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Jedi-Sith War

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"The last great conflict, having been waged for the soul of civilization itself, was a decisive war fought between the Jedi Order and the Sith Lords."
―Janyor[4]

The Jedi-Sith War (ended 1032 BBY) was the last of the wars fought between the Jedi Order and the Sith during the fall of the Old Republic. The war included a battle on the planet Coruscant, and its subsequent liberation.

The war ended with the presumed destruction of the Sith on the planet Ruusan, though one Sith, Darth Bane, had actually survived and reformed the Sith via the Rule of Two which allowed them to exist in hiding for the next thousand years until they toppled the Jedi Order.

Prelude[]

"The Jedi and Sith battled each other over countless generations."
―Luke Skywalker[13]

During a period of time known as the Hundred-Year Darkness, a rogue Jedi came to believe that the true power of the Force lay not through contemplation and passivity, but that only by tapping into the dark side of the Force could the true potential of the Force be reached. The Jedi High Council rebuked this and cast the fallen Jedi out of the Jedi Order; however, the rogue Jedi gained followers and formed a new order[14] that eventually became the Sith.[15] Eventually, war broke out between the Jedi and the Sith,[5] during which time the Sith built empires which were sustained through slavery,[16][17] but it would be the Jedi and the Galactic Republic that ultimately achieved victory.[18] Even so, the Jedi and the Sith continued to do battle over the millennia.[19]

The Jedi came into conflict with the Mandalorians,[20] but the Old Republic continued to fend off the onslaught of the Sith as the Old Republic fell and a dark age began.[4]

The war[]

"The Sith were eventually exterminated—or so it seemed—and order was restored."
―Luke Skywalker[13]
DarthBaneHS-CM

The Jedi-Sith War ended with Darth Bane as the sole surviving Dark Lord of the Sith.

During the Jedi-Sith War, the Jedi's Army of Light conducted crusades against the Sith Brotherhood of Darkness.[12] During the war, the Sith used a dark side stronghold on Ando.[21] Within the conflict, the Sith had taken over Coruscant, and later the Jedi liberated the planet.[4] Though the Sith nearly succeeded in conquering the Republic,[22] they were defeated at Ruusan[3] in the year 1032 BBY.[2]

The ancient Sith Order's ranks were culled through "unchecked ambitions and infighting" as ambitious Sith Lords vied for power and dominance, which, in turn, created an opportunity for the Jedi[23] to remove the Sith as a "viable threat" to the Republic. The result was the near-complete extermination of the Sith;[13] however, the extinction of the Sith was averted by the Sith Lord Darth Bane,[23] who survived and emerged from the Jedi-Sith War as the last survivor of his Order.[7]. To Bane, the Sith Order had grown weak from infighting[24] and needed to be reforged.[7]

Aftermath[]

"The Republic victory was so definitive that it reinvented itself, resettling its capital on Coruscant after a devastating ouster. History reset its chrono on this date, and from that moment, the modern Galactic Republic was born."
―Janyor[4]
Galactic Senate

History began anew with Coruscant as the capital world of the modern Galactic Republic.

Despite the fall of Coruscant having a devastating effect on the Republic, it resettled its capital on the ecumenopolis by the end of the Jedi-Sith War. Years of full-scale war with the Sith brought about the decline and fall of the Republic's pre-modern incarnation. Following the near destruction of the Sith, the Republic was not only restored but reinvented as the "modern Galactic Republic."[4]

Coruscant's restoration as the Republic's seat of power marked the official reset of galactic history, which thenceforth began afresh with the re-founding of the Republic in its modern form. While this version of the Republic was considered the "latest evolution" of the government that had existed for millennia, the history prior to the Republic's rebirth, including the Jedi-Sith War, became a forgotten dark age collectively known as the "Old Republic."[4] Around 972 BBY, the Galactic Accord of Systems was established should another war break out.[11]

Legacy[]

The last war of a forgotten era[]

"Societal memories and official calendars started fresh, and the time before this rebirth was forgotten as a dark age, lumped into a collective whole known as the 'Old Republic.'"
―Janyor[4]
Great Scourge of Malachor aftermath

The term "Old Republic" referred to an all-but-forgotten age predating the Republic's rebirth.

The Jedi-Sith War was remembered as the final war in the history of the Old Republic prior to the Republic's rebirth as well as Darth Bane's creation of the Rule of Two. The accounts that chronicled the war included A History of Persuasive Art in the Galaxy, a book on the history of propaganda, which also featured the works of the Bith artist Janyor;[4] The Secrets of the Jedi by Jedi Master Luke Skywalker;[13] and The Secrets of the Sith by the Dark Lord of the Sith Darth Sidious.[23] However, these works focused more on the long-term results of the war rather than its events.[4][13][23]

The age of the Republic[]

Main article: Galactic Republic
"From the ashes of that conflict, the Galactic Republic was born."
―Luke Skywalker[13]
Millennial Celebration Invitation

The Jedi-Sith War was succeeded by a millennium of peace under the Galactic Republic.

Under the Jedi Order's protection, the Republic succeeded in uniting much of the galaxy under the rule of the Galactic Senate on Coruscant.[4] The Republic Military was demobilized following the Jedi-Sith War,[5] leaving the Republic in a demilitarized state until the formation of the Grand Army of the Republic at the end of the Separatist Crisis.[25] The Republic Era was, for the most part, devoid of armed conflicts with the exception of a few isolated incidents that were quelled by the peacekeeping efforts of the Jedi.[4] As such, it was also referred to as the "Great Peace."[6]

The Republic rose to the pinnacle of its power during the time of the High Republic Era,[26] a sub-era within the overall Republic Era that lasted roughly a thousand years. Driven by a sense of manifest destiny, the Republic adopted an expansionist policy that aimed to unite the entire galaxy under the Republic banner.[4]

The age of democratic rule endured for a millennium[4] until the Republic was replaced by the Galactic Empire at the end of the Clone Wars[27] in 19 BBY.[28] According to the book A History of Persuasive Art in the Galaxy, the Republic Era was "the last era of peace" in galactic history.[4]

The light of the Jedi[]

Main article: Jedi Order
"With the Sith no longer a viable threat, the Jedi expanded their role, dedicating themselves to maintaining justice and preserving harmony across the known galaxy."
―Luke Skywalker[13]
Jedi-of-the-High-Republic

The Jedi Order achieved the pinnacle of their power while serving as guardians of the Galactic Republic.

Having defeated the Sith, the Jedi expanded their role in the galaxy, closely working with the Senate[13] of the reborn Galactic Republic in the pursuit of peace.[4] Generations of Jedi dedicated themselves to the cause of peace, promoting justice and harmony across the known galaxy[13] as peacekeepers of the Republic.[25] Assisted by the Republic Judicials, the Jedi Knights were responsible for maintaining law and order, namely by mediating conflicts to bring about peaceful solutions between various rival factions and planets, as well as serving as interplanetary law enforcement by pursuing wanted and dangerous criminals, pirates, and smugglers.[5]

The Jedi Order reached the apex of its power during the High Republic Era,[26] a time which saw the Order expanding its influence to the galaxy's Outer Rim Territories.[29] In addition, the Order maintained its presence on Coruscant, the galactic capital of the Republic,[13] using the Jedi Grand Temple[22] as its headquarters as well as a training center for the education of future generations of Jedi in the ways of the Force.[6] The Jedi swore their allegiance to the Senate, and the Republic overall,[27] officially serving as the Senate's emissaries[10] and enforcers when necessary.[25] Nevertheless, the Order retained its autonomy and was independently governed by the Jedi High Council.[13]

The return of the Sith[]

Main article: Sith
"After thousands of years of war, the Sith were pushed to the edge of extinction. From the darkness, those who survived laid the foundations for our Order's return…and my rise to power."
―Darth Sidious[23]
SithOrder-SOTJ

The Rule of Two was created by Darth Bane, spawning a thousand-year Sith lineage that culminated in the rise of Darth Sidious.

Realizing that his fellow Sith Lords destroyed themselves with their greed for power, Darth Bane reformed the Order by establishing the Rule of Two.[7] A successor to the Doctrine of the Dyad,[23] the Rule of Two mandated that only two Sith Lords—a master and an apprentice—could exist at any given time, lest they fall prey to infighting.[7] Another reason he created the Rule of Two was so that the Sith could operate in secret, working from the shadows and favoring guile and conspiracy rather than brute force until it would be their time to take revenge,[23] rise again, and subjugate the galaxy.[30]

Although the Jedi discovered Bane and also learned about his creation of the Rule of Two, the Sith Lord's defeat convinced the Jedi that his plans to restore the Sith to power had been aborted.[31] Unbeknownst to the Jedi, the reformed Sith Order survived the death of Bane, who was killed by his apprentice,[23] Darth Zannah.[32] As a consequence, the Sith survived for another millennium, cycling through generations of Sith Lords who completed their ascendency in the dark side by supplanting the masters who trained them.[23]

Insider224-Palpatinecover

Darth Sidious (pictured) restored the Sith to power by purging the Jedi and ruling over the galaxy as Emperor.

Bane was the last Sith Lord to be entombed in the Valley of the Dark Lords on Moraband,[31] the traditional homeworld of the Sith which they abandoned after it was scarred by many wars.[33] The Sith stayed in hiding for a thousand years, their survival unknown to the Jedi, as they plotted their revenge against the Jedi Order. The Sith remained a distant memory until the rise of Darth Sidious, a Dark Lord of the Sith, and his apprentice, Darth Maul, in the waning years of the Galactic Republic.[10] Sidious' machinations achieved the fulfillment of the Grand Plan that began with Bane;[23] the Jedi Order was purged and the Republic became the Empire, with Sidious as the reigning Galactic Emperor.[27] Sidious ruled the galaxy for slightly over twenty years[11] with his final Sith apprentice, Darth Vader,[23] by his side as his right hand man[34] and personal enforcer.[35]

Vader had once been known as Anakin Skywalker, a Jedi Knight prophesied to be his Order's Chosen One in order to bring balance to the Force.[27] After years of living as a Sith Lord,[11] however, Vader would return to the light side at the urging of his son, the Jedi Knight Luke Skywalker, during the Battle of Endor[36] of 4 ABY.[11] The returned Anakin Skywalker betrayed and killed Sidious,[36] who secretly managed to cheat death via the power of transference.[23] Sidious's empire would be formally defeated a year after his death with the Battle of Jakku of 5 ABY. In 35 ABY,[11] Sidious announced his return to the galaxy and attempted to forge a new regime,[23] only to be defeated at the Battle of Exegol by his granddaughter, the Jedi Rey.[11]

Behind the scenes[]

NewSithWars

The New Sith Wars as depicted in Star Wars Legends

The Jedi-Sith War was first mentioned in the 2016 reference book Star Wars Propaganda: A History of Persuasive Art in the Galaxy.[4] It was first identified in the 2019 Fantasy Flight Games reference book Rise of the Separatists.[6]

In Star Wars Legends, this conflict was known as the New Sith Wars where it was fought from 2000 to 1000 BBY.[37] and made its first appearance in Dark Forces: Jedi Knight.[38]

George Lucas states that there was never a Jedi-Sith war, and that the Sith destroyed themselves, not the Jedi. "'Oh, well, there was a war between the Jedi and the Sith.' Well, that never happened. That's just made up by fans or somebody. What really happened is, the Sith ruled the universe for a while, 2,000 years ago. Each Sith has an apprentice, but the problem was, each Sith Lord got to be powerful. And the Sith Lords would try to kill each other because they all wanted to be the most powerful. So in the end they killed each other off, and there wasn't anything left."[39]

Appearances[]

Sources[]

Notes and references[]

Major galactic conflicts


←		 –1032 BBY[2] Eventually the Nihil conflict[26]
(232 BBY[40])
→
  1. ↑ According to StarWars.com Encyclopedia Gauntlet fighter in the Encyclopedia (original site is defunct), the Mandalorians declared war on the Old Republic, which was replaced by the modern Galactic Republic in 1032 BBY. This is as The Star Wars Book states that the modern Galactic Republic was founded 1,032 years before Star Wars: Episode IV A New Hope, which Star Wars: Galactic Atlas dates to 0 BBY. Hence, the Mandalorian-Jedi War must have taken place before the fall of the Old Republic in 1032 BBY, before the end of the Jedi-Sith War.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 The Star Wars Book places the supposed destruction of the Sith, which occurred during the Jedi-Sith war according to Star Wars Propaganda: A History of Persuasive Art in the Galaxy, to 1,032 years before the events of Star Wars: Episode IV A New Hope. As Star Wars: Galactic Atlas states that A New Hope begins in 0 BBY, the Sith's supposed destruction must have occurred in 1,032 BBY.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Star Wars Helmet Collection: Snowtrooper Databank A-Z: Jelucan–Lord Junn
  4. ↑ 4.00 4.01 4.02 4.03 4.04 4.05 4.06 4.07 4.08 4.09 4.10 4.11 4.12 4.13 4.14 4.15 4.16 4.17 4.18 4.19 4.20 4.21 4.22 4.23 Star Wars Propaganda: A History of Persuasive Art in the Galaxy
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 5.5 Tarkin
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 Rise of the Separatists
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 7.4 7.5 Star Wars: The Clone Wars — "Sacrifice"
  8. ↑ Ultimate Star Wars
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 Star Wars Helmet Collection: Coruscant Emergency Crew Databank A-Z: Queen Jamillia–Jedi Temples
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 Star Wars: Episode I The Phantom Menace
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 11.2 11.3 11.4 11.5 11.6 Star Wars: Timelines
  12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 Endless Vigil
  13. ↑ 13.00 13.01 13.02 13.03 13.04 13.05 13.06 13.07 13.08 13.09 13.10 Star Wars: The Secrets of the Jedi
  14. ↑ StarWars.com Encyclopedia Sith in the Encyclopedia (original site is defunct)
  15. ↑ Star Wars (2015) 9
  16. ↑ Death Star Superlaser in the Databank (backup link)
  17. ↑ Star Wars: The Clone Wars — "The Big Bang"
  18. ↑ Nexus of Power
  19. ↑ Star Wars Helmet Collection: AT-ST Pilot Weapons & Uniforms: The Sith
  20. ↑ Star Wars: The Clone Wars — "The Mandalore Plot"
  21. ↑ Obi-Wan 4
  22. ↑ 22.0 22.1 The Star Wars Book
  23. ↑ 23.00 23.01 23.02 23.03 23.04 23.05 23.06 23.07 23.08 23.09 23.10 23.11 23.12 Star Wars: The Secrets of the Sith
  24. ↑ Star Wars: The Dark Side
  25. ↑ 25.0 25.1 25.2 Star Wars: Episode II Attack of the Clones
  26. ↑ 26.0 26.1 26.2 The High Republic: Light of the Jedi
  27. ↑ 27.0 27.1 27.2 27.3 Star Wars: Episode III Revenge of the Sith
  28. ↑ Star Wars: Galactic Atlas
  29. ↑ The Rise of Kylo Ren 2
  30. ↑ Darth Bane in the Databank (backup link)
  31. ↑ 31.0 31.1 StarWars.com Encyclopedia Darth Bane in the Encyclopedia (original site is defunct)
  32. ↑ Star Wars Helmet Collection: Boba Fett Databank A-Z: Alzoc III–Antilles
  33. ↑ Moraband in the Databank (backup link)
  34. ↑ Star Wars Bust Collection: Imperial Royal Guard Star Wars Universe: The Emperor's Inner Circle
  35. ↑ Darth Vader in the Databank (backup link)
  36. ↑ 36.0 36.1 Star Wars: Episode VI Return of the Jedi
  37. ↑ The New Essential Chronology
  38. ↑ Dark Forces: Jedi Knight
  39. ↑ StarWars.com "All Films Are Personal": An Oral History of Star Wars: Episode I The Phantom Menace on StarWars.com (backup link)
  40. ↑ The main events of The High Republic: Light of the Jedi occur several weeks before the dedication of the Starlight Beacon, which The Star Wars Book dates to 232 years before the events of Star Wars: Episode IV A New Hope. Since Star Wars: Galactic Atlas dates the events of that film to 0 BBY, it can be determined that the main events of Light of the Jedi occur around the year 232 BBY.


History of the Jedi
Jedi organizations
Prime Jedi · Jedi Order · Army of Light · Ordu Aspectu
Jedi events
Entruvia Conflict · Attack on Garn · Hundred-Year Darkness
Sith Wars (Great Sith Wars · Sith war · Great Sith War · Great Scourge of Malachor · Resurgence of the Sith)
Jedi–Zygerrian conflict · Battle of Takodana · Darth Momin's destruction of a city
Fall of the Old Republic (Mandalorian-Jedi War (Sacking of the Jedi Temple) · Jedi-Sith War)
Eiram and E'ronoh War (Battle of Jedha) · Night of Sorrow · Nihil conflict · Drengir crisis
Drazkel · Open-Closed War · Naboo Crisis · Separatist Crisis · Clone Wars
Mandalorian Civil War · Great Jedi Purge (Order 66 · Operation: Knightfall) · Early rebellion
Galactic Civil War · Destruction of the Jedi Temple · First Order-Resistance War
[edit]
History of the Sith
Sith Governments
Sith Empire · Exar Kun's Sith Empire · Brotherhood of Darkness · Confederacy of Independent Systems · Galactic Empire · Sith Eternal · First Order · Final Order
Sith events
Hundred-Year Darkness · Sith Wars (Great Sith Wars · Sith War (Battle of Coruscant) · Great Sith War
Great Scourge of Malachor · Resurgence of the Sith · Jedi-Sith War (Battle of Wasted Years)) · Great Hyperspace War · Crusade of Krath · Era of the Sith
Battle of Takodana · Occupation of Aaloth · Darth Momin's destruction of a city · Rule of Two · Grand Plan (Mission to Oba Diah · Invasion of Naboo · Separatist Crisis · Clone Wars) · Mandalorian Civil War · Campaign against the Shadow Collective · Great Jedi Purge
Early rebellion against the Galactic Empire · Mission to Malachor · Mission to the Lothal Jedi Temple · Galactic Civil War · War against the Sith · First Order-Resistance War
[edit]
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