Exar Kun

Exar Kun is a male literary character who features in Star Wars.

Biography

Origin

Exar Kun wields exceptional power in the Force (the ground "trembled with his footsteps," as a character in Knights of the Old Republic remarks). He was extremely arrogant, an unbecoming and dangerous quality in a Jedi, but one perfect for a Sith. The temptation of power overwhelms Kun when he briefly viewed a rare and forbidden Sith holocron, which belonged to his Master, Vodo-Siosk Baas. Master Baas was greatly displeased upon learning of his pupil's meddling; the knowledge of the dark side was dangerous in the hands of such an unpredictable mind. Indeed, it was becoming apparent to Baas that Kun's pride and ambition were beginning to consume him; Kun was convinced that he could master the dark side while remaining uncorrupted and go on to teach the Jedi Order his new discoveries. Baas tried to save his pupil, warning him to heed only Baas' lessons and to avoid the snares of the dark side, but his pupil disregarded his instructions. After defeating his master in combat, Kun followed his curiosity and traveled to the war-torn planet of Onderon. There, he learned of a tomb that housed the mortal remains of an ancient Sith Lord, Freedon Nadd; the Jedi had sealed it in Mandalorian iron and sequestered it in a remote section of the demon-moon Dxun. These barriers were insufficient to deter the young Jedi, however, and he made his way to the dark glade. There, the spirit of the long-deceased Sith Lord appeared to Kun, and, using the young Jedi's curiosity and ambition to his advantage, the ancient Sith instructed Kun to continue his quest to the infamous Sith tomb-world of Korriban. On Korriban, Kun delved deep into it's mausoleums that encrusted its surface. The spirit of Freedon Nadd, and those of the other Sith Lords, decided to test the wayward Jedi. He was cut off from the force and trapped in a cave in. The Sith offered Kun escape by fully embracing the Dark Side. He did not, but corrupted himself in anger and hate anyway in a successful escape attempt.

Before fully embracing the dark side, Exar Kun was directed to the jungle moon of Yavin IV, one of the few remaining Sith outposts. Even after Freedon Nadd ransacked the treasures deposited there by Naga Sadow, there was much to attract Kun. There he encountered the primitive remnants of the experiment of the Sith Lord Naga Sadow, the fearsome Massassi race. Denied the powers of the light, but at the same time refusing to entirely accept the dark side, Kun was easily captured by these natives. 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 corrupted by the dark side, Nadd instructed his pupil that his only escape was to once again tap into 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 was pleased by Kun's newfound strength, the Dark Jedi became fed up with the ancient Sith's tests and meddling. He then destroyed Freedon Nadd, who cursed him as he died and warned his other proteges of Kun's actions. Enveloped in the dark side, Kun elevated himself to the stature of a god. He enslaved the Massassi and forced them to construct temples that were used in arcane Sith ceremonies and rites as focuses for the dark side. Fascinated with Sith teachings of alchemy and magic, and now outfitted with the necessary equipment, Kun was able to create dark-side influenced creatues, Terentatek. He also conquers the fourth moon of Yavin.

Kun's ambitions led him further. He refurbished the millennium-old Sith Battleship that Naga Sadow had buried on Yavin, and began searching for other dark side users (who might pose a threat to his status as Dark Lord of the Sith). He found them in the Krath cult of the Empress Teta System, led by Aleema Keto and the fallen Jedi Ulic Qel-Droma, who Kun perceived as the only one who was strong enough to challenge him. In a fierce duel between the two fallen Jedi on the Tetan world Cinnagar, both amulets that each combatant was wearing suddenly sprang to life. Through the flow of Sith energies unleashed by the combatants, the amulets displayed a vision of a once glorious Sith Empire that had existed a thousand years in the past. A group of ancient Sith spirits, the most powerful one of Marka Ragnos, declared both Kun and Qel-Droma the leaders of the new Sith Empire (much as he had during a similar conflict between Naga Sadow and Ludo Kressh). Exar, the more powerful of the two, was appointed the Dark Lord of the Sith, with Ulic as his apprentice. With this resolution of the leadership dispute, The Great Sith War had begun. The War was planned with two prongs, to strike against the two foes: Kun traveled to the Jedi fastness of Ossus, where with the aid of a Sith holocron, he corrupted the most promising young Jedi Knights and Padawans. These were dispatched to slay their masters, many of those Jedi Masters, incalculably weakening the Jedi Order and sowing fear throughout the galaxy. Ulic Qel-Droma was to attack the Republic directly; however, he was initially stalled by a sudden and unexpected attack by the Mandalorians upon the Empress Teta system. Upon defeating their leader, Mandalore, in an unusual duel, Qel-Droma was able to secure the loyalty of the technologically-advanced Mandalorian warriors. Qel-Droma, with his combined Mandalorian/Tetan fleets, would attack outlying Republic installations in an attempt to draw the Republic Navy away from the galactic core. Having accomplished this with his successful attack on Foerost, and the planting of disinformation regarding his next target, he felt confident enough to assault Coruscant itself and release unbridled devastation across the galaxy. Around this time, Kun also used his newfound knowledge and power to devise the first known double-bladed lightsaber.

The assault on Coruscant was at first a success. The Mandalorians and Tetans, with their foes distracted by massive illusions cast by Aleema, and led by Qel-Droma, enjoyed wins. When Ulic is confronted by a group of Jedi (among whom was Nomi Sunrider), and is bested, Aleema betrays Qel-Droma out of fear and jealousy. She orders a retreat despite the objections of Mandalore, who had become fiercely loyal to Qel-Droma. After learning of Qel-Droma's capture and pending treason trial on Coruscant, Kun intervened and immobilised the entire council that presided over Qel-Droma's case with Sith Magic, only his old master Baas was able to resist his spell. He offered Baas a place at his side. He refused and they fought. Kun proved too powerful and struck his old master down on the floor of the Old Republic Senate chamber. This murder opened the eyes of all around him who had not already seen his descent into the dark side. Under him, the Sith were able to push the Jedi back as they were forced to abandon many of their strongholds. In his studies, Kun had discovered the secrets of the crystals aboard Sadow's flagship. Where Sadow had caused a binary star system to nova to cover his escape, Kun had the vision to use this extraordinary ability as an offensive weapon against Ossus, which was a few light-days from a cluster of red giant stars then known as the Cron Cluster. Kun would sweep down during the inevitable hasty evacuation and cherry-pick the best of the Jedi artifacts and tomes. The Sith Battleship was dispatched with Aleema aboard (with the connivance of Qel-Droma, who had been informed by Mandalore of Aleema's treachery). Aleema was not told that detonating five red giants ensured that they would supernova, and ensure her death in addition to that of the Jedi fleet defending Ossus which was to pursue her. The scheme worked almost exactly as planned.

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 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 extraordinarily talented and young Kyp Durron. Kyp Durron was a new arrival to the Jedi Praxeum, a young man who had spent most of his life imprisoned in the spice mines of Kessel and who had swiftly outpaced the rest of Skywalker's apprentices. Immensely talented in the Force and driven by an all-consuming desire to destroy the Empire that had imprisoned him and destroyed his family, Durron was frustrated with the slow pace of Skywalker's lessons and allowed Kun to teach him his secrets. Kun showed Durron the path to the Temple of Exar Kun, previously rediscovered by Gantoris and Streen, and Durron immediately made his way to the structure along with his companion Dorsk 81. Kun used the Force to put Dorsk 81 to sleep once the pair were inside the temple, and proceeded to teach the awestruck Durron, who wanted nothing more than the power to defeat the Empire himself, the history and ways of the ancient Sith.

Overview

Personality and attributes

Confident in his talent and abilities to the point of arrogance, as a young man Exar Kun developed an obsessive curiosity towards the forbidden knowledge of the dark side.

As Dark Lord of the Sith, Kun proved himself to be an able spinner of lies and dark side seducer of curious Jedi, sparking the interest of prospective apprentices by appealing to their interest in forbidden knowledge and sowing distrust towards the leading Masters of the Jedi Order. Hiding his Sith status from them, Kun presented himself instead as the greatest of all Jedi, solely intent on safeguarding a great future for their Order.

Powers and abilities

Kun lost his ability to tap into the light side of the Force, as shown by his loss of the ability to draw on the light side to employ Force deflection against the weapons of the Massassi, but the dark side offered new possibilities and new abilities to master.

He could use telekinesis in many ways, such as pulling a lightsaber to his hand or drawing a Sith amulet into his hand from across a grand hall. As a Sith Lord he could use Force Wound to destroy the internal organs of foes, hurl people and items away from himself, and create small whirlwinds to buffet, trap, or harm people. He also was able to use the Force pull/disarm technique.

A master of lightsaber combat, Exar Kun was remembered for his innovation of the double-bladed lightsaber. Kun would later add to his arsenal by innovating and mastering the double-bladed lightsaber, which was a previously unseen weapon in his time

Kun's powers expanded after his physical death, although he lost the ability to use some Force skills, such as Force lightning. No longer bound to a mortal body, Kun gained the ability to manifest where he pleased amongst his network of temples on Yavin 4. In his spiritual form, Kun was still strong enough to complete great feats of Force power, such as sundering Luke Skywalker's spirit from his body and helping Kyp Durron bring forth the Sun Crusher from Yavin's sun.

Originally, Kun had been a member of the Jedi Order until he abandoned them to pursue the teachings of the Sith. This led to him being proclaimed as the reigning Dark Lord of the Sith of his time.

Notes

• Exar Kun was created by Kevin J. Anderson where he appeared in the Star Wars Legends continuity.

In other media

Video games

• In Star Wars: Galaxies, Exar Kun appeared in the setting of the MMORPG video game. Exar Kun Cultists were encountered by the players participating on the quest on Yavin IV with them later encountering the spirit of Exar Kun.
• In Star Wars: The Old Republic, Exar Kun appeared in the setting of the MMORPG video game.

Appearances

• Jedi Search:
• Tales of the Jedi: Dark Lords of the Sith:
• Tales of the Jedi: The Sith War:

External Links

• Star Wars Wiki Entry

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