In Star Wars, the Jedi undergo a stringent lifestyle and training regimen dictated by the Jedi Code. The Sith train in a similar fashion, with the Code of the Sith serving as a guideline to their teachings. Despite the similarities, Sith train quite differently from the Jedi.
The Sith have a rough training regimen, characterized by conflict and violence. Those who showed the most dedication to the dark side became a Darth.
In real-life, adopting the Code of the Sith doesn’t need to be brutal and full of hate. Instead, it can serve as a guideline to pursuing and achieving passions.
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How Do Sith Train Differently from Jedi?
The Code of the Sith laid the groundwork for Sith training. A 180-degree opposite of the Jedi Code, the Sith embraced passion over peace, believing it led to strength, power, and victory.
While the Jedi taught their students to suppress emotion, the Sith taught them to embrace it. This is because they believed emotion led to passion. Unfortunately, they believed negative emotions like fear, pain, and anger augmented those passions.
Numerous Sith Academies existed in Star Wars Legends. Unlike the Jedi, who took Force-sensitives at a young age to the Jedi Temple on Coruscant, prospective Sith needed to impress superiors at a Sith academy to gain entry.
Prospects could also kill a current student, take their medallion of submission, and present it.
Sith training relied heavily on the competition. Rivalries and fighting were encouraged. The more a student fought and won, the more prestige they earned.
The Sith also loved conflict, believing it tested their students’ abilities and that conflict led to the evolution of both their students and society. Per the Sith, strife was also an opportunity to eliminate the weak links while the strong survived.
Is Sith Training Brutal?
Neither Jedi nor Sith training were for the faint-hearted. The Sith, embracing violence as one of their core training methods, was so brutal that not all prospective Sith survived their time at the academies.
Power and prestige defined the Sith Order. And the only way students won over respect was to start and win fights with peers.
During the Rule of Two Era, the training never got any easier even if the Sith’s numbers dwindled.
For example, Anakin Skywalker, as Darth Vader, needed to gain strength through sacrificing his strongest emotional attachment. To do this, he killed a loved one, Padmè, and supposedly their unborn child.
While Anakin did not immediately kill his wife, his embracing the dark side led to her death.
Although Kylo Ren was never truly Sith, Snoke ordered him to kill both his father, Han Solo, and Rey. While Ren succeeded in the former, he could not carry out the latter.
How Does a Sith Become a Darth?
Not all sith will become a Darth. Count Dooku had three apprentices, none of whom became a Darth.
The Rule of Two prevented Asajj Ventress, Savage Opress, and Quinlan Vos from achieving the title since Count Dooku was also known as Darth Tyranus, who himself served as Darth Sidious’ apprentice.
It was a rite of passage to become a Darth, and to receive the title, a prospect needed to prove themselves worthy. Often, it required the prospect to commit a heinous act.
For example, before achieving the title Darth Sidious, Sheev Palpatine killed his family while Anakin Skywalker had to betray the Jedi Order.
However, for others, it meant a rigorous training regimen. Which is what Darth Sidious forced Maul to undergo before giving him the title of Darth.
Becoming a Darth symbolized one fully embracing and allowing the dark side of the Force to guide them in their new life as a Sith Lord.
Also, some dark side users did not train as Sith. Instead, they embraced the dark side and trained solo or with a group unaffiliated with the Sith.
How to Become a Sith in Real Life?
While the Sith are the bad guys in Star Wars, you can become a Sith in real life, embrace the dark side, and still get on well with everyone else.
The Sith Code presents a cool look at what it takes to become a Sith, but in a positive, self-motivating way. Below, you will realize that you can gain the strength to pursue any life passion you want and control your own destiny, by embracing the Sith mentality.
And with enough passion, and enough strength, you can even become a powerful influence in your chosen passion to those around you. And that power that you gain, will lead you to achieve more than you ever thought.
As Darth Sidious once said, “The dark side of the Force is a pathway to many abilities some consider unnatural.”
Taken into real life context: The dark side of the Force leads us to reach a level of success some consider impossible.
Accept Passion Before Peace
The Code starts out by telling us that, “Peace is a lie. There is only passion.”
In life, we all have desires, goals, and ambitions to get ahead of the curve and reach the pinnacle of our natural abilities.
Unfortunately, going to school, getting a job, working a stressful number of hours, relaxing, and doing it again continues to reign as the status-quo in today’s world. Predictably, it’s easy to accept this normal life as is, and find peace with it, which is what a Jedi would tell you.
But some of us are far too passionate in life to settle for the thirty-five-year career, retirement plan, and living out the golden years. Living such a lifestyle isn’t who we are. So instead, we pursue our passions and we don’t stop until we get them.
The first line of the Code of the Sith helps guide us in that endeavor.
Only with a headstrong personality and a fiery, competitive edge can we pursue our passions. We turn it into a competition, and we don’t stop until we get there. By realizing passion over peace, we have a better chance of pursuing our life’s goals.
Passion Leads to Strength
The next line of the Sith Code states, “Through passion, I gain strength.”
Have you ever been so passionate about achieving something that you lose sleep over it? That’s passion converting to strength.
Passion unleashes your inner willpower. Your drive, your ambition to achieve what others around you thought was impossible.
Thanks to the passion, you have the strength to wake up an hour earlier, stay up an hour later, and to say no to any potential deterrent.
With Strength Comes Power
The third line of the Sith Code states, “Through strength, I gain power.”
Strength leads to power because you’re constantly building up a daily habit to get your way in life.
Strength gives you the courage to cold email influencers in your passion. It gives you the courage to share your passion with like-minded people who will benefit from your passion.
Then you become influential. You achieve power, and through that power, you achieve victory.
The Jedi mentality would tell you to seek harmony and serenity. Basically, to accept things as they are and find peace with them. Even if you’re working a job you don’t quite want.
The Sith lifestyle and mentality give you the power to change and become victorious in any endeavor you face. You don’t settle, unlike the Jedi.
Power Leads to Victory, Victory Leads to Freedom
“Through power, I gain victory,” as the fourth line states. “Through victory, my chains are Broken, the Force shall free me.”
The funny thing about embracing the Sith Code in real life is that it gives you a self-help guide to finding the strength to achieve things that others around you think are impossible.
Whether it’s a career passion that you have, a fitness goal, or just a life goal you’ve always wanted to achieve, embracing the dark side of the Force will help you get there.
If you want to go the extra mile in your life, and achieve things like financial security on your terms in the career you desire, it’s time to realize the dark side isn’t always bad. It’s beneficial.
And that is how you can bring the positives of a Sith lifestyle into your own life.
Conclusion
The Sith use the Code of the Sith to set their training guidelines. Sith training was brutal, and it involved the development of intense rivalries, constant fighting, and even killing for their students to gain power and prestige.
The toughest part of a Sith’s training involved becoming a Darth, which often included one committing a heinous act, such as killing a loved one or in Palpatine’s case, his entire family.
Despite the Sith’s brutal teachings and ways, adopting the Code of the Sith in real life does not have to be negative. By realizing passion does lead to strength and power, it’s a phenomenal way of life to achieve rigorous goals and high standards you set for yourself.
So when you accomplish your ultimate life goals, you can indeed call yourself a Sith Lord.
Sion Fawkes has been covering Star Wars since January 2022, expanding his expertise in both Star Wars Canon and Legends. When not writing, you can find Sion in the gym or running trails. He also likes watching sports and listening to audiobooks.