RJ Writing Ink

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 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.

Star Wars: History Abridged Pt. 4

Welcome back to another entry in Star Wars: History Abridged, the series where I take the best of the Star Wars Expanded Universe and break it down into bite-sized pieces. Yesterday, I started going over the Great Sith War with the crisis on Onderon. In 4,000 BBY, this Inner Rim planet was looking to join the Republic. When the Jedi came to stop its centuries-long civil war, though, they found the planet had a dark secret. For centuries, the planet had been ruled by the lineage of an ancient Sith Lord. With the help of the Jedi, the dark influence of the Sith was banished and peace brought to the planet. However, this was just the beginning of an even larger conflict. Today, we cover the rise of the Krath cult and the return of the Sith in full force.

The Krath Holy Crusade Begins

At the end of my last post, I mentioned two visitors came to Onderon as a cult of Sith worshippers threatened the planet. Their names were Aleema and Satal Keto, two aristocratic cousins from the Empress Teta System in the Deep Core. The cousins were spoiled brats with an interest in Sith lore and had founded a Dark Side cult called the Krath. Their visit caught the eye of the ghost of Freedon Nadd, whose bloodline had ruled Onderon for centuries. However, Nadd realized Onderon was a lost cause, so he gave the Keto’s a trove of Sith artifacts and texts. As a result of their Dark Side knowledge, the Krath overthrew the government and became the new rulers of the Empress Teta system.

Realizing the threat the Krath posed, a Republic-Jedi strike force, led by Ulic Qel-Droma and Nomi Sunrider, was sent to liberate the system. They promptly got their butts handed to them. As a result, close to ten thousand Jedi gathered in a conclave to figure out their next move. It’s there that Ulic came up with a dangerous plan. He would go undercover within the Krath and bring them down from the inside, saving lives that would be lost in a full blown war. Many Jedi told Ulic that that was a terrible idea; the Dark Side would corrupt him like so many others.

Before they could argue the matter further, the Krath struck first. They had snuck into the conclave and set an army of droids loose on the Jedi, killing many of them. Among the casualties was Arca Jeth, Ulic’s own master. Outraged, Ulic went through his plan to infiltrate the Krath, despite the concerns of his brother, Cay, and lover, Nomi. This would have terrible consequences for everyone.

Fall Rise of Exar Kun

In another part of the Galaxy, there lived a young Jedi Knight by the name of Exar Kun. He was powerful in the Force, but also an arrogant blowhard with serious anger issues. Throw in the fact that he was obsessed with learning about the Sith, and that’s a recipe for disaster. His curiosity led him to seek out the new tomb of Freedon Nadd on Dxun, wherein he met Nadd’s ghost. Seeing Kun’s strength in the Force, Nadd took the already wavering Jedi and led him down a path to darkness.

Kun would next travel to the ancient Sith home of Korriban before finally journeying to Yavin IV. There, at the mercy of the planet’s Massassi, Exar Kun fully embraced the Dark Side, much to Nadd’s delight. Seeing the former Jedi as his best chance to gain a new body, Nadd urged him to do just that. However, Kun had become fed up with Nadd’s meddling and, using his newfound power, banished his spirit to the afterlife for good.

Fall of Ulic Qel-Droma

Meanwhile, Ulic’s mission to infiltrate the Krath went as bad as everyone said it would. Satal was on to the Jedi from the start and tortured him for weeks. Meanwhile, Aleema used her charm to seduce him even further into the Dark Side. When Nomi and Cay came looking for him, he refused to leave with the pair. Instead, he killed Satal and took in the Krath leadership.

Seeing the red flags being waved, Nomi and Cay led an even larger strike force on a raid into the Krath’s stronghold. Although, by that point, Qel-Droma was too far into the Dark Side to come back of his own volition. Plus, attempts to bring him back by force failed as well. Ulic’s friends reluctantly accepted that he was now lost to them and retreated.

As the Krath celebrated, they found their victory party was crashed by an unexpected guest: Exar Kun.

The Sith, Reborn

Rather than remain on Yavin IV, Exar Kun had sought out Dark Side users that would be a threat to his power. Learning of the Krath’s existence and that they had also been taught by Freedon Nadd, the Dark Jedi sought to eliminate them. Upon arrival, Kun and Qel-Droma fought in an intense duel, yet neither could gain the upper hand on each other. Then, something unexpected happened. Both combatants wore an ancient Sith amulet, and as the two clashed, their amulets reacted to each other. Their reunion created a surge of Dark Side energy that summoned the spirit of the long-dead Sith Lord, Marka Ragnos.

Ragnos saw how strong Kun and Qel-Droma were in the Dark Side and had the strength to restore the Sith. Thus, he declared Exar Kun the new Dark Lord of the Sith, with Exar Kun as his apprentice. With the two Sith and Krath united under one banner, the Jedi’s worst fears came true: the Sith had been reborn.

To Be Concluded

Pretty epic story, huh? Well, that’s only the start. The return of the Sith would start the Great Sith War. With Ulic Qel-Droma and Exar Kun leading the Sith-Krath forces, the Jedi and Republic would face their greatest test in a thousand years. Next time, we’ll be covering the Great Sith War and its aftermath. 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. 3

Hello, everyone, Jay here with some more Star Wars: History Abridged. This series has been dormant for some time, but with “May the Fourth” next week, I thought it’s a good time to restart it. Picking up where we left off, this post will cover the start of the Old Sith Wars, my favorite period in Star Wars lore. The long and short of it is that, in fifty years, the Galaxy almost fell apart. The Republic came close to collapse, and the Jedi came closer to extinction than ever. Until Order 66, that is. And it all starts with the conflict known as the Great Sith War and a planet called Onderon.

Crisis on Onderon

According to Wookiepedia, the Great Sith War started in 3,996 BBY. However, its roots go back four years earlier, to a planet called Onderon (Yes, that Onderon). The world was harsh, filled with dangerous beasts from its moon, Dxun. The two were so close that they would briefly merge atmospheres and create an air bridge. Worse, there was an ongoing civil war between the ruling monarchy and the Beast Riders, outcasts who had tamed the dangerous beasts of the planet.

When Onderon asked to join the Republic, Jedi Master Arca Jeth sent his three Padawans, Tott Doneeta, Ulic Qel-Droma, and his younger brother Cay Qel-Droma, to resolve the conflict. They showed up right as the Beast Riders raided the Royal Palace and kidnapped Queen Amanoa’s only daughter, Galia. The three Padawans pursued the Princess’ abductors deep into Beast Rider territory, arriving at their base just as Galia was marrying their young leader, Oron Kira.

Years ago, Oron had snuck inside the Onderonian’s walled city. There he became friends with Galia. United by their shared desire for peace, the two fell in love. Galia knew her mother would never approve of their union, so they had secretly arranged all that had transpired. This abduction was nothing more than an elaborate plan to elope. One that the Jedi consented too once everything had been explained.

With that, the wedding continued, and everyone celebrated the union. However, Oron and Galia revealed a startling secret about Onderon to the three Jedi and their world’s connection to the Dark Side.

The Dark Truth of Onderon

Four hundred years ago, there was a young Jedi Padawan named Freedon Nadd. Everyone who met him saw him as a prodigy and thought he’d be one of the Order’s best. However, his strength made him arrogant, and when he was passed over for knighthood, he furiously left the Jedi Order. 

Traveling to the moon Yavin IV, Nadd discovered the Massassi, descendants of Naga Sadow’s followers who had joined him in exile centuries prior. What’s more, Nadd found an even bigger secret: Sadow himself kept alive in stasis for centuries. Recognizing Nadd’s strength in the Force, Naga Sadow taught Nadd everything he knew about the Dark Side. Then, Nadd killed him and declared himself a Dark Lord of the Sith. After this, he traveled to Onderon, where he established himself as King, banishing criminals and anyone who opposed him beyond his walled city to die. The Beast Riders were the descendants of these outcasts.

It gets worse. Nadd died centuries ago, but his ghost stuck around his Tomb underneath the Royal Palace. He spent centuries teaching his descendants the Dark Side in the hopes that one of them would be able to create him a new body to possess. 

Battle for Onderon

As freaked out as they were, the Jedi came to bring peace, so that’s what they were going to do. So with Galia and Oron in tow, they returned to the Capital city of Iziz to negotiate peace. 

Queen Amanoa wasn’t interested. Calling on the spirit of Nadd himself, the Queen used the strength of the Dark Side to empower her outnumbered forces. Iziz became a battleground between the royal army and the Beast Riders. The three Jedi were almost overwhelmed. However, Master Jeth’s timely arrival turned the tide of the battle in favor of the Beast Riders. With the Dark Side’s influence broken, the Jedi pursued Queen Amanoa into the palace to Nadd’s tomb, banishing Nadd’s influence. Which, unfortunately, killed the Queen. 

Naddist Uprising

With Amanoa’s death, Galia and Oron became the new monarch’s of Onderon, which officially joined the Republic. The only problem was what to do with the remains of Amanoa and Nadd? In 3,998 BBY, Arca Jeth chose to move them to a new tomb on Dxun where their Dark Side influence could be locked up. However, their bodies got stolen by the Naddist Sith Cult, led by Amanoa’s thought-to-be-deceased husband, King Ommin. With Master Jeth captured by the Naddists, Ulic Qel-Droma, now a Knight, called the Republic and Jedi for reinforcements.

In the battle that followed, thanks to the aid of Jedi Knight Nomi Sunrider, the Naddist forces were crushed, and King Ommin himself was slain by Qel-Droma. At last, Onderon was freed from the grip of Freedon Nadd.

What no one knew at the time was that this wasn’t the end of the crisis. Instead, it was only beginning.

Birth of the Krath

The Jedi didn’t know at the time, but just before Ommin’s defeat, he had visitors. Two cousins from a Deep Core system with an interest in the Dark Side and Sith Artifacts. Intrigued and realizing Onderon was a lost cause, Nadd chose to make them his new apprentices and helped them escape with Sith relics in tow. Together, they would found the Krath, a Sith Cult that would seize power in their system. 

Worse, Nadd had appeared before the Jedi and sensed darkness within Ulic Qel-Droma. Unknown to all, there was another Force-user that Nadd had taken an interest in, a young Jedi named Exar Kun. However, that is a story for another day.

To Be Continued

Pretty cool story, huh? If you want to learn more, click the links to Wookiepedia. Or if you want to read the story for yourself, search for the Tales of the Jedi series. Tomorrow, we’ll be picking things up with the rise of the Krath and the Return of the Sith as the Great Sith War begins!

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– The Origins of the Sith Lords

The Sith, the ancient order of Dark-Side users bent on galactic domination. For forty-three years, their members have been amongst the greatest villains in pop culture. Yet despite how recognizable they are, Disney’s failed to give them a proper origin story. Thankfully, the old Expanded Universe explained some of it, and today, I’m going to abridge it. Come with me back 7,000 years into the past as we look at the origins of the Jedi’s greatest enemies, the Sith

Simple Curiosity

Around 7,000 BBY (Before Battle of Yavin), a group of Jedi began to believe that the Order wasn’t using the Force to its greatest extent. Thus, to satisfy simple curiosity, they began testing how far they could take the Force. Their experiments bore fruit: these Jedi learned that they could use the Force to manipulate life. Given enough time, they could have used it to even restore or life.

These Jedi wanted their comrades to join them in advancing their knowledge. They hoped that they could eventually find a way to cheat death. However, most of the order saw what their comrades were doing as bad. So instead of trying to compromise or talk them out of it, the Order banned these practices. They feared what would happen if they delved into the darker recesses of the Force. Incensed, these Dark Jedi chose to flee into exile and continue their studies in peace. However, the Jedi would not let them go, and a philosophical debate gave wya to armed conflict. Thus began the period known as the Hundred Year Darkness.

The Hundred Year Darkness

During the war, the Dark Jedi found themselves heavily outnumbered by the Jedi. Thus, in order to turn the tide, they tapped as far into the Force as possible. In the end, the Jedi’s worst fears came true: they created new life. The resulting eldritch abominations sent soldiers running for the hills, and came close to turning to the tide in favor of the Dark Jedi. However, the Jedi Order rallied and, working with the Republic, they began to push back against their former comrades.

After decades of conflict, the sheer numbers of the Jedi and the Republic overwhelmed the Dark Jedi. These exiles made their last stand at the Battle of Corbos. Despite throwing all of their considerable assets against their enemies, though, it was no use. The combined Jedi-Republic assault broke them at long last, leaving only a handful of survivors.

Exiled and Finding a New Home

After their final defeat, many in the Republic wanted the Dark Jedi to be executed, saying they were too dangerous to be left alive. Had that happened, the Galaxy may have been a much different place. Instead, the Jedi chose to exile the survivors beyond known space in the hopes that they would learn the error of their ways. Big mistake.

The dozen or so surviving Dark Jedi didn’t travel blindly into the unknown. They had heard legends of an arid planet that was home to a species of red-skinned beings who were strong in the Dark Side. Eventually, these exiles found what they were looking for: Korriban, the homeworld of the Sith species.

Impressing the natives with their mastery of the Force and their technology, the Exiles were eventually hailed as gods and declared Lords of the Sith. From their new base on Korriban, the former Jedi built an interstellar empire far from the reach of the Republic. In addition, they proceeded to interbreed with the Sith, merging their bloodlines until the two were one and the same.

This is how the Sith came to be, and how they would help shape the Star Wars Galaxy.

A People Built on Revenge

Like much of Star Wars, the origins of the Sith and the Hundred Year Darkness got pushed to the side by Disney’s soft reset of the franchise. Which is a shame, as I think this whole thing provides a very interesting backstory to a group that’s given us some of the best villains in fiction. The Sith were born out of a desire to know more about the Force, something most Jedi were unable or unwilling to understand. As a result, they turned on each other, and their former comrades let their anger twist them into something that would cause untold suffering for thousands of years. The question I want to pose, though, is this: would these Dark Jedi have ended up where they did on their own, or did the Jedi force their hand?

Think about it: if the Jedi had been more open-minded, they could have come to an understanding with their counterparts. Their concerns were justified, as well: playing with power on that scale will eventually backfire. It’s important to be open-minded in order to allow progress, but it’s also important to know when to hold back. Had the Jedi, as a whole, figured this out, the Sith may never have existed. Instead, they did exist, and felt understandably mad over what happened to them.

Disney’s since re-integrated the Hundred Year Darkness into the canon. However, it’s far more vague about what happened. Considering how the Jedi-Sith conflict shapes Star Wars, I fail to see why Disney hasn’t tried harder to explain this. It’s a wasted opportunity.

Star Wars History Abridged

One last thing: this article’s the first in a series of articles I’ll be doing about Star Wars. I call them Star Wars: History Abridged, and as the title implies, I’ll be summing up stories and events from the Expanded Universe for people to read. I know there’s Wookiepedia to do that, but I want to see if it I can make it sound more interesting. It’s my hope that this will boost awareness of all the cool stories Disney abandoned so we can encourage them to bring them back. Star Wars can survive without the Skywalkers, and Disney should know that by now.

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.