Who Are Sith Eternals & How Powerful Are They?
If there’s one thing that we know about the storyline of the sequel trilogy, it’s that there were a lot of concepts introduced that weren’t really clear to many people. Of course, we saw Emperor Palpatine returning to life in the final movie of the Skywalker Saga, and it was all thanks to the Sith Eternal that he was given life once more. The Sith Eternal has been a mysterious group to a lot of fans. So, who exactly are the Sith Eternal?
The Sith Eternal are simply a group of cultists that worship the Dark Lord of the Sith and have worked to preserve the memory, traditions, and teachings of the Sith by continuing to revere the Sith on Exegol after the destruction of the Sith Order. It was through the Sith Eternal that Palpatine was able to initiate his backup plan.
Of all of the different things that we don’t know about the Sith Eternal, the one thing that we do know is that none of them are actually Sith. They are simply worshippers and followers who revere the Sith. You can think of them as the demonic cults we see in the real world. So, with that said, let’s look at what we know about the Sith Eternal.
What is the Sith Eternal?
One of the concepts introduced during the events of the Star Wars sequel trilogy was the Sith Eternal. This group was only introduced during the events of ‘Star Wars Episode IX: The Rise of Skywalker,’ which means there wasn’t much time to truly explore what they are and what they do. In that regard, the Sith Eternal was a totally unfamiliar and mysterious concept to many Star Wars fans.
Of course, the comics and novels rescued the sequel trilogy’s plot and could talk more about the Sith Eternal. Basically, you can already see what the Sith Eternal was in ‘The Rise of Skywalker.’ Fundamentally, this cult worshipped and revered Emperor Palpatine as a godlike figure. But that’s only just the gist, as we didn’t get to see this group’s purpose in the movie.
The Sith Eternal was a group that resided in the Unknown Regions of the galaxy, particularly on the Sith planet of Exegol. Throughout the time that the Sith Eternal existed, its worshippers and cultists worshipped the Sith and even studied the different teachings, traditions, and rituals of the Sith Order. On top of that, the cultists also studied the history of the Sith.
In that regard, these worshippers saw the Dark Lord of the Sith as godlike, meaning that these cultists venerated Palpatine. Palpatine also somewhat established this group upon rising to the throne as the galaxy emperor.
But the Sith Eternal wasn’t exactly a group of people who lived on Exegol their entire lives. In fact, these people were once scattered all over the galaxy, as some of them were influential people in different systems all over the galaxy. They worshipped and revered the Sith because of the power that the Sith had, and we all know that greedy and selfish people will cling to those who have power in the hopes that they would also have a piece of this power.
However, after the fall of the Sith Order, the Sith Eternal collected all of the different worshippers and resources they had in the galaxy and took them to Exegol, where they were safe from the eyes of the New Republic due to how secretive this world was. In that regard, the Sith Eternal continued worshipping the Sith from Exegol even after the death of Emperor Palpatine at the end of the Rebellion.
What was the purpose of the Sith Eternal?
In 19 BBY, Emperor Palpatine stayed away from the public eye and decided to allow his officers and military commanders to take care of the daily affairs of the Empire. Instead, he focused more on his grand plan, which was immortality. While some of the Imperial officers were privy to Palpatine’s grand plan of unlocking the secrets of immortality, he wanted to keep this hidden from even the top brass of the Imperial armada, as even Darth Vader was unaware of what his master was doing.
As such, Palpatine spent a lot of time on Exegol, where he gathered a group of cultists who eventually became the Sith Eternal. These people were the ones that Palpatine trusted to research the secrets of cloning and immortality so that he could preserve his life forever. On top of that, the Sith Eternal also studied the different teachings of the Force to unlock whatever secrets Palpatine could use to become immortal.
It was on Exegol that the secret cloning experiments were conducted. This gave birth to clones or strandcasts, including Rey’s father and Snoke. And such experiments continued even after Palpatine died as the Sith Eternal tried to find a way to revive the emperor and allow him to return to power once more.
On top of that, it was also on Exegol that the Sith Eternal constructed the mighty fleet known as the Final Order. The Sith Eternal used its large network of cultists all over the galaxy to gather the people and resources needed to construct this massive fleet that had a Star Destroyer capable of destroying planets. Palpatine ordered the Sith Eternal to construct this fleet right under the noses of the Rebels, Darth Vader, and the Imperial officers.
Are Sith Eternal cultists Sith Lords?
While the Sith Order may be composed of powerful Sith Lords who are gifted in the ways of the Force and are some of the most powerful beings in the entire galaxy, the Sith Eternal was simply composed of a group of worshippers and cultists who revere the Dark Lord of the Sith. They worshipped Palpatine as a godlike figure and sought to find a way to give him the immortality he always dreamed of having because the Sith Eternal thought that the galaxy was theirs to rule.
In that regard, none of the Sith Eternal cultists were Sith Lords. Some of them were gifted in the Force, especially when performing rituals that were part of the experiments meant to find a way to preserve Palpatine’s life. But none of them were powerful Force wielders.
As such, the Sith Eternal was useless when it came to a fight as they weren’t trained in the ways of the Force, even though some of them were sensitive to the Force. Essentially, they are similar to the demonic cultists and worshippers we see in the real world, as they both revere dark and evil figures in the hopes that they could also obtain a fraction of the power of these nefarious entities.
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