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Top Fifteen Most Powerful Star Wars Characters - Ultimate Source Compendium
September 2nd 2020, 10:31 am
Top Fifteen Most Powerful Star Wars Characters - Ultimate Source Compendium
This thread provides extensive sourcing for every claim in our "Most Powerful Star Wars Characters RANKED" YouTube video and serves as the ultimate source compendium for Star Wars debating. Click the "Sources" tag beneath each claim for access to almost every available relevant source on the topic, including countless never seen before sources. Note that not all sources necessarily affirm the claim it is being attached to or are canon under Lucasfilm Licensing continuity policy.
THE LIST:
INFORMATION: The tournament ranked characters based on their overall combative threat level, not simply their raw Force potency. The specific metric was the extent that Darth Malgus—as of the novel Deceived—would need an amp to defeat them. All characters were assessed at their peak actualized iterations barring circumstantial or momentary amps. All characters were fighting in-character but intending to kill Darth Malgus as quickly and efficiently as possible with nothing held back.
EXCLUDED CHARACTERS: Mortis Father, Mortis Son, Mortis Daughter, Abeloth, Force Priestesses, Bedlam Spirits, Waru, Wutzek, Yuuzhan'tar, Sekot, Mnggal-Mnggal, Mother, Soa, World Razer, Sel-Makor, Darth Nihilus, Talzin, Charal, Ewoks, Shimrra Jamaane, Onimi, UnuThul, Welk, Lomi Plo, Tadar'Ro, Tsilis, & Sarasu Taalon
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- Suspect InsightAdministrator
How Powerful is Kueller? | Kueller Respect Thread
September 2nd 2020, 10:33 am
15. KUELLER
"To kick things off at the number 15 spot, we have KUELLER. He is quite an obscure character, appearing only in the 1996 novel The New Rebellion set 13 years after Return of the Jedi. He is a former Jedi protégé of Luke Skywalker’s named Dolph who turns to the dark side and takes the moniker Kueller."
"He commits genocide on the planet Pydyr and feeds on the death energies of millions,"
"growing stronger at a faster rate than even Emperor Palpatine himself according to Mara Jade. She further notes that his power was greater than anyone she has met since Palpatine, which would include Darth Vader and the dark Jedi master Joruus C’baoth."
"Leia Solo believes that she has not felt a power like Kueller’s in years,"
"and Luke agrees that he has never had a student as powerful as Kueller—not even the immensely powerful Kyp Durron or Mara Jade herself."
"Aspiring to be the most powerful force in the galaxy,"
"Kueller fights and defeats a thirty-six year old Luke in a lightsaber duel twice, although it should be noted that Luke is injured and not at full strength both times."
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"To kick things off at the number 15 spot, we have KUELLER. He is quite an obscure character, appearing only in the 1996 novel The New Rebellion set 13 years after Return of the Jedi. He is a former Jedi protégé of Luke Skywalker’s named Dolph who turns to the dark side and takes the moniker Kueller."
"He commits genocide on the planet Pydyr and feeds on the death energies of millions,"
- Sources:
Yet Kueller glowed, as if the pain of those million voices had fed something within him, had made him even greater than he had been before.(Brakiss | Star Wars: The New Rebellion)
"growing stronger at a faster rate than even Emperor Palpatine himself according to Mara Jade. She further notes that his power was greater than anyone she has met since Palpatine, which would include Darth Vader and the dark Jedi master Joruus C’baoth."
- Sources:
“I haven’t felt power like this since Palpatine in the early days. If this continues, Han, Kueller will be stronger than the Emperor ever was, and he’ll do it quicker."(Mara Jade | Star Wars: The New Rebellion)
"Leia Solo believes that she has not felt a power like Kueller’s in years,"
- Sources:
She wished she had the same certainty. This Kueller had more Force capability than anyone she had encountered in years.(Leia Organa Solo | Star Wars: The New Rebellion)
"and Luke agrees that he has never had a student as powerful as Kueller—not even the immensely powerful Kyp Durron or Mara Jade herself."
- Sources:
Luke had never had a student that powerful, of that he was certain. Whoever it was became powerful after he had left the academy.(Luke Skywalker | Star Wars: The New Rebellion)
"Aspiring to be the most powerful force in the galaxy,"
- Sources:
Kueller had decided to kill them both, in order to become the most powerful Force user in the galaxy. A young man’s hands. Not the hands of the most powerful man in the galaxy. Not yet. But soon. Very soon.(Kueller | Star Wars: The New Rebellion)
“But if Kueller destroys you, he scatters the Jedi, and becomes the strongest in the Force in the galaxy.”(Mon Mothma | Star Wars: The New Rebellion)
Kueller had decided to kill them both, in order to become the most powerful Force user in the galaxy.(Star Wars: The Essential Chronology)
"Kueller fights and defeats a thirty-six year old Luke in a lightsaber duel twice, although it should be noted that Luke is injured and not at full strength both times."
- Sources:
[Description: Kueller and Luke Skywalker's first fight on Pydyr]
Slowly Kueller drew his lightsaber, the hiss filling the street. Its blade burned blue.
“I don’t want to fight you, Dolph,” Luke said.
“You won’t be fighting Dolph,” Kueller replied. He slashed at Luke. In one quick movement, Luke grabbed his lightsaber and blocked Kueller’s swipe with his own blade. The electric clang of the sabers filled the air, sending sparks all around them. Each movement ripped at Luke’s back, but he focused on the blade instead: parrying, defending, blocking, never really attacking. He would wait until Kueller was open before making his move.
Kueller hit at Luke’s left, then his right, then his heart. But Luke kept blocking. Kueller pushed Luke backward, toward the house. Luke stumbled on his weak leg, and collapsed on the knee. A river of pain ran through his thigh. Kueller brought his lightsaber down onto Luke’s shoulder, but Luke rolled away from it, his back burning as dirt from the road ground into his wounds.
He pushed himself up and swiped at Kueller, singeing his cape. The hum of lightsabers filled the air. Sweat ran down Luke’s face. His strength was gone. He had gone through too much in the last few days. But he concentrated on Kueller’s movements, lived for Kueller’s movements, blocked them, anticipated them, and held his ground.
In a series of five rapid thrusts, Kueller moved Luke backward again. Luke parried, parried, parried, but couldn’t keep his balance. His ankle was clearly broken and unable to support him. Kueller jabbed at Luke’s left side. Luke swiveled to dodge, and Kueller jabbed again. Luke’s ankle buckled, but he didn’t fall. Kueller pushed closer, and knocked Luke’s lightsaber from his hand.
Kueller held his blue blade beneath Luke’s chin. Luke could feel its heat, smell its electric tang.(Star Wars: The New Rebellion)
Luke Skywalker investigated Brakiss's droid- manufacturing plant on Telti and set out for Almania. His X-wing had been sabotaged, though, and while he was passing the devastated moon of Pydyr, the X-wing exploded. Skywalker bailed out and found himself stranded on Pydyr, with third- degree burns on his back and a shattered left ankle. His left leg had been weak ever since his ordeal aboard the Eye of Palpatine, and he found himself unable to move without assistance.
Kueller was unable to resist such a rich prize as a wounded Jedi Master. He traveled to Pydyr, where Skywalker recognized the skull-masked nightmare as Dolph, his former pupil. Skywalker tried to reach the core of goodness inside Kueller, but failed. The Almanian autocrat forced a lightsaber duel and easily defeated his hobbled opponent. Skywalker was taken back to Almania to serve as bait.(Star Wars: The Essential Chronology)
Doing so attracted the attention of Luke Skywalker, who followed the trail of clues back to Almania, where he was forced to bail out of his sabotaged X-wing fighter, leaving him injured and easy prey for a lightsaber duel with Kueller. Kueller vowed to kill Skywalker if Leia Organa Solo did not step down from her position(Star Wars: The Dark Side Sourcebook)
[Description: Kueller and Luke Skywalker's second fight on Almania]
Luke dodged as Leia's lightsaber sailed in the air toward him, landing neatly in his fingers.
Immediately he ignited the blade and its reassuring hum echoed in the growing darkness.
"Ah," Kueller said. "So you have chosen to fight me. Careful, Master Skywalker. If you do so with the wrong attitude, you might join my side."
"I've fought better than you, Kueller," Luke said. The lightsaber felt odd in his hand. "And won."
"Years ago, Skywalker. You've become complacent." Kueller slashed at Luke. Luke parried, the electric clash of blades ringing in the night air.
Then Kueller whirled and blocked several bursts of blaster fire. Leia peeked out of the bay doors.
"Leave him alone, Kueller. It's me you want!" she yelled.
His death mask glowed from an internal light. It made his smile even more sinister than usual. "Actually, President, I want your entire family. Without them, there are no true Jedi." Luke inched closer. His blade was still out, still humming. He wanted Kueller to fight him, not Leia. Leia wasn't ready yet. "Actually, Kueller, there are dozens of Jedi now."
"But not Jedi Masters, Skywalker."
"There are more than you imagine," Luke said, thinking of Callista. She would provide quite a battle against Kueller, even without the Force.
Kueller turned to Luke, and Leia fired again. Without even looking at her, Kueller blocked the blaster shots. The shots flew harmlessly to the sides. Then her blaster rose in the air, and exploded a few feet above her head.
"Use another of those, President, and it will explode in your hand."
"You like explosions, don't you, Kueller?" she said. Luke suppressed a smile. She was trying to distract him so Luke could attack. But it wasn't that easy. Kueller had pushed Luke far enough that Luke's feelings were confused. He wasn't certain if he was going after Kueller out of anger or hatred, instead of in defense. That would only make Kueller stronger.
He seemed to be stronger anyway, giving credence to Luke's theory.
"Small explosions, President," Kueller said, his blade still locked with Luke's. "Large ones destroy wealth." Leia stepped out of the bay. She was unarmed. "Even if you kill us, Kueller, you won't get the rest of us. The explosives you put in the droids won't work. We shut the droids off."
"Did you, now?" Kueller's tone was mocking. Luke could feel the physical pressure Kueller was putting on the blade. They were locked in a battle of wills, their strength holding the blades together in a haze of light. "You managed to tell all the developed planets about the droids, President? Because if you didn't, then I will still get enough strength from one single order to defeat you all. " A chill ran through Luke. All those lives. All those billions of lives. They meant nothing more to Kueller than a breath of air, a surge of adrenaline, a swallow of food. Anger flowed through Luke, deep and fine and rich. He had created this monster. Luke, through his arrogance, had given Kueller all the tools he needed to destroy the entire galaxy. If Luke hadn't taught all his students about the dark side, if he hadn't warned them repeatedly and in detail about the quick and easy path, then Kueller would still be Dolph, not this hateful being who wore a death mask proudly and dealt in lives as a smuggler dealt in stolen goods.
Kueller turned toward Luke and grinned. His lightsaber broke free from the enmeshment and whooshed near Luke. Luke jumped aside, pain shivering through his back, and down his arms
Kueller had suddenly gotten stronger.
"Kueller!" Leia shouted. She held another blaster. He turned his attention to her, and Luke thrust his blade toward Kueller's side, drawing blood before Kueller swirled away.
Easy blood. The lightsaber moved with a sureness Luke had never felt before.
Leia's blaster was turning red. She tossed it aside before it exploded, and rolled in the opposite direction.
Kueller had turned back to Luke, thrusting, parrying, thrusting, their sabers locked in a battle as loud and spark-filled as Luke's battle with Vader. Kueller's breath hissed through the mask, but it wasn't Vader's stentorian breathing that it imitated.
It was the Emperor's greedy gasping.
Luke staggered under Kueller's next blow, and barely managed to roll aside. His ankle kept buckling under him, but he forced himself to put weight on it. They had moved into the alleyway Luke had seen in that strange moment of vision. Stones littered the ground all around them, and the light only came through a small opening on either end. Luke could no longer see Leia.
Use your aggressive feelings, boy! Let the hate flow through you.
Kueller struck at him, his blow shattering a nearby rock. He was stronger. Much stronger. And his strength seemed to be increasing. Luke's arms were growing tired battling the power of Kueller's blade.
Then Kueller laughed, a gurgling, familiar laugh. The Emperor's laugh, the unamused choking of a slave to the dark side.
Fueled by hatred, anger, and fear.
Luke was making him stronger. Luke's response, his hatred, his own self-loathing at creating this thing, this student who had become a horror, was making the thing even stronger.
Kueller slammed his blade against Luke's, and the sparks lit the area all around them. Luke parried. Parried again. And again. He was trapped in a cycle of hatred and anger. If he fought, Kueller got stronger, and if he attacked, Kueller got stronger still.
Luke glanced at the mouth of the alley.
No Leia.
He was alone with this thing he had created. The rogue student. The Vader to his Ben.
Vader.
Ben.
Luke grinned. He suddenly knew what he had to do to break free.
---
It was Luke's name.
And she said it in a voice that Han had never heard before, but he knew what it meant.
It meant he was too late.
Her hands were useless, and Kueller was no longer listening to her arguments. He was watching Luke.
Luke, who looked like a man possessed.
Luke, who had always warned her not to give in to anger, was giving in to his.
And Kueller was smiling. He seemed to be growing taller, and broader, the aura of power around him so great that it made him seem invincible
Then a look passed across Luke's face. It was a familiar look, but it wasn't his. She had seen it before.
On the day she met him, so many years ago.
She had seen that look the only time she had seen Obi-Wan Kenobi alive. He had been fighting Darth Vader, and then he smiled, and raised his lightsaber--and Vader cut him in half. His lightsaber's blade faded, the hilt spinning through the air before landing on his empty, steaming cloak.
Luke had said Obi-Wan believed that moment made him stronger, but really it had only made him dead.
Dead.
Leia stumbled a few steps forward. Luke didn't see her in the growing darkness. Kueller hesitated as Luke slowly raised his light-saber blade toward his face.
Just as Obi-Wan had.
Kueller smiled.
Just as Vader must have.
"Luuuuuuuuuuke!" Leia screamed as Kueller brought his lightsaber up, preparing to strike.
---
Luke was raising his lightsaber, his heart pounding. He was reaching out with the Force, going back to the place he had gone when he first fought Exar Kun. He would be out of his body but protected within the Force. Just as Ben had done in his battle with Darth Vader.
Luke would come back even stronger, and he would guide Leia to defeat Kueller.
Luke's lightsaber had reached a thirty-degree angle with his chin when he felt as if he were wrapped in a warm, soft blanket. He could still see through his eyes, but the rest of his senses were suddenly dim. He could no longer sense Leia or even Kueller.
His blade came up, and Kueller's blade swung back, but Luke couldn't leave his own body. He had lost the Force. It was gone. He was blind and numb without it.
He would die without it
Kueller's blade came down, and Luke limped out of the way only to back into the ruined tower wall. Kueller had him cornered. There was no place to go.
Luke was trapped, both inside, and out.(Star Wars: The New Rebellion)
On Almania, Organa Solo rescued her brother and helped him back to her ship, but they discovered Kueller standing between them and freedom. Kueller had decided to kill them both, in order to become the most powerful Force user in the galaxy. He ignited his energy blade and lunged at Skywalker, and as the furious swordplay ground on, Skywalker suddenly realized that his aggression was only making Kueller stronger. Recognizing the master-to-student parallels with Kenobi and Vader's showdown aboard the Death Star, Skywalker prepared to sacrifice his own life in a similarly heroic fashion. If Kueller chose to strike him down, Skywalker would return in spirit form and guide Organa Solo to ultimate victory.
But as Skywalker raised his lightsaber in a passive salute, a surprising participant entered the fray. Kueller became disoriented and completely lost his advantage when a furry native animal called a thernbee lumbered nearby. Only a few minutes earlier, the creature had swallowed several nutrient cages containing Force-repelling ysalamiri. A Force-empty bubble was generated, and it swept over both combatants.(Star Wars: The Essential Chronology)
Skywalker and Organa Solo were left to face Kueller. He should not have been a match for either of them, but powered by his rage and with Skywalker still wounded, Kueller got the better of them. Skywalker almost surrendered to death, but then a local creature called a thernbee stumbled onto the scene. The beast had just devoured several cages containing ysalamiri-Force dampening reptiles native to the planet Myrkr-and their ability had not yet faded. Kueller's dark side strength failed him, and Leia felled the darksider with a quick blaster shot. Justice finally came to Almania.(Star Wars: The Dark Side Sourcebook)
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- Suspect InsightAdministrator
How Powerful is Darth Caedus/Jacen Solo? | Darth Caedus/Jacen Solo Respect Thread
September 2nd 2020, 10:35 am
14. DARTH CAEDUS / JACEN SOLO
"Next up at the number 14 spot we have the firstborn son of Leia and Han Solo, DARTH CAEDUS, formerly known as JACEN SOLO."
"As a Jedi, Jacen fights in the Yuuzhan Vong War and is tortured in the Embrace of Pain by the fallen Jedi Master Vergere. Jacen emerges virtually immune to pain"
"and far stronger than before,"
"even slaughtering armies of Yuuzhan Vong with their own weaponry during his escape."
"After the war, he explores the galaxy and masters countless esoteric powers,"
"including Aing-Tii flow-walking, which allows him to literally travel backward or forward in time."
"As a Sith Lord, Caedus grows more powerful daily,"
"even putting up a brutal fight against an enraged, albeit mentally unstable, sixty year old Luke Skywalker,"
"and also holding his own against his twin sister Jaina Solo while she is empowered by Luke."
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"Next up at the number 14 spot we have the firstborn son of Leia and Han Solo, DARTH CAEDUS, formerly known as JACEN SOLO."
"As a Jedi, Jacen fights in the Yuuzhan Vong War and is tortured in the Embrace of Pain by the fallen Jedi Master Vergere. Jacen emerges virtually immune to pain"
- Sources:
Vergere laughed.
"There are no Jedi here," she said, and made a gesture, eyeflick-swift. Inside Jacen's head, a swirl of interstellar gases fell in upon itself, kindling a protostar behind his eyes. The protostar swelled, gathering power, ramping up intensity until the light inside his skull washed away the woody glow of the chamber in which he hung. In the whited-out blaze, he heard Vergere's voice, cold and precise as the light of a distant quasar.
"I am your guide through the lands of the dead."
Beyond that, he heard and saw no more. A silent supernova erupted within Jacen's brain, and blasted away the universe. Seconds or centuries passed in oblivion. Consciousness swam back into him, and he opened his eyes to find himself still hanging in the Embrace of Pain, Vergere still standing below him, on her face the same alien facsimile of cheerful mockery.
Nothing had changed. Everything had changed. The universe was empty, now.
"What?..." Jacen croaked, his throat raw as though he'd spent days screaming in his sleep. "What have you done to me?..."
"You have no business with the Force, nor it with you. Let you have the Force? The idea!
It must be some kind of human thing... you mammals are so impulsive, so reckless: infants teething on a blaster. No, no, no, little Solo. The Force is much too dangerous for children.
A great deal more dangerous than those ridiculous lightsabers you all seem to like to wave about. So I took it away from you."
---
Outside the universe, there is nothing. This nothing is called hyperspace.
A tiny bubble of existence hangs in the nothing. This bubble is called a ship.
The bubble has neither motion nor stillness, nor even orientation, since the nothing has no distance or direction. It hangs there forever, or for less than an instant, because in the nothing there is also no time. Time, distance, and direction have meaning only inside the bubble, and the bubble maintains the existence of these things only by an absolute separation of what is within from what is without.
The bubble is its own universe. Outside the universe, there is nothing.
Jacen Solo hangs in the white, exploring the spectrum of pain. In the far infrared, he finds cinders of thirst that bake his throat. Higher, up in the visible wavelengths, gleam the crimson wire-stretched ligaments that sizzle within his shoulders; grinding glass-shard screams howl from his hip joints like the death shrieks of golden Ithorian starflowers.
There is green here, too--bubbling tongues of acid hungrily lick his nerves--as well as lightning-blue shocks that spasm his overloaded body into convulsion. And higher still, now far beyond the ultraviolet betrayal that brought him here--the betrayal that delivered him into the hands of the Yuuzhan Vong, the betrayal that gathered him into the Embrace of Pain, the betrayal by Vergere, whom he had trusted--he finds silent shattering gamma-ray bursts sleeting into his brain. Those gamma-ray bursts are the color of his brother's death.
---
Each flash of Anakin--his reckless grin so like their father's, his eyes smoldering with fierce will mirroring their mother's, his effortlessly athletic warrior's grace, so much like Uncle Luke's--these are the gamma bursts that burn the marrow of his bones, that cook his brain until its boil threatens to burst his skull. But when he looks away from Anakin, there is nothing to see but pain.
He cannot remember if he is on a ship, or still planetbound. He finds a vague memory of capture aboard a Yuuzhan Vong worldship, but he's not sure if that happened to him, or to someone else. He cannot remember if such distinctions mean anything.
All he knows is the white.
He remembers that he's been captured before. He remembers Belkadan, remembers his vain dream of freeing slaves, remembers the blank terror of discovering that his Force powers meant nothing against the Yuuzhan Vong; he remembers the Embrace of Pain, remembers his rescue by Uncle Luke.
---
Jacen knows--intellectually, distantly, abstractly--that once he lived outside the white. He knows that he once felt happiness, pleasure, regret, anger, even love. But these are only ghosts, shadows murmuring beneath the roar of pain that fills everything he is, everything he will ever be; the simple fact that the white had a beginning does not imply that it will have an end.
Jacen exists beyond time. Where Jacen is, there is only the white, and the Force.
---
But he cannot let himself touch her through the Force; he cannot ask her to share his torment--she is in so much pain already that to suffer his would only drive her darker yet. And so even his twin bond has become a source of anguish.
Jacen has become a prism, reintegrating the glittering spectrum of pain into pure blazing agony. Agony is white. Snow-blind in an eternal Hoth ice-noon of suffering, Jacen Solo hangs in the Embrace of Pain.
---
Jacen hung horizontally, suspended facedown two meters above a floor of wet, slick-looking greens and browns--its surface corded, viny, as though with muscle and vein. The walls oozed oily dampness that smelled darkly organic: bantha sweat and hawk-bat droppings. From the darkness above swung tentacles like prehensile eyestalks, ends socketed with glowing orbs that stared at him as the tentacles wove and danced and twisted about each other. He understood: the enemy was watching. Something that felt like claws, sharp and unyielding, gripped his skull from behind; he could not turn his head to see what held him.
His arms were drawn wide, pulled to full extension and twisted so that his shoulders howled in their sockets. A single strong grip crushed his ankles together, grinding bone on bone.
---
Speaking tore his throat as though he coughed splinters of transparisteel. He winced, squeezing shut his eyes until galaxies flared within them, then gritted his teeth and spoke anyway. "I trusted you."
---
Jacen Solo was once more swallowed by agony. Now there is no more Force for Jacen--no more cool breath of life and sanity, no more Jaina, no more life. Where Jacen is, there is only the white.
---
The white drops him once in a while, as though the Embrace of Pain understands him somehow: as though it can read the limit of his strength. When another minute in the white might kill him, the Embrace of Pain eases enough to slide him back into the reality of the room, of the ship; when the pain has crackled so hot for so long that his overloaded nerves and brain have been scorched too numb to feel it, the Embrace of Pain lowers him entirely to the floor, where he can even sleep for a time, while other devices--or creatures, since he cannot tell the difference anymore, since he is no longer sure that there is any difference--bathe him and tend wounds scraped or torn or slashed into his flesh by the Embrace's grip, and still more creature-devices crawl over him like spider-roaches, injecting him with nutrients and enough water to maintain his life.
---
Even without the Force, his Jedi training gives him ways to survive the pain; he can drive his mind through a meditative cycle that builds a wall of discipline between his consciousness and the white. Though his body still suffers, he can hold his mind outside the pain. But this wall of discipline doesn't last forever, and the Embrace of Pain is patient.
It erodes his mental walls with the inanimate persistence of waves against a cliff; the Embrace's arcane perception somehow lets it know that he has defended himself, and its efforts slowly gather like a storm spinning up into a hurricane until it batters down his walls and slashes once more into everything Jacen is. Only then, only after it has pushed him to the uttermost limit of his tolerance then blasted him beyond that limit into whole new galaxies of pain, will the Embrace slowly relent.
He feels as if the white is eating him--as if the Embrace eats his pain, but never so much that he can't recover to feed it again. He is being managed, tended like wander-kelp on a Chadian deepwater ranch. His existence has become a tidal rhythm of agony that sweeps in, reaches an infinite crest, then rolls out again just far enough that he might catch his breath; the Embrace is careful not to let him drown.
---
But mostly he sits, or lies, waiting. Naked, blood seeping from his wrists and ankles. More than naked: utterly hairless. The living machines that tend to his body also pluck out his hairs. All of them: head, arms, legs, pubis, armpits. Eyebrows. Eyelashes.
---
They had plenty to talk about; Jacen had learned a great deal about pain.
His first actual clue to the lesson of pain came once when he lay upon the corded floor, trembling with exhaustion. The branchlike grips of the Embrace of Pain still held him, but loosely, maintaining contact, no more.
They hung in slack spirals overhead, dangling from bunched, knotted bundles of vegetative muscle that shifted and squirmed above the leather-barked ceiling of the chamber.
These periods of rest hurt Jacen almost as much as the Embrace's torment: his body slowly but inexorably dragged itself back into shape, resocketing its joints and achingly releasing the overstretched tension of his muscles. And without the constant agony of the Embrace of Pain, he could think of nothing but Anakin, of the gaping wound that Anakin's death had opened in his life--and of what Anakin's death had begun to do to Jaina, driving her toward the dark--and of how his parents must be suffering, having lost both their sons.
---
The Embrace of Pain gathered him once more into the white.
Jacen Solo hangs in the white, thinking.
For an infinite instant, he is merely amazed that he can think; the white has scoured his conciousness for days, or weeks, or centures, and he is astonished now to discover that he can not only think, but think clearly.
He spends a white eon, marvelling.
Then he goes to work on the lesson of pain.
This is it, he thinks. This is what Vergere was talking about. This is the help she gave me, that I didn't know how to accept.
She has freed him from his own trap: the trap of childhood. The trap of waiting for someone else. Waiting for Dad, or Mother, Uncle Luke, Jaina, Zekk or Lowie or Tenel Ka or any of the others whom he could always count on to fly to his resque.
He is not helpless. He is only alone.
It's not the same thing.
He doesn't have to simply hang here and suffer. He can do something.
Her shadowmoth tale may have been a lie, but within the lie was a truth he could not have comprehended without it. Was that what she had meant when she said, Everything I tell you is a lie?
Did it matter?
Pain is itself a god: the taskmaster of life. Pain cracks the whip, and all that lives will move. To live is to be a slave to pain.
He knows the truth of this, not only from his own life but from watching Dad and Anakin, after Chewie's death. He watched pain crack its whip over his father, and watched Han run from that pain halfway across the galaxy.
He watched Anakin turn hard, watched him drive himself like a loadlifter, always pushing himself to be stronger, faster, more effective, to do more--this was the only answer he had to the pain of having survived to watch his rescuer die.
Jacen always thought of Anakin as being a lot like Uncle Luke: his mechanical aptitude, his piloting and fighting skills, his stark warrior's courage. He can see now that in one important way, Anakin was more like his father. His only answer to pain was to keep too busy to notice it.
---
Sometimes pain is the only bridge to where you want to go.
And the worst pains are the ones you can't run away from, anyway. He knows his mother's tale so well that he has seen it in his dreams: standing on the bridge of the Death Star, forced to watch while the battle station's main weapon destroyed her entire planet. He has felt her all-devouring horror, denial, and blistering helpless rage, and he has some clue how much of her relentless dedication to the peace of the galaxy is driven by the memory of those billions of lives wiped from existence before her eyes.
And Uncle Luke: if he hadn't faced the pain of finding his foster parents brutally murdered by Imperial stormtroopers, he might have spent his whole life as an unhappy moisture farmer, deep in the Tatooine sand-wastes, dreaming of adventures he would never have--and the galaxy might groan under Imperial rule to this very day.
Pain can be power, too, Jacen realizes. Power to change things for the better. That's how change happens: someone hurts, and sooner or later decides to do something about it.
Suffering is the fuel in the engine of civilization.
Now he begins to understand: because pain is a god--he has been in the grip of this cruel god ever since Anakin's death. But it is also a teacher, and a bridge. It can be a slave master, and break you--and it can be the power that makes you unbreakable. It is all these things, and more.
At the same time.
What it is depends on who you are.
But who am I? he wonders. I've been running like Dad--like Anakin. I think they stopped, though; I think Dad was strong enough to turn back and face it, to use the pain to make himself stronger, like Mom and Uncle Luke. Anakin did, too, at the end. Am I that strong?
There's only one way to find out.
For indefinite days, weeks, centuries, the white has been eating him.
Now, he begins to eat the white.
---
"The import of the Embrace chamber's data is exactly this: Jacen Solo has become capable of not only accepting torment, but thriving on it. As the warmaster will recall, I predicted such a result. He has discovered resources within himself of the sort that we find only in our greatest warriors."(Star Wars: The New Jedi Order - Traitor)
He forced himself to his feet and slipped the robe over his head.
The robe was warm to the touch; it writhed gently as he struggled into it, fibers bunching and unbunching like sleepy worms. Putting it on hurt. Slower to heal than his skin, his shoulders and hip joints grated as though packed with chunks of duracrete, but he didn't so much as grimace.
This was merely pain; he barely noticed.
---
The injection wound left by Vergere's weapon had gone bad: red and inflamed and crusted with yellow ooze. Jacen pressed his palm against the stiff robeskin-bandage over it. He stared expressionlessly at the alien avianoid creature who had inflicted this on him.
She gathered her four opposable forgers into a point and jabbed firmly, accurately, through the robeskin onto his infected wound.
Pain blazed in his side. Jacen didn't even blink.
"I told you," he said evenly. "It's all right."
---
Vergere seized his robeskin with both hands, then lowered her face to nip a hole in it with her small sharp dental ridges. She tore the hole wide, then stripped off the bandage beneath. Folding the bandage upon itself, she roughly scrubbed away the infected crust over the wound. Jacen watched her expressionlessly, not reacting to the coarse scrape across his inflamed ribs. She noted his regard, and winked at him.
"Pain means little to you now, yes?"
"Since the Embrace?" Jacen shrugged. "I don't ignore it, if that's what you mean."
"But it does not rule you," she said approvingly. "There are some who say that humans are incapable of overcoming their fear of pain."
"Maybe the people who say that don't know very many humans."
"And maybe they do. Maybe they simply know none like you."(Star Wars: The New Jedi Order - Traitor)
"and far stronger than before,"
- Sources:
He is now the ward of Vergere, a Yuuzhan Vong accomplice with mysterious motives. She has much to teach young Solo, including a new way of perceiving the Force, a method that unleashes tremendous energies -- but at what cost? Is the young pupil being turned into a weapon by those with devastating plans?(The Official Star Wars Website - First Look: Traitor [link])
"That guy back there could use the Force - could use it as well as the most powerful of Jedi."(Ganner Rhysode | Star Wars: The New Jedi Order - Traitor)
"I know you're stronger now, Jacen--stronger than I've ever been. I felt it on the camp ship. I know you can kill me if you want."(Ganner Rhysode | Star Wars: The New Jedi Order - Traitor)
"even slaughtering armies of Yuuzhan Vong with their own weaponry during his escape."
- Sources:
"Diversion? To accomplish what?" Then his good eye bulged wide--in the viewspider's image sac he saw Jacen and the five slaves who accompanied him wade into the chest-deep murk of the hive-lake, hacking their way through the churning, struggling, bleeding tangle of slaves and warriors. One of Jacen's companions fell, speared through the throat by a warrior's amphistaff; another was dragged under the water by the clawing hands of unarmed slaves. The three remaining swung their spade rays wildly, trying not only to keep warriors and slaves at bay but also to splash a path through the flames that floated on the surface of the lake. Jacen slogged grimly on, half swimming, without a glance at the slaves who defended him. Any warrior or attacking slave in his path fell to lightning slashes and stabs of the amphistaffs he wielded in both hands.
He didn't even bother to wipe from his eyes the blood that flowed from a deep scalp wound. All he did was walk, and kill. He turned toward the center of the lake.
Toward the hive-island.
And kept walking...
He had fought his way to the island in something like the battle frenzy of a Yuuzhan Vong warrior, where pain and injury were as irrelevant as the color of the sky; he had taken lives of warriors and crazed shapers, perhaps of the very slaves he was fighting to save.(Star Wars: The New Jedi Order - Traitor)
"After the war, he explores the galaxy and masters countless esoteric powers,"
- Sources:
Jaina could not argue. During Jacen's five-year journey, she had felt him growing steadily stronger in the Force-but also more distant and isolated, like a hermit retreating to his mountaintop. At times, he had seemed to vanish into the Force entirely, and at other times she had sworn he was floating just above her shoulder.
To tell the truth, it had given her the creeps. She had started to feel like she was sharing a twin bond with a different brother every few weeks-or like he was practicing to be dead or something.(Jaina Solo | Star Wars: Dark Nest I - The Joiner King)
While Jacen had returned from his five-year sojourn with remarkable skills, he had also returned a far more mysterious person, often deflecting or flatly refusing to answer questions about his experiences. It was as though he believed that no one who had not taken such a retreat for himself was entitled to share in the wisdom it yielded.(Luke Skywalker | Star Wars: Dark Nest III - The Swarm War)
“Third, your specialized training in alternative philosophies of the Force makes you more versatile than many other Jedi-than some Jedi Masters, in fact-making it harder to stop you."(Luke Skywalker | Star Wars: Legacy of the Force - Betrayal)
Han supposed that Jacen, with his training in diverse and unusual aspects of the Force, was looking in directions no one else felt the need to. Perhaps he could see things even Luke couldn't.(Han Solo | Star Wars: Legacy of the Force - Betrayal)
"I know he hasn't studied every esoteric Force discipline you have."(Leia Organa Solo to Jacen Solo about Luke Skywalker | Star Wars: Legacy of the Force - Betrayal)
"No, I feel that Jacen's developing powers way beyond mine, and that he's good for Ben, and that he would never harm him."(Mara Jade Skywalker | Star Wars: Legacy of the Force - Bloodlines)
All his study in a hundred different ways of harnessing the Force had come to a single point of fruition now. The only gaps in his knowledge of the Force were those of the Sith.(Jacen Solo | Star Wars: Legacy of the Force - Bloodlines)
"Don't suppose you could try Force-welding as well?"
"Try Jacen. He might be able to do just about anything these days."
"So what happened exactly?" She shrugged. "No idea. It was like getting a Force booster pack from nowhere."(Han Solo and Leia Organa Solo | Star Wars: Legacy of the Force - Bloodlines)
She had wanted to take him for a long time, since the day he had returned so mysterious and powerful from his five-year sojourn to study the Force.(Alema Rar | Star Wars: Legacy of the Force - Tempest)
"Then make Jacen a Master. He knows more about the Force than anybody."(Ben Skywalker | Star Wars: Legacy of the Force - Tempest)
“But he's picked up training in Force techniques I don't even understand.”(Jaina Solo | Star Wars: Legacy of the Force - Revelation)
Jaina had thought that she might start her bizarre apprenticeship with a discussion about Jacen's prodigious catalog of Force powers, but it wasn't to be.(Jaina Solo | Star Wars: Legacy of the Force - Revelation)
They had learned much of what Jacen learned; skills that no other Jedi had known for centuries, if ever.(Luke Skywalker | Star Wars: Fate of the Jedi - Ascension)
"including Aing-Tii flow-walking, which allows him to literally travel backward or forward in time."
- Sources:
"As a Sith Lord, Caedus grows more powerful daily,"
- Sources:
Luke realized Jacen's Force skills seemed to be getting stronger and more subtle every day, and he felt uneasy.(Luke Skywalker | Star Wars: Legacy of the Force - Bloodlines)
And, as history repeated itself because it had no other Choice, Jacen was more powerful than any of them except Luke. And he was growing closer to Luke's strength by the day.(Jacen Solo | Star Wars: Legacy of the Force - Bloodlines)
Jacen has reached a threshold in his Sith potential. He has sacrificed a loved one and the bond of trust between himself and Ben. Lumiya senses this shift in power and decides a further sacrifice is needed to cement Jacen’s rule. She allows herself to be found on Terephon by a vengeful Luke Skywalker, who attacks the Dark Lady. Lumiya claims credit for killing Mara, and an enraged Luke, tipping toward the dark side, decapitates the Sith. It is a hollow victory, for Luke soon learns from Ben that it could not have been Lumiya who was responsible, as she was with Ben at the time of Mara’s death.
Jacen consoles Ben about Mara’s death, coldly feigning innocence in the murder and suggesting that it was an unseen agent of Lumiya who was responsible. Jacen feels his power in the dark side swell, unlocking new powers, including an unparalleled ability to command and coordinate fighting forces as the former Emperor once did. Fully committed to the Sith path, Jacen assumes the title Darth Caedus.(Star Wars: The Essential Reader's Companion)
"even putting up a brutal fight against an enraged, albeit mentally unstable, sixty year old Luke Skywalker,"
- Sources:
Luke didn't give Jacen a chance to surrender. He just sprang.
Ben's jaw dropped, and Jacen started to spin, snatching his lightsaber from his belt and igniting it in the same motion, bringing the emerald blade around high to protect his heart and head.
But Luke was attacking low, striking for the kidney to disable in the most painful way possible. Jacen's eyes widened. He flipped his lightsaber down in the same moment Luke's met flesh.
The tip sank a few centimeters, drawing a pained hiss as it touched a kidney, then Jacen's blade made contact and knocked it aside. Even that small wound would have left most humans paralyzed with agony. But Jacen thrived on pain, fed on it to make himself stronger and faster. He simply completed his pivot and landed a rib-crunching roundhouse.
Luke stumbled back, his chest filled with fire. Jacen had caught him on the barely healed scar from his first fight with Lumiya, and now his breath was coming in short painful gasps.
Good, Luke thought. This was supposed to hurt.
Jacen followed the kick with a high slash. Luke blocked and spun inside, landing an elbow smash to the temple that dropped Jacen to his knees. He brought his own knee up under Jacen's chin, hearing teeth crack-and relishing it. He parried a weak slash at his thighs, then drew his blade up diagonally where his nephew's chest should have been.
Except Jacen was sliding backward, one hand extended behind him, using the Force to pull himself toward a tendril-draped rack in the far corner of the torture chamber. Luke leapt after him, bringing his lightsaber around in a low, clearing sweep.
Jacen stopped pulling and started to swing his free hand around. Luke was ready, had been expecting this since the fight started. Still flying through the air, he raised his own hand, palm outward, and pushed the Force out through his arm to form a protective shield.
The lightning never came. Instead, Luke was blindsided by something heavy and spiky, and his body exploded into pain as he slammed into a durasteel wall. He found himself pinned in place, trapped by a bed of thorns Jacen had hurled across the cabin. He felt the hot sting of the thorns pumping their venom into him. His hearing faded and his head began to spin, and he saw Jacen, one hand still raised to keep Luke pinned, sneering and taking his time rising.
Bad mistake.
Luke raised his lightsaber, slashing through the thorn bed as he sprang. Jacen scrambled to his feet, barely bringing his weapon up in time to block a vicious downstroke. Luke landed a snap-kick to the stomach that lifted Jacen a meter off the deck, then followed it with a slash to the neck-
-which Jacen ducked. He came up under Luke's guard, holding his weapon with one hand and driving a Force-enhanced punch into Luke's ribs with the other, striking for the same place he had kicked earlier. Luke's chest exploded into pain, and he found himself croaking instead of breathing.
Luke struck again with his lightsaber, using both hands and putting all his strength into the attack, beating his nephew's guard down so far that Jacen's emerald blade bit into his own shoulder. Jacen kicked at Luke's legs, catching the side of a knee. Something popped and Luke felt himself going down. On the way, he swept his blade horizontally.
Jacen screamed, and the smell of scorched bone and singed hair filled the air. Knowing Jacen would strike despite the wound, Luke rolled over his throbbing knee and spun back to his feet with a clearing sweep.
His blade met Jacen's in a shower of brilliant sparks. Luke freed one hand and drove a finger-strike at Jacen's eyes.
Jacen turned his head, but Luke's little finger scratched across something soft and bulbous. Jacen roared and stumbled away, shaking his head. Luke feinted a dash toward his nephew's blind side, then-as Jacen pivoted to protect his injured eye-Luke hit him with a Force wave.
Jacen went flying, and it required only a soft nudge to steer him into a tendril-draped rack in the far corner. He hit with so much cracking and crashing that Luke worried the rack had broken, but the thin tendrils quickly entwined Jacen in a net of pulsing green.
Luke started forward, his injured knee buckling each time he put weight on it. The rack's slender tendrils were tightening around Jacen, cutting into his flesh and oozing a yellowish irritant that made skin puff up and split. Jacen began to slash his lightsaber up and down, cutting the vines away two and three at a time. If Luke wanted to finish this-and it seemed like a good idea, given how battered he was himself-he had only a few seconds.
Luke closed to within two meters without saying a word. What point would there have been? Jacen wasn't going to surrender, and Luke wouldn't have believed him if he offered. It was better to attack quickly, while he still had the advantage. He brought his lightsaber up to strike.
"Wait!" Ben cried from behind him. "Let me do it!"
Astonished and appalled, Luke put a little too much weight on his injured knee-and fell as it buckled. He rolled beyond the reach of Jacen's lightsaber and looked back across the chamber. Ben was still strapped in the Embrace, but he had summoned the vibrodagger off the floor and was battling to cut himself free of the chair's lashing tentacles.
Luke shook his head. "I don't think so, Ben."
"You have to!" Ben insisted. "I deserve it!"
"Deserve it?" Luke returned to his feet, far angrier with Jacen than he had been just a moment earlier. "To kill someone?"
"You don't understand, "Ben insisted. "It was my fault. If I don't do this..."
"I said no, "Luke interrupted. How could Ben believe that he had a right to kill someone? "You're very confused, Ben. We'll talk about this later."
Giving his son no further chance to argue, Luke turned back to Jacen, who by now was almost free. Only one leg remained caught, though it was still entwined in a half a dozen places. Luke limped forward, circling toward Jacen's trapped side.
Jacen stopped cutting at the tendrils and flung a hand toward the ceiling.
"Dad, look — "
Luke was already throwing himself to the deck. A tremendous crash sounded from the illumination panel, and the chamber fell instantly dark. He rolled opposite the direction he had just been moving, but wasn't quick enough. The fixture smashed into his head and shoulders, slamming his face into the deck. He heard something crunch in his nose and was instantly choking on his own thick blood.
Jacen's lightsaber droned twice, filling that corner of the torture chamber with flickering green light. Luke Force-hurled the light fixture off his back, then hobbled to his feet.
Jacen launched himself over Luke in a high Force flip. They exchanged perfunctory attacks as he tumbled past, then Luke was alone in the corner, watching the green column of his nephew's lightsaber move toward the door.
Jacen was running.
Luke spat out a mouthful of blood and Force-leapt after his nephew, at the same time reaching out to drag him back. They came together in a blinding flurry of sparks, their blades colliding faster than the eye could follow, filling the dark chamber with flashing fans of color. Blows came out of nowhere. Luke caught another kick in his knee and found himself calling on the Force to keep his balance. He landed an elbow and felt a bone in Jacen's face shatter.
Jacen stumbled back, groaning, the green light of his lightsaber briefly illuminating Ben's face as the boy struggled to cut himself free. Luke pressed forward, angling toward the Embrace to keep Jacen away from Ben. Jacen fought his way over anyway, placing himself squarely between Luke and the chair, then gave ground and vanished behind the green ribbons his lightsaber was weaving through the darkness.
Luke Force-leapt after him, knowing that this Jacen- the Jacen he had caught torturing his son-would not hesitate to take Ben hostage... or to kill him. Luke landed half a meter in front of Jacen's lightsaber and quickly beat down his nephew's guard-too quickly. When he did not glimpse a face in the light of his own blade, Luke knew something was wrong and stopped.
Which was exactly what Jacen was waiting for, of course.
Luke had barely started to turn before a loop of thin tendril slipped over his head and tightened around his throat, oozing toxin and cutting deep into the flesh. The wound swelled and burned as if it were on fire. Luke whipped his lightsaber around, trying to cut Jacen off his back, but Jacen was already spinning away, tightening his garrote and placing Luke's body between himself and the deadly blade.
"Should have let me go when you had the chance, "Jacen snarled. "Now you're done."
Luke slammed an elbow into Jacen's ribs, but it was like hitting a permacrete wall. Instead of continuing to fight, he accelerated into the spin, using the Force to hurl them both into the nearest wall.
Jacen hit first, his skull clunking hard into the durasteel. The garrote loosened a little. Luke dropped his lightsaber, bracing one hand against the other so he could use the strength of both arms to hammer his elbow up under Jacen's chin.
The garrote went completely slack. Luke followed up with a palm-heel to the same target, using the impact to drive himself away from his attacker and buy some maneuvering room.
Then Jacen let out a bloodcurdling scream and stumbled away, a black silhouette vanishing into the darkness of the torture chamber.
Luke stepped back in shock and confusion, summoning his lightsaber to hand, but knowing by the surprise in Jacen's scream that this was not another trick.
"It's okay, Dad, "Ben said from beside him. "It's just me."
Ben took the glow rod from Luke's belt and activated it. Jacen was crawling across the torture chamber, the hilt of a vibrodagger protruding from between his shoulder blades. His face was inflamed and misshapen, his clothes were smoking and tattered, a hand-sized rectangle of scorched skull showed through his scalp, and still he was stretching a hand toward his lightsaber.
Luke re-ignited his own lightsaber, then pointed out the door. "Artoo is in the hangar prepping a skiff for launch, "he said. "Go help him while I finish up here."
"No way." Ben extended his free hand and summoned Jacen's still-ignited lightsaber. "This kill is mine."
Ben's words chilled Luke to the core-chilled him and frightened him. He could hear the hatred burning inside his son, feel the darkness swirling in his Force aura.(Star Wars: Legacy of the Force - Inferno)
Caedus hurt everywhere. Mere days before, he had waged the most ferocious, most terrible lightsaber duel of his life. In a secret chamber aboard his Star Destroyer, the Anakin Solo, he had been torturing Ben Skywalker to harden the young man's spirit, to better prepare Ben for life as a Sith. But he had been caught by Ben's father, Luke Skywalker.
That fight... Caedus wished he had a holorecording of it. It had gone on for what had felt like forever. It had been brutal, with the advantage being held first by Luke, then by Caedus, in what he knew had been brilliant demonstrations of lightsaber technique, of raw power within the Force, of subtle Jedi and Sith skills. For all his pain, Caedus felt a swelling of pride-not just that he had survived that duel, but that he had waged it so well.
At the end, Caedus had lost a position of advantage-Luke had slipped free of the poison-injecting torture vines with which Caedus had been strangling him-when Ben had driven a vibroblade deep into Caedus's back, punching clean through a shoulder blade, nearly reaching his heart.
That had ended the fight. Caedus should have been killed immediately. For reasons he did not understand, Luke and Ben had spared his life and departed. It was a mistake that would cost Luke.
Bearing dozens of minor and major wounds, including the vibroblade puncture, a lightsaber-scored kidney, and a fierce scalp wound, Caedus had been treated and resumed command of the Anakin Solo, only to experience more injury-emotional injury, this time.(Star Wars: Legacy of the Force - Fury)
"and also holding his own against his twin sister Jaina Solo while she is empowered by Luke."
- Sources:
The sniper was not surprised. The weapon simply spun free as it was abruptly released, and the snap-hiss of an igniting lightsaber sounded from inside the projection booth. Despite the pellet wound his shoulder had suffered earlier, Caedus did not hesitate to activate his own blade. His pain would only fuel his power, and if he did not attack the sniper, he knew the sniper would attack him. He Force-leapt up through the hole into the smoky, flashing interior of the booth and pivoted around to block the fan of blue light that came slicing toward his neck even before he could sense who he was fighting.
Whoever it was, the enemy was good.
Caedus felt a boot slam into his ribs-an instant before he saw it coming with his Aing-Tii fighting-sight-and the breath left his lungs. He countered with a head-high backslash and brought his own foot up, landing a Force-enhanced snap-kick between the legs of the brown-robed blur attacking him. The blow drew a pained grunt but failed to even stagger his foe.
A bony elbow slammed up under his chin, rocking him onto his heels. Then, finally, Caedus felt a familiar tingle in the back of his mind, and he saw the image of a violet blade slashing at his vulnerable side. He swept his own lightsaber down across the front of his body in a desperate reverse block that barely caught the attack in time to prevent it from slicing him in two, then whirled into a spinning back kick that landed squarely in his foe's stomach and drove him back:a mere two steps.
It was enough.
Now Caedus could see who he was fighting, and he could not believe it. A gaunt-faced man with eyes as blue and cold as vardium steel, nostrils flaring red with anger and exertion, a thin-lipped snarl filled with confidence and disdain.
Luke Skywalker.
Just a few minutes earlier, Caedus had sensed his uncle's presence far above Nickel One, in the same blastboat as his mother, father, and Saba Sebatyne. And now here Luke was, inside the asteroid. Even Jedi Grand Masters could not be in two places at once-Caedus knew that-but he did not waste time being confused.
All that mattered was that Luke was here, somehow, and that he was the one swordsman in the galaxy whom Caedus did not dare fight one-armed. Even as Luke leapt forward weaving a basket of lightsaber slashes, Caedus sprang back out of the projection booth, launching himself into a high Force flip designed to put as much distance between himself and his attacker as possible.
Luke flew after him, not even bothering to try for the high position, simply coming up under him with a wild slash combination that was anything but subtle or deft or even tricky; just pure relentless ferocity. Caedus had to stretch himself out belly-down in midair to meet the attack, and even calling on the Force to bolster the strength in his good arm, it was all he could do to keep the powerful strikes from knocking his guard aside and leaving him wide open.
They started to drop, trading a trio of lightning-fast blows that left Caedus's hands stinging and his heart racing. The last time he had fought Luke, he had started with a painful kidney wound but two good arms-and barely managed to survive. Now, with a relatively bearable shoulder wound and a single good arm, he had to do more than survive, he had to prevail-because now there would be no mercy at the last minute. This time, his uncle would not care whether he survived as long as Caedus died, because now Luke knew the truth about who had killed his wife.
After the third exchange, Caedus and Luke came down in the seating area, two rows apart. Both landed on their feet, Luke more lightly than Caedus.
Caedus deactivated his lightsaber and flicked his hand downward, arming the dart thrower he had begun wearing beneath his sleeve after their last fight.
But Luke did something even more unexpected, removing one hand from his lightsaber and pushing the palm forward. An instant later, the unseen hammer of a Force blast caught Caedus in the sternum and drove him not over, but through the seats behind him.
He slammed into the next row and dropped to the floor foot-to-foot with the big Mandalorian he had killed earlier-the one in the black armor and red helmet. Caedus's head was spinning and his chest was more than aching-it was throbbing, burning, clenching so tightly he could hardly breathe.
But he still had his lightsaber-and he needed it. He thumbed the activation switch and brought the weapon up just as Luke's blue blade came slicing down toward him. Caedus caught it on his own crimson blade, then straightened his arm, simultaneously parrying and pointing the dart thrower on his wrist into his attacker's face.
"Release!" he commanded.
A faint puff of air tickled Caedus's forearm as the thrower launched its darts, but Luke was already whirling out of the way. The slivers streaked past in a harmless black flash and vanished; then Luke was spinning into the row where Caedus lay, positioning himself above Caedus's head for the coup de grace.
There was no time to leap up or loose a bolt of Force lightning, and the angle was particularly poor for blocking and parrying. Caedus's only hope lay at his feet, and he seized that hope with the Force, using it to pull the dead Mandalorian up over him, then hurling the corpse headlong into Luke.
Two bodies collided with the sharp crack of metal impacting bone. When Caedus did not die in the next instant, he realized he had finally driven his uncle onto the defensive. He rolled to a knee, his lightsaber ignited and raised between them.
Luke lay buried beneath the huge Mandalorian, blood pooling around his head and one motionless arm protruding beneath the fellow's side. By all appearances, Luke Skywalker was dead-or at least unconscious.
Caedus's heart began to pound not with fear, but with excitement. His visions of late had been filled with his uncle's face-Luke Skywalker attacking him here on Nickel One, Luke firing on him from one of Fett's Bes'uliike, Luke sitting on Caedus's throne, claiming the New Empire as his own. Had he-Lord Caedus-finally put an end to those visions-finally ruled out the possibility of those futures becoming the future?
Eager as he was to be rid of Luke, Caedus was also suspicious. His uncle had been using a new fighting style, one that he had never taught his students at the Jedi academy-one that he had never, as far as Caedus knew, used on anyone who had survived to describe it. The style was essentially conservative, brutal, and ruthless, designed to deal damage without suffering it-and not all that tricky.
Which meant now would be the perfect time to switch styles and trap an unwary opponent by playing dead. Using the Force to keep the Mandalorian pressed firmly down on Luke, Caedus retreated twenty paces to the body of a fallen stormtrooper, then deactivated his lightsaber and tucked it under his wounded arm. When Luke still did not move, he pulled a fragmentation grenade off the trooper's equipment belt. He thumbed the arming slide, then sent the grenade sailing toward his uncle and the dead Mandalorian.
---
Despite the ringing in her ears and the gauze in her head-despite her hugely aching skull and the big knot of hurt swelling on her brow-Jaina had never been so filled with the Force. She could feel it in every cell of her body, swirling through her like fire, burning more ferociously every moment. She had never felt so strong or so quick or so alert. She could drive her fist through a durasteel wall, or catch a blaster bolt between her fingers. Despite the red curtain of blood cascading from the gash where Vatok's helmet had split her forehead, she was aware of everything.
Including that grenade sailing toward her.
So Jaina reached out with the Force and sent it flying back toward her brother. An instant later, the weight pressing down on her grew lighter as Caedus's attention shifted to the grenade. She started to Force-hurl her friend's body off-then recalled how her brother had been anticipating her attacks. She grabbed the beskad hanging from Vatok's waist, then sent his body flying after the grenade.
The iron saber had barely cleared its scabbard before the hammerfist of a grenade detonation jolted the forum. Vatok's body was silhouetted against the orange flash of the explosion. Jaina held him there, shielding herself from the fiery heat of the blast, and felt the searing bite of shrapnel only in her legs.
The detonation swept the last wisps of gauze from Jaina's mind. Not waiting to see if she had been seriously injured, she let her friend's body drop to the floor and leapt after her brother, lightsaber in one hand and Vatok's beskad in the other.
Caedus turned to meet her with his good arm forward and his wounded shoulder behind. Jaina struck high with the lightsaber and low with the beskad. Caedus slipped back, allowing both blades to pass, then sprang forward and counterthrust, trying to impale her with her own momentum.
Jaina was already spinning past his crimson blade, pivoting on a dead stormtrooper's chest plate as she brought Vatok's beskad around at neck height. But Caedus had anticipated her once again, leaning away to take the blow on his wounded shoulder rather than across his throat.
Jaina did not even feel the beskad cleaving bone. She simply heard a voice-Jacen's voice-cry out in shock and pain; then an arm landed on her boots. In the next instant Caedus was whirling away, screaming and flapping a red stump, and something hot and wet splashed across Jaina's face and throat and began to burn like acid.
A part of her-the part that had grown up with Jacen and trained with him on Yavin 4 and traded snowballs at Coruscant's polar playgrounds-was too horrified to act. That part wanted to stand paralyzed in shock, to pretend this was just some terrible nightmare from which she would shortly awaken. The other part-the part that had actually asked for this mission-knew what would happen if she let herself freeze.
Jaina launched herself after Caedus. The loss of an arm did not seem to faze him. He simply turned to meet her attack, his yellow eyes blazing with pain and fury, and their lightsabers met in a brilliant explosion of color. Jaina brought the beskad around again, striking low for his thigh:and knew she was in trouble when Caedus did not even try to block.
Caedus deactivated his lightsaber and let it drop between them. Jaina felt the beskad begin to bite, then her brother's palm sank deep into the pit of her stomach. In the next instant she was riding a bolt of Force lightning across the chamber, her muscles cramping, her teeth grinding, her ears roaring with the fiery sizzle of burning synapses.
A full second later, she slammed into a durasteel wall and felt a terrible popping in her ribs, then dropped to the floor, still holding her lightsaber and the beskad. The Force lightning had died away, but her muscles remained useless aching knots, and the stench of scorched flesh was so powerful she wanted to retch. Instead, she tried to rise-and succeeded only in sparking a dozen different kinds of pain.
Across the chamber, her brother was in little better shape. He sat slumped in a half-collapsed chair, his remaining hand clamped over the stump of his missing arm, his thigh wound dripping blood onto the floor. His yellow eyes were staring at Jaina more in confusion than rage, and his head was cocked as though he could not quite believe what he was seeing.
"You?" he gasped. "Jaina?"
Jaina managed to raise her throbbing head. It hurt-a lot-and her vision was starting to blur.
"I haven't changed that much, Jacen," she said. With her muscle control beginning to return, she pushed herself into a kneeling position. "And I hope you know how much this Sith nonsense is steaming Mom and Dad."
If Caedus heard her wisecrack, he did not show it. His yellow eyes began to dart around the chamber, searching for something Jaina did not understand-but maybe that was just because her head was throbbing so bad. The pain was beginning to muddle her thoughts.
Somehow, Caedus forced himself back to his feet. That would have been impressive-if it weren't so kriffing scary.
"Where's Luke?" he demanded.
"Right behind me," Jaina said, also standing. The effort sent pangs of anguish shooting through her lungs, and she realized she had a few broken ribs to go with the lightning scorch on her chest. She squinted in his direction, trying to keep him in focus so she could kill him. "Come over here, and I'll show you."
That brought Caedus's gaze snapping back toward her, and Jaina realized she might have overplayed her hand. She still had both arms, but the fact that her brother remained standing at all proved how much greater his Force powers were than her own. She tossed the beskad aside and summoned a fallen stormtrooper's power blaster to hand.
---
And she recalled her uncle warning the others about her injuries as they rushed to help her, how he had seemed to know every blow she had taken without having to even glance in her direction.
---
"You're welcome," Mirta said. "Now, the thing you need to know about your brother: he underestimates you."
"That's not really news, Mirta," Jaina said. "Maybe not even true. He's magnitudes stronger than me in the Force. All I've got on him is five weeks of Mandalorian commando training."
"And that's enough to get the job done." Mirta's tone was reprimanding, like a parent scolding a child for wanting a third bowl of frezgel. "But I mean, his weakness is more delusional. He's convinced you couldn't have taken his arm-at least not alone. He thinks Luke was with us."
---
Recalling the surge of Force power she had experienced when she fought Caedus the first time, Jaina wondered if she should reach out to her uncle Luke when the fight began. Perhaps he would be able to bolster her strength as he had on Nickel One. But then she recalled Mirta's comment about her brother underestimating her, and she realized that calling on Luke would be a mistake. From what Mirta had said-and what she had observed herself on Nickel One-Caedus was obsessed with their uncle. He would be ready for Luke's strength, prepared to see through Luke's illusions as he had not been the first time. If Jaina expected to win this fight, she would have to fight in a different way-her own way.(Star Wars: Legacy of the Force - Invincible)
[hideedit]
- Suspect InsightAdministrator
How Powerful is Vaylin? | Vaylin Respect Thread
September 2nd 2020, 10:37 am
13. VAYLIN
"Rewinding the clock back to the Old Republic era, at number 13 we have VAYLIN. She is the daughter of Emperor Valkorion, and appears in The Old Republic’s Knights of the Fallen Empire and Knights of the Eternal Throne expansions."
"Her connection to the Force runs so deep that arouses genuine apprehension in Valkorion, who decides to curb and control her powers through torture and psychological conditioning, when she is still a small child."
"However, as Valkorion’s control begins to wane, Vaylin’s powers rapidly expand, destroying massive building structures,"
"easily dominating the most powerful Jedi alive (the Hero of Tython),"
"overpowering Valkorion’s spirit,"
"resisting energy beams capable of disintegrating anyone it touches,"
"and holding together the 'full force' of the massive Eternal Empire armada through battle meditation."
"The Old Republic’s writers stated that, in terms of pure raw power, she is perhaps second only to Valkorion himself in the game."
[hideedit]
"Rewinding the clock back to the Old Republic era, at number 13 we have VAYLIN. She is the daughter of Emperor Valkorion, and appears in The Old Republic’s Knights of the Fallen Empire and Knights of the Eternal Throne expansions."
"Her connection to the Force runs so deep that arouses genuine apprehension in Valkorion, who decides to curb and control her powers through torture and psychological conditioning, when she is still a small child."
- Sources:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LbpDxrew4A0(Star Wars: The Old Republic - Knights of the Eternal Throne - "Betrayed" Trailer)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pd_kVZLxufs&t=6m43s (6:43)
"She made furniture move while she was still in the womb. Tore droids apart as a toddler. Once, a guard dropped a ball she tossed. Vaylin crippled him. I confronted Valkorion. His daughter needed help. His sons needed him. His 'solution' was to cage Vaylin's mind. Most of her power was locked away, along with most of who she was. He ignored the rest of us outright."(Senya Tirall | Star Wars: The Old Republic - Knights of the Fallen Empire - Chapter VII: Lady of Sorrows)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c0cHlDHHgxE&t=14m40s (14:40)
"Her aptitude with the Force made her extremely dangerous, even as a child. There was only one solution."(Valkorion | Star Wars: The Old Republic - Knights of the Eternal Throne - Chapter III: Dark Reunions)
From the moment his daughter, Vaylin, was born, Valkorion felt her strong connection to the Force. As she grew up, the Immortal Emperor noticed similarities between them, which both pleased and frightened him, and he decided to keep a tight leash on his favorite child.(Star Wars: The Old Republic - Codex: Vaylin [link])
Even as a child, Vaylin showed signs of tremendous power. Fearing she would one day challenge him, Valkorion imprisoned his daughter while he sought limits and controls on her power.(Star Wars: The Old Republic - Codex: Vaylin's Conditioning [link])
As a child, her strength with the Force was so great that Valkorion locked her away in a remote compound to teach her obedience and mastery of her powers.(Official Star Wars The Old Republic Website - Knights of the Eternal Throne [link])
"However, as Valkorion’s control begins to wane, Vaylin’s powers rapidly expand, destroying massive building structures,"
- Sources:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IHCH_Bz75hg&t=430s (7:10)(Star Wars: The Old Republic - Knights of the Fallen Empire - Chapter III: Outlander)
"easily dominating the most powerful Jedi alive (the Hero of Tython),"
- Sources:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c0cHlDHHgxE&t=9m40s (9:40)(Star Wars: The Old Republic - Knights of the Eternal Throne - Chapter III: Dark Reunions)
[Note: At 10:45, Koth Vortena states a bomb will go off in three minutes. 15 seconds pass before Vaylin and the Outlander begin fighting. At 11:45, the fight ends; Valkorion stops time at 11:55 and resumes at 13:30, from which point the cutscene continues in real-time until 13:50. That’s a total of 55 seconds of cutscenes before the gameplay section where the Outlander cuts the power relays. At 14:05, when the Outlander cuts the second one, a red text appears in the lower left corner, saying "Warning: Two Minutes Until Detonation." Therefore, it would mean Vaylin defeated the Outlander, and the Outlander ran around the ship, cutting two power relays, all in less than five seconds. Even if Koth's initial statement was an estimate, clearly the fight was over within seconds.]
"overpowering Valkorion’s spirit,"
- Sources:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oQkzXMN6F1U&t=11m (11:00)
"I will not allow this."
"Not this time, father."
"Vaylin is invincible. Your daughter’s even stronger than you."(Valkorion, Vaylin, and the Outlander | Star Wars: The Old Republic - Knights of the Eternal Throne - Chapter III: Dark Reunions)
"resisting energy beams capable of disintegrating anyone it touches,"
- Sources:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hU2_M0CUhtU&t=12m30s (12:30)(Star Wars: The Old Republic - Knights of the Eternal Throne - Chapter VII: Into the Void)
"and holding together the 'full force' of the massive Eternal Empire armada through battle meditation."
- Sources:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zy6tVhbCsZ4&t=14m (14:00)
"The Eternal Fleet just retreated. Every single ship... gone."
"Enemy lines have broken! It's a rout! They're surrendering by the thousands!"
"My sister's rage was the only thing giving her troops the will to fight."(Koth Vortena, Bey'wan Aygo, and Arcann | Star Wars: The Old Republic - Knights of the Eternal Throne - Chapter VIII: End Times)
[Note: The Eternal Fleet is the largest fleet in the galaxy's history up until that time, comprised of thousands of ships. If the numerical appellations of each individual ship correspond to their numbers in reality, the Fleet would have at least 9,947 ships, minus the ones already destroyed in previous conflicts.]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2g7BwwggxFI&t=19m30s (19:30)
"The Eternal Throne commands a fleet more vast than any ever built."(Valkorion | Star Wars: The Old Republic - Knights of the Fallen Empire - Chapter I: The Hunt)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mlmuz2rSOW0&t=30s (0:30)
"Broadcasting a signal to thousands of ships across the galaxy takes tremendous energy."(Theron Shan | Star Wars: The Old Republic - Knights of the Fallen Empire - Chapter XII: Visions in the Dark)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fzMTG_jK2Ao&t=26m50s (26:50)
"Vessel 9947, destroy vessel 3265."(Vaylin | Star Wars: The Old Republic - Knights of the Eternal Throne - Chapter V: Ascension)
"The Old Republic’s writers stated that, in terms of pure raw power, she is perhaps second only to Valkorion himself in the game."
- Sources:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6o7BrXl34OY&t=7m34s (7:34)
"She's just so incredibly powerful in the Force, probably the most powerful figure that we've introduced short of Valkorion himself."(Charles Boyd | January BioWare Star Wars Story Livestream)
"I would say Vaylin has more raw power - she's probably second only to Valkorion on the scale of SWTOR characters."(Charles Boyd | Twitter [link])
[hideedit]
- Suspect InsightAdministrator
How Powerful is the Alliance Commander/Outlander/Hero of Tython? | Alliance Commander/Outlander/Hero of Tython Respect Thread
September 2nd 2020, 12:45 pm
12. THE ALLIANCE COMMANDER / OUTLANDER / HERO OF TYTHON
"At number 12 we have the protagonist of the The Old Republic’s latest expansions: THE OUTLANDER, also known as the ALLIANCE COMMANDER—the legendary champion who topples the Eternal Empire."
"He is widely considered and promoted in trailers to be the same character as the HERO OF TYTHON,"
"the Jedi Knight hailed by many as the greatest of his age"
"and prophesied to defeat the Sith Emperor."
"The Outlander grows tremendously across his journey, going from being dominated by Valkorion’s children—Arcann (
) and Vaylin—to defeating them in turn."
"His growth is assisted by Valkorion himself—who forges the Outlander into a “vessel of supreme power” capable of containing the Immortal Emperor’s spirit"
"and by the teachings of Satele Shan and Darth Marr, who compel the Outlander to reject narrow conceptions of light and dark to become the sword through which the will of the Force expresses itself."
[hideedit]
"At number 12 we have the protagonist of the The Old Republic’s latest expansions: THE OUTLANDER, also known as the ALLIANCE COMMANDER—the legendary champion who topples the Eternal Empire."
"He is widely considered and promoted in trailers to be the same character as the HERO OF TYTHON,"
- Sources:
- [Note: Besides Valkorion directly addressing the Outlander as a Jedi, all trailers depict the Hero of Tython's voice actor.]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ODajwQnnkM&t=0m54s (0:54)
"You've spent your life walking the Jedi path. Was it worth the journey?"(Valkorion | Star Wars: The Old Republic - Knights of the Eternal Throne - 'Story So Far' Recap)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=USHvcekHnVc(Star Wars: The Old Republic - Knights of the Fallen Empire - “Become the Outlander” Gameplay Trailer)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Go8LSAxqPmI(Star Wars: The Old Republic - Knights of the Fallen Empire - “Story and Writing” Video)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pNeNiJrpPiY(Star Wars: The Old Republic - Knights of the Fallen Empire - “Alliance” Trailer Early Access Launch)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YTZxrB3RqRk(Star Wars: The Old Republic - Knights of the Fallen Empire - "Face Your Destiny" Launch Trailer)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H5eEyEPsXdk(Star Wars: The Old Republic - Knights of the Fallen Empire - 'Official Accolades' Trailer)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s22W84cSUOw(Star Wars: The Old Republic - Knights of the Eternal Throne - 'Rule The Galaxy' Teaser)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MIUOieq4TLc(Star Wars: The Old Republic - Knights of the Eternal Throne - 'Official Accolades' Trailer)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JKod49z3LQg(Star Wars: The Old Republic - The War For Iokath Launch Trailer)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JKod49z3LQg(Star Wars: The Old Republic - The War For Iokath Launch Trailer)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7bb9cmw4k0k(Star Wars: The Old Republic - Crisis On Umbara Launch Trailer)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NAMl1hmdc6Q(Star Wars: The Old Republic - A Traitor Among the Chiss Launch Trailer)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xpncMnftLrU(Star Wars: The Old Republic - The Nathema Conspiracy Launch Trailer)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ScPjMY6ZutI(Star Wars: The Old Republic - Jedi Under Siege Launch Trailer)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PaYnNdte3I4(Star Wars: The Old Republic - Onslaught Expansion Launch Trailer)
"the Jedi Knight hailed by many as the greatest of his age"
- Sources:
[DISCLAIMER: VIDEO LINKS AND TIMESTAMPS WILL BE ADDED TO THE QUOTES WITHIN THE UPCOMING DAYS.]
"You've won-why has the Force guided me to this defeat? . . . You're stronger than any Jedi I've known. You could redeem the order and destroy the Sith . . . I understand. You are the weapon I came to forge."
'You think I'm destined to defeat the Empire?"
"I'm certain of it. I found my purpose, at last. I have spent a lifetime learning the paths to power. That knowledge is now yours. Let me leave Tython and prepare the galaxy for your ascendance. I will deliver the gifts you need to claim your destiny."(Bengel Morr and the Hero of Tython | Star Wars: The Old Republic - Prologue)
"Darth Angral was the spark that lit the flame. Even in failure, he inspired the Sith to violence."
"But he also forged our greatest weapon against the darkness."(Bela Kiwiiks and Satele Shan | Star Wars: The Old Republic - Act 1)
"We're on a mission of peace, but we'll need the Jedi Order's greatest warrior to achieve that goal."(Tol Braga | Star Wars: The Old Republic - Act 2)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bq5X3F3g69c&t=8m35s (8:35)
"You are the Jedi's finest."(Lord Scourge | Star Wars: The Old Republic - Act 2)
"Not easy playing backup to the greatest Jedi warrior in the galaxy. Won't even pretend we'll ever be equals, but I've got some new moves to try out next time we're in a fight."(Kira Carsen | Star Wars: The Old Republic - Act 3)
"You are our greatest warrior... and our best hope."(Satele Shan | Star Wars: The Old Republic - Act 3)
"The Force is strong in you. Too strong for the restrictions the Jedi impose. Had you been instructed in the true way of the Force, the galaxy could not match your power. I will make sure that mistake does not happen again."(Lord Scourge | Star Wars: The Old Republic - Act 3)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zoFNJ7UophU&t=1m45s (1:45)
"I will fly us to the Emperor's temple, but you must face him alone. No one else can resist his direct influence."(Lord Scourge | Star Wars: The Old Republic - Act 3)
"We're on the same side, Commander. I know you'd have done the same for me."
"I know we'd try. But nobody else can do what you do. So do us all a favor and try not to get captured."(The Hero of Tython and Rans | Star Wars: The Old Republic - Post-Act 3)
The Supreme Chancellor and the new Grandmaster of the Jedi Council have recognized the Knight as their strongest asset--and their most powerful weapon.(Intro Droid | Star Wars: The Old Republic - Rise of the Hutt Cartel)
"and prophesied to defeat the Sith Emperor."
- Sources:
For Scourge, the universe suddenly seemed frozen in place, as if time itself had stopped. He realized he was at a crux in history; fate and destiny would be forever altered in the next few moments.
The Force washed over him in a wave, and a million possible futures flickered through his mind simultaneously. In some the Emperor was no more; in others he had transformed the entire galaxy into an empty wasteland. He saw both Revan’s triumph and defeat in the throne room; he saw variations of his own life and death played out over and over in every conceivable way, shape, and form.
He had to choose, but there was no way to know which was the most likely outcome, or what actions of his would lead to which results. Revan had said visions could guide the Jedi, but for Scourge they brought nothing but confusion.
The moment passed and the universe began to move again, though everything seemed to be happening in slow motion. Revan and Meetra stepped forward, ready to initiate the final confrontation. Scourge knew he had to act now; he had to make his choice.
In a sudden moment of clarity he saw the Emperor lying defeated at the feet of a powerful Jedi … but that Jedi was neither Revan nor Meetra. And the Sith Lord knew what he had to do.(Star Wars: The Old Republic - Revan)
It would be several decades, maybe longer, before the Emperor revisited the idea of invading the Republic. In that time, much could happen. Revan had spoken of another champion who would rise; Scourge had seen that champion in his final vision. Blessed with eternal life, Scourge would serve faithfully at the Emperor’s side, biding his time as he waited for that champion to emerge from the mists of time.
While serving, he would study the Emperor. He would learn everything about him. He would come to understand his strengths and weaknesses so that when the time came, he could help Revan’s prophesied champion destroy the Emperor once and for all.(Star Wars: The Old Republic - Revan)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HNto5fIGMV0&t=44s (0:44)
"Revan was both Jedi Master and Sith Lord. His student, the Exile, defeated the Sith triumvirate. They were your greatest heroes. I hoped to help them kill my lord Emperor. Until my vision: Jedi, shining with the Force, lined up to destroy him. All were swept aside. Revan and the Exile were cast at my feet. Then out of the shadows, one Jedi emerged to cut the Emperor down. That Jedi wore your face."
"I hadn't even been born yet."
"I waited three hundred years for your birth. When I saw your face on Quesh.... In the vision, I bowed to you and took a crown from the Emperor's head. It ended when you held his power in your hands."(Lord Scourge and the Hero of Tython | Star Wars: The Old Republic - Act 2)
"The Outlander grows tremendously across his journey, going from being dominated by Valkorion’s children—Arcann (
) and Vaylin—to defeating them in turn."- Sources:
[DISCLAIMER: VIDEO LINKS AND TIMESTAMPS WILL BE ADDED TO THE QUOTES WITHIN THE UPCOMING DAYS.]
[Description: The Outlander's and Arcann's first fight on the Asylum. The fight is indecisive.]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9VHrjv0MSy8&t=3m29s(Star Wars: The Old Republic - Knights of the Fallen Empire - Chapter VIII: Taking Flight)
[Description: The Outlander's and Arcann's second fight on the Asylum. The Outlander is decisively defeated, and HK-55 "sacrifices himself to save the Outlander's life" by throwing himself in front of Arcann's Force lightning.]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AP2xdsUvNvU&t=14m22s (14:22)(Star Wars: The Old Republic - Knights of the Fallen Empire - Chapter VIII: Taking Flight)
HK-55 sacrificed himself to save your life during the confrontation with Arcann on Asylum. There seems to be no hope of rebuilding him.(Star Wars: The Old Republic - Knights of the Fallen Empire)
"My son is too strong. You need my power. Only together can we strike him down."(Valkorion| Star Wars: The Old Republic - Knights of the Fallen Empire - Chapter VIII: Taking Flight)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pDA7HWd87rY&t=5m5s (5:05)"He's overconfident, but almost as invincible as he believes he is."(The Outlander | Star Wars: The Old Republic - Knights of the Fallen Empire - Chapter XI: Disavowed)
[Description: The Outlander's and Arcann's third fight above Odessen. The Outlander is aided by his newfound lightsaber's unique properties, Valkorion's spirit's passive healing, and a Zakuul Knight shield--the third being necessary to overcome Arcann's full power. The fight is initially a "draw", but the Outlander ultimately wins, perhaps with help from the flagship rocking.]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=058EeTq8uYk (for story)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W_AqW-8lTU4 (for gameplay)(Star Wars: The Old Republic - Knights of the Fallen Empire - Chapter XVI: The Battle of Odessen)
"I'm not the same person Arcann fought on Asylum."
"Yes, he's in for a surprise."(Star Wars: The Old Republic - Knights of the Fallen Empire - Chapter XVI: The Battle of Odessen)
"Arcann may have bested you on Asylum, but Valkorion's training changed you . . . You're powerful, more powerful than--"(Star Wars: The Old Republic - Knights of the Fallen Empire - Chapter XVI: The Battle of Odessen)
"You're different. Stronger. How?"(Arcann | Star Wars: The Old Republic - Knights of the Fallen Empire - Chapter XVI: The Battle of Odessen)
Constructed in the wilderness of Odessen, this unique weapon has special properties that make it significantly more powerful when facing Arcann in battle.(Star Wars: The Old Republic - Knights of the Fallen Empire)
Valkorion's Favor: Valkorion's mark upon you has activated, reacting to Arcann's presence. Passively regenerates between 1% and 10% of your maximum health every second, based upon how injured you are.
Valkorion's Favor: Passively regenerating. Health restored scales based upon the target's missing health. This power is involuntary, and cannot be toggled off(Star Wars: The Old Republic - Knights of the Fallen Empire - Chapter XVI: The Battle of Odessen)
Fury of the Heir: Arcann is bringing his full power to bear. Invulnerable to most damage sources. Cooldowns and cast times drastically reduced. Abilities are now "Empowered", and may have additional effects.(Star Wars: The Old Republic - Knights of the Fallen Empire - Chapter XVI: The Battle of Odessen)
Arcann has arrived to destroy Odessen. Together with your alliance, you must work to stop him.
You fought Arcann to a draw. Speak to him on the bridge of the flagship.
You fought Arcann amid explosions rocking the flagship. Now approach him on the bridge.
You defeated Arcann, foiling his plans to destroy Odessen.(Star Wars: The Old Republic - Knights of the Fallen Empire - Chapter XVI: The Battle of Odessen)
[Description: The Outlander's and Vaylin's first fight on the Gravestone. The Outlander is easily defeated.]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c0cHlDHHgxE&t=9m40s (9:40)(Star Wars: The Old Republic - Knights of the Eternal Throne - Chapter III: Dark Reunions)
"Do not underestimate Vaylin. Her power grows exponentially. Kill her, or you will die."(Valkorion | Star Wars: The Old Republic - Knights of the Eternal Throne - Chapter III: Dark Reunions)
"Your daughter's stronger than even you."(The Outlander | Star Wars: The Old Republic - Knights of the Eternal Throne - Chapter III: Dark Reunions)
[Note: At 10:45, Koth Vortena states a bomb will go off in three minutes. 15 seconds pass before Vaylin and the Outlander begin fighting. At 11:45, the fight ends; Valkorion stops time at 11:55 and resumes at 13:30, from which point the cutscene continues in real-time until 13:50. That’s a total of 55 seconds of cutscenes before the gameplay section where the Outlander cuts the power relays. At 14:05, when the Outlander cuts the second one, a red text appears in the lower left corner, saying "Warning: Two Minutes Until Detonation." Therefore, it would mean Vaylin defeated the Outlander, and the Outlander ran around the ship, cutting two power relays, all in less than five seconds. Even if Koth's initial statement was an estimate, clearly the fight was over within seconds.]
---
[Description: [DARK SIDE ONLY] The Outlander's and Arcann's fourth fight on Zakuul. Arcann has grown more powerful since their last fight, especially due to his mother's death, and calls ever-growing reinforcements to assist him, but the Outlander ultimately wins.]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XrkBWO6liLo(Star Wars: The Old Republic - Knights of the Eternal Throne - Chapter VI: The Dragon's Maw)
Rally Loyalists: Calls a group of Loyalist reinforcements. The number and strength of loyalists called increases as Arcann becomes more injured.(Star Wars: The Old Republic - Knights of the Eternal Throne - Chapter VI: The Dragon's Maw))
[Description: The Outlander's and Vaylin's second fight on Odessen. Vaylin unleashes her full power, but the Outlander ultimately defeats her, perhaps with help from Valkorion's spirit.]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zy6tVhbCsZ4&t=12m42s (12:42)(Star Wars: The Old Republic - Knights of the Eternal Throne - Chapter VIII: End Times)
"For a puppet, you fight well . . . My full power has been unleashed! . . . Father's words can't save you now! . . . My wounds are bad, but yours will be worse! . . . No, I'm the empress! I am eternal!"(Vaylin | Star Wars: The Old Republic - Knights of the Eternal Throne - Chapter VIII: End Times)
"I would say Vaylin has more raw power - she's probably second only to Valkorion on the scale of SWTOR characters - but the player characters have far more fighting experience, which is why they're able to defeat her (represented through the abstraction of gameplay)."
"So wouldn't the Outlander being able to push through her Force wave be proof he's as strong or more powerful, or am I completely wrong about that?"
"I'd probably give Valkorion at least partial credit for that."(Charles Boyd and a fan | Twitter [link])
[Note: The below videos are clips of their fight.]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PTNYICZ8twg&t=16m05s(Star Wars: The Old Republic - Knights of the Eternal Throne - Chapter IX: The Eternal Throne)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PBiro3ZGcfM&t=0m17s (0:17)(Star Wars: The Old Republic - Knights Of The Eternal Throne – 'Taking Command' Trailer)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MIUOieq4TLc&t=0m23s (0:23)(Star Wars: The Old Republic - Knights Of The Eternal Throne – 'Official Accolades' Trailer)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s22W84cSUOw(Star Wars: The Old Republic - Knights of the Eternal Throne – 'Rule The Galaxy' Teaser)
[Description: [DARK SIDE ONLY] The Outlander's fight with Arcann and Vaylin combined in his mindscape. The Outlander wins.]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vXNzA4p4HE4(Star Wars: The Old Republic - Knights of the Eternal Throne - Chapter IX: The Eternal Throne)
"When you struck me down, you only made me stronger! . . . At last, I will have vengeance! . . . Sister Father Help me! . . . No! Nooo! . . . My wounds are bad. . . . And so I fall. Again."(Arcann | Star Wars: The Old Republic - Knights of the Eternal Throne - Chapter IX: The Eternal Throne)
"This time you will lose! . . . You will suffer! . . . You can't beat me again! You can't! . . . This isn't over! . . .If you don't help me, Outlander, I can't help you! . . . Nol Nooo!"(Vaylin | Star Wars: The Old Republic - Knights of the Eternal Throne - Chapter IX: The Eternal Throne)
"His growth is assisted by Valkorion himself—who forges the Outlander into a “vessel of supreme power” capable of containing the Immortal Emperor’s spirit"
- Sources:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xGsRIQ1PVUo&t=7m46s (7:46)(Star Wars: The Old Republic - Knights of the Fallen Empire - Chapter XII: The Eternal Throne)
https://youtu.be/B7XGLL5ObsI?t=136 (2:16)
"Valkorion strengthened your bond to the Force. You may be the greatest of us all, but your old training couldn't prepare you for what's to come."(Satele Shan | Star Wars: The Old Republic - Knights of the Fallen Empire - Chapter XII: The Eternal Throne)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=058EeTq8uYk&t=71s (1m11s)
"You're different. Stronger. How?"
"It's a secret. One you'll never learn."
"Father gave you this power. He gave me nothing."(Arcann and the Outlander | Star Wars: The Old Republic - Knights of the Fallen Empire - Chapter XVI: The Battle of Odessen)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FbTdLy3xO3E&t=3m33s (3:33)
"You were an exemplary pawn, one I forged into a vessel of supreme power--worthy of preserving my spirit."(Valkorion | Star Wars: The Old Republic - Knights of the Eternal Throne - Chapter IX: The Eternal Throne)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PTNYICZ8twg&t=15m10s (15:10)
"Your strength grew. Your vulnerabilities festered."(Valkorion | Star Wars: The Old Republic - Knights of the Eternal Throne - Chapter IX: The Eternal Throne)
"and by the teachings of Satele Shan and Darth Marr, who compel the Outlander to reject narrow conceptions of light and dark to become the sword through which the will of the Force expresses itself."
- Sources:
[DISCLAIMER: VIDEO LINKS AND TIMESTAMPS WILL BE ADDED TO THE QUOTES WITHIN THE UPCOMING DAYS.]
"Arcann and his Knights learned to use the Force in a different way from Jedi and Sith. It's why we couldn't truly defeat them."
"What makes Arcann and his followers so different from Jedi or Sith?"
"Jedi approach the Force as a companion, and Sith try to enslave it. But Arcann's knights believe the Force is their reward for serving an ideal. They swear their lives to the Eternal Emperor. They swear their lives to the Eternal Emperor. The more they honor his commandments, the greater their power. The knights obey their master without question, sacrificing everything for triumph. Devotion makes them strong. You must become stronger."
"Master Satele, that goes against everything you ever taught me. It's the kind of thing Valkorion would say."(Satele Shan and the Outlander | Star Wars: The Old Republic - Knights of the Fallen Empire - Chapter XII: Visions in the Dark)
"To forge the future, you must first break with the past. Victory over Arcann requires new perspectives... and new weapons."(Darth Marr | Star Wars: The Old Republic - Knights of the Fallen Empire - Chapter XII: Visions in the Dark)
"Arcann won't be conquered through passion, or righteousness. He has emptied himself of weaknesses like sentiment and morality. The Sith Code teaches us to break our chains. But freedom is not your ultimate goal. You must anchor yourself to power. When Arcann lies defeated, your destiny is to take the Eternal Throne. Any other path will lead only into chaos."(Darth Marr | Star Wars: The Old Republic - Knights of the Fallen Empire - Chapter XII: Visions in the Dark)
"The Force is in motion, and we must follow. The old ways aren't enough. We'll show you the new way."(Satele Shan | Star Wars: The Old Republic - Knights of the Fallen Empire - Chapter XII: Visions in the Dark)
"I dismissed the Jedi Code. I was wrong. There is no death, there is only the Force, and it has a plan. The will of the Force is a flowing current. You can follow, fight it, but it is always there."(Darth Marr | Star Wars: The Old Republic - Knights of the Fallen Empire - Chapter XII: Visions in the Dark)
"Forget what your old Masters taught you. Not even Valkorian understands. The Force is not an ally, slave or transaction. The Force is a paradox. it empowers and imprisons. it destroys and unites. it binds the galaxy together and tears people apart. it has a will, but needs a commander."(Darth Marr | Star Wars: The Old Republic - Knights of the Fallen Empire - Chapter XII: Visions in the Dark)
"You want me to build a new lightsaber."
"You will create a pure extension of the Force's will--one you alone control. With it, you can unite a thousand stars."
"We offer to add your strength to yours, but you must be the guiding hand. Focus the power, and decide what form it takes."(Darth Marr, the Outlander, and Satele Shan | Star Wars: The Old Republic - Knights of the Fallen Empire - Chapter XII: Visions in the Dark)
"That blade is part of you, now. The next time you face Arcann in battle, he will not be ready for you."(Darth Marr | Star Wars: The Old Republic - Knights of the Fallen Empire - Chapter XII: Visions in the Dark)
http://www.swtor.com/fallen-empire/chapters
As the Outlander, unravel dangerous truths about your destiny that bind you to your dark enemy and get ready to wield a powerful new weapon inspired by some of the greatest Force users in the galaxy.(Official Star Wars: The Old Republic Website - Knights of the Fallen Empire [link])
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cAm4yhNPQBo&t=1m16s (1:16)
"You're different. Stronger. How?"
"I have mastered the Force. I am beyond light and dark."(The Outlander | Star Wars: The Old Republic - Knights of the Fallen Empire - Chapter XVI: The Battle of Odessen)
[hideedit]
- Suspect InsightAdministrator
How Powerful is Darish Vol? | Darish Vol Respect Thread
September 2nd 2020, 12:53 pm
11. DARISH VOL
"At the number 11 spot sits DARISH VOL, the Grand Lord of the Lost Tribe of the Sith from the Fate of the Jedi novel series set forty years after Return of the Jedi."
"Vol is head and shoulders above his Sith minions, including the likes of Ivaar Workan () and Viun Gaalan (),"
"whom Luke Skywalker believed would prove a match for legendary Jedi Masters Kyp Durron or Kyle Katarn ()."
"In a dreamscape, Vol fights Abeloth—a one-hundred-thousand-year-old Force abomination—and manages to resist her advances while using a devastating psychic knife to cut open and exploit her emotional vulnerabilities."
"After the battle, Abeloth concludes that Vol actually has 'much of the power' of Luke himself."
[hideedit]
"At the number 11 spot sits DARISH VOL, the Grand Lord of the Lost Tribe of the Sith from the Fate of the Jedi novel series set forty years after Return of the Jedi."
"Vol is head and shoulders above his Sith minions, including the likes of Ivaar Workan (
) and Viun Gaalan (),"- Sources:
Vol was a striking, almost heavy presence in the Force; he was not the Grand Lord without reason. No one on this world was stronger in the Force than he.(Vestara Khai | Star Wars: Fate of the Jedi - Omen)
They wore robes that were similar to the Grand Lord's, but slightly less ornate. Less powerful manipulators of the Force than Vol, they were nonetheless utter masters of it.(Vestara Khai | Star Wars: Fate of the Jedi - Omen)
Lord Darish Vol was no casual observer of others. He had not climbed as high as he had, nor lived as long as he had, without being superior to any who would challenge him. He had lost count of the assassination attempts and political ploys that had been thrown his way over the last eight-plus decades. But he had learned from each one. And so he played the good, benevolent host smoothly while taking stock of all he saw.(Abeloth | Star Wars: Fate of the Jedi - Ascension)
But if she knew the Sith were here on Coruscant- No. If something happened and his Master found that Workan had not warned him, Workan would not live long enough to draw breath to apologize. It had to be now.(Ivaar Workan | Star Wars: Fate of the Jedi - Ascension)
Workan did not know how Roki Kem (Abeloth) had managed to defeat an unmatched Force user such as Grand Lord Vol, and he could hardly ask her.(Ivaar Workan | Star Wars: Fate of the Jedi - Apocalypse)
"Grand Lord Vol has been replaced."
"Replaced?" Though Vestara felt not even the slightest inclination to mourn Vol's passing, her surprise was genuine. "Who could do that?"(Abeloth and Vestara Khai | Star Wars: Fate of the Jedi - Apocalypse)
"whom Luke Skywalker believed would prove a match for legendary Jedi Masters Kyp Durron or Kyle Katarn (
)."- Sources:
Gaalan struck at Luke, high, low, a series of subtle and sophisticated blows that would have bewildered any lesser duelist. He was good; Luke gave him that. He might have been a match for an expert swordsmaster such as Kyp or Kyle Katarn. He would have been too much for a comparatively diffident duelist such as Cilghal, or even Luke as he had been back at Sinkhole Station, at low ebb in physical and mental strength.(Luke Skywalker | Star Wars: Fate of the Jedi - Backlash)
"In a dreamscape, Vol fights Abeloth—a one-hundred-thousand-year-old Force abomination—and manages to resist her advances while using a devastating psychic knife to cut open and exploit her emotional vulnerabilities."
- Sources:
Sleep found him quickly.
And so did something else.
He stood, alone, on the lavender shores of the ocean, lightsaber held in one gnarled hand. The heat was oppressive, the sun beating down on him more strongly than it did even in the height of summer. His robes were heavy, far too heavy, and he became aware immediately that this was much more than a simple dream.
She stood facing him, wearing her lovely Keshiri visage like the mask she had worn tonight. But this time, she was deliberately permitting the mask to slip.
Vol had seen much violence, deceit, ugliness, and brutality in his day. He had seen, and sometimes committed, deeds such as evisceration of the body and torture of the mind through the power of the dark side. He had seen bodies explode into tiny fragments, watched powerfully intelligent people reduced to gibbering idiots when their minds were destroyed thought by thought.
And he shrank back in horror now at the monstrosity revealed to him.
Before him was a nightmare. Her hair was long, twining tendrils of hideousness, her eyes sunken and yet bright as tiny stars, her mouth widening, widening, until it split her face. She laughed, the tendrils reaching out both physically and in the Force.
"Silly Vol," she said. "To imagine, even for a moment, that anything human could even conceive of the vastness that is Abeloth, let alone trap me for your own tiny-minded purposes. Now you shall die, and your world shall become mine. I shall be unto them Protector and Destructor both, and there is nothing that you or any of your little friends can do to stop me."
The tendrils were on him now, slithering into his mouth, his ears, his nose, caressing in a strangely appealing manner even as he cringed back in loathing.
It was a dream, he knew, but it was more than a dream as well. And even in such an in-between place, Vol knew what he had to do. It terrified him, but the thought of being destroyed without a fight by this vile thing terrified him even worse.
He had to dive inside that mind.
He took a precious second to wrap the Force around him like a blanket, then unshielded his mind and opened it to Abeloth.
In her arrogant glee at the ambush she had performed, she was reckless. She surged forward, violating his mind, unaware that this was precisely what Vol wanted. She had given him entrance, and he wasted not a heartbeat in opening up to the ugliness that was within. Like a thief with the law on his heels, Vol plundered swiftly, with no care for delicacy or of discovery. And he found unexpected riches.
Anguish. Loss that ripped and tore at the heart of all that was Abeloth. Betrayal. Need-need!-for companionship, for love, for someone, anyone, anything, to adore her and to never, ever leave. To stay with her forever ...
-Don't leave me don't leave me don't leave me-
Something that was part of her, that she had loved with all that was in her, was gone, gone beyond finding again, and someone would pay, and she would be loved and idolized and worshipped, it was right, it was what should be, what would be-
He felt her astonishment, and then fury, and knew he was discovered. The tendrils were no longer coyly teasing and caressing. They were violent and brutal now, wrapping about his throat, invading his body. He resisted and went on the attack. There was a wound, visible as something black and bloody and infected, in what passed for a soul or a heart of this monster. And he went right for it.
No one loves you. You are ugly, and disgusting, and if you ever thought anyone did care for you, you were tricked and lied to, and they laughed at your gullibility.
A blast of Force anger buffeted him, but he rooted himself against it and continued.
You will never be loved. You will never be adored or cherished. Only feared and hated. And there is nothing you can do, no words you can speak, no one you can become to change that. Luke Skywalker was appalled at what you were, when he truly saw you. He follows you, not as a young gallant, oh no, but to kill you and put the universe out of its misery.
She convulsed, writhing in pain in the heart of the Force, reacting to his relentless attack on her wounded area as if he were ripping at an infected cut in the physical world. Her attack on him changed from a desire to harm to a desire to escape. Elation filled Vol. He only hoped he could survive long enough to deal the killing blow.
You live causing revulsion, you will die that way. You will die now-
He threw everything he had into the attack, slamming his Force self into the psychic, oozing wound as if he were punching a lacerated torso.
NO!
Her pain exploded and hurled him back, releasing him, but causing the most exquisite agony Vol had ever experienced to race through every part of his being.
Vol surged forward out of the dream so quickly that he hurled himself from his bed and landed hard on the floor, where he lay gasping, weak, so weak, sweat-soaked and terrified. He-used to manipulating objects in the Force, leaping great distances, crushing things with a thought-had not the strength of a new-hatched uvak. It was an effort to lift his head, to push himself up off the floor, and the muscles quivered from that simple strain.
Grunting, he dragged himself to a seated position, muscles trembling. It would have to do-rising, let alone walking, would take several more minutes. He summoned his last drop of energy and sent forth an urgent demand to Revar, the young Sith Saber who attended him. Four seconds later Revar burst into the room, lightsaber illuminating the darkness and the younger man's worried face with an eerie red glow.
"My lord," Revar cried, lighting the room with a gesture at the same time he deactivated the weapon, "what happened?" He rushed and eased the old man up onto the bed.
Vol opened his mouth, but could not speak. Finally, he rasped, "Abeloth ..."
"She was here?"
Vol shook his head. "No. In ... dream ..." He knew that he sounded senile, but he also knew that there were marks on his body that Revar and others could see. "My ship-take me to my ship. And awaken the Lords," he said, alarmed at how feeble he sounded. "And the defenses-the city ... she is going to ... to make the city pay ..."
Revar wasted no more time on questions. Using the Force, he lifted his Master as gently as possible, then, holding on to him, Revar raced, with Force-augmented speed, toward the hangar atop Vol's estate. There was always a small personal vessel at the ready; one never knew when the Grand Lord might wish to depart on short notice.
As they fled, Vol began to weep. Revar was disconcerted, but not so much that he did not pay close attention to the mumbled words.
"Nothing can hold her ... Fool to think I could use her ... What is she?... Mistake ... By the dark, the greatest mistake I have ever made ..."
---
Abeloth had been wandering the City of Glass when she had attacked Vol. She had been enjoying the calmness and prettiness of the place illuminated by the fireglobes, and had been idly thinking about what she might do with it once it came under her control. Should she make this her base, from which to rule the galaxy? It was quaint and charming. Or should she give it to those who had served her well, as a reward?
Too, the attack on Grand Lord Vol had been in her mind the moment Ship had begun to head for Kesh. She had wanted to strike here on this world, from the center of this place of which he was so proud; to show Vol and the others that nothing they held as precious was safe from her. She knew he was a powerful Force-user and strong with the dark side. And that, she could have handled.
But he had tricked her, had used a technique that his antithesis had used on her not so long before. He had learned the uprooting technique of the Theran Listeners, as had the despised Skywalker, and used it with even less care than that Jedi had.
He had-
Abeloth screamed from a mouth that slashed her face in two. Unable to retain her form, unable even to notice that she had not retained her form, she thrashed and howled as tentacles erupted from her torso and her face shifted like melting wax. Her anguish used the Force as a weapon, as she had so often before, but this time she was barely aware that she was releasing nearly it.
---
Abeloth sat huddled in Ship's interior. She had not revealed to Khai or anyone just how badly wounded she had been by the attack on Kesh. Vol had much of the power of Skywalker, combined with experience, and it had been a devastating encounter.
She had harmed him, too, though. Almost killed him. And she had destroyed his precious city, unleashing her outrage and fury on the site of her shame.(Star Wars Fate of the Jedi - Ascension)
As he sleeps that night, Vol is visited by Abeloth in his dreams. She attacks the Grand Lord in this state, but he fights back with his keen mind. He is able to peer past Abeloth’s illusions and see her as a painfully lonely being desperate to be loved. Frustrated with Vol’s tenacity, Abeloth reacts by blasting a Force shock wave that devastates the city of Tahv. Millions of citizens die in the disaster—among them Vestara Khai’s mother, Lahka—though Vol survives.(Star Wars: The Essential Reader's Companion)
"After the battle, Abeloth concludes that Vol actually has 'much of the power' of Luke himself."
- Sources:
Abeloth sat huddled in Ship's interior. She had not revealed to Khai or anyone just how badly wounded she had been by the attack on Kesh. Vol had much of the power of Skywalker, combined with experience, and it had been a devastating encounter.(Abeloth | Star Wars Fate of the Jedi - Ascension)
[hideedit]
- Suspect InsightAdministrator
How Powerful is Revan? | Revan Respect Thread
September 2nd 2020, 12:53 pm
10. REVAN
"Kicking off the top 10 is REVAN, the protagonist of the acclaimed Knights of the Old Republic video game. A Jedi turned Sith turned Jedi turned… something more, Revan’s story spans centuries."
"His power is described by his former master Kreia as akin to “staring into the heart of the Force,”"
"and the Jedi Exile Meetra Surik () believes that his command of the Force surpasses that of anyone she has ever met."
"Revan has defeated Mandalores,"
"slaughtered armies of Dark Jedi,"
"and overcome Darth Malak on the Star Forge—a Sith whose powers surpass even those of the mightiest of the ancient Sith."
"Revan’s Force lightning is able to turn Dark Councillors to ash,"
"his telekinesis can wrench down dozens of meteors with enough force to pulverize them,"
"and he can even wield both sides of the Force in balance."
"Even after dying, Revan resurrects himself and animates his corpse in battle through sheer willpower."
"It takes the combined effort of the galaxy’s greatest Jedi (including the Hero of Tython ) and Sith to take him down for good."
“Of course, we didn’t mention Revan’s teleportation powers..."
"Kicking off the top 10 is REVAN, the protagonist of the acclaimed Knights of the Old Republic video game. A Jedi turned Sith turned Jedi turned… something more, Revan’s story spans centuries."
"His power is described by his former master Kreia as akin to “staring into the heart of the Force,”"
- Sources:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oxw990MXqbk&t=1m45s (1:45)
"Revan was power. It was like staring into the heart of the Force."(Kreia | Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II - The Sith Lords)
"and the Jedi Exile Meetra Surik (
) believes that his command of the Force surpasses that of anyone she has ever met."- Sources:
- She still wasn’t sure what to make of Lord Scourge. She had sensed that his offer to work together was sincere, though she wondered how much of that was Revan’s doing. It was easy to understand how Scourge could be drawn to him; Revan’s command of the Force was greater than that of anyone else she had ever met. And she knew how charismatic he could be. Even though he was a prisoner it wasn’t hard to imagine him being in total control of the situation.(Star Wars: The Old Republic - Revan)
"Revan has defeated Mandalores,"
- Sources:
In battle after battle, Revan had led the Jedi and Republic forces to victory. Realizing defeat was inevitable, Mandalore the Ultimate had challenged Revan to single combat, and Revan had accepted.
Though the Mandalorian fought valiantly, in the end he was no match for the Jedi Order’s most powerful champion. But it wasn’t enough for Revan to simply defeat his enemy. In Mandalorian culture, the death of one leader was merely an opportunity for another warrior to seize control of the clans by claiming the fallen Mandalore’s helmet. To prevent this, Revan had stripped the helmet from his vanquished foe’s corpse and hidden it on an unknown world.(Star Wars: The Old Republic - Revan)
"Mandalore himself was killed at the hands of the Jedi Revan. The best of us could not defeat him!"(Canderous Ordo | Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic)
"I've defeated Mandalores and armies of the dark side!"(Revan | Star Wars: The Old Republic - Flashpoint: The Foundry)
"slaughtered armies of Dark Jedi,"
- Sources:
"I've defeated Mandalores and armies of the dark side!"(Revan | Star Wars: The Old Republic - Flashpoint: The Foundry)
[Description: Revan killed hundreds of Sith throughout the Sith Academy on Korriban.]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HXY3ulcQRV4(Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic)
You have to fight through the entire Sith Academy, starting with the Sith apprentices in the valley.(Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic - Prima Official Game Guide)
Nearly three thousand years had passed between the time the Sith had been driven from Korriban by Revan, and the day Kaan's Brotherhood of Darkness officially reclaimed this world for the order.(Star Wars: Darth Bane - Path of Destruction)
The Sith Training Academy was located on the outskirts of Dreshdae, close to the Valley of the Dark Lords. It was a place where Sith were trained in a similar manner as the Jedi, with hundreds of students receiving instruction from Sith Masters.(Star Wars: Jedi Academy Training Manual)
[Description: Revan defeated armies of Sith and Dark Jedi throughout the Star Forge.]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U7fYRlBCuwc(Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic)
"Revan was always strong in the Force. Very well - sound out all available troops. The apprentices, as well."
"Do you - do you think they can stop Revan, Lord Malak?"
"Of course not! But they will slow Revan down. That will give me the time I need to fully prepare the Star Forge's defenses."(Darth Malak and Dark Jedi Master | Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic)
Darth Malak requests a progress report from his retainer. He then learns that his former master is among the strike teams currently invading the Star Forge, and he’s about to arrange a surprise for Darth Revan. For now though, he orders all his apprentices into battle against you!
The next hour is spent frantically blasting, swiping, and crushing countless Dark Jedi and Sith heavy weapons and elite troopers on your way through the decks of the space station . . . Here you encounter a large number of Dark Jedi crowding this thin, lit walkway. Wade into the fray and execute a number of techniques of your choosing, cutting a swath through the assembled troops until all have fallen.
Once on Deck 2, take another slog through countless groups of Sith troopers and Dark Jedi. Continue with the melee fighting as you round a corner, and fight to a lower ramp and the rejoining of the two exterior corridors into a pathway leading directly south. Slash and blast through more foes, open another huge blast door, and repel yet more of Malak’s troops before entering the tunnel and emerging into a gigantic central chamber . . . However, you should be more concerned with the heavy Sith guard in the vicinity. Stay at the entrance until all of them have been dispatched, and then make a left turn, heading directly east. When the turrets have been disarmed, you need to worry about only the humanoid foes . . .
The command deck looks very much like the previous decks you’ve battled through. Start by fighting to the large main walkway, and continue down it to the first doorway. Enter it, heading east, open another doorway, then follow the ramp northward and up, then east to another door. During this time, Sith apprentices, Dark Jedi, and the finest Sith shock troops are waiting to demolish your party.(Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic - Prima's Official Strategy Guide)
"and overcome Darth Malak on the Star Forge—a Sith whose powers surpass even those of the mightiest of the ancient Sith."
- Sources:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fcZbfqIRgqI(Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ms3gEBapbzo&t=5m21s (5:21)
"You will go on to defeat Malak, of this I have little doubt. You will have gone from being the Sith Lord himself to the saviour of our galaxy."(Bastila Shan | Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ms3gEBapbzo&t=6m (6:00)
"You don’t need me to defeat Malak, anyway. Now I understand that a true Jedi is a match for any Sith. Even the Dark Lord himself."(Bastila Shan | Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic)https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fcZbfqIRgqI&t=7m29s (7:29)
"Impossible, I cannot be beaten. I am the Dark Lord of the Sith."
"The power of the light side will always be stronger than the dark side."
"Still spouting the wisdom of the Jedi, I see. Maybe there is more truth in their code than I ever believed."(Darth Malak | Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic)
The Sith Lord had grotesquely adapted the Rakatan device to draw energy directly from chained Jedi captives. He replenished his life force from the captives by draining theirs. Malak was nearly unstoppable, but the Republic emerged from that epic conflict victorious, as the Star Forge was eventually destroyed.(Official Star Wars: Website - Databank: Darth Malak [link])
He also wore a vocal mask that may have concealed a form of cybernetic life-support. Did it provide him with powers far greater than even Exar Kun or Freedon Nadd, or was cybernetic enhancement too simple an explanation?(Official Wizards of the Coast Website - Darth Malak [link])
"Revan’s Force lightning is able to turn Dark Councillors to ash,"
- Sources:
“Did you think I would be as easy to defeat as Xedrix?” Nyriss shouted, raising her lightsaber triumphantly above her head.
The air around her began to crackle and grow hot as she gathered herself for the killing blow. Scourge felt the energy building inside her, and he knew he would be powerless to stop it. Nyriss was too powerful; her command of the dark side was too strong.
“Gaze upon me and see your doom!” she declared. “I am Darth Nyriss, Lord of the Sith. I am the conqueror of Drezzi, the destroyer of Melldia, and a member of the Dark Council!”
Scourge braced himself for the end.
Just then, Revan emerged from the cell. He had pulled the hood of his Jedi robe up to cover his head, and he wore the red-and-gray mask, hiding his face.
A dozen bolts of lightning sprang from Nyriss’s hand, arcing across the room to incinerate her enemies. Instead of leaping back into the cell to avoid the deadly attack, Revan stepped forward to intercept it.
Both hands were held in front of him, his arms fully extended at shoulder height, his thumbs touching and his fingers splayed wide. He drew the bolts of lightning into his waiting grasp, channeling them away from their intended targets and absorbing their power.
“I am Revan reborn,” he said to Nyriss. “And before me you are nothing.”
Nyriss’s eyes went wide as Revan unleashed the power of her own attack against her. She tried to throw up another Force shield, but the bolts ripped it apart and continued on unabated. The lightning engulfed her, the intense heat consuming her instantly, leaving only a pile of charred ash.(Star Wars: The Old Republic - Revan)
There was something unnerving about staring into the faceless mask; it made Revan seem more intimidating, more powerful. Or maybe Scourge just felt that way because he’d watched him destroy Nyriss.(Scourge | Star Wars: The Old Republic - Revan)
He had easily bested Darth Nyriss, but the Emperor was a much greater opponent.(Meetra Surik | Star Wars: The Old Republic - Revan)
Revan's raw power in the Force bends Nyriss' Sith lightning back at her, utterly destroying the Sith Lord.(Star Wars: The Essential Reader’s Companion)
[Note: Revan did not create the Force lightning storm himself, but he did instantly generate the energies needed to equalize it.]
"his telekinesis can wrench down dozens of meteors with enough force to pulverize them,"
- Sources:
"and he can even wield both sides of the Force in balance."
- Sources:
In those days, he had believed this would protect him from the dark side, but he no longer had any such illusions. He was older and wiser. He understood that the two sides of the Force were more closely intertwined with each other than either the Jedi or the Sith would ever admit. He had learned to balance on the knife-edge between them, drawing on both the light and dark sides for strength.(Star Wars: The Old Republic - Revan)
The Emperor stood in the exact same position as before; it was as if he hadn’t even moved. Revan began to sense the oppressive presence of the dark side weighing down on him. The Emperor was trying to crush his will: to dominate and enslave his mind as he had before. This time, however, Revan was ready.
Instead of charging forward, he opened himself up to the Force, letting both the light and the dark side flow through him like twin rushing rivers. But instead of focusing or channeling the Force, he released it in its purest form.
There was brilliant flash as the air between the two combatants lit up. The energy unleashed was powerful enough to send Revan staggering. The Emperor, unprepared and with much of his strength diverted to his effort to dominate Revan’s mind, was sent flying backward.(Star Wars: The Old Republic - Revan)
Balance of the Force: Total Balance(Star Wars: The Old Republic - Flashpoint: The Foundry)
There has always been a dual nature to the legend of Revan. At his core, is he truly a Jedi or is he Sith? It has been a hotly debated subject among scholars and politicians for centuries. As one might expect, the conclusions reached by those from Republic-aligned worlds often differ from those of an Imperial bent--but not always.
Some of the most knowledgeable authorities in the ways of the Force believe that it is right to call Revan a Jedi Knight and it is also right to refer to him as Dark Lord of the Sith. They contend that simultaneously knowing and embracing both the light and dark sides of the Force is possible, and point to Revan as potential proof. However, many of these same authorities also believe that such divided adherence would lead unquestionably to madness.(Star Wars: The Old Republic - Codex: Two Revans [link])
"I always felt that Revan was special because he learned to balance and call on both the light and dark sides of the Force."(Drew Karpyshyn | Email)
"Even after dying, Revan resurrects himself and animates his corpse in battle through sheer willpower."
- Sources:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aL_UCFq0bIE&t=1m17s (1:17)
"I saw you die. I watched you take your last breath and say your last words." / "You seem rather alive for someone who is supposed to be a corpse."
"Oh, I was dead - for all but a blink . . . Goading me into battle might have worked before I died, but not anymore . . . I've been reborn. My mind is clearer, my power intensified. And now, with the order under my command, I'm unstoppable."(The Emperor's Wrath and Revan | Star Wars: The Old Republic - Flashpoint: Legacy of the Rakata)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7qUBjFlHUXM&t=1m (1:00)
"You were reported dead. Was that report wrong?"
"Only somewhat. When a goal is important enough, one learns to overcome any obstacle."(The Outlander and Revan | Star Wars: The Old Republic - Flashpoint: Legacy of the Rakata)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_-3TOGqYeek&t=10m23s (10:23)
"When the Emperor's followers struck me down, I learned to release my attachments."
"Then who's wearing your mask and leading your followers?"
"I - I do not know. But I recognize much of myself in him. The darkness I left behind."(Spirit and the Hero of Tython | Star Wars: The Old Republic - Shadow of Revan)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MNgjyEuLlxw&t=11m31s (11:31)
"When I died, I had come to terms. I was ready to become one with the Force. But I soon realized that was only what part of me wanted."
"I cast you out! It was the only way to go on - to remain and finish what we started! You were holding me back!"(Revan and Spirit | Star Wars: The Old Republic - Shadow of Revan)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tWL1CRRQAqI&t=1m39s (1:39)
"You hid behind Jedi platitudes! You weren't strong enough to survive the torture, or the battle in the Foundry. I faced them! I survived them!"
"You've carried on, dragging the remains of a body that should have long since faded to dust.(Revan and Spirit | Star Wars: The Old Republic - Shadow of Revan)
"It takes the combined effort of the galaxy’s greatest Jedi (including the Hero of Tython ) and Sith to take him down for good."
- Sources:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ga46ILw7iaY
"Empire. Republic. We must unite or fall. This is where we make our final stand."(Speaker | Star Wars: The Old Republic - Shadow of Revan Announcement Trailer)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vrOJ9Sl82P4&t=1m50s (1:50)
"Revan['s spirit] wants me to succeed, but claims I can't do it on my own."(The Emperor's Wrath | Star Wars: The Old Republic - Shadow of Revan)
[Description: A coalition strike team of the Hero of Tython and other Galactic Republic champions defeat Revan on the Temple of Sacrifice of Yavin IV with the aid of Revan's light-side spirit resurrecting strike team members.]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-jHjrrxlt-A(Star Wars: The Old Republic - Shadow of Revan - Operation: The Temple of Sacrifice)
"I am with you. Be strong . . . I am doing all that I can. I only hope this will be enough . . . Brace yourself . . . Do not let him win."(Spirit | Star Wars: The Old Republic - Shadow Revan - Operation: The Temple of Sacrifice)
"You barely managed to drive me away last time."(Revan | Star Wars: The Old Republic - Shadow Revan)
Boon of the Spirit. Target has been recently resurrected by an outside force, and cannot be resurrected in this manner again.(Star Wars: The Old Republic - Shadow of Revan)
[Description: A coalition strike team of the Hero of Tython, Satele Shan, Darth Marr, Lana Beniko, Shae Vizla, Theron Shan, and Jakarro defeat Revan on the Forgotten Terrace of Yavin IV with the aid of Satele Shan's battle meditaiton, Revan's light-side spirit providing the power to resist and break free from attacks, and XS stock light freighter bombing runs.]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MNgjyEuLlxw(Star Wars: The Old Republic - Shadow of Revan)
"He is strong with the Force! . . . I will see you break! . . . It is over for you, Revan!"(Darth Marr | Star Wars: The Old Republic - Shadow of Revan)"Grant me strength! . . . Revan, don't be a fool! . . . Press the attack!"(Satele Shan | Star Wars: The Old Republic - Shadow of Revan)
"The Force is my servant! . . . Be strong! . . . So much power!"(Lana Beniko | Star Wars: The Old Republic - Shadow of Revan)
"Tough sucker! . . . Have some more! . . . Love a good scrap!"(Shae Vizla | Star Wars: The Old Republic - Shadow of Revan)
"Don't let up! . . . I won't let you win, Revan! . . . Let's go, people!"(Theron Shan | Star Wars: The Old Republic - Shadow of Revan)
"Make him bleed! . . . Get him, Jakarro! . . . Hit him with everything!"(C2-D4 | Star Wars: The Old Republic - Shadow of Revan)
Increasing the combat effectiveness of all friendly characters within range.
Combat effectiveness is greatly increased.(Star Wars: The Old Republic - Shadow of Revan)
[Note: The below videos show the Hero of Tython free the coalition strike team--held in stasis by Revan's Force destruction, which freezes his opponents in either pure light or dark side energy--with "light side echoes" and "dark side shrouds" generated by spirit Revan nullifying the effects. Otherwise, Revan would have "slowly destroyed" the captive coalition strike team with a "consuming siphon."
https://i.imgur.com/oFDGe2B.mp4(Star Wars: The Old Republic - Shadow of Revan)
https://i.imgur.com/snNNaF2.mp4(Star Wars: The Old Republic - Shadow of Revan)
Light Side Echo. Can deflect Dark Side Force effects.(Star Wars: The Old Republic - Shadow of Revan)
Dark Side Shroud. Can deflect Light Side Force effects.(Star Wars: The Old Republic - Shadow of Revan)
Destroying all...
Slowly being destroyed by Revan. Must be blocked.
consuming_siphon(Star Wars: The Old Republic - Shadow of Revan)
[Note: The below video shows the XS stock light freighter bombing runs.]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wjNxsuIFK-c(Star Wars: The Old Republic - Shadow of Revan)
“Of course, we didn’t mention Revan’s teleportation powers..."
- Sources:
[Description: Revan teleports away from the Foundry on the brink of the death.]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oUGN-wmMSxc(Star Wars: The Old Republic - Flashpoint: The Foundry)
[Description: Revan teleports around the battlefields of the Temple of Sacrifice (I) and Forgotten Terrace (II) on Yavin IV.]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Xslu_igauk(Star Wars: The Old Republic - Shadow of Revan)
- Suspect InsightAdministrator
How Powerful is Mace Windu? | Mace Windu Respect Thread
September 2nd 2020, 12:54 pm
9. MACE WINDU
"MACE WINDU is next at number 9."
"Like Revan, Windu is another Jedi who can use the dark side without succumbing to it. Specifically, he develops and masters the most dangerous lightsaber form ever invented: Vaapad."
"With this, he can channel his opponent’s dark side energy to create a superconducting loop to empower himself, allowing him to stalemate and—with further amplification from Anakin Skywalker’s fear—defeat Darth Sidious himself in a lightsaber duel."
"But, of course, Windu is handy without a lightsaber, too."
"He is also the youngest person to ever be appointed to the Jedi High Council,"
"MACE WINDU is next at number 9."
"Like Revan, Windu is another Jedi who can use the dark side without succumbing to it. Specifically, he develops and masters the most dangerous lightsaber form ever invented: Vaapad."
- Sources:
Mace is one of the few Jedi strong enough to use dark feelings without falling to the dark side.(Star Wars: Mysteries of the Jedi)
Only high-level masters of multiple Forms can achieve and control the ultimate discipline known as Form VII. This is most difficult and demanding of all Forms, but can eventually lead to fantastic power and skill.(Star Wars Insider #62 - Fightsaber)
Of all combat forms, Form VII was the one considered the most reckless and lethal, and only those Jedi Masters who had mastered all the previous forms could use it.(Star Wars: The Official Figurine Collection #25)
Vaapad: A lightsaber style developed by Mace Windu, with the assistance of Sora Bulq, prior to the Clone Wars. Derived from the Juyo discipline, Vaapad was an aggressive collection of maneuvers considered to be part of Form VII. As such, Vaapad was considered extremely close to the dark side of the Force and was forbidden to all but the most skilled Jedi Masters. To Master Windu and his apprentice, Depa Billaba, Vaapad was more than a combat style; it was a state of mind in which fighters opened themselves so fully to the Force that they drew power from both the light and dark sides.(The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia)
The remarkably Force-sensitive Windu not only pioneered the modern use of Vaapad, the lost seventh form of lightsaber combat, he was also one of the few Jedi able to use the devastating Force Crush without succumbing to the dark side.(Diamond Select Toys Star Wars - Ultimate Quarter Scale: Mace Windu statue)
"With this, he can channel his opponent’s dark side energy to create a superconducting loop to empower himself, allowing him to stalemate and—with further amplification from Anakin Skywalker’s fear—defeat Darth Sidious himself in a lightsaber duel."
- Sources:
Anakin's speeder shrieked through the rain, dodging forked bolts of lightning that shot up from towers into the clouds, slicing across traffic lanes, screaming past spacescrapers so fast that his shock-wake cracked windows as he passed.
He didn't understand why people didn't just get out of his way. He didn't understand how the trillion beings who jammed Galactic City could go about their trivial business as though the universe hadn't changed. How could they think they counted for anything, compared with him?
How could they think they still mattered?
Their blind lives meant nothing now. None of them. Because ahead, on the vast cliff face of the Senate Office Building, one window spat lightning into the rain to echo the lightning of the storm outside - but this lightning was the color of clashing lightsabers.
Green fans, sheets of purple-
And crimson flame.
He was too late.
The green fire faded and winked out; now the lightning was only purple and red.
His repulsorlifts howled as he heeled the speeder up onto its side, skidding through wind-shear turbulence to bring it to a bobbing halt outside the window of Palpatine's private office. A blast of lightning hit the spire of 500 Republica, only a kilometer away, and its white burst flared off the window, flash-blinding him; he blinked furiously, slapping at his eyes in frustration.
The colorless glare inside his eyes faded slowly, bringing into focus a jumble of bodies on the floor of Palpatine's private office.
Bodies in Jedi robes.
On Palpatine's desk lay the head of Kit Fisto, faceup, scalp-tentacles unbound in a squid-tangle across the ebonite. His lidless eyes stared blindly at the ceiling. Anakin remembered him in the arena at Geonosis, effortlessly carving his way through wave after wave of combat droids, on his lips a gently humorous smile as though the horrific battle were only some friendly jest. His severed head wore that same smile.
Maybe he thought death was funny, too.
Anakin's own blade sang blue as it slashed through the window and he dived through the gap. He rolled to his feet among a litter of bodies and sprinted through a shattered door along the small private corridor and through a doorway that flashed and flared with energy-scatter.
Anakin skidded to a stop.
Within the public office of the Supreme Chancellor of the Galactic Republic, a last Jedi Master battled alone, blade-to-blade, against a living shadow.
---
Sinking into Vaapad, Mace Windu fought for his life.
More than his life: each whirl of blade and whipcrack of lightning was a strike in defense of democracy, of justice and peace, of the rights of ordinary beings to live their own lives in their own ways.
He was fighting for the Republic that he loved.
Vaapad, the seventh form of lightsaber combat, takes its name from a notoriously dangerous predator native to the moons of Sarapin: a vaapad attacks its prey with whipping strikes of its blindingly fast tentacles. Most have at least seven. It is not uncommon for them to have as many as twelve; the largest ever killed had twenty-three. With a vaapad, one never knew how many tentacles it had until it was dead: they move too fast to count. Almost too fast to see. So did Mace's blade.
Vaapad is as aggressive and powerful as its namesake, but its power comes at great risk: immersion in Vaapad opens the gates that restrain one's inner darkness. To use Vaapad, a Jedi must allow himself to enjoy the fight; he must give himself over to the thrill of battle. The rush of winning. Vaapad is a path that leads through the penumbra of the dark side.
Mace Windu created this style, and he was its only living master.
This was Vaapad's ultimate test.
---
Anakin blinked and rubbed his eyes again. Maybe he was still a bit flash-blind - the Korun Master seemed to be fading in and out of existence, half swallowed by a thickening black haze in which danced a meter-long bar of sunfire. Mace pressed back the darkness with a relentless straight-ahead march; his own blade, that distinctive amethyst blaze that had been the final sight of so many evil beings across the galaxy, made a haze of its own: an oblate sphere of purple fire within which there seemed to be dozens of swords slashing in all directions at once.
The shadow he fought, that blur of speed - could that be Palpatine?
Their blades flared and flashed, crashing together with bursts of fire, weaving nets of killing energy in exchanges so fast that Anakin could not truly see them-
But he could feel them in the Force.
The Force itself roiled and burst and crashed around them, boiling with power and lightspeed ricochets of lethal intent.
And it was darkening.
Anakin could feel how the Force fed upon the shadow's murderous exaltation; he could feel fury spray into the Force though some poisonous abscess had crested in both their hearts.
There was no Jedi restraint here.
Mace Windu was cutting loose.
---
Mace was deep in it now: submerged in Vaapad, swallowed by it, he no longer truly existed as an independent being.
Vaapad is a channel for darkness, and that darkness flowed both ways. He accepted the furious speed of the Sith Lord, drew the shadow's rage and power into his inmost center-
And let it fountain out again.
He reflected the fury upon its source as a lightsaber redirects a blaster bolt.
There was a time when Mace Windu had feared the power of the dark; there was a time when he had feared the darkness in himself. But the Clone Wars had given him a gift of understanding: on a world called Haruun Kal, he had faced his darkness and had learned that the power of darkness is not to be feared.
He had learned that it is fear that gives the darkness power.
He was not afraid. The darkness had no power over him. But-
Neither did he have power over it.
Vaapad made him an open channel, half of a superconducting loop completed by the shadow; they became a standing wave of battle that expanded into every cubic centimeter of the Chancellor's office. There was no scrap of carpet nor shred of chair that might not at any second disintegrate in flares of red or purple; lampstands became brief shields, sliced into segments that whirled through the air; couches became terrain to be climbed for advantage or overleapt in retreat. But there was still only the cycle of power, the endless loop, no wound taken on either side, not even the possibility of fatigue.
Impasse.
Which might have gone on forever, if Vaapad were Mace's only gift.
The fighting was effortless for him now; he let his body handle it without the intervention of his mind. While his blade spun and crackled, while his feet slid and his weight shifted and his shoulders turned in precise curves of their own direction, his mind slid along the circuit of dark power, tracing it back to its limitless source.
Feeling for its shatterpoint.
He found a knot of fault lines in the shadow's future; he chose the largest fracture and followed it back to the here and the now-
And it led him, astonishingly, to a man standing frozen in the slashed-open doorway. Mace had no need to look; the presence in the Force was familiar, and was as uplifting as sunlight breaking through a thunderhead.
The chosen one was here.
Mace disengaged from the shadow's blade and leapt for the window; he slashed away the transparisteel with a single flourish.
His instant's distraction cost him: a dark surge of the Force nearly blew him right out of the gap he had just cut. Only a desperate Force-push of his own altered his path enough that he slammed into a stanchion instead of plunging half a kilometer from the ledge outside. He bounced off and the Force cleared his head and once again he gave himself to Vaapad.
He could feel the end of this battle approaching, and so could the blur of Sith he faced; in the Force, the shadow had become a pulsar of fear. Easily, almost effortlessly, he turned the shadow's fear into a weapon: he angled the battle to bring them both out onto the window ledge.
Out in the wind. Out with the lightning. Out on a rain-slicked ledge above a half-kilometer drop.
Out where the shadow's fear made it hesitate. Out where the shadow's fear turned some of its Force-powered speed into a Force-powered grip on the slippery permacrete.
Out where Mace could flick his blade in one precise arc and slash the shadow's lightsaber in half.
One piece flipped back in through the cut-open window. The other tumbled from opening fingers, bounced on the ledge, and fell through the rain toward the distant alleys below.
Now the shadow was only Palpatine: old and shrunken, thinning hair bleached white by time and care, face lined with exhaustion.
"For all your power, you are no Jedi. All you are, my lord," Mace said evenly, staring past his blade, "is under arrest."
"Do you see, Anakin? Do you?" Palpatine's voice once again had the broken cadence of a frightened old man's. "Didn't I warn you of the Jedi and their treason?"
"Save your twisted words, my lord. There are no politicians here. The Sith will never regain control of the Republic. It's over. You've lost." Mace leveled his blade. "You lost for the same reason the Sith always lose: defeated by your own fear."
Palpatine lifted his head.
His eyes smoked with hate.
"Fool," he said.
He lifted his arms, his robes of office spreading wide into raptor's wings, his hands hooking into talons.
"Fool!" His voice was a shout of thunder. "Do you think the fear you feel is mine?"
Lighting blasted the clouds above, and lightning blasted from Palpatine's hands, and Mace didn't have time to comprehend what Palpatine was talking about; he had time only to slip back into Vaapad and angle his blade to catch the forking arcs of pure, dazzling hatred that clawed toward him.
Because Vaapad is more than a fighting style. It is a state of mind: a channel for darkness. Power passed into him and out again without touching him.
And the circuit completed itself: the lightning reflected back to its source.
Palpatine staggered, snarling, but the blistering energy that poured from his hands only intensified.
He fed the power with his pain.
"Anakin!" Mace called. His voice sounded distant, blurred, as if it came from the bottom of a well. "Anakin, help me! This is your chance!"
He felt Anakin's leap from the office floor to the ledge, felt his approach behind-
And Palpatine was not afraid.
Mace could feel it: he wasn't worried at all.
"Destroy this traitor," the Chancellor said, his voice raised aver the howl of writhing energy that joined his hands to Mace's blade. "This was never an arrest. It's an assassination!"
That was when Mace finally understood. He had it. The key to final victory. Palpatine's shatterpoint. The absolute shatterpoint of the Sith.
The shatterpoint of the dark side itself.
Mace thought, blankly astonished, Palpatine trusts Anakin Skywalker...
Now Anakin was at Mace's shoulder. Palpatine still made no move to defend himself from Skywalker; instead he ramped up the lightning bursting from his hands, bending the fountain of Mace's blade back toward the Korun Master's face.
Palpatine's eyes glowed with power, casting a yellow glare that burned back the rain from around them. "He is a traitor, Anakin. Destroy him."
"You're the chosen one, Anakin," Mace said, his voice going thin with strain. This was beyond Vaapad; he had no strength left to fight against his own blade. "Take him. It's your destiny."
Skywalker echoed him faintly. "Destiny ..."
"Help me! I can't hold on any longer!" The yellow glare from Palpatine's eyes spread outward through his flesh. His skin flowed like oil, as though the muscle beneath was burning away, as though even the bones of his skull were softening, were bending and bulging, deforming from the heat and pressure of his electric hatred. "He is killing me, Anakin-! Please, Anaaahhh-"
Mace's blade bent so close to his face that he was choking on ozone. "Anakin, he's too strong for me-"
"Ahhh-" Palpatine's roar above the endless blast of lightning became a fading moan of despair.
The lightning swallowed itself, leaving only the night and the rain, and an old man crumpled to his knees on a slippery ledge.
"I ... can't. I give up. I ... I am too weak, in the end. Too old, and too weak. Don't kill me, Master Jedi. Please. I surrender."
Victory flooded through Mace's aching body. He lifted his blade. "You Sith disease-"
" Wait-" Skywalker seized his lightsaber arm with desperate strength. "Don't kill him - you can't just kill him, Master-"
"Yes, I can," Mace said, grim and certain. "I have to."
"You came to arrest him. He has to stand trial-"
"A trial would be a joke. He controls the courts. He controls the Senate-"
"So are you going to kill all them, too? Like he said you would?"
Mace yanked his arm free. "He's too dangerous to be left alive. If you could have taken Dooku alive, would you have?"
Skywalker's face swept itself clean of emotion. "That was different-"
Mace turned toward the cringing, beaten Sith Lord. "You can explain the difference after he's dead."
He raised his lightsaber.
"I need him alive!" Skywalker shouted. "I need him to save Padme!"
Mace thought blankly, Why? And moved his lightsaber toward the fallen Chancellor.
Before he could follow through on his stroke, a sudden arc of blue plasma sheared through his wrist and his hand tumbled away with his lightsaber still in it and Palpatine roared back to his feet and lightning speared from the Sith Lord's hands and without his blade to catch it, the power of Palpatine's hate struck him full-on.
He had been so intent on Palpatine's shatterpoint that he'd never thought to look for Anakin's.
Dark lightning blasted away his universe.
He fell forever.(Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith adult novelization)
A powerful Jedi warrior, Mace Windu has mastered skills that only the most trained minds could hope to attempt. He is slain in a desperate act of betrayal by Anakin Skywalker after fighting Chancellor Palpatine to a standstill in a battle that costs the lives of three Jedi.(Hasbro Star Wars - 30th Anniversary Collection: Mace Windu action figure)
Even the great Mace Windu will be fought to a standstill in this, the first battle in a conflict that will end with the extermination of the Jedi.(Hasbro Star Wars - Legacy Collection: Battle Packs: Jedi vs. Darth Sidious action figure set)
(Diamond Select Toys Star Wars - Ultimate Quarter Scale: Emperor Palpatine statue)
A powerful Jedi Master, Mace Windu has mastered skills that only the most trained minds can hope to attempt. He is betrayed by fellow Jedi Anakin Skywalker after fighting Chancellor Palpatine to a standstill in a battle that costs the lives of three Jedi.(Hasbro Star Wars - Shadow of the Dark Side: Saga Legends: Mace Windu action figure)
The battle is swift, fierce and can tip either way, but Windu grabs the upper hand and vanquishes the evil Palpatine as Anakin charges in.(Star Wars: Galactic Files 2 - #436 Mace Windu)
"But, of course, Windu is handy without a lightsaber, too."
- Sources:
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N6AYLO5z05s(Star Wars: Clone Wars - Volume 1 - Season 2 - Chapter 12)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tWpkPx6ONPw(Star Wars: Clone Wars - Volume 1 - Season 2 - Chapter 13)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t1LK-JwKt2I&t=34m41s (34:41)(Star Wars: Clone Wars - Volume 2 - Season 3 - Chapter 24)
"He is also the youngest person to ever be appointed to the Jedi High Council,"
- Sources:
"What situation? Who cares about me? I'm no Master, I'm just a kid, right? Is that what it's about? Is Master Windu turning everyone against me because until I came along, he was the youngest Jedi ever named to the Council?"(Anakin Skywalker | Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith adult novelization)
"considered equally or even more skilled with a lightsaber than the legendary swordmaster Count Dooku (),"- Sources:
Gillard devised unique styles of fighting for each actor on The Phantom Menace, and he continued to develop that philosophy on Attack of the Clones with new moves and new styles for Hayden Christensen, Christopher Lee, and Samuel L Jackson. 'Mace Windu's fighting abilities are second only to Yoda's,' says Gillard, smiling. 'If he gets within range, there's no question... you're dead.'(Star Wars: Attack of the Clones - The Illustrated Companion)
The Count's blade was quick as a viper striking. Among the other Jedi, perhaps only Mace Windu would have been his equal on neutral ground: but here on Vjun, steeped in the dark side, his bladework was malice made visible—wickedness cut in red light.(Yoda | Star Wars: Yoda - Dark Rendezvous)
Graceful yet powerful in battle, Mace Windu wields his lightsaber with a skill equaled only by Yoda.(Star Wars: The Clone Wars Press Kit - Mace Windu)
Only Masters Yoda and Mace Windu were considered to be on equal terms with [Dooku].(Star Wars Insider #109 - Versus: Count Dooku vs. Darth Maul)
Dooku became one of the greatest sword masters the Order had produced - eclipsed only by Mace Windu and Yoda himself.(Star Wars: The Official Starships & Vehicles Collection #48)
Before leaving the Jedi Order, [Dooku] was known as one of its greatest duelists, a match even for Mace Windu.(Star Wars: The Clone Wars - Flip Book: Heroes & Villains)
"and said to be the most powerful Jedi in the Order next to Yoda, until the rise of Anakin Skywalker."- Sources:
Alongside Mace WIndu, with whom he served on the Jedi Council, Yoda was the most respected and most powerful Master ever to have walked the corridors of the Jedi Temple.(The Official Star Wars Fact File #11)
Along with Mace Windu, a senior member of the Jedi Council, Yoda was the most respected and most powerful member of the Jedi Order.(The Official Star Wars Fact File #11)
Nearly equal in power and respect to the great Jedi Master Yoda, Mace Windu was a longtime member of the Jedi Council, and one of its staunchest supporters.(Hasbro Star Wars - 30th Anniversary Collection: Episode III Commemorative Tin Collection action figure set)
Although small in size, Master Yoda is among the most powerful creatures in the galaxy, wielding his Force-fueled lightsaber in the cause of cosmic good. Back: Almost as powerful and a legend in his own right is Jedi Master Mace Windu, a fierce warrior often seen on the Jedi Council at Coruscant.(Star Wars: Unleashed - Mace Windu statue)Second only to Master Yoda in his command of the force, Jedi Master Mace Windu serves as a revered and senior member of the Jedi Council. Introspective and slow to speak, Mace often appears to bear the weight of the war on his shoulders.
(Star Wars: The Clone Wars Press Kit - Mace Windu)
Mace is a brilliant Jedi warrior whose abilities with the Force are surpassed only by Yoda.(Star Wars: The Clone Wars - Ultimate Battle Sticker Book)
Mace Windu is one of the most powerful and respected Jedi, second only to Yoda.(Star Wars: The Clone Wars - Jedi Alliance)
In terms of power and wisdom, Mace Windu is second only to Yoda in the Jedi Order. Mace regularly displays these skills on the battlefield and on the Jedi Council.(2010 Topps Star Wars: The Clone Wars - Rise of the Bounty Hunters - #8 Mace Windu)
Mace Windu was one of the most respected figures on the Jedi Council, his power and prestige matched only by Master Yoda.(2013 Topps Star Wars: Jedi Legacy - Influences #I-3: Mace Windu)
[hideedit]
- Suspect InsightAdministrator
How Powerful is Darth Plagueis? | Darth Plagueis Respect Thread
September 2nd 2020, 12:55 pm
8. DARTH PLAGUEIS
"In the famous parable told to Anakin Skywalker, Palpatine recounts the story and fate of his own Sith Master: DARTH PLAGUEIS—"
"one of the very few people ever whom Palpatine himself genuinely feared."
"Apprenticed to Darth Tenebrous, Plagueis comes to inherit the collective knowledge and power of the line of Sith Lords descended from Darth Bane;"
"his personal library an endless sea of documents, texts, manuscripts and holocrons that even an advanced droid would take years to analyze fully."
"So deep he delves into the Force’s secrets that he comes to learn how to manipulate midi-chlorians, the building blocks of the Living Force, to his own ends. Essentially, he can tap into the source code of the Force, almost like Neo from the Matrix. However, before he can ascend to total godhood, he is murdered by his apprentice."
[hideedit]
"In the famous parable told to Anakin Skywalker, Palpatine recounts the story and fate of his own Sith Master: DARTH PLAGUEIS—"
"one of the very few people ever whom Palpatine himself genuinely feared."
- Sources:
- "Yes." Behind the transpirator mask, Darth Plagueis offered what might have been a faint smile. "I know we had plans to meet later in Monument Plaza for our usual stroll, but something's come up and I had to alter my schedule at the last minute. I thought it best that we meet now." He turned to Sidious and cast a passing glance back at the LiMerge Building. "I take it that you've been in touch with the Zabrak?"
"As a matter of fact, I just-"
"I recall you mentioning that you've dispatched him to Cog Hive Seven to find this elusive weapons dealer?"
"Iram Radique, yes." Sidious was careful to sound as casual as possible, although inside he was already puzzled. Darth Plagueis knew only the broadest generalities about Darth Sidious's ongoing work to destabilize the Outer Rim planets and orchestrate the Galactic Civil War. He rarely asked specific questions about where the weapons were coming from, or how exactly Sidious intended to use them to facilitate the Grand Plan.
"This Radique," Plagueis continued in the same conversational tone as he gazed out the window at the approaching Avenue of the Core Founders, "is rumored to be one of the most powerful arms dealers in the galaxy?"
"Radique is as dangerous as he is unpredictable." Sidious was aware of an unwelcome warmth beginning to climb upward through the back of his neck, enveloping his cheeks and forehead. "Which is why I sent Maul to assassinate him."
"I see."
Sidious leaned slightly forward in an attempt to catch Plagueis's eye. "I've been meaning to inform you. My mission there-"
"Is something I have absolute confidence in your ability to execute." Plagueis placed a hand on Sidious's shoulder. "I must commend you on your foresight and commitment to our ultimate purpose, Darth Sidious. As you might have guessed, with the increasing demands of my own … private pursuits on Sojourn, I find it profoundly liberating that I do not need to monitor the particular means with which you uphold our united goal."
"Yes, of course." Sidious regarded him speculatively. What exactly was Plagueis telling him? Did the Muun harbor his own dark suspicions about what Sidious had hoped to achieve in sending Maul to Cog Hive Seven? Or was Plagueis simply probing him for more detail?(Star Wars: Maul - Lockdown)
“As I said,” Sidious began, “the assassination of Iram Radique was necessary in order to further our ultimate goals with the Grand Plan …” He paused, deliberately leaving the explanation unfinished long enough to observe whether Damask might be interested in hearing more of the cover story, which had been carefully fabricated to hold up to the most intense scrutiny, if necessary. At no point in the operation could the Muun be allowed to speculate that Sidious had truly sent Maul to Cog Hive Seven in order to purchase the nuclear device that the Bando Gora would ultimately use against Plagueis. Such a possibility, even now, was inconceivable.(Star Wars: Maul - Lockdown)
Was it possible that the wily Muun had deceived him? Had Plagueis unlocked the key to immortality, and survived after all? Never mind that it would constitute a petty move for one so wise—for one who had professed to place the Grand Plan above all else. Had Plagueis become ensnared in a self-spun web of jealousy and possessiveness, victim of his own engineering, his own foibles?
If he hadn’t been concerned for his own safety, Sidious might have pitied him.
Wary of approaching the corpse of his former Master, he called on the Force to roll the aged Muun over onto his back. From that angle Plagueis looked almost as he had when Sidious first met him, decades earlier: smooth, hairless cranium; humped nose, with its bridge flattened as if from a shock-ball blow and its sharp tip pressed almost to his upper lip; jutting lower jaw; sunken eyes still brimming with menace—a physical characteristic rarely encountered in a Muun. But then Plagueis had never been an ordinary Muun, nor an ordinary being of any sort.
Sidious took care, still reaching out with the Force. On closer inspection, he saw that Plagueis’s already cyanotic flesh was smoothing out, his features relaxing.
Faintly aware of the whir of air scrubbers and sounds of the outside world infiltrating the luxurious suite, he continued the vigil; then, in relief, he pulled himself up to his full height and let out his breath. This was no Sith trick. Not an instance of feigning death, but one of succumbing to its cold embrace. The being who had guided him to power was gone.(Star Wars: Darth Plagueis)
"Apprenticed to Darth Tenebrous, Plagueis comes to inherit the collective knowledge and power of the line of Sith Lords descended from Darth Bane;"
- Sources:
As they gained knowledge of the dark side of the Force, their powers increased with each generation.(Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace Scrapbook)
Never again would there be more than two Sith Lords at one time, but members of the order continued expanding their dark powers without the knowledge of the Jedi, waiting for the opportunity to seize control of the galaxy.(The Official Star Wars Fact File #1)
For a thousand years we continued to follow Bane's Rule of Two, existing in the shows, biding our time, growing in power, feeding our hatred.(Star Wars Insider #88 - Heritage of the Sith)
Of all the Sith Masters, only Bane had understood the inescapable futility of this cycle. And only he had been strong enough to break it. Under his leadership the Sith had been reborn. Now they numbered only two - one Master and one apprentice; one to embody the power of the dark side, the other to crave it.
Thus would the Sith line always flow from the strongest, the one most worthy. Bane's Rule of Two ensured that the power of both Master and apprentice would grow from generation to generation until the Sith were finally able to exterminate the Jedi and usher in a new galactic age.
That was why Bane had chosen Zannah as his apprentice: she had the potential to one day surpass even his own abilities. On that day she would usurp him as the Dark Lord of the Sith and choose an apprentice of her own. Bane would die, but the Sith would live on.(Star Wars: Darth Bane - Rule of Two)
"The Jedi believe the Sith are extinct," she began. "But you can plainly see by my presence that the Jedi are wrong. The Sith still exist, but now we number only two: one Master, and one apprentice. One to embody the power of the dark side, the other to crave it."
"So you want to increase your numbers," Set reasoned. "You're seeking recruits to join your cause and rebuild the Sith armies."
"That is the path to failure," Zannah replied. "The history of the Sith has proven that in greater numbers the Sith will always turn their hatred against one another. It is inevitable; it is the way of the dark side.
"The only way we can survive is by following the Rule of Two. Our numbers can never grow beyond this. The Master will train his apprentice in the ways of the Sith, until one day she must challenge him. If she proves unworthy, the Master will destroy her and choose a new apprentice. If she proves the stronger, the Master will fall and she will become the new Dark Lord of the Sith, and choose an apprentice of her own."
Set felt like things were becoming clearer now. "You are the apprentice. You think it's time to challenge your Master. And you want me to help you defeat him."
"No!" she snapped, causing Set to flinch in his bed. "That is the old way. Lesser followers would unite their inferior skills to bring down a strong leader, weakening the Order. This goes against everything the Rule of Two stands for.
"If I am to become the Dark Lord of the Sith, I must prove myself by facing my Master alone. If I am unworthy, then I will fall - but the Order will remain strong under his leadership.
"Do you understand?"
Set understood all too well. "The Rule of Two guarantees that each Master will be more powerful than the one who came before. It culls the weak." Good for the Sith as a whole, but not so great if you're the one getting culled.(Star Wars: Darth Bane - Dynasty of Evil)
"With patience and cunning, we are laying the seeds of our ultimate victory. Generation after generation our power and influence will grow until one day we will destroy the Jedi, and the Sith will rule the galaxy."(Darth Zannah | Star Wars: Darth Bane - Dynasty of Evil)
"The ultimate purpose of the Rule of Two is to have the student surpass and replace the teacher..."(Drew Karpyshyn | Official Star Wars Website - Sith Rules: An Interview With Drew Karpyshyn [link])
"Bane WANTED a stronger successor to overthrow him; the only reason he learned the ritual was because he needed to prolong his life if Zannah proved to be weak."(Drew Karpyshyn | Drew Karpsyhyn's Website - Dynasty of Evil Spoiler Alert! [link])
The missions to Lianna, Saleucami, and Abraxin were still fresh in his thoughts. On a philosophical level he understood why the generations of Sith Lords that had preceded him had trained apprentices, to whom they had bequeathed their knowledge of the dark side of the Force in anticipation of an eventual challenge for superiority.(Star Wars: Darth Plagueis)
Sidious knew that his own powers had increased tenfold over the decades, but he couldn’t be certain he had learned all of Plagueis’s secrets—“his sorcerer’s ways,” as the Sun Guards referred to them—including the ability to prevent beings from dying. He sometimes wondered: Was he a level behind? Two levels behind? Such questions were precisely what had driven generations of Sith apprentices ultimately to challenge their Masters. The uncertainty about who was the more powerful. The need to test themselves, to face the definitive trial.(Star Wars: Darth Plagueis)
“How often you said that the old order of Bane had ended with the death of your Master. An apprentice no longer needs to be stronger, you told me, merely more clever. The era of keeping score, suspicion, and betrayal was over. Strength is not in the flesh but in the Force.”(Darth Sidious | Star Wars: Darth Plagueis)
"This is the Rule of Two: One Sith must contain all the power of the dark side. One Master must decide how that power shall be used."(Darth Bane | Star Wars: Book of Sith - Rule of Two)
"A Sith apprentice must grow in strength and skill until he or she can surpass the Master."(Darth Bane | Star Wars: Book of Sith - Rule of Two)
"If the apprentice becomes strong enough, a battle to the death will prove it. If the Master should be struck down, the apprentice becomes the Master - and the Order continues."
"Bane's power has been passed down for a thousand years. I vow to be its last recipient."(Darth Bane and Darth Sidious | Star Wars: Book of Sith - Rule of Two)
"You, and those who succeed you, are building an arsenal of dark side potency. One day it will contain the power to destroy the Jedi and bring purpose to the Force."(Darth Bane | Star Wars: Book of Sith - Rule of Two)
On the face of it this seems like an iffy strategy -- strength in numbers and all that. But going back to the venom/beer analogy, in my headcanon scenario the Sith are actually GROWING their dark-side power with each successive generation. They're thus are less likely to fall victim to an extinction-level event. In essence the Sith are lodging themselves within the psychic fabric of the universe, and after a thousand years have accumulated enough dark side karma to birth a monster like Palpatine.(Daniel Wallace | Geekosity - Endnotes for Star Wars: Book of Sith part 3 [link])
When the apprentice becomes more powerful than the Master, he destroys his Master and chooses an apprentice of his own.(Star Wars: Sith Wars)
Ultimately, Bane's plan produced more powerful SIth Lords with each generation.(Star Wars: Force and Destiny Core Rulebook)
"his personal library an endless sea of documents, texts, manuscripts and holocrons that even an advanced droid would take years to analyze fully."
- Sources:
More remote than some, Aborah, which had been the province of the Damask clan for several generations, was otherwise typical of the dormant smokers whose thickly forested conical peaks poked from the calm waters of the Western Sea. A maze of interconnected lava tubes ran deep into the mountain island; waterfalls plunged from the sheer heights; and incense trees scented the salty air of the lowland valleys. Conveyed by speeder to Aborah’s north tower complex, Plagueis escorted 11-4D on a tour of the corridors and caverns that constituted his place of sacrosanct solitude.
Motioning to the many droids that were on hand to welcome the pair to Aborah, Plagueis said: “You will come to find yourself at home here, as I have.”
“I’m certain I will, Magister Damask,” 11-4D said, its photoreceptors registering a dozen different types of droids in a single glance. Memo droids, GNK power droids, even a prototype Ubrikkian surgical droid.
“In time we’ll see to having your original appendages restored so that you can earn your keep.”
“I look forward to it, Magister.”
The tour began in the outermost rooms, which were appointed with furnishings and objects of art of the highest quality, gathered from all sectors of the galaxy. But Plagueis was neither as acquisitive as a Neimoidian nor as ostentatious as a Hutt; and so the ornamented chambers quickly gave way to data-gathering rooms crowded with audio-vid receivers and HoloNet projectors; and then to galleries filled to overflowing with ancient documents and tomes, recorded on media ranging from tree trunk parchment through flimsiplast to storage crystal and holocron. The Muuns were said to abhor literature and to loathe keeping records of anything other than loan notices, actuarial tables, and legal writs, and yet Plagueis was guardian of the one of the finest libraries to be found anywhere outside Obroa-skai or the Jedi Temple on Coruscant. Here, neatly arranged and cataloged and stored in climate-controlled cases, was a collection of treatises and commentaries accumulated over centuries by the Sith and their often unwitting agents. Ancient histories of the Rakata and the Vjun; texts devoted to the Followers of Palawa, the Chatos Academy, and the Order of Dai Bendu; archives that had once belonged to House Malreaux; annals of the Sorcerers of Tund and of Queen Amanoa of Onderon; biological studies of the ysalimiri and vornskrs of Myrkr, and of the taozin of Va’art. Certain long-lived species, like the Wookiees, Hutts, Falleen, and Toydarians, were afforded galleries of their own.
Deeper in the mountain were laboratories where Plagueis’s real work took place. Confined to cages, stasis fields, bioreactors, and bacta tanks were life-forms brought to Muunilinst from across the galaxy—many from the galaxy’s most remote worlds. Some were creatures of instinct, and others were semisentient. Some were immediately recognizable to 11-4D; others resembled creatures concocted from borrowed parts. Some were newly birthed or hatched, and some looked as if they were being kept at death’s door. More than a few were the subjects of ongoing experiments in what seemed to be vivisection or interbreeding, and others were clearly in suspended animation. OneOne-FourDee noted that many of the animals wore remotes that linked them to biometric monitoring machines, while others were in the direct care of specialist droids. Elsewhere in the hollow of the mountain were sealed enclosures warmed by artificial light, aswirl with mixtures of rarefied gases and luxuriant with flora. And deeper still were test centers crammed with complex machines and glass-fronted cooling units devoted to the storage of chemical compounds, alkaloids derived from both plants and animals, blood and tissue samples, and bodily organs from a host of species.
Plagueis instructed 11-4D to wander about the galleries and laboratories on his own, and then report back to him.
Hours later the droid returned to say: “I recognize that you are involved in research related to species durability and hybridization. But I must confess to being unfamiliar with many of the examples of fauna and flora you have amassed, and few of the arcane documents in your library. Is the data available for upload?”
“Some portion of it,” Plagueis said. “The remainder will have to be scanned.”
“Then the task will require standard years, Magister.”
“I’m aware of that. While there is some urgency, we are in no rush.”
“I understand, sir. Is there specific data you wish me to assimilate first?”
From the breast pocket of his cloak, Plagueis withdrew a storage crystal. “Start with this. It is a history of the Sith.”(Star Wars: Darth Plagueis)
"So deep he delves into the Force’s secrets that he comes to learn how to manipulate midi-chlorians, the building blocks of the Living Force, to his own ends. Essentially, he can tap into the source code of the Force, almost like Neo from the Matrix. However, before he can ascend to total godhood, he is murdered by his apprentice."
- Sources:
[Description: Plagueis learns to directly tap into the midi-chlorians of another being to lower their inborn telepathic barrier and, as a result, make a being naturally resistant to telepathic suggestion susceptible to it.]
"The Yinchorri share with the Hutts and a few other species a specific trait... Immune they are to mental manipulation by the Force."(Yaddle | Star Wars: Jedi Council - Acts of War #1)
"Yinchorri: These reptilians are immune to mental manipulation and cannot have their internal balance disrupted by Force techniques."(Bowspiritz | Star Wars: The Jedi Path - Part III: Padawan)
When the Hutt had steered her antigrav litter from the room, members of the Sun Guard showed in a group of tall reptilian sentients who stood on two thick legs and whose broad snouts curved downward at the tip. Damask’s previous contact with the Yinchorri had been limited to holoprojector; now he leaned forward in keen interest as the spokes-member introduced himself in gruff Basic as Qayhuk—secretary of the Council of Elders—and launched immediately into a diatribe denouncing the Senate for refusing to admit Yinchorr to the Republic. With bellicose encouragement from his comrades, Qayhuk went on to say with fist-pounding emphasis that although their homeworld had been charted hundred of years earlier by the Republic, Yinchorr remained an underprivileged, backrocket planet deserving of far better treatment.
“Or someone will pay in blood for the ongoing injustice,” the secretary warned.
Larsh Hill waited until he was certain that Qayhuk was finished to remark under his breath, “I’m not sure even the Senate is ready for them.”
Holding Qayhuk’s baleful gaze and motioning with his hand, Damask said, “You have no interest in seeing Yinchorr seated in the Senate.”
Qayhuk took umbrage. “Why else would we have journeyed all this way?”
“You have no interest in seeing Yinchorr seated in the Senate,” Plagueis repeated.
Qayhuk glanced at his green-skinned brethren, then looked at Hill. “Is Magister Damask deaf or in ill health?”
Hill turned to Damask in concern but said nothing.
Damask concealed his astonishment. As rumored, the Yinchorri were apparently resistant to Force suggestion! But how was it possible that midi-chlorians in a being of relatively low intelligence could erect an impenetrable wall against the influence of a Sith? Was this some sort of survival mechanism—the midi-chlorians’ way of protecting the consciousness of their vessels by refusing to be manipulated? He would need to possess one of these beings to learn the secret.(Star Wars: Darth Plagueis)
A gift to Damask from the Council of Elders on the occasion of Yinchorr’s seating in the Senate, the towering reptilian condemned murderer shuffled to the center of the energy field that defined his cage on Aborah and, with confusion contorting the features of his beaked face, prostrated himself on the permacrete floor and mumbled in Basic: “I’m honored to be here and to perform whatever tasks you require of me.”
Standing at the field’s shimmering perimeter, 11-4D pivoted his head toward Plagueis. “Congratulations, Magister. At last he responds to your suggestion. You have undermined his resolve.”
That resolve, Plagueis had learned after more than two years of experimentation on the Yinchorri, was in fact a kind of Force bubble fashioned by the turtle-like alien’s limited number of unusually willful midi-chlorians. This suggested that the Yinchorri was actually strong in the Force, despite his pitifully low count. The discovery had come as a breakthrough, and Plagueis was still grappling with the implications.
The Force bubble itself was similar to those generated by creatures that drew on the Force to avoid predation by natural enemies. The relationship between the arboreal ysalamir and its adversary, the vornskr, provided a curious example, in that the latter was attracted to the former by the very mechanism the ysalamir employed as a defense. Where an extremely low midi-chlorian count might have bolstered the odds of survival, nature had instead made the ysalimir species strong in the Force. So strong, in fact, that several of the creatures acting in concert could create a Force bubble encompassing kilometers rather than meters. In a sense, the Jedi Order had done the same on a galactic scale, Plagueis believed, by bathing the galaxy in the energy of the light side of the Force; or more accurately by fashioning a Force bubble that had prevented infiltration by the dark side, until Tenebrous’s Master had succeeded in bursting the bubble, or at least shrinking it. How the Order’s actions could be thought of as balancing the Force had baffled generations of Sith, who harbored no delusions regarding the Force’s ability to self-regulate.
The Yinchorri former convict wasn’t the only new addition to Plagueis’s island facility. In the eleven years that had elapsed since the capture of Venamis and the recruitment of Sidious, Plagueis had collected more than a dozen beings of diverse species and had been subjecting them to a wide range of experiments involving volition, telepathy, healing, regeneration, and life extension, with some promising results. As for the Bith would-be Sith Lord, he was alive and well, though kept comatose more often than not, and always under the watchful photoreceptors of 11-4D or a host of custodial droids.
Plagueis hadn’t lost interest in Venamis by any means, but the Yinchorri’s immunity to Force suggestion—an immunity the species shared with Hutts, Toydarians, and others—had provided him with a new line of investigation. Unlike ysalamiri, which created a Force bubble in the presence of danger, the Yinchorri were in a perpetual state of involuntary immunity to Force suggestion. The fact that immunity was in a sense hardwired into them meant that the ability was an adaptation, prompted by a past threat to the survival of the species. To Plagueis, it meant that the Yinchorri’s midi-chlorians had evolved to provide protection to a species that was naturally strong in the Force. If that were indeed the case, then the Yinchorri were living proof that the Sith of the Bane line had been on the right path from the very start.
For while toppling the Jedi Order and the Republic was essential to the task of restoring order to the galaxy, that goal belonged to the realm of the ordinary—to the world that was nothing more than a byproduct of the eternal struggle between the light and dark forces, both of which were beyond any concepts of good or evil. The greater goal of the Sith involved toppling the Force itself, and becoming the embodiment of the galaxy’s animating principle.
It had been theorized by Jedi and Sith alike that balance between the light and dark sides was actually under the guidance of a group of discorporate entities—the ones called the Celestials, perhaps—who had merged themselves with the Force thousands of generations earlier, and had continued to guide the fate of the galaxy ever since. In effect, a higher order of intermediaries, whose powers were beyond the understanding of mortal beings. But many Sith viewed the notion with disdain, for the theoretical existence of such a group had little bearing on the goal of making the Force subservient to the will of an enlightened elite. Only the Sith understood that sentient life was on the verge of a transformative leap; that through the manipulation of midi-chlorians—or the overthrow of the Forceful group that supervised them—the divide between organic life and the Force could be bridged, and death could be erased from the continuum.
As evidenced by those few Lords who had managed to perpetuate their spirits after physical death—foremost among them Emperor Vitiate, who was said to have lived a thousand years—the ancient Sith had come halfway across that bridge. But those few had been so focused on worldly power that they had ended up trapping themselves between realms. That they had never provided the Order with guidance from beyond attested to the fact that their influence had been negligible, and had long since faded from the world.
In the same way that the pre-Bane Sith had been responsible for their own extinction, the great dark side Lords of the past had doomed themselves to the nether realm through their attempts to conquer death by feeding off the energies of others, rather than by tapping the deepest strata of the Force and learning to speak the language of the midi-chlorians. Plagueis was finally learning to do that, and was just beginning to learn how to persuade, prompt, cajole, and coax them into action. Already he could command them to promote healing, and now he had been successful in enticing them to lower their defenses. If he could compel a murderous Yinchorri to become peaceful, could he—with a mere suggestion—accomplish the opposite by turning a peaceful being into a murderer? Would he one day be able to influence the leaders of worlds and systems to act according to his designs, however iniquitous? Would he one day conquer not only death but life, as well, by manipulating midi-chlorians to produce Forceful beings, even in the absence of fertilization, as Darth Tenebrous might have attempted to do with gene-splicing techniques and computers?(Star Wars: Darth Plagueis)
[Description: Plagueis learns to manipulate midi-chlorians to fertilize the egg of a female without sexual intercourse. In this way, Plagueis is able to artificially create life from nothing.]
"My experiments proved midi-chlorians could be controlled. If this is true, then could they not also be induced to create life at the monocellular level? Midi-chlorians in the cells of a mother could, in theory, be persuaded to craft a zygote.
"For consistency in my test subjects, I obtained hundreds of identical humanoids, each with a consistent midi-chlorian level. After much experimentation, I succeeded in prodding the midi-chlorians to replicate themselves through asexual fission. Though in most cases, this process increased the numbers uncontrollably and killed the host.
"But I believe that by using this method I can trick the midi-chlorians into creating a zygote. Then it would simply be a matter of growing the subject under normal biological conditions. Such a subject could, of course, take years to hit the developmental milestones of a typical humanoid, but he could have a midi-chlorian count as high as 20,000 per cell. That is more than any Jedi or Sith in recorded history. Although entirely theoretical, such an achievement is intriguing."(Darth Plagueis | Star Wars: Book of Sith - The Science of Creating Life)
Deeper in the complex, they moved past cages containing as many creatures as could be found in a well-stocked zoo. OneOne-FourDee indicated a cluster separate from the rest.
“These are the Magister’s most recent pregnancies.”
“The Magister’s?” Sidious repeated in bewilderment.
“His success rate has improved.”
Sidious was still trying to make sense of the droid’s statements when they entered a long corridor lined with windowless cells. Through the Force he could sense life-forms behind each locked door.
“Captives?”
“Oh, no, sir.” 11-4D said. “Ongoing experiments.”(Star Wars: Darth Plagueis)
“The Bith—Venamis …”
“Dispatched by Tenebrous to test me—to eliminate me had I failed. But Venamis has been a gift; essential in helping me unlock some of the deepest secrets of the Force. Every creature you have glimpsed or sensed here has been a similar blessing, as you will see when I lead you into the mysteries.”
“What did the droid mean when it said the Magister’s pregnancies?”
Beneath the breath mask, Plagueis might have quirked a smile. “It means that the pregnancies were not achieved by normal means of conception, but rather through the Force.”(Star Wars: Darth Plagueis)
[Description: Plagueis learns to kill and revive at will. First he demonstrates this with the body of Darth Venamis, whom he repeatedly kills and resurrects by appealing to his midi-chlorians until total organ failure sets in. Although later he learns how to undo the damage and revive a cadaver even nine years old, and is said to have done this to many others. He also kills Ars Veruna simply by willing it.]
On the same day they had allowed Venamis to die.
Then, by manipulating the Bith’s midi-chlorians, which should have been inert and unresponsive, Plagueis had resurrected him. The enormity of the event had stunned Sidious into silence and overwhelmed and addled 11-4D’s processors, but Plagueis had carried on without assistance, again and again allowing Venamis to die and be returned to life, until the Bith’s organs had given out and Plagueis had finally granted him everlasting death.(Star Wars: Darth Plagueis)
Plagueis focused his attention on the vat in front of him where the remains of the Bith Sith Lord, Darth Venamis, floated in a semitransparent bath of preserving fluid. Venamis’s corpse was still animated and twitching spasmodically with the last dregs of life that Plagueis invested in it, only to snatch it away again. He had been working for almost twenty uninterrupted hours on this particular project with limited success, and the notification from his droid signified a welcome diversion.(Star Wars: Maul - Lockdown)
“Let me explain what is happening to you,” Plagueis said. “The cells that make up all living things contain within them organelles known as midi-chlorians. They are, in addition to being the basis for life, the elements that enable beings like me to perceive and use the Force. As the result of a lifetime of study, I have learned how to manipulate midi-chlorians, and I have instructed the limited number you possess to return to their source. In plain Basic, Veruna, I am killing you.”
Veruna’s face was losing color, and his breathing had slowed. “Bring … me back. I can still be … of service … to you …”
“But you are, Your Majesty. A celebrated ancient poet once said that every death lessened him, for he considered himself to be a brother to every living being. I, on the other hand, have come to understand that every death I oversee nourishes and empowers me, for I am a true Sith.”
“No … better than … an Anzati.”
“The brain eaters? What does better than mean to those of us who have passed beyond notions of good and evil? Are you better than Bon Tapalo? Are you better than Queen Padmé Amidala? I am the only one fit to answer the question. Better are those who do my bidding.” Plagueis placed his hand atop Veruna’s. “I’ll remain with you for a while as you meld with the Force. But at some point, I will have to leave you at the threshold to continue on your own.”
“Don’t do this … Damask. Please …”
“I am Darth Plagueis, Veruna. Your shepherd.”
As life left Veruna’s body, the path he and Plagueis followed wound deeper into darkness and absence. Then Plagueis stopped, overcome by a sudden sense that he had already seen and traveled this path.
Had he? he wondered as Veruna breathed his last.
Or had the Force afforded him a glimpse of the future?(Star Wars: Darth Plagueis)
“All the ones you experimented on, killed, and brought back to life … They were little more than toys."(Darth Sidious | Star Wars: Darth Plagueis)
[Description: Plagueis effectively reverses aging. Through concentrated effort, he is able to remain perpetually the same age and even de-age himself. He would eventually have been able to make his immortality a passive process.]
But having gained the power to keep another alive hadn’t been enough for him. And so after Sidious had returned to Coruscant, he had devoted himself to internalizing that ability, by manipulating the midi-chlorians that animated him. For several months he made no progress, but ultimately he began to perceive a measured change. The scars that had grown over his wounds had abruptly begun to soften and fade, and he had begun to breathe more freely than he had in twenty years. He began to sense that not only were his damaged tissues healing, but his entire body was rejuvenating itself. Beneath the transpirator, areas of his skin were smooth and youthful, and he knew that eventually he would cease to age altogether.(Star Wars: Darth Plagueis)
As the room was the opposite of the one he had often confined himself to on Sojourn, Plagueis no longer looked like the wide-eyed mystic he had seemed only months earlier. Except for having to wear the breathing device, he struck Palpatine as a slightly older version of the Muun who had visited him on Naboo so many decades before.(Star Wars: Darth Plagueis)
Wary of approaching the corpse of his former Master, he called on the Force to roll the aged Muun over onto his back. From that angle Plagueis looked almost as he had when Sidious first met him, decades earlier: smooth, hairless cranium; humped nose, with its bridge flattened as if from a shock-ball blow and its sharp tip pressed almost to his upper lip; jutting lower jaw; sunken eyes still brimming with menace - a physical characteristic rarely encountered in a Muun. But then Plagueis had never been an ordinary Muun, nor an ordinary being of any sort.
Sidious took care, still reaching out with the Force. On closer inspection, he saw that Plagueis's already cyanotic flesh was smoothing out, his features relaxing.
Faintly aware of the whir of air scrubbers and sounds of the outside world infiltrating the luxurious suite, he continued the vigil; then, in relief, he pulled himself up to his full height and let out his breath. This was no Sith trick. Not an instance of feigning death, but one of succumbing to its cold embrace. The being who had guided him to power was gone.
Wry amusement narrowed his eyes.
The Muun might have lived another hundred years unchanged. He might have lived forever had he succeeded fully in his quest. But in the end - though he could save others from death - he had failed to save himself.(Star Wars: Darth Plagueis)
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- Suspect InsightAdministrator
How Powerful is Yoda? | Yoda Respect Thread
September 2nd 2020, 12:55 pm
7. YODA
"At number 7, there is YODA—“The avatar of light, Supreme Master of the Jedi Order, the fiercest, most implacable, most devastatingly powerful foe the darkness had ever known,” as the Revenge of the Sith novelization puts it.
"Indeed, Yoda has repeatedly been decorated as and shown to be the greatest Jedi up to his time:"
"with the Force, he has manipulated massive Separatist droid carriers and lifted armies of droidekas at once;"
"in combat, he has evaded the attacks of three Jedi Councillors—Plo Koon, Saesee Tiin, and Depa Billaba—while unarmed,"
"defeated Mace Windu"
"and Count Dooku () (the latter twice);"
"and even disarmed Palpatine himself, the most powerful Sith Lord of all time,"
"and managed to contain his immensely destructive Force lightning."
[hideedit]
"At number 7, there is YODA—“The avatar of light, Supreme Master of the Jedi Order, the fiercest, most implacable, most devastatingly powerful foe the darkness had ever known,” as the Revenge of the Sith novelization puts it.
"Indeed, Yoda has repeatedly been decorated as and shown to be the greatest Jedi up to his time:"
- Sources:
“The goal or the lesson is for the hero to learn to respect everybody and to pay attention to the poorest person because that's where the key to his success will be. I wanted Yoda to be perceived at first as a funny critter, not as the most powerful of all the Jedi.”(George Lucas | Star Wars: Annotated Screenplays)
Alongside Mace Windu, with whom he served on the Jedi Council, Yoda was the most respected and most powerful Master ever to have walked the corridors of the Jedi Temple.(The Official Star Wars Fact File #11)
Along with Mace Windu, a senior member of the Jedi Council, Yoda was the most respected and most powerful Master in the Jedi Order.(The Official Star Wars Fact File #11)
Alongside Mace Windu, with whom he served on the Jedi Council, Yoda was the most respected and most powerful Master ever to have walked the corridors of the Jedi Temple.(The Official Star Wars Fact File #2 - Relaunched)
Together with Mace Windu, a senior member of the Jedi Council, Yoda was the most respected and most powerful Master in the Jedi Order.(The Official Star Wars Fact File #2 - Relaunched)
Dooku knew that a Master would be judged by the prowess of his Padawan, and he wanted the best of the best. When Yoda had given his approval of the match, Dooku had been satisfied. Another step had been taken toward his goal - to surpass Yoda as the greatest Jedi ever.(Star Wars: Legacy of the Jedi)
But the most powerful of all Jedi--Master Yoda--arrives and saves them, forcing Dooku to flee.(The Making of Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith)
This truth: that he, the avatar of light, Supreme Master of the Jedi Order, the fiercest, most implacable, most devastatingly powerful foe the darkness had ever known…(Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith adult novelization)
The two engaged in a spectacular duel - a contest between the most powerful practitioners of the Force’s light and dark sides.(Official Star Wars Website - Databank: Yoda [link])
On Coruscant, Yoda and the Emperor meet in the ultimate confrontation between the galaxy's most powerful masters of the Force.(Hasbro Star Wars - Revenge of the Sith: Yoda Spinning Attack action figure)
The two most powerful masters of the Force in the galaxy are locked in a battle that pits ultimate good against ultimate evil.(Star Wars: Unleashed - Yoda vs. Sidious statue)
The giant Yoda Pez Dispenser is every candy-loving Star Wars fan's dream! Imagine, the most powerful Jedi Master the universe has ever seen combined with the world's most legendary candy dispenser that plays the Star Wars theme.(Pez Star Wars - Master Jedi Yoda Giant Dispenser - Producer's Summary)
An over 800 year old member of the former Jedi Council. Yoda is only 70 cm tall and has slit ears. He is not only considered the wisest Jedi, but despite his small size also the most powerful; his mastery of power and lightsaber is second to none.(Star Wars: Last of the Jedi - German glossary)
The two most powerful users of the Force's light and dark sides clash in a spectacular duel in the Senate building on Coruscant.(Star Wars: Epic Battles)
Yoda must face the new Emperor in the ultimate confrontation between the greatest wizards of the Force in the galaxy.(Star Wars: Yoda Lightsaber - Scaled Replica)
Yoda’s species and origins may always remain unknown, but the diminutive Jedi Grand Master was inarguably the most powerful Jedi ever to sit on the Council.(Star Wars: Fandex Deluxe Edition)
The two engaged in a spectacular duel - a contest between the most powerful practitioners of the Force’s light and dark sides.(The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia)
Meet Yoda. He is the most powerful Jedi.(Star Wars: Blast Off!)
Yoda suspects that Palpatine is behind the events that are destroying the Republic. On Coruscant, Yoda and the Supreme Chancellor meet in the ultimate confrontation between the galaxy's most powerful masters of the Force.(Hasbro Star Wars - Movie Heroes: Yoda action figure)
The greatest Jedi: Yoda, defender of the galaxy, master of the Force, and the greatest Jedi who had ever lived.(Star Wars: The Legendary Yoda)
Yoda's ability to use the Force is greater than that of any other Jedi.(Star Wars: The Legendary Yoda)
Yoda was the oldest and most powerful Jedi in the order. He has trained many young Jedi over the years.(Star Wars: Sith Wars)
When the most powerful Jedi battled against the most powerful Sith, the two sides of the Force clashed in spectacular style. Grand Master Yoda took on Darth Sidious in the Senate building on Coruscant and proved that strength and power have nothing to do with size. The Jedi was much smaller than his Sith opponent, but he used his size and agility to his advantage. Yoda leaped and twirled above Sidious, confusing his enemy and catching him by surprise with skillful lightsaber blows.(Star Wars: Jedi Battles)
[Note: Also, refer to quotes in Mace Windu's entry under "and said to be the most powerful Jedi in the Order next to Yoda, until the rise of Anakin Skywalker."]
"with the Force, he has manipulated massive Separatist droid carriers and lifted armies of droidekas at once;"
- Sources:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zqpmEW57aSs&t=8m21s (8:21)(Star Wars: Clone Wars - Volume 2 - Season 3 - Chapter 23)
"in combat, he has evaded the attacks of three Jedi Councillors—Plo Koon, Saesee Tiin, and Depa Billaba—while unarmed,"
- Sources:
She had attended a lecture on battle techniques given by Master Yoda earlier this year, and the memory of it came back to her now.
Yoda had faced the assembled students and spoken, his thin reedy voice somehow carrying to the far corners of the lecture hall without benefit of amplifiers.
“Better than training, the Force is. More than experience or speed it gives.”
And he had given a demonstration. Three members of the council—Plo Koon, Saesee Tiin, and Depa Billaba, excellent fighters all—had come forward and attacked him. Master Yoda had not been armed, and had not seemed to move more than a meter or so, his tread slow and measured. Nevertheless, none of the three had been able to lay a finger on him. The lesson had struck powerfully home: Knowledge of the Force was infinitely better than technique.(Star Wars: Darth Maul - Shadow Hunter)
"defeated Mace Windu"
- Sources:
In the history of the Jedi Order, only two opponents ever overcame him in battle. One was Master Yoda, who some said was the Order's true master of lightsaber combat. The other was former Master Dooku, whose own fighting style was archaic, yet stunningly effective.(Star Wars: Power of the Jedi Sourcebook)
In his day, Mace was one of the best lightsaber fighters of the Jedi order. It was said only two opponents ever bested him: Yoda and Dooku.(Official Star Wars Website - Databank: Mace Windu [link])
In the history of the Jedi Order, only two opponents have ever overcome Master Windu in battle. One was Master Yoda himself, whom some say is the Jedi Order's true master of lightsaber combat. The other was Master Dooku.(Official Wizards of the Coast Website - Star Wars: Miniatures - Revenge of the Sith Preview #1 [link])His skills with his purple-bladed lightsaber were the stuff of legend, and it was said that he could be defeated in combat only by Master Yoda and the great swordsman Count Dooku.
(Star Wars: The Official Figurine Collection #33)
It is said that only his one-time friend Dooku and the venerable Grand Master Yoda could outspar Mace Windu.(Star Wars: The Clone Wars - Lightsaber Duels Prima Official Game Guide)
Only two others have ever defeated him in battle - Yoda and Count Dooku(Star Wars Annuals - The Clone Wars)
"and Count Dooku (
) (the latter twice);"- Sources:
[Description: Yoda and Dooku's fight on Geonosis.]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3UUQIIOO8RM(Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones)
YODA draws a miniature lightsaber out of his cane. He salutes formally.
YODA: Count Dooku. No interest in contests, do I have.
COUNT DOOKU charges across the space at YODA. He rains down blows upon the tiny figure. YODA doesn't budge an inch. For the first part of the contest, he parries every cut and thrust that Dooku aims. Nothing the great swordsman tries gets through. His energy drains. His strokes become feebler, slower.
YODA attacks! He flies forward. COUNT DOOKU is forced to retreat. Wprds are insufficient to describe the range and skill of Yoda's speed and swordplay. His lightsaber his a humming blur of light.
Count Dooku's lightsaber is sent cartwheeling from his hand. He staggers back, gasping and spent, against the control panel. YODA jumps onto DOOKU'S shoulders, and is about to drive the lightsaber into the top of the Count's head.
YODA: The end for you, Count, this is.
COUNT DOOKU: ...Not yet...
COUNT DOOKU raises his arms and knocks YODA off his shoulders and then, with all his might, he uses the Force to pull on one of the cranes in the hanger. It comes crashing down on OBI-WAN and ANAKIN. But in the blink of and eye, YODA is under the crane, holding it up, using the Force. YODA closes his eyes and concentrates.(Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones script)
"Master Yoda," Dooku breathed.
"Count Dooku," said Yoda.
Dooku's eyes widened and he stepped back, turning to face Yoda directly. He brought his lightsaber up to his face, shut down the blade, then snapped it to the side in formal salute. "You have interfered with our plans for the last time."
A wave of Dooku's free hand sent a piece of machinery flying at the diminutive Jedi Master, seeming as if it would surely crush him.
But Yoda was ready, waving his own hand, Force-pushing the flying machinery harmlessly aside.
Dooku clutched up at the ceiling, breaking free great blocks that tumbled down at Yoda.
But small hands waved and the boulders dropped to the sides, bouncing across the floor all about the untouched Master Yoda.
Dooku gave a little growl and thrust forth his hand, loosing a line of blue lightning at the diminutive Master.
Yoda caught it in his own hand and turned it aside, but far from easily.
"Powerful you have become, Dooku," Yoda admitted, and the Count grinned-but Yoda promptly took that grin away by adding, "The dark side I sense in you."
"I have become more powerful than any Jedi," Dooku countered. "Even you, my old Master!"
More lightning poured forth from Dooku's hand, but Yoda continued to catch it and turn it, and seemed to become even more settled in his defensive posture.
"Much to learn you still have," Yoda remarked.
Dooku disengaged the futile lightning assault. "It is obvious this contest will not be decided by our knowledge of the Force, but by our skills with a lightsaber."
Yoda reverently drew out his lightsaber, its green blade humming to life.
Dooku gave a crisp salute, igniting his own red blade, but then, formalities over, he leapt at Yoda, a sudden and devastating thrust.
But one that never got close to hitting. With hardly a movement, Yoda turned the blade aside.
Dooku went into a wild flurry then, the likes of which he had not shown against Obi-Wan or Anakin, raining blows at the diminutive Master. But Yoda didn't even seem to move. He didn't step back or to the side, yet his subtle dodges and precision parries kept Dooku's blade slashing and stabbing harmlessly wide.
It went on and on for many moments, but eventually Dooku's flurry began to slow, and the Count, recognizing the Futility of this attempt to overwhelm, stepped back fast.
Not fast enough.
With a sudden burst of sheer power, Master Yoda flew forward, his blade working so mightily that its residual glow outshone even those of both of Anakin's lightsabers when he was at the peak of his dance. Dooku held strong, though, his red blade parrying brilliantly, each block backed by the power of the Force, or else Yoda's strikes would have driven right through.
Just as he was about to launch a counter, though, Yoda was gone, leaping high and turning a somersault to land right behind Dooku, in perfect balance, striking hard.
Dooku reversed his grip and stabbed out behind him, intercepting the blow. He let go of his weapon altogether, tossing it just a bit, and spun about, catching it before it had even disengaged from Yoda's blade.
With a growl of rage, Dooku reached more deeply into the Force, letting it flow through him as if his physical form was a mere conduit for its power. His tempo increased suddenly and dramatically, three steps forward, two back, perfectly balanced all the while. His fighting style was one based on balance, on the back-and-forth charges, thrusts and sudden retreats, and now he came at Yoda with a series of cunning stabs, angled left and right.
Never could he strike low, though, for never did Yoda seem to be on the ground, leaping and spinning, flying all about, parrying each blow and offering cunning counters that had Dooku skipping backward desperately.
Dooku stabbed up high, turning the angle of his lightsaber in anticipation that Yoda would dodge left. But Yoda, as if in complete anticipation of the movement, veered neither left nor right, but rather, dropped to the ground. The Count had already retracted the missed thrust, and began a second stab, this time down low, but Yoda had anticipated that, too, and went right back up behind the stabbing blade.
A sudden stab by Yoda had Dooku quick-stepping back even more off-balance, for the first time, and then Yoda flew away, up and back.
The furious Dooku pursued, thrusting hard for Yoda's head. And in his rage when his stab missed yet again, he reverted to a slashing attack.
Yoda's green blade caught the blow, holding the red lightsaber at bay, locking the two in a contest of strength, physical and of the Force.
"Fought well, you have, my old Padawan," Yoda congratulated, and his lightsaber began to move out, just a bit, forcing Dooku back.
"The battle is far from over!" Dooku stubbornly argued. "This is just the beginning!" Reaching into the Force, he took hold of one of the huge cranes within the hangar and threw it down at Obi-Wan and Anakin.(Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones adult novelization)
Count Dooku saw him and stepped away from Anakin and Obi-Wan. Yoda bent his head in acknowledgment and regret. “Count Dooku.”
“Master Yoda.” The Count’s tone was almost scornful, but Yoda sensed an eagerness in him — eagerness, and something darker. Dooku face hardened as he went on, “You’ve interfered with our plans for the last time.”
Plans of conquest, Yoda thought sadly. But a Jedi seeks not power. Truly, Dooku had left the path of the Jedi Order. He felt Dooku gathering power, and he bowed his head in shock and sorrow as he sensed the true source of the Count’s increased ability. An instant later, Dooku raised his hands and sent a stream of deadly Force lightning toward him.
Yoda blocked the lightning automatically, grieved by this final evidence of Dooku’s change in allegiance. Only those who turned to the dark side of the Force misused their abilities so. This he had feared ever since Count Dooku left the Jedi Order, but only now was he certain. His old student had not just left the path of the Jedi; he had betrayed everything he had once stood for. He had joined the dark side. “Much to learn you still have,” Yoda told him.
A startled expression crossed Dooku’s face at the utter failure of his attack. Then his eyes narrowed. He lowered his hands and replied, “It is obvious that this contest will not be decided by our knowledge of the Force, but by our skills with the lightsaber.” As he spoke, he reignited his weapon and whirled it in the formal salute that Yoda remembered teaching him some fifty years before.
Yoda drew his lightsaber and answered the salute. In contests, he had no interest, but in stopping Count Dooku, he had a great deal of interest indeed. And Dooku had left him no other choice.
Count Dooku charged forward. Yoda sighed. Nothing has he learned. Nothing has he remembered. He closed his eyes, bowed his head, and felt the Force that bound all things, even himself and the Count. His lightsaber moved effortlessly, flowing with the Force to find the balance point between them and block Dooku’s every stroke. He did not even have to step back.
The Count’s attack grew more desperate, to no avail. Breathing hard, he backed away, but Yoda did not pursue him. To stop Dooku was all that was necessary, and he could not pass Yoda to reach his Solar Sailer.
The Count slowed once more, then stopped, his blade braced against Yoda’s. Yoda could feel him drawing on the dark side in an attempt to press Yoda’s weapon back, but the dark side was only an easier path, not a stronger one. Backed by the full power of the true Force, Yoda’s lightsaber was unmovable.
“Fought well, you have, my old Padawan,” Yoda said gently, giving him the truth, though he knew that the Count would not want to hear it. Count Dooku had never been happy to merely fight well; the best he must be, always. But not this time.
“This is just the beginning,” the Count snarled.
Yoda felt a great surge in the Force as Count Dooku pulled one of the service cranes off balance. The mass of metal and wire plummeted directly toward Obi-Wan and Anakin. Yoda could feel the two exhausted, injured Jedi reaching for the Force to keep the crane from falling, but they did not have enough strength left. The falling crane slowed but did not stop; it would surely crush them when it landed.(Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones junior novelization)
Through the doors, trailed by billowing smoke, came Yoda.
"Count Dooku."
Dooku's lightsaber flashed in an elaborate salute. "Mastr Yoda, now we shall discover who is most powerful."
The Count flew across the space between them, his lightsaber raining blows on the small Jedi Master. Yoda did not give a centimeter. He stood beneath the storm, calmly deflecting blow after blow. As Dooku's fury increased, his strength failed, and his blows became less skillful.
Suddenly, Yoda attacked. His lightsaber was so fast that it seemed like a solid wall of light. Dooku cried out in amazement and stumbled.
"Powerful you have become," Yoda said. "I sense the dark side in you."
They crossed swords, and again Yoda mastered him easily.
"Fought well, you have, my old Padawan."
Count Dooku gasped for breath. "The battle is far from over. This is only the beginning."
Summoning the last of his strength, the Count reached out with the Force, toppling a huge crane onto Anakin and Obi-Wan. The two Jedi used the Force to atop its fall, and Yoda instantly lent his strength to theirs. The crane hovered, slid sideways in mid-air, and then crashed.(Star Wars: Attack of the Clones - Mighty Chronicles)(Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones comic)
[Description: Yoda and Dooku's fight on Vjun.]
"Do something for you?" His eyes flicked to Yoda and the lightsaber at the Jedi Master's belt. "Of course I'll do something for you."
With a flick of his hand, he picked up the heavyset woman with the Force and hurled her through the window casement. Yoda's eyes went wide with shock.
"You might want to help her," Dooku said.
With a bound, Yoda was at the casement. Whirry was windmilling down through the black air, screaming and tumbling toward the flagstones. Narrowing his eyes, Yoda reached out through the Force and caught her not three meters from the ground. Instantly he was in the air himself, spinning away from Dooku's vicious attack before he was even consciously aware it was coming. The blinding scarlet blur of Dooku's lightsaber split the air, slashing a burning line along Yoda's side before chopping his desk in half. Yoda whipped out his blade while trying to set Whirry gently down on the cobblestones below.
"Wish to hurt you, I do not!"
"That's odd," Dooku remarked. "I intend to enjoy killing you."
As Yoda released Whirry from his mind's hold, and let her spill gently onto the flagstones far below, the tip of Dooku's lightsaber scored a burning line across his shoulder. The Count's blade was quick as a viper striking. Among the other Jedi, perhaps only Mace Windu would have been his equal on neutral ground: but here on Vjun, steeped in the dark side, his bladework was malice made visible-wickedness cut in red light.
"I've hurt you!" Dooku cried.
"Many times," Yoda said. He considered his pain: let it drop. Now he had nothing but Dooku to focus on, and his lightsaber gleamed with the same fierce green light that flickered from under his heavy-lidded eyes. "But killed me you did not, when you had the chance. A mistake, that was. More than eight hundred years has Yoda survived, through dangers you could not dream."
"I know how to kill," Dooku hissed.
Yoda's eyes opened wide, like balls of green fire.
"Yes-but Yoda knows how to live!"
Then their blades clashed together in a lace of fire, green and red: but the green burned hotter. Slowly, slowly, Dooku gave way: and in the dark, drunken Vjun air, Yoda was terrible to behold.
"Yes," Dooku whispered. "Feel me. Feel the treason. All those years of teaching me, raising me. Trusting me. And here am I, the favored son, butchering your precious Jedi, one by one. Hate me Yoda. You know you want to. "
Count Dooku lashed out with his lightsaber. Yoda took a quick step back and felt the heat of the red blade as it sliced the air centimeters from his tunic. He jumped, spun, and struck at Dooku's back before he landed. Dooku turned aside at the last moment, whipping his blade across the space where Yoda was seconds earlier. Facing each other again, their blades met, clashed, froze.
"Cunning, are you," Yoda said, breathing hard.
"I've had excellent teachers," Dooku said.
Yoda dropped and rolled to the side, his lightsaber blazing, reaching for Dooku's ankles. Dooku leapt up and flipped backwards landing lightly to face Yoda squarely. On his feet again, Yoda whirled and struck at Dooku, his green blade meeting Dooku's and pushing him back. Dooku attacked with reckless abandon fueled with hatred. Their blades hummed together, hissing and sparking. Dooku brought his blade down toward the diminutive Jedi Master and Yoda parried, locking his blade against Dooku's. Yoda breathed, calming himself.
"And yet, even here on Vjun, where the dark side whispers and whispers to me... love you enough to destroy you I do."
Pushing Dooku back yet again, blades flashed and flared stutters of light, blood red and sea green. Sweat ran in streams through Dooku's beard as he countered Yoda's every move, and his lips were white. Holobattles raged around them as the consoles showed Obi-Wan and Anakin clashing with wave after wave of battle droids. Dooku shot a quick glance at the red button on his desk and, with a Force push, he punched it in. Yoda cocked his head.
"A choice made, have you, Count?"
"I notice I am no longer your apprentice," Dooku said between breaths. "There was always a chance you could overpower me, of course."
Yoda attacked: Dooku parried.
"So I put a missile in high orbit, slaved to this location. It's falling now. Gathering speed."
Dooku stepped warily back to the open window casement.
"Can you feel it dropping? A thorn, a needle, an arrow. Faster all the time." He paused to get his breath. "Obi-Wan and your precious Skywalker and your little Padawans will be wiped out when the missile hits. So what you need to decide is, what means more to you, Master Yoda? Saving their lives-or taking mine?"
And with that he leapt backward, out the window. Yoda bounded after him. In the dark Vjun air it was all he could do not to leap after Dooku, to fall on him like a green thunderbolt and annihilate him utterly... But already he could feel the missile, too, dropping in a red scream through the atmosphere, two hundred armored kilos of explosive aimed for Chateau Malreaux.(Star Wars: Yoda - Dark Rendezvous)
"and even disarmed Palpatine himself, the most powerful Sith Lord of all time,"
- Sources:
YODA unleashes a ferocious assault on PALPATINE, causing him to almost go over the edge. The Dark Lord drops his lightsaber but recovers with a BLAST OF ENERGY from his hands that surrounds YODA.(Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith script)
“Faith in your new apprentice, misplaced may be,” Yoda replied. As is your faith in the dark side of the Force. Even if Palpatine killed him here, today, the dark side would not truly win. For the dark side was anger, hatred, despair — all the forces of ruin and decay. Powerful, they were, to tear down and destroy, but they could not build anything lasting. Palpatine’s ten-thousand-year Galactic Empire would be lucky to outlast his lifetime.
That thought gave Yoda new energy, and he pressed his attack. He drove Palpatine back across the room, into the Chancellor’s podium. Palpatine hit the controls, and the podium began to rise, carrying him up into the Senate. But the podium moved slowly; Yoda had plenty of time to flip himself into the air and land beside the Emperor, to continue the fight.
As the podium rose into the Senate arena, the fight intensified. Twice, Yoda came near to pushing Palpatine over the edge. They were high enough now that a fall could be fatal, even to a Sith Lord. Or a Jedi Master. The cramped space within the pod left little room for maneuvering.
An end, I must make. Yoda redoubled the speed of his blows. Palpatine parried one, then another — and then the red lightsaber spun out of his hands and over the edge. Yoda raised his weapon for the final blow.(Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith junior novelization)
Both combatants ignite their lightsabers and clash in an extremely fast and furious manner. The fight moves into the Senate Chamber, where Sidious drops his lightsaber and shoots another barrage of lightning at Yoda, which the Jedi Master deflects back toward the Emperor.(Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith - Official Episode III Souvenir Movie Guide)
Lightsabers blazed and the duel began. Palpatine called upon his dark arts, slashing away in fury, but Yoda's accomplished command of the Force blocked his every blow. Overmatched, Palpatine fled into the vast Senate Chamber. He rushed into a control pod and it began to rise from the floor. Then Yoda leaped aboard, unleashing a masterful assault.(Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith - The Movie Storybook)
"and managed to contain his immensely destructive Force lightning."
- Sources:
[Description: Yoda temporarily absorbs and bends backward Palpatine's Force lightning on Coruscant.]
The Dark Lord drops his lightsaber but recovers with a BLAST OF ENERGY from his hands that surrounds YODA. YODA is deflecting the Sith Lord's lightning bolts.
The energy bolts begin to arc back on the Emperor. It looks as if the Dark Lord is doomed.
YODA: Destroy you I will, just as Master Kenobi, your apprentice will destroy.
YODA jumps to a lower Senate Pod. PALPATINE reaches out with one hand, and a Senate pod is released from its mooring and heads toward the Podium.(Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith script)
Force lightning spat from the Emperor’s gray fingers, surrounding Yoda in a blue nimbus. But Yoda had faced Force lightning before. To deflect the first bolts, he had to stop his intended strike at the Emperor. Once his initial surprise was over, he reached out to the living Force. The lightning bent, arcing back toward the Emperor.
“Destroy you, I will,” Yoda said grimly. “Just as Master Kenobi, your apprentice will destroy.”
The Sith Lord only redoubled his attack. Hurling Force lightning, the Emperor backed away, to the very edge of the platform. Following him was like walking against hurricane winds. Never had Yoda faced one so strong in the dark side. Before he came within reach, a particularly strong blast knocked Yoda out of the pod.
As he plunged over the edge, Yoda realized that Palpatine was right about one thing. He, Yoda, had indeed been arrogant. It is a flaw more and more common among Jedi, he had told Obi-Wan once. Too sure of themselves, they are. And he had fallen into the same trap himself.(Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith junior novelization)
Both combatants ignite their lightsabers and clash in an extremely fast and furious manner. The fight moves into the Senate Chamber, where Sidious drops his lightsaber and shoots another barrage of lightning at Yoda, which the Jedi Master deflects back toward the Emperor. Sidious begins to hurl pod after pod at Yoda, who must constantly duck and jump out of harm's way.(Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith - Official Episode III Souvenir Movie Guide)
[Description: Yoda absorbs and stalemates Palpatine's Force lightning on Coruscant.]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1JV2x3p_Qn8&t=3m32s(Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith)
As he reached Palpatine’s pod, the Sith Lord hit him with another blast of blue lightning that knocked Yoda’s lightsaber out of his hand. Palpatine’s lips curled in anticipated triumph, and the dark side pulsed as he drew even more Force lightning to his bidding.
Yoda caught it. The blue energy built into a glowing ball in his hand, ready to throw back at the Sith Lord the moment his attack stopped. But Palpatine didn’t stop; the Force lightning came in a steady crackle, building more and more, until neither of them could hold it any longer, and the blast knocked them both out of the pod.(Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith junior novelization)
[hideedit]
- Suspect InsightAdministrator
How Powerful is Anakin Skywalker? | Anakin Skywalker Respect Thread
September 2nd 2020, 12:57 pm
5/6. ANAKIN SKYWALKER
"The number 5 and 6 spots are shared between Anakin Skywalker and Darth Krayt."
"ANAKIN has over a dozen accolades labeling him as perhaps the most powerful and skilled Jedi alive or of the Order’s entire history, including from Obi-Wan Kenobi, Mace Windu, Agen Kolar, Darth Caedus, sourcebooks, and Lucasfilm officials."
"George Lucas has also stated that Anakin’s power was on par with Palpatine’s during Revenge of the Sith"
"and, when ranking all his characters in combat ability, listed him as a level 9—alongside only Palpatine, Yoda, and Mace Windu, and firmly above level 8s like Obi-Wan."
"Anakin’s praise is supported by his feats, such as holding back a terrible theta storm for minutes, which Obi-Wan doubted even Yoda could do;"
"easily brutalizing Dooku () into submission after tapping into the dark side;"
"killing Cin Drallig, one of the Order’s most skilled swordsmen, in seconds;"
"and even defeating Mace Windu in the Lucasfilm-approved alternate continuity of the video game adaption of Revenge of the Sith."
“Of course, we didn’t mention Anakin deflecting a Jedi Temple-destroying superlaser..."
[hideedit]
"The number 5 and 6 spots are shared between Anakin Skywalker and Darth Krayt."
"ANAKIN has over a dozen accolades labeling him as perhaps the most powerful and skilled Jedi alive or of the Order’s entire history, including from Obi-Wan Kenobi, Mace Windu, Agen Kolar, Darth Caedus, sourcebooks, and Lucasfilm officials."
- Sources:
Clearly Anakin was as strong in the Force as any Jedi who had ever sat on the Council. But as Obi-Wan had told him time and again, the essence of being a Jedi didn't hinge on attaining mastery of the Force, but on attaining mastery over oneself.(Obi-Wan Kenobi | Star Wars: Labyrinth of Evil)
But Coruscant was not only the heart of the government and the location of the Galactic Senate. It was also the home of the Jedi Temple. As the Separatist attack began, a message was beamed to the Outer Rim, summoning the Jedi’s greatest warriors home. Before the Separatist fleet could leave the Coruscant star system with the Chancellor, they found themselves under attack. Waves of clone starfighters, led by Obi-Wan and Anakin, stormed around their ships.(Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith junior novelization)
This is Anakin Skywalker:
The most powerful Jedi of his generation. Perhaps of any generation. The fastest. The strongest. An unbeatable pilot. An unstoppable warrior. On the ground, in the air or sea or space, there is no one even close. He has not just power, not just skill, but dash: that rare, invaluable combination of boldness and grace.
He is the best there is at what he does. The best there has ever been. And he knows it.(Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith adult novelization)
"It will be," he said slowly, meditatively, as though he spoke only to himself, "an embarrassment to be captured by him."
The voice that answered him was so familiar that sometimes his very thoughts spoke in it, instead of in his own. "An embarrassment you can survive, Lord Tyranus. After all, he is the greatest Jedi alive, is he not? And have we not ensured that all the galaxy shares this opinion?"(Dooku and Palpatine | Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith adult novelization)
"Skywalker is arguably the most powerful Jedi alive, and he is still getting stronger."(Mace Windu | Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith adult novelization)
"We won't try, Anakin. We will do. After all, they are only Senators. Most of them couldn't hide what they're thinking from a brain-damaged blindworm, let alone the most powerful Jedi in the galaxy."(Palpatine | Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith adult novelization)
"And even if the prophecy has been misread. Anakin is the one Jedi we can best hope would survive an encounter with a Sith Lord."(Agen Kolar | Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith adult novelization)
Even after all these months, she couldn't make herself entirely believe that actual Jedi blood ran in her veins-not only Jedi blood, but the blood of arguably the most powerful Jedi in history.(Leia Organa | Star Wars: Luke Skywalker and the Shadows of Mindor)
"You are on this Council, but we do not grant you the rank of Master."
"What? How can you do this? This is outrageous! It's unfair! I'm more powerful than any of you. How can you be on the Council and not be a Master?"
It was a boy's expression of anger, but it was true. And, as history repeated itself because it had no other choice, Jacen was more powerful than any of them except Luke. And he was growing closer to Luke's strength by the day.(Jacen Solo | Star Wars: Legacy of the Force - Bloodlines)
"Haden has written a story that goes to the emotional core of everything that happens in Episode III. Obi-Wan must confront every doubt, every misgiving about his time with Anakin. Has he failed his Padawan? Has he missed opportunities? Is he even worthy to have been the mentor to the galaxy's most powerful Jedi?"(Randy Stradley | Star Wars Insider 79 - Clone Wars Villains Face Their Reckoning)
Gillard also reports that the duel will explain how Obi-Wan is able to defeat his protege, even though Anakin has been established as the most powerful Jedi who ever lived. "Obi-Wan taught Anakin and Anakin has gone past him," he notes. "But when you get to that duel, it's emotional. That's where the mistake will be made. And if you know the characters, you know Obi-Wan isn't going to get emotional and he doesn't make mistakes."(Dreamwatch #113 - Interview with Nick Gillard)
"Anakin's the most powerful Jedi around."(Justin Lambros | Disney Adventures: Super Comics Special May 2005)
[Note: Justin Lambros' quote is endorsed by the official Star Wars website, and he worked alongside George Lucas and Nick Gillard.]
Who's better with a lightsaber -- Obi-Wan Kenobi or Anakin Skywalker? What is Darth Vader made of? Who from the original trilogy returns to Revenge of the Sith? Who will make a surprising cameo in the film? Get the answers to this and more fun Star Wars facts in the May 2005 issue of Disney Adventures out on newsstands now.(Official Star Wars Website - Disney Adventures Goes Inside Episode III [link])
Many years from now, Luke and Leia Skywalker, offspring of the most powerful Jedi who ever lived, would understand their true destiny.(Star Wars Revenge of the Sith - The Movie Storybook)
"Anakin's style has changed completely between Episode II and Episode III. He now no longer cares. He knows he's unbeatable. He's far more dangerous than anybody in the universe."(Nick Gillard | Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith - Prima Official Game Guide)
Anakin Skywalker is the most powerful Jedi in over a thousand years.(Star Wars: Miniatures - Ultimate Missions - Revenge of the Sith)
This makes Anakin, in effect, a Jedi Master, a rank that Anakin, with his unprecedented power in the Force, feels has been long overdue.(Star Wars: Miniatures - Ultimate Missions - Revenge of the Sith)
Once the most powerful Knight ever known to the Jedi Order, he is now a disciple of the dark side, a lord of the dreaded Sith, and the avenging right hand of the galaxy’s ruthless new Emperor.(Star Wars: Dark Lord - The Rise of Darth Vader - Publisher's Summary)
Once the most powerful Knight ever known to the Jedi Order, he is now a disciple of the dark side, a lord of the dreaded Sith, and the avenging right hand of the galaxy’s ruthless new Emperor.(Official Star Wars Shop - Star Wars: The Dark Lord Trilogy [link])
Anakin Skywalker was the most powerful Jedi the galaxy had ever known . . . Anakin was also peerless in combat, invincible against any opponent.(Star Wars: The Official Figurine Collection #8)
Thus, Darth Vader becomes a ‘fallen angel’ figure. From being the most powerful Jedi, a fearless hero of the Republic, Anakin falls to the lowest possible point because of his desire for power and security.(Star Wars: The Official Figurine Collection #12)
Deep and layered are the schemes of the Dark Lord Sidious, Sith Master and architect of the fall of the Republic. Perceiving in young Anakin Skywalker a strength as yet unseen among even the greatest of the Jedi, the Sith Lord engineers elements into his plans, rich in contingencies, that might either turn the troubled Jedi to his own purpose, or else destroy him altogether.(Star Wars: Sideshow Collectibles - Asajj Ventress statue)
Darth Sidious adheres to a tradition of secrecy imposed by the Sith a thousand years before, working his evil schemes through intermediaries and dupes while remaining hidden in the shadows. His organization includes politicians and anarchists, crime lords and corrupt law enforcement, schemers and dreamers, the wealthy and the impoverished-and, as the war draws to a close, the most powerful Jedi Knight alive: Anakin Skywalker.(Star Wars: The Clone Wars Campaign Guide)
The mightiest of the Jedi is Anakin Skywalker, rumored to be the Chosen One destined to bring balance to the Force.(Star Wars: The Clone Wars Episode Guide)
[Note: After falling to the dark side, Anakin Skywalker has also been described as the most powerful Sith and threat to the Jedi ever.]
Skywalker was seduced by the dark side of the Force. His boundless abilities fueled a sense of pride that hastened his fall . . .
Palpatine elevated himself to the position of Emperor, and dispatched Vader as his ultimate enforcer. With his unparalleled Force abilities, Vader swept through the Jedi Temple.(Official Star Wars Website - Databank: Darth Vader [link])
"Lord Vader, your skills are unmatched by any Sith before you. Go forth, my boy. Go forth, and bring peace to our Empire."(Palpatine | Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith adult novelization)
"Lord Vader, your skills are unmatched by any Sith before you," the cloaked figure said. “Now go, and bring peace to the Empire."(Palpatine | Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith junior novelization)
"You have done well, my new apprentice. Your skills are unmatched by any Sith before you. Now go, Lord Vader, and bring peace to the Empire."(Darth Sidious | Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith comic)
As the Clone Wars rage across the galaxy, young Jedi hero Anakin Skywalker falls to the dark side of the Force and becomes the most powerful enemy ever faced by the Jedi.(Hasbro Star Wars - Revenge of the Sith action figure line)
As the Clone Wars rage on, Anakin Skywalker becomes seduced by the dark side and betrays his fellow Jedi and all that he once held dear. Obi-Wan Kenobi must now battle his former Padawan, who has become the Jedi’s most formidable threat.(Hasbro Star Wars - Commemorative Episode III DVD Collection: Jedi Knights action figure set)
[Note: In Star Wars: Lightsaber Battle Game, a Jedi hero defeats Palpatine in the Jedi Temple in the aftermath of Order 66, yet Palpatine still tells the Jedi hero where Anakin Skywalker is and laughs at the prospect of the Jedi hero fairing well against him.]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TcwIk6c-lI4&t=9m40s (9:40)
"So be it... Jedi. You'll find Anakin on the planet Mustafar. Let's see how you fair against my new apprentice... Hahahahahahahahaha..."(Star Wars: Lightsaber Battle Game)
"George Lucas has also stated that Anakin’s power was on par with Palpatine’s during Revenge of the Sith"
- Sources:
"From then on, he wasn't as strong as the Emperor - he was like Darth Maul or Count Dooku."(George Lucas | Rolling Stone - George Lucas and the Cult of Darth Vader [link])
"and, when ranking all his characters in combat ability, listed him as a level 9—alongside only Palpatine, Yoda, and Mace Windu, and firmly above level 8s like Obi-Wan."
- Sources:
"George Lucas works on a system of levels ... His style has changed a bit since Episode II, when he was only a level seven. On this he's a level nine ... The highest is nbine, occupied by a small number of capable sword masters, including Yoda and Darth Sidious."(Nick Gillard | The Official Star Wars Website - Homing Beacon #126 [link])
"Sidious is a level nine [out of ten]. On this film, Obi is eight--he's moved up--Anakin is a nine; Mace is a nine; Yoda is a nine. They're up with Sidious."(Nick Gillard | The Making of Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith)
"Obi-Wan is at a level 8, which is where Anakin starts. But Anakin jumps to level 9--and the difference between 8 and 9 is enormous."(Nick Gillard | Star Wars Insider #85 - The Saga Is Now Complete)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GUri1mzZAZM
"In this one, Anakin becomes a level nine. George knows the levels. George talked about levels and how it works. But it's not like a black belt, it's more like a richter scale. So the difference between eight--Obi is an eight--and a nine is enormous."(Nick Gillard | Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith DVD Commentary)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XffU0E5USxs&t=5m49s (5:49)
"Hayden in this film has gone up to a level nine. He's gone past Obi."(Nick Gillard | Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith DVD - It's All for Real: The Stunts of Episode III)
"Obi-Wan is a level eight, which is where Anakin starts. However, and jumps to a level nine, and eight and nine is huge."(Nick Gillard | Star Wars: The Official Figurine Collection #56)
"Anakin’s praise is supported by his feats, such as holding back a terrible theta storm for minutes, which Obi-Wan doubted even Yoda could do;"
- Sources:
The next storm-shield generator overloaded just as Anakin reached it. He had a split second's warning, one hammer blow from the Force. The storm seemed to hold its breath…
...and then exhaled in renewed fury as the generator erupted in a burning light show of sparks. With a scream like a wounded animal the shield directly overhead collapsed and a maelstrom of theta particles poured through the gap.
He acted on instinct - and out of sheer bloody-minded terror. Throwing up his hands he used the Force to hold back the stream of theta particles, and with a shout of rage became one with the storm shield. Rejected the storm. He thought he could feel his blood bubbling. He was losing himself, disappearing within the scarlet vortex of the Force as it consumed him and transformed him into fire.
And there was his mother, whispering again. He can help you. He was meant to help you. Furious, Anakin stood alone against the storm.
---
Every alarm in the monitoring station was sounding. Devi pushed her antigrav harness to its limits as she flung herself from station to station.
"No, no, don't do that!" she shouted, slamming switches, hitting buttons. "Don't you dare!"
"Devi!" Obi-Wan yelled. "Tell me what I can do to..."
She flung out an arm, pointing toward the generator and storm-shield status board. "Glue your eyes to those gauges. We've got one shield generator down. If another goes it's over. We're all dead. I don't even know how the rest of the shield's still holding but I don't care. It's holding and that's all that matters!"
I know how. It's Anakin. May the Force protect him.
Sick with fear for him, Obi-Wan crossed to the status board and read off the gauges, even as his stomach churned and the bile rose in his throat.
Hold on, Anakin. I'll be there as soon as I can.
Because surely not even the Chosen One could hold back a theta storm on his own.
"It was the most awful thing I've ever seen," Qui-Gon had told him, so many years ago. "Theta storms kill in two ways, you see. If you're contaminated from a distance, well, it takes a long time to die. But if you are in the storm's path it will rip you to pieces and then melt your bones. I've seen it kill both ways, and both ways arc cruel. Better to be swallowed alive by a sarlacc."
---
The moment he set foot outside the power plant he turned toward Anakin - and felt his heart thud as he saw the gaping hole in the storm shield. Felt the furious concentration of power, of the Force, in that one small place as Anakin held back the storm's might.
And then he felt the gathered villagers, their numbers growing, their fear and astonishment mounting, as they watched the stranger from Voteb do a thing that should not be humanly possible.
Hold on, Anakin. Hold on.
He turned and Force-sprinted for the endangered refinery.
---
Anakin felt the explosion heartbeats before it happened. Sweating and trembling with the effort of holding back the theta storm, ignoring the villagers who'd come to see what was going on, he tried to send Obi-Wan a warning - but his mind was so bludgeoned by the quicksilver torment of keeping the raging storm at bay that he couldn't feel his former Master's presence.
And then the refinery went up like Coruscant fireworks on Republic Day.
Screams and shouts sounded as panic surged through the Force, bright and white and stunning. Vision smearing and blearing, Anakin sought in the crowd for Teeba Jaklin. She'd come from the charter house to see what the fuss was about and remained because she couldn't believe her own eyes.
"Jaklin! Teeba Jaklin!"
She pushed and shoved and swore her way to him through the jostling villagers who pointed and gasped and were beginning to break for the refinery.
"Yes, Markl?" She scowled. "If that's even your name."
"It's my name at the moment, " he said, his teeth gritted against the relentless pain of the storm. "Teeba Jaklin, please. Find Yavid for me. Make sure he's all right."
The explosion's echoes rolled around the village, trapped beneath the barely holding shield. The red storm-glow beyond it was matched by the red glow of leaping flames. The refinery was burning. He and Jaklin stared at each other as the rest of Torbel's people ran to help, shadows in the glare of the storm. Some headed for the artesian well, for water. Others made straight for the burning building full of raw damotite.
A chilling thought struck him. Was the mineral itself flammable? That smoke - was it a toxic cloud poised to poison every last man, woman, and child beneath the storm shield?
"Teeba Jaklin! Is there danger from the..."
Her eyes were full of fear. "Yes. Not drop-dead-on-the-spot trouble but even with our secret protection we'll all of us be sickly in the next few days." She looked up at the thrashing theta storm over their heads. "Unless that clears quick soon and we can down the shields so the smoke gets to blow clean away."
"Which..." He had to pause, to rebalance himself. The effort of fighting the storm was threatening to drive him to his knees. He'd started to breathe in harsh gasping pants. "Which is- worse? The theta particles- or the damotite- smoke?"
The question made her laugh grimly. "The storm - unless it doesn't clear and we're left breathing smoke for hours on end. Then we'll be likely done for whichever way you slice the bread."
Of course they would be. The universe had a stinking sense of humor.
"You need- to find Yavid," he gasped. "If he's- not hurt he- can help you."
The look on her face said she thought they were all beyond help. "I'll look for him. How much longer before you fail, Teeb?"
He didn't know. He didn't want to think about that. "I'm- all right. Go. Please." Another deep, shuddering breath. "Find Yavid."
They were alone now, save for the men working on the shield generator. Jaklin turned away from him. "Guyne! How soon before that generator's fixed?"
The oldest of the four feverishly tinkering men spared her a glance. "Going as fast as we can, Jaklin. Half the circuits are burned out. "
Anakin tightened his hold on the Force, feeling the seethe and surge of the storm like living fire. "I can- hold on, Teeba. Don't- worry- about me. Just go. Go!"
Half step by half step, Jaklin retreated. In the garish light her eyes were narrowed. A muscle worked along her jaw. "I know what you are, young Teeb. You're..."
"Not- now, " he said, almost groaning. "Please. Find Yavid. Tell him- I'll get there- soon as- I can. "
Instead of answering, she turned to look at Guyne one last time. "Could be our lives are with you now, old Teeb," she said, her voice cracking. "Don't you be letting us down."
His teeth showed briefly in his thin, seamed face. "Not planning to, old Teeba. Get on now. Rikkard'll have need of you."
Anakin took another rib-cracking breath. "Teeba..."
"I know," she snapped, retreating. "Yavid. I said I'd look, and I will. I'm an honest one - even if you aren't."
She broke into a flat-footed run. He watched her for a few short, uneven strides, feeling Guyne's measured stare.
Don't look at me, old man. Fix that generator, would you?
Anakin hurt so much now it would be easy just to... give in. Give up. Let go. But he couldn't do that. Hundreds of lives were depending on him. He had to stand here and take it until the generator was fixed - or his heart gave out. So he closed his eyes. Whether it made sense or not he always found it easier to focus his will when cocooned in darkness.
With sight denied him all his other senses leapt to keener life. The stink of the shield generator's scorched circuitry. The stink of burning damotite from the exploded refinery. The stink of his own sweat. He heard - felt - three more explosions. Smaller this time, in swift succession. There were shouts, sirens. Sounds and echoes drumming. The worst of the Force's insistent warning had faded, leaving him scoured hollow and stunned. Now all he felt in the Force was confusion, fear and pain. Everything he usually felt, no matter where he was. It was terrible and yet, in the strangest way, also comforting. He knew how to deal with that.
It was the unknown that made him nervous.
How long had he been standing here, holding back the storm? Probably less than an hour. It felt like days. Years. He didn't have much time before the choice of whether to let go or endure would be out of his hands. Even the Chosen One had limits.
He remembered himself as a small boy, boasting to Qui-Gon at his mother's rough table.
Has anyone ever seen a Podrace? I'm the only human who can do it.
And now he was probably the only Jedi who could turn himself into a living storm shield.
It isn't boasting. It's the truth. I've got a knack for beating the odds.
Now all he had to do was beat these odds for just a little bit longer…
Sweat pouring, heart pounding, dimly aware that he was burning himself out, Anakin clung to the Force like a child to its mother's hand. Time passed. He passed with it, in silence.
"All right," said Giuyne at last. "I think that's got it. Teeb Markl..."
Stirring, he opened his eyes. "Teeb?"
"We're going to try the generator. Get ready."
He managed to nod.
The other three men stepped back from the generator as Guyne, sore and sorry and tired, took a deep breath and reconnected the power supply. He flipped a series of switches, waited- waited- then activated the shield.
With a sizzling hum the storm shield came back online. Guyne and his three friends cheered, tiredly ecstatic... and Anakin slumped, falling boneless and graceless to the hard, dry ground.
He could feel himself shaking. Teeth chattering, lungs aching for air, he rolled on to his side and curled into a ball. His lightsaber, undiscovered, banged against his ribs as Torbel swung and spun around him. Vaguely he was aware of agitated voices calling his name and concerned hands poking and prodding to see if he was still in one piece. He couldn't say. He couldn't answer their anxious, shouted questions. He couldn't even tell if he was still hurting or if what he felt now was just the memory of pain. Only once before had he ever felt anything close to this, and that was on Geonosis, in the cave, after Dooku's savage Force lightning had come close to killing him. After a while... eons... the worst of the shuddering passed. He opened his eyes, uncurled his spine and looked up. Yes, Torbel had a storm shield - and it wasn't him. On the other side of the plasma the theta storm continued to spit radioactive rage.
Spit away. I don't care. You're not getting in.
He rolled onto his hands and knees and then levered himself upright. Reaching hands helped him, and he was grateful for that. Red and black spots danced before his eyes. He had to blink and blink to clear his vision.
"Steady there, young Teeb," said Guyne, holding tight to his elbow. "Went down hard, you did. Just you catch your breath."
"I'm all right," he said, and was startled to hear how raw his voice sounded. Staggering, he turned to look across the darkened village toward the refinery. The flames were dying down, and the smoke. But the air was still tainted and thick. He tried not to think about the poison he was sucking into his lungs.
He looked back at Guyne. "Stay here and keep an eye on that generator, Teeb. And if it looks like blowing again send for me. I'll come back."
In the shifting light the old villager's salt-gray eyebrows lifted. "Mighty sure of yourself you are, for a young Teeb," he said, very dry. "Never knew a Lanteeban farmer with your knack of taking charge. Never knew any farmer could hold back a theta storm, neither. Not with the power of his mind."
Behind him, his friends nodded agreement, a small knot of suspicion even though they were grateful.
Anakin sighed. "Teeb Guyne, we both know I'm not a farmer. Will you stay here?"
"We'll stay," said Guyne, nodding. "And if we're needful of a Jedi we'll know where to look."
Wonderful. Obi-Wan's going to kill me.
He had no hope of Force-sprinting his way to the ruined refinery. The vicious edge of his pain had dulled, but every bone and muscle and sinew still ached. His sense of the Force was fiercely dimmed... and how long it would take for his numb shock to subside he couldn't begin to guess. He'd never exhausted himself like this before.
There's a first time for everything, I suppose. I just really wish that this wasn't it.
Gagging at the stench of burned damotite, he pushed himself into a stumbling run, left the villagers behind him and went in search of Obi-Wan.(Star Wars: Clone Wars Gambit - Siege)
Anakin's face went still. "I didn't have a choice, Master. The shield collapsed and the storm- I couldn't let it..."
"I know you couldn't. I'm not angry. If anything, I'm astonished. Anakin, what you managed..." Obi-Wan shook his head. "I'm not certain that Yoda himself could've held this wretched storm back the way you did, for as long as you did. You saved the village."(Star Wars: Clone Wars Gambit - Siege)
"easily brutalizing Dooku (
) into submission after tapping into the dark side;"- Sources:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nDGh2tWjgGY&t=130s (2:10)(Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith)
This is the death of Count Dooku:
A starburst of clarity blossoms within Anakin Skywalker's mind, when he says to himself Oh. I get it, now and discovers that the fear within his heart can be a weapon, too.
It is that simple, and that complex.
And it is final.
Dooku is dead already. The rest is mere detail.
The play is still on; the comedy of lightsabers flashes and snaps and hisses. Dooku & Skywalker, a one-time-only command performance, for an audience of one. Jedi and Sith and Sith and Jedi, spinning, whirling, crashing together, slashing and chopping, parrying, binding, slipping and whipping and ripping the air around them with snarls of power.
And all for nothing, because a nuclear flame has consumed Anakin Skywalker's Jedi restraint, and fear becomes fury without effort, and fury is a blade that makes his lightsaber into a toy.
The play goes on, but the suspense is over. It has become mere pantomime, as intricate and as meaningless as the space-time curves that guide galactic clusters through a measureless cosmos.
Dooku's decades of combat experience are irrelevant. His mastery of swordplay is useless. His vast wealth, his political influence, impeccable breeding, immaculate manners, exquisite taste-the pursuits and points of pride to which he has devoted so much of his time and attention over the long, long years of his life-are now chains hung upon his spirit, bending his neck before the ax.
Even his knowledge of the Force has become a joke.
It is this knowledge that shows him his death, makes him handle it, turn it this way and that in his mind, examine it in detail like a black gemstone so cold it burns. Dooku's elegant farce has degenerated into bathetic melodrama, and not one shed tear will mark the passing of its hero.
But for Anakin, in the fight there is only terror, and rage.
Only he stands between death and the two men he loves best in all the world, and he can no longer afford to hold anything back. That imaginary dead-star dragon tries its best to freeze away his strength, to whisper him that Dooku has beaten him before, that Dooku has all the power of the darkness, to remind him how Dooku took his hand, how Dooku could strike down even Obi-Wan himself seemingly without effort and now Anakin is all alone and he will never be a match for any Lord of the Sith-But Palpatine's words rage is your weapon have given Anakin permission to unseal the shielding around his furnace heart, and all his fears and all his doubts shrivel in its flame.
When Count Dooku flies at him, blade flashing, Watto's fist cracks out from Anakin's childhood to knock the Sith Lord tumbling back.
When with all the power that the dark side can draw from throughout the universe, Dooku hurls a jagged fragment of the durasteel table, Shmi Skywalker's gentle murmur I knew you would come for me, Anakin smashes it aside.
His head has been filled with the smoke from his smothered heart for far too long; it has been the thunder that darkens his mind. On Aargonar, on Jabiim, in the Tusken camp on Tatooine, that smoke had clouded his mind, had blinded him and left him flailing in the dark, a mindless machine of slaughter; but here now, within this ship, this microscopic cell of life in the infinite sterile desert of space, his firewalls have opened so that the terror and the rage are out there, in the fight instead of in his head, and Anakin's mind is clear as a crystal bell.
In that pristine clarity, there is only one thing he must do.
Decide.
So he does.
He decides to win.
He decides that Dooku should lose the same hand he took. Decision is reality, here: his blade moves simultaneously with his will and blue fire vaporizes black Corellian nanosilk and disintegrates flesh and shears bone, and away falls a Sith Lord's lightsaber hand, trailing smoke that tastes of charred meat and burned hair. The hand falls with a bar of scarlet blaze still extending from its spastic death grip, and Anakin's heart sings for the fall of that red blade.
He reaches out and the Force catches it for him.
And then Anakin takes Dooku's other hand as well.
Dooku crumples to his knees, face blank, mouth slack, and his weapon whirs through the air to the victor's hand, and Anakin finds his vision of the future happening before his eyes: two blades at Count Dooku's throat.
But here, now, the truth belies the dream. Both lightsabers are in his hands, and the one in his hand of flesh flares with the synthetic bloodshine of a Sith blade.
Dooku, cringing, shrinking with dread, still finds some hope in his heart that he is wrong, that Palpatine has not betrayed him, that this has all been proceeding according to plan-Until he hears "Good, Anakin! Good! I knew you could do it!" and registers this is Palpatine's voice and feels within the darkest depths of all he is the approach of the words that are to come next.
"Kill him," Palpatine says. "Kill him now."
In Skywalker's eyes he sees only flames.
"Chancellor, please!" he gasps, desperate and helpless, his aristocratic demeanor invisible, his courage only a bitter memory. He is reduced to begging for his life, as so many of his victims have. "Please, you promised me immunity! We had a deal! Help me!"
And his begging gains him a share of mercy equal to that |which he has dispensed.
"A deal only if you released me," Palpatine replies, cold as intergalactic space. "Not if you used me as bait to kill my friends."
And he knows, then, that all has indeed been going according to plan. Sidious's plan, not his own. This had been a Jedi trap indeed, but Jedi were not the quarry.
They were the bait.
"Anakin," Palpatine says quietly. "Finish him."
Years of Jedi training make Anakin hesitate; he looks down upon Dooku and sees not a Lord of the Sith but a beaten, broken, cringing old man.
"I shouldn't-"
But when Palpatine barks, "Do it! Now!" Anakin realizes that this isn't actually an order. That it is, in fact, nothing more than what he's been waiting for his whole life.
Permission.
And Dooku-As he looks up into the eyes of Anakin Skywalker for the final time, Count Dooku knows that he has been deceived not just today, but for many, many years. That he has never been the true apprentice. That he has never been the heir to the power of the Sith. He has been only a tool.
His whole life - all his victories, all his struggles, all his heritage, all his principles and his sacrifices, everything he's done, everything he owns, everything he's been, all his dreams and grand vision for the future Empire and the Army of Sith - have been only a pathetic sham, because all of them, all of him, add up only to this.
He has existed only for this.
This.
To be the victim of Anakin Skywalker's first cold-blooded murder.
First but not, he knows, the last.
Then the blades crossed at his throat uncross like scissors.
Snip.
And all of him becomes nothing at all.(Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith adult novelization)
“Dooku technically should have known he was going to lose. I mean, we tried to show it through the fight that suddenly he’s thinking ‘Oh my god, this kid is something else, I’m in trouble’, but I don’t know if that came across.”(Nick Gillard | Tatooine Times Fan Website - Behind the Scenes of Revenge of the Sith: Interview with Nick Gillard)
"killing Cin Drallig, one of the Order’s most skilled swordsmen, in seconds;"
- Sources:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hwCeUYRRoRU&t=1m40s (1:40)(Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith)
OBI-WAN moves to a panel and flips some switches. He sees a HOLOGRAM of ANAKIN slaughtering JEDI, including the YOUNG ONES.(Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith script)
Stone-faced, Obi-Wan watched younglings run into the room, fleeing a storm of blasterfire; he watched Cin Drallig and a pair of teenage Padawans-was that Whie, the boy Yoda had brought to Vjun?-backing into the scene, blades whirling, cutting down the advancing clone troopers with deflected bolts. He watched a lightsaber blade flick into the shot, cutting down first one Padawan, then the other. He watched the brisk stride of a caped figure who hacked through Drallig's shoulder, then stood aside as the old Troll fell dying to let the rest of the clones blast the children to shreds.(Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith adult novelization)
And then a lightsaber flashed, held by a cloaked figure who cut down Jedi after Jedi, and Obi-Wan leaned forward. The figure turned. It was Anakin.(Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith junior novelization)
Even the Jedi Temple's finest swordmaster is no match for Anakin Skywalker and the stormtroopers of the 501st Legion.(Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith - The Visual Dictionary)
A blue lightsaber appeared at the edge of the holo, beating down the defense of the first Padawan and slashing through his torso, then slipping past the guard of the other one and cutting him down as well. The back of a blond head and a pair of caped shoulders appeared behind the blue blade and began to carry the attack to the stoop-shouldered Jedi.
The two stood battling toe-to-toe for only an instant before the caped figure slipped a strike and brought his own blade down on the defender's stooped shoulder, cleaving him deep into the torso. The Jedi's gnarled face paled with shock, and he collapsed in too much pain to scream.(Star Wars: Dark Nest II - The Unseen Queen)
"and even defeating Mace Windu in the Lucasfilm-approved alternate continuity of the video game adaption of Revenge of the Sith."
- Sources:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SmusQi5dzEw(Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith video game)
Working closely with famed Star Wars stunt coordinator Nick Gillard, the development team is creating the most authentic lightsaber combat ever with choreography taken directly from the films as well as many new stunts created exclusively for the game under the auspices of Gillard. Expanding on the upcoming movie, the game will take place in never-before-seen locations that will give fans a sneak peek into the highly anticipated Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith film, releasing worldwide on May 19, 2005.
A special advance behind-the-scenes preview of the Star Wars: Episode III video game will be available on the Star Wars Trilogy DVD slated for release September 21, 2004. This special feature reveals what makes the game the truest and most cinematic Jedi fantasy fulfillment ever produced in a Star Wars video game. Follow the game developers as they visit the movie set in Australia and work with George Lucas, Hayden Christensen and Stunt Coordinator Nick Gillard to capture every nuance of the Jedi ways.(LucasArts Press Release - LucasArts Focuses the Force on Upcoming Star Wars: Episode III Video Game [link])
“Of course, we didn’t mention Anakin deflecting a Jedi Temple-destroying superlaser..."
- Sources:
(Star Wars: The Clone Wars - Comic UK 6.22)
[hideedit]
- Suspect InsightAdministrator
How Powerful is Darth Krayt/A'Sharad Hett? | Darth Krayt/A'Sharad Hett Respect Thread
September 2nd 2020, 12:58 pm
5/6. DARTH KRAYT / A'SHARAD HETT
"DARTH KRAYT is the last great Sith Lord of the Legends timeline, reigning over 130 years after the events of the films, although he is actually born as A'SHARAD HETT before The Phantom Menace, and fights as a Jedi Master in the Clone Wars."
"After Order 66, he becomes the leader of the Tusken Raiders and has a run-in with Obi-Wan Kenobi in exile, putting up an impressive fight before losing."
"After learning from the Holocron of XoXaan, one of the founding Sith Lords, and being tortured and experimented on by the Yuuzhan Vong, Hett falls to the dark side, growing far more powerful and forming his own Sith Order under the Rule of One—many Sith as extensions of the will of a single leader."
"though he emerges from hiding to defeat the eldritch abomination Abeloth alongside Luke Skywalker."
"He even comes back from the dead once, more powerful than ever,"
"and with the ability to perceive shatterpoints and pour energy into them, breaking even lightsaber-resistant objects,"
"until he is permanently vanquished by Cade Skywalker."
[hideedit]
"DARTH KRAYT is the last great Sith Lord of the Legends timeline, reigning over 130 years after the events of the films, although he is actually born as A'SHARAD HETT before The Phantom Menace, and fights as a Jedi Master in the Clone Wars."
"After Order 66, he becomes the leader of the Tusken Raiders and has a run-in with Obi-Wan Kenobi in exile, putting up an impressive fight before losing."
- Sources:
(Star Wars: Legacy #16 - Claws of the Dragon - Part 3)
Hett's hands dropped to his belt and the two lightsabers practically leapt into his gloved hands. He ignited both weapons at once, unleashing their identical green energy beams. He swung fast with the lightsaber in his right hand but Ben blocked it. The lightsabers sizzled loudly as they clashed.
It was fortunate for Ben that he had continued his Jedi exercises on Tatooine, that he had not allowed his reflexes to become dull. He did not think about how long it had been since he had last used his lightsaber in combat. Nor did he consider that he was older than Hett by at least a decade, or Hett's considerable skills with his own weapons, and that the Tusken was far more experienced at fighting in the desert. Ben knew that any such thoughts would probably only get him killed.
As prepared as Ben was for many things, he was not ready to die. Not yet. Not today. Hett brought his other lightsaber in at a sharp angle, forcing Ben to lurch back. Ben gripped his own weapon with both hands as he swung at Hett's legs, but Hett blocked the swipe. There was another loud sizzle as the blades dragged across each other.
Ben gasped as Hett launched a powerful kick to his midriff. The kick knocked Ben off his feet, and as he fell back through the air, Hett hurled one of his lightsabers at Ben's body. Ben clung tight to his own lightsaber as he twisted his body in midair to avoid being struck by the spinning blade of Hett's weapon. The moment Hett's lightsaber whipped past Ben's head, Hett used the Force to retrieve it, drawing it back to his waiting left hand.
As Hett caught the lightsaber, Ben rolled up from the ground and swung out again. Hett blocked the strike with his right lightsaber, then threw his left arm forward to smash his other lightsaber's handle into Ben's jaw. Ben ignored the painful jolt to his head and reflexively brought his blade up high, forcing Hett to block the blow with his right lightsaber and leaving his own midsection briefly exposed. Before Hett could strike with his other lightsaber, Ben kicked him hard in the stomach.
Hett grunted, but he didn't go down. He lashed out again at Ben, kicking up sand as he moved in for the kill. Not one of the mounted Tuskens so much as flinched as they watched the duel, nor did they rally for their chief. They merely watched in silence, waiting for the outcome.
Ben blocked each blow, but he wasn't doing it with ease. Hett was far more experienced at fighting on the sand and in the desert heat. Ben knew that his opponent would never surrender, let alone withdraw. As much as he hoped to avoid killing Hett, he also knew that they couldn't keep fighting indefinitely.
But in the end, Ben knew he wasn't fighting for his own life. He was fighting for Luke's.
Quickly raising his left hand, Ben used the Force to push out at Hett, shoving him back through the air as Ben's lightsaber swept up and through Hett's right arm. Hett shouted as his arm fell away from his body. As Hett stumbled back, Ben used the Force to tear Hett's other lightsaber from his left hand's grip. Both of Hett's lightsabers deactivated as they sailed past Ben and landed in the sand behind him.(Star Wars: The Life and Legend of Obi-Wan Kenobi)
"After learning from the Holocron of XoXaan, one of the founding Sith Lords, and being tortured and experimented on by the Yuuzhan Vong, Hett falls to the dark side, growing far more powerful and forming his own Sith Order under the Rule of One—many Sith as extensions of the will of a single leader."
- Sources:
"My brethren and I invented what it means to be a Sith. Are you willing to open yourself to that truth?"
"Master... I am."(XoXaan and A'Sharad Hett | Star Wars: Legacy #17 - Claws of the Dragon - Part 4)
Over time, he gained a great deal of strength in the Force, much of which came from collections of Sith lore he discovered in his travels to Korriban.(The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia)
"And this XoXaan made him the grancha Sith Lorda he is today, I’ll bet."
"XoXaan opened the Dragon’s eyes, but he could still not see the power within the darkness until he met the Yuuzhan Vong. And with the scales fallen from his eyes, Darth Krayt embraced the dark side."(Cade Skywalker and Darth Talon | Star Wars: Legacy #17 - Claws of the Dragon - Part 4)
"I told myself I had only been pretending to be a Sith acolyte. I told myself I only desired new skills -- weapons with which to avenge myself on Vader and Palpatine."
"Vergere taught me to use the agony of the Embrace of Pain to open myself to the dark side."(Darth Krayt | Star Wars: Legacy #18 - Claws of the Dragon - Part 5)
"though he emerges from hiding to defeat the eldritch abomination Abeloth alongside Luke Skywalker."
- Sources:
Luke turned to follow-and there she was, a gray silhouette just emerging from the Mists of Forgetfulness, her long saffron hair cascading almost down to the water, her tiny pinpoint eyes shining out of sockets as deep as wells.
Luke's hand dropped to his hip, automatically reaching for a lightsaber that did not exist beyond shadows. He tried to continue the motion and bring it up to deliver a blast of Force energy, but Abeloth had already launched her own attack by then, delivering a bolt of Force lightning that blasted straight through the stranger into Luke. He felt himself fly backward, consumed by pain, his entire being a column of blue, crackling Force flame.
---
The white points at the bottom of Abeloth's eyes flared into nests of blue lightning, which kept growing larger and flashing brighter until they finally spilled out of the sockets to engulf her whole head. Luke hurled another blast of Force energy in her direction, then braced himself to take the most devastating counterattack yet. The counterattack never came.
Instead, the Force blast rocked Abeloth up on one leg, where she hung teetering over the Lake of Apparitions for a thousand heartbeats. Luke's chest was a searing ache around a fist-sized scorch hole, and his Force essence was bleeding out from a dozen smaller wounds, leaving a crescent of twinkling light spread across the dark water. He sprang anyway.
Abeloth only seemed to sag, and it appeared that she might tumble into the water in the eternity it was taking to reach her. But that would have been too easy. Luke and the Sith stranger had been hurling Force attacks at her for a lifetime-or perhaps it was a mere eyeblink-and this was the first time she had shown any reaction.
Then Luke was there at Abeloth's side, stomp-kicking her legs, knife-handing her throat, grabbing for her head. It was like cotton striking gauze-no popping ligaments or crunching cartilage, just Force essence pushing into Force essence. But the damage was done. Luke's foot went through Abeloth's knee; her leg buckled. His hand sank into her larynx, and she drew back wheezing.
He pivoted around behind her, swinging one arm around her shoulder and grabbing for her chin, slipping the other arm up under hers and pressing his wrist into her neck. But grappling was different beyond shadows. There were no pressure points or joint locks or choke holds, only his presence merging with hers, binding him to her in a writhing knot of energy.
Tentacles began to lash at his face, probing for his nose and ears and mouth. A pair of gray tips shot into view, blurring and growing large. Luke closed both eyes and turned away, but not quickly enough. The right eye socket exploded in pain, and everything went dark on that side of his head.
The tattooed stranger stepped in from the left, then slid to the front and drove his stiffened fingers deep into the pit of Abeloth's stomach. A black spray erupted from the wound, and she writhed in pain as the stranger probed for something to grab.
Abeloth loosed a Force blast, trying to drive the stranger off. He held tight. So did Luke, and all three went tumbling across the lake in a snarled mass of limbs and tentacles.
Then Luke felt an icy twinge between his shoulder blades. The twinge became a sting, and he began to feel something cold flowing down the center of his back. His first thought was Abeloth, that she had sunk a tentacle into his spine-until the lashing of her tentacles slowed and she began to shudder.
Luke did not understand until an eternity later, when the stranger rolled up on his feet and jerked them all to a halt. The Sith seemed to be growing stronger as Abeloth grew weaker, and there were wisps of dark fume swirling off his shoulders and head. It did not take a Jedi Grand Master to understand that Luke was being betrayed by a Force-draining technique.
Still holding Abeloth tight, Luke shifted his hips, rolling them both onto their sides, and kicked a foot through the stranger's knee. The joint buckled, and the Sith dropped onto the surface of the dark water, still on the opposite side of Abeloth from Luke.
"I'll release her!" Luke warned.
"Abeloth?" The stranger shook his head. "Never."
Despite the Sith's words, the cold stinging inside began to subside, and Luke realized the stranger was not pulling as hard. Abeloth continued to struggle, slipping a pair of tentacles around Luke's throat and trying to tear herself free. But she was growing weak faster than Luke.
The draining seemed to continue for days; then the stranger threw back his head and screamed in anguish, and it suddenly seemed that only a breath had passed. Shiny black Force energy began to pour from the Sith's wounds into the lake, spreading outward around them in an oily slick so hot the water began to steam and hiss. Still, the stranger continued to drain Abeloth, and Luke realized that he was not being betrayed-the Sith was suffering as much damage from the attack as was Luke.
Abeloth whipped her chin free of Luke's hand, ripping the energy knot where they had joined and sending a sparkling line of both of their Force essences splattering across the surface of the lake. She began to roll her head around, gnashing and spitting, trying to sink her fangs into Luke's arm or the stranger's-anything she could reach.
Luke slipped his arm down around her throat and pulled hard, merging his form into hers, doing his best to keep her under control.
"Keep going," Luke urged the stranger. "Pull harder!"
---
Abeloth lay tangled in Luke's arms, a writhing mass of Force energy that had suddenly gone limp a second or a day ago, only to explode an hour or a nanosecond later into a flailing tempest that had sent them all rolling and bouncing across the Lake of Apparition's dark waters. The stranger was tumbling with them, his hand still buried in Abeloth's chest, now wailing in agony as gleaming black Force energy steamed from his wounds.
They bounced so close to the shore, Luke grew worried that Abeloth was trying to carry them away from the lake into some new place beyond shadows. And then what? His back hit the water again, and he spun them all around so that his feet were toward the shore. He planted his feet against a moss hummock and kicked off-and sent them all somersaulting back toward the center of the lake. Abeloth stopped struggling and seemed to shrink in his arms, and Luke dared to think that maybe, just maybe she had finally lost hope, that they had exhausted her to the point that she was no longer capable of fighting.
Then she was gone, leaving the stranger and Luke with nothing between them but twenty centimeters of space and the stump of the Sith's hand, now pointed at Luke's chest and still drawing Force energy, draining it not from Abeloth now, but directly from Luke.
They stayed like that for an eternity, a void of cold nothingness growing inside Luke as the stranger continued to hang in the air above, draining him. It seemed to Luke that the Sith's betrayal was premature, that they at least ought to make certain Abeloth was truly dead before they turned to fighting each other...but that was not the way Sith did things.
Luke started to bring his hand up, intending to hit the stranger with a Force blast. But before he could loose it, the Sith's feet dropped to the water's surface, and he raised his stump and pointed toward the far end of the lake.
"There!"
Luke craned his neck and saw Abeloth's silhouette backing into the Mists of Forgetfulness-with the stranger's wrist still protruding from her chest.
"Stop her!" Luke yelled. "If she disappears into that fog..."
Luke left the sentence unfinished as a fountain of oily black Force energy erupted from the protruding wrist. Abeloth's mouth gaped open, and her piercing shriek broke over the lake, reverberating across the water like a clap of thunder. Luke glanced over and saw the stranger standing beside him, pointing in her direction, using the Force to draw his missing hand back toward its stump.
Abeloth did not come dancing in to counterattack, did not even try to stand off defensively and weaken them with a blast of Force lightning. She did not have time for such tactics. Luke doubted she would have fled the battle in the first place if she were not already dying, and with her Force essence gushing out of her like a geyser, she had to attack now.
And she did.
In the next thought Abeloth was simply there in front of the stranger, driving a ball of tentacles deep into him. Luke sprang forward to help-and felt a blistering iciness slide deep into his own chest. His entire right side flared into cold anguish, and the tentacles began to dig and grab, tearing him apart inside in a way no lightsaber or blaster ever could.
Luke attacked anyway, driving an elbow strike into the side of her head. As before, there was no crunching, no physical sense of impact, only Force energy plowing through Force energy, sending waves of pain and damage rolling through them both. Luke sensed his elbow come free as it pushed out the other side of Abeloth's head. Then she simply fell away, her still-balled tentacles tearing free of both Luke and the stranger...each clutching a handful of dripping, pulsing Force essence.
The stranger collapsed with a gaping hole in his chest. Luke felt his own form grow limp and weak, and he sensed his mouth falling open to scream, then his whole body was falling, weak and aching for breath.(Star Wars: Fate of the Jedi - Apocalypse)
"He even comes back from the dead once, more powerful than ever,"
- Sources:
"I have been through death and conquered it. I have returned with my power multiplied."(Darth Krayt | Star Wars: Legacy #50 - Extremes - Part 3)
"I have become so much more than you can know, traitor."(Darth Krayt | Star Wars: Legacy - War #1)
"Death is not an ending, boy -- but it is a passageway to something greater."(Darth Krayt | Star Wars: Legacy - War #2)
"You fled our last fight -- and I am so much more now than I was then."(Darth Krayt | Star Wars: Legacy - War #6)
What no one knows is that Darth Krayt is returning better than before, with a new army of unquestionably obedient Sith Troopers, and a powerful armada of new ships...(Star Wars: Legacy - War #1)
"I went through a bunch of different looks for him, but the one that appealed to me the most was a Krayt who was Yuuzhan Vong parasite free and again in control of his body--Darth Krayt as a Sith--now at the peak of his power and willing to set the Galaxy to rights as the Force guides."(Jan Duursema | MTV - Exclusive: 'Star Wars: Legacy' Series to Continue in 'Star Wars: Legacy - War' [Link])
"I'd say Krayt understands his power better than he ever has before and he is intent on exacting revenge for Wyyrlok's transgressions."(Jan Duursema | CBR.com - Ostrander & Duursema Unleash "Star Wars: Legacy - War" [Link])
The new Krayt is old but even stronger than before, and Duursema went through many concepts while working out his new look.
"In Legacy: War we see Krayt free of the Vong parasites and at the most powerful he's ever been," she says.(Star Wars Insider #121 - Comics)
Darth Krayt has returned from the "dead," stronger, more evil, and more determined than ever to crush the galaxy under his heel.(Star Wars: Legacy - War #1 - Publisher's Summary)
It's an all-out war as the Sith emperor returns from the dead-stronger, more evil, more determined, and prepared to unleash a new secret weapon upon the galaxy!(Star Wars: Legacy - Volume 11 - War - Publisher's Summary)
"and with the ability to perceive shatterpoints and pour energy into them, breaking even lightsaber-resistant objects,"
- Sources:
[Description: The Muur Talisman withstands a direct lightsaber strike from Celeste Morne but is destroyed by Cade Skywalker's Dark Transfer.]
(Star Wars: Rebellion #16 - Vector - Part 8)
"You think your stinkin’ Talisman’s so karking perfect, Muur? Well, it ain’t. I can see every flaw. All I have to do is pour the Force into the cracks…"(Cade Skywalker | Star Wars: Legacy #31 - Vector - Part 12)
[Description: Darth Krayt uses and explains Dark Transfer and its shatterpoint qualities to Cade Skywalker.]
"Oh yes. You see them, don't you, Skywalker -- red lines of fire -- the shatterpoints of your own tenuous existence. I needed to experience death to understand how you did it, but you showed me how to use this dark transfer of energy -- how to heal... and how to kill."(Darth Krayt | Star Wars: Legacy - War #6)
"until he is permanently vanquished by Cade Skywalker."
- Sources:
(Star Wars: Legacy - War #6)
[hideedit]
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How Powerful is Irek Ismaren/Lord Nyax? | Irek Ismaren/Lord Nyax Respect Thread
September 2nd 2020, 12:59 pm
4. IREK ISMAREN / LORD NYAX
"The number 4 spot belongs to IREK ISMAREN, also known as LORD NYAX. Like Kueller, Ismaren is a little known character, prominently appearing in only the 2002 novel The New Jedi Order: Enemy Lines II: Rebel Stand, set 23 years after Return of the Jedi."
"Standing over 3 meters tall with eight lightsabers protruding from his heavy armor,"
"Nyax is more a hulking beast than a man and wages an almost apocalyptic battle against a forty-four year old Luke Skywalker and other Jedi."
"Nyax’s armor and AI-controlled lightsabers prevent Luke from defeating him in close combat,"
"and Nyax proves even more powerful with the Force at the time."
"After harnessing a hidden power source in the depths of the Jedi Temple and threatening to crack the planet Coruscant in two,"
"Nyax is only stopped through deception and Yuuzhan Vong orbital bombardment,"
"but even then he survives to fight another day."
[hideedit]
"The number 4 spot belongs to IREK ISMAREN, also known as LORD NYAX. Like Kueller, Ismaren is a little known character, prominently appearing in only the 2002 novel The New Jedi Order: Enemy Lines II: Rebel Stand, set 23 years after Return of the Jedi."
"Standing over 3 meters tall with eight lightsabers protruding from his heavy armor,"
- Sources:
Luke tried to wave the excess verbiage away. "What was the Subject?"
"A human male. He and a human female came to occupy this complex thirteen years ago. Later, another male joined them for a time. They had proper authorization, and controlled droids that could activate the turbo-Hft control in the tank above. Months after their arrival, the second male left, and the first male was operated on and installed in the suspended-animation unit."
"Human males don't grow to be three meters tall."
"They do if subjected to specific growth hormones and cybernetic stimulation for years starting in childhood or adolescence."
"So who is this human male?"
"Unknown, sir. His identity was never provided to us, nor the nature of its armor modifications." Before Luke could ask, the droid hurried on, "It had hypoallergenk: armor plates installed in its torso, head, elbows, and knees. The portions of its brain pertaining to human memory were largely replaced by computer apparatus. We of the maintenance staff concluded that it was to be a war machine of some sort, but beyond that we knew nothing."(CPD 1-13 and Luke Skywalker | Star Wars: The New Jedi Order - Enemy Lines II - Rebel Stand)
"Nyax is more a hulking beast than a man and wages an almost apocalyptic battle against a forty-four year old Luke Skywalker and other Jedi."
- Sources:
"Nyax’s armor and AI-controlled lightsabers prevent Luke from defeating him in close combat,"
- Sources:
When Luke Skywalker and his infiltration team discovered Nyax, they were forced into battle in order to stop the monster from adding to the troubles plaguing the New Republic. They were unable to battle him with lightsabers...(The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia)
"and Nyax proves even more powerful with the Force at the time."
- Sources:
"We're going down there." Luke closed his eyes, just for a moment, as the weight of that decision pressed upon him. He was about to lead his wife and a teenager into a situation he wasn't sure he could handle, a situation that was likely to get them all killed. He looked at Face again. "If we die here, the other Jedi need to know about Lord Nyax. You're going to tell them."
Face thought about it, his smile disappearing. "I normally try to argue against suicide missions."
"But you know what Lord Nyax can do."(Star Wars: The New Jedi Order - Enemy Lines II - Rebel Stand)
"We have to help," Luke said.
Mara turned. Luke was wrapping the cord of his beltgrapnel, long abandoned but definitely a useful tool for the exploration of Coruscant's lower reaches, around the metal beam.
"Help who?"
"Help the Vong. Yeah, I know, I know, it's something you've never heard anyone say before." Luke rolled off the beam and fell, his descent arrested by his hand on the cord; more cord deployed from his belt as he descended. "I'm not worried about the fate of the Yuuzhan Vong," he told her. "But we desperately need any resources we can use against Lord Nyax."(Star Wars: The New Jedi Order - Enemy Lines II - Rebel Stand)
Lord Nyax led the three Jedi on a high-speed run through the ruins of Coruscant. He could travel faster than they could, because from time to time he'd simply leap from one building to the next one over, usually a leap too great for them to match.(Star Wars: The New Jedi Order - Enemy Lines II - Rebel Stand)The pale thing fought with a savagery and speed unlike those of any warrior he had ever seen. And it was untrained. With his experienced warrior's eye, he could see that its movements were instinctive, a fact revealed in the creature's failure to throw effective combinations of blows, its inability to gauge which way its enemies would leap when it attacked them.(Denua Ku | Star Wars: The New Jedi Order - Enemy Lines II - Rebel Stand)
As their vehicle came closer to Nyax, Luke stretched forth his hand. He snatched a portion of the rubble stream from beneath them, bent its course, sent it hurtling toward Nyax. Nyax reacted without moving, regaining control of the stream, hurling it at Luke.(Star Wars: The New Jedi Order - Enemy Lines II - Rebel Stand)
Upon further investigation, they learned that this figure was in fact a tall and enigmatic human male, who had been genetically altered and technologically enhanced to possess incredible dark-side energies. Only the combined Force skills of Luke, Mara, and a young Jedi called Tahiri were able to bring this new and deadly foe down.(The Official Star Wars Fact File 57)
"After harnessing a hidden power source in the depths of the Jedi Temple and threatening to crack the planet Coruscant in two,"
- Sources:
Then he saw Nyax, standing beneath the hole in the black wall. The hole, one of the construction droid's wrecking claws still within it, was twenty meters up. Nyax danced on the pile of rubble beneath it. His was the uncoordinated, artless, dance of a child. It was a dance of joy.
Mara rose beside him. Luke had known she was unhurt.
"Force energy," she whispered.
This must have been a wellspring of it, he thought. The old Jedi Temple must have been built above because it was here. They were guarding it. And guarding the planet from it.
Nyax finished dancing. He turned to look at the Jedi. His expression was so full of uncomplicated happiness that it seemed impossible that he would ever try to hurt them.
Nor did he attack them now. He simply raised a hand.
Above him, a portion of the ceiling, a plug some ten meters across, shot straight up and out of sight. Debris rained down, but drifted to one side before it could hit Nyax. Tremendous crashing noises emerged from the hole above, and the walls all around them began to shake.
Tahiri joined Luke and Mara, tucking something away in her backpack. "We're in trouble," she said.
---
Power flowed through Nyax, such power as no being alive had ever felt. He could reach down into this world, reach through the false crust beneath him, through the natural stone crust beneath that, all the way to where stone turned to sluggish fluid and through to where superheated metals ran like river water. He could crack this world in two, could force the meaningless worker-things to convey him to another, and crack that one, too.(Luke Skywalker and Irek Ismaren | Star Wars: The New Jedi Order - Enemy Lines II - Rebel Stand)
"Nyax is only stopped through deception and Yuuzhan Vong orbital bombardment,"
- Sources:
Nyax raised his hands. He would crack the stone they rode on and send it and them hurtling down into the ruins.
Something slammed into his back, just below the point where his internal armor plate protected him. His eyes snapped wide. He had not felt it coming. He used his power to overcome the pain.
A second thing struck him. He felt bones in his lower hack shatter. Numbness flowed across his legs. He exerted greater control over himself, desperately trying to force sensation into those limbs, as he turned.
His third antagonist, the smaller female with the yellow hair, rode another boulder, lying upon it and gripping it with one hand. She looked at him with alien merciless-less in her eyes. She barely registered in his special senses - she must have closed herself off to the power, reducing his ability to detect her, his ability to anticipate her moves.
Something was wrong. He had the pain under control. He was full of the power. He should be able to make anything happen, anytime.
He did not understand, for he had not been trained in the ways and use of the Force, that the catastrophic failure of the body's functions could interfere with use of the Force. All he did understand was that his control over the boulders, over the debris flow from the ever-widening hole beneath him, was faltering.
The yellow-haired female held up a third missile. It had legs that writhed as she held it.
Nyax gaped at her. It was one of the alien creatures, one of the types flung by the warriors he could not feel. Her type was not supposed to use this. Only the flat-nosed aliens were.
It was unfair. She had cheated.
Before she could throw it, Nyax lost control. He fell, screaming, into the pit he had created.
---
The power-wielders who had hurt him were not visible. But two chunks of coral he could not feel with his own power, big ones, were approaching him from two different directions.
His enemies had to be aboard them, hidden by whatever power they possessed to block his senses. Since they never gave up, they must be coming back after him. They had to be aboard because he would not sleep until they were dead.
He roared out his pain and sent ton after ton of rubble into the sky.
Kell lost altitude and slid to a landing on a rooftop four kilometers from the ziggurat. From here, they could see the two Vong mataloks, cruiser analogs, approaching from north and south.
Two sprays of rubble leapt from the hole in the ziggurat, each going after one of the mataloks. Nyax's aim was getting worse; in the first few seconds of the attack, neither Vong ship took a hit.
And both fired, raining plasma projectiles as numerous as raindrops into the ziggurat.
Luke jerked as he felt his flesh burn. He looked at his arm, but no blackness appeared there, no seared flesh. It was Nyax, his pain being transmitted to all close enough to feel it, and he could see that pain reflected in the faces of Mara, Tahiri, Danni, even Kell.
Then the rubble streams hit the mataloks. They poured across the vessels, some small portions of them being swallowed by voids, the majority eating away at the yorik coral as though it were sugar. The mataloks sideslipped, desperately trying to avoid the streams of destruction, but the rubble blasts tracked them, followed them, wore them down.
A constriction in Luke's chest, one he had been unaware of until now, suddenly loosened, vanished. "He's dead."(Irek Ismaren and Luke Skywalker | Star Wars: The New Jedi Order - Enemy Lines II - Rebel Stand)
"but even then he survives to fight another day."
- Sources:
While on Coruscant as part of a reconnaissance team, Luke Skywalker, Mara Jade Skywalker, and Tahiri Veila encounter Lord Nyax and seal him in a pit, but he escapes.(Star Wars: Jedi Academy Training Manual)
[hideedit]
- Suspect InsightAdministrator
How Powerful is Valkorion/Vitiate/Sith Emperor/Tenebrae? | Valkorion/Vitiate/Sith Emperor/Tenebrae Respect Thread
September 2nd 2020, 12:59 pm
3. VALKORION / VITIATE / SITH EMPEROR / TENEBRAE
"The first name in the top 3 is VALKORION, the Immortal Emperor of Zakuul, also known as TENEBRAE, VITIATE, and the SITH EMPEROR. This dark side entity is born over 5,000 years before the events of the movies,"
"and holds dominion as the most powerful Force-user in history for almost 1,500 years."
"He extends his lifespan with a ritual that consumes all life and Force energy on his home planet, including 8,000 Sith Lords, giving their power to him."
"He has easily dominated the minds of some of the Jedi’s most powerful warriors,"
"possessed soldiers and Sith alike on even a continental scale on the planet Ziost,"
"and further consumed all life on Ziost with a death wave of his own making."
"Valkorion has also defeated Revan, who is ranked 10 on this list, in combat multiple times,"
"and later toys with the combined might of the Outlander, Vaylin, and Arcann (), two of whom also appear on this list."
[hideedit]
"The first name in the top 3 is VALKORION, the Immortal Emperor of Zakuul, also known as TENEBRAE, VITIATE, and the SITH EMPEROR. This dark side entity is born over 5,000 years before the events of the movies,"
"and holds dominion as the most powerful Force-user in history for almost 1,500 years."
- Sources:
The Sith Emperor is the most powerful Force-user who has ever existed.(Star Wars: The Old Republic Encyclopedia)
The Sith Emperor, history's most powerful dark side master, performed a ritual of incredible scope to consume the life energy of every being on his homeworld.(Star Wars: The Old Republic Encyclopedia)
The Sith Emperor has mastered the dark side's power to become the most dominating Force-user the galaxy has ever seen.(Star Wars: The Old Republic - Codex: The Emperor's Fallen Jedi [link])
Enduring and merciless and quite possibly unkillable, Monoliths plainly illustrate the immeasurable power of their creator and are best avoided at all costs.(Star Wars: The Old Republic - Codex: The Emperor's Fallen Jedi [link])
A being of unfathomable power and insatiable appetite, he transcended death multiple times, shedding his physical shells as they were discovered, defeated, and destroyed... only to return in another form.(Star Wars: The Old Republic - Codex: The Fall of Valkorion [link])
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vItatCU5UWs&t=7m30s (7:30)
"I've struggled for centuries to preserve the galaxy. To protect future generations from the most destructive evil that's ever existed."(Revan | Star Wars: The Old Republic - Shadow of Revan)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F1ITRQQBihw&t=33m30s (33:30)
"Today, we defeated the most evil and destructive being in history."(Satele Shan | Star Wars: The Old Republic - Echoes of Vengeance)
The mysterious, all-powerful Sith Emperor rules over the Empire, and to Imperial citizens, power is everything; only the strongest ascend to glory.(Star Wars: The Old Republic Game Manual [link])
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uiHg3odlDN0&t=13m57s (13:57)
“You know I think there’s only a certain level of power, you can’t get above it. The Sith Emperor in the TOR series, it’s hard to imagine that someone gets more powerful than that. The Emperor in the movies, in the Classic Trilogy, is pretty powerful too - It’s more hinted at than explicitly shown. People don’t necessarily appreciate how powerful he is because the real trick is to not have to constantly use your full power, you need to scheme and plot and manipulate people so that you’re not constantly throwing around the world destroying abilities.”(Drew Karphysyn | YouTube - Roqoo Depot Interview with Drew Karpyshyn at CVI)
"He extends his lifespan with a ritual that consumes all life and Force energy on his home planet, including 8,000 Sith Lords, giving their power to him."
- Sources:
“He stayed there for a hundred years. When Marka Ragnos fell, Lord Vitiate did not join in the mad rush to claim his position. He was not part of the Great Hyperspace War against the Republic. When Naga Sadow and Ludo Kressh fought for leadership of the Sith, he took no side. But in the aftermath of the war—after our defeat at the hands of the Republic and our flight to escape the massacre of our people by the Jedi—he emerged from his solitude to call a great council of all the Sith Lords who remained. He invited them to his palace on Nathema, built on the site of his childhood home, the place where he had killed his adopted father and tortured his mother to death. He invited them to participate in a ritual to unlock the full potential of the dark side; he promised they would unleash power beyond anything they had ever witnessed or imagined.”
“Didn’t they suspect a trap?”
“Perhaps.” Nyriss shrugged. “Some refused to answer his call. But many more came. After all, what could one man do against a hundred Sith Lords? Remember, he was not the Emperor back then. He was merely Lord Vitiate, ruler of a single planet of no particular importance. He hadn’t fought in any battles of note or achieved any great victories or conquests beyond his homeworld. He had the reputation of a scholar, not a warrior.
“And the Sith Lords were driven by fear. Many thought the Jedi would soon wipe them all out. They were desperate for anything they could use as a weapon against the servants of the light side. Lord Vitiate played upon these fears, convincing those who answered his call to set aside their suspicions of him and of one another to join in a single glorious cause.
“Once they arrived on Nathema, they quickly fell under Lord Vitiate’s control. He dominated their minds, crushed their resistance. He turned them into slaves to his will, forcing them to participate in the most complex ritual of Sith sorcery ever attempted. Calling on the dark side, Lord Vitiate devoured them. He fed on their power, absorbing it into himself, utterly obliterating all traces of his victims.
“But the ritual was not confined to the doomed Sith Lords. They were but the eye of the storm; the center of a vortex that spread across the entire planet. Every man, woman, and child on Nathema died that day. Every beast, bird, and fish; all the insects and plants; every living being touched by the Force was consumed. When the ritual ended, Nathema was no longer a world. It was a husk sucked dry. Lord Vitiate sacrificed millions, stealing their life force to make himself immortal. Their deaths also made him stronger than any Sith who had come before, and he ceased to be known as Lord Vitiate. On that day, the Emperor was truly born.”
Scourge wondered if Nyriss expected him to be horrified by the tale. If so, she was about to be disappointed.
“The Emperor seized what was his by right,” he said. “The strong take from the weak. That is our way. Doing it on a scale of millions doesn’t change anything—it just proves he deserves to be our Emperor.”
“So I used to think,” Nyriss said, smiling ghoulishly. “And then I saw Nathema for myself.”
She didn’t say anything else for the remainder of the trip, leaving Scourge to wonder in silence why she was so confident he would come around to her side.
He felt the first hints of what was waiting for him when the shuttle dropped out of hyperspace. Through the windows of the cockpit he saw a gray-and-brown planet looming large before them. Gazing at it, he felt something strange and unsettling. Something unnatural.
It took him several moments to realize what was wrong, and even when he did, he didn’t fully grasp the implications. He wasn’t feeling the Force.
The sensation was completely alien. The Force was omnipresent. It radiated stronger in certain places and at certain times, and the balance of the dark side and the light constantly shifted. But it was always there in some way, shape, or form.
Now, however, he felt nothing. He had become so accustomed to the presence of the Force in the background that its complete absence was almost overwhelming, leaving him unable to speak.
“Prepare yourself,” Nyriss said. “We’re going down to the surface.”
The absence grew steadily more pronounced as the shuttle approached and then landed on Nathema.
“Come with me,” Nyriss commanded, rising up from her seat.
Still mute, Scourge followed her down the shuttle’s boarding ramp and out onto the world itself.
They had touched down at a spaceport in a city. Or what used to be a city. The spaceport was surrounded by the buildings, speeder pads, and streets one would expect to see in a planet’s major metropolitan center. But it was eerily quiet; the incessant murmur of the crowds and the constant hum of traffic whizzing past on busy streets were missing.
There wasn’t even any wind, and the air tasted stale in Scourge’s mouth. The temperature was neither cold nor hot, but he felt himself starting to shiver.
“You feel the chill of the Void,” Nyriss told him. “The Force is energy; it gives heat to our emotions and our minds. But here it has been stripped away.”
She led him along the deserted streets as Scourge stared in fascinated horror, trying to grasp the magnitude of what he was witnessing. The buildings seemed to be almost fully intact; there was none of the damage and destruction normally associated with millions of simultaneous deaths. However, there were other signs of what had happened here.
Mangled speeders and shuttles were strewn about, the remains of vehicles in motion that had crashed to a halt when their pilots were taken by the ritual. And everywhere Scourge looked there were small piles of clothes: jackets, slacks, and boots that had survived what their owners had not. Normally these remains would have been picked over by scavengers, but on Nathema even the vermin and insects were extinct.
“Where are the droids?” Scourge asked.
He was shocked at the sound of his own voice. It was flat and dull, as if even sound waves had been distorted by the ritual.
“The ritual overloaded their circuits,” Nyriss explained, her voice as hollow and washed out as his. “The damage was irreparable; even their memory cores were completely wiped out.”
Scourge glanced upward and noticed something else unusual. The sun shining down on them from above—a star that had appeared bright orange as they’d approached the planet—was now a pale shade of brown. In fact, everything around them was either brown or gray, as if the colors had been leached out.
Scourge was well acquainted with death. He had no trouble understanding massacres and mass slaughter. Death and destruction unleashed powerful emotions like fear, suffering, and hatred; they fueled the power of the dark side. But what had happened on Nathema was different, and it disturbed him in a deep and profound way.
The Emperor had consumed everything. Life, sound, color, even the Force—nothing remained. This wasn’t about conquest or domination or destroying an enemy—all concepts Scourge embraced.
Everything on Nathema had simply been snuffed out, extinguished so completely that it ceased to have any meaning or purpose. It was a vacuum of existence; a blight on the natural order.
“I’ve seen enough,” he declared.
Nyriss nodded, and they turned and made their way back to the ship.
Scourge finally understood why Nyriss and the others wanted to take the Emperor down. Destroying your enemies—even destroying a planet—was understandable. But this wasn’t simple destruction. It was annihilation; obliteration. The very fabric of the Force had been shredded. Anyone capable of turning an entire planet into a nihilistic abomination had to be completely mad. After seeing the horrors of Nathema, he truly believed the Emperor might declare another war against the Republic, exposing them to the Jedi and leading to the eventual extinction of their species.(Star Wars: The Old Republic - Revan)
Meetra didn't know what to expect as the Ebon Hawk dropped out of hyperspace and began the approach toward Nathema. T3-M4 had told her that the planet was deserted, but the little droid had found no apparent cause of the mass extinction. While exploring the surface on his last visit, he’d run tests that confirmed the environment was free of toxins and radiation; beyond that everything else was speculation.
As the ship drew closer to the dingy brown world she felt a growing sense of unease and discomfort. In some ways it reminded her of Malachor V—the massive and instantaneous loss of life on that doomed world had created a wound in the Force. The activation of the mass-shadow generator had obliterated two armies, shredding apart the bonds of the Force that linked all living things.
Meetra had been close enough to feel the shock wave; to survive it she had cut herself off from the Force, shielding her psyche against the horrors of what she had unleashed. Many years had passed before she regained her connection to the Force, but in the end, surviving the trauma of Malachor V had given her the strength to defeat Darth Traya and her followers.
At first she assumed some similar tragedy had occurred on Nathema; a superweapon capable of snuffing out an entire planet would leave a blanketing echo of death and darkness. As the Ebon Hawk descended through the atmosphere, however, she realized this sensation was markedly different.
It took her a few seconds to put her finger on it, her mind analyzing the problem even as her hands automatically made the necessary adjustments to bring the ship in for a landing near the coordinates T3 had given her.
The events of Malachor had left a mark on the Force; a wound that would not heal. Here, however, the Force was simply … gone. It was as if someone had ripped it away, leaving only an empty void behind.
Her discomfort grew as the ship drew closer to the surface. This world was unnatural, and her body’s instinctive reaction was one of illness and revulsion. She glanced over at T3 hovering anxiously near her in the cockpit, but the droid seemed unaffected. His lack of reaction merely reinforced the nature of her own suffering; as a droid, T3 could not sense the Force, and he wouldn’t notice if it was suddenly missing.
Through the cockpit window Meetra saw a path of destruction winding its way through the city below: the remnants of Revan’s crash landing. A massive chunk of permacrete had been smashed loose from a skyscraper passing by on the ship’s starboard side. The pavement of the street and sidewalk below had been torn up when the vessel had skipped and skidded down the thoroughfare. The mangled remnants of hovercars and speeders traced an irregular line down the street, the smaller vehicles crushed by the passage of the far more massive starship.
Meetra selected her landing spot and set the ship down carefully. The oppressiveness of the Void was bearing down on her, but she did her best to ignore it.
“Come on, Tee-Three,” she said, unbuckling herself from the pilot’s chair. “Let’s take a look around and see what we can find.”
As she stepped off the shuttle she felt like she had been punched in the gut; she doubled over, and T3 beeped in concern.
“I’m okay,” she gasped, slowly straightening up.
She had visited Malachor V years after the cataclysm of the mass-shadow generator. Traversing its surface had been agony. Mentally, she had still sensed the anguish of all who had lost their lives there. Physically, the intense gravity of the world had held her in its crushing grip, leaving her gasping for breath. It had been the most awful and horrific experience of her life … until now.
On Malachor she’d felt the echoes of unimaginable pain and suffering—but at least she’d felt something. Here on Nathema, there was only a cold emptiness. It was unnatural; abhorrent. On Malachor she had felt the echo of great destruction; here there was only the unbearable void of annihilation.
Her body reacted with a revulsion so strong she felt physically ill. Her mind briefly tried to imagine what had happened to cause such an abomination, then recoiled from the answers. Her mind went blank and her body numb.
She stood motionless for several minutes, or maybe it was several hours; time had no meaning here. But the incessant squawking of T3 eventually roused her from her stupor.
Drawing on the mental focusing techniques she had learned as a Padawan, she forced herself to concentrate on something—anything—besides the inescapable nonpresence of the Force.
You’ve come here to find Revan, she thought. There has to be some clue as to where the Sith might have taken him.
“We need to find some kind of archive,” she said out loud. “Something that can tell us more about this world.”
Her voice sounded hollow and washed out, but it was just one more unsettling detail of Nathema that she refused to dwell on.
The lights on T3 blinked rapidly as the astromech quickly scanned his memory circuits. A few seconds later he beeped excitedly and took off down the street.
Meetra followed him, her long legs allowing her to quickly catch up to and keep pace with the droid. The brisk walk made her feel more normal; physical activity seemed to help keep Nathema’s oppressive emptiness at bay.
The droid led her to the entrance of what appeared to be some kind of official government building. On the outside were characters she couldn’t read. In the Republic all government business was conducted in Basic. And while it was likely the inhabitants of Nathema had been familiar with Basic—the lingua franca of interstellar trade was known to virtually every spacefaring species in the galaxy—they had obviously marked their building in a native tongue.
The building was three stories high, with only a handful of windows looking out to the street and a pair of uninviting doors that seemed to be the common fashion of bureaucratic strongholds across every culture of the galaxy.
The doors were locked, but she carved through the security bolt with her lightsaber, trying to ignore the dim and washed-out appearance of the glowing blade.
Focus on the task at hand, she reminded herself. Just find the information you’re looking for as quickly as possible and you can get off this blasted world.
She stepped through, T3 following at her heel. It was dark inside; whatever source had once powered the building had long since fallen into disrepair. Meetra pulled a glow rod from one of the many pockets sewn into the wide fabric belt on her waist and ignited it, illuminating their surroundings with its eerie green glow.
The first things she noticed were the piles of clothes scattered haphazardly about. She realized they must have fallen to the ground when the wearers vanished. It took all her mental discipline to keep her mind from speculating on what kind of event could have caused the bizarre phenomenon.
Exploring the ground floor revealed it to be some type of reception area or lobby. There was a large desk set up to face the door, perfectly positioned for the person behind it to greet visitors. Apart from several uncomfortable-looking chairs arranged in what was probably a central waiting room, there didn’t seem to be much else of interest on the lower level.
There was a lift in the corner leading to the upper floors, but with no power it was of little use. Fortunately, a quick search located a staircase behind an unmarked door near the back of the building.
“Let’s check out the upper floors,” she said, and T3 beeped in agreement.
For some astromech droids stairs could be a problem, but T3 was remarkably versatile. By locking his wheels to keep from rolling backward, he was able to use his front legs to lever himself up the steps one at a time. It took him a little longer to reach the top of the flight than his human companion, but at least Meetra didn’t have to try to carry him.
The second floor was filled with data terminals and cubicles—workstations for the government drones who had once wandered the offices and halls. Unfortunately, without power the computer network had ceased to function, rendering the terminals useless.
“Let’s see if we can find the main data bank on the next floor up,” Meetra suggested.
A few minutes later they were on the third floor. Like the level below, it seemed to consist primarily of offices, cubicles, and workstations. Near the back of the building they found a single durasteel door. On the wall beside it was what appeared to be a security keypad.
“Show me what you’ve got,” Meetra said, pointing to the pad.
T3 rolled up to the wall. A panel on his body slid open to reveal a long, thin electrical probe, which he extended so that it pierced the security pad. There was a brief pause, then the unmistakable zap of a powerful electrical discharge. The keypad lit up and the door slid open.
As Meetra had hoped, the room beyond housed the primary computer data banks.
“Grab anything that looks useful so we can get out of here,” she said.
T3 hustled to oblige, inserting his versatile probe into an interface port so he could slice into the defunct network. As he had done with the door panel, T3 gave the data bank a powerful electric jolt to temporarily reactivate it so he could download the relevant files.
The entire process took less than five minutes, but for Meetra it might as well have been an eternity. She had managed to keep busy up until this point, but while waiting idly by for T3 to finish she began to notice the absence of the Force once more.
She could feel the Void pressing in on her from all sides. At the same time it was pulling on her, trying to rip away the very essence of her existence. Nature abhors a vacuum; the emptiness was trying to fill itself with her energy. For an instant she felt as if she were going to become undone, her physical body discorporating into trillions of subatomic particles that would scatter across the entire surface of Nathema.
No! she screamed in her mind. The Void will not take me! I am more than just a collection of random matter and particles! I am a living being. I am Meetra Surik!
The affirmation of her own existence seemed to push the Void back, at least for the moment. But Meetra knew she couldn’t hold out against it much longer. As much as she tried to ignore what she felt—or, more precisely, didn’t feel—all around her, she knew it was only a matter of time until the horrors of Nathema stripped away her sanity.
She was just about to tell T3 it was time to go when he beeped triumphantly and retracted the probe.
“I need to get back to the ship,” she told him. “You can tell me what you found when we’re off this world.”
Once she was in motion she felt better, but she could still sense the Void hovering on the fringes of her awareness. It was like being stalked by some nameless, faceless, invisible creature. She felt it lurking around every corner, just waiting for her to let her guard down so it could take her.
She quickened her pace, trusting her droid companion to keep up, too intent on keeping a grip on herself to reply to his indignant chirps.
By the time she reached the Ebon Hawk she was running, though she wasn’t even aware of it. One single thought dominated her conscious mind: Escape!
She strapped herself into the pilot’s chair and fired up the engines just as T3, who had fallen behind, came racing up the boarding ramp.
“Hold on,” she warned as she closed the hatch and punched the engines.
The Ebon Hawk took flight, hurtling itself up toward the sky and beyond. They broke atmosphere, but Meetra didn’t slow the ship down. She kept the engines on full until they were on the very edge of the solar system. Only then, with several million kilometers between her and Nathema, did she feel safe enough to throttle back.
T3 rolled up beside her and let out a worried whistle.
“You wouldn’t understand,” she told him. “But I’m okay now. Just give me a few minutes and we’ll take a look at what you pulled from those data banks.”
---
It took longer than Meetra expected for T3 to decipher and translate the files from Nathema into something she could scan with the ship’s computer. It was nearly two days before she could begin looking through the files. However, she reminded herself, considering he was processing millions of terabytes of data originally compiled on computers using fundamentally alien technology, the fact that he accomplished anything at all was a small miracle.
During her initial investigations several things quickly became clear. The building they had raided had been some type of archival storage office, a mundane but vital component of any complex government. It contained government documents, historical accounts and transcripts, and, most promising of all, detailed census records collected from numerous worlds.
From the census data it became clear that Nathema had once been part of the Sith Empire. Oddly, all the records seemed to predate the Great Hyperspace War. Whatever event had stripped Nathema of all life and left it devoid of the Force must have happened almost a thousand years before.
Because of that, it was impossible to tell if the Sith Empire as described in the records still existed. But given T3’s holorecording of the red-skinned being taking Revan, Meetra was willing to bet it still survived in some form.
Revan had left Bastila behind because he feared the greatest threat to the Republic’s survival was lurking in the Unknown Regions. The reemergence of the Sith Empire certainly qualified.
The theory also fit with what Canderous had told her. The Mandalorian had claimed that Revan asked him to restore the glory and strength of his people so they could stand against the Sith should they ever try to invade the Republic again.
According to the census records, the Sith Empire comprised several dozen planets. The Sith who had taken Revan might have come from any one of those worlds; if she could figure out which was his home, she might be able to narrow her search.
However, as she cross-checked the names and galactic coordinates of the listed worlds, Meetra quickly realized that they were all planets already known to the Republic. Over the last thousand years, the Jedi had systematically purged every planet mentioned in the census of their Sith influence: these were the records of a Sith Empire that was no more.
Refusing to give up, she dug deeper into the datafiles they had gathered, examining records pertaining to Nathema itself. For several days she pored through the archives, stopping neither to eat nor to sleep. Every few hours she refreshed herself with a quick meditation break, drawing on the Force to replenish her fading stores of energy and mental focus so she could continue her work.
There were tens of thousands of government documents and reports collected from over fifty different agencies, but Meetra refused to be daunted by the monumental task. She continued to pore through the archives, and slowly a picture began to emerge.
The people of Nathema had spent their last days in a terrified and desperate state. They had known it was only a matter of time until the Jedi found them, and the ruler of Nathema—a Sith named Lord Vitiate—had preyed upon his people’s fear. Transcripts of Vitiate’s public speeches were filled with graphic warnings of what the Jedi would do once they arrived. Records confirmed that his speeches had been broadcast and transmitted across the whole of the Empire, sowing the seeds of terror among all the Sith worlds. Vitiate had consciously and carefully driven the people into a state of panic, knowing they would blindly follow anyone who offered hope.
Vitiate was quick to fulfill that role, and he put out a call for all the other surviving Dark Lords to join him on Nathema in a ritual that he promised would lead the Sith to salvation.
At the same time he was doing this, Vitiate also had top historians and scientists secretly trying to determine the location of a planet called Dromund Kaas—the long-lost homeworld of the original Sith species.
Meetra discovered this only because of T3’s exceptional slicing skills. The astromech had not only copied and translated all the data from the archives, but also decrypted the pass codes to unlock classified government files, which he had then marked as having top priority to help simplify Meetra’s investigations.
The team Vitiate assigned to search out Dromund Kaas had operated in total secrecy, sequestered day and night in a research lab as they studied the ancient star maps and astrogation charts. Fortunately the leader of the team had been a meticulous record keeper, and every step of the process had been carefully documented—including the moment of triumph when they were finally able to theorize a hyperspace route that would lead them safely back to Dromund Kaas, where the Jedi could never follow.
The final entry in the team leader’s project log detailed her efforts to prepare her findings so they could be presented to Vitiate in person. Lord Vitiate publicly proclaimed the commencement of his great ritual just three days later.
Chronologically, there were no records after the proclamation. Nothing from the research team; nothing from any of the other departments. It was as if every member of Nathema’s sprawling government had simultaneously vanished from existence. Even without any official account of what had happened next, however, it wasn’t hard for Meetra to put the missing pieces together.
The ritual had obviously destroyed Nathema, snuffing out all life on the world. Lord Vitiate had offered his people hope, and instead had brought them a fate worse than death—utter eradication of life, existence, and even the Force.
Meetra was no expert on dark side sorcery, but it was safe to assume Vitiate not only survived the ritual, but emerged more powerful than ever. And with the destruction of everyone on Nathema—including his research team—he alone would have known the location of Dromund Kaas.
The plan was both horrifying and brilliant. In addition to becoming more powerful than Meetra could imagine, Vitiate could blame the extinction of his homeworld on the Jedi, further panicking the remaining Sith worlds. Then he could have offered them a glimmer of hope, promising to lead all those who swore loyalty to him to a place where the Jedi would never find them.(Star Wars: The Old Republic - Revan)
He executes the Sith Council and consumes the life force of thousands of Sith Lords in a terrifying ritual that extends his life and vastly increases his capacity as a practitioner of the Force.(Star Wars: The Old Republic Encyclopedia)
Lord Vitiate orchestrated the sorcery and the planet Medriaas was consumed by the largest dark side nexus the galaxy would ever see. When the ritual ended, Lord Vitiate emerged as the only survivor. The pain, energy and suffering of every living entity on the planet fueled his power and would prolong his life for centuries.(Star Wars: The Old Republic Encyclopedia)
"He has easily dominated the minds of some of the Jedi’s most powerful warriors,"
- Sources:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bq5X3F3g69c&t=8m37s (8:37)(Star Wars: The Old Republic - Act 2)
The spirit of Master Orgus explained that during your confrontation with the Emperor, your mind was dominated, and you were temporarily turned to the dark side by his power.(Star Wars: The Old Republic - Act 2)
Disaster! Master Tol Braga's plan to capture the Emperor failed. Coming face-to-face with their enemy, none of the Jedi strike team were able to stand against his awesome POWER.
One by one the members of the strike team fell under the Emperor's dominance, the wills of the galaxy's greatest Jedi crushed as they were turned to the DARK SIDE.(Star Wars: The Old Republic - Act 2)
The Emperor is more than a man--he is the living embodiment of the dark side. Armed with incalculable powers of corruption, the Emperor easily defeats the Knight, Master Braga, and their fellow Jedi, twisting them all to the dark side.(Star Wars: The Old Republic Encyclopedia)
With Grand Master Satele Shan's support, Master Braga assembles a strike team of the strongest and most resolute Jedi in the Order. Their goal is to pinpoint the Emperor's hidden fortress, capture the Sith leader alive, and turn him to the light side. The Jedi do not realize that they have underestimated the true extent of the Emperor's power. It is an error that will cost them dearly.(Star Wars: The Old Republic Encyclopedia)
He was a living embodiment of the dark side of the Force who delighted in destroying the minds and spirits of those Jedi who came too close to him.(Star Wars: The Old Republic Encyclopedia)
"possessed soldiers and Sith alike on even a continental scale on the planet Ziost,"
- Sources:
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oN7GqV7fYSA(Star Wars: The Old Republic - Rise of the Emperor)
As the Sith Emperor gradually dominates the free will of everyone on Ziost, both Lana Beniko, Minister of the newly formed Sith Intelligence, and Theron Shan, a spy for the Galactic Republic, are trying to stop the chaos.(Official Star Wars: The Old Republic Website - Rise of the Emperor [link])
"You are called upon again to face this galactic menace when your allies realize that the entire planet's inhabitants have been mind-controlled."(Michael Backus | Official Star Wars: The Old Republic Website - Welcome to Game Update 3.2: Rise of the Emperor [link])
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0kYX85dGVWo&t=12m40s (12:40)
"Everyone on the planet is possessed by the Emperor."
"Again, the Emperor is pretty strong, I've heard."
"He's a little powerful."
"Just possessing planets, no big deal."(Hall Hood and Eric Musco | Star Wars: The Old Republic Community Cantina Tour - Anaheim, California)
"and further consumed all life on Ziost with a death wave of his own making."
- Sources:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JwRrpG2Z2Ig(Star Wars: The Old Republic - Rise of the Emperor)
Global cataclysms are not unheard of. Whole worlds teeming with life have been rendered lifeless by meteorites, broken apart by instability in the planet's own core--even atomized by the destructive force of a supernova. But the eerie calm of a world stripped of life yet left otherwise intact is another matter altogether. Whispered rumors have persisted of planets snuffed out through intricate Sith rituals or by way of deadly, arcane machines--such as the device Revan sought to employ on Yavin 4--but Ziost represents a clear display of the corrosive power of the dark side of the Force taken to its extreme.(Star Wars: The Old Republic - Codex: Death of a World)https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uiHg3odlDN0&t=13m57s (13:57)
“You know I think there’s only a certain level of power, you can’t get above it. The Sith Emperor in the TOR series, it’s hard to imagine that someone gets more powerful than that. The Emperor in the movies, in the Classic Trilogy, is pretty powerful too - It’s more hinted at than explicitly shown. People don’t necessarily appreciate how powerful he is because the real trick is to not have to constantly use your full power, you need to scheme and plot and manipulate people so that you’re not constantly throwing around the world destroying abilities.”(Drew Karphysyn | YouTube - Roqoo Depot Interview with Drew Karpyshyn at CVI)
[Note: The death wave also buckled a space station in orbit and may have also affected Ziost's outer core, magnetic fields, and atmosphere.]
"Valkorion has also defeated Revan, who is ranked 10 on this list, in combat multiple times,"
- Sources:
[Description: Revan's first fight with the Sith Emperor alongside Malak on Dromund Kaas.]
“Seeing my old mask triggered something. I remember everything now,” Revan admitted. “Malak and I learned the Sith still survived. We came here to Dromund Kaas to investigate. Posing as mercenaries, we spent months learning everything we could about the Emperor and his people. Even back then he was already planning his invasion of the Republic. When Malak and I learned of his preparations, we tried to stop him. We found a member of the Imperial Guard who was willing to sneak us inside the citadel.”
“Impossible,” Scourge declared. “The Guard are bound to the Emperor’s will at the end of their training by a powerful ritual. They would never betray him!”
“True, but we didn’t know that at the time,” Revan explained. “We were being led into a trap; the Emperor wanted us to come to him. When we got to his throne room, he was ready and waiting.” His voice dropped low. “We underestimated his power. When we confronted him, he didn’t even have to fight us. Instead, he broke our wills. He dominated our minds, turning us into puppets to do his bidding. He sent us back to the Republic as the vanguard of his invasion, with instructions to report back when all resistance was crushed.(Star Wars: The Old Republic - Revan)
Over 300 years ago, the great Jedi heroes Revan and Malak stumbles upon the long-hidden Sith Empire’s capital of Dromund Kaas, and its ruler - a mysterious, almost godlike avatar of the dark side. They argued briefly over whether to alert the Republic and Jedi Council, but Revan was already too consumed by arrogance and anger to consider the possibility of defeat. By the time Revan and Malak approached the Emperor in his throne room, they were already on the precipice of the dark side. It took only a fraction of the Emperor’s loathsome power to complete their fall. The Jedi succumbed utterly to the Sith leader’s domination and returned to the Republic to spark a new conflict: the Jedi Civil War.(Star Wars: The Old Republic Encyclopedia)
The legendary Jedi Revan and Malak confront the Sith Emperor in his throne room on Dromund Kaas. In mere moments, the Jedi lay defeated and consumed by the dark side of the Force.(Star Wars: The Old Republic Encyclopedia)
[Description: Revan's second fight with the Sith Emperor alongside Meetra Surik, Scourge, and T3-M4 on Dromund Kaas.]
In their last meeting he had overwhelmed Revan completely; it wasn’t even fair to call it a battle. Revan had grown since then. He was far more powerful now, but was he a match for the Emperor?
Alone, probably not. With the combined strength of Meetra, Scourge, and even T3, however, he believed they stood a real chance of victory.
---
Revan braced himself for what was to come. They had discussed this part of their plan before leaving the cave. The instant the doors were pushed opened, all four would charge inside. While Revan rushed the Emperor, Meetra and Scourge would hang back and hold off the guards long enough for T3 to close and seal the doors.
Their timing had to be almost perfect; Revan knew he couldn’t go toe-to-toe with the Emperor by himself for very long. He sensed Meetra tensing beside him, and his own hand drifted to the hilt of his lightsaber beneath his belt in anticipation.
---
As Meetra and Scourge battled the Guard, Revan charged toward the Emperor.
His opponent stood perfectly still, focusing and channeling his power. At the last possible instant, the Emperor unleashed a wave of energy that swept Revan off his feet and sent him flying backward.
Revan twisted in midair so that he was able to roll with the impact when he landed. He quickly sprang back to his feet and advanced again, moving more slowly this time.
The Emperor stood in the exact same position as before; it was as if he hadn’t even moved. Revan began to sense the oppressive presence of the dark side weighing down on him. The Emperor was trying to crush his will: to dominate and enslave his mind as he had before. This time, however, Revan was ready.
Instead of charging forward, he opened himself up to the Force, letting both the light and the dark side flow through him like twin rushing rivers. But instead of focusing or channeling the Force, he released it in its purest form.
There was brilliant flash as the air between the two combatants lit up. The energy unleashed was powerful enough to send Revan staggering. The Emperor, unprepared and with much of his strength diverted to his effort to dominate Revan’s mind, was sent flying backward.
He landed in a heap on the floor and Revan raced toward him. The Emperor rolled over, lifted himself up on one knee, and his hands flew forward as he hurtled a bolt of dark side lightning at his enemy.
Revan intercepted the bolt with the blade of his lightsaber, though the impact stopped his charge dead in its tracks.
The Emperor unleashed three more bolts in quick succession. Revan batted the first aside with his lightsaber, ducked the second, then deflected the third back in the direction of its source.
It struck the Emperor in the chest, sending him sliding several meters back on the floor. For the first time the Sith’s emotionless veneer cracked as he let out a primal hiss of hate. The sound sent shivers down Revan’s spine.
The Emperor rose to his feet, his robes smoking and singed where the lighting had struck him. His black eyes flashed red, and he raised both hands high above his head.
Revan knew he was gathering his power to unleash a swirling storm of pure dark side energy, just as Nyriss had done. The Jedi quickly calculated his options. Realizing he couldn’t close the gap between them quickly enough to stop the assault, he gathered his own energy and spread his hands before him, ready to catch and absorb the Emperor’s attack.
A dozen bolts of purple lightning arced from the Emperor toward him. Revan tried to draw them in and contain them, but the Emperor was infinitely more powerful than Darth Nyriss had ever been.
Revan’s body was engulfed in agony as the electricity coursed through his body. His skin began to boil and blister, the flesh of his face melting and sticking to the superheated metal of his mask as the Emperor poured more and more power into him.
Through the haze of indescribable pain, he saw T3-M4 rushing in to help him. The droid let loose with his flamethrower, bathing the Emperor in fire. At the last instant the Emperor cocooned himself in the Force to save himself from being incinerated, breaking his focus on Revan.
The Jedi collapsed to the ground, burned but still alive, the hilt of his extinguished lightsaber lying on the floor less than a meter beyond his grasp.
Almost too weak to move, Revan managed to raise his head just in time to see the Emperor turn on the brave little astromech. A tremor rippled through the air as the Emperor unleashed the full power of the Force against the defenseless droid.
T3 never stood a chance. The little droid exploded into a million pieces, internal circuits and external casing obliterated in a single instant.
“No!” Revan screamed from the ground as bits of his friend rained down on him in the form of unrecognizable shrapnel.
He tried to rise, but his injured body refused to respond. Instinctively, he called on the Force to give him strength and heal his wounds.
The Emperor was approaching him with calm, purposeful steps. Once he reached Revan’s side he calmly bent down and picked up the Jedi’s fallen weapon, igniting the blade.
The healing properties of the Force were powerful, but Revan’s wounds were severe and he needed more time to restore his strength. Helpless, he could only stare up at the Emperor as he raised the lightsaber to deliver the killing blow.
---
Even as she called to Scourge to help, Meetra was already sprinting toward the far end of the throne room. Scourge hesitated before joining her, taking a moment to survey the situation, memories of his vision of their failure still fresh in his mind.
What he saw was not good. Revan was being electrocuted, his body spasming uncontrollably as the Emperor blasted him with dark purple lightning.
Revan’s astromech launched a jet of flame at the Emperor, freeing Revan, who collapsed to the ground. In retaliation, the Emperor disintegrated the offending droid, strode over to where Revan lay, and picked the vanquished Jedi’s lightsaber up off the floor.
It all happened in the space of only a few seconds. Meetra was moving fast, but she was too far away to stop the Emperor from eviscerating the prone Jedi at his feet.
In desperation, she hurled her lightsaber with a wild sidearm throw, guiding it with the Force so that it spiraled end-over-end to intercept the descending blade, knocking it from the Emperor’s grasp and sending it skittering across the floor.
Suddenly empty-handed, the Emperor took a quick step back. His attention had been focused solely on Revan; Meetra’s trick had caught him by surprise. Scourge realized that if she had aimed at the Emperor instead of the blade, she could have ended his life even as he ended Revan’s. But her instincts to save her friend overrode her desire to kill her enemy, and Scourge could only lament the lost opportunity.
Meetra was still rushing forward, using the Force to return her lightsaber to her waiting hand.
Sensing hesitation and uncertainty in the Emperor as he tried to evaluate the strength and weaknesses of his new foe, Scourge rushed forward to join Meetra and Revan.
Meetra had placed herself between the Emperor and Revan, valiantly protecting her wounded friend. As Scourge reached them, Revan managed to stand up again. He reached out with an open palm and his lightsaber sprang from the floor and into his waiting grasp.
The three of them stood side by side, two Jedi and a Sith Lord against the Emperor.
“I expected better from you, Lord Scourge,” the Emperor said.
Scourge wondered if he was stalling for time so his Guard could break through the sealed door. There wasn’t much chance of that, however; by the time they broke into the throne room the battle would already be decided, one way or the other.
“He has seen the depths of your evil,” Revan declared. “He stands with us now.”
“Then he will die with you, as well.”
“You can’t defeat all three of us,” Revan said. “United, we are stronger than even you.”
“That remains to be seen,” the Emperor replied.
For Scourge, the universe suddenly seemed frozen in place, as if time itself had stopped. He realized he was at a crux in history; fate and destiny would be forever altered in the next few moments.
The Force washed over him in a wave, and a million possible futures flickered through his mind simultaneously. In some the Emperor was no more; in others he had transformed the entire galaxy into an empty wasteland. He saw both Revan’s triumph and defeat in the throne room; he saw variations of his own life and death played out over and over in every conceivable way, shape, and form.
He had to choose, but there was no way to know which was the most likely outcome, or what actions of his would lead to which results. Revan had said visions could guide the Jedi, but for Scourge they brought nothing but confusion.
The moment passed and the universe began to move again, though everything seemed to be happening in slow motion. Revan and Meetra stepped forward, ready to initiate the final confrontation. Scourge knew he had to act now; he had to make his choice.
In a sudden moment of clarity he saw the Emperor lying defeated at the feet of a powerful Jedi … but that Jedi was neither Revan nor Meetra. And the Sith Lord knew what he had to do.
Instead of advancing with his two companions, Scourge stepped to the side so that he was standing directly behind Meetra. There was a flicker in his consciousness as the universe snapped back to full speed, and he slid the blade of his lightsaber between her shoulders.
Meetra gasped and toppled forward, dead before she hit the floor. Revan’s head snapped to the side, shock and horror emanating from him even though his mask hid his expression. The distraction gave the Emperor the opportunity he needed, and he unleashed another blast of lightning into the Jedi’s chest.
Scourge could smell burning flesh as Revan screamed once then collapsed to the ground, unconscious.(Star Wars: The Old Republic - Revan)
[Description: Lord Scourge's Force vision of the outcome of Revan's second fight with the Sith Emperor alongside himself, Meetra Surik, and T3-44.]
Unlike his Jedi companions, he had never learned to sit and meditate in order to draw sustenance from the Force. The dark side was about action and activity, not restful contemplation. But he knew that if he didn’t try something, he would have to endure a long and restless night.
He propped himself into a sitting position and closed his eyes, trying to open himself up to the Force. Taking slow, deep breaths, he focused on letting his mind open itself to the infinite possibilities swirling through time and space. After several minutes he managed to drift into a state of semiconsciousness.
Revan lay motionless on the floor of the Citadel’s throne room. Meetra and Scourge lay beside him, their bodies twisted and broken, clinging to the last moments of life.
The Emperor approached the trio, regarding them with a cold and casual contempt as he loomed above his fallen adversaries. Scourge tried to stand and flee, but his crippled limbs wouldn’t support his weight. All he could do was crawl on his belly like a worm.
His efforts drew the attention of the Emperor, who didn’t speak but came over and lowered himself to one knee. He grabbed Scourge by the shoulder and rolled him over so he was staring up into the twin voids of the Emperor’s eyes.
As he reached out a hand and placed it on Scourge’s forehead, the Sith began to scream.(Star Wars: The Old Republic - Revan)
Betraying his allies had not altered the inevitable outcome; the Emperor would have won regardless. At least this way Scourge was still alive to carry on their cause.(Scourge | Star Wars: The Old Republic - Revan)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HNto5fIGMV0&t=2m43s (2:43)
"I would have served them, but my vision told me they would fail."(Scourge | Star Wars: The Old Republic)
The Emperor's power is too much for Revan. Recognizing that the Emperor is undefeatable, Scourge kills Meetra and betrays Revan.(Star Wars: The Essential Reader's Companion)
"and later toys with the combined might of the Outlander, Vaylin, and Arcann (
), two of whom also appear on this list."- Sources:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FbTdLy3xO3E&t=10m40s (10:40)(Star Wars: The Old Republic - Knights of the Eternal Throne - Chapter IX: The Eternal Throne)
[Note: Valkorion also easily defeats Arcann above Zakuul prior to the Zakuul Empire invasion.]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2g7BwwggxFI&t=20m33s (20:33)(Star Wars: The Old Republic - Knights of the Fallen Empire - Chapter I: The Hunt)
[Note: Valkorion's spirit also easily defeats the Outlander on Odessan prior to his training under Darth Marr and Satele Shan.]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mlmuz2rSOW0&t=8m35s (8:35)(Star Wars: The Old Republic - Knights of the Fallen Empire - Chapter XII: Visions in the Dark)
[Note: Valkorion's spirit also telekinetically dominates prime Outlander, all but annihilates his mind and spirit, and freezes prime Arcann above Zakuul.]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FbTdLy3xO3E&t=2m53s (2:53)(Star Wars: The Old Republic - Knights of the Eternal Throne - Chapter IX: The Eternal Throne)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FbTdLy3xO3E&t=5m09s (5:09)
"Valkorion shattered your mind and tossed you into the abyss of your psyche. He thinks you're dead, but you survived by assuming his form."(The Outlander to himself| Star Wars: The Old Republic - Knights of the Eternal Throne - Chapter IX: The Eternal Throne)
[Note: Valkorion also instantly telepathically dominates Vaylin's spirit in a mindscape.]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FbTdLy3xO3E&t=7m12s (7:12)
"Let me go, or I'll chop you into little pieces."
"Submit, my child."
"As you wish."(Vaylin and Valkorion | Star Wars: The Old Republic - Knights of the Eternal Throne - Chapter IX: The Eternal Throne)
[hideedit]
- Suspect InsightAdministrator
How Powerful is Palpatine/Darth Sidious? | Palpatine/Darth Sidious Respect Thread
September 2nd 2020, 1:00 pm
2. PALPATINE / DARTH SIDIOUS
"Number two goes to the reborn Emperor PALPATINE from the Dark Empire comic series."
"Much like in Disney Canon, Palpatine also returns to life in the Legends continuity, more powerful than ever."
"Since his defeat on Endor, he had mastered the ability to generate Force storms, enormous vortices that rip apart the very fabric of space and time, and have the potential to consume fleets, planets, and over time, the universe itself. It takes the combined power of Luke Skywalker, Leia Solo, and Anakin Solo—united in and to Force in absolute oneness—to defeat him,"
"and later the souls of every Jedi who has ever lived to contain his spirit in the Netherworld so that he would never return."
"And, even before his resurrection, Palpatine has repeatedly been confirmed to be the most powerful Sith Lord to have ever lived,"
"with feats such as exerting psychic control over the entire Galactic Empire,"
"dominating the minds of billions of people on the planet Byss and draining their life-energy,"
"cutting down three highly decorated Jedi Masters in seconds,"
"forcing Grand Master Yoda to flee their engagement, and many, many others."
"Of course, we didn’t mention Palpatine surviving Starkiller’s super-charged suicide blast virtually unscathed..."
[hideedit]
"Number two goes to the reborn Emperor PALPATINE from the Dark Empire comic series."
"Much like in Disney Canon, Palpatine also returns to life in the Legends continuity, more powerful than ever."
- Sources:
"You've grown very strong in the Force since we last met... but then, so have I!"(Palpatine | Star Wars: Dark Empire #2 - Devastator of Worlds)
Palpatine was so powerful in this new incarnation that Luke felt that the only way to defeat the Dark Side was to know its ways and to find its weakness.(Star Wars: Dark Empire Sourcebook)
Fully healed and in greater control of the Dark Side than ever, he finally acted to end the Mutiny.(Star Wars: Dark Empire Sourcebook)
His Force skills have increased significantly in the six years since he was last seen in Return of the Jedi.(Star Wars: Dark Empire Sourcebook)
Within a new clone body, the Emperor was more powerful than ever.(Star Wars: Handbook #3 - Dark Empire)
Resurrected in a new clone body, Palpatine does not reveal himself immediately. Studying the dark side of the Force to become more powerful, his education results in three manifestos: The Book of Anger, The Weakness of Inferiors, and The Creation of Monsters.(Star Wars: The Ultimate Visual Guide)
With the power to transfer his consciousness to genetic clones, a younger, stronger Emperor Palpatine is perilously close to gaining total control of the galaxy forever.(Hasbro Star Wars - Power of the Force: Expanded Universe: Clone Emperor Palpatine action figure)
"Since his defeat on Endor, he had mastered the ability to generate Force storms, enormous vortices that rip apart the very fabric of space and time, and have the potential to consume fleets, planets, and over time, the universe itself. It takes the combined power of Luke Skywalker, Leia Solo, and Anakin Solo—united in and to Force in absolute oneness—to defeat him,"
- Sources:
[Description: The Force Storm ability and its effects]
This is perhaps the single most destructive Force power known. This power allows the Jedi to twist the space-time continuum to create vast storms of force. The power also allows limited control of these storms. Capable of creating annihilating vortices, the storms can swallow whole fleets of spaceships or tear the surfaces off worlds.(Star Wars: Dark Empire Sourcebook)
Dark Side Adepts demonstrate limited control over the creation of these storms, while the reborn clone Emperor was able to create and control Force storms at will.(A Guide to the Star Wars Universe - Third Edition)
It was to the Rebel Alliance's detriment that Emperor Palpatine was able to not only control these storms, but to create them.(Star Wars: Handbook #3 - Dark Empire)
"It must be understood that anger can be funneled through the body and released near the heart and the 'vital gate.' The destruction that can be unleashed through this method is immense. Thousands of enemies can be annihilated in a single act of malice.
"In time, the channeled anger of the dark side will prove just as destructive as the Death Star. There will no longer be a need for costly constructions. Already, I have perfected the Force maelstrom, which creates an invulnerable energy sphere to block incoming attacks while bombarding enemies with debris and electrifying them with bolts of lightning.
"This technique can be increased into a Force Storm. The churning energy mass of a Force Storm can consume anything it touches, for at its eye is pure hate. Just as a black hole devours a star, this storm can swallow armies and fold space. It may take decades to master this art, but once I have perfected it, I will be invincible."(Darth Sidious | Star Wars: Book of Sith - Absolute Power)
[Description: Palpatine summons a Force Storm on Coruscant while light-years away on Byss. The "dimension-altering" storm picks up Luke Skywalker and precisely deposits him into an Imperial dungeon ship in orbit above Byss. Coruscant itself takes over six years to recover from the damage the storm wrought.]
(Star Wars: Dark Empire #1 - The Destiny of a Jedi [scans 1-7])(Star Wars: Dark Empire #2 - Devastator of Worlds [scan 8])
The swirling vortex of dimension-altering energy consumed Luke, and deposited him far away on the Deep Core world of Byss.(Official Star Wars Website - Databank: Luke Skywalker [link])
The shore of the western sea had been a glittering playground, a gay and glorious world that never slept, before the clone Emperor’s Force storm had ravaged Coruscant. It had yet to fully recover. Only the lights of a few scattered resorts marked the broken lines of the coast as Han’s speeder flashed overhead and bored into the dark sky over the western sea.(Star Wars: The Black Fleet Crisis - Before the Storm)
[Description: Palpatine summons a far larger and more powerful Force Storm above Da Soocha V. The storm grows over time as it consumes the New Republic fleet and, at its height, the Eclipse Super Star Destroyer. If left unchecked, the storm would have eventually consumed "all of space." Luke Skywalker, Leia Organa Solo, and Anakin Solo fully combine their powers and unite in the Force in oneness to sever Palpatine's connection to the storm, thereby reversing its course to destroy Palpatine.]
(Star Wars: Dark Empire #6 - The Fate of a Galaxy)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6v5wwQAVR6k&t=146m47s (2:26:47)
"Princess Leia. There’s an energy storm. It’s suddenly taken over the planet! We have twelve ships lost already. All our hands are being lost. We’re being wiped out!"(Mon Mothma | Star Wars: Dark Empire audio drama)
"The Reborn Emperor used this at Da Soocha. It has the power to kill worlds."(Luke Skywalker | Star Wars: The Jedi Path - Part IV: Jedi Knight)
He summoned up a huge Force storm, far more powerful than the one that had swept Coruscant.(Star Wars: The Essential Chronology)
Unleashing the full power of his hatred, he conjures a Force Storm that threatens to consume all of space, including the New Republic fleet.(Star Wars: The Comics Companion)
The key to Luke's turning is the moment when he and Leia realize the Emperor is no longer defined by his physical form, but has become a chaotic nexus of dark energies that swell and burst open the fabric of space, tearing apart everything in the vicinity, human and machine.
Nothing can match such dark power... nothing except these twin Jedi joined in birth and now joined to the greatest strength of the Jedi - the power of luminous beings.
For one long extended moment, Luke and Leia are united to the Force in all its intensity, and the Force flows through them like a tidal wave of light.
This is the unquenchable light of the Jedi, the ultimate reality on which their way is founded. This is the principle from the Jedi derive their very existence and went on to become the maintainers of peace and justice during the time of the Old Republic.(Star Wars: Dark Empire #6 - The Fate of A Galaxy)
But Palpatine's dark-side powers could not stand against Luke and Leia's powers together--augmented by the Force-strong child in Leia's womb.(Star Wars: Handbook #3 - Dark Empire)
The first was destroyed at the Battle of Pinnacle Base when Luke Skywalker and Leia Organa combined their force sensitivities to overwhelm Emperor Palpatine's dark-side powers.(The Official Star Wars Fact File #125)
"and later the souls of every Jedi who has ever lived to contain his spirit in the Netherworld so that he would never return."
- Sources:
Obi-Wan Kenobi, Master Yoda - even Luke and Leia's father Anakin Skywalker - have all disappeared, gone from the Galaxy. Mysteriously, for reasons known only to themselves, they no longer appear to Luke, or offer him their guidance.
And yet... there's a feeling... a sense of hidden nearness... as if they are watching him, sometimes frowning, sometimes nodding their heads. Others too - untold thousands of departed Jedi - are with them.
Luke feels a unity among the Jedi, reaching beyond "this crude flesh," stretching back 25,000 thousand years and more, to the beginning of Jedi Knights. It is as if the attention of the departed Jedi can never be fully turned away from the Galaxy, until the great crimes of the Empire are finally undone.(Star Wars: Dark Empire #6 - The Fate of A Galaxy)
"Luke... Palpatine will die with me. He will never return. The Force--and all the Jedi who went before us... will make sure of that."(Empatojayos Brand | Star Wars: Empire's End #2 - Rage of the Emperor)
He was blocked and absorbed by the dying Jedi, Brand, who promised that he and all the other Jedi spirits would ensure the dark sider never returned - a fate Palpatine had feared above all others.(The Official Star Wars Fact File #120)
"And, even before his resurrection, Palpatine has repeatedly been confirmed to be the most powerful Sith Lord to have ever lived,"
- Sources:
And what of the Emperor? He was mighty in the Force, perhaps the mightiest being who had ever lived.(Star Wars: Galaxy Guide 5 - Return of the Jedi)
When the evil Emperor, Supreme Master of the Dark Side of the Force, turned the fullness of his malevolence against Luke, Anakin Skywalker suddenly awoke from the curse that had imprisoned him for so long.(Star Wars: Dark Empire #1 - The Destiny of a Jedi)
As Luke's father once said, during the time he served the greatest known wielder of the Dark Side of the Force, the Emperor: "The ability to destroy a planet - or even a whole system - is insignificant next to the power of the Force."(Star Wars: Dark Empire #1 - The Destiny of a Jedi)
It quickly became clear to Luke that this decrepit and seemingly defenseless old man was masterfully adept in the ways of the Dark Side of the Force. Indeed, as Vader had warned, the Emperor had become the Dark Side's most powerful expression.(Star Wars: Dark Empire #2 - Devastator of Worlds)
Even Ulic Qel-Droma would be envious of Palpatine. He had succeeded where all others had failed in taming the Dark Side.(Star Wars: Dark Empire Sourcebook)
And what of the Emperor? He was mighty in the Force, perhaps the mightiest being who had ever lived.(Star Wars: Galaxy Guide 5 - Return of the Jedi - Second Edition)
He smiled again, and Vader felt a chill touch him. Truly there was no one in the galaxy who had control of the dark side as did the Emperor.(Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire adult novelization)
Emperor Palpatine is the Supreme Master of the Dark Side and Lord of the Empire's most evil disciples.(Star Wars: Galaxy Magazine #8 - The Deadly Dozen)
With a crackle of energy the image solidified before the scientist's eyes. It was only a hologram, but it was a hologram of the most powerful being the galaxy had ever known. It was the Emperor himself.(Star Wars: Galaxy of Fear #3 - Planet Plague)
He is a mystery, an untouchable enigma who commands the strongest currents of the Force in the service of the darkest visions of evil.(Star Wars Insider #37 - Something Wicked This Way Comes)
Both masters of the dark side share a legacy of servitude under the most powerful force of evil the galaxy has ever known.(Hasbro Star Wars - Power of the Jedi: Sith Lords: Darth Vader and Darth Maul)
The greatest Sith Lord of all time, Darth Sidious, has been planning his takeover of the galaxy for many years.(Star Wars: Attack of the Clones - Character and Equipment Data File Facts)
Beyond the vision of the Jedi Knights, somewhere within the darkness, the greatest master of evil ever to use Sith power bides his time. As his strength grows, his plans begin to shape the course of the galaxy, and his snares await the unsuspecting.(Star Wars: Attack of the Clone - The Visual Dictionary)
"And his apprentice kills him in his sleep," Palpatine said with a careless shrug. "Plagueis never sees it coming. That's the tragic irony, you see: he can save anyone in the galaxy from death - except himself."
"What about the apprentice? What happens to him?"
"Oh, him. He goes on to become the greatest Dark Lord the Sith have ever known . . ."(Anakin Skywalker and Palpatine | Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith adult novelization)
Vader imagined the power that could be his if he crushed Palpatine and established his own rule over the Empire. But first, he would need his own apprentice. By himself, he could not hope to defeat the most powerful Sith Lord the galaxy had ever known.(Star Wars: Vader - The Ultimate Guide)
Finally - the Emperor - who should be fighting to save the Republic - is revealed as the most powerful and menacing Sith of all!(Hasbro Star Wars - Evolutions: The Sith)
By the time of the Galactic Civil War, Darth Sidious - probably the most powerful Sith Lord in the history of the order - was ready to exact his revenge on the Jedi.(Star Wars: The Official Figurine Collection #15)
The clenched right hand, whose fingers clutch the sceptre, convey the hate-filled determination of this most evil and powerful of all the characters in the Star Wars saga.(Star Wars: The Official Figurine Collection #19)
Beyond the vision of the Jedi Knights, somewhere within the darkness, the greatest master of evil ever to use Sith power bides his time. As his strength grows, his plans begin to shape the course of the galaxy, and his snares await the unsuspecting.(Star Wars: The Complete Visual Dictionary)
"Master Yoda..." He steepled his fingers. "Are you quite certain young Anakin is ready for such a task?"
"Yes," said Yoda flatly.
And that was a lie. Yoda was a master at masking his emotions, but not even he could hide them from the greatest Sith Lord ever known. He was worried...and backed into a corner.(Star Wars: The Clone Wars - Wild Space)
Yoda went after Palpatine in the empty Senate chamber, but could not defeat the most powerful Sith Lord in history.(Star Wars: The New Essential Chronology)
When Yoda crosses sabers with the movie's arch-villain, he doesn't launch into a pinwheeling display of acrobatics, as he did against Count Dooku in Episode II. Instead, Yoda faces the dark side's fury, channeled by the most powerful Sith Lord in history.(Star Wars Insider #86 - Yoda's Right Arm)
Demetrius Zaarin gambled everything on an audacious coup d'état and nearly killed the most powerful Sith Lord the galaxy has ever known.(Star Wars Insider #66 - Who's Who: Imperial Grand Admirals)
The Emperor was completely in concert with the dark side of the Force. He was the most powerful Sith who had ever existed.(Star Wars: Death Star)
Only his brutally rigorous self-discipline, the discipline of the greatest Sith Lord ever to live, saved Sidious from revealing the depth of his fury as Yoda explained the mission to Lanteeb.(Star Wars: Clone Wars Gambit - Siege)
Perhaps the most powerful Sith Lord to ever exist, Emperor Palpatine used the dark side of the Force to manipulate an entire galaxy into serving him.(Diamond Select Toys Star Wars - Ultimate Quarter Scale: Emperor Palpatine statue)
After the seeming destruction of the Sith Order at the Seventh Battle of Ruusan, it would be nearly a thousand years before the dark side of the Force would rise to rule the galaxy, under perhaps its greatest disciple, Darth Sidious.(Star Wars: The Official Starships & Vehicles Collection #59)
"Plagueis the Wise, who in his time truly was, except at the end, trusting that the Rule of Two had been superseded, and failed to realize that he would not be excused from it. Plagueis the Wise, who forged the most powerful Sith Lord the galaxy has ever known, and yet who forgot to leave a place for himself; whose pride never allowed him to question that he would no longer be needed.”(Darth Sidious | Star Wars: Darth Plagueis)
Sidious is the most powerful Sith ever.(Star Wars: Battle for Naboo)
Meet Darth Sidious--the most powerful Sith Master who has ever lived.(Star Wars: Darth Maul - Sith Apprentice)
Darth Sidious is the strongest Sith(Star Wars: The Clone Wars - Masters of the Force)
"Darth Bane views the dark side of the Force as a limited quantity, and that two recipients (one to wield the power, one as the designated successor) represents the greatest Force concentration achievable while still ensuring the future of the Sith Order.
Is Bane correct? I don't know. HE thinks he's correct. On some cosmic level I do too, and that the concentration brought about by the Rule of Two allowed the dark side to grow in strength until the era of Palpatine -- the most powerful dark lord in history."(Daniel Wallace | Geekosity - Endnotes for Star Wars: Book of Sith part 3 [link])
Perhaps the most powerful Sith of all time, Darth Sidious uses lies and treachery to cause the fall of the Republic.(Star Wars: Ultimate Factivity Collection)
With the galaxy now ripe for conquest, the Emperor has become the most powerful Sith Lord of all and a Master of the Dark Side of the Force, ordering the extermination of the Jedi Order with the aid of his apprentice, the deadly Darth Vader.(Star Wars: Legends Epic Collection - The Empire - Volume 1)
[Note: Also, refer to quotes in Yoda's entry "Indeed, Yoda has repeatedly been decorated as and shown to be the greatest Jedi up to his time:"]
"with feats such as exerting psychic control over the entire Galactic Empire,"
- Sources:
For the first time, the Death Star rocked. The collision with the exploding Destroyer was only the beginning, leading to various systems breakdowns, which led to reactor meltdowns, which led to personnel panic, abandonment of posts, further malfunctions, and general chaos.
Smoke was everywhere, substantial rumblings came from all directions at once, people were running and shouting. Electrical fires, steam explosions, cabin depressurizations, disruption of chain-of-command. Added to this, the continued bombardments by Rebel cruisers—smelling fear in the enemy—merely heightened the sense of hysteria that was already pervasive.
For the Emperor was dead. The central, powerful evil that had been the cohesive force to the Empire was gone; and when the dark side was this diffused, this nondirected—this was simply where it led.
Confusion.
Desperation.
Damp fear.(Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi adult novelization)
Thrawn smiled back. "It is indeed. Tell me, Master C'baoth: are you familiar with the Imperial Fleet's disastrous defeat at the Battle of Endor five years ago?"
"I've heard rumors. One of the offworlders who came here spoke about it." C'baoth's gaze drifted to the window, to the palace/crypt visible across the square. "Though only briefly."
Pellaeon swallowed. Thrawn himself didn't seem to notice the implication. "Then you must have wondered how a few dozen Rebel ships could possibly rout an Imperial force that outgunned it by at least ten to one."
"I didn't spend much time with such wonderings," C'baoth said dryly. "I assumed that the Rebels were simply better warriors."
"In a sense, that's true," Thrawn agreed. "The Rebels did indeed fight better, but not because of any special abilities or training. They fought better than the Fleet because the Emperor was dead."
He turned to look at Pellaeon. "You were there, Captain—you must have noticed it. The sudden loss of coordination between crew members and ships; the loss of efficiency and discipline. The loss, in short, of that elusive quality we call fighting spirit."
"There was some confusion, yes," Pellaeon said stiffly. He was starting to see where Thrawn was going with this, and he didn't like it a bit. "But nothing that can't be explained by the normal stresses of battle."
One blue-black eyebrow went up, just slightly. "Really? The loss of the Executor—the sudden, last-minute TIE fighter incompetence that brought about the destruction of the Death Star itself—the loss of six other Star Destroyers in engagements that none of them should have had trouble with? All of that nothing but normal battle stress?"
"The Emperor was not directing the battle," Pellaeon snapped with a fire that startled him. "Not in any way. I was there, Admiral—I know."
"Yes, Captain, you were there," Thrawn said, his voice abruptly hard. "And it's time you gave up your blindfold and faced the truth, no matter how bitter you find it. You had no real fighting spirit of your own anymore—none of you in the Imperial Fleet did. It was the Emperor's will that drove you; the Emperor's mind that provided you with strength and resolve and efficiency. You were as dependent on that presence as if you were all borg-implanted into a combat Computer."
"That’s not true," Pellaeon shot back, stomach twisting painfully within him. "It can’t be. We fought on after his death."
"Yes," Thrawn said, his voice quiet and contemptuous. "You fought on. Like cadets."
C’baoth snorted. "So is this what you want me for, Grand Admiral Thrawn?" he asked scornfully. "To turn your ships into puppets for you?"
"Not at all, Master C’baoth," Thrawn told him, his voice perfectly calm again. "My analogy with combat borg implants was a carefully considered one. The Emperor’s fatal error was in seeking to control the entire Imperial Fleet personally, as completely and constantly as possible. That, over the long run, is what did the damage. My wish is merely to have you enhance the coordination between ships and task forces—and then only at critical times and in carefully selected combat situations."(Star Wars: Heir to the Empire)
With the Emperor dead, the central, powerful evil that had been cohesive force of the Empire was gone. With the Dark Side diffused and undirected, the Imperials were left with nothing but confusion, desperation, and damp fear.(Star Wars: Heir to the Empire Sourcebook)
The Emperor was killed, his fleet scattered, and his dark will which held the Empire together destroyed. Without its binding, the Empire began to unravel.(Star Wars: Heir to the Empire Sourcebook)
"Perhaps a few months ago, I would have scoffed at the idea of one man controlling or shaping the events of the galaxy through sheer force of will. I certainly did not agree with Grand Admiral Thrawn's contention that the Imperial Navy's loss at Endor was because we were, in effect, enslaved to the Emperor, as if we were, in Thrawn's words, 'borg-implanted into a combat computer.'
"That was then. Now, I see that the Grand Admiral, the worthiest successor to the Emperor's throne to have yet appeared, was quite accurate in his assessment."(Gilad Pellaeon | Star Wars: The Last Command Sourcebook)
Palpatine knew precisely why the Empire couldn't last without his dread power: he had designed it that way. No one suspected how much he relied on the Dark Side of the Force. He shaped those of his government using the Force against them. He used it to control his fleets and to drive his soldiers on to victory. He used it to destroy his enemies from a distance and learn of conspiracies against him. Without it, there was no way the Empire could endure, as he had designed it.(Star Wars: Dark Empire Sourcebook)
The Empire, in fact, was a regime of tyranny and evil, held together by the powerful dark side of the Force that the Emperor personally practiced.(The Star Wars Encyclopedia)
Emperor Palpatine was the central point around which the Empire revolved. His control of the galaxy-spanning Imperial war machine was very literal, thanks to his incredible mastery of the dark side of the Force. When Palpatine was killed at Endor, the Empire fell apart.(Star Wars: The Official Starships & Vehicles Collection #64)
"dominating the minds of billions of people on the planet Byss and draining their life-energy,"
- Source:
"The entire population feeds me even now... slowly surrendering their life energies to add to mine."(Palpatine | Star Wars: Evasive Action - Recruitment)
Once there, wrapped in the power of the Dark Side, the immigrants become completely submissive, their life energy forever enslaved to the mind that would devour a Galaxy.(Star Wars: Dark Empire #2 - Devastator of Worlds)
Little could they suspect the true purpose behind this largess - Palpatine planned for millions to permanently reside here, where he and his minions could use their Dark Side skills to feed off their life energy.(Star Wars: Dark Empire Sourcebook)
Once there, their wills are destroyed by the Emperor and his Adepts, and replaced with an illusion of tranquility as they blissfully surrender their life energy to sustain the Emperor.(Star Wars: Dark Empire Sourcebook)
Just as he can siphon off the vital life force of his subjects on Byss, he can will his own personality, his very life, into a waiting receptacle body.(Star Wars: Dark Empire Sourcebook)
Several million humans per month, lured by the rumors of a paradise planet, were allowed to emigrate to Byss--where the Emperor and his dark-side Adepts began feeding off their life energies.(Star Wars Encyclopedia)
Drawing his loyal dark side adepts to him and growing stronger every day by absorbing the energies of prisoners on Byss, Palpatine watched and waited.(The Official Star Wars Fact File #120)
Imperial ships ferried millions of immigrants to the planet Byss, where the Emperor fed off their life-energies through the dark side.(Star Wars: The New Essential Guide to Characters)
Slowly but steadily, he used his dark Force powers to enslave the people on the world and drain their life energies to fuel his own vile experiments.(The Official Wizards of the Coast Website - Byss and the Deep Core [link])
Almost mindless under the oppression of the Emperor's dark side influence, the people of Byss find their life energies constantly leeched off during the Emperor's evil machinations.(The Official Wizards of the Coast Website - Byss and the Deep Core [link])
Several million humans were allowed to emigrate to the world, where the Emperor and his adepts used the dark side to feed off their life energies.(The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia)
Meanwhile, immigrants like Maree and Onnely Praji were kept distracted with bread and circuses while Palpatine drained their Force energy to sustain himself. The planet turned fanatically Imperialist under the thrall of the dark side.(Star Wars: Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Praji)
Later, Byss attracted billions of colonists from the Core and Colonies, whose collective life essences provided sustenance for the vampiric hunger of Palpatine and his Dark Side Adepts.(Star Wars: The Essential Atlas)
While the population lived lives of leisure and luxury, the dark side energies that Palpatine and his minions wove about Byss began to leach away the life energies of the people.(Star Wars: The Official Starships & Vehicles Collection #64)
"cutting down three highly decorated Jedi Masters in seconds,"
- Sources:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7_dwkjQHre0(Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith)
A close shot of PALPATINE as the fight begins. Close shots of THREE JEDI getting cut down by PALPATINE. PALPATINE and MACE continue to fight.
(Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith script)(Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith comic)
Before Mace realizes what has happened, Kolar, Tiin, and Fisto have fallen to Sidious's blade.(Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith - The Visual Dictionary)
Palpatine produced a lightsaber hidden in his sleeve and let the dark side of the Force flow through him. It granted him unnatural dexterity and speed--enough to quickly kill three Jedi Masters and force the mighty Mace Windu back.(The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia)
"forcing Grand Master Yoda to flee their engagement, and many, many others."
- Sources:
There came a turning point in the clash of the light against the dark.
It did not come from a flash of lightning or slash of energy blade, though there were these in plenty; it did not come from a flying kick or a surgically precise punch, though these were traded, too.
It came as the battle shifted from the holding office to the great Chancellor's Podium; it came as the hydraulic lift beneath the Podium raised it on its tower of durasteel a hundred meters and more, so that it became a laserpoint of battle flaring at the focus of the vast emptiness of the Senate Arena; it came as the Force and the podium's controls ripped delegation pods free of the curving walls and made of them hammers, battering rams, catapult stones crashing and crushing against each other in a rolling thunder-roar that echoed the Senate's cheers for the galaxy's new Emperor.
It came when the avatar of light resolved into the lineage of the Jedi; when the lineage of the Jedi refined into one single Jedi.
It came when Yoda found himself alone against the dark.
In that lightning-speared tornado of feet and fists and blades and bashing machines, his vision finally pierced the darkness that had clouded the Force.
Finally, he saw the truth.
This truth: that he, the avatar of light, Supreme Master of the Jedi Order, the fiercest, most implacable, most devastatingly powerful foe the darkness had ever known…
just-
didn't-
have it.
He'd never had it. He had lost before he started.
He had lost before he was born.
The Sith had changed. The Sith had grown, had adapted, had invested a thousand years' intensive study into every aspect of not only the Force but Jedi lore itself, in preparation for exactly this day. The Sith had remade themselves.
They had become new.
While the Jedi-
The Jedi had spent that same millennium training to refight the last war.
The new Sith could not be destroyed with a lightsaber; they could not be burned away by any torch of the Force. The brighter his light, the darker their shadow. How could one win a war against the dark, when war itself had become the dark's own weapon?
He knew, at that instant, that this insight held the hope of the galaxy. But if he fell here, that hope would die with him. Hmmm, Yoda thought. A problem this is . . .(Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith adult novelization)
Inside the spacious interior of the Galactic Senate chamber, Yoda challenged the Emperor. The two engaged in a spectacular duel--a contest between the most powerful practitioners of the Force's light and dark sides. The Emperor proved too powerful to defeat. Although Yoda held his own for much of the duel, in the end the Sith bested him. He realized that continuing to directly confront Palpatine would mean failure.(Official Star Wars Website - Databank: Yoda [link])
Yoda went after Palpatine in the empty Senate chamber, but could not defeat the most powerful Sith Lord in history.(Star Wars: The New Essential Chronology)
Palpatine is too strong for the aging Yoda, who escapes with Bail Organa.(Star Wars: The Comics Companion)
Yoda fought Palpatine in the Senate chamber, but the Sith Lord's powers were too much for the tiny Jedi.(Star Wars: The Official Figurine Collection #19)
"That was something George was really specific about, that robe flying off. Getting Yoda to a level where he's just defeated."(Jamy Wheless | Star Wars Insider #86 - Yoda's Right Arm)
The greatest swordsman ever to emerge from the Jedi ranks, Yoda was a wise and capable leader. Forced to flee Coruscant after being defeated by the Emperor, he spent his years in exile reflecting on the very nature of the Force.(Hasbro Star Wars - 30th Anniversary Collection: Episode III Commemorative Tin Collection action figure set)
Cutting between this battle and Obi-Wan and Anakin's final duel makes Yoda's defeat seem even more powerful, and there's a definite air of unfinished business as Yoda makes his hasty retreat.(Star Wars Insider #101 - The Greatest Lightsaber Battles)
Inside the spacious interior of the Galactic Senate chamber, Yoda challenged the Emperor. The two engaged in a spectacular duel--a contest between the most powerful practitioners of the Force's light and dark sides. The Emperor proved too powerful to defeat. Although Yoda held his own for much of the duel, in the end the Sith bested him. He realized that continuing to directly confront Palpatine would mean failure.(The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia)
Yoda could not withstand the Emperor's Sith powers.(Star Wars: The Essential Atlas)
Even when Master Yoda, the most powerful of the Jedi survivors, confronted him in the Senate building, the Emperor was able to drive him off.(Star Wars: The Official Starships & Vehicles Collection #60)
Yoda is not badly hurt, but he realizes he cannot defeat Sidious this time and decides to flee.(Star Wars: Ultimate Duels)
Even the diminutive Jedi's amazing strength and speed, however, are not a match for the devastating fury of a Sith Lord(Star Wars: Character Encyclopedia)
Although unable to defeat Yoda, Sidious's strength forces the Jedi to flee.(Star Wars: Beware the Sith)
After a duel that destroys much of the Senate, Sidious seems to have won the battle.(Star Wars: The Legendary Yoda)
Yoda realized he couldn't win this time so he escaped through a ventilation shaft.(Star Wars: Sith Wars)
However, the wise old Jedi realized that he could not defeat Sidious this time.(Star Wars: Jedi Battles)
"Of course, we didn’t mention Palpatine surviving Starkiller’s super-charged suicide blast virtually unscathed..."
- Sources:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gVV5xyOxrqE&t=1m06s(Star Wars: The Force Unleashed)
“No!" the apprentice cried, dropping his defenses to strike one last time at the Imperials. Energy surged through him. He felt as though a star had blazed to life in his chest. Driven by concern for his friends rather than himself, he embraced the Force completely, utterly, and was rewarded with strength that made his efforts with the dark side look like those of a child. His nerves were on fire. Streamers of light radiated from his skin. His bones glowed like radiant lava.
He saw rather than felt the massive shock wave that consumed a large portion of what remained of the observation dome. A glowing bubble of fire tore the stormtroopers to shreds and engulfed Vader and the Emperor. Shrapnel filled the air like dust caught in the beam of the Death Star's powerful laser.
Tossed like a leaf, the Rogue Shadow fled in haste, ramp snapping shut on its precious cargo.
The apprentice felt himself leaving his body again. Or was his body leaving him this time? He felt ripped apart by the energy that had flowed through him. Every cell was in shock; every fiber shook. The fire on his face possessed no heat at all. His limbs felt as distant as the farthest arms of the galaxy. He was amazed there was enough left of him to think at all.
Weakened by the blast, the dome's supports gave way. It collapsed into the superlaser dish, triggering a series of conventional explosions. Stormtroopers converged on the site. Through the dense smoke, two figures were visible from the apprentice's rarefied perspective.
Darth Vader struggled to his feet from the rubble, even more damaged than before. He reached out for support and found only his Master, scowling.(Star Wars: The Force Unleashed novelization)
[Note: Starkiller's attack unleashed all of the Force power within him and reflected his full Force potential.]
Lightsabers clashed inside the Emperor's observation dome, but Starkiller was ultimately no match for the power of Darth Sidious. Bombarded by Force lightning, Starkiller did not fight back but instead unleashed all the power of the Force within him, causing a tremendous blast that shattered the Emperor's tower and caused enough of a distraction to allow Eclipse and the Rebel Senators to escape.(The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia)
Lightsabers clashed inside the Emperor's observation dome, but Starkiller was ultimately no match for the power of Darth Sidious. Bombarded by Force lightning, Starkiller did not fight back but instead unleashed all the power of the Force within him, causing a tremendous blast that shattered the Emperor's tower and caused enough of a distraction to allow Eclipse and the Rebel Senators to escape.(Official Star Wars Website - Databank: Starkiller [link])
The roleplaying game statistics represent Vader's protégé fairly early in his apprenticeship, before he manifests his true potential by unleashing the Force.(Official Wizards of the Coast Website - Star Wars: Miniatures - The Force Unleashed Preview #1 [link])
Leaving Juno behind, Starkiller battled through the station to rescue the rebels, defeating Vader and duelling the Emperor to give the others time to escape. He was no match for Palpatine, sacrificing himself -- or so they believed -- in a massive blast of Force energy.(Star Wars: The Official Starships & Vehicles Collection)
[hideedit]
- Suspect InsightAdministrator
How Powerful is Luke Skywalker? | Luke Skywalker Respect Thread
September 2nd 2020, 1:01 pm
1. LUKE SKYWALKER
"And finally, the most powerful character in all of Star Wars: is Jedi Grand Master LUKE SKYWALKER. Unlike in the Disney timeline—where Luke fails to re-establish the Jedi Order, considers murdering his nephew in his sleep, and becomes a depressed hermit on an island—in the Legends timeline, Luke’s Jedi Order flourished."
"His strength in the Force is such that he defeats the reborn Emperor Palpatine, who is ranked number 2 on this list, in a lightsaber duel;"
"telekinetically lifts, crushes and rebuilds Darth Vader’s mountain-sized fortress in mid-air;"
"moves artificial, miniature black holes;"
"single-handedly defeats entire armies of Yuuzhan Vong warriors;"
"dominates UnuThul,"
"an entity who can draw on the power of billions"
"and bend turbolasers;"
"telekinetically pins his nephew Darth Caedus—who is fourteenth—to a chair seemingly without effort;"
"and repeatedly almost defeats the all-powerful corrupted Force Celestial Abeloth single-handedly."
"And finally, the most powerful character in all of Star Wars: is Jedi Grand Master LUKE SKYWALKER. Unlike in the Disney timeline—where Luke fails to re-establish the Jedi Order, considers murdering his nephew in his sleep, and becomes a depressed hermit on an island—in the Legends timeline, Luke’s Jedi Order flourished."
"His strength in the Force is such that he defeats the reborn Emperor Palpatine, who is ranked number 2 on this list, in a lightsaber duel;"
- Sources:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DF3qCUAL4oE&t=21m08s (21:08)
LUKE: Through the strength of the Force, your shroud of evil has been lifted from my mind!
EMPEROR: So be it. Through the power of the Force, you will die!
LUKE and the EMPEROR fight.
LEIA: Be careful, Luke! The Force is strong. They're both moving so fast, I can hardly see them. I feel waves of power, the dark side and the light. But I fight the light is winning!
LUKE and the EMPEROR continue to fight.
EMPEROR: Ah! My hand! You cut off my hand!(Star Wars: Dark Empire Audio Drama)(Star Wars: Dark Empire #6: The Fate of a Galaxy)
"telekinetically lifts, crushes and rebuilds Darth Vader’s mountain-sized fortress in mid-air;"
- Sources:
[Description: Luke Skywalker reconstructs Darth Vader's fortress.]
He sat down on the sand, cross-legged and straight-backed, and brought his hands together in his lap, fingertip to fingertip. Concentrating on a picture in his mind, Luke dipped his awareness deeply into the flow of the Force beneath him. With eyes that looked inward, he found what he was seeking, like flaws in a near-perfect crystal. He extended his will.
The sand around him stirred. The rocks shuddered, shifted, then began to rise from the sea and the sand as though sifted from them by an invisible screen.
Swirling through the air as they sought their place, the stones took shape as broken wall and shattered foundation, as arch and gate and dome-the ruins of Darth Vader's fortress retreat. It hung in the air around and above Luke as it had once stood atop the cliff, a dark-faced and forbidding edifice.
There was no record in Imperial City's files to say whether his father had ever occupied the fortress, though it had clearly been built for him in accord with his instructions. It had been empty when it was destroyed by a B-wing's blasters, in the days after the New Republic reclaimed Coruscant.
Was this where Vader plotted his conquests in the Emperor's service?
Was this where he had come to rejuvenate after a battle? Had there been celebrations here, self-indulgent pleasures or cruelties? Luke listened for the echoes of the old evils, and could not be certain.
But that did not matter to his plans. As he had redeemed and reclaimed his father, he would redeem and reclaim his father's house.
Now the stones swirled again in the air, joined by others plucked from the sea and stripped from the face of the cliff. Now broken edge fused against broken edge, and the dark faces of the rock lightened as their mineral structure was reshuffled. Now heavy rock walls and floors thinned to an airy elegance as if they were clay in a potter's press.
Now a tower stretched skyward until it rose above the edge of the cliff.
When it was done, the last gap closed, the last rock transformed, the structure securely perched just above the sand on pillars of stone extending down to the bedrock, Luke brought the E-wing down the beach and nestled it in the chamber he had made for it. It was not a door that closed over the opening, though, but a solid wall that closed out not only the wind and the cold, but the world.(Star Wars: The Black Fleet Crisis - Before the Storm)
[Description: Luke Skywalker destroys Darth Vader's reconstructed fortress.]
Extending his hands and his will, Luke found the points of greatest stress within the structure and pressed upon them, found the points of greatest fragility and sundered them. With a roar that momentarily rivaled the wind, the hermitage collapsed in on itself, crushing the fighter still sealed within it.
But that was not enough to satisfy Luke, not enough to forever erase the temptation. One after another, he raised the pieces of the ruined hermitage, the broken ship, up out of the sand and into the air, crumbling them with the force of his thoughts, until it was a dense, swirling cloud of pebble-sized fragments and metal bits.
Then, with a final, explosive effort of will, he hurled the cloud of debris far out beyond the breakers, where it rained down on the churning water and vanished from sight.(Star Wars: The Black Fleet Crisis - Tyrant’s Test)
"moves artificial, miniature black holes;"
- Sources:
Luke sank back into the chair and closed his eyes. He took a deep breath and reached out through the Force. He let his sense of things ride above the frayed ones' jagged profile and vectored in toward the vehicle. He got no solid sense of it directly, though a few frayed ones did appear to be housed inside. Instead he used that emptiness as a way point to search out a void, and as it formed, the black hole blossomed fully in the Force.
The void that the vehicle's dovin basals created to intercept the missiles was a gravitic anomaly that had substance in the real world. Tiny threads of the Force leaked into it as insects and birds, bats and bugs were pulled into it. Luke used their vanishing life traces and the very currents in the air that the void created to define the void. He traced its edges, knew exactly where it was, and knew how powerful it was.
He opened himself to the Force more fully than he had in years. He sought more power than he had when freeing his nephew. The Force flooded into him, at once molten-metal hot, yet as soothing as a cool rain. It swirled through him, filling every cell of his body, freeing him from fatigue, sharpening his mind.
Luke reached out with that power and latched onto the void that the Yuuzhan Vong vehicle had created. He pushed a bit, then tugged, in nanoseconds getting a feel for the power the dovin basals were able to exert to control the void. He almost smiled, since that amount of power was nothing compared to the Force, but he stopped himself short of pride in that fact.
---
Immediately the dovin basals started to shift the void to cover this new attack vector. Luke fed the Force into his hold on the void, thwarting them. Their pressure increased, and still Luke held it unmoving. The torpedoes got closer and closer. The dovin basals pulled harder, and when their effort reached a new peak, Luke let the void slip over toward intercepting the proton torpedoes.
The dovin basals devoted their efforts to sliding the void into place, which required both some lateral movement and shortening the arc over which the void would travel. As they brought it close to the vehicle, Luke pushed with the Force. Since the dovin basals were already tugging the void back toward the vehicle, they were not prepared to have the travel accelerated.
The void crashed into the vehicle, striking it in midspine. The long vehicle bent backward as both ends became sucked into the black hole. It flowed like thick liquid, all the sharp horns and bony plates becoming fluid as they curved up over the void's event horizon. In less than an eye blink the vehicle had been consumed by the void, leaving a huge gap in the Yuuzhan Vong formation.(Star Wars: The New Jedi Order - Dark Tide I - Onslaught)
"single-handedly defeats entire armies of Yuuzhan Vong warriors;"
- Sources:
(Star Wars: Invasions - Revelations #1)
It wasn't until the eighth level that Luke and his niece and nephew met with resistance, but it was clear from the ferocity with which the warriors attacked-from above, below, and through the various access corridors-that the onslaught was likely to continue all the way to Shimrra's lair, and probably inside it, as well. If the warriors constituted the first line of defense, it was difficult to imagine what might await them at the summit, assuming they could even make it that far. In most places the stairway wasn't wide enough for the two people to stand abreast, and in those stretches Luke had to face the brunt of the attacks.
He was his own vortex, deflecting amphistaff strikes, whiplike lashes, and spurts of deadly venom; dodging or redirecting flights of thud bugs; parrying the thrusts of coufees, to sidestep, duck, maneuver his body in ways that seemed to defy gravity. Stunned or burned by Luke's green blade, thud bugs were ricocheting from the walls and high ceiling, chipping away at the yorik coral surface.
Dropped in their tracks, warriors sprawled with hands pressed to stumps of legs and opened foreheads, or with black blood welling where the lightsaber had found defenseless areas between living armor and tattooed flesh. Jacen recalled watching his uncle on Belkadan, where the war had begun, wielding two lightsabers when he had come to Jacen's rescue.
But the rescue on Belkadan paled in comparison to the control Luke demonstrated now. His single blade might as well have been ten, or twenty. He took the steps at a lightning pace, burning his way through dilating membranes but in complete control of his momentum. Seen through the Force he was a maelstrom of luminous energy, a Force storm against which there was no shelter. And yet all his energy poured from a calm center; an eye.
He made no missteps. None of his actions were interrupted by thought. In fact, Luke didn't seem to be there at all-physically or as an individual personality. Jacen and Jaina were astounded-but they had little time to reflect. Their lightsabers were busy, as well, turning the blows Luke dodged, or defending assaults launched from below. On the fourteenth level, where the Citadel's exterior wings sprouted from the hull, they reached a fork in the stairway. Luke swung to Jacen.
"Which way?" He wasn't even breathing heavily.(Star Wars: The New Jedi Order - The Unifying Force)
"dominates UnuThul,"
- Sources:
Luke had already rushed forward, only to find himself trapped behind his own bugcrunchers and unable to see the rest of the battle. "Make a hole!" he ordered. "Coming through."
Three bugcrunchers blocking his way obediently stepped aside, and Luke found himself staring up ten meters of corridor packed chest-high with Killik corpses and twisted YVH frames. At the other end, with his black helmet lying in a melted gob before him and the fingers of his vac suit gloves burned off by all the Force energy he had been throwing around, stood Luke's melt-faced opponent. Raynar Thul.
Luke jumped onto the pile of chitin and metal in front of him. Two of Raynar's Unu bodyguards immediately popped up and sent a burst of shatter gun pellets zipping down the corridor toward him.
Luke flicked his hand and Force-batted the projectiles into a wall, then the bugcrunchers at his back sent a stream of cannon fire down the hall. Raynar ignited a gold lightsaber and deflected most of the volley, but a few of the bolts made it through and splattered his bodyguards across the walls.
"It's not too late to surrender." Luke started forward at a walk. "I'm not eager to do this."
Raynar's burn-scarred lips twitched in a faint hint of a smile. "We are."
Raynar raised his lightsaber and jumped onto the carnage heap.
Luke ignited his own blade and raced forward, using the Force to keep himself from stumbling over debris. A loud crunching erupted behind him as his surviving droids raced after him, then half a dozen of Raynar's bodyguards leapt up from the other end of the pile and started forward, firing shatter guns with their lower set of arms and carrying flame tridents with their upper pair.
A flurry of cannon bolts zipped past Luke from behind and took out three insects. Raynar pointed at the attacking droids. A muffled thump erupted inside one of them, and it went down in a sizzling, popping crash of laminanium. Luke killed the last of Raynar's bodyguards by Force-slamming them into the wall so hard their thoraxes burst, then the two Jedi were on one another, their lightsabers flashing toward each other's heads with all the speed and might they could summon.
That was the trouble with powerful men-especially younger ones. Awed by their own strength, they so often believed strength was the answer to every problem. Luke was older and wiser. While Raynar swung, he pivoted.
As Raynar's gold blade sliced the air where Luke's head had been, Luke's boot was kicking him behind the ankles, knocking his legs out from under him and stretching him out flat.
But Raynar was a Jedi, and all Jedi were quick. He caught himself in the Force, levitating himself just long enough to bring his golden blade sweeping in at Luke's shoulder.
Luke had no choice but to block with his blade, and no place to block but the forearm. Raynar's lightsaber went spinning off, still securely in the grasp of his three-fingered hand, and caught one of Luke's bugcrunchers squarely in the back. The weapon sliced through six centimeters of laminanium armor before the severed forearm flew free. The blade deactivated, and the hilt disappeared into the tangle of death and destruction at the droid's feet.
The pain of losing an arm might have forced a common Jedi to stop fighting, but Raynar was no common Jedi. He had the Force potential of the Colony to draw on, and he did that now, swinging his remaining hand up to hurl Luke down the corridor as he had done before.
But this time, Luke was ready. He placed his own hand in front of Raynar's and rooted himself in the heart of the Force, and when he did that, he became the very essence of the immovable object. Nothing could dislodge him-not one of Lando's asteroid tuggers, not the Megador's sixteen ion engines, not the black hole at the center of the galaxy itself.
Luke stood that way, waiting, dimly aware that his surviving bugcrunchers were moving into defensive positions, one at his back and the other just inside the burst hatch. Raynar continued to struggle, trying to hurl Luke down the corridor, trying to move him a single centimeter.
Luke did not budge, and finally Raynar stopped struggling and met his eyes with a stunned and anguished gaze.
The Master sighed and shook his head. "What am I going to do with you, Raynar Thul?" he asked. "You learn nothing from your mistakes."
Luke deactivated his lightsaber and picked Raynar up by the collar and slammed him against the wall. He used the Force to pin him there, waiting for an answer to his question, watching as the expression in his captive's pained eyes turned from astonishment to anger to calculation.
But when Raynar's free hand rose, it was not to summon the Force lightning that Luke had expected. It was to call his lightsaber back, to attempt to continue the battle that he obviously could no longer win.
It was in that moment that Luke finally decided that the life of Raynar Thul would be spared. He intercepted the weapon and used the Force to pin Raynar's remaining arm against the wall along with the rest of his body. Then he opened the hilt of the captured lightsaber and removed the focusing crystal. He held it up in front of Raynar.
"Someday I may return this-but for now, it's staying with me." He zipped the gem into a pocket of his vac suit, then reached out to Raynar in the Force and spoke in a softer voice. "Your days as UnuThul are done, Raynar. It's time to surrender and come home."
The eyes beneath Raynar's lumpy brow flashed with alarm. "The Colony is our home."
Luke shook his head. "That can't be anymore, Raynar," he said. "The Colony can't be anymore. If you stay with the Killiks, the entire species will die."
Raynar curled his scarred lip. "Lies."
"No." Luke touched Raynar through the Force. "You're still a Jedi. You can sense when a person is telling the truth. You can sense it in me, now."
Hoping to force his Will on his captor, Raynar accepted the contact-as Luke had known he would-then gasped in astonishment as he sensed the truth in what Luke was saying. "How?"
"Because as long as you are the Prime Unu, Lomi Plo will be the queen of the Gorog." Luke began to press, as though he were trying to force his will on Raynar. "And as long as there is a Gorog, the Colony will be a threat to the Chiss."
Raynar began to pull, learning from Luke's earlier tactics and trying to use Luke's own attack against him. "The Chiss are a threat to the Colony."
Luke went along with Raynar-in fact, he pushed even harder.
"That's right. The Chiss are a threat to the Colony," Luke said. "They have developed a weapon that can wipe out the entire Colony. They tried to use it here. Jaina and Zekk stopped them ... but we both know they have more."
Backed by Luke's strength, the truth was too much for Raynar. His Will broke, and his resolve turned to panic. "We know," he admitted.
Luke continued to push. "And they'll use it-if you stay with the Colony."
Raynar shook his head. "We can't let them."
"Then you have to leave," Luke said. "It's the only way to save the Killiks."
A terrible sadness came to Raynar's melted face. He lowered his burned eyelids and reluctantly began to nod-then suddenly stopped and glanced toward the hatch through which he had burst earlier.
"Not the only way." Raynar's voice assumed a dark tone, and Luke knew his true target was finally preparing to show herself. "Maybe there is a weapon to kill the Chiss?"
Luke resisted the temptation to look toward the hatch. Lomi Plo would not show herself if she knew she was expected.
"Even if there was such a weapon, it wouldn't he right to use it," Luke said. "The Jedi won't permit speciecide against the Chiss-any more than we would against the Killiks."
"But you could . . . if it was self-defense." Raynar bared his jagged teeth in a try at a grin. "Destroying the Chiss would be self-defense, so you would have to permit it."
Raynar began to push back now, filling Luke's chest with the dark weight of UnuThul's Will.
"If it were self-defense, we might have to permit it," Luke said, playing along-and again using Raynar's own attack against him. "But even that wouldn't save the Colony. It cannot survive as it is. We know that."
"How do we know that?" Raynar demanded angrily. "We know no such thing."
"We might," Luke insisted, exerting his own will through the Force again, reeling Raynar in. "If the Colony grew too large, it would devour its own worlds and destroy itself."
"There are always more worlds," Raynar countered.
"Not always," Luke said. "Sometimes all of the other worlds are taken. That could have been what happened when the Killiks disappeared from Alderaan." He paused, then used the Force to pull as hard as he could, trying to draw Raynar into his own view of reality. "In fact, I'm sure that's what happened on Alderaan. The Killiks devoured their own world and tried to take someone else's. That's the reason the Celestials drove the Killiks into the Unknown Regions."
The fight finally went out of Raynar. "You're sure?" He folded his cauterized forearm stump across his stomach and cradled it with his other arm, his lips quivering in pain and tears welling in his eyes. "You know-"(Star Wars: Dark Nest III - The Swarm War)
"an entity who can draw on the power of billions"
- Sources:
As the Falcon dropped toward the mottled pinnacles below, Leia found herself straining against her crash webbing, almost gasping at the bustling vastness of the Colony's central nest. The Yoggoy towers, brightly adorned in wild splashes of color, stood hip-to-hip across the entire planet, and the air was so thick with flying vehicles that she could barely see the surface.
"Kind of looks like old Coruscant," Han said, speaking to Leia and-over the comm-to Luke, Mara, and everyone else aboard the Shadow. "So big-and all that bustle."(Star Wars: Dark Nest I - The Joiner King)
"Our scientists are having trouble understanding how the Will exerts its hold over the entire Colony," Formbi said. "The distances involved are too great for it to function through their auras, as the collective mind does."
"Killiks aren't Force-sensitive, if that's what you're thinking," Luke said. "At least not the ones we've met."
"Would they need to be?" Formbi asked. "If each nest had just one Joiner who could feel the Will, wouldn't the entire nest be subject to it?"
"Possibly," Mara allowed. Luke felt her alarm growing as clearly as his own; it was growing all too obvious that Unu - Raynar's nest-was the source of what the Chiss were calling the Will. "But this central Will would have to be magnitudes stronger than the wills of the individual nests."
"And it could be," Luke said, recalling how powerful Raynar had grown in the Force. "A gifted Joiner might be able to draw on the Force potential of his entire nest.(Star Wars: Dark Nest I - The Joiner King)
Trillions of Killiks and millions of Chiss would die, and the war would continue more ferociously than before.(Star Wars: Dark Nest III - The Swarm War)
Jacen's face grew worried. "But you're one against two, and they'll have the Force potential of the entire Colony to draw on. You'll need all the power you can get!"(Star Wars: Dark Nest III - The Swarm War)
He had the Force potential of the Colony to draw on, and he did that now, swinging his remaining hand up to hurl Luke down the corridor as he had done before."(Star Wars: Dark Nest III - The Swarm War)
"and bend turbolasers;"
- Sources:
A few moments later a turbolaser barrage streaked toward the frigate. A deep pang of sorrow washed over Leia as she awaited the coming explosion. Whatever Raynar had become among the Killiks, he had once been a Jedi and a close friend of her children, and she knew that his loss would leave her feeling empty and dismal.
Then, as the strike neared Raynar's vessel, the dark weight inside vanished, and Leia's strength surged back. Still gasping, she was about to report who was aboard, but the turbolaser barrage suddenly veered away and blossomed in empty space.
Grendyl cried out in astonishment, a murmur of disbelief rose from the survivors on the command deck, and Leia finally understood why the Killik gunners were such bad shots.
They weren't trying to hit the Ackbar.
When the second volley of turbolaser fire also veered away at the last instant, Bwua'tu narrowed his eyes and turned to Leia.
"What is it?" he asked. "Some sort of new shield?"
Leia shook her head. "It's Raynar Thul," she said. "And I think he's coming to take your ship."(Star Wars: Dark Nest II - The Unseen Queen)
"telekinetically pins his nephew Darth Caedus—who is fourteenth—to a chair seemingly without effort;"
- Sources:
"Don't play stupid, "Luke snapped. "This isn't about the academy. It's about Ben."
"Ben?" Caedus stopped at the corner of his desk, feigning shock. "Did something happen to him?"
"You tell me, "Luke said. "You're the one who sent him."
"Sent him where! I've hardly spoken to Ben since the funeral."
In the next instant, Caedus found himself flying across the cabin toward his observation bubble. Luke had not gestured, had not flinched, had not even shifted his gaze; he had simply grabbed Caedus in the Force and hurled him five meters into his chair.
"Don't lie." Luke started across the cabin. "I'm getting tired of it."
Caedus sprang out of the chair... or attempted to. Instead, he found himself struggling against an invisible weight. He felt as if he were accelerating to lightspeed with a faulty inertial compensator.
"Luke, you've gone mad." Caedus reached for the controls on the arm of his chair and discovered he couldn't even do that much. "You can't do this. I know you're having trouble dealing with Mara's death, but..."
"This has nothing to do with Mara, "Luke said. "And you're lucky it doesn't. If she were here-if she had known what you were using Ben for-there'd be pieces of you scattered along the entire length of the Hydian Way."
The irony of the statement was far from lost on Caedus, but he was too astonished-and too frightened-to take any pleasure in it. While it was true that Luke had taken him by surprise, it was equally true that he had done so with no visible effort-and that he was continuing to hold him with no apparent exertion.
Keenly aware that all that stood between him and a quick death was Luke Skywalker's much-strained sense of decency, Caedus let a little of his very real fear seep into the Force, just enough to seem properly alarmed.
"Does this have something to do with Cal Omas?" he asked. "Tell me Ben didn't do anything foolish!"
Luke's eyes grew narrow and cold. "Tell me what makes you think he might have."
"Of course, "Caedus said. "Ben learned of a conversation that made it look as though Omas had something to do with Mara's death."
"That's ridiculous, "Luke said. "Chief Omas would never have done something like that."
"Never have!" Caedus echoed. "You mean Ben.... you mean Omas is dead?"
Luke looked at him without answering.
Caedus would have shaken his head, save that it was still being held motionless with the Force. Had it been Mara's death instead of Omas's that Luke had just heard about,
Caedus knew he would already be dead. Another reminder that anyone could be surprised.
"I tried to tell Ben the same thing, but he's so full of anger." He locked gazes with Luke. "I'm afraid he's going to become its servant, if one of us doesn't reach him soon."
Luke nodded, then sat on the corner of Caedus's desk. "How did Ben find out about this conversation?"
Caedus forced himself not to look away. "I wish I knew."
"You told him." When Luke's expression did not change, Caedus realized that his uncle had been expecting the lie, that he had already worked matters out for himself. "It's just so convenient for you, isn't it? You let something slip in an innocent conversation and point Ben like a missile."
"That's not what happened." The denial was strictly for form; Caedus knew Luke wouldn't believe it. "But even if it were, now is hardly the time to discuss it. We're a Squib's hair from victory. After we crush the Confederation, I'll be..." Krova's voice came over the comm speaker. "I'm sorry to interrupt, Colonel Solo, but Admiral Bwua'tu is ready for the Hapans."
Caedus felt a knot unwind inside. Finally.
"Tell Admiral Bwua'tu the Hapans will be coming shortly." Caedus had retained personal control of the Hapan Home Fleet, determined to prevent any risk to Tenel Ka or Allana by not using it until victory was certain. He waited until Krova had acknowledged the order and closed the channel, then turned to his uncle. "I've told you all I know about Omas's death, and I need to transmit that order myself. The Queen Mother insisted I take personal responsibility for committing her fleet."
Luke raised his brow. "You think you're dismissing me?"
"I know I am." Caedus put an angry edge in his voice; he might be trapped in a humiliating position right now, but he was still the leader of the Galactic Alliance-and Luke was still its servant. "If you like, we'll open an inquiry into Omas's death after we've saved the Alliance."
Luke glared at Caedus for a long moment, then finally slipped off the desk. "Is that a promise?"
"It is."
"Then I'll take it for what it's worth, "Luke said. Leaving Caedus Force-pinned in his chair, he started toward the door. "I'll show myself out."
Caedus knew he would be freed as soon as Luke turned his concentration to something other than Force-pinning him-but that might take minutes, and Caedus needed to send in the Home Fleet now. Besides, he was the Chief of State of the Galactic Alliance, and he could not allow anyone, even Luke Skywalker, to humiliate him and simply leave. He had to assert some sort of authority.
"Luke, "Caedus called. "Aren't you forgetting something?"
Luke stopped at the door and looked back, the rage in his face now softening to what looked like remorse. "You're right. I should warn you that you'll have to crush the Confederation without StealthXs. The Jedi can support you no longer."
"What?" Caedus was so shocked that he tried to rise- and found himself as unable to move as before. "You can't desert now. We can end this war!"
"We could destroy the Confederation fleets and kill a lot of rebels, "Luke admitted. "But I don't think you can end this war, Jacen. I don't think you even know what it's about."
"That's absurd." Caedus did not understand how a man who had been fighting wars for forty years could be so foolish. "After their fleets are destroyed, Corellia and Both-awui will have to accept our terms, and once they've surrendered, the rest of the Confederation will have no choice but to come racing to rejoin the Alliance."
Luke shook his head and reached for the touch pad beside the door. "There's always a choice, Jacen."
"And if you go through with this one, you'll regret it." Caedus could not understand why Luke wanted to desert him just when they were on the brink of saving the Alliance, but he did know how to prevent it. "Have you forgotten the academy?"
The door opened. Instead of stepping through, Luke faced Caedus and spoke in a very calm voice. "I'm sure you're not threatening the younglings."
He pointed at the base of Jacen's meditation chair and made a tapping motion with his finger. The pedestal gave a loud whumpf, and the seat dropped a quarter meter.
"Because you really don't want to see me angry." Luke made the tapping motion again. The pedestal emitted a metallic shriek, and the seat dropped another quarter meter. "And I think you're smart enough to know that."
Luke tapped a last time, and the pedestal collapsed with a low loud crump, depositing Caedus on the floor with his feet sticking out in front of him like a child.
"But if you want to try me, go ahead and make that threat."
Luke lowered his hand, and the weight vanished from Caedus's chest. He could have leapt up to attack-had he been that foolish-but Sith were not slaves to their emotions. Avenging his humiliation could wait until after he had saved the Alliance.
---
Krova acknowledged the order, and a moment later Caedus felt the Jedi moving away from the Anakin Solo. Realizing it would soon be time for him to coordinate their attack with Admiral Bwua'tu, Caedus grabbed his meditation chair in the Force and discovered that he could not turn it back toward the battle. No matter how hard he exerted himself, it would not budge.(Star Wars: Legacy of the Force - Inferno)
"and repeatedly almost defeats the all-powerful corrupted Force Celestial Abeloth single-handedly."
- Sources:
[Description: Luke Skywalker and Abeloth's Callista Ming avatar's fight in the Maw.]
The Sith had betrayed them. Vestara had used her injury to try to play on his feelings for her, to keep him out of the way while her father attacked his. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Taalon and the other remaining Sith using the Force net technique-the technique Vestara had suggested-not to try to stifle Abeloth's powers, but to try to trap the now seriously struggling Abeloth, even as Luke was using his own mastery of the Force to destroy her. And it was with a fierce sense of pride and love that Ben realized that, despite the odds, his father was winning.
The net was working. It was starting to stifle her ability to use the Force. He could see it in the terror on Abeloth's face, feel it in the wild flickering of her Force aura. And Luke was fighting as Ben had never seen him before, pain and love and duty grim on his face, darting and leaping, moving his lightsaber so swiftly it was a blur. Ben let out a shout of delight and continued to press the attack on Gavar Khai, who no longer was smirking and gloating, but instead felt genuine concern that he might not make it out of this alive.
A sudden shock wave hurled Ben into the sky. He felt paralyzed for a second, unable to use the Force to direct his fall, and landed hard. He blacked out briefly, and when he came to he heard shouting. Ben got to his feet, grabbing his lightsaber from where it had fallen.
Abeloth was gone. He realized, as everyone else did, what must have happened. She had gathered her strength to send out a powerful Force shock, to throw her attackers off her briefly, and disappeared.
"Where'd she go?" Ben cried, ignoring Khai for the moment.
Luke had recovered faster than he and didn't reply. Instead, he raced down the tunnel at full speed, even though Ben could see he had been at least slightly injured in the attack.
Their division among themselves forgotten, Ben and the Sith followed. Ben heard Vestara following him at a distance, could feel her pain and mingled regret and resolution in the Force. Wincing, he shut her out.
---
The three Sith that Taalon had left to aid Dyon had already been dispatched. There was no obvious damage to the corpses, but they all had looks of terror frozen on their faces. And now, Abeloth had returned to Dyon to finish the job she'd started earlier.
Dyon lay on his back, his face contorted in fear. Abeloth straddled him in a horrible parody of lovers, her tentacle fingers pressed to his face, her huge, grinning mouth a centimeter from his. Glowing golden energy wrapped about them. As Luke emerged from the cave, Abeloth hissed, sensing his presence, and turned to look at him.
Her features rippled, melted into those of Callista. She turned to Luke, hand outstretched, imploring.
"Luke-please. You don't understand. It really is me. It's Callie, your Callie. I love you. I've never stopped. Please-"
She is never what she seems.
And then Luke understood. She wasn't Callista.
She wasn't even Abeloth.
Trusting his feelings, as he had so many times before, Luke brought his lightsaber down.
On the writhing body of Dyon Stad.
"Abeloth" recoiled as the bright blade went straight through Dyon Stad's chest, through the stone floor of the cave. He arched his back and cried out, clawing frantically at Luke's face.
"Dad! What are you doing?" came Ben's voice. The Sith were shouting something, too. Luke ignored them all, his blue eyes peering into Dyon's.
The wide, imploring, human eyes of Dyon Stad changed. They became tiny, hard pinpricks of light, like stars in a dark well of nothingness. The hands clawing at him became tentacles, the mouth wide and gaping. Luke felt one more attack from her, a crashing wave of dark side energy, and braced himself for the assault.
She died halfway through. He felt it. Felt her wink out of existence, strangely small in death. He moved off the body and sat on the floor for a long moment, catching his breath.
Ben was there. "Dad? You all right? Is she...?"
Luke lifted his head. It felt like it weighed a kiloton. He smiled a little as he saw Dyon Stad lying to the side, unconscious, but breathing, and looked again at the monster that had worn first Callista's face and then Dyon's.
"Yes," said Luke. His throat was dry, the words a whisper. "She's dead."(Star Wars: Fate of the Jedi - Allies)
[Description: Luke Skywalker and Abeloth's Akanah avatar's fight on Pydyr.]
Thinking they might win this battle after all, Luke thumbed his own blade to life and spun to attack Abeloth-and that, of course, was when the crackle of Force lightning rang out from the door, where Vestara was standing. Ben cried out in surprise and anguish, then two distinct thuds sounded behind Luke, his son slamming into one wall and Taalon into another. A terrific pop echoed across the hall, and Taalon bellowed in pain.
Luke was already on Abeloth, launching a vicious thrust kick. She took it like a durasteel wall, then her arm flew up to rake at his eyes. Luke was ready, and his blade burned through the limb as though it were nutripaste.
"Luke!" The cry came in Akanah's voice, the terror unmistakable. "Don t! It's me! Akanah!"
Luke knew better than to believe her, even for a heartbeat. He continued his swing, sweeping the blade across at thigh level, and felt it slice into a leg. Abeloth shrieked in a dozen voices and spun away, falling toward the tiers of sunken seating. He used a Force nudge to send her arcing toward the cleft in the stage floor and lost sight of her against the glow of the magma.
Desperate to know what had become of Ben, Luke reached out in the Force and felt the frightened, groggy presence of someone who had taken a head-shaking blow He turned and found his son trapped against a wall, defending himself from Vestara's fierce attack, an unrefined high-low-low- high pattern, which Ben was blocking only because of his strength in the Force and the reflexes drilled into him by thousands of hours of practice.
Luke flicked a finger in Vestara's direction and sent her tumbling toward Taalon, who was limping across the floor toward Ben, one knee buckling every time he placed weight on it. Had the High Lord been at his best, he would simply have redirected the girl straight into Luke. Weakened as he was by his injury and his ongoing transformation, he barely managed to Force-jump over her-and that left him vulnerable.
Luke raised his lightsaber and grasped the Sith in the Force, intending to bring him tumbling into an ignited blade ... then felt something catch him across the ankles. He had no time to be astonished, barely even the nanosecond required to realize Abeloth had survived her fall into the cleft. He merely felt his feet shoot away and found himself dropping face-first.
Luke tucked his chin and managed to flip to his back before he hit the stone floor. Abeloth was on top of him, her flesh blistered and smoking, her remaining leg entwining both of his, her remaining arm wrapped around the back of his neck. She drove the still-sizzling stump of her amputated arm into his throat, catching him square in the voice box and pressing hard. The cartilage began to give. He pushed back with the Force, reinforcing his larynx and trying to throw her off.
It was no good. Abeloth had a dozen times the Force strength Luke had, and he could do no more than keep her from crushing his throat. He tried to bring his knee up and found his legs incapable of moving. She straightened her leg, forcing his knee to bend against the joint, and something gave with a muted pop. He slammed a Force-enhanced knuckle strike into her side and heard three ribs snap ... and remained entangled. She dug her nails into the root of his ear, then twisted, and his head erupted in pain. He slipped his deactivated lightsaber between their bodies and jammed the blade emitter against her stomach. He thumbed the activation slide and saw the blade shoot out the other side.
Still Abeloth held on, clinging to him like a self-tightening cargo cable. It seemed impossible to shake her, and Luke knew that he had to. To fail was to die, and take Ben with him. He reached out with the Force, grabbing for anything that might help him, anything to give him a second or a centimeter to counterattack.
Half a dozen loose cushions rose from the seating tiers and bounced harmlessly past. He continued to reach, felt something heavy and liquid rising from the stage floor, and a glob of molten heat arced onto them, splashing across Abeloth's back and spattering off the floor, driving tiny pinpricks of anguish into Luke's arm and face where it hit him.
A hundred-voiced wail erupted from Abeloth's mouth, shrill and loud and inhuman. Plumes of greasy smoke shot from her back, and the smell of charred flesh grew sickening in the air. The heat of the magma burned through Abeloth's body to sear him, and he heard organs sizzling inside her chest. Any normal being would have been dead by now But Abeloth seemed to live in the Force as much as she did in a physical body, and now she was using the Force to animate a body that should have been in its death throes.
Finally, the pressure on Luke's throat eased-not much, but enough to draw breath. It made him hope he might survive ...at least fight a few moments more. He continued to reach with the Force, now going higher toward the ceiling vault, and caught hold of one of the long crossbeams that held the roof in place.
Luke pulled, trying to open a little space so he could gain his feet and fight, and they both began to rise.
Abeloth pulled in the opposite direction, and they dropped back to the floor. Luke opened himself more fully to the Force, using his love for Ben and his lost wife and the entire Jedi Order to draw it into him. The foul miasma of dark side energy, still swirling into Abeloth, seeped into him, filling him with greasy nausea. But the light side rushed in, flowing in from all sides, pouring through him like fire. A golden glow began to rise from his skin- cells literally bursting with the power of the Force-and Luke felt them both start upward again. Abeloth countered, hissing in anger, and they hovered a hand span above the floor.
A tremendous crack echoed down from the vaulted ceiling. They dropped again, hitting so hard that Luke's breath left in a groan. Abeloth slammed down atop him, her single leg still wrapped around his, the stump of her arm driving harder into his throat. Something crunched in his larynx. His breath came in shallow, wheezy gasps, and the crushing hand of panic began to clench at his heart.
Then a two-meter length of beam came plummeting out of the darkness and caught Abeloth across the back. The impact compressed his chest until he thought it would split. Then her leg went slack, her stump slipped from Luke's throat, and she fell motionless, her face pressed against his, cheek-to-cheek.
Luke planted his feet flat on the floor and bridged, trying to throw her off. The effort rolled naves of agony up his rib cage, and Abeloth's leg and hips slid to one side, limp and loose. But the rest of her remained on top of him, pinned in place by the heavy beam. Guessing that her spine had been crushed, he pressed his lightsaber's blade emitter against her flank. Akanah's voice sounded in his ear.
"Luke, forgive me,"she whispered. "I didn't... I didn't understand."
A shudder raced through her body, then her head rose, and in the depths of her eyes shone a pair of tiny silver specks. Her hair assumed a golden cast and tented around Luke's face, forming a private world where there was only them, and her lips broadened into a full-lipped mouth so large it stretched ear-to-ear.
The mouth opened, revealing a row of slender fangs, and started to descend toward his throat. Luke thumbed his lightsaber switch and dragged the hissing blade up the length of her body. She gave a long gasp of anguish, then the silver light faded from her eyes, and her head cracked down on the stone next to his.
A pang of sorrow shot through Luke. Abeloth had taken over Akanah's body, but Akanah had fought through with those final words to ease his conscience. He knew that he still didn't fully understand Abeloth's power, but he was too frightened for his son to spend time thinking about it now Ben was still locked in battle against Taalon and Vestara, and judging by the fear radiating from his son's Force aura, the fight was going badly. Luke used the Force to push aside the heavy beam, then tried to spring up ... and nearly collapsed as his injuries blossomed into crippling pain. The act of breathing was like choking on a rock, his knee felt catchy and swollen, and there was a crushing in his chest that made him wonder if the beam had smashed his sternum.(Star Wars: Fate of the Jedi - Vortex])
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