15 years ago, Star Wars revealed the ultimate Jedi vs Sith battle the movies have never given us. In the 9-film Skywalker saga and its connected movies such as Rogue One and Solo, the Old Republic era in which there were just as many Sith Lords as Jedi Knights has never been explored on the big screen. Likewise, the sole Star Wars live-action show that’s gotten even remotely close is still a far cry away from what audiences have wanted since 2009 (if not earlier).
Thousands of years before The Phantom Menace, the Republic and Jedi Order were constantly embroiled in wars with variations of the Sith Empire during the Old Republic Era. Serving as the setting for the ever-popular Knights of the Old Republic games and its successor The Old Republic, this still-canonical period has captured Star Wars fans’ minds several years later, even as the bulk of its specific events have since been rendered non-canon Legends. Regardless, hopes that Lucasfilm will one day bring armies of Sith to take on the early Jedi to the big screen have never really died.
KOTOR Showed Us The Ultimate Jedi Versus Sith War
The Jedi and Republic vs the Sith Empire
Whether it’s in the comics, book, the Knights of the Old Republic games, or The Old Republic MMO,the Old Republic Era famously features the armadas of the Sith Empire as the primary threat to the Republic and Jedi Order. Preceding Darth Bane and his Rule of Two, there were just as many Force-users serving the dark side as the light. Naturally, this resulted in the Old Republic Era featuring some of the most epic battles as the Republic frequently went to war against the Sith Empire.
During the Knights of the Republic games, the bulk of the narrative is focused on Darth Revan, an amnesiac rogue Jedi who’d become a Sith Lord, only to be recaptured by the Jedi who wipe his memories. Becoming a Jedi once more, Revan clashes with Darth Malak, his former apprentice who had since taken command of the initial Sith Empire hailing from the Unknown Regions. Likewise, Knights of the Old Republic II focuses on a triumvirate of Sith leaders: Darth Nihilus, Darth Traya, and Darth Sion. While both games featured Jedi clashing with multiple Sith Lords, the subsequent Old Republic MMO truly took this concept to the next level.
Star Wars Movies Have Never Matched KOTOR’s Sith War
We’ve Yet To See Armies of Jedi and Sith Clashing
Bioware’s The Old Republic is still quite a popular MMO that still has a pretty active fanbase even in 2024. However, the game’s impressive cinematic trailers are universally beloved as well, effectively being short films set in the period that depict some of the most incredible lightsaber duels and galactic battles that have even been seen to such a high degree that they objectively surpass what’s been seen in the movies. This includes one of The Old Republic’s very first cinematic trailers released in 2009.
Titled “Deceived”, Bioware’s 2009 cinematic details Darth Malgus who led the new Sith Empire’s “Sacking of Coruscant”, having infiltrated the city planet just before a massive invasion force took over the planet. Having walked right up the front steps of the iconic Jedi Temple, Malgus preceded a shuttle carrying fifty Sith warriors which crashes right through the front entrance. Igniting their crimson blades, this force of Sith made short work of their Jedi rivals as the warships of the Sith Empire descended upon Coruscant.
The idea of Jedi and Sith armies clashing was definitively proven by The Old Republic cinematics as absolutely brilliant 15 years ago and was established well beforehand with the Knights of the Old Republic games. However, the canon Star Wars movies have yet to feature anything at this level in live-action. This is largely because Lucasfilm hasn’t yet made a canonical movie or project before Darth Bane’s Rule of Two, prohibiting the existence of any Sith beyond a single master and apprentice at one time.
The Acolyte Is The Closest Star Wars Has Come To Matching KOTOR’s Jedi Versus Sith War
Even Though It Only Had One Real Sith
For all of its controversy and mixed reception, The Acolyte and its High Republic setting is the closest Star Wars has gotten to the epic clashes of the earlier Old Republic Era. Set 100 years before The Phantom Menace, Qimir’s The Stranger is still a lone Sith Lord. However, he does take on an entire force of Jedi in a sequence that features some impressive dueling and combat. That said, it’s still not anywhere close to what Star Wars could and should do with armies of Force-users on both sides. Here’s hoping the Old Republic will eventually be explored on screen in the Star Wars franchises’ future.