Palpatine was not known to be a Sith by the general public, so from the public point of view Vader was the only Sith and therefore the Dark Lord.Within the Sith Order, it's possible Vader doesn't really hold the title. Tarkin) who wouldn't know his true title(s). in the scripts) or by non-Sith characters (e.g. He is only referred to as the Dark Lord from an out-of-universe perspective (e.g. Vader is never called the Dark Lord by Palpatine, and never calls himself the Dark Lord.The last option (that Vader didn't really hold the title, but was publicly assumed to hold it) seems possible for several reasons: How is this explained? Did the Sith Order start giving the title to the Apprentice sometime after Darth Bane and, if so, when? Is the Bane trilogy simply wrong to reserve the title for the Master (it's Legends, so canon supersedes it)? Or did Darth Vader not really hold the title? There appears to be a contradiction, in that the Bane trilogy reserves the title for the Master but the canon sources do not.

Probably on this basis, Wookieepedia's canon article on the title says that the title was 'shared' by the Sith Lords under the Rule of Two. He is referred to as the 'Dark Lord' in the movie scripts, as well as in the canon novel Tarkin (albeit always from the perspective of Moff Tarkin, who is not a Sith). However, Darth Vader - who never became the Sith Master - appears to hold the title. If she proves the stronger, the Master will fall and she will become the new Dark Lord of the Sith, and choose an apprentice of her own. If she proves unworthy, the Master will destroy her and choose a new apprentice. The Master will train his apprentice in the ways of the Sith, until one day she must challenge him. Later, Darth Zannah affirms that the Apprentice becomes the Dark Lord upon killing the Master: On that day she would usurp him as the Dark Lord of the Sith and choose an apprentice of her own. That was why Bane had chosen Zannah as his apprentice: she had the potential to one day surpass even his own abilities.

In the (Legends) Bane trilogy, it appears to be reserved for the Sith Master. from Darth Bane to Palpatine), does the Sith Apprentice hold the title 'Dark Lord of the Sith'? Or is the title reserved for only the Sith Master?

For the Sith Order under the Rule of Two (i.e.

Lords of the sith