Disney’s acquisition of Star Wars saw the previous Expanded Universe rendered non-canon, meaning countless additions to the lore were wiped from continuity. However, where they can, Lucasfilm have been inserting easter eggs and references to the now Legends universe, thereby bringing these concepts and characters back into canon. For instance, it turns out that Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker tangentially reintroduced three separate Sith Lords.
Or, more specifically, the movie’s Visual Dictionary does. In the section about the Sith Troopers, the tie-in book reveals a lot of extra info about Emperor Palpatine’s elite squad of red-suited Stormtroopers. Making up Palpatine’s army, known as the Sith Eternal, the Sith Troopers are split up into legions of roughly 5,000 soldiers each. The interesting thing is that each legion is named after an ancient Sith Lord. The 3rd is known as Revan Legion, the 44th is Desolous Legion and the 39th is Phobos Legion.
Out of these three, Darth Revan will likely be the most familiar name to fans, given his prominence in the Knights of the Old Republic video games. What’s interesting about his namecheck here is that it could be teasing his introduction into the movies proper in the upcoming KOTOR screen adaptation that’s in the works at Lucasfilm. Laeta Kalogridis was announced to be writing the script earlier this year, but as far as we know, a director has yet to be attached.
As for the other two, more obscure, names, Darth Desolous and Darth Phobos – a rare female Sith – they appeared in the original version of The Force Unleashed, with Starkiller battling simulations of them. There was another nod to TFU in Rise as well, with the scene in which Rey uses the Force to pull a ship towards the ground resembling a similar moment involving Starkiller in the game.
Of course, we’ll have to see how Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker dipping into Sith history pays off as the saga continues, but in the meantime, you can find the Visual Dictionary here for more interesting insights.