Kyp Durron

"What good is being Jedi if we do not act?"

- Kyp Durron

Kyp Durron was a Jedi Master, one of the first to be trained at Luke Skywalker's Jedi Praxeum. Kyp was a powerful Jedi, but a frustration to Skywalker's attempts to create a good name for the New Jedi Order.

As a Jedi Master, Kyp was one of the most powerful Jedi in the Order.

Early life (5 BBY–11 ABY)
Kyp Durron was born on the Deyer colony of the Anoat system. In an Imperial roundup of dissidents, he and his parents–politicians outspoken against the destruction of Alderaan–were sent to be slaved in the spice mines of Kessel. Kyp was only eight years old. His older brother Zeth was conscripted into Imperial service.

While laboring in the spice mines, Kyp met Vima-Da-Boda, who taught him what minor Force skills she could before being removed by Imperial authorities.

Jedi training (11 ABY–25 ABY)
Eight years after his enslavement, Han Solo and Chewbacca were taken prisoner and forced to work in the mines. With the help of Kyp, they managed to escape. In their flight, Kyp used his natural affinity with the Force to pilot them through The Maw, an almost impregnable cluster of black holes in the Kessel system, inadverdently leading them to a top secret military program led by the Imperial Admiral Daala. It was here that Kyp first found the Sun Crusher, which the trio used to escape the facility. Upon their return to Republic space, Kyp found a place at Skywalker's Jedi Academy. Luke used a Jedi technique to test the boy's Force potential. Durron's potential was so large that the resulting feedback from the test threw Luke across the room.

Kyp advanced quickly, but soon became dissatisfied with the Praxeum's slow pace. Feeling that Luke was holding him back Kyp was seduced and possessed by the dark side shade Exar Kun. Kyp recaptured the Sun Crusher and pursued a destructive course. One of his first actions was to seek revenge for the Imperial slaughter of his brother and parents. The Wayward Jedi fired the Suncrusher at Carida's sun, causing a supernova and annihilating the Imperial base located in the system. Soon after firing the weapon, he discovered that his brother Zeth was not dead as the Caridan officials claimed, but was in fact alive among the ranks of stormtroopers at the Imperial Academy there. Kyp was unable to save him in time, and his guilt and rage drew further into the clutches of the dark side as a result.

Luke and Han Solo were eventually able to catch up to him and return him to the light. He then destroyed the Sun Crusher by piloting it into a black hole, and narrowly escaped by squeezing himself into a message pod normally too small for a human, breaking several bones in the process.

Despite his many atrocities, Master Skywalker welcomed Kyp back to the academy. But although Luke had forgiven him, Kyp had a difficult time forgiving himself. He assumed the alias Zeth Fost and did all he could to make amends. Terrified that he would succumb to the dark side again, and sometimes wishing death upon himself, it was a long healing process. Ultimately, it was a chance meeting with a smuggler named Fen Nabon that truly began Kyp's healing. Kyp would rise from the ashes of his past to become a Jedi Master and one of the foremost members of the New Jedi Order.

Yuuzhan Vong invasion (25 ABY–30 ABY)
"I can't see the Yuuzhan Vong in the Force any more than he can, but I don't need that to tell me they're evil. To know that they have to be stopped."

- Kyp Durron



Kyp quickly grew strong in the Force and took on Miko Reglia as his Jedi apprentice. Kyp and Reglia formed the Dozen-and-Two Avengers, a vigilante group of X-wing pilots. This squadron was one of the first to encounter the Yuuzhan Vong. Kyp lost his squadron and his apprentice to the Yuuzhan Vong, barely escaping with his own life in that encounter.

Although he favored more aggressive tactics than many of the other Jedi, he proved himself a valuable asset in the deadly conflict. After Warmaster Tsavong Lah called for the heads of the Jedi, however, he broke from Luke Skywalker, and took the fight to the Yuuzhan Vong with a small&mdash;but significant&mdash;group of supporters. He briefly took on Jaina Solo as an apprentice and there were hints of a budding relationship between them, but she lost much respect for him when he tricked her into destroying a Yuuzhan Vong worldship that he claimed was a superweapon. While it did not destroy his level of support among the Jedi, there was a growing consensus that Durron was no longer stable. After the Fall of Coruscant, Kyp was one of those who managed to reach Hapes. As he watched Jaina come close to falling to the dark side, Kyp finally understood how dangerous his own aggressive tactics were. Jaina managed to come back from the edge, and she re-apprenticed herself to Kyp. Leia Organa Solo, however, warned him that if he ever hurt Jaina again, the Yuuzhan Vong would be the least of his problems. After this incident, he became a much more stable person, and since his reformation he gained greater acceptance among the other Jedi.

Though Kyp disagreed with many of Luke Skywalker's policies, he was appointed to the High Council, and later the Masters' council. Kyp eventually learned to work out his differences with Luke and the other Jedi, even though their views on certain subjects often differed. Kyp was one of the Jedi to fly a Zonama Sekotan Fighter in defense of Zonama Sekot.

Dark Nest Crisis (35 ABY–36 ABY)
By the Dark Nest Crisis, however, Kyp was once again at odds with the other Jedi. Though he consistently defered to Master Skywalker, he was, along with Mara Jade Skywalker, a leader of the faction which felt the Jedi had a duty to the Galaxy at large before the Galactic Alliance. This brought him into conflict with Corran Horn and Kenth Hamner, who felt that the Jedi were answerable to the Galactic Alliance. When Luke was out of contact on Woteba, Cal Omas attempted to disorganize the Jedi by appointing Corran the order's interim leader. Kyp refused to take part in it, saying that Luke Skywalker lead the Jedi, and that there would be no peace as long as Cal Omas was Chief of State.

Behind the scenes

 * Kyp Durron was created by Kevin J. Anderson.
 * I, Jedi incorrectly has Kyp's birthdate being two years earlier, at 7 BBY.
 * Though it is sometimes claimed that Kyp killed "billions" in his destruction of the Caridan system, Carida in fact only had a population of about 25 million.
 * Originally, Kyp was not planned to be in the New Jedi Order series. In the early stages of planning and the first draft of Vector Prime, he was absent; however, there was still an original hotshot Jedi character who led the Dozen and Two Avengers. After it was decided that fan outrage over dropping elements of the Bantam continuity might be too great, the Del Rey staff had R.A. Salvatore change the Jedi pilot's name to Kyp and add in several bits of text relating to his background.

Appearances

 * Jedi Search
 * Dark Apprentice
 * Champions of the Force
 * I, Jedi
 * Simple Tricks
 * Darksaber
 * Jedi Academy: Leviathan
 * The New Rebellion
 * Return to Ord Mantell
 * Vector Prime
 * Dark Tide I: Onslaught
 * Dark Tide II: Ruin
 * Agents of Chaos I: Hero's Trial
 * Agents of Chaos II: Jedi Eclipse
 * Balance Point
 * Edge of Victory I: Conquest
 * Edge of Victory II: Rebirth
 * Star by Star
 * Dark Journey
 * The Apprentice
 * Enemy Lines I: Rebel Dream
 * Enemy Lines II: Rebel Stand
 * Destiny's Way
 * The Final Prophecy
 * The Unifying Force
 * Dark Nest I: The Joiner King
 * Dark Nest II: The Unseen Queen
 * Dark Nest III: The Swarm War