Padawan Massacre

"If the hand endangers the limb, strike it off."

- Lucien Draay



The Padawan Massacre of Taris was carried out in 3,964 BBY by the five members of the Jedi Covenant, Jedi Masters of the Taris Academy: Feln, Q'Anilia, Raana Tey, Xamar, and Lucien Draay. The Covenant had been established to prevent the return of the Sith, and to watch for the fall of another Padawan to the dark side, as had happened with Exar Kun.

Dark Prophecy
All of the masters but Draay were Jedi Consulars, four of the best seers of the Order at the time, and had been feeling an approaching darkness. They arranged for their Padawans to have a survival test on the Taris system's Rogue Moon, a place where the Force flowed freely and where the Masters would be alone from their Padawans for a sufficient amount of time. The four Consulars entered meditation.

They envisioned the destruction of the Taris Academy and the occupation of Taris by Mandalorians and Sith. Feln envisioned himself on Odryn and saw the holocaust of his people. Xamar envisioned himself in the Republic Navy at the final victory against the Mandalorians, only to see the Republic fleet turn on itself. Q'Anilia saw the Coruscant Jedi Temple in ruins, with dead Jedi everywhere, including their female associate. In all cases, the Masters saw a Sith Lord encased in red armor and armed with a red lightsaber responsible for their own deaths.

Feln was the first to make the assumption that the red figure symbolized one of their Padawans, each of whom was wearing a red environmental suit on the moon at that moment. Tey suggested that they had to kill off the Padawans to stave off the events of the vision. Feln and Draay readily agreed, and Q'Anilia passively gave her consent. Only Xamar opposed the plan, wishing to contact their Covenant associate on Coruscant. Once the associate was contacted by Draay, and had given her assent, Xamar apparently was ameliorated.

However, in reality, Haazen had ordered Draay to bring the Padawans to Coruscant for judging. When Draay orderd them killed, Haazen was enraged.

The Massacre
The masters devised a plan to kill the five Padawans (Zayne Carrick, Shad Jelavan, Kamlin, Oojoh, and Gharn) at their Knighting ceremony, and falsely pin the murders on a dark-side tainted Shad Jelavan. When the day finally came, Carrick, in his usual fashion, was tardy, busy chasing the criminal Marn Hierogryph. While waiting for Carrick to arrive, Jelavan noticed that Master Draay was wearing his lightsaber, impying that Carrick was to be knighted. Incredulous, Jelavan confronted the masters, and when he became unruly, the masters were forced to act sooner than planned, killing four of the five Padawans.

It was at this moment that Carrick chose to arrive, finding his masters standing over the bodies of his slain classmates. After Zayne was amazingly able to escape from the five masters, they framed him for the murders, infuriating the populace of Taris, in what was becoming a less and less stable political environment. After nearly a week of chasing the fugitive Jedi all over the Taris System, they finally apprehended him. However, he was rescued by his friend Jarael, just as the masters were about to finish him.

Aftermath
After what appeared to be two consecutive failures by the masters to catch the wayward Padawan, support for the Jedi on the planet began to wane. Massive riots rocked the planet, doing the most damage in the Lower City and the Middle City. As a result, the Temple was closed and the masters were recalled to Coruscant. However, shortly before the closing of the temple, they received a message from Carrick, still on the run. Zayne claimed that he had had a vision of his own, that one of the five masters was going to confess, clearing Zayne's name. Knowing this, Carrick had sworn revenge on each and every one of the masters, knowing that the one left alive would have to be the one to confess.

Behind the scenes
The name "Padawan Massacre of Taris" was first coined on Wookieepedia for its article on the subject. As a result, it was later used by the comic's author, John Jackson Miller.

Appearances

 * Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic: Commencement
 * Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic: Flashpoint
 * Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic 9: Flashpoint Interlude: Homecoming