Cronal

"Blackhole appeared to be some form of projection, Mistress Memnos! Master Luke's blows went right through it! It spoke with a male Human voice. A voice I can only describe as sinister&hellip; threatening&hellip; and evil!"

- C-3PO to Mistress Memnos

Cronal, a male Human and former Prophet of the Dark Side, was the true identity of Blackhole, a mysterious Imperial Intelligence agent who collaborated with Darth Vader after the Battle of Yavin to locate Rebel Alliance bases.

Biography
Blackhole's exact appearance and identity remained unknown to all but a few; to most he spoke to, he appeared only as a Human-shaped cloud of stars with the help of an image distorter.

Agent Blackhole was one of the powerful Emperor's Hands, and given virtually unlimited access and control over the Imperial HoloNet. The Blackhole stormtroopers carried out his most well-known exercises of power.

As a Prophet, he had helped train both his own daughter, Sariss, and also the Dark Jedi Jerec. He was later hand-picked by Palpatine to be the head of Imperial Intelligence. It was rumored that Blackhole was once a Senatorial page taken under Palpatine's wing. Another rumor asserts that he was an assistant at the Jedi Archives on Coruscant who was ultimately seduced by the dark side of the Force. In reality, Blackhole was an extremely frail old man, whose only movements were assisted by a mechanical chair designed by the Neimoidians.

After the Battle of Yavin, Alliance HoloNet slicers discovered that many Alliance communiques had been intercepted by an Imperial slicer that went by the code name "Blackhole". Alliance Intelligence decided that any activity on the HoloNet suspected of being the work of Blackhole had to be reported to them immediately.

A few months after the Battle of Yavin, he was tasked with finding the Alliance fleet. His search led him to uncover a rebel mission to Vorzyd V, where he was outmaneuvered by operatives Luke Skywalker and Leia Organa.

Though Supreme Prophet Kadann had predicted Palpatine's fall and the return of the Jedi, Cronal did not join his brethern in exile, and they came to view him as a traitor. After the Battle of Endor and Palpatine's death, Blackhole seemingly disappeared without a trace. In truth, he swore loyalty to the Emperor when he was reborn on Byss, on whose behalf he helped establish the Church of the Dark Side and also recruited Jerec to locate the lost Valley of the Jedi. His fate after the final death of Emperor Palpatine is unknown. Several stormtroopers in black armor took part in Carnor Jax's attempts to take control of the Empire, but it is unknown if they were actually part of Cronal's elite troops, let alone if he was even involved in the conspiracy. New Republic Intelligence concluded that he simply died, but it is possible that he was the Dark Jedi who helped transform Irek Ismaren into Lord Nyax. If this were indeed him, this would imply Cronal was still active as of the Yuuzhan Vong War. His activities after that are unknown.

Blackhole was a master of both Sith Alchemy and the science of genetic engineering. He created Sithspawn such as Gorc and Pic, and experimented on the Trailian race in hopes of creating an army of dark warriors capable of defeating the New Republic. Blackhole's abilities earned him the moniker "Palpatine's Monster Maker".

Behind the scenes

 * The Emperor's Pawns author Abel G. Peña originally intended for Blackhole to be identical to the obscure Imperial warlord, Lord Shadowspawn. However, Pablo Hidalgo had already prepared a biography of Blackhole for the Rebellion Era Sourcebook; rather than have two conflicting reports, Hidalgo's biography was used in place of Peña's in the article.  Peña later, in The Dark Forces Saga, identified Blackhole with Cronal, an even more obscure villain from Gamemaster Screen for Second Edition.


 * However, preliminary artwork of Lord Shadowspawn based on Blackhole was later the basis for an illustration of Shadowspawn in The New Essential Chronology, suggesting to some that a connection between the two still exists, though Peña states he no longer considers the two characters to be the same.


 * Additionally, Peña had intended Blackhole to be a sort of shadowy figure entirely formed out of the dark side; this idea was later used for the Dark Underlord.

Appearances

 * Gambler's World
 * Star Wars Galaxies: An Empire Divided