These seven chilling examples prove the Sith Code is actually true in Star Wars. Created by David Gaider, the Sith Code is the perfect summary of the Sith philosophy. It’s actually partly inspired by Adolf Hitler’s Mein Kampf, with Gaider deliberately inverting the Jedi Code in a surprising and smart way. Although introduced in Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, the Sith Code has made its way into canon, and was most recently alluded to in The Acolyte.

The modern Sith Code reads like this:

“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.”

Oddly enough, as individualistically liberating as this may sound, many dark siders have experienced a very different outcome. Kylo Ren never really fell to the dark side, for example; rather, he was trapped by it, manipulated into serving it. Anakin Skywalker may have had a lot more agency, but he too never found freedom. And yet, for all that’s the case, these seven examples prove there’s something to the Sith Code.

6

The High Republic Era Proves Peace Has Always Been A Lie

There was never a time of peace

When Obi-Wan Kenobi told Luke Skywalker about the galaxy’s past in the first Star Wars movie, he made the age of the Jedi sound idyllic. “For over a thousand generations the Jedi Knights were the guardians of peace and justice in the Old Republic,” he explained. “Before the Dark Times, before the Empire.” The prequels proved that Obi-Wan was being nostalgic, of course, because George Lucas presented a very imperfect Jedi Order.

Lucasfilm’s Star Wars: The High Republic transmedia initiative has stepped back in time to two centuries before the Skywalker Saga, to the golden age of the Jedi and the Republic. Shockingly, it’s revealed that there never really was a time of true peace. Here, at the peak of the High Republic, the Jedi waged existential battles against terrifying threats. They fought carnivorous Force-sensitive plant creatures known as the Drengir, they were hunted by Force predators called the Nameless, and space pirates known as the Nihil.

Star Wars: The High Republic Phase III is telling a tale of staggering scale. The Nihil have successfully cordoned off a vast portion of the galaxy behind the Stormwall, an almost-impenetrable hyperspace barrier, and they’ve cordoned it off. They’ve launched impressively well-coordinated attacks on Jedi and Republic forces, even destroying the Jedi’s space station base at Starlight Beacon in a massive PR coup. So much for a time of peace.

5

The Acolyte Proves Even Jedi Masters Are Not At Peace

Sol & Torbin in particular

Fast-forward to The Acolyte, the latest Star Wars Disney+ TV show. Set a century before Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace, the characters of The Acolyte are Jedi who live in the shadow of the dark side. Supposedly a murder mystery, the main events spin out of something that happened on the Outer Rim planet Brendok some 16 years ago. The truth is currently unknown, but one thing is clear; these Jedi never knew peace, for all their training.

Lee Jung-jae’s Master Sol is haunted by the past, his emotions bursting to the surface time and again. Even his own Padawan suspects he has a little too much attachment to the Padawan he rescued from the fires of Brendok. Remarkably, Sol is an accomplished Jedi Master who taught Younglings at the Jedi Temple. It’s staggering to imagine such an important role being occupied by a Jedi Master who had no peace.

Even more shocking, though, is the tale of Dean-Charles Chapman’s Master Torbin. This Jedi Master swore an oath of penitence known as the Barash Vow, isolating himself from all other Jedi for over a decade. Even meditation didn’t give him peace, as proven when he was visited by a Sith assassin who offered him absolution by drinking poison. Torbin broke his meditative trance to take the poison, proving he had never found peace as a Jedi.

4

Anakin Skywalker Was Always The Greatest – & Most Passionate – Jedi

The hero of the Clone Wars

Born the Chosen One, conceived by the will of the Force itself, Anakin Skywalker proved himself on the front lines of the Clone Wars. For all Lucasfilm’s Dave Filoni may insist Anakin was always the greatest Jedi, though, the secret of his strength always lay in his passion. Anakin didn’t fight for the galaxy in a serene and disinterested way; rather, he fought for those he loved. His greatest victories were always won when people he cared about were on the line.

There’s some evidence that the Jedi Council understood this truth. Master Yoda in particular realized that Anakin’s unorthodox approach was what made him so effective, and took advantage of this in Star Wars: The Clone Wars season 6. There can surely be no doubt some members of the Jedi Council were rather uncomfortable with this.

3

Obi-Wan Defeated Anakin Because Of His Attachments

So much for the best of the Jedi

Matt Stover’s novelization of Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith reveals the Jedi Council came to believe Obi-Wan to be the best of them, the very embodiment of what it means to be a Jedi. Shockingly, though, he used the dark side when he defeated Anakin. The novelization stresses that this was no Sith versus Jedi battle, but rather that it was incredibly personal, with each lashing out from the pain they felt over what had happened.

Disney gave Obi-Wan and Darth Vader a rematch in the Obi-Wan Kenobi show, and even there the Jedi Master didn’t really win through as a Jedi. The end of Obi-Wan Kenobi saw him find strength in his attachments, as Obi-Wan remembered his young charges Luke Skywalker and Leia Organa. It was a sweet scene, but it also wasn’t very Jedi-like. It supports the whole idea that attachments and passion do indeed unlock power.

2

Palpatine Gained Power, & Triumphed Over His Foes

The ultimate illustration

Of course, the ultimate proof of the Sith Code lies in Emperor Palpatine himself. Palpatine considered himself the dark side personified, and he successfully triumphed over all his foes. That done, he established a Galactic Empire where it was only possible for people to prosper by cultivating their worst instincts. This tipped the balance of the Force toward the dark side, and Palpatine drew strength from this imbalance, becoming ever more powerful.

Palpatine perfectly embodies the truth of the Sith Code; it is all about the freedom of the one. He was the individual in a place of absolute power, and all else were subject to him, the power base he operated from. Even Darth Vader, Palpatine’s apprentice, was effectively nothing but a pawn at best and a slave at worst to the Emperor.

1

Darth Plagueis Broke The Chains Of Death Itself

The ultimate chain-breaker

As powerful as Palpatine may have been, though, his own master was greater still. There was one final chain Palpatine sought to break; the bonds of mortality. Darth Plagueis accomplished this, and Palpatine was forced to bend the rules of the Sith by killing his master in his sleep rather than facing him in battle. It’s quite chilling to imagine a Sith Lord more powerful than Palpatine himself.

And yet, Plagueis serves as an illustration of the folly of the Sith Code as well; sooner or later, every Sith Lord will be challenged. Even Palpatine only triumphed over his foes for a time, ruling over the galaxy for just under two decades before he was overthrown. The Sith Code may contain elements of truth in Star Wars, but it is self-defeating in the end.