Sith Master / Legends Sith Master was the title of a Sith individual who instructed at least one apprentice in the ways of the dark side of the Force . Traditionally , the apprentice was required to kill his or her mentor before they could train their own apprentice and advance to the rank of Master . Throughout Sith history , the Master held the titles Sith Lord and Dark Lord of the Sith . In Darth Revan ' s Sith Empire , Sith Masters held the rank of Sith Lord , but only the strongest Master ruled as Dark Lord of the Sith . Under Darth Bane ' s Rule of Two , the guiding principle of the Order of the Sith Lords , the Master and his or her apprentice held both titles together . The Sith Master ' s role stood in contrast to the rank of Jedi Master , a title given to members of the Jedi Order — adherents to the light side of the Force — who trained at least one Padawan in the Jedi arts . Like the Sith Rule of Two , the Jedi Code expressly forbade any master from training two or more apprentices simultaneously . History . Throughout various incarnations of the Sith Order , the rank of Master was held by Force - sensitive adherents to the dark side who trained one or more apprentices in the ways of the Sith . During the reign of the Sith Lord Darth Revan , Sith Masters were barred from instructing multiple disciples at the same time — a decree influenced by Revan ' s belief that lesser Sith would form an alliance to overthrow their outnumbered Master . As an example of his own policy , Revan trained a single apprentice , Darth Malak , during his tenure as the ruling Dark Lord of the Sith . Roughly three thousand years after the civil war between the Jedi Order and Darth Revan ' s Sith Empire , Darth Bane brought about the deaths of thousands of Sith in the final days of the New Sith Wars . The Brotherhood of Darkness , an order of numerous Sith , had left Bane disillusioned with the way that the organization broke away from Sith traditions . After the entire Brotherhood was destroyed at the Seventh Battle of Ruusan , Bane formed the Order of the Sith Lords . Guided by the Rule of Two , only two Sith Lords were allowed to exist at any given time — a Master who embodied the power of the dark side ; and an apprentice who coveted the power . Bane , who had grown inspired by Revan ' s views on the relationship between Master and apprentice , trained only one apprentice as his eventual successor , Darth Zannah . Throughout the following millennium , the mantle of Sith Master passed from mentor to apprentice , usually through single combat to the death as Bane had envisioned . The Rule of Two remained in effect during the last century of the Galactic Republic , although it was no longer strictly adhered to by modern Sith Lords . Darth Plagueis , like several Masters before him , was hesitant to train an apprentice , only to be replaced through eventual betrayal and murder . Plagueis ' s own Master , Darth Tenebrous , had secretly trained another student , Darth Venamis , without his apprentice ' s knowledge . Plagueis hoped to break the homicidal tradition of the Rule of Two with his apprentice , Darth Sidious , but was ultimately slain by the ambitious Sith Lord who sought to rule the galaxy as Emperor . Darth Sidious was a master of several apprentices at different points in his life . While still learning the ways of the dark side under Plagueis ' s guidance , Sidious trained a Dathomirian Zabrak , known as Darth Maul , as a Sith assassin . Maul was then followed by two former members of the Jedi Order , Darth Tyranus and Darth Vader respectively . Though Darth Vader never attained the rank of Sith Master , he secretly instructed his own Sith apprentice in a plot to overthrow the Emperor . Galen Marek , a prodigy of the Force , served the Dark Lord as his personal assassin for years under the codename " Starkiller . " Marek ' s redemption as a Jedi and untimely demise forced Vader to clone his former apprentice in the hopes of creating a stronger and more loyal version of the original Starkiller . Out of the numerous test subjects who failed to meet Vader ' s expectations , including a renegade clone , only one clone completed his trials and became Darth Vader ' s new apprentice . The Order of the Sith Lords ended with the demise of the last clone of Emperor Palpatine in 11 ABY , but the Rule of Two was preserved by a new Sith Master , the self - proclaimed Dark Lady of the Sith Lumiya . Having received partial Sith instruction under both Sidious and Vader , Lumiya rebuilt Bane ' s Order and instructed two apprentices in turn , the former stormtrooper Flint , and a Royal Guardsman named Carnor Jax . Her third and final apprentice , Darth Caedus , achieved Sith Mastery shortly before Lumiya ' s death in a duel against Luke Skywalker . the grandson of Darth Vader , Caedus anointed the Jedi Tahiri Veila as his apprentice , and thus continued the Rule of Two until his own death in 41 ABY . Even before the collapse of Lumiya ' s Sith Order , a new policy was established by a Sith Master called Darth Krayt . The Rule of One reopened the Sith ranks to more than two Sith Lords , and thus allowed Krayt ' s Order to expand with more than several hundred members by 130 ABY . The tradition of Master and apprentice remained , but the revived Sith Order was composed of many Masters , each with their own apprentice ; and all ultimately answered directly to the one Dark Lord of the Sith .