So exactly why did the Sith disappear after Darth Bane's downfall?

This is something I never understood. Even after Darth Bane's fall and Darth Zannah takes his place and finds an apprentice (Darth Cognus?), why did they go into hiding? Didn't the Brotherhood of Darkness wipe out most of the Jedi and the almighty powerful Lord Hoth? I'm assuming the sequel to "Path of Destrustion"will shed some light on this, but what are everyone's theories?

 

....Yes and Darth Bane wiped out all of the Sith.

It's not like Darth Bane believed he could dominate the whole of the galaxy with no one but himself.

 

Bane, by giving Kaan the Thought Bomb, eliminated one hundred Jedi. Hundreds more, at least, remained. Bane had no support structure beyond himself, as the Sith forces were concentrated at Ruusan; the Jedi did. They had a galactic government and all its resources behind them. That's not the kind of situation where one man can walk in and take over.

 

But that still doesn't explain why they went into hiding. Sith believed in "survival of the fittest" and "only the strong survive". It just seems very coward-like to kill the other Sith Lords, rebuild the Sith with Darth Zannah at your side, and then go hide for a 1,000 years. I mean 1,000 years is a long freakin' time.

 

Seems like the smartest thing any Sith has done, if you ask me. Destroy the fools he considered as posing to be Sith, then bide your time until you can take over and eliminate the only threat to your power... the Jedi. Took a thousand years to do, but in the end it was basically a painless transition vs the 1,000 years of warfare that the Jedi and Sith had been in up until Ruusan and the demise of the Army of Light and the Brotherhood of Darkness.

 

Getting yourself killed in pointless displays of bravado isn't strong. Like Bane said, there is no such thing as a glorious death. Just death. Strength is mental, as well, and outsmarting your foe makes you just as worthy of survival as outfighting him.

 

1,000 years to only rule the galazy for 23 years? (19BBY-04ABY) Doesn't make sense to me. I know Darth Bane didn't envision Darth Plagueis creating a life who's offspring would destroy the Sith Order, but still....1,000 years of hiding to only rule for 23 years is horrible. I think Darth Kaan's Brotherhood of Darkness, if they would have won the war, would have lasted much longer than that.

Maybe Darth Zannah and/or her apprentice were not strong enough and they hid fear of Master Gormo, Yoda, and the remaining Jedi instead.

 

Banite Sith follow a different policy. They wait until the time is right, rather than making the time right.

 

have yet to read POD but have JvS. i thought that the Brotherhood of Darkness was making a final stand on Ruusan, so there was no way they could've won. please correct me if i'm wrong.

 

I think both Lord Kaan and Lord Hoth were making final stands. Supplies and food were running short at the end. Could've gone either way IMO.

 

I'm pretty sure Hoth and Farfalla were both their own minor factions in the Jedi Order, though. Kaan, on the other hand, did have his entire order on Ruusan.

 

The Banite Rule of Two believes in long-term plotting. Very, very long-term plotting. It took centuries to build up their strength and resources and connections, but when they revealed themselves to the Jedi, the huge majority of Jedi were shortly after dead with the Sith unopposed rulers of the galaxy.

So, seems like a pretty good strategy to me. The Jedi just sat around doing their same old thing while the Sith planned for centuries, while also building their own strength with each Apprentice eventually overthrowing their Master.

Of course the Sith lost control of the Galaxy, but they still left a huge mark and lots of damage (physical and psychological). Also, evil is inherently flawed, and this is a story, which is why they lost control of the galaxy. Though given the way things go in Star Wars stories these days, galactic governments seem very transitory and temporary at best. Maybe a few centuries, then time for another one (at least not counting the Old Republic, and millenia of peace are quickly being retconned away to be replaced by one war or another).

 

Bane didn't hide for 1,000 years. He was dead long before that.

Sidious was the only Sith to reap the benefits of Bane's 'master plan' and, as stated above, only for 20 years.

All those Sith who lived between Bane and Sidious didn't get to rule the galaxy, but I'm sure they had some outlet to vent their power and frustration. Ruling a planet or a city or a village on the outer rim would be just as satifying. C'baoth got a thrill out of it.

 

I'd love to get a story about an impatient Sith Master who was about to unleash an Evil Master Plan that likely would not have worked and probably would have unveiled the Sith to the Jedi, but who was cut down by his much more reasonable and patient apprentice right before setting the Plan in motion.

 

I think Darth Bane realized a few things. 1. Lord Kaan was going insane and 2. Winning the really long battle of attrition that the Sith were fighting would have resulted in them gaining control of......Rusaan....a relatively insignificant planet that was devestated by war. The losses that they suffered would have rendered them completely inable to make any sort of push for control of the galaxy. 3. If any Sith remained, they would probably remain true to the "Brotherhood" idea and be a thorn in Bane's side.

The fact of the matter is, Bane's plan WORKED. Before Sidious, the sith NEVER Controlled such a significant portion of the galaxy. The fact that the reign was relatively short was practically a fluke. Sidious had the galaxy in his grasp before the son of the Jedi with the most potential ever showed up and put a crimp in his plans. If Luke had caught a bad virus or something as a child and ended up dying, it's likely that the Sith Regime would have stood for a looooong time.

 

I think both Lord Kaan and Lord Hoth were making final stands. Supplies and food were running short at the end. Could've gone either way IMO.

The Jedi served a government which, despite all its flaws, was reasonably resilient and could feasibly stagger on for a while without them. The Sith, on the other hands, only ever created Empires through the use of Force, Empires which almost always crumbled when the Sith were destroyed.

 

I think the answer to the question might be to ask another question. Did Bane care about ruling the galaxy? I'm not actually sure he did, as he seems to have cared completely about power, believing it an end unto itself. The way I've always liked to look at it is that the Sith under Bane were not (at first) actually all that worried about ruling the galaxy.

It was a natural progression, of course. After they had amassed so much knowledge and power and become near omnipotent gods it was only natural for them to move on to wanting to dominate all life. I assume the "early" Banites were simply more interested in recovering the lost secrets of the ancient Sith and prepared to ignore their desire for revenge until they were all powerful. Basically, becoming omnipotent gods seemed their first priority, revenge on the Jedi their second. Revenge could wait until they had already surpassed life and become immortal avatars of the dark side.

We'll hopefully learn more about Bane's own ambitions in Rule of Two. I'll be pleased though if we learn Bane wasn't actually all that interested in some foolish plan to get revenge on the Jedi in his lifetime but simply more interested in training Zannah and recovering more lost holocrons.

 

Hiding for a thousand years, taking a thousand years to strike, is as ridiculous sounding as Hutt-flavoured Coke. Come on.

 

Actually I find it fascinating that the progression of Sith Lords through that era were patient enough to bring the plan to fruition.

What I am curious about is whether there WAS a plan from the time of Bane forward...or if it was just a "hide the shadows and look for the boon of opportunity"...I wonder if similar "passive" attempts at attaining stations similar to Palpatine's entry in the Senate were conducted by Sith in the past. I wonder if Sith had to abort their plans over and over for fear of failure and the revelation of their identity.

The 1000 years show a quality of evil we don't normally suspect...patience.

Moreover, the Sith of Bane's era were unusual in that they could sidestep their selfishness and pride and avoid "going for broke" in a grasp for power. Banite Sith did care about the big picture...even beyond them...if it didn't get them the galaxy...it wasn't worth the reveal.

 

Thank you!!! Somebody finally sees my point. I understand waiting and plotting in the shadows until the time is right, but 1,ooo YEARS!!!???? That's what I'm questioning. 1,000 years is completely ridiculous. I'm praying to the EU Gods that they start writing some stories during this period after "Darth Bane: The Rule of Two" so this whole Bpants about 1,000 years in the shadows makes more sense.

 

I think it utterly worth the thousand years to see your charitable enemy destroyed not by your hand but by the hand of those he was charitable to... It is an acquired taste, elegant and evolved. As others have said above, what is the point of ruling the galaxy when the majority is against you? You just get ousted. Sure, a 1000 years is a long time but look what you have accomplished? Half the Galaxy and its entire military structure? Infinite resources? Only a "small band" of rebels to repel you? Sounds like you won and you earned it because the majority seems to agree...

 

Indeed, let us look at was the Sith did accomplish:
-Turned an ancient Republic into an Empire with the Sith at its head.
-Almost completely annihilated the millenia-old Jedi Order, "guardians of peace and justice".
-Created some of the most powerful superweapons the galaxy has ever seen.
-Reduced opposition to a small band of rebels.
-Kept a galaxy under their control for over two decades.
-Built and maintained one of the strongest militaries in galactic history.

 

The Empire is victorious on all fronts!

 

also, didn't the fact that the Jedi thought the Sith were gone help? Keeping that up was probably another good idea, too.

 

Considering how utterly massive the galaxy is 1,000 years to take it over seems kind of cheap. Especially to do it with only 2 people. The whole structure of the order seems much more efficient too. Only the strongest possible Sith would become masters and poor apprentices would be tossed by the wayside. As evidenced by Sideous' power after a thousand years that makes for one crazy powerful Sith. This is opposed to the Botherhood or Legacy style Sith where everyone is supposed to get along but never do because the very nature of the Sith is to press your advantage so even strong leaders are eventually ganged up on and removed weakening the order.

While I do find the idea that 2 people could take over the galaxy a bit ridiculous at the very least you have to respect how unbelievably easy it was in the end for the Sith to wipe the Jedi out and take over. Sideous lost a whole 2 apprentices during the thing while the Jedi lost thousands and thousands. And it only took 3 years. While the Brotherhood was fighting constant battles for what 3,000 years or something ever since the time of Darth Revan and still couldn't bring down the Republic.

More than any issue so far discussed in this thread or even on the topic I've always wondered exactly why using your emotions to fight ends up making you into a stark raving psychopath beyond the just 'cause reason.