The Rule of Two also doesn't say that a Sith Lord can't train more than one person in the Force, it's simply the fact that only one of them can be (and usually is) his Sith Apprentice.

 

The rest are... Cannon fodder. Elite mooks, but still mooks. And, if that becomes needed, a pool from which to select a new apprentice after the old apprentice has attempted to take power (either a replacement or a new Apprentice for a new Lord, depending on whether they fail or succeed).

 

Sure, the Apprentice might be training an apprentice or two of his own on the side too, but again, those are just Dark Jedi, not Sith. Except in case an apprentice (lower case) manages to kill the Apprentice (upper case) or even the Lord. Then they ARE Sith, by virtue of the 'Everyone who disagrees is dead' principle.

 

The point of the whole exercise, ultimately, is not that there are no other Force users on the Dark Side, it's that only two of them, the strongest, are true Sith. And since there can be only two true Sith, the top dog and the guy he's training to be his replacement, all the focus is on (being worthy and capable of) replacing those two.

I remember a discussion about the rule of two, and thought it might keep things busy as we patiently wait for our invite.

 

So Darth Bane gets an invite into the Brother Hood of Darkness. First an Imperial agent and eventually off to the Sith academy. He find weakness in the current sith recruits and the leader and decides to use it against them. So he convinces the Force Bomb to be used, which ultimately destroyed all Sith. Taking over, Darth Bane institutes the rule of Two. A Master and an Apprentice. The Master to bask in the glory of the power of the Dark Side, and the apprentice the want to hunger it.

 

Its a pointless rule. The Sith are always trying to convert someone to the dark side. Look at Darth Vader, he had a secret apprentice that broke the Rule of Two. There was obviously three....not to mention he tried to convert Luke to the Dark Side. The rule was made to be broken and it can be by any Sith Lord that claims to hold the power over the Sith.

 

Could a Sith council exist like the Jedi Council? No, I would agree with Darth Bane in that the Sith should only have one leader. Otherwise there would be to much cut- throating going on for the Sith and they would begin to ignore the purpose, which seems to be to destroy the Jedi. In fact, if there was less turmoil within the Sith they might have had a better chance to destroy the Jedi.

 

The Rule of Two is not pointless. You don't understand how it was designed to function, or what purpose it achieved. So far, it has been the greatest incarnation of the Sith to come along.

Rule of two Sith or Jedi is a tall tale

 

Its against human nature to not congregate.

 

Sith do many things that are against human nature. One can ignore one's nature if one wishes. Also. there is no Rule of Two for the Jedi.

Most marriages have an implicit "Rule of Two - until death do us part". Sounds like a decent theory, but most end in divorce and even more experience infidelity.

 

The rule is for the other party, not for the almighty "me"

When you think about it...how many Sith masters have to die before they realize that maybe having an apprentice is a sure fire way of getting usurped/killed. I see apprentices as a liability, unless your goal is to eventually kill said apprentice and somehow absorb thier force power...let them struggle.

Oddly enough, that is exactly what Darth Bane was aiming for. He, sort of, wanted his apprentice to surpass him. The logic given was that it makes the Sith stronger. The Sith becoming weak was what annoyed Bane in the first place

First of all, the Brotherhood of Darkness was not weak, it was very strong, it had complete control over everything but the galactic core and was set to take them with overwhelming force.

 

Then Darth Bane comes along with a rule that screams idiocy, by definition of being only two the Sith are extremely vulnerable as soon as they reveal themselves, it's all well and good having a galactic empire and being most powerful Sith, but when you get thrown down a reactor shaft by your own redeemed apprentice, there goes that Rule out of the window, because it just ended with only about 35 years of galactic domination.

 

This argument that the Sith are weakened by greater number of Dark Side force users has been proven wrong by the Sith Empire, headed by an Emperor whom has ruled for longer than the Banite Sith have been in existence, his Dark Council members are all very powerful Sith themselves as far as we have seen, then we have even more numerous powerful Sith Lords leading the Empire's armies.

 

Accumulated the Sith Empire's force prowess far outmatches the Banite Sith at any point of there tenure, now yes, they may not have the most powerful Sith, Lord Sidious, but their sheer number still takes the cake in my eyes.

you kinda need to define power for it to have any meaning. Power as in force potency? Power as in cunning? Power as in at one point being in a more power full situation? (Obiwan defeating Anakin because of high ground.) or power in the form of having information your opponent don't have?. Power is always relative and never absolute. That is the biggest flaw behind the rule of two. As means of survival in a galaxy were the jedi dominate and keeping a low profile it works though. Also to many bad *** bad guys would have ruined the story of the movies.

Hello everyone just wanted to try adding a little something to the Bane story that I found interesting. Now I'm not a dedicated Star Wars fan don't hurt me! I love what I've seen and played but haven't read any of the books etc. For my little curious venture into this topic.

 

In KOTOR I when Revan is accessing the star map on Kashyyyk he has to answer a few questions. One of them being something a long the lines of "You know of an incoming attack 2 weeks before it happens but the sith have grown complacent or disillusioned of their lord what do you do?" one of the answers and the one to choose for dark side is to let the attack happen.

 

Now is it possible this was Banes true motivation? To weaken the Sith putting them in "the hurt locker" so they could continue to become stronger I mean once you conquer the galaxy whats left but to deteriorate into ruin? and the reason Bane came up with the rule of 2 was so the empire would run into more chaotic encounters inevitably making the 2 sith and the empire stronger?

 

Just something I was curious about while reading these excellent posts!

 

Much <3

Geoff

Edited December 15, 2011 by DaemonGrin

Not all Sith will follow the Rule of two. Look up the Lost Tribe and read the Fate of the Jedi series.

 

The Lost Tribe was lost before Darth Bane created the rule of two. The Lost Tribe was dispatched by Naga Sadow, the Sith ruler well before Darth Bane.

Imo, Revan's version of the rule of two made a lot more sense. Two sith lords, one master one aprentice, and lots of cronies.

 

Revan predated Darth Bane by many, many years! Revan was to be the Emperor's Vanguard of the Sith invasion of Republic space. When he failed, Revan and Scourge gave the Emperor enough doubt to wait a few hundred years - bringing the story up to SWTOR timelines.

 

Darth Bane comes long after the time of SWTOR.

Then Darth Bane comes along with a rule that screams idiocy, by definition of being only two the Sith are extremely vulnerable as soon as they reveal themselves

 

I think you might be a little too hasty there friend.

 

When the Sith revealed themselves in Episode 1 after 1,000 years following the Rule of Two, and following Maul's death, the Jedi didn't even know If the master, or apprentice had been killed. Nor did they have any clue who else might be Sith.

 

While The Brotherhood of Darkness was strong, they didn't beat either the Jedi, nor the Republic. In fact they waged a centuries long war with them. The Sith Empire of TOR also haven't beaten either Jedi, nor Republic.

I can't actually think of, or know of any Sith Empire not following the Rule of Two that has ever decisively won over the Jedi Order, or The Republic. If anyone knows of another Sith Empire not following The Rule who managed to defeat both Jedi, and Republic please let me know.

 

During the Rule of Two however, Darth Sidious orchestrated both the destruction of the Jedi Order, and the Republic. Both more or less overnight.

Edited December 16, 2011 by SammyRath

When you think about it...how many Sith masters have to die before they realize that maybe having an apprentice is a sure fire way of getting usurped/killed. I see apprentices as a liability, unless your goal is to eventually kill said apprentice and somehow absorb thier force power...let them struggle.

 

The apprentice killing the master was exactly the point. It not culled the weak from the order, but it ensured the apprentice would not become the master until he was in fact stronger than the master, making the order progressively stronger as time went on. That's how Sidious and Vader were able to wipe out the Jedi Order almost completely. And before you say that Vader actually almost died at the hands of a Jedi, keep in mind that he was still an apprentice and hadn't had time to learn the ways of the Dark Side before he was thrust into an accelerated time table for Order sixty-six.