Those Damn Sith!

Seriously, what's with the Sith?

Look. Strange though it is, we have several groups of Sith in the established Star Wars universe. There's the original Sith - aliens of a particularly malevolent bent, who taught the original evil-force-wielding Sith their nastiness. There's the Sith Empire - lurking somewhere out beyond civilized space several thousand years before the movies, occasionally sending out agents to cause trouble. Eventually they fight the Republic (the good guys) and, presumably, lose, because they're not heard from since.

You think that's the end of it? Not close. Then there's the other Sith Empire, which comes in about halfway between the original empire and the movies chronologically. It rises when some easily-corrupted Jedi find ancient evil artifacts lying around in Sith tombs, destroys most of the Republic, but is eventually beaten back and destroyed on Yavin IV - triggering a superweapon that also wipes out all sentient life on the planet. Dang Sith

Then, about two thousand years later, it's the time of the movies. Some few remaining Sith - perhaps a continuous line from the last empire, more likely corrupted by some artifacts - start plotting to take over the galaxy. Bam - Clone Wars, Palpatine becomes Emperor, Anakin falls to the dark side, another Sith Empire. This one doesn't last as long as the others. Luke and the Rebellion take Palpatine back a single generation after it rises, though it takes fifteen years after that for a peace to be signed.

But that's not all. Oh no. First, throughout those fifteen years of fighting between the New Republic (the successor state to the Rebellion) and the fragmented remnants of the Empire, all sorts of things are popping up - Force witches, Sith artifacts that corrupt Jedi trainees, Palpatine rising from the dead with a combination Death Star/Super Star Destroyer, more Sith artifacts that corrupt bits of the New Jedi Order... you'd think they'd just fry the damn Sith ruins from orbit.

Even after the Imperial Remnant signs a peace with the New Republic, things don't quiet down. Aliens from beyond the edge of the galaxy invade and wreck most of the New Republic. Then yet more Sith appear and try to corrupt Luke's nephew, who's one of the more skilled Jedi remaining after the invasion. He's already tottering after the dubious actions he took against the extragalactic invaders, so he's an easy mark.

Here's the thing: the Sith are Jedi that cuss. Basically, in the Star Wars 'verse, if you can sense the Force and then have the gall to possess human emotions, you're immediately shunted to the Dark Side. If you get angry when a Sith, say, kills your dog, then you're corrupted and turn on your friends after killing him.

I do love reading/watching/playing the stuff, but George Lucas has some really odd ideas. I felt this should be noted.

All due credit to this blog post, which played some part in the thought process beyond this post. Tomorrow will be... less derivative, I hope.