Second Battle of Kashyyyk (Imperial Period)

From Wookieepedia, the Star Wars wiki.

Second Battle of Kashyyyk Conflict Great Jedi Purge[1] Date 18 BBY[1] Place Kashyyyk[1] Outcome The death of Kento Marek[1] The adoption of Galen Marek under Darth Vader[1] Combatants Wookiees[1] Jedi Order[1] Galactic Empire[1] Commanders Kento Marek†[1] Darth Vader[1] Unidentified Imperial Commander†[1] Strength Wookiees[1] Berserkers[1] Oevvaor jet catamarans[1] Raddaugh Gnasp fluttercraft[1] 2 Jedi[1] 1 Sith Lord[1] Stormtroopers[1] 5 Imperator-class Star Destroyers[1] Triton Squad[1] AT-STs[1] 3+ AT-ATs[1] Lambda-class shuttles[1] LAAT/i gunships[1] TIE Fighters[1] Casualties Undisclosed number of Wookiees[1] Kento Marek[1] Imperial Commander[1] 1 AT-AT[1] Stormtroopers[1] TIE Fighters[1] 1 Lambda-class shuttle[1] [Source]

This battle took place on the planet Kashyyyk in 18 BBY. The invasion of the planet by the Galactic Empire began when the Dark Lord of the Sith and Sith apprentice of Darth Sidious, Darth Vader, sensed a Jedi Knight's presence on the planet and concluded the native Wookiee race was harboring a fugitive Jedi. The Jedi, Kento Marek, organized the Wookiees on the planet into battle, hoping to defend themselves.

The initial invasion was unsuccessful for the Empire, as the Wookiees were well prepared. The tides of the battle turned in the Empire's favor when Vader arrived planetside to search for the fugitive Jedi. Vader and his forces pushed the Wookiee resistance back, eventually finding the Jedi's hut and incapacitating him in a lightsaber duel.

As Vader was about to finish Marek, Marek's young son, Galen, disarmed Vader using the powers of the force. Vader, shocked by the boy's evident potential in the force, killed the boy's father and adopted the boy as his own apprentice, breaking the Sith Rule of Two established by Darth Bane millenia earlier. Vader trained the boy as part of his plot to overthrow his master, the Galactic Emperor.

Contents 1 Prelude 2 The battle 2.1 Initial invasion 2.2 The hunt for Kento Marek 2.3 Discovery of Galen Marek 3 Aftermath 4 Behind the scenes 5 Appearances 6 Sources 7 Notes and references

[edit] Prelude

The Jedi Knight Kento Marek broke the Jedi Code by marrying a woman named Mallie during the Clone Wars, and had a child with her, named Galen.^[2]

Following the enaction of Order 66 by Supreme Chancellor of the Republic, Palpatine, which called for the eradication of the Jedi Order, Kento and his family fled to Kashyyyk, a forested world inhabited by a species known as Wookiees. Mallie would eventually be killed by a group of Trandoshan slavers, sacrificing herself for the Wookiee race, leaving Kento to raise Galen.^[2]

At some point, Vader received word of a Jedi Knight in hiding on Kashyyyk. Investigating this, he launched a full scale invasion on the planet.^[1]

[edit] The battle

[edit] Initial invasion

The initial attack was a disaster, as the initial Imperial landing forces found the Wookiees surprisingly well prepared, and Imperial forces were initially overwhelmed by Wookiee resistance. Vader berated the Imperial commander he left in charge of the attack, Force choking him. However, the Sith Lord allowed the officer to live, as he was ultimately unconcerned with the outcome of the battle, the Jedi being his sole target.^[1]

[edit] The hunt for Kento Marek

Taking over the attack, Vader led his troops from the front. Marching through the Wookiee village the resistance was centered from, they brutally cut down any Wookiee in their path, crushing the resistance. The Wookiees attempted to swarm Vader at a network of bridges that led to Marek's hut; at least one TIE Fighter was shot down and crashed into one of these bridges around this time. Vader brushed the Wookiee ambush off and found Marek's hut.

Marek and two Wookiees emerged from the hut, Marek initially disguised himself as an old hermit and tried to sway Vader away in an attempt to protect his son. Vader saw through Marek's ruse, and Marek resorted to confronting the Sith Lord directly, killing Vader's stormtrooper escort with a telekinetic blast. With that, the two drew their lightsabers.^[1]

Marek used the TIE fighter squadrons making runs through the area to his advantage, ripping the fighters out of the sky as they flew overhead and hurled them at Vader. Despite his valiant efforts, Kento was ultimately no match for Vader. He was quickly disarmed by a sudden power attack executed by Vader, bashing his lightsaber out of his hand. Before Marek could regain his composure, Vader telekinetically seized him and thrashed him about before hurling the hapless Jedi back inside his hut.^[1]

[edit] Discovery of Galen Marek

The Dark Lord held the Jedi in a Force grip, but paused before killing the Jedi, as he sensed that another, far more powerful, Force user was nearby. Believing the individual to be Kento's master, Vader demanded to know where this Jedi was. However, Kento stated that Vader had killed his master years ago.^[1]

Enraged by the Jedi's failure to cooperate, Vader raised his lightsaber in preparation for a finishing blow. However, before he could strike down the defeated Jedi, the lightsaber was pulled out of his hand. He turned around to find, to his surprise, a young boy holding it. Vader sensed that this boy was the source of the strong Force presence he had previously felt. His father yelled to him to run, yet Vader crushed his throat with the Force.^[1]

As Vader approached the child, the Imperial commander of the attack force rushed in with three stormtroopers. The commander ordered his men to open fire on the child, but Vader, sensing the boy's potential in the force, pulled the saber back out of the boy's hand and into his, and deflected the stormtroopers' fire back at them, killing them. Vader urged the boy to follow him out of the hut, as Imperial reinforcements were sure to arrive.^[1]

[edit] Aftermath

Vader sensed incredible potential in the boy and adopted Galen as his secret apprentice for use in his plan to overthrow the Emperor, Palpatine. The child, given the codename Starkiller, was put through years of rigorous training. Starkiller became a master assassin and was sent on numerous missions to kill fugitive Jedi that survived Order 66. Starkiller would eventually repent for his evil deeds and would become essential in the formation of the Alliance to Restore the Republic, which would eventually overthrow Palpatine's regime.^[1]

[edit] Behind the scenes

The two versions of The Force Unleashed depict different versionf of the battle. In the PS2, Wii and PSP versions, the clone troopers are almost identical to their Phase-II armor, but in the PS3 and Xbox 360 versions, their armor is closer to that of a the later-used Stormtrooper armor.^[1]

In the Playstation 2 and Wii versions, the commander in charge of the operation that Darth Vader force-choked was relegated to a Lieutenant-class Phase II clone trooper while as the Playstation 3 and Xbox 360 versions had him resembling an Imperial-era commander. On a related note, while the Xbox 360/PS3 versions make it clear that Darth Vader spared him, the way the PS2/Wii versions handled the Commander's fate was ambiguous, as the scene immediately cut to behind Vader after releasing his grip.^[1]

The Xbox 360 version of the game, the player is given an achievement called "Worst Day Shift Manager Ever" for killing twelve stormtroopers under Vader's command, and an achievement called "Bossk" for killing 200 Wookiee warriors.^[1]

[edit] Appearances

• Star Wars: The Force Unleashed video game
• The Force Unleashed novel (Vision to Galen Marek)
• Star Wars: The Force Unleashed comic (Vision to Galen Marek)

[edit] Sources

•  Starkiller (Darth Vader's Secret Apprentice) in the Databank

[edit] Notes and references