5. Darth Bane

As moviegoers came to know them, the Sith originated with Darth Bane, who established the Rule of Two and reformed the Sith Order. Continued infighting among the Sith Lords would have led to the order’s demise, but the Rule of Two – which stipulated that only one Sith Lord and one Apprentice could to exist at one time – averted that disaster.

Darth Bane even had enough insight to discover how an apprentice would eventually replace a master, but he continued to pursue it.

Eventually, his intelligence brought about the destruction of the Jedi Order and the fall of the Republic, as Palpatine/Sidious followed his teachings in dealing with the events of the prequel trilogy.

While Darth Bane was cunning enough to defeat the Brotherhood of Darkness without a physical fight, he was also extremely skilled at using the Force, most notably to transfer his living essence into someone else’s body.