If you ask a casual fan who was the first Sith Lord, they might guess Darth Vader or maybe some ancient guy like Exar Kun. They’re wrong. Honestly, the answer is a lot messier than just a name on a tombstone. It involves a massive civil war, a group of exiled "heretics," and a literal alien species that gave the Sith their name before the lightsabers even turned red.
The history of the Star Wars galaxy is written by the victors, which usually means the Jedi. But if you dig into the old lore—specifically the stuff established in the Tales of the Jedi comics and expanded upon in the Book of Sith—you find a man named Ajunta Pall. He wasn't born a Sith. He was a Jedi Master. A high-ranking one, actually. But he had a bit of a wandering eye when it came to the Force. He wanted to know what happened when you pushed past the boundaries of "peace" and "serenity."
That curiosity sparked a galactic catastrophe.
The First Great Schism and the birth of a Dark Lord
The Jedi Order wasn't always the strict, rule-abiding organization we see in the prequels. Thousands of years before Luke Skywalker was even a thought, the Order was still figuring out what it meant to serve the Light. Then came the Second Great Schism. This wasn't some minor disagreement over taxes or temple maintenance. It was a philosophical bloodbath known as the Hundred-Year Darkness.
Ajunta Pall and his followers—mostly fellow Jedi who were bored of the status quo—began experimenting with alchemy. They weren't just using the Force to move rocks; they were using it to create life and twist biology. The Jedi Council, predictably, freaked out. They called it an abomination. Pall called it evolution.
The resulting war lasted a century. Imagine a hundred years of Jedi fighting Jedi across the stars. By the end, Pall and his "Dark Jedi" were defeated. They were stripped of their ranks and exiled into the Unknown Regions of space. They were expected to die in the cold vacuum. Instead, they found Korriban.
Landing on Korriban: When Dark Jedi met the Sith species
This is where the distinction gets important. When Ajunta Pall’s group landed on the dusty, red world of Korriban, they weren't "Sith" yet. The Sith were a red-skinned, humanoid species native to that planet. They were primitive in some ways but deeply attuned to the Dark Side in others.
They saw these exiled Jedi—with their glowing swords and god-like powers—and they didn't see invaders. They saw deities.
Ajunta Pall didn't waste time. He used his superior knowledge of the Force to subjugate the local population. He took the title of Jen’ari, which translates to "Dark Lord of the Sith." This is the exact moment the Sith Order, as we know it, was forged. It was a marriage of Dark Jedi philosophy and Sith blood-magic.
He was the first. The original. The blueprint for every Darth that followed.
What Ajunta Pall actually did (and why it matters)
You’ve got to understand that Pall wasn't just sitting on a throne looking edgy. He was an alchemist. He forged the first Sith swords—blades infused with the Dark Side that could parry lightsabers. He built an empire that lasted for millennia in the shadows while the Republic thought they were safe.
The irony? He ended up hating it.
In the game Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, you can actually meet the spirit of Ajunta Pall in his tomb on Korriban. He isn't some cackling villain. He’s a pathetic, regretful ghost. He spent eternity mourning the fact that his rebellion destroyed the lives of millions and led to a cycle of violence that never truly ends. If the player chooses the Light Side path, you can actually convince him to let go of his pain and return to the Light, allowing his spirit to finally find peace.
It’s a weirdly human end for the man who started the most dangerous cult in the galaxy.
Why the "Darth" title came much later
People often get confused because Ajunta Pall doesn't have "Darth" in his name. That’s because the "Darth" title didn't become standard until much later. For a long time, being the Dark Lord of the Sith was a singular title held by the guy at the top of the heap.
Names like Darth Andeddu or Darth Bane came centuries—even millennia—after Pall had already turned to dust. The early Sith were more of a magocracy. They were obsessed with bloodlines and rituals. The "Darth" era shifted things toward the individualistic, power-hungry assassins we see in the movies.
Debunking the "First Sith" myths
There are a few other names that pop up when people talk about who was the first Sith Lord. Let’s clear those up real quick:
- Xendor: He was the leader of the First Great Schism, thousands of years before Ajunta Pall. But he never found the Sith species. He was just a Dark Jedi. He’s like the "pre-alpha" version of a Sith.
- The Rogue Knight: Sometimes used as a generic term for the first person to fall. Again, falling to the Dark Side doesn't make you a Sith Lord. It just makes you a jerk with a lightsaber.
- Darth Bane: He’s the most famous "old" Sith, but he’s actually the one who ended the old way. He created the Rule of Two about 1,000 years before the movies. He's the "Reformer," not the "Founder."
The legacy of the 100-Year Darkness
The impact of what Ajunta Pall started can't be overstated. Without his exile, the Sith species would have stayed a local curiosity on a backwater planet. Without his alchemy, the Sith wouldn't have the tools to challenge the Jedi. He provided the organizational structure that turned a bunch of angry exiles into a galactic superpower.
When you look at Palpatine (Darth Sidious) in the sequels or prequels, you’re looking at the ultimate evolution of Ajunta Pall’s mistake. Every time a Sith apprentice betrays their master, or a red blade ignites, it’s an echo of that first landing on Korriban.
Basically, the Jedi tried to solve their "Dark Jedi" problem by throwing them into the trash (the Unknown Regions). But the trash turned out to be a goldmine of Dark Side energy, and the exiles came back as kings.
How to dive deeper into Sith history
If you’re genuinely interested in the deep lore of who was the first Sith Lord, don't just stick to the movies. The films are great, but they only cover the very tail end of a history that spans over 25,000 years.
- Read the "Tales of the Jedi" comics: This is where the 100-Year Darkness and the Golden Age of the Sith are actually depicted. The art is a bit dated, but the world-building is top-tier.
- Play Knights of the Old Republic (KOTOR): Specifically, the first game. Talking to Ajunta Pall’s ghost is one of the most lore-heavy moments in the franchise. It gives you a perspective on the Sith that the movies never touch.
- Check out "The Book of Sith": It’s an in-universe collection of writings from various Dark Lords. It treats Pall like a legendary figure, which is exactly how the later Sith viewed him.
The story of the first Sith Lord is ultimately a cautionary tale about ego. Ajunta Pall thought he was smarter than the Force. He thought he could master the darkness without it mastering him. He failed, and the galaxy paid the price for twenty-five thousand years. It’s a pretty heavy legacy for a guy most people have never heard of.