Exar Kun
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"Go on to your higher plane, teacher. The galaxy is mine now." -- Exar Kun
Exar Kun (lived circa 4,000 BBY, spirit destroyed 11 ABY) was a highly talented Jedi apprentice to the Old Republic Jedi Master Vodo-Siosk Baas. He later became Dark Lord of the Sith and a dark side spirit in the fictional Star Wars universe. He first appeared in Kevin J. Anderson's Jedi Academy trilogy.
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Errant Jedi
Exar Kun was a rash and talented youth, and these qualities together resulted in his development of arrogance, a quality which is unbecoming and dangerous in Jedi. The temptation of power overwhelmed Kun when he briefly viewed his master's forbidden holocron. Master Baas was displeased upon learning of his pupil's meddling - the knowledge of the dark side was dangerous in the hands of such an unpredictable mind as Exar Kun's. Indeed, it was becoming apparent to Baas that Kun's pride and ambition was beginning to consume him. Abandoning his master, Kun followed his curiosity and travelled to the war-torn planet of Onderon. There, he learned of a tomb on Dxun that housed the remains of an ancient Sith Lord, Freedon Nadd. The spirit of the long-deceased Sith Lord had appeared to Kun, and using the tainted Jedi's curiosity and ambition to his advantage, the ancient Sith instructed Kun to continue his quest to the notorious Sith world of Korriban. Kun agreed, plunging straight into his fall to the dark side.
Arriving on Korriban, Kun delved deep into the mausoleums that enshrined its surface. The spirit of Freedon Nadd, along with those of other Sith Lords, decided to test the wayward Jedi. Unable to use the Force to aid him, Kun soon found himself trapped under a large pile of rocks after a deliberate cave-in. The ghostly Sith offered Exar Kun his only means of escape- the complete embracement of the dark side. His pride and ambition overwhelming him, Kun refused to accept death, calling upon his rage and hatred to fuel the dark side within, temporarily escaping his fate. He emerged from the hallowed tombs of Korriban as merely a corrupted shadow of his former self.
Dark Lord of the Sith
Before fully embracing the dark side, Exar Kun fled to the jungle moon of Yavin IV. There he encountered the primitive experiment of Sith Lord Naga Sadow, the fearsome Massassi race. Being denied the powers of the light, but at the same time refusing to entirely accept the dark side, Kun was easily captured by these primitives. As Kun, on the verge of death, was being crushed by a giant creature of alchemical origins, Freedon Nadd proceeded to interrupt another of his student's predicaments. In what would be Kun's final moments before being totally swept by the dark side, Nadd instructed his pupil that his only escape is to once again use the darkness within him. Taking the Sith amulet being displayed at his Massassi sacrifice in hand, Kun embraced its dark nature with absolute conviction. Transformed into an agent of darkness, he broke free from his captors, slaughtering them without hesitation. While Nadd displayed pleasure at Kun's progress, the newfound Dark Jedi became fed up with the ancient Sith's tests. At that insant, Freedon Nadd's presence in the galaxy was vanquished by the amulet his protégé now held.
Enveloped in the dark side, Kun elevated himself to the status of a god and enslaved the Massassi. After doing so, he forced them to construct a great complex of temples that were used in arcane Sith ceremonies and rites. Fascinated with Sith teachings of alchemy and magic, Kun was able to create terrifying creatures twisted by the dark side's influence while conquering the fourth moon of Yavin.
He then proceeded to ally himself with the Krath of the Empress Teta System, the Mandalorians, and a band of Jedi he had seduced to the dark side and converted into Sith to begin a war against the Jedi and the Republic. One such fallen Jedi was Ulic Qel-Droma, who Kun perceived as the only Force-sensitive tainted by the Sith that could challenge him. In a fierce duel between the fallen Jedi on Cinnagar, both amulets that each combatant was wearing had suddenly sprung to life. Through an awakening of Sith energies, the amulets displayed a vision of a once glorious Sith Empire that had existed a thousand years in the past. Another ancient Sith spirit, this one of Marka Ragnos, declared both Exar Kun and Ulic Qel-Droma as the leaders of the new Sith Empire. Exar, being the more powerful of the two, was declared the Dark Lord of the Sith, with Ulic as his apprentice. The Great Sith War had begun.
With his new followers, Kun was able to unleash unbridled devastation across the galaxy. This power was manifested with the release of ancient Sith technologies that destroyed multiple stars of the Cron Cluster, annihilated entire worlds, and scoured the surface of Ossus.
After learning of Qel-Droma's capture and pending trial on Coruscant, Kun clashed with Vodo-Siosk Baas and struck him down at the doors of the Old Republic Senate chamber. This opened the eyes of all around him who had not already seen his descent into the dark side of the Force.
Under him, the Sith were able to push the Jedi back as they were forced to abandon many of their strongholds. The Jedi and the Republic alike suffered many setbacks, until Kun was betrayed by his apprentice, Ulic Qel-Droma. The fallen Jedi whom Exar took under his teachings recanted his foray into the dark side after being cut off from the Force. Qel-Droma then led the Republic to Kun's temples on Yavin IV. On the jungle moon, Kun sensed he would not survive the Republic's coming attack. Thus, he drained the life-force of the entire Massassi race and bound his spirit to the temples they had built for him. He remained largely dormant and was even forgotten as the centuries passed.
Rewakening
Nearly four thousand years later, some of these temples were used by the Rebel Alliance as a base of operations as depicted in Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope. These temples went on to become the site of Luke Skywalker's Jedi Praxeum, a school where he began the re-creation of the Jedi Order. Exar Kun's presence was felt again only after Luke established his Praxeum. As a spirit, Kun appeared to the young Jedi Gantoris. The inexperienced apprentice was unable to avoid being corrupted and was eventually killed by the spectral Exar Kun. After destroying his first Jedi in thousands of years, Kun's insatiable appetite for spreading his dark wrath escalated. He was able to successfully corrupt and partly possess the very talented and young Kyp Durron.
In addition, he somehow sundered Luke Skywalker's spirit from his own body, resulting in great confusion and dismay amongst Luke's then-few Jedi apprentices. As depicted in the novels Dark Apprentice and Champions of the Force, Kun's spirit was eventually outed and destroyed by the combined efforts of the Jedi apprentices, Luke's spirit, and the long-dead spirit of Kun's slain master, Vodo-Siosk Baas.
Influence
Exar Kun was masterful at lightsaber combat, often fighting with two blades at once. The creation of the double-bladed lightsaber, often mistakenly attributed to Darth Maul, was in actuality the brainchild of Kun. In addition to the ability for him to adjust the length of the blade, Kun was able to alter its intensity when he saw fit. He crafted his fearsome double-bladed blue saber later in his life, however. Kun's ingenuity served as a source of inspiration for later Sith, and in a few rare cases, Jedi and Dark Jedi, to create their own. Among those who used the double-bladed lightsaber were Bastila Shan, Zez-Kai Ell, Azrakel the Dark Warrior, and Jaden Korr. This weapon was also very popular with the Sith during Darth Revan's Jedi Civil War.
External links
Star Wars Databank entry (http://www.starwars.com/databank/character/exarkun/?id=eu)
Jedi Academy Trilogy (http://rover.wiesbaden.netsurf.de/~engler/sw_academy.html)
Tales of the Jedi: The Sith War Series (http://www.wheelon.com/comics/the_sith_war.htm)
Tales of the Jedi: Dark Lords of the Sith Series (http://www.wheelon.com/comics/dark_lords_of_the_sith.htm)
References
- The Jedi Academy Trilogy, paperback, Spectra 1994. Kevin J. Anderson.
- Jedi Search (Vol. 1), ISBN 0553297988
- Dark Apprentice (Vol. 2), ISBN 0553297996
- Champions of the Force (Vol. 3), ISBN 055329802X
- Tales of the Jedi: Dark Lords of the Sith, paperback, Dark Horse 1996. Kevin J. Anderson, Tom Veitch, Chris Gossett, Art Wetherell, ISBN 1569710953
- Tales of the Jedi: The Sith War, paperback, Dark Horse 1996. Kevin J. Anderson, Dario Carrasco, Mark G. Heike, ISBN 1569711739
| Preceded by: Freedon Nadd | Dark Lord of the Sith 3,997 - 3,996 BBY | Succeeded by: Unknown (eventually Darth Revan) |