Daegen Lok

"War is coming&mdash;like nothing we have ever seen! To face darkness, we need to be armed with the dark side!"

- Daegen Lok

Daegen Lok was a male Human from the Tython system who was a member of the Je'daii Order, having been trained by Je'daii Master Quan-Jang. When the Despot War erupted in the year 25,805 BBY with the Despot Queen Hadiya's attempts to conquer the Tython system, Lok went undercover in Hadiya's Despot Army and become one of Hadiya's generals, not to mention her lover. Lok ultimately killed Hadiya, ending the war, and he was promoted to the rank of Master in 25,800 BBY. Overconfident in his abilities, Lok and his best friend Hawk Ryo ventured into the Chasm, a rent in the surface of the planet Tython that drove mad all who dove too deep into its depths. There, Lok witnessed a vision of an army of dark warriors wielding blades of fire, and the vision drove the Je'daii mad, driving him to the dark side of the Force and disrupting the balance that was expected of Je'daii.

The Je'daii Council refused to believe Lok's vision and banished him to the moon of Bogan, but the mad Je'daii held onto his vision, gathering his power in the dark side of the Force for the next seven years. In 25,793 BBY, Lok received a vision of the dark warrior who led the army in his vision in the Chasm, and the young man&mdash;Xesh&mdash;arrived on Bogan as an exile only days later. Upon learning of Xesh's knowledge of the blades of fire, which he called Forcesabers, Lok recruited Xesh in his quest to create more of the weapons and thereby prove his vision to the Council. The two escaped Tython in a hidden starfighter and traveled to the planets Krev Coeur and Nox in order to gather the materials and craft the Forcesabers. pursued all the while by the Je'daii, who battled the two fugitives several times before a final encounter on the planet Shikaakwa. Lok's dreams of conquest were ended when Xesh was convinced to turn on the mad Je'daii, and Lok was imprisoned once more on Bogan as the Je'daii began to prepare for war with the Rakata Infinite Empire.

Early life and the war
"There was this big war on Tython about twelve years ago&mdash;I ended it&mdash;and some enemy fighters here on Bogan during the final battle."

- Daegen Lok

A Force-sensitive Human male, Daegen Lok was born in the Tython system and trained as a member of the Je'daii Order by Quan-Jang, the Temple Master of Anil Kesh&mdash;the Great Temple of Science on the planet Tython. During his time as a Je'daii, Lok had an adventure on the planet Sunspot, the closest planet to the star Tythos in the system, and while there he rescued the alien Slug. Lok became friends with Hawk Ryo, a Twi'lek Je'daii from the planet Shikaakwa, and the two had become Je'daii Rangers before the year 25,805 BBY, when the Despot War erupted: a conflict between the Je'daii Order and the Despot Army under the rule of the Despot Queen Hadiya. After uniting the crime barons of Shikaakwa, Hadiya began to try and conquer the Tython system. Lok was approached by Volnos Ryo, Hawk's brother and the middle son of the baron of Clan Ryo on Shikaakwa, who offered to help Lok infiltrate the Despot Army to gain revenge against Hadiya for her killing his father and older brother.

Posing as a disgraced Ranger with Ryo's support, Lok joined the Despot Army and rose through the ranks, earning a place as one of Hadiya's generals and even becoming the queen's lover. Lok himself developed feelings for Hadiya, and the line between his deception and his true mission began to blur until Volnos Ryo contacted him and reminded him of his purpose. At that time, the Despot Army on Tython itself, laying siege to the Kaleth, the Temple of Knowledge, and Lok slept in Hadiya's tent with the queen. That night, as Hadiya was sleeping, Lok stabbed her with a dagger through a slit in her armor. However, his hesitation&mdash;assassination was forbidden among the Je'daii, and Lok's feelings for Hadiya were also a factor&mdash;led Lok's strike to not be fatal, and Hadiya grabbed a dagger of her own and sliced Lok's face across his right eye. Enraged, Lok drew his sword and slew Hadiya, and he then proceeded to slaughter his way out of the command camp, leaving only one survivor. Without Hadiya's leadership, Hadiya's generals fought for power amongst each other, and the Je'daii soon defeated the remnants of the Despot Army.

Visions in the darkness and exile
"I told the Council about my vision. The Council told me I was mad. I was exiled to Bogan until I renounced my vision&mdash;until I told them the lie they wanted to hear. Narrow-minded fools. I know what I saw. I know what I was called to do. I will not change. They will."

- Xesh

Around the year 25,800 BBY, Lok was promoted to the rank of Je'daii Master, and he soon decided to explore the Chasm, a planetary rift below the Temple of Science Anil Kesh, with Hawk Ryo. Brash and overconfident in his power, Lok ignored the fact that the Chasm messed with the minds of any who entered, and he ignored Ryo's cautions against heading deeper into the Chasm. However, as Lok gazed deeper into the darkness, both he and Ryo were overcome by a Force vision of an army of dark warriors wielding blades of frozen fire marching across Kalimahr, led by a being with one red eye. In Lok's vision, he led the Je'daii against them.

The vision drove Lok insane, driving him into the dark side of the Force, and Ryo pushed aside his vision to pull the two of them up out of the Chasm. When questioned by the Je'daii Council, Lok told them of his vision and warned them of the coming danger. However, the Council did not believe Lok's vision, and as Lok continued to wallow in the dark side, using the Force to manipulate the minds of others. As a result, both Lok and Ryo were exiled to the moon of Bogan, where the two were ordered to meditate on the Force and restore their inner balance. Ryo came to deny his vision and found balance once more, but Lok refused to forsake his vision and the dark side. Over the next seven years, Lok figured out how to remove the cuffs that kept prisoners separate, and he also discovered a crashed Pho-V fighter that had escaped the Je'daii notice. In his madness, Lok carved an enormous carving of himself wielding the blade of fire, and numerous pictures of the weapon.

In 25,793 BBY, Lok witnessed a second Force vision&mdash;an apparition of an armed warrior, wearing a helmet with a single red eye and possessing the blade of fire. It was the same warrior who led the dark army in his vision, and Lok watched from Bogan as Tython was enveloped in a fierce Force Storm. A few days later, the dark warrior arrived on Bogan, having been exiled there by the Je'daii. Two months after that, Lok decided to test the stranger's powers and attacked him, using a mind twist to manipulate his opponent's mind. The stranger overcame him quickly and displayed the ability to generate lightning, but Lok stopped his attack by asking him why the stranger appeared to him in a vision. When Lok questioned the stranger about his name, the young man introduced himself as Xesh, a Force Hound of the Rakata.

Lok freed Xesh from his cuffs, hiding them underneath the young man's blankets to fool the sentry droids, and then took Xesh to the cave where his Pho V fighter was crashed. Lok then told the stranger the story of his vision and his exile, but Xesh's recognition of the carvings that Lok had made of the blade of fire brought his story to an abrupt halt. Excited, Lok demanded that Xesh help him make more of the "Forcesabers," but Lok showed Xesh that the ship's power cells were completely empty&mdash;only to be astonished when Xesh generated lightning to power the cells, restoring the ship's power. As Xesh continued his efforts to restore power, he soon began to overload the reactor, and Lok angered the young warrior when he pulled Xesh away from the cells. As Xesh rested, Lok piloted the ship and lifted off from Bogan before setting course for Krev Coeur, all the while contemplating whether or not allying with Xesh was a good idea.

Building weapons and an army
"You want us to follow you because you had a vision?''" "Yes! Now you understand. And make no mistake&mdash;you will'' follow me."

- Shri-Lan and Lok

However, as they approached the crystalline planet of Krev Coeur, the starship began to fail as the engines overloaded and the controls stopped responding. As Xesh awoke and came to the cockpit, they entered the atmosphere of Krev Coeur and started to crash, prompting the two to grab parachutes and leap to safety. On Krev Coeur, Lok sought out Slug, who was on the world, and he called in the favor Slug owed him from Sunspot. Slug led them to a particularly valuable reserve of crystals, which Xesh began to peruse to find the crystals necessary to create Forcesabers. When Slug objected to Xesh's selection, Lok mind-tricked Slug into accepting the deal&mdash;but when Slug began to discuss the rumors that Lok had gone mad and asked for payment so that he would not tell the Je'daii about his presence on Krev Coeur, Lok threw Slug off of the nearby cliff.

Fortunately for Slug, a Je'daii Ranger named Bel Zana reached out with the Force and saved him, and Zana then ordered the two fugitives to stand down. As Xesh leapt to confront Zana, Lok reached into Zana's mind and discovered her fear of fire, leading him to use a mind twist on the Ranger. Lok's power over her mind was so total that Zana's body itself believed it was on fire and began to manifest burn marks, though Temple Master Jake Fenn and Je'daii Journeyer Sek'nos Rath arrived to support Zana. Fenn engaged Lok in battle, and though Fenn scored an early strike on Lok, the mad Je'daii gained the upper hand over the Temple Master by pretending to be weakened. Reaching into Fenn's mind, Lok discovered his feelings for Zana and proceeded to cast the Ranger off the cliff. Sek'nos Rath sacrificed himself to save Zana, but Xesh and Lok escaped in Fenn's moment of distraction.

The two made their way to the factory world of Nox, where Lok secured them use of one of the factories, Gratz Foundry, by mind-tricking its owner Gratz into believing that his factory had been invaded by nashtah. Lok shaved and washed off the filth of his imprisonment before donning a suit of leather armor, and also procured a set of armor that Xesh requested while the Force Hound set to work making the Forcesabers and altering the crystals to work in the weapons. When the process was complete, Xesh gave one of the weapons to Lok and told him how the blade was powered by the dark side, though Lok showed himself perfectly capable of igniting the blade. The next stage of Lok's plan involved gathering an army, so he and Lok sought out Hadiya's four remaining generals&mdash;Bakko, Shri-Lan, Gav Vannar, and Ka'un Damm&mdash;in Skrag's Cantina in the city of Boneyard. A hooded Lok introduced Xesh to the four criminals before revealing his face, and Xesh and Lok made quick work of the slugthrowers that the four drew on Lok when they recognized him. Holding them at bladepoint, Lok asked them to return to Shikaakwa with him and help gather an army to take Tython.

Ignoring their skepticism, Lok explained his desire to save the Je'daii from the army in his vision, but Xesh interrupted their conversation by informing Lok that the Je'daii were tracking them. Xesh and Lok left the cantina only minutes before Hawk Ryo arrived, and Lok and Xesh split up as Ryo began to follow Lok&mdash;but Lok manipulated his friend's mind with a mind trick, causing Ryo to pursue an imaginary version of himself while the real Lok headed towards the nearby spaceport. The imaginary Lok briefly battled Ryo and demanded that the Ranger admit to having shared the vision in the Chasm before leaping off the side of a building, and the real Lok met up at the spaceport with Xesh, who had captured one of his pursuers&mdash;a Journeyer named Shae Koda.

Battle on Shikaakwa and imprisonment
"You want the Je'daii to forsake the balance?!''" "Balance will not serve against the kind of power that Xesh alone exhibits&mdash;and he is one of the aliens' slaves! Imagine the power of his masters! You saw what I saw. They will listen yt you. Join with me and the Je'daii will follow!" "No!" "You will see that I am right'' when others follow&hellip;"

- Hawk Ryo and Daegen Lok

Despite the loss of Hadiya's generals as allies, Lok and Xesh continued to the planet Shikaakwa to seek further allies. Placating Koda with a mind trick, Lok led Xesh and Koda to Ryo Fortress, the headquarters of Clan Ryo, and used a mind trick to bluff his way into the building. Locating Baron Volnos in his personal chambers, Lok explained his plans to unite the remaining Hadiya loyalists on Shikaakwa into an army, and Lok countered Ryo's exclamations of belief by reminding the baron how he himself had had a hand in Hadiya's death by helping Lok infiltrate the Despot Army. An angry Ryo deployed a security droid that targeted both Xesh and Ryo with lasers, but when Ryo implied that Xesh was Lok's servant, the infuriated Force Hound pulled Ryo into the line of fire with the Force before using his Forcesaber to bat back the droid's fire and destroy it. Further conversation was forestalled by the arrival of Hawk Ryo, Ranger Rori Fenn, Sek'nos Rath, and a stranger named Trill who demanded that Lok and Xesh surrender.

Reaching out with the Force, Lok pulled down the ceiling of the chamber and ordered Xesh to grab Koda and follow as he leaped out onto the roof. Lok and Xesh split up to separate their pursuers, and Lok swiftly destroyed Rori Fenn's sword with his Forcesaber when the Ranger attacked him. As he knelt over the downed Je'daii and prepared to toy with her mind, Hawk Ryo delivered a flying kick to Lok's jaw to knock him away. Drawing their Forcesabers, the two began to duel as Lok pried into Ryo's mind and overwhelmed him with memories of the vision they shared in the Chasm. Ryo disrupted Lok's attempts by throwing him against a nearby wall with the Force, and Lok expressed his fury and disgust with his former friend about how he had refused to acknowledge the truth of their vision&mdash;and how he refused to acknowledge the fact that the Je'daii would only survive if they embraced the dark side. Xesh's arrival gave Lok the time he needed to recover his Forcesaber, and he sliced off Ryo's leg below the knee as the Ranger was battling Xesh. However, Ryo's cry of pain awoke Koda, who overcame Lok's mental influence and attacked Lok with Ryo's fallen Forcesaber.

Lok ordered Xesh to kill Koda so that he could kill Ryo, but Koda convinced the Force Hound to make his own choices&mdash;to choose not to be a slave&mdash;and Xesh turned on Lok, promising never to be anyone's slave ever again. Angered at Xesh's betrayal, Lok reached into Xesh's mind, but doing so was a mistake&mdash;the darkness and pain in Xesh's mind overwhelmed Lok and almost knocked him unconscious. The Je'daii promptly captured Lok and returned him to Tython, where the Je'daii Council sentenced him to imprisonment on Bogan once more. During his sentencing, Lok demanded that the Masters force Hawk Ryo to confess what he saw in the Chasm, and he promised the Je'daii that they would have to summon him back when the dark army from his vision arrived. Temple Master Ketu did in fact speak with Ryo about the vision, though Ryo admitted that their visions had been different&mdash;in Ryo's vision, it had been Xesh who had led the Je'daii, not Lok.

Personality and traits
"My vision is true! You will summon me back! I alone can lead you against the shadow army! Know this&mdash;balance will not serve you against them! The Je'daii must embrace the dark side!"

- Daegen Lok, at his sentencing

A fair-skinned Human with black hair and golden eyes, Lok was a proud and brash Je'daii whom Quan-Jang considered to be his most promising student in the years before his vision in the Chasm. Lok wore a loop earring on his right ear, and his face was scarred over his right eye after Hadiya cut his face in the Despot War. While on Bogan, Lok's hair began to gray and grew long and haggard, though he later cut his hair and shaved his face other than a small goatee on Nox. He also discarded his prison robes and donned a suit of black leather armor. He was skilled at deception and espionage, filling the role of a disgraced Ranger perfectly without suspicion, but he became caught up in his role and his feelings for Hadiya until Volnos Ryo reminded him of his mission. Even before his vision, Lok danced close to the dark side, and his tendency to use mind tricks earned him reprimands from other Je'daii. In the years after the Despot War, Lok's sense of superiority only grew, and his sense of invincibility led him to ignore the warnings about the depths of the Chasm in his lust for adventure.

The vision in the Chasm drove Lok insane, and he sank further into the dark side as the Je'daii Council refused to believe Lok's vision and banished him to Bogan. In his madness, Lok viewed himself as a kind of savior for the Je'daii, and he refused to renounce his vision or regain the balance that was expected of a Je'daii. He became ruthless and even more manipulative than before, and delighted in twisting the minds of others to prey on their fears and weaknesses. Lok was wary of Xesh's power and but understood the danger in the young warrior, but he also viewed him as a useful tool and decided to control him to make use of his strength to further Lok's own goals. Lok believed that the mind was far more dangerous than the blade, and did not refrain from using the Force to manipulate the minds of his enemies and others to achieve his goals. Hawk Ryo's refusal to admit the truth of their vision was a betrayal in Lok's eyes, and he truly believed that the Je'daii needed to forsake the balance and embrace the dark side in order to survive the coming war.

Powers and abilities
"A powerful thing&mdash;the mind. Look! Her body is already showing burns!''" "A trick. Not worthy of a warrior." "''The most dangerous arena is not the physical."

- Daegen Lok and Xesh

A skilled Je'daii, Daegen Lok was powerful in the Force&mdash;particularly in the dark side. Lok was proficient in the use of telekinesis, but his true strength lay in those Force powers that dealt with the mind: he was a master of the mind trick, and developed a technique known as the mind twist that could cause a victim to believe whatever Lok wanted. The mind twist was so powerful that it could cause the victim's body to believe the mind twist&mdash;Bel Zana's body began to exhibit burn marks when Lok twisted her mind into believing she was on fire. Lok was also skilled in prying into the minds of others, discovering their fears and using them against them. An experienced warrior, Lok was skilled in the use of swords and other weapons, and he kept up his skills while exiled on Bogan.

Behind the scenes
"Xesh has been imprisoned so he can seek balance, but the true prisoner of Bogan is Daegen Lok.''" "''People are sent to the moon when the Je'daii find them out of balance in the Force, and it's safe to say that Daegen Lok is seriously out of balance. In fact, Daegen Lok is not quite sane. If you're a powerful Je'daii, that's very dangerous."

- Jan Duursema and John Ostrander

Daegen Lok was created by John Ostrander and Jan Duursema, the writers of the Star Wars: Dawn of the Jedi comic book series, and he was first mentioned in the preview issue 0 for the series. Lok first appeared in the second issue of the series' first arc, Force Storm, and he appears briefly in various issues of the arc before going on to be a major character in the second arc, The Prisoner of Bogan. Lok was also mentioned in the Blaster department of Star Wars Insider 138, during an interview with Ostrander and Duursema about the upcoming The Prisoner of Bogan arc.

Appearances

 * Dawn of the Jedi: Into the Void
 * Star Wars: Dawn of the Jedi: Force Storm, Part 2
 * Star Wars: Dawn of the Jedi: Force Storm, Part 3
 * Star Wars: Dawn of the Jedi: Force Storm, Part 4
 * Star Wars: Dawn of the Jedi: Force Storm, Part 5
 * Star Wars: Dawn of the Jedi: The Prisoner of Bogan
 * Star Wars: Dawn of the Jedi: Force War, Part 1