A Guide To The Sith Code

Star Wars

Jan 29

The history of the Sith is murky, bloody, and dark, as much as the ones who make it.

And yet, despite the way these infamous Force users may appear to thrive in chaos, they do have their own set of guidelines by which they live their lives. At first glance, their Sith Code may appear to be refreshingly straightforward, a stark contrast to philosophical and contradictory musings that make up the code of their eternal rivals, the Jedi.

But just like the Sith and the dark side itself, the Sith Code is a lie within truth, concealing the danger and trap that is the dark path.

First, a brief history is in order. While we tend to think of Sith as shadowy figures in dark robes throwing lightning and crimson lightsabers, this was not always the case. Originally a species in their own right, the Sith's harsh homeworld of Korriban, slavery, and their own brutal sense of survival and morality would see the species wiped out.

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Their way of life would nevertheless inspire the likes of Jedi renegades and exiles, who would take these beings as a model on which to formulate their own Sith Code, designed as both a brutal tenant and a mockery of the Jedi:

Peace is a lie, there is only passion.

Through passion, I gain strength.

Through strength, I gain power.

Through power, I gain victory.

Through victory, my chains are broken.

The Force shall free me.

The first two lines are an example of lies within a truth. They're not wrong that on a macro-level, peace is a distant and idealistic concept. Even if the Republic or whichever body commands the known galaxy claims peace, there is chaos that reigns throughout the galaxy. Civil wars, drugs, slavery. We can see this in how the Hutt Cartels not only existed in the time of the Republic and later Palpatine's Empire but thrived.

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So it's understandable how this becomes a damning and effective statement, all but condemning and mocking the Jedi Order's concept of peace and their efforts to maintain and grow it. “There is only passion” is designed to directly contrast the Jedi mandate “There is no passion; there is serenity.” From there “Through passion, I gain strength” hammers home the message; embrace your fiery, striking emotions and be granted strength.

And yet we know that is not the only way strength is portrayed and gained. Strength in conviction, resolution, mental clarity, and focus is far less flashy and more subtle but is strength nonetheless. A carefully crafted word can often do more to move someone than strong-arming.

But this nuance is discarded in the Sith Code and of course, from there, it becomes a cascade: “strength” grants “power” grants “victory”. And again, it isn't an inaccurate message. On many levels “strength”—of body, of will, of martial might—does forcibly bring about “power”, whether that takes the form of wealth, political capital, or as is so often in the case of the Sith, the ability to crush someone’s throat like a soda can from halfway across the room. As such, when leveraged, this “power” grants “victory”, usually simply in the form of more: more money, more subordinates, more opportunity, more throat-crushing.

But, and this is where the ultimate lie comes in, it’ll never be enough.

As Yoda famously said: “Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to suffering.” The dark side takes and takes and one of the largest contributors to turning towards its embrace is one’s own instability. The Sith Code claims that “Through victory my chains are broken” but it’s the Sith Lord Darth Maul who points out that “...the chains are the easy part. It's what goes on in [the mind] that's hard.” Having a country’s worth of money, having incredible influence, and having the power to rend apart planets themselves doesn’t fill the emptiness or cease the turmoil within. It doesn’t take away the trauma or help you reconcile the pain of your past. All any of it does is perpetuate a cycle of torment, for both the user and their victims.

This is the greatest lie of the Sith: the idea that if one takes enough, destroys enough, kills enough, they will finally know peace. They will finally conquer their demons. It will, all of it–the burnt bridges, the betrayals, their own twisted, corrupted bodies and minds and souls–finally be worth it. And it never is.

The final line of the Code serves as mockery and prophecy. It harkens back to the Jedi belief that the Force is simply a universal cycle: all come and return to it—” There is no death, there is the Force”. As such, when it comes to the Sith, who try to avoid and rage against the concept of inevitability, “The Force shall free me” can as such be considered almost something of a warning as well.

As noted, the dark side takes from its host, twisting and corrupting. While it can grant one the ability to surpass their limits, it can also trap them as well—look, for example, at Darth Sion, whose dark side abilities kept him alive through grievous injury, but left him tormented by agony. And the thing to note about dark side users is that they never really succeed, not really. It may take a while, they may have their victories, but they're never truly on top. They never truly crush their foes—there is always a Jedi, a galaxy, always goodness and hope and love fighting back.

And in the end “The Force shall free me”—through death. Through the purging of their tainted spirits. Through the fall of their plans, their battle stations, and their power. In the end, it is all always stripped away. For some this will be a blessing—take Anakin Skywalker, freed from the physical and mental torment he endured as the villainous Darth Vader after finally embracing the Light and releasing his iron grip on the universe. For others, it only is a delay, and they repeat this sunk cost cycle to the detriment of themselves and others, only to never truly fill that hunger within (see Darth Sidious and his countless cloning schemes depicted throughout Legends).

But dark and light are ouroboros, and while the light will rise, there will always be darkness, and with it, the Sith and their Code. Whether those who turn to it for guidance find the trap within is up to the Force.

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