the schemes of the sith are key to the overarching plot of the "star wars" films and much other fictional material in the franchise. their background has varied among depictions, but the sith have always been insidious archenemies of the jedi leveraging dark arts in pursuit of power and revenge. the sith were first mentioned in "a new hope" in a scene ultimately cut from the film. they were expanded upon heavily in the following years in books, comics, games and other multimedia. the sith were formally introduced on-screen with the release of "" in 1999 as a shadowy martial order manipulating the movie's political factions into a galaxy-spanning civil war.