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Valley of the Dark Lords

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Valley of the Dark Lords

General information
Location	Korriban
Builder	Sith
Usage
Era(s)	Old Republic era Rise of the Empire era Rebellion era New Republic era Legacy era
Affiliation	Sith Sith Empire

[Source]

"Can you not feel the potency of this place?"

―Freedon Nadd —

Listen (file info)^[src]

The Valley of the Dark Lords, originally known as the Valley of the Sleeping Kings, was a valley and burial ground of Korriban's Sith Lords. Originally constructed by the planet's natives as a burial ground for their kings; the Exiles of the Jedi Order who came to be known as the Dark Lord of the Sith added their own tombs to the Valley. Along with several prominent tombs, the Valley was home to the ancient Sith Great Temple and Lord Khreusis's Stronghold which would loom over the Valley for several millennium.

1 History
2 Known tombs
3 Behind the scenes
4 Appearances
5 Sources
6 References
7 External links
- 7.1 In other languages

HistoryEdit

"It has been ten years since I last stood on this lost world. It is a place still potent with power."

―Emperor Palpatine visiting the valley in 11 ABY^[src]

The valley was used from the time of Great Schism through to the time of the Galactic Civil War^[1] to bury worthy Sith Lords. The tombs were built before the death of their lords, and, upon their demise, were filled with riches and slaves. Notable lords to be buried in the valley included Ajunta Pall, Marka Ragnos and Tulak Hord. On several occasions, dead Sith would become Force ghosts and haunt their tomb. In the Great Temple, the Sith spirits were even able to preserve the mummified bodies they once inhabited.^[2]^[1]

While a tomb for Naga Sadow was also constructed, it was never used, as the Sith Lord spent his remaining time on Yavin 4. Sadow's empty tomb housed an ancient Rakatan Star Map, an artifact of the dark side.

Once a major stronghold of the Sith species, the planet fell to the Republic in the aftermath of the Great Hyperspace War and many important relics were taken off world or destroyed. The valley would be completely abandoned for hundreds of years with no visitors until Freedon Nadd slew his Jedi Master and eventually stumbled upon the forgotten world and visited the tombs. Shortly prior to the Great Sith War, another fallen Jedi named Exar Kun would follow Nadd's direction and also visit the valley; this time a Sith Academy was established with the aim of excavating the considerable amount of ancient artifacts.

The redeemed and amnesic Darth Revan would visit Korriban during his quest for the Star Forge and infiltrate the Sith Academy as a student in order to gain access to the valley. He would visit four of the tombs including those of Marka Ragnos, Ajunta Pall, Tulak Hord, and Sadow (only accessible during the final test). Although the sites had been heavily damaged by previous Jedi visitors and Sith archeologists, Revan was still able to retrieve numerous invaluable artifacts including Ajunta's sword as well as Tulak's holocron. After the Jedi Civil War, the prodigal knight would return to the valley at least once more and assisted the Jedi Order in destroying the remaining Sith treasure. When Meetra Surik came to the planet five years later in her search for the lost Jedi, she found most of the tomb entrances to be blocked although at least the burial chamber of Ludo Kressh remained largely unscathed. During the Cold War, the Sith thrived in the valley after re-conquering the planet in the previous war, some years earlier. By then, K'lor'slugs and Tuk'ata inhabited the Valley in great numbers. ^[3]

The Valley of the Dark Lords would become largely ignored by subsequent generations of Sith; dark siders during the New Sith Wars would seldom if ever visit the site as a centuries of looting and conflict had largely destroyed anything of value. Nonetheless a headstrong and powerful student named Bane would defy his masters and make the treacherous journey in hopes of uncovering ancient secrets--the mission was in vain as nothing remained in the ancient tombs, prompting the young Sith to turn his attention to other strongholds of the dark side.

Main article: Battle of Korriban (Galactic Civil War)

In 4 ABY, Han Solo had concocted a plan to send a strike team to the surface of the Endor in a stolen Imperial shuttle and deactivate the shield generator protecting the Death Star II. Alliance High Command needed more information about the Imperial Garrison on the Forest Moon before they were sent, and only one man had that information, Emperor Palpatine (alias Darth Sidious), who was making his final pilgrimage to the Valley before his death. Renegade Squadron volunteered for a raid on his shuttle to get that intelligence. After they landed, Renegade Squadron attacked the Sith Academy to keep the stormtroopers stationed there from alerting Sidious of the situation. They held the academy as the Emperor entered the atmosphere. Once he had landed, Renegade Squadron moved into a Sith tomb and primed explosive charges at the entrances and started destroying Sith artifacts to goad Sidious into the tomb. The plan worked. Using Force lightning to quickly dispatch a Mon Calamari, Palpatine Force jumped into the fray. Renegade Squadron retreated from the tomb and set off the explosives, trapping the Sith Lord inside while they attacked his shuttle and stole a datapad containing the troop information. After getting the datapad back to an Low Altitude Assault Transport, it revealed that Emperor Palpatine himself was to be on the Death Star at the time of the attack.

Sidious often visited the valley to increase his strength at his "place of power," and on occasion sought advice from the spirits of the Dark Lords. In 11 ABY, he returned to try to regenerate his clone body. He stated that it had been ten years since he had last visited; presumably this was rounding.

In 14 ABY, Marka Ragnos's tomb, located in the Valley, was the site of the Battle of Korriban, during the Disciples of Ragnos crisis.^[4]

While searching for the Lost Tribe of Sith and Abeloth, Luke Skywalker, Ben Skywalker, Jaina Solo, and Vestara Khai went to the Valley of the Dark Lords.^[5]

Known tombsEdit

"Of course there are tombs in the Valley of the Dark Lords, but they have been plundered and now draw only tourists."

―Darth Plagueis^[src]

Behind the scenesEdit

A number of different layouts and appearances have been given to the valley in various publications. This is, in the case of video games, mostly due to memory restraints and practicality.^[source?]

For instance, its appearance in Knights of the Old Republic lends itself to being easily traversed and places less demand on hardware than a full scale valley.
In Darth Bane: Path of Destruction it was found that the road from the Academy to the Tombs was actually quite long and the area that the actual Valley was barren and harsh, hard to travel through for even the Sith Lords.
In Jedi Academy, on the other hand, the valley is designed similar to the appearance of the Tales of the Jedi with sections suitable for fighting and platform jumping. In addition, having weathered several millennia (and possibly unknown conflicts), many of the tombs and decorative sculptures have partially collapsed when seen in Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy with only Marka Ragnos's tomb remaining in place.
Its appearance in Shadows and Light suggests a reconciliation between a few designs, with the entrance and statues found in Knights, and other sorts of tombs in the distance like those in Jedi Academy and TOTJ where the cliff started in Knights.
Jedi vs. Sith: The Essential Guide to the Force also depicts the valley as a mix of the KOTOR and Jedi Academy designs.