The Sith Citadel, also called The Citadel, was an ancient Sith temple and fortress that was located on the elusive Sith world of Exegol. It was the headquarters of the Sith Eternal cult following the demise of the last two Sith Lords at the Battle of Endor and contained the throne of the Sith, which the resurrected Dark Lord of the Sith, Darth Sidious, intended it to serve as the seat of his new Sith Empire.
The Citadel was both under and above ground, with the latter being a large, upside-down truncated pyramid structure that was made of black stone. The structure floated above Exegol's surface, with a platform that was used to lower individuals into the underground portion of the Citadel.
The Sith Citadel contained a large hall filled with ancient Sith statues, which included likenesses of Locphet, Mindran, Sissiri, Felkor, and Naga Sadow. The Sith stronghold also featured an amphitheater that housed the throne of the Sith, and at least one other room used for medical purposes, such as genetic experimentation and life support. The Doctrine of the Dyad was etched into the walls of the Sith Citadel, where it served as a reminder of its importance to the Sith Order and the Sith Eternal cult.
The Sith Citadel on Exegol was one of the earliest bastions of the Sith.
Darth Sidious unleashing his power from the Citadel.
At some point during the reign of the Galactic Empire, Darth Sidious had two Sith wayfinders that were created in order to guide the way to the Citadel on Exegol. One was made for himself and stored within his throne room within the second Death Star, while the other was given to his Sith apprentice, Darth Vader, who stored the cosmic navigator within his castle on Mustafar.
After Sidious' rise to power, and his vanishing from public view, he prepared the throne at the Citadel to become his permanent seat of power. During that time, the Sith Eternal began to experiment with genetic augmentation and cloning technology in an effort to extend, and ideally, indefinitely sustain Sidious' life.
Sometime following the Battle of Endor, Sith cultists chose the Citadel to be their new fortress, as they believed Moraband—while once the greatest fortress of the Sith—was too likely to be discovered. At some point, Sidious was resurrected and came to reside at the Citadel, where he guided the actions of Snoke, whom Sidious himself had created sometime before, both to test Kylo Ren's worthiness to inherit the mantle of the new Emperor and to rule over the First Order while Sidious plotted in the shadows.
Meanwhile, Jedi Master Luke Skywalker believed the conflict with the Sith was not over despite Vader's conversion back to Anakin Skywalker and the death of Sidious above Endor. He and Lando Calrissian then set out to locate the Emperor's wayfinders in the hopes of locating the Citadel on Exegol, where Luke believed he could end the conflict with the Sith once and for all. Luke's hunt went cold on Pasaana, and he ultimately went into exile on Ahch-To following the fall of his nephew, Ben Solo.
In 35 ABY, Supreme Leader Kylo Ren arrived at the Citadel with the intent of eliminating the resurgent Emperor, whom Ren believed to be a threat to his newly obtained power. However, Sidious convinced Ren to instead renew his resolve in the hunt for the Jedi apprentice Rey, who was revealed to be the granddaughter of Sidious himself. In exchange for the killing of Rey, Sidious promised Ren authority over the Final Order, a massive fleet of Xyston-class Star Destroyers with the destructive capacity to force the entire galaxy into eternal submission. However, Ren was turned from the dark side through the combined efforts of Rey and his dying mother, General Leia Organa, and a Force vision of his father, Han Solo, and became Ben Solo once again.
Sidious confronted by Rey in the Throne Room at The Citadel.
After using Ren's wayfinder, Rey arrived at the Citadel and confronted Sidious. However, Sidious told Rey that he never wanted her dead, but to have her kill him so that his spirit could pass on to her and become Empress, which would have allowed him to possess her body, with the help of a ritual that he learned from his master Darth Plagueis. If she refused, her friends would all be killed, as the battle was intended to be a trap so the Resistance could be wiped out by the Sith Eternal forces once and for all. As a redeemed Ben Solo arrived, Rey refused Sidious's offer to become a Sith and, joined by Ben, attempted to kill the Dark Lord once and for all. Instead, Sidious used their dyad in the Force to restore his mortal body. From the Throne of the Sith, Sidious then unleashed a storm of power that nearly destroyed the Resistance forces.
However, empowered by the voices of all the Jedi who came before her, Rey stood and defeated Sidious by reflecting his lightning back at him. The resulting shock wave then destroyed the Citadel and its cultists, and left Rey alone, where she then effectively died. The explosion also ended the conflict between the Sith and Jedi once and for all. Rey was revived by Ben, who used Force healing in conjunction with his dyad with Rey in order to trade his life for hers. Ben then died in the ruined Citadel, and became one with the Force. Rey then flew away from the ruins in Luke Skywalker's X-wing just as most of the Sith fleet fell to the ground in ruins.
Afterward, historian Beaumont Kin, who had served with the Resistance during the war and fought in the Battle of Exegol, returned to Exegol, where he lead an excavation of the Citadel. In the months after the battle, the process had begun.
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