Dark Jedi Dark Jedi , also known as " Fallen " Jedi , were Force - sensitives , frequently former Jedi , who chose to deny the light side of the Force or follow the dark side . Although " Dark Jedi " originally referred to a Jedi who had fallen to the dark side , it could also refer to uninitiated Force - sensitives who received no Jedi training but began their careers under another Dark Jedi . Others were simply dark - side users who did not follow the teachings of the Sith or other dark side organizations . In some cases , Dark Jedi also included " artificial " Force - sensitives who served the dark side , such as the Reborn and the Shadowtrooper s . The first Dark Jedi was believed to be Xendor , who was the first member of the Jedi Order to fall . Other forerunners included Ajunta Pall and others who , after the Hundred - Year Darkness , were exiled from Galactic Republic space and became the ancient progenitors of the Sith Lords . Ultimately , the title became something of a blanket term for darksiders who could not be classified as belonging to any specific dark side organization . Dark Jedi also became a term of note during the Great Sith War and the Jedi Civil War , where fallen Jedi served under the banners of Exar Kun and the duo of Darth Revan and Darth Malak , respectively . Thousands of years later , Sith Lords such as Palpatine would resurrect the term , with agents serving under him bearing the title . Those whom the Miraluka Jerec controlled came to be known as the Seven Dark Jedi . Description and relationship to the Sith . Despite the fact that both groups called upon the dark side of the Force , Dark Jedi were not the same as the Sith , though the first group of Dark Jedi were the predecessors of the Dark Lords in the ancient Sith Empire . The term " Dark Jedi " was a collective and vague name of dark - side practitioners ( be they fallen or rogue Jedi ) that used Force powers and a lightsaber , but were not always members of a certain organization , whereas the term " Sith " referred to a definite heritage or ideology . Some Dark Jedi were allied to the Sith or other organizations , while others were loners . Because they were notoriously dangerous , unstable , and treacherous , Dark Jedi seldom formed well - organized groups on their own in order to expand their following or reinforce their strength . One notable exception to this was the Miraluka Dark Jedi Jerec and his retinue of minions . Dark Jedi could also use their power for personal gain , becoming mercenaries or assassins . The Sith , however , was an order that followed their code and studied their history , studied their own skills and techniques , and possessed secrets like Sith alchemy and Midi - chlorian manipulation . Furthermore , after the Rule of Two was established , the Order of the Sith Lords was limited to only two members , a master , and an apprentice , whereas the Dark Jedi had no organization and no such limitations . The Sith often seduced Dark Jedi to work for them , without really granting them any knowledge of Sith techniques . Yet most Dark Jedi were willing to serve the Sith and saw it as a way to further their knowledge of the Force . Like those of the Sith , their lightsabers usually had red blades , but were also known to have a wide variety of colors . Many dark - side practitioners , such as Count Dooku , considered the power of a Dark Jedi to be nothing compared to the power of the Sith . Other individuals , like Darth Vader , practiced both Dark Jedi and Sith techniques . According to Dooku , a prime difference between Dark Jedi and Sith is that the Sith " lack fear . " History of the Dark Jedi . The Old Republic era . The First Great Schism and early Dark Jedi . After the Jedi Order was established , divisions began to appear within the order ' s structure , leading to the First Great Schism , ( c . 24 , 500 BBY ) , when several Jedi were discovered delving within the " dark " side of the Force . The Dark Jedi Xendor and his followers allied with the master of Teräs Käsi Arden Lyn and her Followers of Palawa from Bunduki . In a climactic battle , Xendor was slain , Jedi Master Awdrysta Pina stopped Arden ' s heart with morichro , and Lyn killed Pina with a Kashi Mer talisman . After the war , the rest of these dissidents — known as the Legions of Lettow — were defeated . The Second Great Schism and the Hundred - Year Darkness . For over the next seventeen millennia , crises involving the Dark Jedi were rather isolated . One example involved a female Jedi Knight named Halbret who had brought together a contingent of Jedi Knights during the Pius Dea Era to defeat a powerful Dark Jedi who had enslaved the Kathol species . Around 7000 BBY , however , a second war broke out between the Jedi and Dark Jedi that lasted a hundred years . The Dark Jedi were finally defeated at the Battle of Corbos and exiled into the far reaches of space . These exiles finally landed on the planet Korriban , enslaved the native Sith , and eventually interbred with them and created a new that eventually would plague the galaxy for millennia : the Sith cult . The Golden Age of the Sith and the Great Hyperspace War . After their defeat during the earliest Jedi Civil Wars , called the Great Schisms , the adherents of the dark side fled from Republic space and settled on the world of Ziost , where they ruled over the barbaric , red - skinned Sith like gods . In time , the Dark Jedi and the remarkably Force - sensitive Sith natives interbred through the use of Sith alchemy and became one people . The united Sith formed an immensely rich and powerful empire built upon sorcery and dark - side - fueled technology quite possibly adapted from the scattered ruins of the earlier Infinite Empire of the Rakata . Over the centuries , the Dark Jedi exiles were forgotten by the Galactic Republic even as all records of the Republic were lost by the Sith . The two civilizations thrived in isolation , each ignorant of the other . However , after famed Sith Lord Marka Ragnos died , two other Sith Lords , Naga Sadow , and Ludo Kressh , clashed for the mantle of Dark Lord . Two explorers from the Republic stumbled upon Korriban and the Sith Empire . They were imprisoned upon arrival , and the Sith council debated . They were originally going to be executed , but Naga Sadow secretly freed them and left evidence of the Republic . Believing the escape was due to Republic work , the Sith aligned with Sadow , and attacked the Republic . The Third Great Schism and the Vultar Cataclysm . In 4250 BBY , the Third Great Schism broke out on Coruscant , which led to the destruction of the Dark Jedi in that conflict in the Vultar Cataclysm . The Great Sith War . Many Jedi seduced by Exar Kun became Dark Jedi . After the death of Kun , many Dark Jedi still existed and served under new Sith Lords like Darth Malak and Darth Nihilus . The Jedi Civil War . Many Jedi joined Revan and Malak when they joined the Mandalorian Wars , and almost all of them became Dark Jedi when the Jedi Civil War started . Jedi who hadn ' t followed them were captured and turned to the dark side , becoming Dark Jedi themselves . The Fourth Great Schism & The New Sith Wars . 2000 BBY , Umbaran Jedi Master Phanius fell to the dark side . He left the Jedi Order with fifty Jedi Knights and became Darth Ruin . He eventually established a new Sith Empire that later resulted in the New Sith Wars . During the era of Lord Skere Kaan , many dark - siders were considered Sith Lords and very few Dark Jedi were ever seen in the following millennia , until the Clone Wars . The Republic Classic era . In approximately 600 BBY , fallen Jedi Knight Allya was banished to Dathomir , where she became the founder of the Witches of Dathomir . In 188 BBY , a Dark Jedi conflict occurred on Genarius , led by fallen Padawan Kibh Jeen . Jedi Master Qui - Gon Jinn ' s Padawan Xanatos turned to the dark side and later died in a confrontation with his master . A few years before the invasion of Naboo by the droid army of the Trade Federation , a group of Dark Jedi brought terror to the Elrood sector . Their reign of fear ended when the Jedi Ambassador Jorus C ' baoth and his strike team defeated the darksiders . Clone Wars . After the apparent death of Darth Maul , Darth Sidious apprenticed Darth Tyranus , who in turn apprenticed several Dark Jedi , including Asajj Ventress and Sora Bulq . He also supposedly had under his wing the Jedi - turned - Dark Jedi Quinlan Vos . 27 months after the Battle of Geonosis , the Bpfassh Dark Jedi crisis occurred . A group of Bpfasshi Dark Jedi were responsible for a rampage of terror and destruction throughout the Bpfassh system and , indeed , the entire Sluis sector . A Jedi task force led by Yoda was sent to stop them and quell the uprising . Near the end of the Clone Wars , everything went wrong for Dooku . Ventress , after faking her own death , fled to an unknown location . Sora Bulq was killed by Quinlan , after the latter had turned back to the light , during the Siege of Saleucami . Another Dark Jedi named Tol Skorr was also killed by Quinlan during the battle . A few weeks after the siege , Dooku himself was killed by Anakin Skywalker onboard General Grievous ' s flagship , the " Invisible Hand " . Soon after , Skywalker became Darth Vader , Palpatine ' s newest apprentice , and the Sith ruled the galaxy once more . This would lead to the employment of many more Dark Jedi . Galactic Empire . During the span of the Galactic Empire , Palpatine established a number of organizations composed by Dark Jedi , including the Inquisitorius , the Emperor ' s Hand s , and his personal Dark Side Elite . Many AgriCorps Padawans were captured by Vader after the execution of Order 66 . The younglings that Vader did not kill ( which were very few ) were trained in the ways of the dark side by several Dark Side Adepts , including Vader himself . After Vader ' s death , Palpatine would not risk living with another apprentice after losing " three " , and so the Dark Side Elite became the right hand of Lord Sidious during Operation Shadow Hand . Palpatine also trained several Emperor ' s Hand s , special assassins that did his bidding . Famous ones included Darth Vader ' s daughter - in - law , Mara Jade Skywalker , and Shira Brie , who would later become Lumiya , Vader ' s apprentice . Mara was later redeemed by her future husband , Luke Skywalker , and became a Jedi Master . Post - Palpatine era . After the Battle of Endor , Dark Jedi sporadically appeared throughout the years . One group of Dark Jedi rallied under Jerec in an effort to locate and siphon the power of the Valley of the Jedi . This faction , often known as the Seven Dark Jedi , was defeated by Kyle Katarn . In the Empire Reborn campaign , Lord Hethrir , Desann , and Admiral Galak Fyyar created an unusual hybrid of Dark Jedi and stormtroopers by giving them cortosis - weave armor and crystals from Artus Prime . These soldiers were called the shadowtrooper s . Jedi - in - training Kyle Katarn and his partner Jan Ors put a stop to the project and defeated two of the three heads . In 14 ABY , Master Katarn and his new apprentices , Jaden Korr and Rosh Penin , came to the New Republic ' s rescue as Desann ' s former apprentice , Tavion Axmis , discovered the Scepter of Ragnos and created a new Sith cult called the Disciples of Ragnos . The cult consisted of cultists and Desann ' s old Reborn warriors , and was also allied to the Imperial Remnant . The Disciples and Tavion were defeated by Korr and Katarn , and Rosh was redeemed after joining . A young Jedi named Dolph trained under the New Jedi Order for less than a year before returning home and finding his parents ' dead bodies impaled before the governmental palace , having been slain by the Je ' har government . He became the Dark Jedi Kueller and used his powers to bring down the Je ' har regime . He then orchestrated the Almanian Uprising , only to be thwarted by Jedi Master Luke Skywalker and his sister Leia Organa Solo . Many Dark Jedi would later become part of the Second Imperium . Led by a former Jedi named Brakiss , the second Imperium assaulted Luke Skywalker ' s Jedi academy on Yavin 4 . Brakiss was eventually defeated by Skywalker then killed when a Royal Guardsman triggered an explosive device after nearly being killed by him , thus destroying the Second Imperium . Irek Ismaren was built into the cyborg Dark Jedi , Lord Nyax . Lord Nyax was eventually defeated by Luke Skywalker , Mara Jade Skywalker , and Tahiri Veila . During the Yuuzhan Vong war and the Dark Nest crisis , scarcely any Dark Jedi remained . The only apparent Dark Jedi during these crises were Nightsister Lomi Plo and Shadow Academy student Welk . Both were killed by Luke Skywalker during the Dark Nest crisis , however , both were secretly members of the One Sith . Also , a former Jedi named Alema Rar became a Dark Jedi during the Dark Nest Crisis , but was supposedly killed during one of its final battles . Alema was later proven alive but grievously wounded , only to die later by the hands of Jagged Fel . Despite all these tragic deaths and defeats , the Dark Lady Lumiya eventually resurfaced as a Sith , but was eventually killed by Luke Skywalker , who believed that she had murdered his wife Mara . Behind the scenes . " Star Wars " author Timothy Zahn coined the term " Dark Jedi " in his 1991 novel " Heir to the Empire " . Zahn needed a label for a Jedi who had fallen to the dark side , and the term " Sith " would not be properly defined for another few years . He went with " Dark Jedi , " which he regarded as " descriptive if not very original . " Over time , the definition of the term became progressively less precise , and " Dark Jedi " ended up referring to both fallen Jedi and malevolent Force users who never underwent proper training . Perhaps due to uneven usage within Legends sources , many fans have argued that " Dark Jedi " describes only those dark - side users who had previously been a Jedi or were once being trained as a member of the Order . Leland Chee dispelled this notion in two posts on the StarWars . com forums :