After playing the inquisitor storyline I can see why this might have to be instituted as it is extremely inconvenient to constantly have other members of your own faction trying to kill you. But wouldn't this put the sith at a constant military disadvantage with the jedi? Considering what a single force user seems to be capable of doing in the movies, you'd think that the disadvantages of being constantly outnumbered would negate the advantages of not having a constant power struggle. Or am I missing some critical advantage? Any expanations as to the reasoning behind this would be most welcome.

After playing the inquisitor storyline I can see why this might have to be instituted as it is extremely inconvenient to constantly have other members of your own faction trying to kill you. But wouldn't this put the sith at a constant military disadvantage with the jedi? Considering what a single force user seems to be capable of doing in the movies, you'd think that the disadvantages of being constantly outnumbered would negate the advantages of not having a constant power struggle. Or am I missing some critical advantage? Any expanations as to the reasoning behind this would be most welcome.

 

It is just the Sith way.

Palpatine couldn't have done what he did if he wasn't the only sith. All the others would be at his throat trying to get into his seat of power.

 

The Sith are power mongers. In secret Vader had always plotted to overthrow his master but he knew he didn't have the strength to do it. The Imperials also don't see eye to eye with the sith.

 

 

 

so its more of an issue of trying to stay undetected

The reason why the rule of two was an advantage was because it allowed the Sith to grow in power. The nature of the Sith demand that they make grabs for power. When a powerful Sith was toppled, a group of lessers would rise in his or her place. It lead to a constant division of power. Think of a soft ball and a base ball. The soft ball's force is dispersed, rather then concentrated, so it hurts less when one knocks you in the head.

 

The rule of two forces the Sith to grow in power instead of constantly dividing it. The master is the master because he or she is more powerful. When te apprentice surpasses that, they become the new master, so their apprentice, in turn, must be more powerful then the current master as well as the previous to continue the cycle. See where this is going? By the time Palpatibe comes around, a thousand years later, he is the most powerful Sith to live, and has finally overcome the strength of all the Jedi.

 

One to embody the power of the dark side, and the other to crave it.

Remember the Rule of Two only applies to the amount of Sith at one time. Palpatine and Vader had numerous Dark Jedi, and the like working for them,Starkiller,Asajj Ventress,Lumiya(pre Dark lady of the Sith) etc., behind the scenes.

 

Dark Jedi were some powerful people and they did receive instruction from the Sith, they just never offically became Sith due to the Rule of Two.

Edited March 17, 2012 by Temeluchus

It "would" put the sith at a disadvantage but for a key factor

 

Sith empire throws every force sensitive in their territory into an academy and forces them to train as sith. Jedi don't.

This means that every strong force user in imperial lands (some exceptions) is most likely going to end up a sith, probably end up rising to power if they're strong enough and then go out and kick some ***.

Meanwhile there could be untold force prodigies in the republic doing office work because they don't want to be a bunch of "sort-of-celebate" monks or straight up don't know about their talent.

the rule of two saved the sith - well in a way. As the old words go, fighting among yourself s will make your enemies stronger. The rule of two was not only a change of tactic, but survival. Two powerful sith lords that hide in the shadows waiting for the right moment to strike. In the films, we saw only part of the plan. Sidious's Master created the conditions in which it gave sidious the rise to power. That power was strong influence over the government and the jedi. The clone wars cut the number of the jedi down greatly, and through the war he was able to spread them out.....force them to be alone with countless troops.

So wouldn't less sith be a bad thing and give the jedi an advantage? Yeah in a numbers war. But we all know two jets can take out armies

But really, you should do some digging on wookipedia. Tons of star wars information. it explains all of this.

I think it needs to be considered that numbers actually were an expression of the Sith's power during the rule of two's timeframe. There were two Sith. Two really powerful Sith that could be quantified as a greater expression of force then all the Jedi could muster. I find evidence in the fact that the Sith won. Being clever and having resources proved more useful then being physically powerful. The Sith tricked, and later destroyed the entire Jedi because, simply put, they were stronger.

Don't mistake strength for numbers.

 

Having big armies and fleets eliminates the element of surprise and deception. Rule of two is all about slowly and patiently pulling strings from the shadows thus progressively gaining influence and power. Just read Bane trilogy and you will understand everything about the rule of two and its potential.

 

Also, Bane believed that when there were so many sith present, they had to share their power among each other. Think of it like of cake. With only two sith, they could have the whole cake for themselves. Eat more = be more powerful.

Edited March 17, 2012 by Deviss

Also, Bane believed that when there were so many sith present, they had to share their power among each other. Think of it like of cake. With only two sith, they could have the whole cake for themselves. Eat more = be more powerful.

 

Something tells me Darth Baras took this analogy a bit too far...

It is true that the rule of two saved the Sith but with Darth Krayt coming along and getting rid of the rule of two have the Sith taken a few thousand years back step or moved forward?

If there are only 2 people in charge more gets done quicker. There are darkside force users and others that work for the sith, but arent considered sith. remember there was a a RACE if sith at one time s well

At a guess it only refers to the fact that, at that time, Sith had a rule of only operating in pairs, Master and Apprentice. So the chance that there were multiple pairs here and there abouts cannot be discounted. Especially given the Jedi's knowledge of the subject would indicate that at some point they'd confronted and eliminated pairs previously.

It is true that the rule of two saved the Sith but with Darth Krayt coming along and getting rid of the rule of two have the Sith taken a few thousand years back step or moved forward?

 

Not really. The Rule of One under Krayt isn't the same thing as the thousands and thousands of Sith running around before the Rule of Two. Teaching young up and coming Sith loyalty and blind obedience to the Dark Lord of the Sith seriously cut down at the attempted Master killings and betrayals.

 

You could also argue that the Rule of Two "saved" the Sith in the short term, but ultimately helped them be wiped out.

Edited March 18, 2012 by Temeluchus

Some what happened to sith 'purebloods' after the rule of two came along, did they just all go extinct?

Some what happened to sith 'purebloods' after the rule of two came along, did they just all go extinct?

 

They theoretically are already going extinct at this time. The Rule of Two has nothing to do with it, just genetics. The original Sith species apparently goes extinct because they spent more time breeding with humans than Sith, and once there are no more full bloods to breed with, Purebloods would have to breed exclusively with other Purebloods to maintain the race, and of course that doesn't happen.

 

It's supposed to be something of a recessive trait, so even two full humans could have a Pureblood child, but it becomes increasingly rarer.