Darth Phobos

"When Sith have nightmares, I am the face they see."

- Darth Phobos

Darth Phobos was a female Theelin Sith Lord who was born on the planet Korriban and lived thousands of years before the outbreak of the Clone Wars. Cunning and manipulative, Phobos slew many of her Sith brethren in a bid for power, and the rest turned against her and attempted to kill her. Phobos survived the attempt on her life and assembled a fanatical cult that worshiped her, using the cultists to strike against Sith and Jedi alike and earning the nickname "The Hidden Fear" among the Sith. Eventually, a joint force of Jedi and Sith killed Phobos, but her cult continued to live on until the Fourth Great Schism. Tales of Phobos' survival became an urban legend, and her image was incorporated into the Jedi Trials as a simulation for the "Trial of Insight." In 3 BBY, that simulation battled Dark Lord of the Sith Darth Vader's secret apprentice, Starkiller, and was defeated.

The Hidden Fear
"The scent of your fear is&hellip;intoxicating&hellip;"

- Darth Phobos

Darth Phobos was a female Theelin Sith Lord born on the ancestral Sith burial-world of Korriban eons before the Clone Wars. Phobos was a manipulative individual who developed her mental powers, using the Force to control the minds of the weak and forcing them to obey her commands. Phobos murdered many of her rivals in her quest for power. Eventually, the Sith turned on her and destroyed her starship while it was in low-orbit over Korriban. Phobos was presumed dead, but she had in fact survived and gone into hiding.

During the course of the several decades that followed, Phobos assembled a fanatical cult devoted exclusively to her. She dispatched her acolytes across the galaxy to recruit others and to assassinate both Jedi and Sith leaders indiscriminately. Eventually, the Sith began to suspect that Phobos had somehow returned from the dead and began to refer to her as "The Hidden Fear." Both factions recognized Phobos and her cult as a major threat to the galaxy and grudgingly joined forces to stop her. Phobos was eventually killed in a battle against Jedi and Sith warriors, but her cult remained active for a long time afterward, disappearing only around the time of the Fourth Great Schism in 2,000 BBY.

Legacy
"I'm going to enjoy this&hellip;"

- Darth Phobos, before her duel with Starkiller

Rumors of Phobos' survival persisted for many centuries, and "The Hidden Fear" eventually became a subject of ghost stories that Jedi Padawans told each other. A visage of Darth Phobos also became a key part of the Jedi Trials that Padawans took in order to become full-fledged Jedi Knights. Appearing inside the Jedi Temple on the galactic capital of Coruscant, the Phobos simulation constituted the "Trial of Insight," meant to challenge Padawans to confront their deepest fears and to teach them to see clearly through deception. The Phobos simulation remained active even after Operation: Knightfall in 19 BBY, when the Jedi Temple was ransacked and left in ruins.

In 3 BBY, Dark Lord of the Sith Darth Vader's secret apprentice, Starkiller, visited the Jedi Temple as part of his Sith training. When he reached the lower Archives level of the abandoned Temple, Darth Phobos' simulacrum confronted him, appearing as Imperial Captain Juno Eclipse, one of the few people for whom Starkiller cared, and pretending to be in pain. When Starkiller approached her, Phobos attacked him, armed with a double-bladed lightsaber. During their duel, Phobos frequently duplicated and changed her appearance to that of Eclipse, sensing that the Captain's death was the thing Starkiller feared the most and that he would hesitate to attack her. Nevertheless, Starkiller defeated Phobos and, after hurling her throughout the Archives with the Force, was prepared to strike a final blow. Phobos changed her appearance to that of Eclipse for the final time, begging the Sith apprentice to spare her. However, Starkiller did not fall for the deception and stabbed Phobos through the back with his lightsaber, ending the simulation.

By 1 ABY, the technical readout of the double-bladed lightsaber that Phobos had used during her life came into possession of the Alliance to Restore the Republic. Alliance Staff Sergeant Levardio, stationed on the Zephyr Base on Rori, the moon of the planet Naboo, offered the readout for sale to Rebels who performed valiantly on the battlefields of the Galactic Civil War, allowing the buyer to create his or her own replica of Phobos' lightsaber after acquiring all the necessary resources.

Personality and traits
"I will crush you, and your terror will sustain me for another millennia!"

- Darth Phobos

Darth Phobos was talented in manipulation of other beings and did not hesitate to kill those who stood in her way, which eventually turned her fellow Sith against her. Seeking vengeance after the attempt on her life, she assembled a fanatical cult and slaughtered many Jedi and Sith alike. Although the Sith initially believed her to be dead, they began to suspect Phobos' hand in the string of murders that followed and dubbed her "The Hidden Fear." After her legitimate death, rumors of Phobos' survival persisted for centuries, and she became a subject of ghost stories among Jedi Padawans. The simulation of Phobos that fought against Starkiller was intent on discovering his fear and used all of her mental powers to confuse the Sith apprentice. Phobos discovered that Starkiller's innermost fear was the loss of Captain Eclipse and sensed that there was only one person of whom the Sith apprentice was truly afraid.

Powers and abilities
"Get out of my head, witch!''" "''I will find the truth. I will find what you fear most."

- Starkiller and Darth Phobos, during their duel

Darth Phobos exhibited powerful mental powers that she could use to manipulate the minds of the weak and force them to do her bidding. The Phobos simulation was able to sense her opponent's deepest fears and use them against the assailant. She fed on phobias, and was strengthened by those of her opponents. During her duel with Starkiller, the simulation of Phobos fooled him into seeing more than one version of herself and clouded his vision, making Starkiller temporarily lose all sense of direction. She also employed a powerful Force lightning volley against the aspiring Sith and was adept in various forms of telekinesis, including Force Repulse and Saber Throw. The simulacrum was proficient with her double-bladed lightsaber. She occasionally used Force speed and jump to increase her agility, and was capable of quickly teleporting from one point to another.

Behind the scenes
Darth Phobos first appeared in the 2008 video game Star Wars: The Force Unleashed, voiced by Kari Wahlgren. Phobos was featured in one of the Jedi Temple levels exclusive to the PlayStation 2, PlayStation Portable, and Nintendo Wii versions of the game, which were developed by Krome Studios. Phobos also received a brief entry in The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia by Stephen J. Sansweet, Pablo Hidalgo, et al. In The Force Unleashed, entering "HIDDENFEAR" as a cheat code enables Phobos as a playable character skin. In addition, Phobos is a playable character in the Wii and PSP versions' respective duel modes, although she has to be unlocked first. According to The Force Unleashed: Prima Official Game Guide, Darth Phobos' name is inspired by the word "phobia."

In July of 2009, "Game Update 10" to the massively multiplayer online role-playing game Star Wars Galaxies introduced Battlefields, special areas where players could battle each other and receive tokens, which they could later trade for items from a vendor. A "Technical Readout of a Double-Bladed Darth Phobos Lightsaber Hilt" is among the items available, and it can be purchased by Jedi characters who have received twenty-five tokens. After acquiring the readout and collecting all the required resources, it is possible for a level 90 Jedi to craft a replica of Darth Phobos' lightsaber.

In 2010, the reference book The Jedi Path: A Manual for Students of the Force was published. The book featured a description of a holographic projector installed inside the Jedi Temple after the Seventh Battle of Ruusan for use during the Jedi Trials. The projector was capable of creating holographic simulations of long-dead dark side "monsters." The book's author, Daniel Wallace, later confirmed in his blog that he included this line as a reference to Darth Phobos and Darth Desolous&mdash;another Sith simulation from The Force Unleashed&mdash;but he did not spell their names out in order to avoid any potential timeline conflict.