When I was a kid watching the Star Wars movies for the first time, I decided that there were four things you needed to be a Sith.
A red lightsaber, black or mostly black clothes, a cool Darth name, and at least one spaceship. But now that I’m an adult, I find myself wondering: How did the Sith always have spaceships?
Why is it that the Sith always seem to have just what they need to win, while the Jedi are forced to run and hide until they can fight?
From a writer’s point of view this is called “plot armor.” The bad guys need to have all the cool stuff in order to make the fighting and the ending worth it.
Because if it was easy, we wouldn’t have all the movies, books, comics, games, and so much more to explore.
From a story standpoint, the Sith have to appear to have the edge in the films. Otherwise, the Jedi wouldn’t appear to be so powerful.
But how do the Sith make money?
From a lore perspective, things get tricky. Some of the following will be guesswork, as Star Wars hasn’t gone into a lot of detail concerning the Sith and their money.
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How Do Sith Make Money?
Except for the some members of the Sith race that can live off of the Dark Side of the Force instead of eating, most Sith are just like you and me. They need food, water, clothes, and a place to sleep.
In order to get those things, they need credits (money) or a different type of currency depending on where in the galaxy they’re in and the time period.
The films and new media have made us familiar with credits, as this is the currency the Republic uses.
So, how do the Sith get paid? Is there a trust fund for being the bane of Jedi existence?
Did every Sith come from wealthy/noble families (like Count Dooku and Sheev Palpatine)? Did Darth Vader have his own finances or was everything he owned due to being the Emperor’s servant?
Being evil doesn’t mean you can stop worrying about your next meal. We know that the old Sith order was closed off from the rest of the galaxy due to its lack of space travel.
They were warlike and some were able to live off of the Dark Side of the Force (they didn’t need to eat or drink). But, even these rare individuals needed a place to stay and provide for their families.
In some of the comics we can see many of them wearing gold (or its counterpart), which symbolizes wealth and importance.
Fast forward to after the Order of the Sith has become known to the galaxy. The Sith have evolved drastically and have made a name for themselves.
Between the Order of the Sith and its various incarnations, we see that most of the Sith have adopted credits over gold.
But how do they get credits? It isn’t clear, but the Sith have been known to subjugate planets, brainwash or terrify people, and of course, murder.
Though wealth wasn’t always the goal, the Sith knew how to make the most of their opportunities. With the Rule of Two, created by Darth Bane, things took a different turn.
Rather than have an army of Sith killing each other as easily as the Jedi, we have two at a time trying to survive.
When choosing an apprentice, wealth rarely played a hand in the deciding factor. But we know it happened at least three times.
Darth Plagueis was chosen due to being part of the Banking Clan. He would establish his own banking corporation called Damask Holdings.
Sometime after killing his master (Darth Tenebrous) Plagueis met Palpatine on Naboo and convinced him to kill his family. Palpatine would have three apprentices during his life.
And only once did wealth influence his decision: When he chose Count Dooku, a former Jedi and ruler of the planet Serenno.
Darth Vader was made the ruler of several planets and had his own castle in legends. Though it’s unclear if he received a salary or just received gifts and tribute.
Do Sith Care About Wealth?
Not really. Despite their lust for power and willingness to do whatever they want, the Sith aren’t driven by money.
They understand and use similar concepts (like gold) but they’re not driven to amass it. Even the Sith Code doesn’t mention wealth.
Sith crave power and strength which can’t be replaced by money. They’ll use it to get what they want, but when you can Force Choke someone, why would you care about money? Who would be dumb enough to rob a Sith Lord?
About the Star Wars Galaxies Economy
Just like our galaxy, trade is everywhere in Star Wars. From something as simple as exchanging credits for food, to buying a slave.
Trade is king and if you can’t afford that shiny new droid, simply head over to your nearest Banking Clan representative and take out a loan.
(Be careful and make sure you always pay them on time.)
To break it down further, the economy was organized by sectors, systems, and planets on the amount of how much they could produce, consume, or trade. Each part of the system handled its own affairs.
This is why slavery was still acceptable in the Outer Rim, but was highly frowned upon by those that lived in the Republic. (The Republic outlawed slavery but they could do little to control the Outer Rim.)
Out of thousands of different currencies used in the galaxy, credits, credit chips, and credit chits were among the most popular to use. (And for those of us who watch The Mandalorian, Beskar is not a normal currency.)
In Conclusion
Though we don’t know how most of the Sith made money, we do know that they always have enough to throw around. They didn’t care about wealth for wealth’s sake.They took what they wanted and would often spend some of it on a ship.
Currencies have undergone few changes and the Banking Clan would sometimes give out shady loans so they could take their customers’ assets.
Thank you for reading.