History Main / RuleOfTwo

* In one ''ComicBook/StarWarsTales'' story "The Apprentice", a Sith Master named Finn and his unnamed apprentice are concluding business on some backwater planet when they run into a slave owner Lod and his slave girl Marka. The apprentice ends up killing Lod and freeing Marka out of anger towards Lod (and sympathy towards Marka much to Finn's irritation). It turns out that Marka is powerful in the Force and even mind-tricked the apprentice into taking her with him -- Finn suspects that the Force led them to the planet in the first place to find her. When Marka begs him to take her with them so she can learn the ways of the Sith, Finn denies her. He explains that he doesn't need a slave and he already has an apprentice. [[spoiler:Marka takes the hint and promptly steals the apprentice's lightsaber and pushes him off the roof to his death. Finn immediately invites his new apprentice aboard his ship.]]

*** Film/TheLastJedi exposes another flaw in the Rule of Two related to the redemption example above - [[spoiler:a Sith apprentice killing his master but deciding to destroy the entire Sith doctrine out of some sort of principle. While Snoke was not a Sith lord, Kylo Ren still betrayed him, and comes to the realization that both Jedi and Sith doctrines are intrinsically flawed, and that the past should be let go of... By being destroyed completely.]]

* In one ''ComicBook/StarWarsTales'' story "The Apprentice", a Sith Master named Finn and his unnamed apprentice are concluding business on some backwater planet when they run into a slave owner Lod and his slave girl Marka. The apprentice ends up killing Lod and freeing Marka out of anger towards Lod (and sympathy towards Marka much to Finn's irritation). It turns out that Marka is powerful in the Force and even mind-tricked the apprentice into taking her with him -- Finn suspects that the Force led them to the planet in the first place to find her. When Marka begs him to take her with them so she can learn the ways of the Sith, Finn denies her. He explains that he doesn't need a slave and he already has an apprentice. [[spoiler:Marka takes the hint and promptly steals the apprentice's lightsaber and pushes him off the roof to this death. Finn immediately invites his new apprentice aboard his ship.]]

* In one ''ComicBook/StarWarsTales'' story "The Apprentice", a Sith Master named Finn and his unnamed apprentice are concluding business on some backwater planet when they run into a slave owner Lod and his slave girl Marka. The apprentice ends up killing Lod and freeing Marka out of anger towards Lod (and sympathy towards Marka much to Finn's irritation). It turns out that Marka is powerful in the Force and even mind-tricked the apprentice into taking her with him -- Finn suspects that the Force led them to the planet in the first place to find her. When Marka begs him to take her with them so she can learn the ways of the Sith, Finn denies her. He explains that he doesn't need a slave and he already has an apprentice. [[spoiler:Marka takes the hint and promptly steals the apprentice's lightsaber and pushes him off the roof to this death. Finn immediately invites his new apprentice onboard his ship.]]

** The origins of this rule are first explained in the ''Film/RevengeOfTheSith'' novelization, and explored further in ''Literature/DarthBane''. When the Sith order was originally created, it was indeed an order that had many members, but since they were all steeped in the dark side, they had a collective bad case of ChronicBackstabbingDisorder. This tendency to betray each other at the drop of a hat weakened the order to the point where the Jedi ([[SanityHasAdvantages who as light-siders were more unified]]) were gaining the upper hand. To combat this, Bane decided that there should only be two Sith Lords at one time- a master to have power and an apprentice to covet it. He also decided that they should endeavor to take over the galaxy via subtlety and manipulation (like Palpatine eventually did) instead of outright invasion. [[spoiler: Having made up his mind on this, he manipulates all collectivist Sith Lords into committing mass suicide.]]

-->-- '''Master Yoda''', ''StarWars Episode I: The Phantom Menace'', about the Sith

* ''Franchise/StarWars'' is the TropeNamer. The Sith have the Rule of Two, where there can only be a Sith master and an apprentice - no more, no less - one to possess power and the other to desire it. The idea is that each Sith Lord teaches one apprentice until they are strong enough to destroy the master and take their place, at which point the apprentice will take on a student of his own, or until the master kills the apprentice and gets a new one. In this manner, each master not only ''becomes'' strong, but must ''stay'' that way to stay alive, and each student must become stronger than their master. Each generation of Sith is stronger than the last, because any weak link in the chain is dead. A master cannot have more than one apprentice, because they may team up to kill their master despite being individually weaker than he or she, then turn on each other and weaken the Sith Order. In short, ChronicBackstabbingDisorder as a way of life and a code of morality.

** Interestingly, the ExpandedUniverse reveals that Palpatine, Dooku, Vader and other Sith Lords had their own minions trained in the dark side; the rule wasn't technically broken because they weren't "true" Sith Lords, but mere warriors or spies with some lightsaber training and ability in the force. However, it seems that once a minion begins to grow too strong, or - worse - is discovered being trained in the Sith arts, ''one of them has to die'', be it minion or master. Or potentially the apprentice, with the minion becoming the new apprentice.
*** Darth Tenebrous broke the rule by recruiting two apprentices ''and not telling them about each other''. After Darth Plagueis "took over", he was surprised by Darth Venamis, who had learned of him, was better at the use of the lightsaber and had been trained in Plagueis's style. [[spoiler: Plagueis was smarter, imprisoning Venamis and experimenting on him for years.]] Venamis compounded the issue by having several potential apprentices lined up himself, even before he had dealt with Tenebrous and Plagueis.

[[folder:Live Action Television]]
* In ''Series/{{Heroes}}'' the Company's rule is "one of them, one of us" -- "them" being a human with some mutant ability, and "us" being a {{Muggle}} whose first loyalty is, always and forever, to the Company.

* In ''VideoGame/BatmanArkhamAsylum'' and ''VideoGame/BatmanArkhamCity'', the Joker keeps Harley as his right hand girl. Even if she's not very good at it.
* Prominent in ''VisualNovel/FateStayNight''. Sure, you could just kill the Master and run away from the Servant (it's even repeatedly stated to be the best strategy), but nobody ever does. Most apparent with Kotomine/Gilgamesh and Kuzuki/Caster. Nobody in either pairing is really the boss. Gilgamesh will do what Kotomine says, if he feels like it. Caster would obey Kuzuki's orders, but Kuzuki is too passive to really bother most of the time. Also apparent in Kotomine's fight against True Assassin and Zouken Matou. [[spoiler:He's stronger than Assassin, but can't kill him due to him being a Servant, so he has to take out Zouken first and ''then'' Assassin would be vulnerable. But Zouken is essentially unkillable by normal means plus Assassin is keeping him busy.]]
* The two major villains of ''VideoGame/MarioAndLuigiSuperstarSaga'' are BigBad Cackletta and TheDragon Fawful. In ''[[VideoGame/MarioAndLuigiBowsersInsideStory Bowser's Inside Story]]'', where [[DragonAscendant Fawful is the Big Bad]], he gets a Dragon of his own, Midbus.
* ''VideoGame/MagicalBattleArena'' has [[TheDragon Ruru]] [[ThisIsADrill Gerard]] and [[BigBad Nowel Diastasis]] as the two primary antagonists of the game. This is however dropped in the sequel which sees Ruru PutOnABus.

TheHero is usually the prime candidate for the replacement. If TheHero is about to take {{the Dragon}} down, expect the BigBad to try to turn him to TheDarkSide. If {{the Dragon}} is about to take the hero down, expect him to [[WeCanRuleTogether offer an alliance]] to overthrow the BigBad and take his place. Compare and contrast BigBadDuumvirate, DeceptiveDisciple and BastardUnderstudy.

*** Palpatine deceived Plagueis into thinking that Darth Maul was simply an assassin, not a true apprentice. The one thing that didn't go according to plan was that Maul was defeated right after Palpatine disposed of his own master...though Palpatine [[XanatosSpeedChess made that work to his advantage]] by accelerating the training Dooku, who was better suited than Maul had been for the very public role needed in the next phase of the plan. Of course, Palpatine was training Dooku while Maul was still his apprentice, making Palpatine a rather blatant {{Hypocrite}}.

*** Palpatine deceived Plagueis into thinking that Darth Maul was simply an assassin, not a true apprentice. The one thing that didn't go according to plan was that Maul was defeated right after Palpatine disposed of his own master...though Palpatine [[XanatosSpeedChess made that work to his advantage]] by recruiting Dooku, who was better suited than Maul had been for the very public role needed in the next phase of the plan.

** Since ''WesternAnimation/StarWarsRebels'' has canonized the Imperial Inquisition, they are Dark Side Force-sensitives employed by Darth Vader, but are immune to the Rule of Two because they are not Sith. They're purposely trained so as not to reach the Siths' power level as they would run the risk of violating the rule like Asajj Ventress did.

* ''Franchise/StarWars'' is the TropeNamer. The Sith have the Rule of Two, where there can only be a Sith master and an apprentice - no more, no less - one to possess power and the other to desire it. The idea is that each Sith Lord teaches one apprentice until they are strong enough to destroy the master and take their place, at which point the apprentice will take on a student of his own, or until the master kills the apprentice and gets a new one. In this manner, each master not only ''becomes'' strong, but must ''stay'' that way to stay alive, and each student must become stronger than their master. Each generation of Sith is stronger than the last, because any weak link in the chain is dead. A master cannot have more than one apprentice, because they may team up to kill their master despite being individually weaker than him, then turn on each other and weaken the Sith Order. In short, ChronicBackstabbingDisorder as a way of life and a code of morality.

** Since ''WesternAnimation/StarWarsRebels'', has canonized the Imperial Inquisition, they are Dark Side Force-sensitives employed by Darth Vader, but are immune to the Rule of Two because they are not Sith. They're purposely trained so as not to reach the Siths' power level as they would run the risk of violating the rule like Asajj Ventress did.

** Ultimately Darth Bane's philosophy, while it kept the Sith alive in secret for millenia, also resulted in the order's undoing, as the chain could be easily broken by a factor that Bane failed to take into account-[[EvilCannotComprehendGood the potential redemption of either the master or the apprentice]]. Darth Vader's RedemptionEqualsDeath and, in the old ExtendedUniverse, Jacen Solo/Darth Caedus' apprentice renouncing the Dark Side of the Force and the Sith shortly after the former's demise, pretty much spells the end for the Sith Order ''because'' of the Rule of Two. What's worse is that Bane really should have known better. The Sith Lord whose Holocron gave Bane the inspiration for the Rule of Two, Darth Revan, had also renounced the Dark Side, and Bane knew this.

** Ultimately Darth Bane's philosophy, while it kept the Sith alive in secret for millenia, also resulted in the order's undoing, as the chain could be easily broken by a factor that Bane failed to take into account-[[EvilCannotComprehendGood the potential redemption of either the master or the apprentice]]. Darth Vader's RedemptionEqualsDeath and Jacen Solo/Darth Caedus' apprentice renouncing the Dark Side of the Force and the Sith shortly after the former's demise pretty much spells the end for the Sith Order ''because'' of the Rule of Two. What's worse is that Bane really should have known better. The Sith Lord whose Holocron gave Bane the inspiration for the Rule of Two, Darth Revan, had also renounced the Dark Side, and Bane knew this.

Sometimes the BigBad gets bored doing everything himself. He'll get a [[TheDragon second in command, a lieutenant, or an apprentice]] to keep things interesting. This is the RuleOfTwo. There are two big bosses, and both have to be taken down.

It's usually understood that the two want to keep it that way. Never introduce a third, and quickly replace the other if they go down. Due to infighting or general ForTheEvulz culture, the BigBad may [[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness decide to dispose]] of {{the Dragon}} himself and get a new one. Similarly {{the Dragon}} [[TheUsurper will overthrow]] the BigBad if the opportunity presents itself, and bring on a new Dragon of his own. The tension of this dynamic is that they rely on each other, but both know it's a race to see who will stab who in the back first.

* ''Franchise/StarWars'' is the TropeNamer. The Sith have the RuleOfTwo, where there can only be a Sith master and an apprentice - no more, no less - one to possess power and the other to desire it. The idea is that each Sith Lord teaches one apprentice until they are strong enough to destroy the master and take their place, at which point the apprentice will take on a student of his own, or until the master kills the apprentice and gets a new one. In this manner, each master not only ''becomes'' strong, but must ''stay'' that way to stay alive, and each student must become stronger than their master. Each generation of Sith is stronger than the last, because any weak link in the chain is dead. A master cannot have more than one apprentice, because they may team up to kill their master despite being individually weaker than him, then turn on each other and weaken the Sith Order. In short, ChronicBackstabbingDisorder as a way of life and a code of morality.

** Ultimately Darth Bane's philosophy, while it kept the Sith alive in secret for millenia, also resulted in the order's undoing, as the chain could be easily broken by a factor that Bane failed to take into account-[[EvilCannotComprehendGood the potential redemption of either the master or the apprentice]]. Darth Vader's RedemptionEqualsDeath and Jacen Solo/Darth Caedus' apprentice renouncing the Dark Side of the Force and the Sith shortly after the former's demise pretty much spells the end for the Sith Order ''because'' of the RuleOfTwo. What's worse is that Bane really should have known better. The Sith Lord whose Holocron gave Bane the inspiration for the Rule of Two, Darth Revan, had also renounced the Dark Side, and Bane knew this.

*** Palpatine, for example, deceived his own master into thinking that Darth Maul was simply an assassin, not a true apprentice. The one thing that didn't go according to plan was that Maul was defeated right after Palpatine disposed of his own master...though Palpatine [[XanatosSpeedChess made that work to his advantage]] by recruiting Dooku, who was better suited than Maul had been for the very public role needed in the next phase of the plan.

*** Darth Tenebrous broke the rule by recruiting two apprentices ''and not telling them about each other''. After Darth Plagueis "took over", he was surprised by Darth Venamis, who had learned of him, was better at the use of the lightsaber and had been trained in Plagueis's style. [[spoiler: Plagueis was smarter, imprisoning Venamis and experimenting on him for years.]] It's possible that Venamis wasn't a "true Sith" though.

** Since ''WesternAnimation/StarWarsRebels'', has canonized the Imperial Inquisition, they are Dark Side Force-sensitives employed by Darth Vader, but are immune to the Rule of Two because they are not Sith.

* In ''Manga/{{Naruto}}'' there's Kabuto and Orochimaru. And it should be noted that the Akatsuki only move in pairs. Then there were Zabuza and Haku.
** [[spoiler: Madara and Obito could be this due to current events.]]
** [[spoiler: Kaguya and Black Zetsu.]] Although the dynamic isn't really there since [[spoiler:Black Zetsu is the one calling the shots, as [[FlatCharacter Kaguya has absolutely no personality at all]].]]

*** Ventress herself had also begun to subvert this rule when she recruited a potential apprentice in the form of [[TheJuggernaut Savage Opress]], at least in part because she was beginning to suspect (rightly) Dooku was planning to betray her eventually, but sent him to Dooku under the guise of "training" as a second apprentice. In the end, Savage betrayed both of them and ran off to find his still-alive-but-not-quite-sane brother Maul, whom he became the ''true'' apprentice of. [[ChronicBackstabbingDisorder As can be plainly seen, the Rule of Two at times was more a guideline than a rule]].

** The origins of this rule are first explained in the ''Film/RevengeOfTheSith'' novelization, and explored further in ''Literature/DarthBane''. When the Sith order was originally created, it was indeed an order that had many members, but since they were all steeped in the dark side, they had a collective bad case of ChronicBackstabbingDisorder. This tendency to betray each other at the drop of a hat weakened the order to the point where the Jedi (who as light-siders were more unified) were gaining the upper hand. To combat this, Bane decided that there should only be two Sith Lords at one time- a master to have power and an apprentice to covet it. He also decided that they should endeavor to take over the galaxy via subtlety and manipulation (like Palpatine eventually did) instead of outright invasion. [[spoiler: Having made up his mind on this, he manipulates all collectivist Sith Lords into committing mass suicide.]]

** The origins of this rule are explained in ''Literature/DarthBane: The Path of Destruction'', where the Sith have become rife with in-fighting due to hordes of individuals claiming the title of "Dark Lord of the Sith" with a leader pretending to be just a first among equals. The Sith philosophy in such a climate can only lead to self-destructive power struggles that serve only to empower their enemies. [[VillainProtagonist Bane]] eventually comes to the conclusion that there should only ever be two Sith Lords at a time: one to hold power, and the other to covet it. Eventually the apprentice should take it by force when they're ready. Furthermore he concludes the Sith should not work for the fall of the Jedi and to conquer the galaxy by armed conflict, but rather subtlety, which Palpatine eventually pulled off. [[spoiler: Having made up his mind on this, ''Darth'' Bane makes sure all the collectivist Sith Lords unintentionally commit collective suicide.]]

** Ultimately Darth Bane's philosophy also resulted in the Sith's undoing, as Bane did not take into account [[EvilCannotComprehendGood the possibility that either the master or the apprentice could actually be redeemed]], as evidenced by Darth Vader's RedemptionEqualsDeath and Jacen Solo/Darth Caedus' apprentice renouncing the Dark Side of the Force and the Sith shortly after the former's demise. What's worse is that Bane really should have known better. The Sith Lord whose Holocron gave Bane the inspiration for the Rule of Two, Darth Revan, had also renounced the Dark Side, and Bane knew this.

** Since Series/StarWarsRebels, has canonized the Imperial Inquisition, they are Dark Side Force-sensitives employed by Darth Vader, but are immune to the Rule of Two because they are not Sith.

It's usually understood that the two want to keep it that way. Never introduce a third, and quickly replace the other if they go down. Due to infighting or general ForTheEvulz culture, the BigBad may [[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness decide to dispose]] of the Dragon himself and get a new one. Similarly the Dragon [[TheUsurper will overthrow]] the BigBad if the opportunity presents itself, and bring on a new Dragon of his own. The tension of this dynamic is that they rely on each other, but both know it's a race to see who will stab who in the back first.

* ''Franchise/StarWars'' is the TropeNamer. The Sith have the RuleOfTwo, where there can only be a Sith master and an apprentice - no more, no less - one to possess power and the other to desire it. The mentality is that each Sith Lord teaches one apprentice until they are strong enough to destroy the master and take their place, or until the master kills the apprentice, at which point they will seek out a student of their own. In this manner, each master not only ''becomes'' strong, but must ''stay'' that way to stay alive, and each student must become stronger than their master. Each generation of Sith is stronger than the last, because any weak link in the chain is dead. A master cannot have more than one apprentice, because they may team up to kill their master despite being individually weaker than him, then turn on each other and weaken the Sith Order. In short, ChronicBackstabbingDisorder as a way of life and a code of morality.