Horak-mul

"His defenses can't withstand our attack. We've caught him off guard."

- Horak-mul during the Battle of Khar Delba

Horak-mul was a Sith Lord in the years leading up to the Great Hyperspace War. A member of the Sith species, Horak-mul was native to an area of space known as the Sith Empire. After the death of Dark Lord of the Sith Marka Ragnos, Horak-mul sided with one of the contenders for the title, Ludo Kressh. Kressh's main rival was Naga Sadow, a progressive Sith Lord with expansionist ambitions. In 5,000 BBY, Sadow staged an attack on the Sith Empire by the Galactic Republic, and used this opportunity to declare himself the new Dark Lord of the Sith. This led to a schism between Sadow and Kressh, with Horak-mul siding with the latter. Sadow then staged another raid, this time leaving evidence that he was actually complicit; upon seeing this evidence, an angered Kressh ordered Horak-mul and a fellow supporter, Dor Gal-ram, to gather their forces to attack Sadow. What ensued was a skirmish at Khar Delba, and Horak-mul and his allies were outwitted and defeated by Sadow. Horak-mul, along with Gal-ram, was killed in the battle when Sadow ordered the crew of Horak-mul's flagship to betray and kill him.

Biography
"You summoned us, Lord Kressh. This had better be good."

- Horak-mul

Horak-mul was a Sith Lord in the years leading up to the Great Hyperspace War and was native to a region in the galaxy known as Sith Space. In 5,000 BBY, longtime Dark Lord of the Sith Marka Ragnos died after a century of iron-handed rule. Two Sith Lords, Naga Sadow and Ludo Kressh, stepped in to try and fill the power vacuum. Horak-mul supported Kressh, the more conservative Sith Lord, over Sadow, an ambitious Lord who wanted to expand the Sith Empire's boundaries. During the Funeral of Marka Ragnos, a ship coming from the Galactic Republic, the Starbreaker 12, landed in Korriban's Valley of the Dark Lords, a canyon where the funeral was taking place, and its crew&mdash;the two Humans Gav and Jori Daragon&mdash;were detained. A great debate began regarding the Humans' fate; Kressh wanted to execute them immediately, while Sadow wanted to keep them alive, believing that they had important information.

Finally, Sadow staged a Republic attack on the Sith Empire, riling the Sith into a frenzy. Following this attack, during a meeting of the Sith Council on the planet Ziost, Sadow declared himself the new Dark Lord of the Sith. Horak-mul watched on in silence as the majority of other Sith Lords voiced their support of Sadow. An outraged Kressh called his remaining supporters to rally around him, and Horak-mul left the meeting with the Sith Lord. After the meeting, Naga Sadow, now having been officially crowned the Dark Lord of the Sith, staged a Republic attack on the Starbreaker 12 hangar on Ziost and made off with the ship. Upon witnessing the scene, Ludo Kressh found Sadow's emblem amidst the carnage. Shocked and angry, Kressh summoned Horak-mul and another of his supporters, Dor Gal-ram, to his private world of Rhelg to confer on these developments. There, Kressh informed them of Sadow's complicity in the assault and ordered Horak-mul and Gal-ram to gather their fleets to stage a surprise attack on Sadow.

Horak-mul did as he was commanded, massing his forces and joining Kressh's and Gal-ram's fleets at Khar Delba, the site of Sadow's citadel. They commenced their attack, launching a rain of fire on Sadow's base. Horak-mul exclaimed that victory was inevitable; however, Sadow had another trick up his sleeve. Sadow had hidden his fleet in orbit around Khar Delba's moon Khar Shian, and the fleet attacked and caught Horak-mul and his allies off-guard. Sadow then moved on to the next stage of his plan, ordering the crew of Horak-mul's ship, in reality elite assassins, to kill him. The Massassi crew attacked Horak-mul while he was distracted by the battle, caught him unaware, and murdered him. Dor Gal-ram was killed by the same treachery, and Kressh was defeated in the Battle of Khar Delba. The artificial eye of Horak-mul was eventually lost, but was retrieved in 3,963 BBY, over a thousand years after Horak-mul's death, by Jedi Covenant Shadow Celeste Morne.

Years later, during the Cold War, the Sith Inquisitor Kallig met the ghost of Horak-mul on the icy planet of Hoth. The ghost had taken the body of an Ortolan chief, and even inhabited the metallic shell of a droid for a brief moment. He agreed to let the Inquisitor absorb his spirit in exchange for desecration of the temple of the Sadow'een, the assassins that killed him. Later, Horak-Mul, like the other Sith spirits, would harass Kallig and threaten to drive them insane. As he was haunting the Inquisitor's thought, Horak-Mul said: "You think you're the puppeteer, but you're just the puppet."

Eventually, Kallig discovered a mind-healing ritual on Voss that could the subdue the ghosts. With help from a Voss dream-walking cult, Kallig confronted Horak-mul in a dream. The Sith Lord assumed the appearance of Darth Thanaton, Kallig's nemesis, but his illusion was destroyed when a Gormak Force-shaman named Hadrik used a dream-rock to force Horak-mul to reveal himself. Kallig was then to use Horak-mul's power, along with the other ghosts, to finally defeat Thanaton and assume his seat on the Dark Council. Though the other ghosts pleaded to be freed, Horak-mul willingly decided to stay, knowing that he'd at least see the galaxy than return to his tomb on Hoth.

Personality and traits
"We have been careful to hide our own doubts about Sadow's foolish dreams of conquest."

- Horak-mul

Horak-mul was a staunch supporter of Ludo Kressh and considered Naga Sadow's ambitions to expand the Sith Empire as self-destructive and foolish. However, due to the popularity among Sith Lords of supporting Sadow, and the risks inherent in speaking out against the Dark Lord of the Sith, Horak-mul was careful to hide his opposition to Sadow's dreams of conquest. Before the attack on the Starbreaker 12 that Sadow manipulated to appear as a Republic raid, Horak-mul considered the Republic a myth; however, the attack convinced him otherwise. Horak-mul sported an artificial right eye.

Behind the scenes
Horak-mul first appeared in Tales of the Jedi: The Golden Age of the Sith, a story arc of the Tales of the Jedi comic series, which was written by Kevin J. Anderson and released in 1996. In these appearances, Horak-mul was illustrated by Dario Carrasco, Jr. He was later mentioned in Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic 25: Vector, Part 1. In 2008, Horak-mul received an entry in The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia.

Appearances

 * Tales of the Jedi: The Golden Age of the Sith 3: The Fabric of an Empire
 * Tales of the Jedi: The Golden Age of the Sith 4: Pawns of a Sith Lord
 * Tales of the Jedi: The Golden Age of the Sith 5: The Flight of Starbreaker 12
 * Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic 25: Vector, Part 1
 * Star Wars: The Old Republic