Second Great Schism

The Second Great Schism was a divisive split among the ranks of the Jedi Order that occurred in the year 7003 BBY. Jedi who practiced alchemy and the dark side of the Force as Dark Jedi broke from the Jedi Order, and the war known as the Hundred-Year Darkness followed in 7000 BBY.^[1]

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Behind the scenes

"While the details are lost in the mists of time, Galactic historians believe there has been a rift between the light side and the dark side of the Force almost since the foundation of the Jedi Order some 25,000 standard years before the Battle of Yavin. Many think it was one rogue Jedi who fell to the dark side, turned others, and eventually built an entire army of dark siders. For the next century, a deadly war swept the galaxy, destroying planets and civilizations before the Jedi Knights prevailed."

―Stephen J. Sansweet^[2]

The first reference to fallen Jedi becoming the rulers of the "Sith civilization" to be published was in Tales of the Jedi – The Freedon Nadd Uprising 1.^[3] This information was again mentioned in Tales of the Jedi – Dark Lords of the Sith 1.^[4] Tales of the Jedi – Dark Lords of the Sith 3 mentions "the Hundred-Year Darkness" in a list of events involving the Dark Side. No further information about it was mentioned.^[5]

In the comic book Tales of the Jedi - The Golden Age of the Sith 0, published on July 31, 1996^[6] by Dark Horse Comics,^[7] a young Jedi, Odan-Urr, conveys tales of the Sith to Master Ooroo, recounting that "Dark Jedi" of "the First Great Schism of the Jedi Knights" were "defeated after a century of bloodshed" and that "Jedi Exiles", noted as such in the text of issue 0, subsequently "forged the Sith civilization into a new empire ".^[8] In 1996's Tales of the Jedi – The Golden Age of the Sith 2, the ghost of Marka Ragnos recounts how this "Great Schism between the Dark Side and the Light turned Jedi against Jedi." Ragnos goes on to say that it has been "many centuries" since then. In the same issue, Odan-Urr tells Teta that "it has been many centuries" since "evil Jedi" were "banished".^[9] In Tales of the Jedi – The Golden Age of the Sith 4, Odan-Urr warns the Galactic Senate about "exiled Jedi, defeated millennia ago".^[10]

The Essential Chronology (2000), described "a century of bloodshed" associated with "the first great schism within the Jedi Knights" "centuries" before the Great Hyperspace War.^[11]

Elaborating on comments made by Stephen J. Sansweet via the StarWars.com's Ask the Lucasfilm Jedi Council feature in 2000,^[2] Star Wars: Secrets of the Sith (2000), by Iain R. Morris, Ben Harper and Marc Cerasini, placed the "first uprising of the dark side" and subsequent "century-long battle" somewhere between "25,000-5,000 B.B.Y.", and further described the idea that galactic historians believed that one rogue Jedi Knight was responsible for turning fellow Knights, which then led to the creation of a "fleet of spacecraft" used against the Jedi during the "next hundred years."^[12]

Arden Lyn's biography in Abel G. Peña's "The Emperor's Pawns", a collection of biographies that were published in Star Wars Gamer #5 (2001), stated that "Xendor and his minions wreaked havoc during The First Great Schism" while the attached "Adventure Seed: Life After Death", stated that Arden was "twisted after 250 centuries of 'death'" meaning that the First Great Schism took place approximately 25,000 years prior to her reawakening.^[13] On June 29, 2006, Abel revealed that he had exorcised portions of his article, "Evil Never Dies: The Sith Dynasties" pertaining to an unrelated Second Great Schism in 10,000 BBY involving the Sorcerers of Tund.^[14]

The Dark Side Sourcebook (2001), released only a month after The Emperor's Pawns, did not mention Xendor or Arden Lyn, only describing "the first dark side uprising" that took place "during this ancient period" and that this battle lasted "more than a century" prior to these "Dark Jedi" discovering the Sith.^[15]

The timeline in the beginning of The New Essential Guide to Characters (2002) lists "The First Great Schism between followers of the dark side and the light side occurs. After more than a century, the dark-siders are driven off into the wilds of the galaxy" under the heading "circa 25,000 B.B.Y." while also listing the "The Jedi Knights lead the Republic through the Hundred-Year Darkness" under the heading of "circa 7,000 B.B.Y."^[16]

Naga Sadow's biography in The New Essential Guide to Characters says, "The First Great Schism between the light and dark sides of the Force occured in the early years of the Old Republic. Certain Jedi turned to the dark side, and when defeated, they fled the civilized galaxy and conquered a primitive species-the Sith. They made themselves the Lords of the Sith, and named the greatest among them the Dark Lord. Naga Sadow, heir to this wicked tradition, became the first Sith Lord in nearly twenty millennia to reestablish contact with the forgotten Republic".^[16]

The New Essential Chronology (2005) reasserted that the Hundred-Year Darkness occured ~7000 BBY, but also revealed it to be the same event as the "century of bloodshed" mentioned in Tales of the Jedi: Golden Age of the Sith and to now follow a "Second Great Schism" while the "First Great Schism" was retconned to be a separate event.^[17] In spite of this retcon, Star Wars: The Ultimate Visual Guide: Special Edition, which was published in May 2007,^[18] and Star Wars: The Ultimate Visual Guide: Updated and Expanded, which was published on April 30, 2012,^[19] say that the Exiles turned to the dark side "in the early years of the Old Republic."^[20]^[21]

When asked about this retcon, Daniel Wallace, author of The New Esssential Chronology, said it was because of "LFL internal documents" dating Dark Jedi contact with the Sith species at ~7000 BBY.^[22] On January 11, 2006, Leland Chee said that this retcon was to "correct the the [sic] original discrepency of the timing of the Great Schism introduced by The New Essential Guide to Characters."^[23] On June 30, 2006, Abel G. Peña stated that he "didn't quite understand this realignment of the origins of the Sith."^[24]