Fate of the Old Republic Could Finally Give Star Wars Fans the Sith‑Focused Story They’ve Wanted for Years

December 30, 2025, 4:00pm

Forget the Jedi, Fate of the Old Republic could finally give us the Sith story we’ve been longing for. The story of the Skywalker saga is one in which light triumphs over darkness, and that inevitably means the focus is on the light – however feeble and faltering it may sometimes seem. George Lucas in particular never really seemed interested in the Sith point of view, to the extent that even iconic villains like Darth Maul only appear for just over six minutes of screen time in The Phantom Menace.

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It’s true that Maul returned; even Lucas seemed to realize he’d made a mistake killing the popular Sith Apprentice off, and he was resurrected in Star Wars: The Clone Wars. But the focus even there largely lay on the Jedi and the clone troopers, turning them into much more relatable heroes. The dark side itself remained shadowy and mysterious, in part because the Sith Rule of Two naturally means there are only ever a limited number of Sith at a time. There are simply far more Jedi than Sith, meaning the heroes naturally get more development than the villains.

Fate of the Old Republic can Finally Change Star Wars’ Biggest Problem

Whether in canon or Legends, the Old Republic era – seen in the tremendous KotOR games – has always been the exception to the rule. These stories are generally set from 5,000-1,000 years before the Skywalkers, from the birth of the Sith to the time of Darth Bane, who came up with the Rule of Two. It’s an age when there were sometimes more Sith than there were Jedi (Order 66 was far from the only Jedi Purge in history). The potential has always seemed vast.

Star Wars canon has been toying with the idea of telling dark side stories for a while now. Leslye Headland’s The Acolyte was billed as a Sith story, and would likely have evolved into one had The Acolyte Season 2 not been cancelled; it turned out Lucasfilm made the mistake of holding the more interesting tale for a renewal that never happened. Next year will see the launch of a new animated TV series, Maul: Shadow Lord, in which Palpatine’s former apprentice tries to survive the Imperial era. But even Shadow Lord is far from a Sith story, because Maul is outside the line of the Sith.

Could Fate of the Old Republic finally give us a Sith story? It’s a spiritual successor to KotOR (even made by some of the same creative team), and the title alone seems like a promise this isn’t just an age of Jedi. Past KotOR games had sat on the boundary between light and dark, featuring protagonists who could turn as easily as adhere to the light, even allowing players freedom to choose their alignment. It’s entirely possible this new game will finally scratch that Sith itch.

Fate of the Old Republic can Show why the Sith Fail

That title feels like a major clue. If this truly is the “fate” of the Old Republic, then the game needs to reveal why the Sith Order is destined to be defeated. It needs to focus on the lust for power that inevitably leads to in-fighting among the Sith – the reason the ancient Sith Order fell, with the Rule of Two eventually established to try to counterbalance and codify the in-fighting. The Sith fail because it is their nature, competing rather than cooperating.

Some are even speculating that this could be the canon story of Darth Bane. In the old Star Wars Expanded Universe, this story was told in phenomenal comics and an excellent trilogy by Drew Karpyshyn (himself associated with KotOR). There have been hints the canon story is subtly different, giving room for something fresh and new, with some dialogue suggesting the canon Darth Bane actually ruled the Empire and established the Rule of Two before being overthrown by the Jedi. If this is indeed the story of Darth Bane, we’re in for a treat.

One thing seems certain; we’re not going to find out particularly soon. The game has only just been announced, after all. While we know the intention is to release it sooner rather than later, development is still going to take some years. That means gamers must cultivate the Jedi art of patience, whether we want to or not; more details will emerge, but they will do so in time, rather than quickly. Until then, all we can do is speculate that this could finally be the story we’ve been waiting for.

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