At its core, above all the space fantasy elements that make the universe so interesting, Star Wars is a story of light against dark. In the Star Wars galaxy, this struggle between good and evil is personified by the wielders of the force, the Jedi and the Sith. By the time of the prequel trilogy, the Jedi are large in their numbers, and the Sith only exist as a single pair at a time. While the films did a brief yet effective job of explaining this by telling viewers that the Sith have a “rule of two,” it’s the expanded material that did the heavy lifting, going more in-depth about this aspect of the lore.
The story of the Sith’s Rule of Two was told in three parts, in the Darth Bane books by Drew Karpyshyn. Centered around the Sith Lord of the same name, the trilogy of novels follows Darth Bane’s rise to power, his creation of the Rule of Two, and the resulting apparent disappearance of the Sith from the galaxy until their return in Star Wars: Episode I The Phantom Menace. The trilogy is an essential read for any die-hard Star Wars fan, but for those in a hurry, here is the essential info of the story of Darth Bane.
Bane's Origins
The man who eventually became known as Darth Bane was born as Dessel, and spent his early years living on a low-profile outer rim world called Apatros. Due to his lack of a mother and his abusive father, Dessel was forced to make his own way through many situations in life, and at a young age began to work as a miner on his home planet. After a conflict with his father, Dessel unwittingly killed him in his sleep, through Force powers that he was not yet aware of. Further incidents involving his unknown abilities led to the death of a Republic soldier, and as a result of this, Dessel was forced to flee and join the Sith where he would not be prosecuted.
After joining the military of the Sith’s Brotherhood of Darkness, Dessel began to rise through the ranks as a skilled soldier. Eventually becoming a revered figure among his fellow soldiers, he would gain much influence and lead his unit to victory on many occasions. When one of his superiors picked up on his Force abilities, Dessel began training as a Sith on their homeworld of Korriban. It was at this time that he began identifying himself as Bane, a name that would become legendary for thousands of years after his life.
As A Sith Lord
In the years that followed, as Bane trained in the ways of the Sith, he became disenfranchised with how things were organized. He believed the new Brotherhood of Darkness to be inferior to the ways of the Sith that preceded him. At one time, he studied the teachings of Darth Revan and learned things about the dark side of the Force that he saw as far more expansive and educational than what he had been learning at the Sith Academy. He decided once and for all that the Brotherhood needed to be destroyed.
Believing the modern Sith teachings to be inefficient, and predicting the inevitable fall of the Sith due to infighting and poor leadership, Darth Bane had a new idea in mind for how the Sith would continue. With his proposed Rule of Two, the Sith were to be no greater in numbers than a single master and a single apprentice.
After much time planning and deceiving his way to success, Darth Bane eventually achieved his goal of dismantling the Brotherhood. In a battle with Jedi forces, he tricked all the Sith forces into destroying themselves, leaving him the sole survivor of the Sith. At this time, Bane’s existence was not known to the rest of the galaxy or to the Jedi, allowing him to pursue his rule of two in secrecy.
Bane took on an apprentice named Zannah, who was to be the first apprentice in the newly-formed lineage of the Rule of Two. For years, they remained unknown to the Jedi. In an instance where a small group of Jedi became aware of their existence, Bane and Zannah eliminated them, keeping their identities a secret. Despite their initial strong relationship as master and apprentice, fate would have it for them, as it would for generations of Sith to come, that Zannah would become frustrated with her master. She eventually turned on him and engaged in battle, and Darth Bane was killed at the hands of his apprentice.
Darth Bane's Legacy
As Zannah would go on to continue the Rule of Two, Darth Bane’s legacy lived on for many generations until the events of the Prequel Trilogy. During this time, the Sith finally took advantage of the secrecy that Darth Bane had granted them a thousand years prior. With underhanded scheming, the Sith took over the galaxy through Darth Sidious and his apprentice, Darth Vader.
Undoubtedly one of the most influential Sith Lords to ever exist, Bane reinvented the Sith Order. His teachings brought thousands of years of struggle to a seeming conclusion in the creation of the Galactic Empire, which was at the height of its power by the time the events of the original Star Wars film all the way back in 1977.