The many mysteries in theStar Warsuniverse are part of the reason we love exploring its many regions and the beliefs of its inhabitants, but one that remains intact for the dark side of the Force is that there must always be two Sith. Why is that though? Is it so that two Sith can always be ready to kick Jedi butt and be there to back each other up in the process? Do the Sith abide by a strict buddy system? Well, this so-called “Rule of Two” actually presses less on the idea that two Sith have to be presenttogetherat all times, and more that there need to be two that are active during the same time period. These guys do in fact take the buddy system seriously… until they don’t anymore. But hey, those are just the rules — the Rule of Two!
Followers of the Force are some funny people, and that goes for both sides of the equation. Jedi can’t marry, they have to stay emotionally distant from everyone in their lives, and they tend to grow their hair out in really strange fashions. Maybe that’s not a rule… butKi-Adi-Mundi’sweird little straggle of hair that hangs from the top of his starfish-like head isn’t doing him or the Jedi any favors. Then there’s the Sith, who have the emotional tendencies of a bunch of black widow spiders! They claim to look for peace in the galaxy, but that’s hard to believe when all of their methods involve murdering everyone around them — even those that they care about. Even their own masters!
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What is the Rule of Two?
The Rule of Two involves just that — murdering your own master. But there are a few steps that one must fulfill in order to accomplish the parameters of the Rule. As it was stated before, there must always be two existing Sith at the same time. The idea is that one Sith must embody the power of the dark side of the Force, while another would crave it, giving the craving Sith the longing to train in their master’s footsteps, and eventually take their master’s role as the embodiment of the dark side. The master wouldn’t just retire their role either. No, the master then has to be killed by their apprentice so that they can then fill the role of master.
What Does the Rule of Two Guarantee?
This practice also ensures that, with each passing generation, the Sith only continue to grow stronger. If an apprentice is able to kill his master, then that obviously shows who the more powerful of the two is. A master could also train more than one apprentice at once, opening the floor for one apprentice to kill the other. So yeah, any way you roll it, sounds like these Sith are just trying to kill each other in order to keep asserting their dominance with those on their side of the Force, resulting in stronger and stronger generations to come. Sounds like a really fun crew! What kind of Rule is that? Who would want to keep something like that in practice for centuries on end? And who would ever try and kick something like this off?
Who Created the Rule of Two?
Well, the Rule of Two was firstput into action by Darth Bane, a survivor of the Jedi-Sith war. Bane wanted to ensure that the Sith would regain their power in the galaxy after nearly being wiped out in the war, and ultimately, help them achieve getting revenge on the Jedi. This plan to get payback was one that he called… wait for it… “The Grand Plan” — real clever, Darth. Bane would recruit Darth Zannah, make him his apprentice, and pass all of his knowledge onto him in training. Supposedly, Bane was killed by his apprentice so that he could ascend to the role of master, thus fulfilling the final element in the Rule of Two. Zannah killing Bane isn’t officially a part of the galaxy or Sith’s historical records, seeing as the Jedi learned of both Bane’s “Grand Plan” and his new philosophy, and are often blamed for the ancient Sith’s death. Either way, of the two stories, the Sith liked the sound of Zannah killing Bane more and passed down this approach of apprentices killing their masters at the end of their training. Thus, the Rule of Two was put into place.
The Sith continued this tradition for thousands and thousands of years, but the most famous story regarding the Rule of Two took place between Darth Plageuis and Darth Sidious (Ian McDiarmid), as told by Siderous inStar Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith. Plageuis took on Sheev Palpatine as his apprentice, thereby dubbing him Darth Sidious, and would train him in the dark side of the Force. Once Sidious was far enough along in his training, he ultimately decided that he no longer needed a master and chose to kill Plageuis in his sleep.
How Have We Seen the Rule of Two in the ‘Star Wars’ Movies?
With Plageuis’s death, Sidious took on an apprentice, Darth Maul (Ray Park). After the supposed death of Maul inEpisode I - The Phantom Menace, Sidious goes on to train Darth Tyranus, aka Count Dooku (Christopher Lee), as well as Maul’s brother Savage Opress, and eventually Darth Vader (Hayden Christensen),taking him on during the events ofEpisode III. After revealing himself to be Luke’s (Mark Hamill) father inThe Empire Strikes Back, Vader offers to train Luke in the dark side, stating that they could bring order to the galaxy with their combined strength. This more than hints at the idea that Vader would have killed Sidious after taking his son in for training, thereby being an attempt at fulfilling the Rule of Two himself. Vader’s a sneaky one — if only the Emperor knew! But we all know how that relationship ended, ultimately fulfilling the Rule of Two in its own strange way. And down the line, even though Supreme Leader Snoke (Andy Serkis) and Kylo Ren (Adam Driver) aren’t official Siths, their master and apprentice relationship, as well asRen’s act of killing SnokeinThe Last Jedi, puts them right in line with the Rule of Two.
If most of us were to live in theStar Warsuniverse, aside from the Sith being the embodiment of evil, this whole Rule of Two business would totally put all of us off from ever swearing allegiance to the dark side. Who would ever want to join a club where you have to be trained by somebody, grow close to them, and then kill them when you want to take their place? Well, that’s the Sith for you. They’re the most evil folks in a galaxy far, far away (withsome pretty cool red lightsabers, though), looking for nothing but to continue making their own the strongest line of warriors in existence, all by killing those that came before, and ultimately, fulfilling the Rule of Two with each coming generation.
