On both sides of the force, teachers are responsible for imparting the rules and guidelines of their organization to the young. The Jedi Order on the light side of the Force has a Jedi Master who will train the Padawans.
What’s interesting about the Jedi is that a Master/Knight can only train one Padawan at a time. When that Padawan gets to the rank of Jedi Knight, then and only then, are the Masters/Knights allowed to take on another.
This method of tutelage is effective as it allows the student to have the undivided attention of the teacher. which, in turn, allows for stronger, better-prepared students.
It’s clear that the light side gives extensive training to their troops. This raises the question; what does the dark side do to prepare their soldiers?
On the dark side, the Sith Lords are the equivalent of Jedi Masters. Thus, it’s natural to wonder how many apprentices they can have at a time.
Not to worry, this question will be answered throughout this article. Just keep reading.
Table of Contents
How Many Apprentices Can a Darth Have?
Although they do not have a lot of similarities, the Sith and the Jedi do have one thing in common. That is the fact that they both could only take on one apprentice at a time.
Granted, both parties do this for different reasons, but it’s something that both sides believe is the right thing to do. Now, the Jedi do this more habitually, while the Sith have a legitimate rule they must adhere to.
This is known as the “Rule of Two.” But what exactly is the Rule of Two?
The Rule of Two was a Sith law created by Darth Bane for the Sith to secretly strengthen themselves so they could exact their revenge on the Jedi Order. This rule made it clear that there could only be two Sith Lords at a time.
They must begin by having one Sith Master and one apprentice. Similar to the Jedi Master, the Sith Master’s job would entail being an accurate representation of everything a dark-side Force user must embody.
The apprentice’s role is to absorb the information being given out so that both parties can fulfill their duties as Sith Lords. This is a system that worked beautifully until it collapsed just before Anakin Skywalker became Darth Vader.
How Many Apprentices Has Palpatine Had?
Palpatine, also known as Darth Sidious, trained many apprentices throughout his life. He had approximately five unofficial proteges and three official apprentices.
Every time there is a rule, there are people who will contest it. Of course, Palpatine was one of those people and what better rule for him to break than Darth Bane’s Rule of Two?
Even though Darth Sidious could have kept training people unofficially, he took on more than one apprentice. This, as we know, is a direct violation of the Rule of Two, as it explicitly states that a master can only have one apprentice at any given time.
Did Darth Sidious have two apprentices?
Considering that Darth Sidious, also known as Palpatine, had little regard for the Rule of Two, it is no surprise he had multiple apprentices. These trainees were Darth Maul, Count Dooku, and, of course, Darth Vader.
Two of the three were trained simultaneously, those two being Darth Maul and Count Dooku. Yet, each apprentice was special to Palpatine for reasons that made sense to him.
In the case of Darth Vader, he was something of a prized possession for Darth Sidious. Ever since a young age, Palpatine knew that Anakin Skywalker would be a powerful tool for the dark side.
Because of this, he had a hand in ensuring the Chosen One’s fall from grace.
Furthermore, Palpatine made it appear as if he was the only one Anakin could trust.
Then there was Darth Tyranus, also known as Count Dooku, who is seen as a traitor to the Jedi Order. Dooku, a former Padawan to Jedi Grand Master Yoda, felt betrayed by the Jedi Order and the Galactic Republic as a whole.
Ergo, he decided to pledge his allegiance to Palpatine. Dooku was so dedicated to the dark side that he was responsible for the kick-off of Order 66.
As for the final apprentice, Darth Maul, he was the most ruthless of the bunch. Through his training, he was able to gather an amalgamation of skills that made him a force to be reckoned with.
His unmistakable talent went straight to his head. Causing Maul to become motivated by his selfish thirst for power, over the goal of the Sith Order.
Conclusion
In order to pass on their knowledge effectively, many individuals and organizations in the galaxy have developed a one-teacher-one-student relationship.
This was so important that the Sith Lord, Darth Bane, made a rule that spoke of this exact thing.
Now, the Sith were only technically allowed to have one apprentice, still, there were those who chose to completely disregard that rule. Palpatine, for one, did not adhere to that rule and had far more apprentices than he should have.
To that end, he trained two trainees simultaneously: Darth Tyranus and Darth Maul. Additionally, Palpatine took on another apprentice who was none other than Darth Vader. He also had around five unofficial students that he taught in his lifetime.