Valley of the Dark Lords/Legends

"Can you not feel the potency of this place?"

- Freedon Nadd

The Valley of the Dark Lords, originally known as the Valley of the Sleeping Kings, was a valley and burial ground of Korriban's Sith Lords. Originally constructed by the planet's natives as a burial ground for their kings; the Exiles of the Jedi Order who came to be known as the Dark Lord of the Sith added their own tombs to the Valley. Along with several prominent tombs, the Valley was home to the ancient Sith Great Temple and the Sith Academy which would loom over the Valley for several millennia.

Valley of the Sleeping Kings
Built long before the arrival of the Exiles of the Jedi Order in 6,900 BBY, the Valley of Sleeping Kings was located in a sheer rock valley on the planet Korriban, where the dust contained the remnants of a thousand kings long dead. Smoothing the walls of the Valley and fashioning giant statues of humanoid shape, the Sith of Korriban long buried their rulers in the stone tombs deep within the walls of the Valley. At the conclusion of the Hundred-Year Darkness, a war fought far from Korriban, the Exiles as they were called after being banished from the space controlled by the Galactic Republic landed on the dusty world. Numbering only eleven, the Exiles were welcomed as gods by the primitive Sith and eventually took up the titles of Dark Lords of the Sith. Founding the first Sith Empire after killing King Hakagram Graush, Ajunta Pall took control of the Empire and was worshiped and feared by his followers.

Following the death of Lord Pall, a mausoleum was erected in the center of the Valley, separate from the line of kings which were housed in the walls of the ancient edifices. Marked with runes and ancient spells, the tomb housed Pall's body against the destructive heat of the outside world, preserving the bones and spirit of the ancient Sith Lord. Eventually Lord Tulak Hord came to control the Empire, ruling from Korriban and known as the Lord of Hate. The Sith Lord would place his loyal servant Khem Val in stasis within an old tomb within the walls of the Valley before he himself was laid to rest there. Over time, the Valley would see the addition of a tomb for Lord Marka Ragnos, and an ancient tomb containing a Star Map of the Infinite Empire was converted to hold the remains of Naga Sadow; though he never was laid to rest within.



Following Sadow's reign, the Sith Empire was fractured during a costly war of vengeance against the Galactic Republic and the Jedi Order. When Sadow abandoned Korriban and a sizable portion of the fleet fled to hide on Dromund Kaas, the Republic Navy attacked the Valley and a Sith holocaust was sanctioned by Supreme Chancellor Pultimo. As the Valley burned, the Sith regrouped beyond the arm of the Republic and prepared to return and seek revenge on their persecutors.

The reign of Revan
Over the ensuing centuries the Valley was visited by grave robbers and treasure seekers who infiltrated the defenses of the tombs and stole priceless artifacts from the ancient Sith Empire's old stronghold. The Valley would not be inhabited by Sith until the former Jedi Knight Revan entered the Valley with his apprentice Darth Malak with their own Imperial host. Reestablishing the Sith Academy at the Valley's back wall, the Sith began churning out Sith to fight in Revan's war with the Jedi Order and the Galactic Republic. When Revan was captured and redeemed by the Jedi, he was dispatched to Korriban in the guise of a Sith apprentice and infiltrated the academy in order to gain access to the tombs. Retrieving artifacts such as Ajunta Pall's blade and the holocron of Tulak Hord, Revan escaped the Valley undetected.



When the war came to an end with the death of Darth Malak, the academy was abandoned as the remaining Sith fled persecution. During the Dark Wars the Sith Triumvirate did not return to Korriban, though some Sith acolytes still roamed the Academy's halls seeking knowledge. Jedi Knight Meetra Surik traveled to the Valley in search of Master Lonna Vash, most of the tombs' entrances had caved in with the exception of the burial chamber of Ludo Kressh remained largely unscathed.

Return of the Empire
In 3,681 BBY, after centuries in hiding, the Sith Empire returned in force to the galaxy and retook Korriban. In a stunning orbital battle Sith Lord Vindican conquered the world and wiped out the Republic's forces stationed at the orbital facility charged with maintaining the planetary quarantine. As the Sith resettled the Valley the academy reopened and began producing Sith to fight the Republic and the Jedi in the ongoing Great Galactic War. When the Treaty of Coruscant was signed, a Cold War ensued and life on Korriban thrived as a training ground for the Sith and their soldiers alike.

As the Cold War ground on the excavation of the Valley progressed significantly under the guidance of Darth Thanaton. To the dismay of the Sith, a great number of k'lor'slugs had infested the Valley and the lower tombs while tuk'ata protected the higher tombs from grave robbers, vestiges of old Sith alchemical experimentation. The Academ and the Sith flourished for many years and throughout the Second Great Galactic War until the Empire's final defeat. After the Sith were vanquished, the Jedi pillaged the Valley and confiscated or destroyed all remaining relics they could find, bring an end to much of the work accomplished by the Sith over the past three millennia.

The Brotherhood of Darkness
As the New Sith Empire and the Republic battled ceaselessly for generations, the Sith remained separated from their origin world. Under the leadership of Sith Lord Skere Kaan and his reorganized Brotherhood of Darkness, the Sith took back Korriban in a stunning victory which left all Jedi and Republic soldiers on the battlefield dead. They found the Valley desolate, having been largely ignored by generations of Sith; dark siders during the New Sith Wars would seldom if ever visit the site as a centuries of looting and conflict had largely destroyed anything of value. Under Kaan's leadership and the works of Lords Qordis and Kopecz Korriban was reinvigorated and the Academy reopened in a new building in 1,006 BBY. As the Sith flocked to Korriban and sent hundreds through the academy system, the Valley remained largely abandoned as the Masters believed it to be empty of all relics or secrets that could aid in the war effort.

Nonetheless a headstrong and powerful student named Bane would defy his masters and make the treacherous journey from the city of Dreshdae in hopes of uncovering ancient secrets. While on Korriban, Bane felt the gentle hum of the dark side that permeated the air and hoped it would intensify within the Valley itself. Instead Bane found that the air within the Valley had grown still, and that the dark side had retreated from the ancient edifices long ago. Searching the Valley for knowledge for thirteen days, Bane concluded that the wealth of the Valley had long ago disappeared and abandoned it forever.

A sleeping menace
"It has been ten years since I last stood on this lost world. It is a place still potent with power."

- Emperor Palpatine visiting the valley in 11 ABY Since the Ruusan Reformations of the Galactic Senate, Korriban and the Valley remained largely depopulated and seldom visited as the Jedi Order entered a golden age of peace. While the remaining Sith were deep in hiding, Force adepts interested in the dark side sought out the treasures hidden deep in Korriban's tombs; most visitors were lost in the Valley forever, never to emerge. Undercover Jedi Knight Quinlan Vos infiltrated the Valley and discovered the lost Holocron of Heresies before turning it over to the Dark Lord of the Sith Darth Tyranus.

Following the rise of the Galactic Empire and the defeat of the Republic and the Jedi Order, Darth Sidious seldom paid visits to the ancient crypts but space was reserved for him and his apprentice, Darth Vader in the Great Temple's ancient tombs.

In 4 ABY, Han Solo had concocted a plan to send a strike team to the surface of the Endor in a stolen Imperial shuttle and deactivate the shield generator protecting the Death Star II. Alliance High Command needed more information about the Imperial Garrison on the Forest Moon before they were sent, and only one man had that information, Emperor Palpatine (alias Darth Sidious), who was making his final pilgrimage to the Valley before his death. Renegade Squadron volunteered for a raid on his shuttle to get that intelligence. After they landed, Renegade Squadron attacked the Sith Academy to keep the stormtroopers stationed there from alerting Sidious of the situation. They held the academy as the Emperor entered the atmosphere. Once he had landed, Renegade Squadron moved into a Sith tomb and primed explosive charges at the entrances and started destroying Sith artifacts to goad Sidious into the tomb. The plan worked. Using Force lightning to quickly dispatch a Mon Calamari, Palpatine Force jumped into the fray. Renegade Squadron retreated from the tomb and set off the explosives, trapping the Sith Lord inside while they attacked his shuttle and stole a datapad containing the troop information. After getting the datapad back to an Low Altitude Assault Transport, it revealed that Emperor Palpatine himself was to be on the Death Star at the time of the attack.

Sidious often visited the valley to increase his strength at his "place of power," and on occasion sought advice from the spirits of the Dark Lords. In 11 ABY, he returned to try to regenerate his clone body. He stated that it had been ten years since he had last visited; presumably this was rounding.

In 14 ABY, Marka Ragnos's tomb, located in the Valley, was the site of the Battle of Korriban, during the Disciples of Ragnos crisis.

Reawakening of the Sith
While searching for the Lost Tribe of Sith and Abeloth, Luke Skywalker, Ben Skywalker, Jaina Solo, and Vestara Khai went to the Valley of the Dark Lords.

Known tombs
"Of course there are tombs in the Valley of the Dark Lords, but they have been plundered and now draw only tourists."

- Darth Plagueis

Behind the scenes
A number of different layouts and appearances have been given to the valley in various publications. In this article, the layout of the Valley as seen in Star Wars: The Old Republic is described as it is the latest source to describe it visually. Below is a list of discrepancies between The Old Republic's description of the Valley and other sources.


 * For instance, its appearance in Knights of the Old Republic lends itself to being easily traversed and places less demand on hardware than a full scale valley.
 * In Darth Bane: Path of Destruction it was found that the road from the Academy to the Tombs was actually quite long and the area where the actual Valley was was barren and harsh, hard to travel through for even the Sith Lords.
 * In Jedi Academy, on the other hand, the valley is designed similar to the appearance of the Tales of the Jedi with sections suitable for fighting and platform jumping. In addition, having weathered several millennia (and possibly unknown conflicts), many of the tombs and decorative sculptures have partially collapsed when seen in Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy with only Marka Ragnos's tomb remaining in place.
 * Its appearance in Shadows and Light suggests a reconciliation between a few designs, with the entrance and statues found in Knights, and other sorts of tombs in the distance like those in Jedi Academy and TOTJ where the cliff started in Knights.
 * Jedi vs. Sith: The Essential Guide to the Force also depicts the valley as a mix of the KOTOR and Jedi Academy designs.
 * In Star Wars: The Old Republic, the general shape of the valley is similar to that of its appearance in Knights of the Old Republic, but various excavated tomb entrances add several changes in elevation, and the layout of the tombs themselves has been completely changed. Further, the Academy now opens directly into the Valley, with no path separating the two.