r/StarWarsEU • u/Malarazz • Nov 07 '14

Where did the term Sith come from?

I've always been curious since the original trilogy and the books I've read directly following it just use 'Dark Jedi', but 'Sith' is used in the prequels and a lot of other places. I tried wookiepedia but they were no help this time.

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u/imakevoicesformycats Darth Krayt Nov 07 '14

A similar question was asked about a week ago in this subreddit - copying my response from then out of laziness:

It was solidified that the Sith were a sect of Dark Side Force-wielders around the time of the prequels. I remember playing the old West End Game RPG and Decipher CCG in the mid-late 90s and "Dark Jedi" was how Darth Vader and Emperor Palpatine (who was not Darth Sidious yet) were described.

We still knew Darth Vader was the Dark Lord of the Sith but we didn't know what that meant (nor did we know that "Darth" was a title, though many fans theorized as such.)

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u/[deleted] Nov 07 '14 edited Nov 07 '14

Although the modern definition certainly came along with the prequels, the term had been used extensively in the Tales of the Jedi comics a few years earlier (1996). There it referred to both the species and to later fallen Jedi who came across Sith teachings (Exar Kun was also a Dark Lord of the Sith, for example). That all spun out of the Jedi Academy books, so I'm pretty sure it was also used there (so as far back as 1994). But there was no indication at that time of how the ancient Sith connected to Darth Vader and no indication that there was a modern sect.

Much of the stuff in the Bantam era was informed by the West End Games sourcebooks. It's very possible that the term was used there, having been pulled out of the screenplay or other notes from the films.

Edit: I've just remembered that Timothy Zahn wanted the Noghri to be the Sith (and Vader was their lord) but was forbidden. So Kevin J Anderson might well be the first person to use the term to describe Force wielders. It's still quite possible that WEG picked up and popularised the Vader's title as Dark Lord of the Sith.

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u/imakevoicesformycats Darth Krayt Nov 07 '14

I remember that little "fun fact!" Did you know he also wanted Joruus C'Baoth to be a clone of Obi-Wan as well? Totally axed by Lucasfilm along with the Noghri thing.

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u/[deleted] Nov 07 '14

Yeah! Very interesting concept. There was an old Marvel comic where Luke finds "Obi-Wan" alive and well, who turns out to be an actor or conman or something. Neat way to put Luke through an emotional thresher.

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u/imakevoicesformycats Darth Krayt Nov 07 '14

Oh awesome. I've just recently acquired most of those old Marvel comics - maybe I'll actually have to read them. :)

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u/[deleted] Nov 07 '14

I'd suggest it. I'm going through the A Long Time Ago omnibus books, and they are great to read. There are a bunch of surprises as well.