Sifo-Dyas/Legends

"Jedi Master Sifo-Dyas is still a leading member of the Jedi Council, is he not?"

- Kamino Prime Minister Lama Su to Obi-Wan Kenobi

Sifo-Dyas was a mysterious human Jedi Master who served as a member of the Jedi High Council during the last decades of the Galactic Republic.

Life


Sifo-Dyas was once a good friend of fellow Jedi Master Dooku, and had the gift of precognition. Sometime before 32 BBY, he foresaw that the Galactic Republic would face a devastating war. To defend the Republic, he secretly commissioned a clone army from the cloners of the planet Kamino. Prior to this, Dooku had left the Jedi Order, and had fallen in league with Darth Sidious, Dark Lord of the Sith. He was told by the Sith Master about Sifo-Dyas' actions, and Sidious also revealed that they could use the clone army for their own ends. As a final test of his allegiance to the dark side of the Force, Dooku murdered Sifo-Dyas and took control of the project for himself. It was Sidious' true intention to use Sifo-Dyas only as a dead-end cover for Palpatine's plot to use the clone army.

Legacy
Dooku kept his old friend's body frozen for years until the InterGalactic Banking Clan initiated their plan to turn the Kaleesh warlord, General Grievous, into a great cyborg supreme strategist for the Separatist droid armies. Dooku used Sifo-Dyas for a blood transfusion for the General. Once Grievous' transformation into a cyborg had been successfully completed, Dooku gave him the very special gift of Master Sifo-Dyas' own blue-bladed lightsaber.

When Obi-Wan Kenobi traveled to Kamino to investigate the source of the dart that silenced Padmé's attempted killer Zam Wesell, the Kaminoan prime minister Lama Su informed Obi Wan that Sifo-Dyas had ordered the creation of a clone army on Kamino at the request of the Senate, in order to help the Galactic Republic. The Jedi Council was not aware of the order until Kenobi informed them of it after he met with the Kaminoans.

In 22 BBY, Sifo-Dyas' army was eventually revealed and used at the behest of the Galactic Republic. Three years later, it would be used to destroy the Jedi in accordance with Order 66. The army that was supposed to save the Republic served as the opportunity Sidious needed to take revenge upon the Jedi.

Behind the scenes


In early drafts of Attack of the Clones, the name of the Jedi who contacted the Kaminoans was Sido-Dyas, pointing to a likely early conceptual connection to Darth Sidious. However, interestingly, "Sifo-Dyas" appears in one place, apparently as a typing mistake (as the D and F letters are located next to each other on a QWERTY keyboard) that Lucas later preferred to the original name.

In addition, "Sido-Dyas" was originally only a false identity for Sidious &mdash; Obi-Wan claimed never to have heard of him, and Mace Windu confirmed that there was no Jedi by that name.

His backstory was promised by George Lucas to be revealed in Revenge of the Sith, but instead is now explained in the lead-in novel Labyrinth of Evil.

The first visual appearance of Sifo-Dyas was in The Eyes of Revolution comic featured in Star Wars: Visionaries. The story was written and drawn by ILM concept artist Warren Fu and as a little easter egg, or inside joke, Fu used himself for the face of the Jedi Master. Artist Chris Trevas noticed Fu's likeness in the comic while doing research for his own illustration of Sifo-Dyas in Jedi vs. Sith: The Essential Guide to the Force. For the sake of continuity, and respect for a fellow artist, Trevas contacted Warren Fu to reprise his role for the Jedi vs. Sith illustration as well.

His name was changed to "Zaifo-Vias" in Brazil, in order to avoid puns on his name (Sifo-Dyas sounds like "Se Fodias", which means something almost like "we're having sex" in a formal 2nd person).

Appearances

 * The Eyes of Revolution
 * Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones
 * Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones novel
 * Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones comic
 * Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones junior novel
 * Boba Fett: The Fight to Survive
 * Galactic Crisis!
 * Labyrinth of Evil
 * Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith junior novel
 * Dark Lord: The Rise of Darth Vader