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Star Wars: History Abridged Pt. 9- Great Sith Wars Epilogue

Hello, and welcome to the Revenge of the Fifth, my fellow Star Wars fans. Today we conclude my series on the Great Sith War Era of Star Wars, one of the best parts of the franchise and one that I think should be canon again. However, there are some secrets of the Sith that will change everything about what I have written about. If you want to learn the truth about the end of the Great Hyperspace War, the Mandalorian Wars, and Revan’s fall, then read on. Spoilers from the novel Star Wars the Old Republic: Revan ahead.

The Truth About Revan

Yesterday, I talked about how Revan had learned of a great evil that threatened the Galaxy. An evil that had used the Mandalorians as pawns in a game that would impress Darth Sidious. Now, let me take you back to the end of the Mandalorian Wars.

As Mandalore the Ultimate lay dying at Revan’s feet, he revealed a terrifying revelation: the Mandalorians had been manipulated to go to war by the Sith. Not the Brotherhood of the Sith or some cult, but the original Sith Empjre. Despite the belief that the Original Sith Empire had been destroyed, they survived beyond the reach of the Republic. Terrified, Revan took Malak and his forces into deep space, following the lead Mandalore the Ultimate gave him. There, he confirmed everything he heard to be true, and the existence of the being behind it.

The Sith Emperor

More than a century before the Great Hyperspace War, a young Sith Lord rose to power on a small world in the Sith Empire. This kid had no ability to feel anything aside from his desire for power. After killing his father, Marka Ragnos made him Lord of the planet.

Flash forward to the end of the Great Hyperspace War, and this Dark Lord saw opportunity. Gathering most of the surviving Sith Lords on his planet, he then bent them to his will. With their power, he then enacted a ritual unlike any the universe had ever seen. Drawing on the power of the Dark Side, the Lord proceeded to drain the life out of everything on the planet. Every being, plant, and animal had their life drained and absorbed by the Lord. As a result, he became a nigh-immortal being known only as the Sith Emperor. Afterwards, he took the remaining Sith beyond known space and re-established the Sith Empire far from the Republic’s eyes.

The Mandalorian Wars were simply a means to weaken/test the Republic’s defenses, but thanks to Revan, that plan was thwarted. Unfortunately, Revan’s solution to this ancient threat was to attack it head on. Already slipping to the Dark Side, the Emperor easily bent Revan and Malak to his will. It was he who sent them back to find the Star Forge and serve as the vanguard to his galactic conquest centuries ahead of schedule. Luckily, they overcame his brainwashing through sheer willpower, but failed to break free of the Dark Side. Malak never did, while the Jedi inadvertently helped Revan to do so.

Revan’s Quest

After the Jedi Civil War, Revan regained more of his lost memories, including the secrets of the Sith. As a result, he chose to resume his quest to take down the Sith Emperor, leaving his wife Bastila and unborn child behind. He was captured and imprisoned by the Sith for years, while his equivalent of Artoo, T3-M4, went to look for help. Help that he found in the form of the Jedi Exile, Meetra Surik. After returning to Republic space, Meetra proceeded to help stabilize the Republic and defeat the remnants of Revan’s Sith Empire.

After leaving Malachor V, Meetra went to Coruscant to find Bastila, who had survived the purge along with her son, Vaner. Teethree then told them the truth about everything, with Meetra leaving to save her old friend. She raided the estate where he was held captive, found Revan, and gave him a gift in the form of his mask. Bastila had recovered it from his ship and kept it hidden for years. When he held the mask that had compelled him to start his journey, all of Revan’s memories returned at last. He was neither a Jedi nor Sith. Instead, he was a pure badass.

The Final Confrontation

Here’s the reason why I love Revan so much: after regaining all of his memories, he reached a mastery of the Force that few in Star Wars have ever achieved. He could use both the Light and Dark sides to their full extent, finding a balance within the Force itself. In other words, he’s what Anakin Skywalker could have been. What’s more, Revan had gained a new ally, a young Sith Lord named Scourge, who realized how great an evil the Sith Emperor was.

The Emperor’s plan wasn’t to conquer the Galaxy. Instead, he wanted to repeat the ritual that made him immortal on a galactic scale, making himself into a god. If that happened, nothing in the universe could oppose him. Thus, the four set out to end the Emperor before his insane plans could be realized.

However, even with their combined power, the group stood no chance against the ancient Sith Lord. Their Sith ally realized that they stood no hope of winning; the one who would vanquish the Emperor had yet to be born. Thus, Scourge betrayed his allies, killed Meetra, and allowed Revan to be captured once more. As a reward, the Emperor made Scourge his personal enforcer and immortal, undying Wrath.

The Old Republic Continues

Revan did not die at this moment, though. Instead, the Emperor put him in stasis for centuries, using him as a Force conduit to the light. However, Revan resisted with all his might, and would continue to resist for centuries to come.

Despite his suffering, though, Revan did manage to do one thing: making sure that his friends would never face the horrors of the Sith in their lifetime. Bastila, Carth, his son and many others were able to live their lives. As for Meetra’s pupils, they went on to rebuild the Jedi. Within three hundred years, the Republic and Jedi had come back from the brink. Thus we bring our coverage of the Old Republic Era to an end.

If you want to learn what happened next to Revan and the Sith Empire, then go play Star Wars: The Old Republic online game. It’s been out for nine years, so it’s covered the fates of the Emperor, Revan and more.

If you stuck with me for the last week, then I thank you from the bottom of my heart. I could have just given you links to Wookiepedia and told you to read it for yourself. But I felt doing that would be a disservice to so much incredible content that deserves to be remembered.

Happy Revenge of the Fifth, people. May the Force be with you!

Click here to learn all there is about Star Wars with Wookiepedia, the Star Wars Wiki.

Click here to see more of my Star Wars Stuff.

Star Wars: History Abridged Pt. 8- The Dark Wars Pt. 2

Hello, everyone, and happy May the Fourth. Hopefully you’ll have already read my review for the final episode of Star Wars: The Clone Wars by now. There’s more, though. For the last week, I’ve been continuing my history abridged series for the Expanded Universe, covering the era of the Old Sith Wars. Today is the grand finale. If you’ve read my last posts, then you know the Galaxy’s in bad shape. The Jedi are on the brink of extinction, the Republic’s at death’s door, and the Sith are making it worse. However, there’s still one person left who can help. So, come with me and learn the story of the Jedi Exile.

If you haven’t played Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords, then major spoilers ahead. Just saying.

The Jedi Exile

The woman known to history as the Jedi Exile was born Meetra Surik, and she spent her youth trained as a Jedi Padawan. She was strong in the Force, far stronger than some teachers gave her credit for. In addition, she was to unconciosuly use the Force to create powerful bonds with others, making her a natural leader and compassionate person. When the Mandalorian Wars broke out, she was one of the Jedi who followed Revan and Malak into battle. Next to Malak, she became Revan’s most trusted follower.

At the final battle of Malachor V, Revan entrusted Meetra with the superweapon that would wreck the planet. As a result of, she saw many of the friends she made die in front of her. It broke her, and she became the only Jedi to return to the Council to face judgement. They chose to exile her for what she did. In addition, they also seemed to sever her connection to the Force. she spent the next ten years wandering the Outer Rim. That is, until Revan’s friend Carth found her and brought her back to the Republic.

Hunted by the Sith

In 3,951 BBY, Meetra, aka the Jedi Exile, returned to Republic space. Naturally, this attracted the attention of many factions, including the Sith. Darth Sion and his Sith Assassins infiltrated the Republic ship she was on and came close to capturing her. However, she would be saved by none other than Darth Traya. Her students had turned on her, stripped her of the Force, and threw her out. Now she wanted revenge on them and saw the Jedi Exile as the key to that, and more.

With her new companions, along with several she picked up while on the run, she narrowly escaped the Sith. After returning to the Republic, she then set out on a quest to reunite the remaining Jedi Masters, take down the Sith, learn why she was exiled and why she was starting to regain her connection with the Force.

Journey of the Jedi Exile

With her new companions, Meetra began to travel to multiple worlds touched by the Mandalorian Wars and the Jedi Civil War. While doing so, she ended up helping the locals out with a lot of problems that were keeping them from rebuilding. She also gained a few more companions in the process. Among them were Visas Marr, the lone survivor of Katarr and Nihilus’ apprentice, and Mandalore the Preserver. The latter was trying to rebuild his people after their defeat, and saw aiding the Republic as their best option.

After traveling to multiple planets and fending off Sith assassins and bounty hunters, events would reach a fever pitch on the familiar world of Onderon. It had been fifty years since the events surrounding Freedon Nadd and the Beast Riders. Now the planet was ruled by Oron Kira and Galia’s descendant, Talia. However, a growing force wanted Onderon to secede from the Republic. What no one knew was that these separatists were backed by the Sith.

Ulimately, Onderon became engulfed in a Civil War that the Exile and her companions found themselves caught in. On the moon of Dxun, the group worked with their Mandalorian allies to drive the Sith out of Nadd’s tomb, which they were using to bolster enemy with the Dark Side. Meetra herself led the counterattack that would save Talia and end the conflict in victory. As a bonus, she found the last Jedi Master she was looking for.

Revelations

With all the (still) living Jedi Masters found, Meetra returned to Dantooine to learn the truth about her exile and her regaining the Force. The revelations were pretty big.

As it turned out, the Council never took her connection to the Force. She did that herself at Malchor V. If she hadn’t, the backlash from feeling all her friends die would have killed her. As for how she could use it again, it was through her bonds with others. So the masters wanted to exile her again, for good. However, Kreia intervened.

Kreia had come to believe that the source of much of the Galaxy’s strife was the Force itself and sought to destroy it. And in the Exile, she saw a truth that the Jedi refused to believe: that people did not need to rely on the Force to survive. So, she slew the masters and abandoned the Exile before journeying to Malachor V.

Fall of the Triumvirate

After Kreia left her, Meetra learned what she was planning. The countless deaths at Malachor V had made it a wound in the Force. By expanding it, she could cut the Force off from the entire Galaxy. In other words, killing it. But doing so would probably kill countless beings in the process. So, they had to stop that. First, though, the Sith had to be dealt with.

Firstly, Meetra managed to slay Darth Nihilus when he came out of hiding to consume another planet. After that, the group traveled to what was left of Malachor V, took down the Sith assassins, and convinced Sion to let go of his hate and pass on. After that, she confronted and struck down Kreia/Darth Traya, and then reactivated the superweapon that destroyed Malachor V to destroy the planet, closing the wound in the Force.

The Jedi are Reborn

However, this is where the story of the Jedi Exile ends in Republic Space. with her dying breath, Kriea told Meetra the truth about what happened to Revan, why he became a Sith Lord, and why he had left after the Jedi Civil War. He had discovered that the Mandalorians were pawns for a much greater evil, lurking in depths of space. An evil so great, that Revan sought to prepare the Galaxy for it by any means necessary. It was this evil that he left to confront on his own, and now the Exile would follow in his footsteps.

Meetra didn’t leave the Republic unguarded, though. Many of her companions on this journey were Force-sensitive. She chose to pass on her knowledge and training to them before she left. These students of hers would rebuild the Jedi Order and the Republic in the decades to follow. Thus, the Old Sith Wars came to an end.

May the Fourth Be With You

I didn’t intend on making this post as detailed as it was. However, I found that the only way to give this story any credit was to dedicate a separate post to it. This isn’t the end of the story, though. There are some pretty crazy things left to tell you about the Mandalorian Wars, Revan, and the Exile. So, come back tomorrow for Revenge of the Fifth as I give you the epilogue to the Old Sith Wars.

May the Force be with you.

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Star Wars: History Abridged Pt. 7- The Dark Wars, Pt. 1

Any Star Wars fan worth his salt knows how Darth Sidious almost managed to wipe out the Jedi Order in the films. However, in the Star Wars Expanded Universe timeline, this wasn’t the first time this happened. That distinction belongs to the period of time following the end of the Jedi Civil War. Known as the First Jedi Purge, it’s what we’ll be talking about both today and on May the Fourth. And in some ways, it was worse than what Sidious ever did.

Republic and Jedi at Death’s Door

Thanks to the efforts of the redeemed Revan and his friends, the Jedi Civil War ended in victory for the Jedi and Republic. However, that brought no comfort. In less than fifty years, the Galaxy had gone through three major conflicts that had eaten away at the Jedi. Thousands of members had either died or fallen to the Dark Side. Some of their most important centers of knowledge had been lost. And since the latest incarnations of the Sith had been ex-Jedi, public confidence in them reached an all-time low.

When the Jedi Civil War ended in 3,956 BBY, the total number of Jedi left was around a hundred. A hundred; in a galaxy of trillions of people who needed help. Worse still, the Republic stood on the brink of total collapse. Their military and infrastructure were in shambles, and they could do nothing to help their protectors.

There was one person who could lead the Galaxy through this strife, though: Revan. However, after the war, he began to regain more of his memories. Suspecting there was a threat in the deep reaches of space, he left known space a year after the war ended. Thus, the Galaxy was deprived of a leader.

The Sith Triumvirate

Even though Revan’s Sith Empire was shattered, remnants of it clung to life in the dark corners of the Galaxy. For several years they continued to cause trouble for the Republic, but they also fought each other. After a while, though, the remnants united under the leadership of the Sith Triumvirate, three powerful Dark Lords of the Sith with badass titles.

There was Darth Sion, the Lord of Pain. He had been a part of the Brotherhood of Sith in the Great Sith War, where he discovered an unnatural power. By focusing on his pain/sheer willpower, he could use the Dark Side to bring himself back to life whenever he fell. In other words, he was immortal at the cost of his body becoming a patchwork of injuries held together by the Dark Side.

Then there was Darth Nihilus, the Lord of Hunger. scariest of the three. He fought in the Mandalorian Wars and was unlucky enough to be on Malachor V when Revan almost destroyed it. Even though he survived, he had to drain the Force Energy from others to survive. In other words, he was a Force vampire. When the Dark Side began to destroy his body, he got rid of it. He transferred his consciousness to his skull-like mask and armor, become a freak of nature.

Then there was Darth Traya, the Lord of Betrayal. Once a Jedi, she had been one of Revan’s teacher’s in his youth. When he became a Sith Lord, the Jedi kicked her out, and she vowed revenge. Journeying to Malachor V, she learned Revan had left something behind: the Trayus Academy and its students, the Sith Assassins. They used the Force to hide themselves and hunt down targets through it.

First Jedi Purge

Rather than conquer the Galaxy outright, the Triumvirate had a different strategy: take. out. The Jedi. They were smart enough to realize that if their attempts at Galactic Domination kept getting foiled by the Jedi Knights, they should get rid of them. After that, it wouldn’t who was in charge: the Dark Side would reign supreme. Thus, they got to work, starting the First Jedi Purge

Every time the Jedi tried to gather together, they began to disappear, hunted down by the Sith. No place seemed safe for them. To make matters worse, someone put out a bounty on the Jedi; now they had to worry about bounty hunters as well. Something had to be done. So, most of the remaining leaders called a meeting on the planet of Katarr in secret. However, one of them ratted on them in the hopes of drawing their attackers out of hiding. Big mistake.

Katarr was also home to a colony of Miraluka, a species of blind humanoids who used the Force to see. The whole planet was like a Force feast for Darth Nihilus. So he came to Katarr and… he ate them. He sucked the Force out of everything on planet, killing all but one person.

So, the remaining Jedi (who I could count with my fingers) went into hiding. The Order was publicly disbanded. It seemed like the Galaxy would fall into darkness.

One Last Hope

By the year 3,951 BBY, the Galaxy was sinking into darkness. The Jedi were gone, crime was rampant, and the Republic was on life support. It looked like the end of everything.

However, all was not lost. In the Outer Rim, the Republic found a Jedi; rather, a former Jedi. She had fought in the Mandalorian Wars as one of Revan’s top officers. She was the only one to return when the war ended and was exiled as a result. Now this Exile was the last hope for the Jedi and Republic.

Come back tomorrow as I cover the events of Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Wars and the end of the Old Sith Wars and the First Jedi Purge. Then come back on Revenge of the Fifth for an extra surprise. May the Force be with you!

Click here to learn all there is about Star Wars with Wookiepedia, the Star Wars Wiki.

Click here to see more of my Star Wars Stuff.

Star War: History Abridged Pt 6.

You wouldn’t believe how long I’ve waited to write about this, people. Of all the stories from the Star Wars Expanded Universe, few rival the Jedi Civil War. This conflict would see the Republic and Jedi face their fallen comrades in a war that came close to ending them. How the war started isn’t as interesting as how it ends, though. So, if you haven’t played Knights of the Old Republic, then major spoilers ahead.

All Hail Darth Revan

The year, 3,959 BBY, one year since the end of the Mandalorian Wars. After the Mandalorians defeat at Malachor V, Revan and Malak, the Jedi who led the Republic to victory, had vanished. They took their fleet beyond known space in search of the remnants of the Mandalorian armies. Most people presumed them to be dead. They weren’t; they returned from deep space, alive, but not the heroes everyone knew.

What happened to them is a story for another day. What you need to know is that beyond the reaches of the Republic, Revan and Malak gave in to the Dark Side. Taking the titles of Darth Revan and Darth Malak, the former heroes turned their forces on their former comrades. In a short time, Revan had carved out a new Sith Empire poised to lay waste to the Republic.

What made the Jedi Civil War so terrible was the effect it had on the Republic and Jedi’s strength. Many of the Republic’s finest soldiers defected to Revan’s side. Anyone that was a threat to his campaign would be taken out. In addition, any Jedi unlucky enough to be captured would get coerced or tortured into joining the Sith. Revan’s ranks swelled as the Republic’s dwindled.

Then there’s the fact that Revan was a military genius. He knew how to hit the enemy where it hurt the most, and they could do little to stop him. On top of all this, the Dark Lord seemed to have an endless supply of ships, weapons, and droids. He was pretty much unstoppable.

Revan’s “Death”

By the year 3,957 BBY, the Republic was on its last legs. It seemed like nothing could stop Revan. He had to be taken out if the Republic wanted to win. So, they set a trap.

Among the Jedi, there was a young Padawan named Bastila Shan. Despite her inexperience, Bastila had mastered the ability known as Battle Meditation. In essence, a lets someone use the Force to strengthen the morale and coordination of a group to their absolute peak. In other words, a Force cheat code. Using her as bait, they lured Revan and Malak into a skirmish with a Republic fleet. Bastila then led a boarding party onto Revan’s flagship to capture the Dark Lord. It didn’t go as planned. Malak figured out was happening, and, seeing a chance to seize power for himself, fired on Revan’s ship. To the galaxy at large, it looked like Darth Revan had died, making Malak the new Dark Lord.

Except his betrayal failed. Revan survived, along with Bastila, but the former was on the brink of death, with most of his memories gone. Whether out of compassion or a need to finish her mission, Bastila chose to use the Force to save him. She brought him to the Jedi Enclave on Dantooine, where the Council healed him. They decided to wipe his remaining memories and make him believe he was a soldier of the Republic, one that they could retrain as a Jedi. In time, they hoped that as his memories returned, he could lead them to the source of the Sith’s infinite army.

Knights of the Old Republic

The Council’s plan worked. The amnesiac Revan became a soldier of the Republic, whereupon he met Bastila once more. With the help of Carth Onasi, a veteran of the Mandalorian Wars, and many other companions, the group narrowly escaped the Sith’s destruction of the world of Taris. After relearning the ways of the Force, the Council sent them on a quest to find the source of the Sith’s army.

After traveling to several worlds and gaining more companions, things took a turn for the worse. Malak captured the group and revealed the truth to his former master and friend, while Bastila sacrificed herself to give everyone time to escape. Despite the world-shattering revelation, Revan chose to remain loyal to the Republic and continued his quest.

In 3,956 BBY, Revan’s group found what they were looking for: the Star Forge. A massive factory built by a long dead empire, the station drew resources from the very star that it orbited, letting create an infinite amount of weapons and ships for the Sith.

After a harrowing journey, Revan called the Republic to the Star Forge’s location, beginning the final battle of the war. Revan himself boarded the Star Forge and confronted Bastila, who had been broken to the Dark Side by Malak. Despite drawing on the Dark Side energy of the Star Forge itself, Bastila proved no match for the redeemed Revan. Using the feelings of love they had developed for each other, Revan brought Bastila back from the darkness.

Revan then confronted his former friend and apprentice in the heart of the station. Another epic battle ensued, and even with the power of the Star Forge at his disposal, Malak couldn’t withstand Revan’s might and was bested. Malak passed away as Revan looked on, and the Star Forge itself was destroyed. The Knights of the Old Republic had won, and the Jedi Civil War was over.

What Happened Next?

The Jedi Civil War was over, ended by the very man who had started it. Revan had redeemed himself in the eyes of the Galaxy and was once again a hero to the Republic. However, the damage to the Republic and Jedi was almost fatal.

The next five years were a period of chaos and strife as the Jedi and Republic were at death’s door. Meanwhile, remnants of the Sith continued to ravage the Galaxy. As for Revan, he disappeared back into the Unknown Regions. Those who knew him best thought he went in search of answers. Answers as to why he fell to the Dark Side and the truth about the Mandalorian Wars.

Make Revan Canon Again

In the next, we will cover the final portion of the Old Sith Wars, and I will touch upon what truly happened to Revan. If you want to learn more about him and his amazing story, though, play Knights of the Old Republic, available on Steam. I cannot reccommend it enough; he’s one of the best characters in Star Wars.

May the Force be with you.

Click here to learn all there is about Star Wars with Wookiepedia, the Star Wars Wiki.

Click here to see more of my Star Wars Stuff.