​​​​

Star Wars has established that Palpatine/Darth Sidious alone wasn’t the “Phantom Menace” in Episode I’s title. This is also a concept that could have some very exciting ramifications regarding the upcoming Acolyte series. Set 100 years before the events of the prequel trilogy, The Acolyte has an exciting opportunity to further expand on the concept of what the Star Wars galaxy’s true “Phantom Menace” actually was and how it emerged long before the events of the Skywalker saga.

In 2012, James Luceno’s Darth Plagueis was one of the last novels to be published just before Disney purchased Lucasfilm and the Star Wars IP, and the subsequent continuity purge that followed. This was a reset that effectively voided the majority of Star Wars media outside the core movies and shows as part of the non-canon which have since been labeled as “Legends”. Regardless, Darth Plagueis helps clarify some core concepts about Palpatine and the Sith Lords who preceded him which may become even more important considering the upcoming Acolyte series.

Star Wars’ Phantom Menace…Is The Entire Sith Order

From Darth Bane To Sidious

In Darth Plagueis, the titular Sith Lord and future master of Palpatine reflects on words his own master Darth Tenebrous shared with him about the overall Sith Imperative in the wake of Darth Bane’s Rule of Two. Having killed countless Sith Lords until there was only himself and a single apprentice, Bane consolidated the strength of the dark side into only two Dark Lords, a master to hold the dark side’s power and an apprentice to crave it. This ensured the Sith’s enduring survival rather than falling to the relentless in-fighting, backstabbing, and power grabs the Sith of the era had fallen into.

However, Tenebrous’ specific words to Plagueis establish that the entire Sith Order was the galaxy’s “Phantom Menace”, rather than just Palpatine alone at the start of the Skywalker saga. Operating in the shadows of the galaxy, the Sith laid the foundations for the Sith’s eventual galactic dominance and revenge upon the Jedi which Palpatine would eventually come to fulfill:

We Sith are an unseen opposition, Tenebrous had told his young apprentice. A phantom menace. Where the Sith once wore armor, we now wear cloaks. But the Force works through us all the more powerfully in our invisibility.

While Tenebrous’ words may be from a Legends novel, the logic still follows in the official continuity as well. After all, the Jedi Order believed the Sith had been extinct before the emergence of Sidious’ apprentice Darth Maul in The Phantom Menace.

Why The Sith Operated As A Phantom Menace

Operating The Shadows To Consolidate Power

According to Darth Tenebrous, the dark side of the Force works through the Sith to a greater degree and with more power when the tools of deception are used against the Jedi (as opposed to direct offensives seen during the Old Republic). Remaining hidden and striking from an unknown position, the Sith have the advantage. This explains Palpatine’s meticulous planning and carefully laid plans he built for years before finally enacting his master stroke which turned the Republic into his very own Empire, decimated the Jedi Order, and corrupted the prophesied Chosen One into his very own Sith apprentice.

Darth Sidious/Palpatine followed the tenets of the Sith Imperative using his training from his own master Darth Plagueis, hiding in plain sight within the Galactic Senate while masking his presence from the Jedi Order through the Force. Likewise, Plaguies himself had his own public persona as a member of the Intergalactic Banking Clan. Known as Hego Damask, Plagueis used his holding company and connections as a powerful financier to shift the balance of power in the galaxy as he saw fit, aiding the Sith Imperative from the shadows just as his apprentice would do during the Skywalker saga after Palpatine murdered Plagueis (following Sith tradition).

The Acolyte Can Show Another Aspect Of The Phantom Menace

Are The Sith In Danger Of Exposure?

The upcoming series The Acolyte which will be set 100 years before The Phantom Menace. As such, one has to wonder which Sith Lords are active at this time and what they’ve been up to. One can assume that they’re also part of the Sith’s “Phantom Menace” legacy, operating in the shadows while ensuring that the Jedi do not learn of their continued existence too early. However, Darth Plagueis did establish that there were agents of the dark side who were considered to be Sith impostors and those who refused to follow Bane’s Rule of Two, there were only ever two true Dark Lords.

More specifically, one has to wonder who The Acolyte’s helmeted and red lightsaber-wielding figure might be, and whether they’re a Sith pretender or not. Perhaps they could be a canonical version of Tenebrous or Plaguies (both were aliens with long life spans). Either way, the presence of so many Jedi Knights in this upcoming series does not bode well for this mysterious villain, especially if they are indeed a genuine Dark Lord of the Sith. Likewise, if they are a pretender, perhaps the real Sith Lords will emerge to eliminate competition that’s potentially threatening their exposure.

In any case, it’s important that while Palpatine may have started as the Skywalker saga’s “Phantom Menace”, he simply inherited the role from the Sith Lords who came before. The Dark Lords who followed the lineage of Darth Bane and adhered to the Rule of Two all served as the galaxy’s ongoing “Phantom Menace”, culminating in Palaptine’s plans and successful revenge against the Jedi Order as seen in Revenge of the Sith. As such, it should prove to be very exciting to see how the villains of The Acolyte may or may not add to “The Phantom Menace” legacy in the Star Wars canon.