Stories about Star Wars are stories about the constant struggle of the Light and Dark sides and the heroism that this struggle produces. However, since mysticism and mystery are very strongly woven into the Star Wars universe, some heroes downfall and turn to the other side. Here we will mention the ten most powerful Jedi who crossed to the dark side.
Many prominent Jedi have fallen to the dark side during the history of Star Wars. Some Jedi were eager for the knowledge of the Force found in the teachings of the dark side. During these researches, many came to the tremendous temptations caused by the dark side and would eventually be converted. And some of them simply fell because of their personal tragedies. Some of these fallen Jedi have become some of the most powerful Sith Lords ever. This list includes canonical and non-canonical Star Wars heroes. They will be listed without any meaning in the order. Let’s see who they were.
Revan
Revan was a Jedi Knight who lived about 4000 years BBY (Before Battle of Yavin). He was found by the Jedi Order at a young age and devoted to their teachings. He became an apprentice to the Jedi Master Kreia. As time passed, he had an insatiable hunger for knowledge, and in the meantime, he became very skilled with a lightsaber. At that time, Revan was considered one of the most prominent and powerful members of the Jedi Order. He distinguished himself as a great warrior in the upcoming Mandalorian Wars.
In search of the Sith, Revan and his apprentice Malak explore the Unknown Regions and thus disappear from the sight of the Republic. There they encounter the hidden Sith Empire and fall under the Dark influence of the mighty Sith Emperor Vitiate and join the Sith Order.
During his time on the dark side, Revan, at that point known as Darth Revan, was also very thirsty for knowledge of the Force. Then he begins to study the Sith’s secret teachings and became one of the most powerful Sith Lords ever.
Anakin Skywalker
Probably the most famous among the Jedi who turned to the Dark Side is Anakin Skywalker. His popularity among Star Wars fans is huge, so he, i.e., his dark side of the personality, is one of the most famous villains in movie history in general.
As a boy who has a strong connection to the Force, Anakin has been recognized by Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jinn, who also suspects that the boy’s origins have some connection with the manipulation of midi-chlorians. Qui intends to train the boy with Jedi skills; however, he is killed by Darth Maul, so the task of training the young Anakin is entrusted to his Padawan Obi-Wan Kenobi. After many years of training, Anakin grows into a very skilled Jedi and becomes one of the most powerful Jedi at the time.
Among the first causes that slowly pushed Anakin to the dark side is that his Padawan Ahsoka Tano has been unjustly accused of a terrorist attack on the Jedi Temple. After she departs from the Jedi Order, he becomes a little bitter at the Jedi Council. However, his final fall to the dark side occurred when Sith Lord Darth Sidious convinced him that in Sith’s teachings, he could find a way to save the life of his secret wife, Padme Amidala.
Then he becomes the well-known Darth Vader, one of the most famous Sith Lords ever, who ruthlessly hunted down the Jedi with the intention of their complete extermination.
Kreia
Kreia was a highly Force-sensitive human female who achieved the rank of Jedi Master. While she was a member of the Jedi Order, Kreia tried to discover the galaxy’s mysteries through meditation, which eventually weakened her eyesight. Also, during her time as a Jedi, she taught many students, including the famous Revan. Because of her unconventional teaching style, she caused a lot of controversy among her fellow Jedi. High Council exiled her from the Jedi Order because her students followed Revan in the Mandalorian Wars.
Searching for the echoes of the Force, she goes to Malachor V and discovers the Trayus Academy, an ancient Sith academy, where she turns to the dark side and becomes Darth Traya. She was one very powerful Sith Lord, who had a wide range of Force abilities such as Force Crush, Force horror, Force cloak, Force Speed, Force lightning, Force Choke, Force scream, energy resistance, mind trick, and Force to control beasts.
Freedon Nadd
Freedon Nadd lived around 4400 BBY and was one very talented boy who trained at the Jedi Academy on the planet Ossus. This young Jedi, considered a prodigy by his masters, was driven by a lust for greater power to kill his master, Matta Tremayne, and to relinquish his affiliation with the Jedi Order. Driven by anger and hunger for power, and following the traces of the Force, he encounters the ancient Dark Lord Naga Sadow and becomes his apprentice. When he adopts from him all the teachings of the Sith he could get, he kills his master and proclaims himself Dark Lord of the Sith.
He ruled over his Sith kingdom for over 100 years. He was one of the most influential Sith ever, as he was also very powerful during his time as a Jedi. His great significance in the Sith’s world, and Galactic history in general, is reflected in the fact that he had an enormous influence on the events that took place long after his death.
Skere Kaan
Skere Kaan, born on Coruscant during the Republic Dark Age (1100 BBY – 1000 BBY), was discovered by the Jedi as a Force-sensitive and sent to his Jedi Temple. There he proved to be an extremely gifted student, showing great knowledge of various skills. Having grown into one of the most skilled among them, which makes him a very powerful warrior, the Jedi Order had high hopes that he would be the one to turn the fortunes of war and bring victory over the raging Sith.
However, he was dissatisfied with the Jedi Council and the Galactic Republic’s decisions regarding the current problems, so that hidden anger was smoldering in him.
Kaan soon left the Jedi Order and, with several of his faithful Knights followers, formed the Brotherhood of Darkness and proclaimed himself the Dark Lord of the Sith. He manages to unite the divided Sith under his leadership, ruthlessly crushing all those who disagreed with it, and embarks on a relentless campaign to finally defeat the Galactic Republic and the Jedi Order.
Exar Kun
Like many before him, Kun was discovered by the Jedi as a talented boy sensitive to the Force and taken to train with them. He was a very capable and, above all, a very curious student, which on one occasion put him in a position to look into the master’s holocron and there discover many interesting things about the Sith.
As his desire for knowledge grew over time, and after more frequent disagreements with his fellow Jedi, he decided to leave them and follow his destiny. By that time, he had already grown into an ingenious and powerful Jedi.
Following his fate, Kun’s journey leads to Onderon’s moon Dxun, where he eventually finds Freedon Nadd’s tomb, the mighty Sith Lord. Nadd’s spirit immediately puts the young Jedi in various temptations with the intention of turning him to the dark side, which he eventually succeeds. When Kun finally accepts the dark side, he devotes himself with great enthusiasm to the Sith’s teachings and becomes one of the most powerful Sith Lords ever.
Ben Solo
Ben Solo first appears in the first sequel to the original trilogy, Star Wars: The Force Awakens. Born shortly after the Battle of Endor, in a family of mother Leia Organa and father Han Solo, he showed sensitivity to the Force as a boy. His uncle Luke Skywalker takes him and tries to train him for the New Jedi Order, which he is trying to rebuild. While preparing for the Jedi, Ben heard fascinating and controversial stories about his ancestor Anakin, one of the most powerful Jedi of his time, who eventually turned to the dark side and became the Sith Lord Darth Vader.
Recognizing the power and sensitivity to the Force that Solo possessed thanks to his bloodline, Supreme Leader Snoke, a puppet of Sith Lord Darth Sidious, befriends the young Jedi and slowly turns him towards the Dark Side of the Force. Eventually, he succeeds, so Ben joins the Knights of Ren and becomes Kylo Ren. Kylo Ren then brutally destroys the New Jedi Order and drives his uncle Luke Skywalker into exile. The final fall of young Ben to the dark side happened when Kylo, his dark side of the personality, killed his father, Han Solo, who tried to bring Ben back to the light side.
Malak
In his youth, Malak, then called Alek, came to the Galactic Republic, fleeing his homeland’s Mandalorian devastation. There, he was recognized by the Jedi Order as someone with the Force, so he was accepted for training. After years of training, he becomes a very skilled Jedi Knight. With his friend Revan from the Jedi Academy, he decides to go to the Mandalorian Wars despite a strict order from the Jedi Council not to interfere in that war.
After successfully completing the war campaign, he goes to the Unknown Regions with Raven to investigate the Mandalorian War’s roots, suspecting that the Sith are behind it. There he encounters the hidden Sith Empire, where he turns to the dark side along with Revan and becomes a Sith Lord Darth Malak. He becomes Revan’s apprentice, and together, they find Star Forge, a giant automated shipyard, which allows them to build a Galactic Fleet for war with the Republic and the Jedi.
The desire for unlimited power was grown continuously in Malak, but the obstacle to his intentions was Revan. When a strike team of the Jedi Order ambushed Revan and severely wounded him, Darth Malak took advantage of this and abandoned his master by turning his ship around and leaving the battle. However, after some time, Revan, rehabilitated by Jedi, confronts Darth Malak and kills him in a duel with lightsabers.
Count Dooku
As a child, abandoned by his parents and accepted and taught by the Jedi Order, Dooku spends most of his time studying, so after a while, he grows into a very powerful Jedi Knight. To be a very skilled Jedi, he was helped by being Padawan to the great Master Yoda.
However, Dooku was disappointed with the Galactic Republic as he saw growing corruption in its Senate. Due to his increasingly frequent and insurmountable disagreement with his fellow Jedi, he deliberately left the Order and their teachings of the light side of the Force. His frustrations are exploited by Chancellor Palpatine, who is actually the hidden Dark Lord of Sith’s Darth Sidious, and he turns him to the dark side and sets him as his apprentice. Sidious intended to use Dooku, at that point known as Darth Tyranus, to spread his manipulations and conspiracies throughout the Galactic Republic, which eventually led to the Clone Wars events. Unfortunately for Dooku, Sidious, according to Sith’s usual betrayal practice, saw him only as a temporary solution in the place of an apprentice. In a staged duel with lightsabers by Sidious, Darth Tyranus dies from Sidious’s new apprentice Jedi Knight Anakin Skywalker.
A’Sharad Hett
Born on the planet Tatooine where he lived with his father, the prominent Jedi, among the Tusken Raiders, A’Sharad Hett eventually became the Padawan of the Jedi Masters Ki-Adi-Mundi. Growing into one of the most powerful warriors, his skill and unquestionable courage among the Jedi allows him to serve as a general in the Galactic Republic forces in the upcoming Clone Wars.
After the famous Order 66, by which Darth Sidious orders the extermination of all the Jedi, A’Sharad manages to hide from the rage of the Sith, thus avoiding the fate of most of the fellow Jedi, and goes to the planet Tatooine.
However, he doesn’t stay long on Tatooine, where he has a conflict with Obi-Wan Kenobi. His journey as a bounty hunter leads him to the planet Korriban where he finds the tomb of the Dark Lord XoXaan, whose spirit turns him closer to the dark side. After some time, Hett proclaims himself the Dark Lord of the Sith and becomes Darth Krayt.