Warb Null

"And this new being that the merging of man and metal will create most definitely deserves a new name. I think "Warb Null" will do nicely."

- Unidentified Sith spirit to Shas Dovos

Warb Null was a dark side apprentice and King Ommin's armored commander of the Naddist forces during the First Battle of Onderon in the Freedon Nadd Uprising.

Early life
"Do not worry, my disciple. You will have your place in the history of the galaxy. I did not bring you this far to end your albeit insignificant existence now. No, you will become an extension of me. You will go where I cannot and help restore the glory of the Sith."

- Unidentified Sith spirit to Shas Dovos

Warb Null was born Shas Dovos on the planet Onderon sometime during the height of the Galactic Republic. Dovos was a dedicated student of metallurgy in his youth, learning the craft of metalworking. Onderon had a history of leaders who worshiped the dark side, so a great many ancient Sith artifacts were stored all over the planet. The great walled city of Iziz was the only area of the planet not tormented by vicious beasts. Dovos traveled to one of the wild regions on Onderon during his studies, where he stumbled upon a hidden dark side treasury. The young Onderonian was Force-sensitive himself, and one particular Sith artifact piqued his interest&mdash;an ancient dark-side book hand-written by a member of the old Sith Empire. Dovos stole the book and returned to his home-city, desperate to uncover the secrets hidden deep inside the ancient book.

Initially, he was fascinated with the book, though soon his fascination turned into complete obsession. He spent years attempting to break the coding of the book, until he had forsaken his studies and lost interest in the other aspects of his life. He saw it as his destiny to uncover the book's secrets and to wield its power. Eventually, he deciphered the Sith lore, and began construction on a set of specialized Sith armor, which would grant its wearer great power. In his forge deep beneath Onderon's surface, Dovos used his basic Sith magic, combined with his extensive knowledge of alloys and metals, to forge the blackened helmet, breasplate and gauntlets of the massive suit of armor. After working for days on end, Shas Dovos's suit of armor was complete; however, he was having doubts about his worthiness to wear it. He was unsure of his grasp of the Sith magic necessary to produce such a weapon, worried that it would be wasted on someone who had to resort to theft to acquire the armor.

However, he soon overcame his doubtfulness, reasoning that if had not been for him, the knowledge behind the armor would still be hidden in obscurity; if anyone deserved to wear, he did. Suddenly, a voice spoke out, telling Dovos that he would wear the armor. The spirit of the Sith Lord who had written the book centuries ago appeared, telling the young man that it was the keeper of the book, that without the spirit keeping safe, the Sith lore would have crumbled to dust decades ago. Shas Dovos became fearful, and finally realized what he had gotten himself into. The Sith protector told Dovos that it had been slowly and subtly influencing him, affected his dreams and thoughts, and making him become obsessed with the construction of the armor. The spirit declared Dovos its disciple, telling him that he would become an "extension" of the Sith Lord, using the Sith spirit's Force abilities and Dovos's powerful armor to help restore the glory of the Sith Empire. Dovos was still scared of the Humanoid spirit, though the being was far too powerful for the former student to defeat. It re-named him Warb Null, and used its ancient powers to fuse its disciple to his newly crafted armor. He became a mindless Sith Warrior, and remembered little of his previous life. Warb Null had been tricked into creating the armor by the Sith spirit, and now he was nothing more than a pawn of the long-dead dark sider.

The Sith spirit taught Warb Null several old Sith powers&mdash;all of which would be necessary in the mission which the Sith warrior had been assigned. Onderon's queen, a Sith worshiper herself, had been killed by a Jedi task Force during the Beast Wars of Onderon, and her sarcophagus, along with that of Freedon Nadd, former Dark Lord of the Sith, were being relocated to one of the planet's moons, a jungle-world named Dxun. The late Amanoa's husband, Ommin, was a former student of Nadd and a powerful wielder of the dark side. Ommin remained alive during Warb Null's time, but the ancient Onderonian was slowly dying, and unable to return the dark side to Onderon himself. Through the spirit, Ommin enlisted Null to lead an assault on the world's capital, Iziz. Null, aided by hundreds of loyal Naddists, was to reclaim the sarcophagi and remove them to the Sith warrior's underground base.

Behind the scenes

 * Formally introduced in Tales of the Jedi: The Freedon Nadd Uprising, Warb Null shared several similarities with Darth Vader of Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi:
 * Both were fully armored and masked;
 * Both served a person who held a royal title as king and emperor;
 * Their masters both fought in a sorcerer's style, leaving lightsaber duels for them.
 * In Star Wars Insider 85, Leland Chee erroneously refers to the character as "Null Warb".

Appearances

 * Tales of the Jedi: The Freedon Nadd Uprising