Are the Sith Becoming Watered Down?

Well, with the new Fate of the Jedi series well underway, I have begun to question the choice of using Sith as adversaries in Star Wars. Whereas once, the Sith were a secretive cult striking from the shadows and causing shocking repercussions, they now seem to be appearing on a regular basis in the EU.

Legacy Era has had no less than three separate Sith factions operating concurrently throughout the galaxy. The One Sith are know to have survived, because they appear in the Legacy Comic Series. Lumiya's faction was a continuation/evolution of the Imperial Era Sith regime. That was a logical choice, even if it was bogged down by an underwhelming series.

But now, the Sith appear as the Lost Tribe of The Sith. Two working at the same time is acceptable, but that was two years ago, after a very long stretch with few major Dark Side conquest material. But introducing this new faction at this time just seems to push things too far. The Lost Tribe originate from the Hyperspace war, a time rife with Sith, so they fit in there. But why, suddenly bring them forward 5043 years to present EU? We already had two factions there to begin with! It makes me wonder why the Jedi always seem so shocked when the Sith appear, when suddenly they always show up on a regular basis. Legacy would have been better left to the behind the scenes machinations of the One Sith, given their priority in Legacy. A sort of backstory to them, instead of just popping up on Korriban for two short segments of novels focused on other Sith.

And that is only the Legacy Era. We also have the Clone Wars Series going full speed ahead, with Dooku and Ventress going Sith on every occasion. Acceptable though, as they had already been established during that time period, however.

Then you have Pre Saga material, where things are also going haywire. Darth Bane's conclusion is on the horizon, so there's one Sith group. And The Old Republic is dawning soon as well. This is where things are starting to get squiffy.

The Old Republic will introduce the third, full scale galactic war against the Sith in under a thousand years. And to make matters worse, it doesn't look all that original. It basically looks like a rehash of KOTOR, except now the Sith are less unique looking and more of a pseudo Palpatine's Empire clone. If we already had one Galactic Empire look like that, why do we need another that looks exactly the same?

There was a time when the EU contained unique villains, such as the Yuuzhan Vong, the Nzoth, or the Corporate Sector Authority. But nowadays, if nobody can think up a new villain, they just shout "Sith!"

They just seem too regular now, so none of their galactic wars seem to hold much value, just more of the same. Its a shame to see an enemy as insidious as the Sith constantly thrown into the spotlight. They have lost their bite.

 

The Sith haven't lost their bite.

It's just their turn.

We had the Empire, then we had the Yuuzhan Vong, and now we have the Sith.

The Separatists are only recently getting treated as a serious threat.

 

The Lost Tribe Sith are just different. I like that. I wanted variety & it's what I got. So far it''s not bad "variety" & that's all there is to it really. We'll see if different=watered down or not.

 

I was skeptical of the Lost Tribe, but I like how they are being done. They are vicious and backstabbing, yet so human. I think that makes them better villains.

 

Seems to me that the Lost Tribe is more Hapan-court-style than Sith-style. They're not that Sith-ly, at least in the way we know Sith.

 

While I think the Sith aren't watered down, I do think that they COULD BE.

I must admit, I'm not fond of the Lost Tribe of the Sith because they're a continuation of the "Golden Age of the Sith" empire that attempts to treat the Sith essentially as people. They're not, the guys who USED to be people but have become Living Embodiments of Darkness. I actually liked Darth Bane's novels because they portrayed Darth Bane as a total sociopath who actually GOT WORSE and the same for Darth Zannah while the "human-like" Sith were treated as complete failures.

I guess that I'm engaging in hyperbole because I don't think the Sith should be Sauron-style supernatural evils but I want them to definitely be the most EVIL people in the entire galaxy because I want to see what the Dark Side of the Force does to your brain. Jacen Solo, for all of his stupider qualities was at least a malevolent monster who covered the galaxy in darkness.

Sith should never be the Diet Coke of Evil. They should be "Pants Wetting Fear Inducing" Evil with a capital E.

 

No, we need the sith to wield awesome force powers. This water downed version sucks

 

Such as Golden's written version of them. All glitz, no gore. I wanna read about the villians, I wanna read about the bloody carnage they cause, not get told that they just did it. Golden no got the skillz to write villians, methinks.

 

Yes. Yes they are. You can hardly find anything these days where the Sith aren't the villains. Overexposure, combined with the creation of a billion different lost Sith groups so we can always pull Sith out of nowhere to provide random antagonists, are reducing the impact of Sith, making them cheesy and generic. They're as tired as the warlord-of-the-week gimmick, and it needs to stop.

 

To me, the Lost Tribe are JJM's pet characters & he's only written them twice now. JJM showed me with 1 50 pg e-book that he can write, is prose the right word? I loved his Sith brother VS brother fight. I thinks JJM should be the 3rd FotJ author, everyone knew his DH comics are good. What did we know about Christie Golden other than she used to write for ST?

Anyone agree?

 

I assume you prefer Prince Xizor and Moff Tavira to Palpatine and Darth Bane then?

Seriously, because Xizor is motivated by greed and pleasure along with Tavira. While Palpatine is motivated by pure lust for power from Dark Empire's depiction of him. Darth Bane has sacrificed his capacity to love, enjoy pleasure, and live what we could call an enjoyable life to live solely for power.

Power for its own sake, as he told Krayt.

If your villains aren't willing to sacrifice everything then are they really that scary? Or are they just thugs with Force powers?

I really loved the Tassels bit and wanted a payoff. That Jacen Solo would never be a true Sith until he realized that it was better to murder his own family than have himself distracted by love and affection. The Kaizer Soyse choice.

 

Ahhh, I get it, bro.

 

This may shock you PG, but I actually agree.

I totally believe that we need some more semi-justified villains. We need villains with deep motivations and explanations of who they are. I think Darth Talon is a cardboard cut out of a character, Aurra Sing, and also Ventress; they're totally without value as characters from whatever I've seen.

They're just stock villains.

However, I think the Sith should be held in reserve PRECISELY FOR THIS REASON. I guess that I think the Sith lose some of their impact when the immediate reaction for the appearance of a Sith is "Get out your lightsaber" than a kind of horrifying dread.

its' sort of like the Joker.

If every one of Batman's villains was as purely evil as the Joker, it dilutes what the Joker is.

 

Vader needs to be watered down.
[image=http://images3.wikia.nocookie.net/starwars/images/c/c3/Anakin_in_Flames.jpg]

 

IMO, they're becoming Villains of the Week--not actually really scary anymore. EVERYTHING is about Darth So and So, or Darth That Guy Over There...the title of Darth has really seemed to have lost its power, if you ask me.

 

I'm starting to think this might be the case. When TPM came out, I remember being very intrigued about the Sith as represented by Darth Maul and Sidious. What was their Order like? What about their thousand years in exile? But then the floodgates were opened, and now you can't have any enemy in the EU that isn't either a Sith or backed by a Sith. I agree with the sentiment made by other posters that there should be an attempt to preserve the dread and legendary evil of the Sith, though that doesn't mean we can't have rounded-out and dynamic Sith characters.

We just don't need them in every single flippin' book.

I thought we had a missed opportunity with the "thousand terrors" of the Unknown Regions that Soontir Fel mentioned in VotF. Why not expand upon that? (and no, in my opinion, the Killiks don't count).

 

Because we got the Yuuzhan Vong.

I don't mind using the Sith more but why as footsoldiers?

Why couldn't there be ONE Lost Lord of the Sith and hundreds of talented Anzati warriors or Morgukai or whatever the Hell they employ?

 

I, for one, would love to see a return of the Morgukai, especially if they were in the service of a single Sith Lord (or even just a Sith pretender).

 

I'm not sure 'watered down' is the phrasing that I would use, but I emphatically do think that they Sith are getting egregiously over-exposed. The way they're used in Legacy of the Force is fine; Lumiya was a loose end that had needed tying up for a long, long time. Jacen Solo's transformation into Darth Caedus was a grim, heartbreaking ordeal. I even enjoy the Sith in the Legacy comic book. There's a general sense of 'holy crap...the Sith control the galaxy...' in there, and for the most part, the Sith themselves are ominious and threatening. That the got a nod in LotF was nice. But now there's the lost tribe of the Sith popping into existence out of nowhere, and it's wearing thin.

The Sith are the primary antagonists in Legacy, and two of their number were the headliners in LotF. Introducing a new Sith faction in ever story arc is getting tired. Darn it, I really don't want a repeat of the Superweapon/Warlord of the Month Club from the '90s. And I've been getting that vibe since the teaser images for the Legacy comic came out. It managed to win me over, but I still have this instinctive eyeroll every time a red-bladed lightsaber ignites, you know?

When Tim Zahn ended the First Galactic Civil War in the Hand of Thrawn Duology, it mostly spelled an end to the post-Imperial throwaway warlord stereotype. And this was a good thing. From there, we were given hints of the trials to come... Murmours of the barbarian hordes at the gates in the Unkown Regions, the Yuuzhan Vong. Now? More Sith.

 

I assume that the only reason the Superweapon/Warlord of the Month Club shut down is because the prequels showed up, when the entire franchise became Jedi/Sith-centric. As long as the normal guys out there take a backseat to Force-users, you'll find that the guys in charge of the EU will just keep reusing more and more Sith and other villians that play in the role in the Force mythology. Using conservative estimates, I suspect that the Sith/Force-story of the Month Club won't end untl the LAS when we'll start seeing more green-shirted Imps again.

 

Lots of complaints about overuse of Sith, I see. Same thing with Mandalorians, I would've read Mandos written by Allston & Golden, but it seems like no one else wanted them. There were lots of loose ends with Daala, Fett & the Supercommandos at the end of LotF, y'know. As long as Denning didn't abuse Fett for Traviss' sake by having Luke cut thru his neck plate & neck with a saber, the continuation of the Mando plot might be good readings.

Instead of the Sith, Imperials or Mandos, should the Jedi go to war with the Aing-Tii, Chiss, Silentium, the YV again or save the galaxy from those white people, the Nagai?

 

I wouldn't mind the idea of a bazillion Sithites running around if it wasn't for the fact that LFL decreed that the Vong could not be Dark Side users. That decree makes the later realization of a bunch of Sith hiding about (especially during the Vong era) a bitter pill for me to swallow.