Sith apprentice A Sith apprentice was a Force - sensitive individual trained by a Sith Master to use the dark side of the Force . The age at which a Sith apprentice began their training varied . Darth Maul became apprenticed to Darth Sidious while still a child . Darth Tyranus and Darth Vader , both former members of the Jedi Order , became Sidious ' apprentice , in turn , as adults . Although Darth Bane ' s Rule of Two mandated that only two Sith could exist at any given time , Tyranus broke with the system by training two apprentices ( albeit at different times ) — Savage Opress , and Quinlan Vos — while still apprenticed to Sidious . Apprentices . Following the infighting among the Sith , the surviving Sith Lord , Darth Bane , created the Rule of Two , stating that there shall only be two ; a master to embody the power and an apprentice to crave it . Darth Bane then took an apprentice , who was able to evade the Jedi when they killed Bane . His apprentice carried out the tradition in secret from the Jedi for over a millennium . Sometime before the Invasion of Naboo , the Sith Lord Darth Plagueis took Sheev Palpatine as his apprentice dubbing him " Darth Sidious " . Together , they worked on trying to unlock the secrets of immortality and to rule the galaxy by rebuilding a Sith Empire . However , Sidious learned everything he needed from Plagueis and obtained his own apprentice , Maul , son of Nightsister , Mother Talzin . Sidious then killed Plagueis in his sleep , becoming the master . Sidious then officially took Maul as his apprentice , dubbing him Darth Maul . During a mission on Naboo , Maul was then seemingly killed by Jedi Padawan Obi - Wan Kenobi , but survived . Sidious abandoned him and in the years leading up to the Separatist Crisis , took former Jedi Master , Dooku , as his new apprentice . Dooku was then named " Darth Tyranus " . As Tyranus , Dooku swayed thousands of systems to his cause , forming them into the Confederacy of Independent Systems . He also took charge of Jedi Sifo - Dyas ' s clone army , and eliminating him . Tyranus also recruited the bounty hunter , Jango Fett on one of the moon s of Bogden to be the clone template . Around this time Dooku erased the data on Kamino from the Jedi Archives . Tyranus also ensured that Sidious received the plans to the ultimate weapon and the War would begin according to his master ' s wishes . For three years , Tyranus led the Confederacy against the Republic . During this time , Tyranus then recruited Dathomirian / Rattaki warlord and former Jedi Padawan Asajj Ventress as his assassin . Despite proving herself worthy of being his apprentice , Sidious was disturbed by how she was becoming more powerful . Thus , Sidious ordered Tyranus to eliminate her . Tyranus had little choice but to have Ventress marked for death during the Battle of Sullust . However , Ventress survived her master ' s treachery and returned to her homeworld of Dathomir . There she and Talzin ' s Nightsisters helped her in her quest for vengeance by attempting an assassination attempt on Tyranus . However the initial attempt failed but Talzin created a different plan by offering Tyranus a new apprentice ; a Nightbrother whom she and Ventress could control . Dooku then accepted the Nightbrother , Savage Opress as his new assassin . After Opress ' s victory over the Jedi , Tyranus foresaw that they would be more powerful than Lord Sidious . Tyranus then trained Opress in the ways of the Force . However , Tyranus ended Opress ' s apprenticeship when he failed to bring King Katuunko to him alive and revealed himself to be loyal to Ventress . In the course of the following battle , Opress then turned on both them , was forced to leave and returned home . Ventress was then forced to leave too . Once there , Talzin gave Savage Opress a new quest ; to find his last surviving brother .