Malachor V

"There is a place in the galaxy where the dark side of the Force runs strong. It is something of the Sith, but it was fueled by war. It corrupts all that walks on its surface, drowns them in the power of the dark side – it corrupts all life. And it feeds on death."

- Kreia

Malachor V was an Outer Rim planet in the Malachor system. Its original terrain and climate is unknown, but following the Battle of Malachor V, it became a twisted wasteland covered with jagged cliffs and plagued by constant lightning storms. After the infamous battle, Malachor was inhabited by monstrous storm beasts, which may have been the products of Sith Alchemy by the students of the Trayus Academy.

The First Sith Empire
While the history of the planet is unknown, it can be assumed that around the time of the Great Hyperspace War, the Sith under Naga Sadow constructed the Trayus Academy on Malachor V's surface. The Academy, and Malachor itself, became a place of great dark side power, populated by dozens of Sith. After the defeat of the first Sith Empire, the Sith must have been forced to abandon their stronghold on Malachor.

The Battle of Malachor V
Centuries later, Malachor became the site of the final battle of the Mandalorian Wars, in which the most terrible atrocity of the war was committed. Malachor was a taboo world in Mandalorian culture, something that the Jedi general Revan used against them in order to win the war. Revan amassed an enormous fleet (composed, not coincidentally, of Jedi and Republic soldiers whose loyalty to Revan was in question) at the planet, providing the Mandalorians with a target too good to pass up.

During the Battle of Malachor V, Revan single-handedly slew Mandalore the Ultimate aboard a flagship. As the Republic and Mandalorian forces continued to clash, the Jedi Exile, a general of Revan, ordered the activation of the Mass Shadow Generator superweapon. In an instant, Malachor's gravity crushed every combatant in and around its atmosphere, Mandalorian and Republic alike. Malachor's surface was transformed into a barren, lifeless wasteland, and all of Revan's enemies were eliminated in a single stroke. The planet was left scarred from the battle, as the surface was crushed also. Evidence to support this includes heavily buried Republic Cruisers on the surface.

Aftermath
After the battle, Revan and Malak journeyed to the Trayus Academy on Malachor V, where they learned of the Star Maps that would eventually lead them to the Star Forge, beginning their final descent into darkness.

Some time later, during the Jedi Civil War, Revan's old Master Kreia traveled to Malachor V in search of what had corrupted her apprentice. Like Revan, she was corrupted by the dark-side energy resonating throughout the planet. In secret, Kreia took the moniker of Darth Traya and began training new students of the dark side in the Trayus Academy.

Among her first two students were Darth Sion and Darth Nihilus, who soon became powerful enough to overthrow her. The three Sith Lords formed an uneasy alliance against the Jedi, but the two apprentices eventually broke the alliance, and Darth Traya was cast down, stripped of her power, and exiled from Malachor.

Final Destruction
In 3,951 BBY, Kreia located the Jedi Exile, the only Jedi who had fought at Malachor V and not been killed or corrupted. Plotting revenge against her apprentices, Kreia began orchestrating events to set up a final confrontation between herself and the Exile at the Trayus Academy. After slaying Darth Nihilus, the Exile arrived at the Academy and defeated every Sith there, including Darth Sion and Darth Traya.

While the Exile fought in the Academy, Bao-Dur, the technician who had originally designed the Mass Shadow Generator, ordered his remote to activate the superweapon again in an effort to destroy the tainted world of Malachor V for all time. Despite G0-T0's attempts to thwart it, the remote succeeded in its task. As the Exile departed Malachor in the Ebon Hawk, the dead planet exploded under the pressure of the mass shadow's gravity, leaving behind only asteroids and the wreckage of starships, a grim memorial to the Battle of Malachor V.

Behind the scenes

 * If the player chooses to take the path of the dark side, the Exile throws Darth Traya's body into the abyss and takes the title of Dark Lord of the Sith. The planet itself survives.
 * In the light side ending, the Ebon Hawk takes off from the planet as it flies towards what may be the Unknown Regions as the planet disintegrates.

Appearances

 * Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic
 * Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords