Top Star Wars Villains: Fan Favorites

Last week, we brought you our countdown of the 15 greatest Star Wars villains of all time. Some of our choices were met with applause. Others were met with a trip to the sarlacc pit.

Some readers even had the audacity to suggest that Darth Vader wasn't the greatest villain of all time. What movies were you watching as a child?

At any rate, we're well aware we left off some popular characters from our list. After reading through your comments, we've selected a handful of highly requested villains and assembled a follow-up countdown. Without further ado, we present the Top Star Wars Villains: Fan Favorites selection.

If there are any further complaints, feel free to make the jump to the comments section. We have all your favorite Sith Lords ready and waiting to "deal" with them.

5. Darth Caedus

Why we love to hate him: War has a habit of bringing out the worst in our heroes. For no one in the Star Wars universe is this more true than for Jacen Solo. Along with his twin sister, Jaina, he was once among the most promising of the galaxy's emerging Jedi population. Considering that his parents were none other than Leia Organa and Han Solo, it should come as no surprise that Jacen had heroism in his blood.

Unfortunately, this introspective young man questioned everything in his life, including the nature of the Force.

When the Yuuzhan Vong invaded the galaxy and threatened everything he loved, Jacen turned inward and began to harness the Dark Side. The invaders were eventually driven back, but the damage had been done. Jacen set forth on the long road to becoming Darth Caedus.

Caedus has quickly become one of the most powerful and fearsome Sith Lords the galaxy has ever seen. However, he follows in the footsteps of his predecessors more than he would ever care to admit.

Like his grandfather, Darth Vader, Caedus' every action is predicated on protecting his wife a newborn child. Like Darth Revan, he chooses to use the Dark Side as a tool to break the Republic in half in hopes of making it stronger. Both of these Jedi showed the strength of will to pull themselves back form the brink of darkness. Whether Caedus can do the same remains to be seen.

Defining moment of villainy: Jacen realized that the only way he could truly become a Sith lord was to kill someone close to him. He eventually centered on Mara Jade, wife of Luke Skywalker.

The duo battled ferociously in an underground cavern until Jacen was nearly defeated. Channeling his inner darkness, Jacen fooled Mara into thinking she was attacking her son, Ben. Siezing the moment, Jacen killed his aunt and became Darth Caedus.

Trivia: The official Star Wars website held a contest to decide what Jacen's Sith name would be. Prior to the selection of Darth Caedus, many readers thought Jacen would become Darth Krayt, the armored villain of the Star Wars: Legacy comics.

4. Count Dooku

Why we love to hate him: Most great villains don't even consider themselves to be evil. They only do the terrible things they do to further what they see as the greater good.

Take Count Dooku, for example. This wealthy nobleman was once among the greatest of the Jedi. However, he lost faith in the Jedi Order and departed, joining the ranks of the Lost Jedi.

But what is a wealthy, charismatic, and very powerful man like Dooku supposed to do after handing in his two-week's notice? Find a new job, of course. Dooku quickly caught the attention of Darth Sidious, who was seeking a new Sith apprentice after the death of Darth Maul. Dooku willingly gave himself over to the Dark Side and became Darth Tyrannus. Using his wealth and influence, Dooku began swaying various star systems to his cause, forming a Confederation that threatened to destabilize the troubled Republic.

For years, the two Sith manipulated the galaxy into fighting the Clone Wars. Dooku became one of the most famous men in the galaxy, hated and loved in equal measure. Even the Jedi found it difficult to thwart him. The first time they clashed, Dooku defeated young Anakin Skywalker and even fended off the all-powerful Yoda.

The second time, however, Anakin proved more than a match for the again Sith Lord. Dooku fell, finally comprehending his small role in his master's grand plan. Sidious was only too happy to take on a new pupil.

Defining moment of villainy: As a man of prestige, Dooku wasn't one to get his hands dirty when others could do the job for him.

His greatest impact came from the alliances he forged and the killers he trained during the Clone Wars. He fostered the Geonosians, who designed the original plans for the Death Star. He took on several apprentices of his own, including Asajj Ventress and General Grievous. All told, his scheming and plotting took the life of more Jedi than many Sith Lords combined.

Trivia: The GBA game Star Wars: The New Droid Army created a continuity mishap when the ending showed Dooku being killed by Anakin shortly after the events of Episode II. Several attempts have been made to fix the error, mostly involving clones.

An easier solution is to forget the game ever existed, which most gamers have done already.

3. General Grievous

Why we love to hate him: Is there a Star Wars villain who fits the moniker of "scourge of the galaxy" better than General Grievous? This cruel melding of machine and flesh was perhaps the single most feared being in the galaxy during the later months of the Clone Wars. Clonetroopers fled at the mere sight of him. The Jedi feared his supernatural skills with a lightsaber. Even Grievous allies among the Separatists preferred to stay at a safe distance (usually measured in light years).

But even Grievous wasn't always a poster child for diabolical evil. Once he was a simple freedom fighter named Qymaen jal Shaleel, from the planet Kalee. He won great renown for his part in driving the rival Hulk species off the planet entirely. This even captured the attention of Count Dooku and the Separatist army. Jal Shaleel showed great reluctance to aid their cause, however. Dooku simply chose to sabotage his ship and blame the attack on the Jedi.

With his broken body rebuilt into an advanced cybernetic killing machine, the newly christened General Grievous was only too happy to wage a new war.

Grievous became the primary military commander of the Separatist armies. He won many great victories against the Republic. Thanks to his lightning-quick reflexes and ability to wield as many as six (!) lightsabers at once, more than a few Jedi warriors fell at his hand.

However, as the war finally began to wind down, Grievous no longer served any use to his masters. When he was finally killed by Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi, it can be safely said that Grievous was missed by no one.

Defining moment of villainy: Grievous made quite an impression on his first mission. The Battle of Hypori was going well for the Republic forces and their seven Jedi generals, until Grievous arrived. From there, Grievous' forces proceeded to decimate the clone troopers. Grievous himself killed three of the Jedi.

The four remaining warriors barely made it back to Coruscant with their lives, and the legend of General Grievous was born.

Trivia: We could tell you that Grievous' cybernetic exoskeleton served as the prototype for Darth Vader's new body, but everyone knows that. However, did you know that, as part of the reconstruction process, Grievous was given a transfusion of blood from Jedi Master Sifo-Dyas? Grievous was disappointed that the process didn't grant him Force abilities, and this failure most likely exacerbated his hatred of the Jedi even further.

2. The Sith Lords

Why we love to hate him: According to our readers, one of the more glaring omissions in our original countdown were the villains of Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords.

These titular villains rose to power in the aftermath of Darth Malak's defeat and Darth Revan's disappearance at the end of the first game. Together, this triumvirate of evil nearly wiped all traces of the Jedi from the galaxy.

But which one to choose? Is it Darth Sion, the Jedi who used the power of the Dark Side to fuel his decaying body long past the point of death? Is it Darth Traya, the woman who trained Revan and uses the Force to fight with three lightsabers at once? That's pretty nifty.

Or is it Darth Nihilus, a wraith-like Sith who speaks in unintelligible rasps and feasts on the Dark Side like a parasite? At the very least, Nihilus probably wins the award for coolest-looking Star Wars villain ever.

In the end, we couldn't choose just one, so we cheated just like we did with Revan and Malak. These three villains held the entire galaxy in their grasp until they turned on each other. Traya was cast down by her former allies and stripped of her Force abilities. In return, she guided the Jedi Exile against them.

Sion found redemption at the hands of the Exile, while Nihilus found only destruction. When Traya herself proved to be the ultimate foe, she too met her ultimate end. It wouldn't be until the rise of our number one villain thousands of years later that a Sith Lord would rise that could rival these three.

Defining moment of villainy: We'll let Nihilus take this one. After deposing Darth Traya and embarking on his own war against the Jedi, Nihilus discovered a group of Jedi were meeting on the planet Katarr. Nihilus used his vast abilities to decimate all life on the planet, down to the last little flower. Only one woman survived the onslaught. Impressed, Nihilus took her as his apprentice.

Trivia: Darth Sion was the star of several scenes cut from the final version of KotoR II. One scene had him do battle with Nihilus, while another pitted him against the supporting character Atton. In the deleted ending, Atton dies from his wounds if the player earns the Dark Side ending.

1. Darth Bane

Why we love to hate him: Okay, okay, we get it. You really love Darth Bane. This particular Sith Lord got more requests than just about everyone else combined. We briefly considered leaving him out and giving the number one spot to someone like Greedo, but we do value our lives a little more than that.

Whatever the case, Darth Bane deserves his place among the great Star Wars villains. Bane is best remembered as the Sith who implemented the Rule of Two. He rose to prominence as a soldier in the Sith Academy. Upon discovering an ancient holocron left by Darth Revan, Bane was enthralled by the powerful Jedi's thoughts on the Dark Side and the follies of his fellow Sith.

Revan felt that fewer Sith lords working together could do far more damage than hundreds working against each other. Bane agreed. He took Revan's teachings one step further and wiped out most of his former allies.

Soon there were only two Sith left – Bane and his apprentice. Whatever else might come next, Bane had left his indelible mark on the galaxy.

The Rule of Two helped ensure the survival of the Sith Order, and eventually led to the rise of Darth Sidious the Great. Without Bane's foresight, Sidious would never have found the galaxy so ripe for the taking. That's why, even a thousand years later, no Sith commands greater respect than Darth Bane.

Defining moment of villainy: Darth Bane's true moment of villainy should come as no surprise. His plan to eliminate his Sith brethren was a near-flawless masterpiece.

First, he manipulated the Sith into attacking the Jedi, causing heavy losses on both sides. Then Bane detonated a thought bomb, utterly destroying both armies. The Sith were gone, and many of the Jedi with them. The best part was that the remaining Jedi had no idea that Bane was responsible. In fact, they had no idea the Sith Order survived at all. Bane had destroyed the ultimate evil in the galaxy, only to replace it with something far worse.

Trivia: Bane is one of the few, if only, Expanded Universe characters actually created by George Lucas. Lucas envisioned Bane during his development of the script for Episode I, and Bane is mentioned in passing in the novelization. However, it would be several years before the character was fleshed out and made famous by other writers.

Now, the circle is complete. Share your concerns and opinions full of selective grammar in the Comments, and cast your vote in the Star Wars poll below.