06––·
Darth PlagueisThe novel, and the opera-house myth
legendscanonnovelfilm
Kills- Darth Tenebroushis own master, on Bal'demnic, the moment the work was doneDarth Plagueis 2012
- Darth Venamiskilled and revived him over and over, then finally let it takeDarth Plagueis 2012
Worked on midi-chlorians directly, kept people from dying, and reached for the ability to make life. The books leave open the possibility that Anakin is what came back the other way.
Darth Plagueis · 2012 · shown
Experiments directly on midi-chlorians and sustains life past the point of death.
Revenge of the Sith · 2005 · stated
Palpatine tells Anakin he could save others from dying — a story told by a liar to recruit.
07––·
Darth RevanKOTOR, SWTOR, the Revan novel
legendsgamenovelcontested
Kills- Mandalore the Ultimateended the Mandalorian Wars with itKnights of the Old Republic 2003
- Darth Malakhis own apprentice, aboard the Star ForgeKnights of the Old Republic 2003
- Darth Nyrissby turning her own lightning aroundRevan 2011
Conquered the Republic, got mind-wiped, saved it, fell again, then spent three centuries as Vitiate's prisoner resisting a mind that ate a planet. The thing he is famous for is also the ceiling on him: his best weapon was always strategy, not raw output.
Knights of the Old Republic · 2003 · shown
Conquered the Republic as a Sith Lord, was captured and mind-wiped, then defeated Malak.
The Old Republic · The Foundry · shown
Survives roughly three hundred years in stasis still resisting the Emperor's domination. — 2011
08––·
YodaNine hundred years of it
canonlegendsfilm
Fought Sidious to a draw in the Senate chamber, then spent his exile learning from a dead man how to keep himself after his own body stopped, and taught the rest of the Order to do it.
Revenge of the Sith · 2005 · shown
Duels Sidious in the Senate chamber to an inconclusive stalemate and withdraws.
Revenge of the Sith · novelisation, Matthew Stover · shown
Qui-Gon's retained consciousness is the technique Yoda then learns and passes on. — 2005
09––·
Exar KunGreat Sith War — Tales of the Jedi
legendscomicnovel
Kills- The Massassi of Yavin 4drained an entire people to bind his spirit to the moonTales of the Jedi: The Sith War 1996
- Vodo-Siosk Baashis own master, in the SenateTales of the Jedi: The Sith War 1995
- Gantorisburned alive, four thousand years laterJedi Academy Trilogy: Dark Apprentice 1994
Burned the life out of his entire Massassi population to anchor his spirit to Yavin 4, then haunted it successfully for four thousand years and nearly took Luke's first class of students with him.
Tales of the Jedi: The Sith War · issue 6 · shown
Drains the Massassi of Yavin 4 to tear his spirit free of his body and bind it to the moon. — 1996
Jedi Academy Trilogy: Dark Apprentice · 1994 · shown
Four thousand years later he burns Gantoris alive and turns Kyp Durron against Luke.
10––·
Galen MarekStarkiller — The Force Unleashed
legendsgamecontested
Kills- Shaak Tibeaten, then she let herself fall into the sarlacc; canon later gave her a different deathThe Force Unleashed 2008
- Kazdan Paratuson Raxus PrimeThe Force Unleashed 2008
Dragged a Star Destroyer down out of the sky with his hands. It is the feat every power-scaling argument reaches for, and the one that falls apart fastest when you check it: the novelisation has the ship already coming down and Starkiller merely aiming it, which is a different claim entirely.
The Force Unleashed · Raxus Prime · shown
Drags a falling Star Destroyer off its course and down onto the ore facility. — 2008
The Force Unleashed · 2008 · shown
The novelisation has him steering an already-crashing ship, a materially smaller feat than the game's.
11––·
Darth VaderThe instrument
canonlegendsfilm
Kills- Obi-Wan Kenobiwho let himA New Hope 1977
- Captain Antillesone-handed, in a corridor, before the film has a plotA New Hope 1977
- Admiral Ozzel and Captain Needafor being slow, and for losing a shipThe Empire Strikes Back 1980
- The Emperorpicked him up and dropped him down a shaft — and he came back anyway, twiceReturn of the Jedi 1983 · undone
Diminished, mechanical, in constant pain, and still the thing the galaxy is most afraid of. His decisive act isn't a duel — it's picking up an emperor and dropping him down a shaft.
Return of the Jedi · 1983 · shown
Lifts Palpatine mid-lightning and throws him down the Death Star II reactor shaft.
Rogue One · 2016 · shown
Boards the Profundity and cuts down a corridor of Rebel troopers to reach the plans.
12––·
KreiaDarth Traya — KOTOR II
legendsgame
Kills- Vrook Lamar, Kavar and Zez-Kai Ellall three at once, in a single confrontationKnights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords 2004
She is not the strongest hand on this list and it does not matter. Three Jedi Masters moved to cut the Exile off from the Force; she drained all three of them where they stood, in one go. The rest of the game she spends steering people who could kill her instantly — the Exile, Sion, Nihilus baited to Telos — from a position of no strength at all.
Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords · Trayus Academy · shown
Articulates a critique of the Force itself that neither Jedi nor Sith doctrine answers. — 2004
Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords · 2004 · shown
Steers the Exile and Sion to her own ends, and baits Nihilus to Telos, from a position of weakness.
13––·
Darth BaneRule of Two — Path of Destruction
legendsnovel
Kills- The Brotherhood of Darknessmanipulated Kaan into detonating the thought bomb, then walked out of itDarth Bane: Path of Destruction 2006
Destroyed the Sith to save them. Wore orbalisk armour, engineered the thought bomb that annihilated the Brotherhood of Darkness and stood outside its radius while it went off, and wrote the succession rule that was still running a thousand years later when it produced Palpatine.
Darth Bane: Path of Destruction · 2006 · shown
Engineers the thought bomb at Ruusan that annihilates the Brotherhood of Darkness, and survives it.
Darth Bane: Rule of Two · 2007 · shown
Trains Zannah under the two-Sith rule, and survives her first attempt to replace him.
14––·
Jacen SoloDarth Caedus — Legacy of the Force
legendsnovel
Kills- Nelani Dinnthe first one, and the one that decided the restLegacy of the Force: Betrayal 2006
- Onimithe true Supreme Overlord of the Yuuzhan VongThe New Jedi Order: The Unifying Force 2003
- Mara Jade Skywalkerthe act that made him CaedusLegacy of the Force: Sacrifice 2007
Trained by everyone — Luke, Vergere, the Yuuzhan Vong, a Sith tribe — and ended up with a stranger toolkit than any of them. Flow-walking through time, and enough power to make the entire Jedi Order treat him as an existential problem.
Dark Nest Trilogy: The Joiner King · 2005 · shown
Learns flow-walking, moving his consciousness through past events.
Legacy of the Force: Sacrifice · 2007 · shown
Murders Mara Jade Skywalker and takes the name Darth Caedus.
15––·
Mace WinduVaapad
canonlegendsfilm
Kills- Jango Fettbeheaded, in the arenaAttack of the Clones 2002
The only duelist who beat Palpatine in a straight fight on screen, using a form that works by channelling the dark instead of refusing it. He loses to a betrayal, not to a swordsman.
Revenge of the Sith · 2005 · shown
Disarms Sidious and has him beaten before Anakin intervenes.
Shatterpoint · 2003 · stated
Vaapad channels the user's own darkness rather than suppressing it, and few can survive using it.