Darth Revan's Sith Holocron

"I am Darth Revan, Dark Lord of the Sith. Those who use the dark side are also bound to serve it. To understand this is to understand the underlying philosophy of the Sith. The dark side offers power for power's sake. You must crave it. Covet it. You must seek power above all else, with no reservation or hesitation."

- Darth Revan's avatar, to Darth Bane

Constructed by the Dark Lord of the Sith Revan during the Jedi Civil War, Darth Revan's Sith Holocron contained the Sith Lord's teachings on the dark side of the Force and his knowledge of ancient Sith rituals. It included instruction on how to use the Force power known as the thought bomb, while the lessons from the Holocron focused on the user coveting the dark side and the importance of a Sith Master training one apprentice at a time. Following Darth Revan's redemption and the end of the Jedi Civil War, the Sith holocron remained hidden within the Temple of the Ancients on the planet Rakata Prime. Three millenia later, the Sith Lord Darth Bane rediscovered Darth Revan's Holocron inside the Rakatan temple and extensively studied the teachings contained inside it. Bane copied the Holocron's contents and destroyed the artifact when its power source ceased to work. Bane went on to purge the ruling Sith regime, creating his own Sith Order using the teachings from Darth Revan's Holocron. Bane later transcribed Revan's knowledge into the Telos Holocron, which was eventually studied by the Sith Lord Darth Sidious, and later, the New Jedi Order, over a millennium later.

Properties
Darth Revan's Sith Holocron was created by the Sith Lord in the shape of a four-sided pyramid. The Holocron resembled the Temple of the Ancients, an ancient Rakatan structure on the planet Rakata Prime. Revan's Holocron was slightly larger than a Human's hand and, unlike most Sith holocrons, was adorned with only a few Sith symbols. The Holocron's gatekeeper was an avatar of Darth Revan, and was powered by a crystal that channeled energy from the Force. However, the crystal was unstable, and the more the Holocron was used, the less stable the crystal became.

Contents
"Those who accept the power of the dark side must also accept the challenge of holding on to it. By its very nature the dark side invites rivalry and strife. This is the greatest strength of the Sith: it culls the weak from our order. Yet this rivalry can also be our greatest weakness. The strong must be careful lest they be overwhelmed by the ambitions of those working beneath them in concert. Any master who instructs more than one apprentice in the ways of the dark side is a fool. In time, the apprentices will unite their strengths and overthrow the master. It is inevitable; axiomatic. That is why each Master must have only one student."

- Darth Revan's avatar, to Darth Bane

Darth Revan's Holocron contained the Sith Lord's teachings and beliefs on both Sith philosophy and the dark side of the Force. The Holocron also explained the purpose and nature of ancient Sith rituals, which were considered dangerous for a Sith Master to attempt. One of the rituals taught by Darth Revan's Holocron included the thought bomb; the ancient Sith used the Force to create a power sphere, and when the thought bomb was detonated, the bodies of Force-sensitive individuals were destroyed, with their spirits trapped inside a vacuum created at the detonation's focal point. The Holocron also instructed a student how to counter and nullify poisons with the Force.

Darth Revan's instructions in the Holocron taught that an individual who used the dark side was also obligated to serve it, and that understanding this principle meant that the person comprehended the inherent philsophy of the Sith. The Holocron stated that the dark side offered a person power for its own sake, and encouraged the learner to covet power and seek the dark side's strength with no reservations. It further taught that the Force would transform the user, and encouraged the user to embrace the change that came with accepting the dark side's power, arguing that the Jedi were limited in their accomplishments due to the fact that they focused on controlling the Force's transformation of the individual. Darth Revan's teachings maintained that true power came only to people who fully accepted the Force's transformation of them, claiming that traits such as loyalty, mercy, and compassion prevented an individual from claiming what was theirs.

The Holocron taught that an individual who accepted the dark side's power also had to accept the challenge in retaining their hold on that power. It stated that the dark side's nature of rivalry and strife was not only the Sith's strength, but that these traits were also the Order's weakness. Darth Revan's avatar opinioned that a Sith Master who trained more than one apprentice in the dark side was a fool, stating that multiple students would combine their efforts and overthrow the Master. As such, the teachings advised a Master to instruct only one apprentice at a time, and stated that this was the reason that there could be only one Dark Lord of the Sith. Darth Revan taught that the Sith should be ruled by a single leader who embodied the dark side's strength and power, and that when the Dark Lord grew weak a challenger needed to seize the mantle from the reigning Dark Lord.

History
"This is also the reason there can only be one Dark Lord. The Sith must be ruled by a single leader: the very embodiment of the strength and power of the dark side. If the leader grows weak another must rise to seize the mantle. The strong rule; the weak are meant to serve. This is the way it must be. My time here is ended. Take what I have taught you and use it well."

- Darth Revan's avatar, to Darth Bane

In 3,959 BBY, the former Jedi Knight Revan declared himself the new Dark Lord of the Sith, with his friend and fellow former Jedi Knight Malak becoming Revan's Sith apprentice. The two Sith Lords, who had taken the "Darth" title, returned from the Unknown Regions at the head of a new Sith Empire and declared war on the Jedi Council and the Galactic Republic, initiating the Jedi Civil War. During Darth Revan's reign as the Dark Lord, he constructed a holocron and recorded his views on Sith philosophy and the dark side. Darth Revan hid the Holocron behind a stone in a wall located behind a Rakatan computer in the Temple of the Ancients on Rakata Prime, a world he and Malak discovered during their search for the ancient Rakatan space station called the Star Forge. Two years into the war, Revan was captured by the Jedi Order, and after being retrained in the Jedi ways, redeemed himself by vanquishing Malak and ending the war. After the war's final battle, Jedi forces went through the temple and removed all of the Sith artifacts, excluding Darth Revan's Holocron, which remained hidden in the Temple's lower levels.

Almost three millenia later, near the end of the New Sith Wars, the Sith Lord Darth Bane traveled to Rakata Prime, which had since been renamed Lehon, in search of teachings with which he could destroy the existing Sith regime, the Brotherhood of Darkness. Bane explored the lower levels of the Temple of the Ancients for any dark side artifacts, eventually coming to the room where the Holocron was hidden. While in the room, he sensed the Holocron hidden behind the stone in the wall behind the computer. After using the Force to remove the stone, Bane retrieved the Holocron and activated it, revealing an avatar of Darth Revan. As Darth Revan's image instructed Bane, the Sith Lord copied the artifact's lessons on sheaves of flimsi so that he could study the teachings at a later time. Eventually the Holocron's power crystal began to fail, due to Bane's continued use of the device. After Darth Revan's image imparted the Holocron's final lessons to Bane, the device ceased to work. Shortly after inspecting the Holocron, Bane used the Force to destroy the device, discarding the object as Darth Revan had taught him. Bane then destroyed the Brotherhood of Darkness and created his own Sith Order using the teachings from Darth Revan's Holocron.

After establishing the Rule of Two, Darth Bane transferred Revan's teachings that he copied on Lehon into the Telos Holocron. Revan's lessons on the dark side of the Force remained in the Telos Holocron, and was eventually studied by the Dark Lord of the Sith Darth Sidious. The Holocron and Revan's teachings were later examined by the New Jedi Order in 40 ABY.

Behind the scenes
Darth Revan's Sith Holocron was introduced in the novel Darth Bane: Path of Destruction, written by Drew Karpyshyn. The Holocron was used as a major plot device for the main protagonist, Darth Bane, to destroy the Brotherhood of Darkness and establish the Sith Order's Rule of Two. Its excerpts were featured in Jedi vs. Sith: The Essential Guide to the Force, and the Holocron was later mentioned in Darth Bane's entry in The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia.

Appearances

 * Darth Bane: Path of Destruction