useless. This is also used to explain why Yoda felt the presence of the Dark Side but his Force Visions couldn't see that Emperor Palpatine was really the Dark Master of the Sith.
Mace Windu:
He was actually very powerful. Second only to Yoda, really. Why I'm not including Anakin in that list when he was "the chosen one," I'll explain later. Windu created the seventh of the seven recognized fighting styles known as Vaapad. This was a problematic fighting style, but Windu had some ideas about The Dark Side that didn't exactly sit well with the Jedi Order, even though they decided to make him the head of the Jedi High Council. Vaapad required the person using it to enjoy the fight and opened the gates that restrains one's inner darkness. It's basically a fighting form that only Windu ever fully mastered. Windu had an inner darkness and knew it. He created this fighting style so that he could channel his own inner darkness into something positive. The only other 2 Jedi to attempt to use Vaapad ended up being driven insane by it and led the to the Dark Side. Windu actually ended up using Vaapad to kill one of those 2 other Jedi who were driven insane by attempting to practice the fighting style.
Windu also had a very diverse understanding of different Force powers. Some were even considered to be Dark Side Force powers and it wasn't really smiled upon when he used them. He did show a remarkable ability to resist the Dark Side of the Force. His ability to ponder the workings of both the Dark Side and the Light Side of the Force was second only to Yoda.
Windu used the Force to augment his body's abilities. He could leap across enormous distances.
He was able to use a powerful form of Force Push called Force Wave. This was a wave of pure Force energy that erupted from the Force User in all directions. This would send anyone in the blast zone fly away from him. He was so powerful in it's use that he was able to destroy hundreds of drones at once that didn't just get flung backwards away from him. The kinetic energy in the Force Wave was enough to break them apart before they even landed on the ground.
The Dark Side powers of Force Grip and Force Crush were also powers he was able to use. Force Grip would be what Vader used on the military guy who said something about Vader's belief in a "dead religion" during one of the first of the original trilogy movies. Well, the used a more powerful form of Force Grip called Force Choke, but it was still Force Grip. Force Crush would be like using the Force to crush someone's body. Basically crushing them to death with the Force.
He was able to use the Force to enhance his speed so much that he was able to hit an enemy 6 times with light saber before the enemy was able to blink an eye. Needless to say that fight ended quickly.
During one particular battle on Dantooine, he lost his lightsaber and was able to use the Force to increase his strength and resilience so much that he was able to rip through the armor of droids and rip out their circuits with his bare hands.
His mastery of Force Push was such that he was able to push an AT-TE Walker (think those big machine walkers on the ice planet that blew up the reactors, that were so massive and heavily armored that the rebels had to take them out by wrapping a cord around their legs and causing them to trip and fall to the ground) over a cliff without really having to do more than look at it where it was, hold out his hand, and Push it while walking away. No real concentration was needed.
His Force Telekinesis was so fine tuned that during a battle he was able to remove the bolts that held together a super battle droid, which then just fell apart.
He also had a natural affinity for a very rare Force ability called Shatterpoint. It let him see the weak points in everything. So any opponent, any event he saw during a Force Vision, and just pretty much anything in everyday life. It allowed him to shatter otherwise unbreakable objects by channeling the Force into places that bound an object together. It was actually during his use of Shatterpoint that he had the Force Vision of his constructing his lightsaber with the purple crystal. When Windu had a Force Vision it almost always when he used Shatterpoint. This wasn't just physical objects that were otherwise unbreakable. He could walk up to a forcefield, look at it for a moment, tap it with his finger, and it would just fall apart. That was something he could do with Shatterpoint.
How Anakin Fulfilled The Prophecy & Brought "Balance To The Force":
People sometimes get confused by that idea. Anakin was supposed to bring balance to the Force, as foretold by an ancient Jedi Prophecy. He turned to the dark side, so how did that bring balance? Well, think about it. How many thousands of years had the Jedi Order been in a position of power before that? Over 10000 years. So the Light Side reigned for over 10000 years. In that time the Dark Side barely made much of a impact. The Jedi Order took care of any Dark Lord of the Sith or their Dark Apprentice when they showed up. Sure, there might have been a small war that cost a few thousand lives, but that didn't happen very often. Anakin brought balance to the Force by almost completely obliterating the Jedi Order (The Light Side of the Force) when Directive 66 was initiated by Emperor Palpatine. Which, if you recall from Episode III, was when the clone troopers shot all the Jedi who were in the field and Anakin walked into the Jedi Temple and slaughtered every man, woman, and child. Yoda and Obi-wan are the only two that show up in any of the movies. There might have been 1 or 2 other who survived, but I'm sure they would have either gone into seclusion like Yoda and Obi-wan or were hunted down and killed. Balance was restored when Anakin became Vader and brought the Dark Side to power for the first time in over 10000 years.
Sith vs Jedi Philosophy:
Every philosophy has it's pros and cons.
The Light Side -
A peaceful mind, no attachment to people or places, calmness, and inner peace are where the Jedi find their Zen-like center and are able to effectively use the Force without the obstruction of emotions. Which is why when Qui-Gon was killed by Darth Mal, Obi-wan knelt and meditated to regain his calm and let go of the anger and hurt of seeing his Master killed before the forcefields-that-seemed-placed-there-for-no-good-reason re-opened. This calm detachment allowed Obi-wan to defeat Darth Mal. The downside is that when a Jedi becomes attached to someone and is afraid they'll lose that person, that attachment leads them to dark thoughts of doing whatever they have to in order to keep them from dying. This is what we saw happen to Anakin with his vision of Padme dying. He was willing to turn to the Dark Side, slaughter children in the Jedi Temple, and do anything his Master required of him in order to get the secret of keeping someone alive from Darth Sidious, who learned it from his Master, Darth Plagueis, and then killed Plagueis. The fear of losing someone or the anger of having lost someone strips a Jedi of their powers and opens them up to the lure of the Dark Side. The Dark Side promises them that they'll be powerful. So powerful that they'll never lose anyone or anything ever agin. So the more emotional a Jedi becomes, the weaker a Jedi becomes, and the more likely they are to turn to the Dark Side. It's all about detachment from dark emotions.
The Dark Side -
The Dark Side of the Force is the opposite of the Light Side of the Force in how it's accessed and harnessed. Strong emotions are needed in order to draw out a desire strong enough to focus a Sith's mind. Could happiness be used? Possibly... but ask yourself; what's the longest amount of time you've maintained a state of happiness? Now, ask yourself, what's the longest amount of time that you've maintained fear and anger? How many times have you gotten angry about what someone did to you, done something else and calmed down, thought about what that person did to you, and gotten angry at them all over again? Was that resurgence of anger just as powerful, or nearly so, as when that person originally wronged you? Did you not still want justice/revenge? Perhaps you've grown to the point of being able to let things go, but do you let things go immediately? Do you just shrug everything off a few moments or a few minutes afterwords? What about when you're having to deal with the consequences of their actions on your life. Do you get a little flash of anger, however brief it may be? Are you okay with losing everyone and everything, including those you love and yourself? That's the thing about the Sith. They crave power and fear losing what they have. They want everything and when they lose anything, it makes the angry. So that fear of losing something and that anger of having lost something is what fuels a Sith more than anything else. In the days when the Sith Empire was comprised of many, many Sith Masters and Apprentices, they all wanted power and were afraid to lose power. The more a Sith was afraid of losing power, the more powerful they became. The more a Sith lost, the angrier they became, and that made them both more powerful and more desperate. That's a very dangerous combination. However, underlying it all is hope. Hope that they will come out on top. When they lose that hope of winning and give up, the anger and fear leaves them, that makes them weak, and that makes them easy to strike down. It's all about harnessing dark emotions.
The opposite sides of the same coin.
Who Became The New Dark Lord Of The Sith After Sidious and Vader Died?
After the movies, written in the books, Han and Leia got married and had 3 children. Their eldest son, Jacen Solo, was Force-sensitive and became the New Dark Lord of the Sith.
Your Reward:
So, if you've made it this far, I congratulate you. This has been a long read, right? So maybe you want some eye candy? Well take a look at some awesome lightsaber battles that were choreographed, performed, and digitally enhanced by amateurs who are just nerds who wanted to do something cool with lightsabers!
In the first one, you'll notice Brandon (the Sith) and Ryan (the Jedi) do a very good job with the actual battle. There's a surprise with the lightsaber that Brandon does that you won't see coming. You think you will, but you won't. That choreography that goes on just before they finish the fight is just so cool!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pfa-Pa5IQLg
In the second one, you'll notice that Scott "Dorkman" (the Sith, yellow blade) and Ryan (the Jedi, same guy as in the first one) actually do an awesome job with both the fight and Brandon does amazing things with the digital editing that help you understand why he's a professional post-production special effects editor.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RATMJ8JH1qo
Go watch both of them and then come back here and read further.
You'll notice a reoccurring theme with Ryan in both of them. He's the one who loses and dies in both. Did you notice his face in both of them. You could see the anger and, sometimes, arrogance on his face. That's not very Jedi-like, is it? Far too emotional. Plus, in the second one, a Jedi would never torture someone by sticking their lightsaber into their defeated and defenseless enemy's shoulder to watch the agony on their face and hear their screams of pain. So, really, is it any wonder that Brandon lost both lightsaber battles?
So, how big of a Star Wars nerd are you? Well, I'm more of a Star Trek nerd myself, but I know... far too much about Star Wars, too.
Okay, I'm going to be referencing a lot of different sources. Books, the time of the movies (Episodes I-VI), and SWToR (aka Star Wars: The Old Republic, an MMORPG).
So, let's start off with how the Jedi and Sith even got started. This started tens of thousands of years before the movies. The first people who could sense and control The Force were known as "Force Users." They hadn't ever really gotten together and there weren't a large number of them. They decided to meet on a planet called Tython. Basically, they decided to compare notes on what they had learned. Eventually 2 philosophies emerged. What one would call the Light Side and the Dark Side of The Force. As one would think, their approaches were very different and they conflicted with each other. They fought it out. There were more Light Side Users and Dark Side Users, so naturally, the Light Side Users ended up winning. A few Dark Side Users were able to escape Tython. However, this fight did not start until a Force User taught the others how to make the famous Lightsabers that Jedi and Sith use.
Now, let's define a few things, so that it can be understood what I was talking about:
1. The Force - It's been described many ways by many different characters, but it's basically this energy that flows throughout the universe. Some might call it the energy of Life. Some might call it Spiritual Energy. There are plenty of ways to describe it. However, what is known is that those who can manipulate The Force are beings who's bodies contain a specific living organism in their cells called "Midichlorians." The more Midichlorians a being had, the greater their potential was for being able to manipulate The Force and determined how strongly they could do so in an innate fashion. With training, a being with fewer Midichlorians could learn to manipulate The Force more effectively and efficiently than a being with many more Midichlorians without training.
2. Force Users - Those who could sense and manipulate The Force. This was what they called themselves before they met on Tython, the 2 philosophies were defined, and they became Light Force Users and Dark Force Users.
The Light Force Users philosophy was one of control over one's emotions and the use of these powers to benefit the galaxy. Think about Buddhism and that's pretty close to it. The Dark Force Users philosophy was one of power and domination of those weaker than they were. "Might Is Right" and "The Strong Were Born To Rule The Weak" is a good way to put it.
The Light Force Users eventually became known as the Jedi and settled in with the Galactic Republic as peace keepers, negotiators, and then as Generals during war time.
The Origin of The Sith:
At a certain point, those who were part of the Jedi Order who refused to rely solely on the Light Side of The Force were basically deemed heretics/evil, a war started, the Jedi Order won out, and they exiled these Dark Jedi from known space. Some of these Dark Jedi came upon a planet called Korriban. This is the birthplace of the Sith. Now, the Sith is actually the name of the humanoid race that was native to Korriban that were subjugated and ruled by the Dark Jedi. So, originally, "Sith" was the name of a race of beings, not those who used the Dark Side of The Force. The Dark Jedi were able to hide on Korriban for many hundreds of years. During this time there was, of course, interbreeding of the Dark Jedi and the native Sith. So the Sith started to exhibit the same abilities to sense and use The Force. Eventually, the Sith was no longer how the race referred to itself but instead as a religion, much like the Jedi Order was a religion.
More than once the Sith struck out at the Jedi and many wars were fought. Oddly enough, the Jedi seemed to win the wars and the Sith would retreat and hide. Because, as we all know, the light/good always wins over the dark/evil. There's tens of thousands of years between the meeting on Tython and the time of Star War: The Old Republic and a different set of thousands of years between Star Wars: The Old Republic and the movies. So the collective timeline of these sources spans over 100000 years.
So, we've all seen the movies. Lots going on there. Here are some things that you might not know and might not care about, but if you've read this far then you might as well walk away with some random trivia that will impress no one at a party!
We'll skip past the boring stuff. Lots of things happen, there's fighting, special powerful Jedi and Sith are born with amazing abilities, blah, blah, blah. It is interesting to note that there was a Sith Lord who was so powerful that he was actually able to cause a star to explode and take everything in that solar system with it. Also, Luke Skywalker's name in the original screen play (which was written before all the books and the games) was Luke Starkiller. It was changed by Lucas during the second draft, I think. So that means that Anakin's last name would have been Starkiller, too.
The Order of the Sith & The Rule of Two:
There used to be many Dark Lords of the Sith. In fact, there was the Dark Emperor and the Dark Council. Over time there became the Rule of Two. That's why during the times of the movie and the books after that time, there is a Sith Master and a Sith Apprentice. How the Rule of Two came into existence is something I don't know. The only way for the Sith Apprentice to become a Sith Master is to kill his master. So if you're a Sith Master, why take on an apprentice, when you know that he will eventually become a Sith Master by killing them? Well, the Sith knowledge had to be passed down somehow and without the Dark Side there can be no Light Side. So, it's kinda necessary. Also, a Sith Master wouldn't live forever and would need someone to carry on the knowledge of the Sith. Killing their Master and becoming the new Master was a kind of Graduation Day thing. As a Sith Master, if you're not the stronger of the two of you then you should be killed so that the strongest would also be the Master.
Besides, when there were many Sith Masters (during the time of some of the books and SWToR MMORPG), some of whom had several Sith Apprentices at the same time, who's apprentices would eventually become powerful enough that their Master would either kill them or the Apprentice would run off on their own. That Sith Apprentice might one day become powerful enough to be considered a Sith Master and even possibly become a Dark Lords of the Sith (who were the Dark Council members).
You might even wonder if the Sith had to exist because the Light Side of the Force couldn't exist with the Dark Side of the Force to balance it, who because the Dark Lord of the Sith when Sidious was killed by Vader and Vader died. I'll tell you that at the end.
The Immortal Emperor:
There was a time when the Dark Emperor was immortal. He was known as the Immortal Emperor, a very unoriginal name. From what I have gathered from the books (which I have not read but have heard much about through my brother, who's read them all) the Immortal Emperor gained his immorality through subterfuge and manipulation of others. A Sith who uses other Sith's fears against them for his own gain!? *gasp* No! *eye roll* So, the Dark Emperor gathers up some of the most powerful Sith Masters one at a time. He tells them that there is a ceremony that he wants to do on a planet that is very rich in The Force (aka lots of Midichlorians in the lifeforms on the planet) that will increase the Dark Emperor's power greatly and he promises it will increase their power greatly, too. Also, the Emperor was going to invite a Sith Master who was a rival or outright enemy of the Sith Master he was having the audience with. The Dark Emperor told them that he would tell them what they needed to do in the ceremony and how to, at a specific moment, do something with the shaping of The Force that would allow that Sith Master to weaken their rival/enemy Sith Master so that they could be easily killed. "So you're telling me that I can both get a great increase in power plus the destruction of my enemy!? Where the fuck do I sign up!?" Yeah, that's pretty much how it went every time.
They go to the planet, each Sith Master knows just when and how to use The Force during the ceremony to weaken their enemies so they can be easily killed, and things start. Of course, during the ceremony all is going as it's intended to. Each of the Sith Masters do their parts and greatly weaken each other. This allowed the Dark Emperor to absorb, what amounts to, the life force of all the Sith Masters and all the time life on that Midichlorians rich planet. Thus, he became immortal. Which is why some refer to The Force as the energy of Life that pervades the universe.
Many in the Jedi Order sensed this great disturbance in The Force. The Jedi Council sends a few Jedi Master to investigate this disturbance and to report back. The Jedi Masters who landed on the now lifeless planet could feel just how wrong the balance of The Force was there and it even made them physically ill. Which is what they reported back to the Jedi Council.
The Immortal Emperor was eventually killed. He was immortal, not indestructible. He just wasn't going to age and die. He could get sick and die. He could get injured and die. Which is what happened.
Lightsaber Colors:
You'll notice in the original movies (Episodes IV, V, &, VI) there are only 3 different colors. Blue (Obi-wan and Luke), Green (Yoda), and Red (Darth Vader). So do they have an actual meaning? Yes.
Now, as books were written new special Jedi or Sith would show up a lightsaber of a different color from the original 3. The books explain them all. The evidence of a different color in the movies was in Episode II & III. Mace Wendu (portrayed by Samuel L. Jackson). He had light purple lightsaber blade. Mace saw a vision of himself building a lightsaber that had a purple blade but was never able to do it during training. So, at the age of 14, he asked the Jedi High Council for a true challenge. He was sent him to a planet called Hurikane or Hurrikaine, was chased off by the natives, and destroyed one with Shatterpoint ability (I'll tell you later). He put the native back together (So I guess the natives were made of something that could be broken into pieces? Yeah, I don't know.). So, apparently, because he shattered one of their people and then put the native back together they rewarded him with the purple crystal, which he then used to craft his signature lightsaber.
Now, that's the back story they used to explain why this special colored blade appeared. In reality, Samuel L. Jackson knew that he was leading 112 Jedi at the arena for the Battle of Geonosis scene and he wanted to be able to pick himself out of the sea of other Jedi. So he went to Lucas and said that he wanted a different colored lightsaber blade, like a purple one, so that he could find himself in the battle after the film's post-production work was done and the final film was made. Lucas explained that the 3 colors had always been green, blue, and red. A day or so later Lucas came to Jackson and gave him the purple lightsaber and told him that the controversy already being stirred up on message boards by die hard Star Wars fans was epic, but in the end when Samuel L. Jackson says he wants a purple bladed lightsaber, he gets a purple bladed lightsaber.
The original 3 were red for Sith, green for Jedi who focused on the powers and knowledge of The Force, and blue for Jedi who were guardians/protectors that focused more on lightsaber combat than Force Powers. However, you'll note that Yoda's lightsaber was green and he was considered to be the greatest lightsaber users during his time.
Yoda:
Considered one of the most powerful Jedi ever and the most powerful during the time of the movies, Yoda was exactly 900 years old when he died, so he had several human lifetimes to perfect his sword techniques and the powers of the Light Side of The Force. There are seven different fighting forms recognized by the Jedi Order by the time of the movie. The fighting style you saw Yoda use with his fight with Count Dooku was called Ataru. It was characterized by the use of acrobatics for both attack and defense. (You'll note that Yoda did a lot of flipping around during his fight with Dooku.) It was best used against a single opponent who did not have a blaster or ranged weapon, not in a confined space, and was not good for long fights as the extensive use of The Force to speed up movement and do acrobatics was very draining. Which is probably why he chose that fighting style when he faced Dooku. He also used this style while fighting Emperor Palpatine/Darth Sidious.
Yoda was known to be pretty much an expert in almost every kind of Light Side Force Power. Great focus is put on his Force Visions and we saw him use Force Telekinesis to lift Luke's fighter out of the swamp.
His species is never actually named. There were only a few that were ever talked about. His entire species is Force-sensitive. Every last one of them. So, while Yoda lived 900 years, it was common for those which a very high Midichlorian count to live very, very long lives given whatever species they were. So The Force seems to extend the natural lifespan of those who's Midichlorian count is high.
Yoda chose Dagoba to exile himself on for a reason. You'll remember that during Luke's training he has a kind of dream like vision of Darth Vader in which Luke cuts Vader's head off and sees his own face under the mask. The reason Yoda chose Dagoba is sometimes used to explain why Luke had that dream like vision. Dagoba was a planet where a very, very powerful Dark Lord of the Sith died a very long time before the time the movies took place. His dark essence kind of lingered there after his death, so Yoda used that dark essence to mask his own essence from Sidious/Vader. Yoda always said that the Dark Side clouds the vision of the future. So the Dark Side was able to make Force Vision useless. This is also used to explain why Yoda felt the presence of the Dark Side but his Force Visions couldn't see that Emperor Palpatine was really the Dark Master of the Sith.
Mace Windu:
He was actually very powerful. Second only to Yoda, really. Why I'm not including Anakin in that list when he was "the chosen one," I'll explain later. Windu created the seventh of the seven recognized fighting styles known as Vaapad. This was a problematic fighting style, but Windu had some ideas about The Dark Side that didn't exactly sit well with the Jedi Order, even though they decided to make him the head of the Jedi High Council. Vaapad required the person using it to enjoy the fight and opened the gates that restrains one's inner darkness. It's basically a fighting form that only Windu ever fully mastered. Windu had an inner darkness and knew it. He created this fighting style so that he could channel his own inner darkness into something positive. The only other 2 Jedi to attempt to use Vaapad ended up being driven insane by it and led the to the Dark Side. Windu actually ended up using Vaapad to kill one of those 2 other Jedi who were driven insane by attempting to practice the fighting style.
Windu also had a very diverse understanding of different Force powers. Some were even considered to be Dark Side Force powers and it wasn't really smiled upon when he used them. He did show a remarkable ability to resist the Dark Side of the Force. His ability to ponder the workings of both the Dark Side and the Light Side of the Force was second only to Yoda.
Windu used the Force to augment his body's abilities. He could leap across enormous distances.
He was able to use a powerful form of Force Push called Force Wave. This was a wave of pure Force energy that erupted from the Force User in all directions. This would send anyone in the blast zone fly away from him. He was so powerful in it's use that he was able to destroy hundreds of drones at once that didn't just get flung backwards away from him. The kinetic energy in the Force Wave was enough to break them apart before they even landed on the ground.
The Dark Side powers of Force Grip and Force Crush were also powers he was able to use. Force Grip would be what Vader used on the military guy who said something about Vader's belief in a "dead religion" during one of the first of the original trilogy movies. Well, the used a more powerful form of Force Grip called Force Choke, but it was still Force Grip. Force Crush would be like using the Force to crush someone's body. Basically crushing them to death with the Force.
He was able to use the Force to enhance his speed so much that he was able to hit an enemy 6 times with light saber before the enemy was able to blink an eye. Needless to say that fight ended quickly.
During one particular battle on Dantooine, he lost his lightsaber and was able to use the Force to increase his strength and resilience so much that he was able to rip through the armor of droids and rip out their circuits with his bare hands.
His mastery of Force Push was such that he was able to push an AT-TE Walker (think those big machine walkers on the ice planet that blew up the reactors, that were so massive and heavily armored that the rebels had to take them out by wrapping a cord around their legs and causing them to trip and fall to the ground) over a cliff without really having to do more than look at it where it was, hold out his hand, and Push it while walking away. No real concentration was needed.
His Force Telekinesis was so fine tuned that during a battle he was able to remove the bolts that held together a super battle droid, which then just fell apart.
He also had a natural affinity for a very rare Force ability called Shatterpoint. It let him see the weak points in everything. So any opponent, any event he saw during a Force Vision, and just pretty much anything in everyday life. It allowed him to shatter otherwise unbreakable objects by channeling the Force into places that bound an object together. It was actually during his use of Shatterpoint that he had the Force Vision of his constructing his lightsaber with the purple crystal. When Windu had a Force Vision it almost always when he used Shatterpoint. This wasn't just physical objects that were otherwise unbreakable. He could walk up to a forcefield, look at it for a moment, tap it with his finger, and it would just fall apart. That was something he could do with Shatterpoint.
How Anakin Fulfilled The Prophecy & Brought "Balance To The Force":
People sometimes get confused by that idea. Anakin was supposed to bring balance to the Force, as foretold by an ancient Jedi Prophecy. He turned to the dark side, so how did that bring balance? Well, think about it. How many thousands of years had the Jedi Order been in a position of power before that? Over 10000 years. So the Light Side reigned for over 10000 years. In that time the Dark Side barely made much of a impact. The Jedi Order took care of any Dark Lord of the Sith or their Dark Apprentice when they showed up. Sure, there might have been a small war that cost a few thousand lives, but that didn't happen very often. Anakin brought balance to the Force by almost completely obliterating the Jedi Order (The Light Side of the Force) when Directive 66 was initiated by Emperor Palpatine. Which, if you recall from Episode III, was when the clone troopers shot all the Jedi who were in the field and Anakin walked into the Jedi Temple and slaughtered every man, woman, and child. Yoda and Obi-wan are the only two that show up in any of the movies. There might have been 1 or 2 other who survived, but I'm sure they would have either gone into seclusion like Yoda and Obi-wan or were hunted down and killed. Balance was restored when Anakin became Vader and brought the Dark Side to power for the first time in over 10000 years.
Sith vs Jedi Philosophy:
Every philosophy has it's pros and cons.
The Light Side -
A peaceful mind, no attachment to people or places, calmness, and inner peace are where the Jedi find their Zen-like center and are able to effectively use the Force without the obstruction of emotions. Which is why when Qui-Gon was killed by Darth Mal, Obi-wan knelt and meditated to regain his calm and let go of the anger and hurt of seeing his Master killed before the forcefields-that-seemed-placed-there-for-no-good-reason re-opened. This calm detachment allowed Obi-wan to defeat Darth Mal. The downside is that when a Jedi becomes attached to someone and is afraid they'll lose that person, that attachment leads them to dark thoughts of doing whatever they have to in order to keep them from dying. This is what we saw happen to Anakin with his vision of Padme dying. He was willing to turn to the Dark Side, slaughter children in the Jedi Temple, and do anything his Master required of him in order to get the secret of keeping someone alive from Darth Sidious, who learned it from his Master, Darth Plagueis, and then killed Plagueis. The fear of losing someone or the anger of having lost someone strips a Jedi of their powers and opens them up to the lure of the Dark Side. The Dark Side promises them that they'll be powerful. So powerful that they'll never lose anyone or anything ever agin. So the more emotional a Jedi becomes, the weaker a Jedi becomes, and the more likely they are to turn to the Dark Side. It's all about detachment from dark emotions.
The Dark Side -
The Dark Side of the Force is the opposite of the Light Side of the Force in how it's accessed and harnessed. Strong emotions are needed in order to draw out a desire strong enough to focus a Sith's mind. Could happiness be used? Possibly... but ask yourself; what's the longest amount of time you've maintained a state of happiness? Now, ask yourself, what's the longest amount of time that you've maintained fear and anger? How many times have you gotten angry about what someone did to you, done something else and calmed down, thought about what that person did to you, and gotten angry at them all over again? Was that resurgence of anger just as powerful, or nearly so, as when that person originally wronged you? Did you not still want justice/revenge? Perhaps you've grown to the point of being able to let things go, but do you let things go immediately? Do you just shrug everything off a few moments or a few minutes afterwords? What about when you're having to deal with the consequences of their actions on your life. Do you get a little flash of anger, however brief it may be? Are you okay with losing everyone and everything, including those you love and yourself? That's the thing about the Sith. They crave power and fear losing what they have. They want everything and when they lose anything, it makes the angry. So that fear of losing something and that anger of having lost something is what fuels a Sith more than anything else. In the days when the Sith Empire was comprised of many, many Sith Masters and Apprentices, they all wanted power and were afraid to lose power. The more a Sith was afraid of losing power, the more powerful they became. The more a Sith lost, the angrier they became, and that made them both more powerful and more desperate. That's a very dangerous combination. However, underlying it all is hope. Hope that they will come out on top. When they lose that hope of winning and give up, the anger and fear leaves them, that makes them weak, and that makes them easy to strike down. It's all about harnessing dark emotions.
The opposite sides of the same coin.
Who Became The New Dark Lord Of The Sith After Sidious and Vader Died?
After the movies, written in the books, Han and Leia got married and had 3 children. Their eldest son, Jacen Solo, was Force-sensitive and became the New Dark Lord of the Sith.
Your Reward:
So, if you've made it this far, I congratulate you. This has been a long read, right? So maybe you want some eye candy? Well take a look at some awesome lightsaber battles that were choreographed, performed, and digitally enhanced by amateurs who are just nerds who wanted to do something cool with lightsabers!
In the first one, you'll notice Brandon (the Sith) and Ryan (the Jedi) do a very good job with the actual battle. There's a surprise with the lightsaber that Brandon does that you won't see coming. You think you will, but you won't. That choreography that goes on just before they finish the fight is just so cool!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pfa-Pa5IQLg
In the second one, you'll notice that Scott "Dorkman" (the Sith, yellow blade) and Ryan (the Jedi, same guy as in the first one) actually do an awesome job with both the fight and Brandon does amazing things with the digital editing that help you understand why he's a professional post-production special effects editor.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RATMJ8JH1qo
Go watch both of them and then come back here and read further.
You'll notice a reoccurring theme with Ryan in both of them. He's the one who loses and dies in both. Did you notice his face in both of them. You could see the anger and, sometimes, arrogance on his face. That's not very Jedi-like, is it? Far too emotional. Plus, in the second one, a Jedi would never torture someone by sticking their lightsaber into their defeated and defenseless enemy's shoulder to watch the agony on their face and hear their screams of pain. So, really, is it any wonder that Brandon lost both lightsaber battles?