Malachor V

Astrographical information

Moons

1^[1]

Grid square

S-4

Rotation period

31 standard hours^[1]

Orbital period

271 local days^[1]

Physical information

Climate

Arid^[1]

Gravity

Standard^[1]

Terrain

Post-cataclysm

Caverns^[3]
Crevasses^[3]
Gorges^[3]
Jagged rock spires^[3]
Poison gas vents^[3]
Sheer cliffs^[3]

Points of interest

Societal information

Native species

Storm beasts^[3]

Other species

Humans^[1]

Government

Dictatorship^[1]

Major cities

None^[1]

Major imports

None^[1]

Major exports

None^[1]

Affiliation

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"There is a place in the galaxy where the dark side of the Force runs strong. It is something of the Sith, but it was fueled by war. It corrupts all that walks on its surface—drowns them in the power of the dark side. It corrupts all life, and it feeds on death."

―Kreia —

Listen (file info)^[src]

Malachor V, or simply Malachor, was an Outer Rim planet located in the Malachor system. Prior to the final battle of the Mandalorian Wars, the planet was fertile and hospitable. After the cataclysm caused by the Mass Shadow Generator, it became a cracked and twisted wasteland covered with jagged cliffs and plagued by constant lightning storms. It was inhabited by monstrous storm beasts. The gravity of the planet was unstable, which made it dangerous for starships to stay there for very long.

History

Early history

"And because Malachor, like Korriban, is on the fringes of the ancient Sith Empire, where the Sith wait for us, in the dark."

―Kreia^[src]

MalachorVIntact — Malachor V before the Cataclysm.

The early history of Malachor V remained largely unknown. Vague reports established that an ancient branch of the Sith—the True Sith—constructed a Sith academy on the planet's surface. In time the Academy, and Malachor itself, became a place of great power within the dark side of the Force. At some point in time the empire of the True Sith disintegrated, and they retreated further back into the Unknown Regions, seemingly abandoning and forgetting their stronghold on Malachor V.

Later, after the Old Sith Wars, a fallen Jedi named Kreia came across the ruins of the academy and began to use it as a training ground for the new army of the Sith Triumvirate.

It had been suggested by some that the Sith who populated the planet were members (or former members) of the Sith Empire. The hypothesis remained controversial among historians and had yet to be proven, however. The historical records clearly pointed out, though, that there was some connection between the mysterious True Sith and the Sith Empire. The extent and manner of that connection also had yet to be discovered. As it turned out, the True Sith was a remnant of the Sith Empire, led by the man who would become the Sith Emperor. Fleeing their defeat at the end of the Great Hyperspace War, they eventually came to the world of Dromund Kaas. At some point, they apparently came to Malachor V where they built the Trayus Academy. During their time on Malachor V, the Empire experienced an uprising led by Dakar Sol.

Mandalorian Wars

"It was nothing more than a slaughter. A slaughter caused by one of my creations. Blame lies with me, for creating it. The situation forced your hand, anger forced mine. You realized that unless action was taken, the fleet would be destroyed, and the Republic would fall. None of us realized the magnitude of what we unleashed."

―Bao-Dur, to Meetra Surik^[src]

Malchorlandscape — The barren, harsh landscape of Malachor V

Centuries later, Malachor became the site of the final battle of the Mandalorian Wars, during which the most terrible atrocity of the war was committed. Malachor was restricted to Mandalorians, a taboo in Mandalorian culture, something that the Jedi General Revan used against them in order to win the war. Revan amassed an enormous fleet composed, not coincidentally, of Jedi and Republic soldiers whose loyalty to Revan was in question, at the planet, providing the Mandalorians with a target that was too good to pass up. At the head of this force Revan placed one of his top generals: Meetra Surik, who was later known as the Jedi Exile.

During the Battle of Malachor V, Revan single-handedly slew Mandalore the Ultimate aboard the warlord's flagship. As Republic and Mandalorian forces outsystem from the planet itself continued to clash, Surik ordered the activation of the Mass Shadow Generator superweapon with a single, wordless nod towards its inventor, Bao-Dur, in order to prevent the Mandalorian forces they faced from overwhelming them and moving on to attack Revan's forces from behind. In an instant, Malachor's gravity crushed every combatant in and around its atmosphere—Mandalorian, Republic, and Jedi alike. Malachor's surface was transformed into a barren, shattered and lifeless wasteland—all of Revan's enemies were eliminated in a single stroke. The planet was left scarred from the battle as the surface had been obliterated. Long afterward, there was still evidence of crashed Republic cruisers buried deep within the surface.

Jedi Civil War

"Observation: Master, I do not believe that the Mandalorians were the true target at Malachor - I believe that the intention was to destroy the Jedi, break their will, and make them loyal to Revan. I do not know if you examined the records of the deaths on Malachor, but you cannot escape that many of the Jedi and Republic soldiers who died were not Revan's strongest supporters. Observation: I believe that Revan was "cleaning house" at Malachor V. What ones did not die became Revan's allies against the Republic."

―HK-47 to Meetra Surik^[src]

Following his victory, Revan journeyed into the Unknown Regions with Malak in search of Mandalore's mysterious masters, which the pair learned to be Sith on the ice world of Rekkiad. However, they were ultimately turned to the dark side by the Sith Emperor, who sent them back to the Republic to wage war. But the Emperor underestimated the pair's resolve, as they broke free of his commands not long after and decided to conquer the Republic for themselves and adopted the title of Dark Lord of the Sith. During the Jedi Civil War, circa 3959–3956 BBY, he used the Trayus Academy, located on the planet's surface as one of several secret Sith bases dedicated to the conversion of captured Jedi Knights. Throughout the war, Jedi were captured by his Sith Assassins and other specially trained forces, and brought to the Academy. The corruptive nature of the location weakened their wills so that Revan and his loyal servants could easily lure them to the dark side. In such places, he converted hosts of Jedi into fanatical Dark Jedi and Sith Assassins for his Sith Empire.

Several years after the war had ended, Revan's old Master Kreia traveled to Malachor V in search of what had corrupted her apprentice. Like Revan, she was corrupted by the dark side energy resonating throughout the planet; in secret, she then took the moniker of Darth Traya and began training new students of the dark side at the Trayus Academy, which had remained unscathed despite the devastation wrought by the Mass Shadow Generator. Among her first two students were Darth Sion and Darth Nihilus, who soon became powerful enough to overthrow her. The three Sith Lords formed an uneasy alliance against the Jedi, but the two apprentices eventually broke the alliance, and Darth Traya was cast down, stripped of her power, and exiled from Malachor.

Final destruction

In 3951 BBY, Kreia located Meetra Surik, the only Jedi who had fought at Malachor V and not been killed or corrupted. Plotting revenge against her apprentices, Kreia began orchestrating events to set up a final confrontation between herself and Surik at the Trayus Academy. After slaying Darth Nihilus, Surik arrived at the Academy and defeated the Sith there, including Darth Sion and Darth Traya, thus silencing the echoes of the atrocity that, until then, Malachor had still sent through the force.

While Surik fought in the Academy, Bao-Dur, the technician who had originally designed the Mass Shadow Generator, ordered his remote to reactivate the superweapon in an effort to destroy the tainted world of Malachor V once and for all. Despite G0-T0's attempts to thwart it, the remote succeeded in its task. As Surik departed Malachor in the Ebon Hawk, the dead planet crumbled under the pressure of the mass shadow's gravity, leaving behind only asteroids and the wreckage of many hundreds of blasted warships, a grim memorial to the Battle of Malachor V.

Legacy

"But there's no way in Malachor that I'm going to lead this pitiful squad on an assault of that landing zone."

―Meebur Gascon^[src]

By 3640 BBY,^[4] surveys showed small pockets of biological life was still active in Malachor V's remains.^[5]

The planet's infamy led to its name becoming a curse word, synonymous with "Hell". By the Clone Wars, Republic Colonel Meebur Gascon used it in anger.^[6]

The planet, alongside its infamous use of the mass shadow generator and its destruction, was later used as an example of ancient superweapons by Bevel Lemelisk of the Imperial Department of Military Research in the Imperial Handbook: A Commander's Guide, the official field manual for the Imperial Military. Upon finding this reference to the weapon and Malachor V, Luke Skywalker pondered whether he should investigate the planet for possible artifacts belonging to either the Jedi or the Sith.^[7]

Behind the scenes

If the player chooses to take the path of the dark side, Surik throws Darth Traya's body into the abyss and takes the title of Dark Lord of the Sith; the planet itself survives.