Since the majority of Star Wars lore was committed to Legends and the new Canon began forming in earnest, very few characters have been as interesting and prominent as the Inquisitors.
While the Inquisitors are well-known to be users of the Dark Side of the Force, are they actually Sith? And do they break the Rule of 2? Here’s what you need to know.
Contents
Is an Inquisitor Considered a Sith?
There is often a lot of confusion over what constitutes a Sith. So to answer the first question, we’re going to have to go over what the terms Sith and Inquisitor mean.
We’ll also need to discuss how the two are related to the Dark Side.
What is a Sith?
Over time as Star Wars has become more mainstream and the fandom has grown, the word Sith has become a blanket term for every character seen wielding the dark side of the Force.
However, it is important to note that the Sith, much like the Jedi, are members of a religious order.
Specifically, a Sith is an initiated member of the Sith Order, and will usually have a Sith name with the Darth epitaph. This Sith name could be chosen by the Sith themselves or given by a master.
The Sith have been shown to have acolytes that do their bidding, from carrying out assassinations to bodyguard work. Many of these acolytes have also been Force-sensitive.
However, there has always been a clear distinction between these dark side pawns and a true Sith Lord.
What is an Inquisitor?
Inquisitor is the term used to refer to the main members of the Inquisitorius, an organization tasked with hunting down and killing Jedi that survived Order 66. Aside from a few support staff assigned to the group, all Inquisitors are Force-sensitive, having all been affiliated with the Jedi Order before the fall of the Republic and subsequent fall to the Dark Side.
However, it is important to note that the Inquisitors are never treated as actual Sith. Vader trains them in a new, more aggressive style of lightsaber combat and strips away the teachings of the Jedi that hold them back, but never anything more.
You can find out more about how Inquisitors and Sith differ here.
Whatever proficiency they possess in utilizing the dark side of the Force is usually innate or self-taught. It is clear that Palpatine does not consider them Sith Lords, not even potentially.
In fact, the Inquisitors were not really that strong, and you can check out how they fared against the Jedi, and why Palpatine chose to use them in the first place here!
Do Inquisitors break the Rule of 2?
“But there was a Sith Lord who survived the culling—the great Darth Bane. It was he who reshaped the Sith, creating a new hierarchy to ensure the survival of our Order. His Rule of Two dictated that only two Sith Lords could exist at any one time—a master to possess the unlimited power of the dark side and an apprentice to covet it.”
―Darth Sidious, The Secrets of the Sith
The Inquisitors do not break the Rule of 2, despite being dark side users trained by a Sith Lord. They are never given Sith names or proper instruction in the use of the dark side, or Sith relics.
From their introduction, they have been subservient to both Lords Vader and Sidious, with no signs of replacing one or the other.
So while Sidious was the master with the unlimited power, and Vader was the apprentice that coveted it, the Inquisitors were merely tools of these two Sith Lords, and were never in consideration to replace either.
In contrast, Darth Maul and Darth Tyranus were both Sith Lords that Palpatine had been grooming as his apprentices at different times.
What other Dark Side Users weren’t Sith?
Both Legends and Canon have many examples of dark side users that were not Sith. For instance, Asajj Ventress was never referred to as a Sith Lord, as she did not conclude her training with Count Dooku and did not receive a Sith name.
The Night Sisters are another good example. They wielded the Dark Side of the Force to great effect, creating magic in conjunction with Dathomir’s energies. Yet, they had little association with the Sith.
There are many more examples of this, both within and outside the sphere of influence of the Sith.
Conclusion
While the Rule of Two is a very interesting concept in terms of lore, it could have easily been a limiting factor to exploring the lore and interesting new characters and ideas.
It is fortunate for us all that there’s a loophole that allows for new and interesting Dark Side characters like the Inquisitors and the Night Sisters to be created and utilized in new work.
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