Star Wars Jedi and Sith: Who They Are and How They Differ

The Jedi are the Republic's peacekeeping order of Force users and the Sith are their dark side rivals, and the saga is largely the story of their conflict. In Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999), directed by George Lucas, the Jedi Qui-Gon Jinn and his apprentice Obi-Wan Kenobi are sent to settle a blockade of the planet Naboo, and they do not know that the scheme is secretly run by a hidden Sith Lord. Everything that follows, from the Clone Wars to the fall of the Republic, grows out of that hidden contest.

Ten characters define the contest: Darth Sidious (Palpatine), Darth Maul, Count Dooku, Darth Vader (Anakin Skywalker), Yoda, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Qui-Gon Jinn, Mace Windu, Luke Skywalker and Kylo Ren (Ben Solo). Newcomers to the saga can start with the Star Wars movies in order guide to see which film to watch first.

The key difference between the Jedi and the Sith is that the Jedi serve the Republic through a Council and rules of restraint, while the Sith use the dark side to seek power for themselves. Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones (2002) shows the Jedi rule against attachment when Anakin Skywalker and Padmé Amidala fall in love. Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005) shows the other side, when Palpatine tells Anakin that the dark side can give him the power to save Padmé.

Both orders fight with lightsabers, so the weapon does not separate them. The duels between Obi-Wan and Darth Maul in Theed, Mace Windu's attempt to arrest Palpatine and Luke Skywalker's fight with Vader all show that the split is about motive and loyalty rather than equipment. The Jedi also answer to a Council, which hesitates over training Anakin in The Phantom Menace and later asks him to spy on Palpatine. The Sith in the films work through a master and an apprentice, as Sidious does with Maul, and later with Anakin.

Darth Sidious is the secret Sith identity of Palpatine, played by Ian McDiarmid, and the Sith Lord behind the Republic's fall. In Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999) he directs the Trade Federation blockade from the shadows, while Senator Palpatine rises toward the office of Chancellor. Ian Abercrombie voices Chancellor Palpatine and Darth Sidious in Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008). In Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005), Anakin learns that Palpatine is the Sith Lord Darth Sidious, and Palpatine then issues Order 66, after which clone troopers turn on and kill most of the Jedi across the galaxy.

Palpatine declares himself Emperor and turns the Republic into the Empire, and Yoda fights him but has to retreat. In Return of the Jedi (1983) he tries to push Luke to the dark side and attacks him with lightning, until Vader turns on his master and kills him. Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker (2019) shows Emperor Palpatine returning on the hidden world of Exegol, where he offers Kylo Ren a huge fleet if he will kill Rey. Rey defeats him by turning his Force lightning back on him, using the lightsabers of Luke and Leia.

Darth Maul is Darth Sidious's apprentice and the first Sith the Jedi meet face to face, in Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999). He hunts the heroes after they flee the blockade, and he fights Qui-Gon Jinn and Obi-Wan Kenobi in Theed while the battle for Naboo rages elsewhere. Maul kills Qui-Gon, and Obi-Wan then defeats Maul, which ends the duel but not Sidious's plan.

Maul also shows how the films frame the Sith as a pair: a hidden master and a visible apprentice who does the fighting. The 1999 film gives him no background beyond that role.

Count Dooku, played by Christopher Lee, is a former Jedi who leads the Separatist movement in Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones (2002). He gathers the Separatist leaders and builds a droid army on Geonosis, and in the duel there he wounds both Obi-Wan and Anakin and cuts off Anakin's right arm. Yoda arrives and fights him, and Dooku escapes with stolen plans for a superweapon.

He returns in Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008), directed by Dave Filoni, where a scheme with Ziro the Hutt tries to make the Hutts believe the Jedi stole Jabba's son. In Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005), Anakin defeats him and kills the unarmed Dooku at Palpatine's urging.

Yes, Anakin Skywalker becomes a Sith when he kneels to Palpatine in Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005) and is renamed Darth Vader. Anakin is played by Jake Lloyd as a child in The Phantom Menace and by Hayden Christensen in the next two prequels, while the armored Vader of the original films is performed by David Prowse and voiced by James Earl Jones. Qui-Gon believes the boy may be the prophesied Chosen One, and the Jedi Council hesitates to train him because of his age and fear.

His fall runs through grief and distrust: visions of Padmé dying, the Council refusing him the rank of Master, and Palpatine's promise of power. After the duel on Mustafar, Obi-Wan leaves him horribly burned, and he is rebuilt in a black armored suit.

In Return of the Jedi, Luke refuses to kill him, and Vader turns on the Emperor and kills him, although he is fatally wounded. He asks Luke to remove his mask and dies, and the redeemed Anakin Skywalker, played by Sebastian Shaw, appears among the Force spirits of Obi-Wan and Yoda.

Yoda is a Jedi, not a Sith, and the films never present him as anything else. Frank Oz voices him across the films. In Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones (2002) he arrives on Geonosis and fights Dooku, and in Revenge of the Sith he fights Palpatine but must retreat.

In The Empire Strikes Back (1980), directed by Irvin Kershner, Luke flies to the swamp world Dagobah to find him. Yoda reluctantly agrees to train Luke and teaches him about the Force and the dangers of anger, then warns him against leaving his training early to rescue his friends. In Return of the Jedi he confirms that Darth Vader is Luke's father, and he later appears as a Force spirit beside Obi-Wan and Anakin.

Obi-Wan Kenobi is the Jedi who appears in both trilogies, played by Ewan McGregor in the prequels and Alec Guinness in the original films. In Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999) he defeats Darth Maul and honors Qui-Gon's dying wish by taking Anakin as his student. In Revenge of the Sith he destroys General Grievous on Utapau, duels Anakin across the volcanic planet of Mustafar, and carries baby Luke to Tatooine.

In Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope (1977), directed by George Lucas, he tells Luke about the Force and his father, then faces Vader and lets himself be struck down so the others can escape. Luke later trusts Obi-Wan's voice as he fires the shot that destroys the Death Star. In Return of the Jedi, Obi-Wan appears as a Force spirit beside Yoda and the redeemed Anakin. He trains Anakin and later Luke.

Qui-Gon Jinn, played by Liam Neeson, is the Jedi Master who first believes Anakin Skywalker may be the Chosen One. He meets the enslaved boy on Tatooine in Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999), wagers on him in a dangerous podrace, and secures his freedom. The Council still hesitates over training him, and Qui-Gon dies at the hands of Darth Maul before the question is settled.

Qui-Gon is the first Jedi the audience sees in the saga's chronological order, and he is killed by the first Sith they see. Obi-Wan carries his conviction forward when he agrees to train Anakin.

Mace Windu, played by Samuel L. Jackson, is the Jedi Master who tries to arrest Palpatine in Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005). In Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones (2002) he leads the Jedi strike force that arrives in the Geonosis arena, and he kills the bounty hunter Jango Fett during the battle. Jackson also voices him in Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008).

In Revenge of the Sith, Anakin tells Windu that Palpatine is the Sith Lord Darth Sidious. Windu goes to arrest the Chancellor, but Anakin intervenes, and Windu is killed. Windu's death is the moment Anakin commits to Palpatine.

Luke Skywalker, played by Mark Hamill, is the Jedi who refuses to turn to the dark side and redeems his father, Darth Vader. In Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope (1977) he is a farm boy on Tatooine who destroys the Death Star by trusting the Force and Obi-Wan's voice. In Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980) he learns that Vader is his father, loses a hand to him, and refuses to join him.

In Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983) he gives himself up to try to turn his father back to the light, and he refuses to kill Vader even when pushed to anger. In Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015), Luke has disappeared and the First Order is hunting for him, until Rey finds him on a cliff top and holds out his old lightsaber. In Star Wars: The Last Jedi (2017) he is an exile on Ahch-To who at first refuses to help, then faces Kylo Ren on Crait as a Force projection, and dies on Ahch-To after the effort.

Kylo Ren, played by Adam Driver, is not called a Sith in the films; he is a dark side user who serves the First Order under Supreme Leader Snoke. The character is Ben Solo, the child of Han and Leia. In Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015) he kills his father Han Solo with a lightsaber, and in The Last Jedi he kills Snoke and fights beside Rey before declaring himself Supreme Leader.

The Sith do enter his story in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker (2019), when he obtains a Sith wayfinder to Exegol and Palpatine offers him a fleet. Ben Solo gives the last of his Force power to bring Rey back to life, and he dies.

The films do not settle whether the Jedi or the Sith are stronger, because each order wins battles the other wins back. The Sith appear to triumph at the end of Revenge of the Sith, when Order 66 destroys most of the Jedi and the Republic becomes the Empire. Yet the Sith plan collapses in Return of the Jedi, when Vader turns on his master, and again in The Rise of Skywalker, when Rey defeats Palpatine.

It could be argued that the saga treats the Sith as the order that wins fast and loses slowly. Sidious relies on secrecy and betrayal, so every apprentice, Maul, Dooku and Vader, ends up as a cost. The Jedi are slow to see and slow to change, as the Council shows when it hesitates over Anakin, then asks him to spy on the Chancellor. Perhaps the clearest answer is that the films define strength by loyalty rather than power: the Jedi who survive are those who keep their attachments without being ruled by them, as Luke does when he refuses to kill his father.

The films also never name the first Jedi. If you want the story in release and chronological order, the Star Wars timeline is the better next stop, and Star Wars characters covers the wider cast.