Powerful Sith Lords That Could Replace Darth Vader in Star Wars Movies:
Darth Vader was, is and probably will remain the greatest supervillain to have ever lived. The Star Wars Universe became so famous because of Darth Vader. His exceeding popularity coupled with the character’s immeasurable stage presence made it an instant success. Darth Vader was not just a walking shell too. He had the powers to rival even the greatest of all Jedis. He was chosen by the Force itself and had a concentration of power even the Jedi Council feared. But with the Skywalker saga coming to an end, it would be foolish to think that Darth Vader has a place in the future of Lucasfilm’s Star Wars Universe. It is time for someone else to take the lead. It is time for a new era of the Dark Side.
1. Darth Zannah
As a troubled child with a gifted set of force abilities, Zannah was an outcast in her own home. The Sith law states a Rule of Two – a sacred law which means that a Sith Lord must always have an apprentice with him! Darth Bane, realizing Zannah’s potential, took her under his wing and taught her the ways of the Dark Side of the Force. Darth Zannah showed the aptitude to manipulate the Force in a caliber that was unseen and unheard of in the Galaxy. Her only weak point was that she believed in defense rather than offense. What Zannah lacked in offensive close quarter combat skills, she more than made up in Sith sorcery. She could cast powerful illusions and use a double-edged light-saber in battle. She also knew how to use Force tendrils and mask her presence in the Force – a feat not even some Sith lords could boast of.
2. Darth Krayt
Now his is a story fit to be turned into a movie. Darth Krayt started out as a measly Tusken Raider. He then soon joined the Bounty Hunter business and eventually became a respected Jedi in the Order. But after Order 66 was initiated, Krayt escaped to the fringes of the Galaxy where he was captured by the Yuuzhan Vong. Krayt would be relentlessly tortured until he decided to embrace the Dark Side of the Force and unleash so much power that incinerated his captor and allowed him to escape. Krayt could be most credited with the imposition of the Rule of One. He learned how to increase his life-span using the Force learned every little detail about it and was very adept at Force lightning and dual light-saber usage. During the peak of his powers, there was not one Sith Lord who did not fear him.
3. Galen Marek
This character debuted not in the comic books but in The Force Unleashed Video Game. Galen Marek is the apprentice of none other than Darth Vader. Well-versed in all the seven different forms of Light-Saber combat, Galen Marek is also a very powerful telepath and a strong warrior with a powerful connection with The Force. Marek once brought down an Imperial Star Destroyer battleship using nothing but the Force, pulling it down from orbit and sending it crashing onto a planet. Marek has also defeated Vader in one on one combat and fought Darth Sidious and lived to tell the tale. Emperor Palpatine considers Marek to have enough potential to surpass him given sufficient time.
4. Darth Nihilus
Darth Nihilus is a Sith Lord you do not want to cross paths with. There is a reason he is called the Lord of Hunger. After being exposed to a Force based super-weapon, Darth Nihilus’ body started withering away and he soon became pure, sentient force energy. Nihilus also gained the ability (or curse, however you put it) to drain people of their life force and feed his insatiable hunger. Darth Traya soon took the young apprentice under her wing and trained her in the ways of the Force. Nihilus has an amazing look, complete with an eerie looking helmet and a very horrifying aura altogether. His hunger for the Force became so huge that he started wiping out entire planets and sucking their life forces, turning them permanently inhabitable. Darth Nihilus is a force of nature. He is the true face of chaos.
5. Darth Bane
The Sith Order was not always such an organized force. Earlier, it was a group of evil, force-sensitive warriors that only wanted to fight each other instead of the Jedi. The Jedi, due to the Sith in-fighting, found it very easy to defeat the Sith Lords. But that changed with the rise of Darth Bane. He was the first Sith Lord who managed to unite all the Sith under one umbrella and created the Rule of Two. Darth Bane is a very versatile fighter with a very cunning mind. His force abilities have not been explored in detail but his rise to power and his journey to unite the Sith is noteworthy and must be taken notice of.
6. Darth Revan
Darth Revan is a character that has such an interesting character development arc that it is almost criminal that nobody has heard of him. Darth Revan, for starters, is a being that lived for more than 4000 years using the Force to cheat death. He was a master manipulator and understood the psyche of sentient beings to the point that even a mentally strong Jedi could not resist Revan’s attempts at turning them into a Sith Lord. Revan also used precognition in battle, predicting his enemies’ every move before they ever made and won the battle even before it started. Revan is seen as a hero by both the Sith as well as the Jedi. His conversion to the Dark Side is what started the Jedi Civil War. After he returned back to the Light Side, he killed Darth Malak and then came to be known as a Hero of the Republic. Kylo Ren’s helmet in the movies is an homage to the legend of Darth Revan.
7. Exar Kun
Exar Kun was a Jedi, just like Darth Krayt and Darth Revan, before he was tempted by the power offered by the Dark Side and ascended into the other side of the Force. Exar Kun landed on the planet Onderon and was trained by the spirit of the legendary Sith Warrior Freedon Nadd. After learning everything and killing his master, Exar Kun went on to initiate the Great Sith War. Exar Kun invented the double-edged lightsaber and created a deadly light-saber based martial art around it. Virtually invincible in battle, Exar Kun’s exploits include the raid of Coruscant, killed the Grand Jedi Master, and the Republic’s Grand Chancellor. He was so powerful that it took 4000 Jedis working in unison to trap in his spirit in the planet Yavin 4, where his spirit rests till date.
8. Darth Plagueis
Darth Plagueis is the very definition of Knowledge is power. He is best remembered as the master of Darth Vader’s master. Plagueis may not look like a he threat but trust us, he is probably the reason the Galactic Republic fell. Plagueis’ thirst for knowledge allowed him to learn how to manipulate the Force and use it to prolong one’s life. He also learned the secrets to reincarnation. Plagueis did not believe in Light Saber combat and did not carry a weapon most of the times. As Hugo Damask II, the inter-galactic banker, he orchestrated the financial downfall of the Republic and the rise of the Sith Empire in its place. He was considered so powerful that Darth Sidious, the most powerful Jedi to ever live, had to kill him in his sleep rather than in one on one combat.
9. Marka Ragnos
He is regarded by many as the first true Emperor of the Sith. Under his leadership, the Sith flourished to such an extent that his tenure is known as the Golden Age of the Sith. Marka Ragnos was blessed with extremely powerful Force based powers. But he instead relied on his supreme fighting prowess, unmatched all over the Galaxy, and his huge magic sword in battle. So strong he was that no one managed to ever kill him and Marka Ragnos died of natural causes. Even still, his spirit roams the galaxy and influences events for both the Soth and the Jedi alike.
10. Darth Vitiate
Known as the Dark Lord and the Valkorion, Darth Vitiate was only a kid when he killed his father at the age of 10 with nothing but a thought. Marka Ragnos took the kid under his wing as an apprentice and turned him into a Force of nature. The next century saw Vitiate master all forms of Sith Magic and Alchemy. He was the longest reigning Sith Emperor to ever live. He once used his extensive knowledge about Force magic to absorb the life essence of an entire planet and become virtually immortal. He also learned how to jump from one body to another, thus becoming truly un-killable. When it comes to the ability to change the fabric of reality, there was no one that could hold a candle to Darth Vitiate.
