Forum:Theory regarding the formation of the Sith order and their connection to Xendor

For years, fans had assumed that the Dark Jedi Xendor was connected to the Sith order, and possibly the founder of it. Even now, official continuity states that Xendor’s “successors” (i.e. the Dark Jedi from the Second Great Schism) conquered the Sith species; and all articles regarding Sith history always mention Xendor and his Legions of Lettow, as if they were somehow connected to the Sith, when history would have it appear that that first group of Dark Jedi from 24,500 BBY (the Legions of Lettow) cannot possibly be connected to the second group from 7,000 BBY.

It would appear that we have a problem here, don’t we? I think not.

Let us go back to the time before the infamous retcon placing the formation of the Sith order following the Hundred Year Darkness in 6,900 BBY. Back to a time when it was assumed (and pretty much officially held) that this took place following the First Great Schism in 24,400 BBY. During this time period, two Star Wars fans were kind enough to provide us with a chronological timeline of events taking place within the Star Wars universe, which would come to be called “Time Tales,” and is still viewable at TheForce.Net. This timeline mistakenly tells us, of course, of the Dark Jedi of the First Great Schism being exiled from Republic space, in 24,400 BYY, after a hundred years of war and bloodshed, where they would stumble upon the worlds of Korriban and Ziost, encountering a primitive people known as the Sith, whom they would come to dominate and intermingle with, thus giving birth to the Sith order. Well, we have since been told by Lucas Film that this date is extremely inaccurate, and that this event happen after a second group of Fallen Jedi waged yet another century-spanning war from 7,000 to 6,900 BBY. It was these students of the dark side who were expelled from Republic space, encountered the Sith on Ziost and subjugated them, thus creating the Sith order at a much later date.

Okay. No problem. I accept that.

But—and this is a big “but”—before the inaccurate date of the expulsion of the Dark Jedi, Time Tales also tells us of another significant event that took place in 24,500 BBY, shortly after the First Great Schism: a single Dark Jedi encounters the Sith people and subjugates them to his power, becoming their ruler; sort of paving the way for the many Dark Jedi who would arrive later on. This is 100 years prior to the original assumed date of the arrival of all of the Dark Jedi, and with the retcon, 17,600 years before. The mentioning of the arrival of this lone dark-sider is listed to have been taken from the Tales of the Jedi Companion, and does not appear in any other timeline of Galactic events that I have seen, including Wookieepedia’s timeline.

Here is the text for the entry:

''“The Sith retained a harmonious social structure until now, with the arrival of a single fallen Jedi who took particular interest in their techniques for drawing power from the Dark Side. This dark Jedi dominated the Sith people, turning them into unwilling thralls, stealing their knowledge of sorcery and using it against them. This Jedi proclaimed himself the Dark Lord of the Sith, making him first in a lineage that would plague the rest of the galaxy for untold millennia. The Sith developed and perfected the techniques of calling on the Dark Side, enabling them to create more and more complex powers once thought well beyond the grasp of mere sentients. The Sith simultaneously feed on and empower the Dark Side in a symbiotic relationship whose ties can never be severed. This Dark Jedi would continue to pervert Sith culture until his lineage is joined by hundreds of fallen Jedi during the Great Schism, which concludes in the total subjugation of the Sith species. '''"SW RPG: Tales of the Jedi Companion." [Page 79] This does not give an exact dating for the fallen Jedi who corrupts the Sith race, and claims the title of first Dark Lord of the Sith, but it has to be after the formation of the Jedi, and well before the golden age of the Sith Empire. I have placed it here to allow for the 'long lineage' of Sith Lords, and for time to allow them to gradually build up their Sith Empire.”' 

So apparently there is no definite date, but it definitely took place before the coming of all of the Jedi exiles, and it was definitely a member of Xendor’s group of Dark Jedi, the Legions of Lettow. It may even have very well been Xendor himself. This conqueror may have been the first Dark Lord, which would sit well since we know that the Sith were ruled by a monarch before the arrival of the Dark Jedi, and that this ruler was called the Dark Lord (since Dathka Graush is called a Dark Lord, and the dates of his life likely determine that he was of the Sith race, already in power when the Dark Jedi arrived).

Okay. So, what does this give us? Well, we have the lone Dark Jedi from the First Great Schism (I choose to believe that it was Xendor himself, but I can’t back that up) impressing the Sith with his “magic,” being deemed a god and made king of the Sith, and he likely would have taught the Sith (or at least his closest political supporters) his dark side ideals. So there we go: the true beginning of the Sith order, founded on Ziost by a single rogue Jedi of Xendor’s lineage (again, I say it was Xendor himself). When Ajunta Pall and all of the others from the second group of Dark Jedi arrive on Ziost in 6,900 BBY, they, like their lone predecessor, are treated like gods (in fact, that lone predecessor may have even foretold of their coming), and the existing Dark Lord of the time (likely Dathka Graush), who is of Xendor’s line of succession, ordains all of these Dark Jedi into the Sith order at once, making them one. So now the second group of Dark Jedi are of the same line of succession as the first, being ordained into Xendor’s lineage. And, as we know, they rose up against this Dark Lord and slew him, claiming the title for Ajunta Pall, the first human Dark Lord.

So now we have a connection. Now we know the reason why the Sith revered Xendor so much, to the point of considering him the first Dark Lord, and why they consider themselves to be his successors when they seemingly had no connection to that first group of Dark Jedi at all. Well, the connection is in that lone Dark Jedi from the First Great Schism, who ordained an entire species into his line of succession (because he knew that there was no future for the Legions of Lettow and that they would be defeated quickly); whose line of succession continued through the Sith and their leaders until the arrival of many Dark Jedi from the Second Great Schism, that line of succession being passed on to them through their ordination into the Sith and subjugation of the Sith into their own. Here is a perfect, unbroken chain, where the connection was obscure before.

So, although the Sith Empire may not have been founded until 6,900 BBY—as Lucas Film intended—the Sith order began millennia earlier than that, when a lone Dark Jedi of Xendor’s line of succession became their ruler.

Also, I strongly encourage you to consider making mention of this one Dark Jedi on Wookieepedia, both in the timeline of Galactic history and in his own article (and possibly in Xendor’s article as well, but that may be pushing it a bit). After all, the arrival of the single Dark Jedi from the First Great Schism and his subjugation of the Sith prior to the arrival of all of the Dark Jedi is taken from a fully canonical source: the Tales of the Jedi Companion. Unfortunately, this small, seemingly insignificant event is always overlooked and receives no mention anywhere. I think that needs to change. 24.3.202.85 04:07, 18 June 2007 (UTC)