Star Wars thrives on offering countless lore fragments for the enterprising fan to dig through. The spiritual concepts of Star Wars are some of the most intriguing because they are often vague, yet seem to connect to so much more. One such concept sends the curious straight to Hell -- or rather, into a dangerous plane of existence called Chaos.

The physical place of Hell had an interesting use in Star Wars Legends (now non-canon lore) as an unpleasant afterlife spoken of in Corellian mythology. Known as "Chaos," this was the place where a Sith would suffer after they died.

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Anakin in Revenge of the Sith

Legend's interwoven concept of Hell/Chaos was meaningful to the Sith. Chaos was a part of the Netherworld of the Force -- the mysterious limbo between the living and the dead, akin to a sort of Purgatory. For the Sith, Chaos was a place of not only spiritual dissolution, but an endless pain of self-inflicted punishment for their failures to do so to others in life.

Though Darth Plagueis dismissed the idea as some spiritual perception felt at the last gasp of life, it is a very real, agonizing place that Darth Sidious himself winds up in, as revealed in the Dark Horse Star Wars comic, Empire's End 2: Rage of the Emperor by writer Tom Veitch and artist Jim Baikie. In this continuity, Sidious is dragged through the Netherworld and into this infernal, unceasing existence by the spirit of Jedi Knight Empatojayos Brand. Brand, to save the baby Anakin Solo, traps the Sith Lord's malevolent Force within his own as he dies. It's part of the finale to the classic Legends comic book saga Dark Empire, its themes similar to the end of The Exorcist, and the implications are just as dire.

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Star Wars EU Stories - Dark Empire

The new era of canon has cut away most of these interesting implications. The idea of Chaos remains in Naboo's mythology to a small extent as a pit locked away behind six impervious gates. As a citizen of Naboo, Palpatine no doubt knew of this legend. It opens the question of if the deposed Emperor thought of this pit and what it represented when Vader turned from the Dark Side and threw Palpatine down the Death Star's shaft to physical death.

The idea of Chaos itself representing a Sith's self-inflicted hell should become more prominent in future canon works. It's a story concept worth exploring, along with all its shuddery, horrifying implications of souls locked away by their own battered emotions. It's hell of their own cruel making, born of their failures and as relentless and inescapable as the Sith sought to be in life. No wonder Palpatine fought so hard to cheat his soul away from that symbolic pit as his body disintegrated.

At least in a descriptive sense, the idea of Chaos being affiliated with the Sith must endure. As the Jedi embraced the very idea of Order -- a rigid, lawful existence that eventually became a critical piece of their downfall -- so too is the idea of Sith linked with Chaos. That maddened swirl of hate, rage, unpredictable plans and destruction is the core of Sith ideology, and it is always what brings them down.

A little order to bring light, a little chaos to bring the darkness -- a balance in The Force. Just as the Jedi have learned to transcend the Netherworld and become Force Ghosts, the Sith may be most useful to that balance by becoming damned souls, lost in the unceasing Chaos.

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