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We know that Sith masters were frequently challenged by their apprentices at some point. For example, Palpatine killed his master, Darth Plagueis, in his sleep. Vader killed Palpatine too, of course, but I'm not sure if that counts.1

In all the known cases, in canon and Legends, in which a Sith master and his or her apprentice fought to the death, how many times did the master come out on top, and how many times did the apprentice emerge victorious?

Consider all Sith Lords from the Bane line. Names are not required, and results only (without the actual fight) are fine.

1I'm also not sure if Revan and Malak's conflict counts - when both were Sith, Revan (the master) was defeated in a space battle by Malak (the apprentice), but both survived; Revan was only truly overcome by a Jedi. Later, they fought again, and Revan killed Malak, but by then, Revan had returned to the light side, so it wasn't a master/apprentice conflict any more.

Wad Cheber
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  • To preempt any potential claims that this question is too broad, I would like to point out that we are only talking about known cases in which a Sith master fought his or her apprentice to the death and the results were recorded - my knowledge of legends is sketchy at best, but I know of only two clear cut cases like this: Darth Plagueis vs Palpatine, and Darth Tenebrous vs. Darth Plagueis. – Wad Cheber Feb 21 '16 at 03:50
  • The first and easiest part is to count the number of Sith Masters from Bane to Sidious: the number of Masters challenged by their apprentices, defeated and replaced as the new Sith Master according to the Rule of Two. Although the Rule deals with what to do if the Apprentice fails, there doesn't seem to be any known instance of that happening. – thegreatjedi Feb 21 '16 at 08:15
  • Some clarifications are needed. 1. Are we only to consider named Sith Lords? For example, we don't know Tenebrous' master's name so do we include Tenebrous' assumed victory over that Sith Lord? 2. Are we to consider fights which were not depicted but for which we know the victor (e.g. Darth Zannah was succeeded by her apprentice Darth Cognus, so presumably Cognus won -- but that fight was not depicted in any source... – Null Feb 22 '16 at 15:35
  • Do we need to consider Sith beyond the Order of the Sith Lords (i.e. the Bane line)? For example, Lumiya's Sith was the successor Sith organization after the deaths of Sidious and Vader (Legends only). Lumiya sort of followed the Rule of Two but she obviously was not of the Bane line. There's also the One Sith, which did not follow the Rule of Two (also Legends only).
  • – Null Feb 22 '16 at 15:39
  • @Null - Bane line, names not required, results only (without the actual fight) is fine. – Wad Cheber Feb 22 '16 at 21:06
  • Finally, a statistical approach to The Force. Lightsabermetrics could revolutionise the struggle between Light and Dark in a way not seen since the invention of the midichlorian-ometer! – Paul D. Waite Nov 23 '22 at 14:21