The Binding

 was an ancient Force ritual that allowed individuals to cheat death by transferring their consciousness into other bodies. The Binding was at the center of both the Shadow Conflict and the Resurgence Conflict; in both cases, the conflict was ultimately caused by an individual seeking to take advantage of the ritual.

The Binding worked in many different ways. Most commonly, a third party would be required to facilitate the transfer between bodies, such as when Talzin transferred th spirit of Darth Massikus into the body of Ganner Slarwalker. It was also possible to perform a sort of reverse Binding where the invading spirit could be taken out, such as when Galen Slarwalker later freed Ganner from Darth Massikus' control on Dantooine. Sufficiently powerful and skilled Force-users could perform the Binding by themselves, such as when Massikus transferred his consciousness from Yula Ardinn to Ganner's body at the end of their duel on Carlac.

Failure to perform the Binding perfectly could result in the destruction of those involved in the ritual. In the case of Xux, who was the first person ever Bound by Varad Zagg, his body deteriorated quickly as he used the Force, forming a dark singularity that was destroyed before it could cause damage when Ganner killed him.

Similarly, it was entirely possible for a Force-user to "wear out" the body they possessed. When Bound, the host and invader's presences in the Force would become linked and eventually merge together, creating a Force presence that was greater than the body could sustain. In the case of Darth Massikus, thousands of years of surviving through the Binding meant that he would often wear out bodies to the point of decaying to a corpse-like state, held together through sheer power in a manner similar to but much less permanent.

The Binding was also limited in how often it could be used. If an individual's consciousness possessed another person's body, and that body died, their soul would be destroyed in a fate described to be "worse than death." The only individual known to have been destroyed in this way was Darth Massikus, who died in Ganner Slarwalker's body when he committed suicide to destroy Massikus. Mysteriously, Talzin was not destroyed upon at the hands of General Grievous. She was instead destroyed immediately when Yula bound her to the body of Rheni.

The Keepers of the Binding were the only organization known to practice the ritual, and considered themselves to be cursed with the knowledge. They believed that the Binding would inevitably corrupt the soul of anyone who performed it, and destroy them.

The journals of Varad Zagg spoke of an entity known only as The Bound who gave him visions an army of Bound Sith. However, nothing else was known about the entity by the time of the Battle of Anarto II.