Darth Bane

"The Sith killed each other, victims of their own greed. But from the ashes of destruction, I was the last survivor."

- The specter of Darth Bane

Darth Bane was a male Sith Lord and the sole survivor of the Sith destruction at the hands of the Jedi Order, approximately one thousand years before the Clone Wars. As the only survivor, Bane recognized that it was Sith in-fighting that weakened them to the point where the Jedi could destroy them. To rectify this, Bane resurrected the Sith and created the Rule of Two, mandating that there could be only two Sith&mdash;a master and an apprentice&mdash;at any given time. These new Sith would begin a plot to destroy the Jedi in secret. Bane was later defeated by the Jedi, who wrongly believed that the Sith were defeated with him.

The vendetta Bane began against the Jedi was fulfilled during the Clone Wars, when the Sith Lord Darth Sidious, secretly Supreme Chancellor Palpatine and a follower of the Rule of Two, transformed the Galactic Republic into the Galactic Empire and destroyed the Jedi Order. The victory was short-lived, however, as the redeemed Jedi Knight Anakin Skywalker destroyed the Sith and brought balance to the Force a little over two decades later.

Biography
"Created the Rule of Two, you did."

- Yoda

Darth Bane was a male Sith Lord who lived a thousand years before the Clone Wars. In his time, the Sith were often fueled by their own individual lusts for powers, with Sith turning against their fellow Sith. The in-fighting led to the defeat of the Sith, as the Jedi Order was able to all-but destroy the weakened Sith. Darth Bane was the sole survivor of their defeat.

Recognizing that it was in-fighting that destroyed the Sith, Bane created a new Sith philosophy, the Rule of Two, in which there could only be two Sith at a given time: a master to embody power, and an apprentice to crave it. Bane took on an apprentice of his own and began passing on his knowledge, all while establishing the new Sith way of pursuing power and revenge against the Jedi through manipulation and subterfuge. The Jedi learned of Bane's new philosophy and, while they defeated Bane himself, the Jedi falsely believed that they had destroyed the Sith forever. His plans, however, continued through his apprentice.

After Bane's death, his remains were placed into a sarcophagus in the Valley of the Dark Lords on Moraband, the ancient Sith homeworld. As of the Clone Wars, Bane was the last Sith Lord to be buried on Moraband.

Legacy
"An illusion. Real, you are not."

- Yoda

In the year's following Bane's death, the Sith continued their quest for revenge, working in secret as they plotted their return to galactic dominance. These plans continued through Supreme Chancellor Palpatine, secretly the Sith Lord Darth Sidious, who engineered the Clone Wars to gain more power over the Galactic Republic. He also manipulated the war, fought between the Republic and the Confederacy of Independent Systems, to turn public opinion against the Jedi, who were serving as leaders in the Grand Army of the Republic. Doing so would allow him to justify his eventual destruction of the Jedi Order.

During the war, Jedi Grand Master Yoda ventured to Moraband on a journey to discover the secrets of immortality. He entered Darth Bane's tomb and encountered a fiery specter of the ancient Sith Lord, which appeared before Yoda and attempted to convince him to turn to the dark side. Yoda refused, remarking that Bane was dead and that what appeared before him was simply an illusion who had nothing to offer the Jedi Master. This banished the specter back in the sarcophagus, while Yoda continued on his journey.

The war's end saw the culmination of the millennium-long vendetta against the Jedi. Palpatine declared himself Emperor and reformed the Republic into the Galactic Empire. To destroy the Jedi, Palpatine issued Order 66, a command implanted in the clone troopers of the Grand Army of the Republic to kill the Jedi as traitors. In addition, Palpatine turned Jedi Knight Anakin Skywalker, the Chosen One of Jedi prophecy, to the dark side. The plans that started with Darth Bane had been fulfilled.

The Sith victory was short-lived, however, as the Sith were defeated a little over two decades later. Skywalker was redeemed and killed Palpatine, resulting in his own death and the end of both Sith Lords. This fulfilled the prophecy of the Chosen One, bringing balance to the Force and ending the legacy of Darth Bane.

Personality and traits
Having witnessed the destruction of the Sith, Darth Bane believed that it was the in-fighting and greed of the Sith that led to their downfall. In order to preserve the Sith as its last survivor, Bane adopted the Rule of Two, believing that limiting the number of Sith to one master and one apprentice would allow the Sith to survive in secret so they could plot their revenge against the Jedi.

Behind the scenes
Darth Bane was created by George Lucas as part of the backstory for the prequel trilogy, and was first mentioned in the novelization of Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace, published on April 21, 1999. Bane's story was expanded upon in a number of reference books and comic books, before being made the subject of a book trilogy: Path of Destruction, Rule of Two, and Dynasty of Evil. These stories are part of the Expanded Universe, also known as Star Wars Legends, and are therefore not official canon.

An illusion of the character first appeared on-screen in "Sacrifice," the series finale of Star Wars: The Clone Wars, which was released onto Netflix as part of "The Lost Missions" on March 7, 2014. In the episode, Bane's illusion was voiced by Mark Hamill, best known for his portrayal of Luke Skywalker.