ByCody
“Micajah” Bye, Managing Editor



In the eyes of many, the href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1970s_in_film">1970s was
really the decade that introduced movie goers to truly
menacing silver screen villains. From the introduction of the
Alien to the dark and gritty Godfather movies to the horrendously
creepy great white shark in Jaws to the head-spinning Satan child in
the Exorcist, the era was stuffed with creatures and characters that
made the spine tingle.



However, the cream of the crop didn’t hit the screen until
1977 when George Lucas' death's head adorned, black caped villain known
as Darth Vader strode onto movie theatre’s everywhere through
the blasted door of a Correlian Corvette. Within moments, Vader had
already dispatched a rebel trooper using nothing but his bare hand,
unceremoniously tossing him into a bulkhead. Since the conclusion of
the Star Wars trilogy, movie critics have placed href="http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Anakin_Skywalker"
target="_blank">Darth Vader in the very top
echelons of movie villains, and rightfully so. Few villains had ever
been as ruthless and terrifying as Darth Vader - and even fewer with
such a fear-inducing voice - and it resonated with audiences around the
world.

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Darth Sidious and
Darth Vader

Yet for those individuals interested in Star Wars lore and history,
Darth Vader is only one of many dastardly characters that have emerged
over the years. All in all, a vast number of these vile antagonists
have come from the ranks of the Sith, an organization (at least in the
years of the Knights of the Old Republic and beyond) that opposes the
Jedi Knights in every philosophical method they can. Generally
displayed as power hungry, greedy, and inexplicably evil, the Sith are
notorious for committing atrocities of the grandest scale simply to
amass more power and wealth for their selfish goals. If there was ever
an antithesis to the Jedi Knights, the Sith are often assumed to be the
worst of the worst.



As I discussed in my original Knights of the Old Republic Online
editorial, I've heard numerous individuals voicing concerns about the
various factions in Bioware’s upcoming game and how players
will interact with them, specifically the place of the Sith. 
I often hear questions like: Will there be more than one Sith in KOTOR
Online? What kind of background does the Sith organization have? Will
players be able to play as Sith? Are the Sith always evil?



Unlike the Jedi Knights, the Sith are even more misunderstood. Due to
their changing representations and often evil alignments - especially
in the Lucas movies - the Sith remain a fairly mysterious element of
Star Wars for most individuals. Hopefully my research and explanations
will help explain the Sith from the era of the Knights of the Old
Republic. These Sith are numerous, powerful, and ready to take on the
Jedi Knights and the Galactic Republic whenever they get the chance.



The Sith in Knights of
the Old Republic

Of all the expanded universe materials – novels, comic books,
and video games – the most complex background in the Star
Wars annals belongs to the Sith. Despite what many fans may believe,
the term “Sith” wasn’t originally
associated with the passionate and greedy beings that we see in
Lucas’ sextet of Star Wars movies. On the contrary, the Sith
were originally a href="http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Sith_%28species%29"
target="_blank">species of aliens that had
relatively strong ties with the Force. The Sith race practiced
“magic” but did not adhere to the sort of
philosophical stoicism that the Jedi practiced.

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The Sith Triumvirate

During this period – and still later on in the Star Wars
timeline – the fall of a Jedi (often becoming a Dark Jedi)
did not mean that the Dark Jedi was a Sith. In fact, most Dark Jedi
were simply exiled from the Jedi Order, and it was these exiled Dark
Jedi that found their way to the Sith home planet and established
themselves as “Dark Lords of the Sith”. Over the
centuries, Sith and Dark Jedi interbred, thus creating an inseparable
use of the term Sith to describe a Dark Side wielding Force user.



Eventually these Sith Lords would expand their influence to form the
Sith Empire, which would grow to rival the size of the Jedi Knights and
the Galactic Republic. It’s from this “Sith
Empire” where we find the beginnings of the Sith Lords and
their desire to absorb the universe underneath their iron fists.



However, not all Sith are alike in what they desire. Although all Sith
are driven by their emotions – making them the opposite of
the Jedi in this regard – the emotions the Sith can draw from
can be either positive or negative. Despite the negative emotions often
winning out within the heart of many Sith, some Fallen Jedi (like href="www.starwars.com/databank/character/kypdurron/index.html"
target="_blank">Kyp Durron or href="http://www.starwars.com/databank/character/anakinskywalker/"
target="_blank">Anakin Skywalker for example) try
to use the power of the Dark Side to aid in the cause of a particular
cause or noble effort.



At the very core of the Sith lies a fundamental flaw that has kept the
various Sith Empires and coalitions from truly gaining a foothold in
the Star Wars universe. The Sith are independent and no one
philosophical goal determines the role of any Sith. In fact, most Sith
Lords are incredibly independent of each other. Although individuality
is not uncommon in the Jedi Knights, their dispassionate stance towards
life and existence lends them a cool head and a clear mind when
decisions are made. The opposite is true of the Sith, and without a
truly powerful stranglehold, most Sith cannot stay in cooperation long
enough to ever wage a lengthy war against competing forces.



During the era of the Knights of the Old Republic, the Sith had reached
a sort of balance with the Jedi forces. Both sets of organization
boasted incredibly large numbers, and each of their practices in the
Force drew in hundreds (if not thousands) of worthy participants.
Although we may only see a few Jedi Knights and Sith Lords with the
power of individuals like Revan, Malak, Traya, Nihilus, and the Jedi
Exile, there are still thousands of other middling Force practitioners
across hundreds of planets.  

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Naga Sadow, Darth
Sidious, and Darth Bane

Unlike the Sith that we see in Lucas’ movies, these Sith are
not held to the “Rule of Two”. In fact, the Sith in
the era of KOTOR are almost notorious for creating enormous armies of
Force wielding adepts that strive to cut through the forces of good.
The “ target="_blank">Rule of Two” (only one
master and one apprentice at all times) only comes into play around
1,000 BBY with the survival of Darth Bane during a massive Sith
assault. He institutes the “Rule of Two” to insure
that the Sith remain a part of the universe and don’t fall
prey to complete extermination.



The True Sith



As a different point of reference, in Obsidian
Entertainment’s Knights of the Old Republic II (which takes
place just five years after the events of the first game) one of the
Sith characters mentions the existence of the “True
Sith” that exist in the Unknown Regions and have been there
for tens of thousands of years. According to the character Darth Traya,
the target="_blank">True Sith were around even before
the first Sith Empire (which has been tabbed as being around 6,900
years before the battle of Yavin [BBY]) and one particular article even
believes that the True Sith could be remnants of the ancient Sith race
that were transported far beyond the reaches of common galactic
influence. 



For Bioware, this could really be an easy stepping stone for character
to launch into the KOTOR MMO. With a bevy of uncharted planets in the
Unknown Regions, along with a whole culture of “True
Sith” to be discovered and battled, this could prove to be
the best way to integrate a PvE experience into the KOTOR MMO. With the
True Sith being the “middle ground” opponent for
both the Sith and the Jedi Knights to fight, it’d make a
solid start to any story involving both the Sith and the Jedi Knights.



Bioware’s
Decisions



For the most part, Bioware has a fairly clean slate with which to
create the Sith in their KOTOR MMO. In fact, just after the events of
Knights of the Old Republic II, there’s barely any lore with
which to draw any sort of conclusions on the conceived
direction  of the Sith forces in Bioware’s game.



However, a few things can potentially be assumed. Like most of the Sith
in this era, players will probably be able to start as a Sith
apprentice or possibly train on the Sith homeworld of href="http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Korriban" target="_blank">Korriban.
Along with this, both the Sith and the Jedi of this time period will
probably be able to find various holocrons (repositories of ancient
knowledge) to help bolster their abilities, attributes, and skills.

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One of the most
powerful Sith (and my personal favorite Star Wars character), Exar Kun.

I also wouldn’t be surprised to see some of the original Sith
or Massassi races coming into play in the upcoming Bioware game. As a
species, the Sith and Massassi have had little written about them, so
Bioware again has all the options when deciding what to do with their
existence.



However, Bioware certainly could opt to make the Sith a non-playable
faction or simply take them out of their game altogether. Again, during
the time period after KOTOR 2, many Star Wars scholars have noted that
there was a large purging of the Sith by the Jedi Knights and other
“wholesome” factions along with a href="http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Second_Sith_Civil_War"
target="_blank">Sith civil war. While this will
probably prove untrue, that possibility does exist.



That said, it really wouldn’t be a true Star Wars KOTOR era
game without the existence of the Sith as a potentially playable
faction. Thankfully, Bioware has all the cards in their hand when it
comes to dealing with the Sith, and I hope that they can create a game
that truly explores the nature of this passionate warrior priests.

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href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/38802" target="_blank">To
check out the first KOTOR Editorial on the Jedi Knights, click here!