Exar Kun
From Wookieepedia, the Star Wars wiki.
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| Exar Kun | |
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| Biographical information | |
| Died | |
| Physical description | |
| Species | |
| Gender | |
| Height |
1.9 meters[2] |
| Hair color |
Black[1] |
| Eye color |
Gray[1] |
| Chronological and political information | |
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| Affiliation | |
| Known masters | |
| Known apprentices | |
- "My enemies…I am Exar Kun."
- ―Exar Kun[src]
Exar Kun was a highly talented Jedi apprentice under the tutelage of Master Vodo-Siosk Baas.[3] After being forced to fall to the dark side of the Force by ancient Sith spirits, he became one of the galaxy's most powerful and dangerous Sith Lords, taking Ulic Qel-Droma as his apprentice. He then initiated the Great Sith War, tearing the Galactic Republic apart through several battles, until he sealed his own spirit away in a Massassi Temple on Yavin 4.[4]
Thousands of years later Kun's spirit would return to wreak havoc on Luke Skywalker's Jedi Praxeum. He possessed two students, Gantoris and Kyp Durron, turning them to the dark side and eventually killing Gantoris. He also succeeded in taking Luke's soul from his body, but was eventually defeated by the combined power of Luke's students.[4]
Contents |
[edit] Biography
[edit] Errant Jedi
- "I don't understand, Master Vodo…why can't I learn about the Sith? I think you underestimate me."
- ―Exar Kun to Master Vodo Siosk-Baas[src]
Exar Kun was a rash and talented youth: these qualities resulted in considerable arrogance, an unbecoming and dangerous quality in a Jedi. In his training, he frequently dueled with and defeated his fellow Padawans, Sylvar and Crado, his rage and confidence clearly visible. The temptation of power overwhelmed Kun when he briefly viewed his master's holocron.[3]
Master Vodo-Siosk Baas was greatly displeased upon learning of his pupil's meddling; the knowledge of the dark side was dangerous in the hands of such an unpredictable mind. Indeed, it was becoming apparent to Baas that Kun's supreme pride and ambition was beginning to consume him; Kun was convinced that he could learn to master the dark side, learning its powers and techniques while remaining uncorrupted, and return to teach the Jedi Order his new discoveries. Baas tried to save his pupil, warning him to heed his lessons and to avoid the snares of the dark side, but his pupil disregarded his instructions. Abandoning his master, Kun declared himself a Jedi Knight. Kun then followed his curiosity and traveled to the war-torn planet of Onderon. There, he learned of a tomb that the Jedi had captured at the end of the Naddist Uprising that housed the mortal remains of an ancient Sith Lord, Freedon Nadd; the Jedi had sealed it shut with Mandalorian iron and secreted it in a remote section of the moon Dxun. But these barriers were insufficient to stop the young Jedi. Kun made his way to the dark glade.[5]
There, the spirit of the long-deceased Sith Lord appeared to Kun and, using the young Jedi's curiosity and ambition to his advantage, the ancient Sith Lord instructed Kun to continue his quest to the infamous Sith tomb-world of Korriban. Kun agreed, plunging himself straight into his fall to the dark side.[5]
On Korriban, Kun traveled deep into the mausoleums that encrusted its surface. The spirit of Freedon Nadd, and those of the other ancient Sith Lords, decided to test the young and curious Jedi. Unable to use the Force to aid him, Kun soon found himself trapped under a large pile of rocks after a deliberately engineered cave-in. The ghostly Sith offered Exar Kun the only means of escape: to completely embrace the power of the dark side. His pride and ambition overwhelming him, Kun refused to accept death, calling upon his rage and hatred to fuel the dark side within, temporarily escaping his fate. He emerged from the hallowed tombs of Korriban a corrupted shadow of his former self.[6]
[edit] Dark Lord of the Sith
Before fully embracing the dark side, Exar Kun was directed to the jungle moon of Yavin 4, one of the few remaining Sith outposts; even after Freedon Nadd ransacked the treasures deposited there by Naga Sadow, there was much to attract Kun. There he encountered the primitive remnants of the experiment of the Sith Lord Naga Sadow, the fearsome Massassi race. Denied the powers of the light, but at the same time refusing to entirely accept the dark side, Kun was easily captured by these natives. As Kun, on the verge of death, was being crushed by a giant creature of alchemical origins, Freedon Nadd proceeded to interrupt another of his student's predicaments. In what would be Kun's final moments before being totally corrupted by the dark side, Nadd instructed his pupil that his only escape was to once again tap into the darkness within him. Taking the Sith amulet being displayed at his Massassi sacrifice in hand, Kun embraced its dark nature with absolute conviction.[7]
Transformed into an agent of darkness, he broke free from his captors, slaughtering them without hesitation. While Nadd was pleased by Kun's newfound strength, the Dark Jedi became fed up with the ancient Sith's tests and meddling. At that instant, Freedon Nadd's presence in the galaxy was vanquished by the amulet his protégé now held.[7]
Enveloped in the dark side, Kun elevated himself to the stature of a god. He enslaved the Massassi and forced them to construct an intricate complex of massive temples that were used in arcane Sith ceremonies and rites as focuses for the dark side. Fascinated with Sith teachings of alchemy and magic, and now outfitted with the necessary equipment, Kun was able to create terrifying creatures twisted by the dark side's influence while conquering the fourth moon of Yavin Prime.[7]
Kun's ambitions would not let him be satisfied with the rule of a single jungle moon, however absolute and despotic that rule might be. He refurbished the millennium-old Sith Battleship that Naga Sadow had buried on Yavin 4, and began searching for other dark side users who might pose a threat to his status as Dark Lord of the Sith. He found them in the Krath cult of the Empress Teta system, led by Aleema and Satal Keto, which had enlisted the Mandalorians, and a band of Jedi they had seduced to the dark side and converted into Sith. With them, he began a war against the Jedi Order and the Old Republic.[8]
- "You will be one of the great ones, and there is another even greater than you."
- ―Freedon Nadd to Ulic Qel-Droma[src]
One of the Krath's fallen Jedi was Ulic Qel-Droma, who Kun perceived as the only Force-sensitive tainted by the Sith that was strong enough to challenge him. In a fierce duel between the two fallen Jedi on the Tetan world Empress Teta, both amulets that each combatant was wearing suddenly sprang to life. Through the flow of Sith energies unleashed by the combatants, the amulets displayed a vision of a once glorious Sith Empire that had existed a thousand years in the past. A group of ancient Sith spirits, led by Marka Ragnos, declared both Kun and Qel-Droma the leaders of the new Sith Empire. Exar, the more powerful of the two, was appointed the Dark Lord of the Sith, with Ulic as his apprentice, and both were anointed with unknown Sith symbols on their foreheads. With this resolution of the leadership dispute, the Great Sith War had brutally begun.[9]
[edit] Enemy of the Republic
- "Not just a military battle for the dominance of a few worlds--this is a war of light and darkness, and at its center is my own student…Exar Kun."
- ―Vodo-Siosk Baas[src]
The War was planned with two prongs, to strike against the two foes: Kun traveled to the Jedi fastness of Ossus, killing Odan-Urr, and where with the aid of a Sith holocron, he corrupted the most promising young Jedi Knights and Padawans.[10]These were dispatched to slay their masters, incalculably weakening the Jedi Order and sowing fear throughout the galaxy. At this time, Kun also used his newfound knowledge and power to devise the first known double-bladed lightsaber. Ulic Qel-Droma, with his combined Mandalorian/Tetan fleets, would assault Coruscant itself, against the orders of his master. The attack was unsuccessful as Kun had predicted, and Ulic was captured and put on trial before the Galactic Senate.[11]
After learning of Qel-Droma's capture and pending trial on Coruscant, Kun went to the Senate Building and met his former master, Vodo-Siosk Baas. Using his new lightsaber, Kun engaged the Krevaaki Jedi in a duel. Master Vodo held his own for much of the contest, but Kun changed the game when he twisted the hilt of his lightsaber, and produced from it's opposite end another blade. With the tides now turned, the former student slew the Master with minimal effort. Ulic and Exar then proceeded to slaughter the Senate viciously, including the Supreme Chancellor.[12]
Around this time, Exar Kun discovered the secrets of the crystals aboard Sadow's Yavin 4 flagship. Where Sadow had caused a binary star system to nova to cover his escape, Kun had the vision to use this extraordinary ability as an offensive weapon—against Ossus, which was a few light-days from a cluster of red giants. Kun would sweep down during the inevitable hasty evacuation and cherry-pick the best of the Jedi artifacts and tomes. His plan was even more subtle than this however—the Sith battleship was dispatched with Aleema aboard (with the connivance of Ulic, who had been informed by Mandalore of Aleema's treachery).[13]Aleema was not told that detonating five red giants ensured that they would supernova, and ensure her death in addition to that of the Jedi fleet defending Ossus which was to pursue her.[14]
During the stripping of Ossus, Ulic encountered his brother Cay Qel-Droma, who attacked him. Ulic defended himself all too well, slaying his brother. This murder broke the hold of the dark side and the Sith toxins, redeeming him. In horror, Nomi Sunrider stripped him of the Force. The fallen Jedi whom Exar took under his teachings recanted his foray into the dark side after being cut off from the Force. A broken man, Qel-Droma then led the Republic to Kun's temples on Yavin 4.[14] On the jungle moon, Kun sensed he would not survive the Republic's coming attack. Thus, he drew upon the riskiest sections of Sith alchemy with his alchemical apparatus and drained the life-force of almost the entire Massassi race, transcending his own mortal body which was destroyed in the process along with the rest of the surface of Yavin 4. However, Nomi Sunrider realized somehow what Kun was attempting and caused the Jedi to erect a 'Wall of Light' with the Force around the moon, keeping Exar Kun's spirit from fleeing the planet and instead chaining him there for all eternity.[15] He remained largely dormant inside a massive, black obsidian tomb, and was even forgotten as the centuries passed and he grew bitter. Not even his former apprentice Ulic Qel-Droma could sense Kun's spirit within the ancient ruin when he visited some time later, and so it would remain for millennia.[16]
[edit] Reawakening
- "How you must hate me. I can feel your anger."
- ―Exar Kun to Luke Skywalker's students[src]
Nearly four thousand years later, some of these temples were used by the Rebel Alliance as a base of operations. As knowledge of the existence of temples on Yavin 4 became known, in 1 ABY, Professor Walter Emanus led a University of Corellia archaeological expedition.[17] However, during their excavations, they uncovered the catacombs beneath the Dark Lord's temple and reawakened his spirit. He possessed them and made them into the Cult of Exar Kun, which was devoted to his worship. Under his influence, some of the cultists travelled to the Corellia University research outpost on Talus to recruit more students and researchers to their ranks. The cult based itself around the catacombs, but was destroyed, when Professor Cornelius Wagglehorn, a former colleague of Emanus, hired a group of spacers to drive them out. Exar Kun himself battled the spacers, but due to his spirit form, was easily defeated and silenced once more.
These temples went on to become the site of Luke Skywalker's Jedi Praxeum in 11 ABY, a school where he began the re-creation of the Jedi Order. Exar Kun's presence was felt again only after Luke established his Praxeum. As a spirit, Kun appeared to the young Jedi Gantoris. The inexperienced apprentice was unable to avoid being corrupted and was eventually killed by the spectral Kun. After destroying his first Jedi in thousands of years, Kun's insatiable appetite for spreading his dark wrath escalated. He was able to successfully corrupt and partly possess the young and extraordinarily talented Kyp Durron.[18]
In addition, he somehow sundered Luke Skywalker's spirit from his body, resulting in great confusion and dismay amongst Luke's Jedi apprentices. Kun's spirit was eventually roused from hiding and banished into Chaos by the combined efforts of the Jedi apprentices, Luke's spirit, and the long-dead spirit of Kun's Master, Vodo-Siosk Baas. After Kun's shade was vanquished, Corran Horn destroyed Kun's temple with proton torpedoes, thus removing his dark taint from Yavin 4 forever.[4]
- "Who dares?"
"Who cares, more correctly." - ―Exar Kun and Mara Jade[src]
[edit] Powers and abilities
Exar Kun was extremely skilled in the use of lightsabers, specializing in double-bladed lightsaber combat and the Jar'Kai style of fighting, though he more frequently used the former.[3]Kun's lightsaber, unlike nearly all Sith lightsabers that followed it, was blue. He could also independently change the length and strength of the blades, causing confusion and over/under-compensation in his combat opponents, giving him a strong advantage in his lightsaber fighting.
After being consumed by the dark side, learning the powers of the Sith, and benefitting from the power of Freedon Nadd's amulet, Kun's power in the Force became extraordinary. He had a strong Force Sense, the ability of Force Flight, and was capable of emitting blasts from his hands that could crumble stone walls and kill Sithspawn with a few hits. Jedi Oss Wilum described him as "immensely strong with the Force." His studies of ancient Sith scrolls, and the designs of Naga Sadow on Yavin 4, also gave Kun a more than working mastery of Sith Alchemy. Kun revealed his new powers to the Jedi Order, but found himself ostracized for his abilities.[5][6][7]
As a disembodied spirit, Exar Kun appeared to Force-sensitives as a "three-dimensional silhouette," normally black as the void, but sometimes containing stars, if he wished. When Luke Skywalker occupied the same "spirit world," Exar Kun appeared to him as he did in life, claiming that if he could drive enough of Luke's Jedi students to the dark side, he could draw upon their combined dark emotions and recreate his body.[18][4]
Kun could travel at will anywhere on Yavin 4, and was capable of enhancing others' Force powers (as when he helped Kyp Durron recover the Sun Crusher). He retained mental command over his Sith alchemy creations, which had survived from 4,000 years ago. His spirit form did not limit him from attacking others directly, as he burned Gantoris to death from the inside out and summoned two-headed bird like creatures composed of pure dark side energy, to tear Luke's body apart. Fortunately, Luke was able to communicate with his young nephew, Jacen Solo, and force bonded with him to defend his body.[18]
[edit] Legacy
- "Time to make this more interesting…do you like the modifications I made to my lightsaber, Master?"
- ―Exar Kun to Vodo Siosk-Baas[src]
The creation of the double-bladed lightsaber, often mistakenly attributed to Darth Maul, was in actuality the brainchild of Kun.[12]In addition to the ability for him to adjust the length of the blade, Kun was able to alter its intensity as he saw fit. He crafted his double-bladed blue saber later in his life by modifying his old two-handed lightsaber. Thus unlike later designs, Kun's double-bladed lightsaber roughly equaled to the hilt length of a standard lightsaber. Kun's ingenuity served as a source of inspiration for later Sith, and in a few rare cases, Jedi and Dark Jedi, to create their own. Other notable wielders of the double-bladed lightsaber included Bastila Shan, Zez-Kai Ell, Darth Bandon, Jorak Uln, Uthar Wynn, Sirak, Kas'im, Darth Zannah, Darth Maul, Asajj Ventress, Azrakel, and Shado Vao. This weapon was also very popular with the Sith during Darth Revan's Jedi Civil War.
His mastery of Sith alchemy resulted in the creation of battle hydras, terentateks, Night Beast, the Golden Globe, his light battle suit, and the mass genocide and extinction of the Massassi race.[12][19][20][21][22][23]
[edit] Behind the scenes
Exar Kun first appeared as a spirit in the Jedi Academy Trilogy written by Kevin J. Anderson, who, along with Tom Veitch, wrote the Tales of the Jedi which detailed Kun's life.
Exar Kun is the one of only five known Dark Lords to construct and wield a lightsaber that did not utilize a red focusing crystal. Darth Bane used a violet lightsaber for a time[24], Darth Vader used his original Jedi lightsaber before he lost it to Obi-Wan Kenobi on Mustafar[25], Darth Traya used three violet lightsabers by holding them aloft with the Force (although she initially used a red lightsaber)[26] and Darth Caedus used his Jedi lightsaber, which had a green crystal, before losing it to Luke Skywalker in their duel[27].
Although he never demonstrated it, The Dark Side Sourcebook claimed that Exar Kun was a master of Force lightning.
Exar Kun is commonly believed to practice Form II lightsaber combat, based on an entry on this site: [1]. However, he has not been referenced as doing so in any canon sources.
Kun's temple is the last area to visit in the Rebel Themepark quest on Star Wars Galaxies. The description of the temple is described as, "As you enter this dark surprisingly massive structure, you can't help feeling something evil is watching you..."
[edit] Appearances
[edit] Sources
- A Guide to the Star Wars Universe
- Evil Never Dies: The Sith Dynasties
Exar Kun in the Databank
- Geonosis and the Outer Rim Worlds
"Heritage of the Sith" - Star Wars Insider 88
- Jedi vs. Sith: The Essential Guide to the Force
"Le facteur X" - Casus Belli 115 (Mentioned only)
- Star Wars Miniatures: Champions of the Force
- The Dark Side Sourcebook
- The Essential Guide to Characters
- The Essential Guide to Weapons and Technology
- The Illustrated Star Wars Universe (Indirect mention only)
- The New Essential Guide to Characters
- The New Essential Chronology
- The Official Star Wars Fact File
- Ulic Qel-Droma in the Databank
[edit] Notes and references
[edit] External links
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