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(Spoilers in the question)

In Disney canon, has a Jedi ever used only light side techniques/powers to kill a Sith?

Some battles I can think of that don't count:

  • Obi-Wan defeats Darth Maul in The Phantom Menace, but Maul is shown to survive in Clone Wars and Rebels.
  • Anakin kills Dooku in Revenge of the Sith, but he uses the dark side at Palpatine's goading.
  • Obi-Wan kills General Grievous in Revenge of the Sith, but I don't think he's considered a Sith. (Correct me if I'm wrong about him being Sith, but back it up with canon citations, please.)

Questionable:

  • Anakin kills Palpatine in Return of the Jedi, but it's questionable whether he counts as a Jedi here. If we have canon evidence that he didn't use any dark side techniques/powers, this would count.

Most other questionable/debatable instances are okay. Possible mitigating factors I can imagine:

  • It might not be clear whether the person is a Jedi at the time of the kill. (Anakin was redeemed, at best, only seconds before killing Palpatine.)
  • It might not be clear whether the Jedi used dark side powers. (Anakin killing Palpatine.)
  • It might not be clear that the Sith is dead. This one doesn't have to be completely definitive, but try not to be too liberal here. I'm sure a lot of people thought Maul was dead until he showed up in Clone Wars, so prior to that, Obi-Wan defeating him on Naboo would have been a good example. But just falling off a ledge and someone looking over and not seeing them probably isn't enough by itself.

If any instances are not crystal clear, please just make sure you explicitly state the mitigating factors. I'm not looking to debate or give a strict set of rules about what counts and what doesn't. Just use some good judgment. Readers can decide for themselves.

I'm not interested in Legends here. I'm certain we can find examples in Legends books or games. This is about Disney canon only.

(It might be worth noting that while I've seen a little of Clone Wars and Rebels, I haven't seen much. So there might be obvious examples in those that I'm missing.)

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    Well, if Vader killed Anakin, and later Vader became Anakin when he redeemed himself, I suppose we could say that Anakin killed Vader....
    – Adamant
    Commented May 10, 2016 at 5:07
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    Much like Jonah, I think that we can say that Luke killed Vader metaphorically using Light techniques.
    – clem steredenn
    Commented May 10, 2016 at 5:33
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    @Jonah ...from a certain point of view :P
    – Adeptus
    Commented May 10, 2016 at 5:57
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    This currently has (Order) 66 views.
    – Adamant
    Commented May 10, 2016 at 8:15
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    @JeremyFrench I kind of figured that the whole question and answer would be so full of spoilers, you shouldn't read it. That's why there's a warning at the top of the question. But if there's some consensus around what should and shouldn't be spoiler tagged, I'd appreciate a suggested edit.
    – jpmc26
    Commented May 10, 2016 at 21:15

2 Answers 2

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Yes

There are only a few Sith in Disney canon. Most are ambiguous cases, but with new information from The Rise of Skywalker, there is one definitive one.

Plagueis

He was killed by his apprentice, Darth Sidious, who was certainly a Sith. So he doesn't count.

Maul

Maul was killed by Obi-Wan Kenobi on Tatooine. Obi-Wan had not fallen to the dark side, so presumably he was using light side Force powers, as in all lightsaber combat. However, at this time, Maul was strictly speaking no longer a Sith Lord.

Tyranus

Killed by Anakin, but Anakin was certainly being tempted to the Dark Side at the time.

A starburst of clarity blossoms within Anakin Skywalker's mind, when he says to himself: Oh. I get it, now and discovers that the fear within his heart can be a weapon, too.

It is that simple, and that complex. And it is final.

Dooku is dead already. The rest is mere detail.

...

The deck bucked as the cruiser absorbed a new barrage of torpedoes and turbolaser fire. Dooku's severed staring head bounced along the deck and rolled away, and Anakin woke up.

"What—?"

He'd been having a dream. He'd been flying, and fighting, and fighting again, and somehow, in the dream, he could do whatever he wanted. In the dream, whatever he did was the right thing to do simply because he wanted to do it. In the dream there were no rules, there was only power.

And the power was his.

—Revenge of the Sith

Bane

Bane was defeated by the Jedi, but there is no canon evidence that they did not use the Dark Side to defeat him. It doesn't seem likely, but there it is.

Sidious

He was "killed" by Anakin Skywalker (not Darth Vader). It's unclear whether Anakin used any Dark Side techniques, but I don't think he did. His strength was granted by his suit and cybernetics. He seems to have merely picked up Sidious and thrown him into a pit.

Palpatine struggled in the grip of Vader’s unfeeling embrace, his hands still shooting bolts of malign energy out in all directions. In his wild flailing, the lightning ripped across the room, tearing into Vader. The Dark Lord fell again, electric currents crackling down his helmet, over his cape, into his heart. Vader stumbled with his load to the middle of the bridge over the black chasm leading to the power core. He held the wailing despot high over his head, and with a final spasm of strength, hurled him into the abyss.

—Return of the Jedi

Far more clearly, he was killed by his grandchild, Rey. At that point she was by her own admission a Jedi, and was backed by the power of the spirits of past Jedi. With the help of this power, she reflected Palpatine's own lightning back at him, killing him. There is no indication that she drew on the dark side, and it is hard to get more defensive (and thus Jedi) than causing the dark side to consume itself.

So the answer is yes. Rey clearly counts; there may be other instances, but they are more ambiguous.

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  • Could you clarify how we know that the Jedi defeated Bane? I assume this was mentioned in Clone Wars, but it would be good to reference it.
    – jpmc26
    Commented May 10, 2016 at 6:14
  • @jpmc26 - Actually, I'm not sure whether I should change that. It's from the official online Encyclopedia, which was succeeded by the Databank. Is that still canon?
    – Adamant
    Commented May 10, 2016 at 6:15
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    This answer could be updated with latest info from Rebels. BUT - I don't think Obi-wan vs Maul counts, since Maul was no longer a Sith at the time.
    – Tim
    Commented Sep 18, 2017 at 22:34
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    @Thomas Yes, I'm certain. Although Maul still used the dark side and his Sith training, he had renounced the Sith, and no longer considered himself one of them. He actually wanted vengeance against Sidious, and sought to end the Sith.
    – Tim
    Commented Sep 19, 2017 at 20:06
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    @SpaceWolf1701 - It was his clone, inhabited by the consciousness of Palpatine. It was the same person, in a different body. Just like in the Dark Empire comics. It was not some clone with no connection to the original, like Rex with Jango Fett.
    – Adamant
    Commented May 15, 2020 at 5:18
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Adamant's answer was right at the time he answered it, but with more recent episodes of Star Wars Rebels, the answer is a definitive yes.

Maul flies to Tatooine to confront Obi Wan. Maul initiates a fight, but after a very brief exchange, Obi Wan delivers a fatal blow. Dying, Maul asks if Luke is the chosen one, which Obi Wan affirms. With his last breath Maul exclaims, "He will avenge us all!"

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    I updated the accepted answer to include this information.
    – William Jackson
    Commented Sep 18, 2017 at 19:33
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    @WilliamJackson The point of SE is not to duplicate information. When a new, more definitive answer is added, the OP is free to change their acceptance by clicking the check mark. Other than that, users are supposed to vote on the better answer and bring it to the top.
    – Gallifreyan
    Commented Sep 18, 2017 at 20:54
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    @WilliamJackson - There's a related meta here; What is the protocol when another user incorporates my answer into an existing answer?. My take is that your actions (although without malice) were inappropriate.
    – Valorum
    Commented Sep 18, 2017 at 20:57
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    @Ellesedil I thought about that actually, and decided for the more succinct answer, but I believe you may still count Maul as a Sith. The rule of two is not a law of the Force, but a practice of the Sith Lords. Maul was trained by a Sith, wields the dark side of the Force, and accesses the Sith temples. He is a rival Sith to Sidious, but he is still a Sith. He was actively trying to make Ezra his apprentice as well, to complete the rule of two.
    – BlackThorn
    Commented Sep 18, 2017 at 23:03
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    @jpmc26 Maul is worth mentioning, yes. But he's not the correct answer since he's not a member of the Sith anymore. If Asohka had killed Vader when they fought, she wouldn't be the correct answer either because she's not a Jedi, despite her training and close affiliation. Part of the problem, I think, is that your question uses some specific labels, and those labels have specific meaning. This answer tries to redefine one of those labels (Sith). A question strictly about light/dark side would probably have been more simple.
    – Ellesedil
    Commented Sep 23, 2017 at 17:28

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