The Star Wars expanded universe is, infamously, a bit of a mixed bag. While the likes of Timothy Zahn’s Thrawn trilogy, the Rogue Squadron book series, and the 2003 Clone Wars animated show are some of the best the beloved Sci-Fi/Fantasy franchise has to offer, there are at least three pieces of expanded Star Wars media that fail to deliver the same magic as the source material for every good book or show. Thankfully, the video game side of things has always been pretty solid.
For four decades now, Star Wars video games have managed to capture the essence of the iconic universe remarkably well, with some of the best games acting as an extension of the story, adding countless lore tidbits, new characters, new worlds, and new themes, but all while remaining very much a Star Wars product. Some of the best new additions to the Star Wars universe have been the pantheon of Sith Lords, stretching across the Old Republic era all the way up to the days of the Imperial Remnant. Although most aren’t canon anymore, they’re still some of the most powerful beings in the entire Star Wars universe.
The Strongest Sith With a Lightsaber
In the Star Wars universe, it’s usually the case that a Sith Lord was once a Jedi. As such, most Sith have been trained to wield a lightsaber using the same forms that the Jedi do. But once the Dark Side has taken hold of them, they soon learn that there’s more to the Force and more to lightsaber combat than they had first been taught. By channeling their rage into their lightsaber form, and by using Kyber crystals imbued with Dark Side energy, Sith Lords are capable of delivering devastating lightsaber strikes, with the best of them capable of finishing their opponent in just a few flourishes.
Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic‘s Darth Malak was one such Sith Lord. Trained as a Jedi Knight from a young age, Malak was one of the most gifted lightsaber-wielders of his generation, and he quickly turned those talents on the people that destroyed his childhood home: the Mandalorians. As Mandalorians continued to raid systems across the galaxy, Malak and his close friend Revan decided to go against the Jedi Council’s wishes, and joined the Republic to fight against the Mandalorians.
With Revan at his side and a battalion of fellow Jedi behind him, Malak became a hero of the Republic, conducting countless raids of Mandalorian planets. Whereas Revan was seen as the more level-headed of the two, Malak was seen as the brute, a warrior capable of cutting down entire armies of Mandalorians, some of the most renowned soldiers in the galaxy. After finally defeating the Mandalorians at the battle of Malachor V, Malak and Revan found the dying Sith Emperor, who used the duo’s resentment of the Jedi Order to turn them to the Dark Side.
But despite his prowess with a lightsaber, the Sith Emperor deemed Revan to be the greater asset to the Sith, making him the Master of the two. Malak openly resented this decision, and in one instance, after stating that he was the stronger Sith, Revan promptly sliced his jaw off with a lightsaber, proving that he was indeed worthy of the title of Sith Master.
Though Malak was incredibly skilled in close-quarters combat, he paled in comparison to Revan‘s power. With an inherent aptitude for the Force and hand-to-hand combat, along with an eagerness to learn all that they could, Revan’s skill was unmatched. Even after firing upon Revan’s ship and betraying them, Malak could still not defeat his Master, who returned to defeat them once and for all on board the Star Forge.
The Strongest Sith With The Force
The Force is a Jedi’s greatest tool and the Sith’s greatest weapon. While skill with a lightsaber is key to being a good warrior, it’s the Force that really sets a Sith Apprentice apart from a Sith Lord. Even those incapable of wielding a blade are still able to be amongst the most powerful warriors in the galaxy, and Darth Traya is the perfect example of that.
As one would expect from a game titled Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic 2: The Sith Lords, it has plenty of Sith in it. In fact, KOTOR 2 actually has three of the strongest Force-users in any Star Wars media. Under the alias Kreia, Darth Traya trains the Exile protagonist of Knights of the Old Republic 2, encouraging them to free the galaxy of their bond to the Force, which she deemed to be an enslavement of sorts.
Once a Jedi Master, Kreia trained Revan and became disillusioned with the Jedi Council upon Malak and Revan’s exile. Believing that the Force should not dictate laws, governments, or society hierarchy, Kreia began to teach her students more radical viewpoints. Seeing her as a threat, the Order exiled her, leaving her to join the Dark Side in an attempt to rid the galaxy of the Force. With Revan rejoining the Light Side, defeating Malak, and helping to destroy the Sith Empire they had started, Darth Traya took it upon herself to start a new Sith Empire, taking on two new Apprentices, Darth Sion, and Darth Nihilus.
As is the nature of all Sith, Darth Sion and Nihilus betrayed Traya in a bid to gain more power and influence over the galaxy, stripping her of her Force powers. Eventually, the two Sith Lords became even more powerful than their master, with Nihilus capable of consuming entire planets through the Force, while Sion used his immense range to reach a state of immortality, keeping his decaying body together through the power of the Dark Side, and the Dark Side alone.
Though not nearly as powerful as Darth Traya, Sion, or Nihilus, Star Wars: The Force Unleashed‘s Galen Marek, better known as Starkiller, became an extremely powerful Force-user. While his powers were great before, Starkiller’s Force abilities increased immensely when he fully embraced the Dark Side and joined the Emperor as his new Apprentice. The Force Unleashed‘s DLC sees Starkiller murder the entire main cast of the original Star Wars trilogy in an alternate timeline, using the force to launch the Millenium Falcon into Echo Base’s hangar doors, all while simultaneously battling Luke Skywalker with ease.
