Sith Spells

The power of Sith magic was one of the most prominent reasons for the Sith's long reign of terror in the galaxy. The place of magic in Sith society was an ancient one long before the dark Jedi came to Ziost, and combined with the power of the dark side of the Force, many new spells and uses for the magic were created and discovered.

Illusion seems to be the most used Sith magic. Mainly used in battle, it created images of ships, warriors, and warbeasts that were not really there. However, the Sith's enemy could not tell the difference between illusion and the real forces, and thus surrendered thinking itself outnumbered by the Sith troops. Even Jedi could not tell between Sith illusion and reality (as seen in The Fall of the Sith Empire and Dark Lords of the Sith).

These illusions were usally the product of one powerful Sith magician inside a special "meditation chamber." Inside this chamber, the magician would hold an object such as a weapon or a jewel, into which the dark powers would be focused. When ordinary objects were not powerful enough for focusing, the Sith used Sith amulets. The magician then focused on the form of the illusions, which would then appear in the desired place. Illusion required intense concentration. As soon as the magician's concentration was interrupted, if only for a second, the illusion would disappear. Dark Lord of the Sith Naga Sadow was an experienced user of such illusions, as was Krath leader Aleema Keto.

Another lesser used but much more powerful magic was the creation of monsters. Lord Naga Sadow used this technique after his exile to Yavin IV as a way of preserving his empire. The first time, he used alchemy to alter his Sith warriors into the bestial, semi-sentient race of Massassi. He then created monsters to guard his temples and ship in case the Massassi failed. It is unknown whether Sadow altered any form of living being into these monsters, but the creatures he created are so grotesque and nightmarish it is hard to imagine them ever having been living creatures before Sadow's arrival.

Some dark side powers that may have been enhanced with Sith magic include dark side healing (the healing Freedon Nadd performed on Exar Kun), the making of Sith poison, which enhances dark side emotions such as anger and fear, and foretelling. It is speculated that Lord Marka Ragnos forsaw the ascension of Exar Kun to the title of Dark Lord of the Sith and recorded a message in one of the Sith amulets that would be activated thousands of years later by Kun himself.

It is obvious that there are many other kinds of Sith magic, both great and small, but they have unfortunately not been recorded in the historical records of the Sith. In The Fall of the Sith Empire, as Naga Sadow is about to use the power of illusion, he states: "I must concentrate...use the old and forbidden Sith ways." This statement suggests that many uses of Sith magic had been banned in earlier times. Perhaps even the Sith found some powers to be too dangerous and uncontrollable.

In the first part of Tales of the Jedi, the Sith are a red-skinned, bony people from the other side of the galaxy. In the later half of Tales of the Jedi, the Sith are ruled by a human and consist of a tribe of half-civilized red monsters known as the "Massassi." In The Phantom Menace, the Sith are a pair of dark side users - a tatooed, horned alien and his shadowy human master. And in the original trilogy, the Sith were personified by a dark Jedi in a breath mask and wielding a red lightsaber.

Which of these is correct? Are the Sith human or alien?

The answer is both. Especially since the release of Star Wars: Episode I, the Sith have become forever associated with Darth Maul and Darth Sidious, powerful dark Jedi who professed to be of the "Sith order." Those who have only seen the movie and never read the comics will not think to find out otherwise. But yet in the beginning, the Sith were aliens from the Sith system, conquered by human dark Jedi. These alien Sith forged a mighty empire under the rule of Dark Lords of the Sith who were, for the most part, part human and part Sith.

[read the argument about Sith and human interbreeding here.]

After the Great Hyperspace War and the devastation of both Sadow's and Kressh's fleets, most of the Sith were wiped out. The Sith still remaining in the empire were without the guidance and protection since Kressh had been killed, Sadow exiled, and most of the lesser Sith lords had chosen to either side with Kressh or Sadow and were destroyed in the battle. One can conclude that the indigineous inhabitants of the systems in the Sith empire wasted no time in hunting down the remaining Sith and reclaiming their territory. THE COLOR RED

Note the importance of the color red to the Sith. Symbolizing blood and anger, red has been used to describe both the Sith and dark Jedi. The Sith's and Massassi's red skin coloring, the red Sith holocron, Darth Maul's black and red tattoos, Maul's and Vader's red lightsaber. What is interesting is that while the Sith of the movies dressed all in black, the Sith lords of the comics were very flamboyant with armor design and colorful clothing. Some Sith did survive, as evidenced by the apprearance of Freedon Nadd. Perhaps the Sith race did manage to populate Ziost and a few other systems after the war. In any case, the Sith eventually became extinct, as no more mention is ever heard of them after The Fall of the Sith Empire. By the time Exar Kun created his "Sith empire," he was merely following old Sith teachings, trying to recreate Sadow's empire of ages past. He was no Sith, and neither were the tribal Massassi, the Mandalorians, the Krath, or Ulic Qel-Droma. After Kun's defeat and his massacre of the Massassi, the last descendents of the Sith, the Sith race as the galaxy had known it was at an end.

Enter a rogue dark Jedi who had somehow gotten ahold of Sith teachings or a Sith holocron. Perhaps he was human, perhaps alien, but he also had dreams of a Sith empire consisting of dark Jedi. One can imagine him eagerly reading ancient Sith lore and planning to resurrect the Sith...but as a dark side organization, a sort of cult. After he failed, Darth Bane replaced the massive cult following with a small shadowy organization. The name "Sith" has been associated with dark Jedi ever since. It is incredibly unlikely that any of the self-proclaimed dark Jedi "Sith" ever wielded power half as great as that of Naga Sadow and Exar Kun.

We must wonder what kind of legacy the Sith left to the galaxy. The holocron Jedi Odan-Urr found on board one of the abandoned Sith ships at the end of the Great Hyperspace War bears testimony to the great amount of Sith lore and magic that has yet to be discovered. Surely a race as great and powerful as the Sith would not let its secrets be lost to future generations