Kueller

{{Dark Jedi character infobox }} "Your problem is that you don't understand the power of hate."
 * image=[[Image:Kueller NEGTC.jpg|250px]]
 * imageBG=ffffff
 * name=Kueller
 * homeworld=Almania
 * birth=
 * death=17 ABY, Almania
 * species=Human
 * gender=Male
 * height=1.9 meters
 * hair=Brown}
 * eyes=Brown
 * era=New Republic era
 * affiliation=*New Jedi Order
 * Almanian government
 * masters=Luke Skywalker
 * apprentices=Brakiss

- Kueller to Brakiss

Kueller was once a student at Luke Skywalker's Jedi Praxeum on Yavin 4 where he was known as Dolph. Early in his training, Dolph's homeworld of Almania came under attack by the Je'har, and his parents were killed in the assault. The resulting pain and anguish caused him to leave the academy and turn to the dark side. He changed his name to Kueller and began a resistance movement to wipe out the Je'har. With the power of the dark side at his command, he succeeded in his goal by utterly destroying the Je'har and their sympathizers and also attracted another one of Skywalker's failed students, Brakiss, as an apprentice.

However, even with the Je'har defeated, Kueller sought revenge against Skywalker and the New Republic for not aiding the people of Almania when they came under attack. He placed Brakiss in charge of a droid manufacturing facility on Telti and produced a large number of droids rigged with explosives to sell to the New Republic. When activated, a series of explosions ripped through the Senate Hall on Coruscant, injuring Chief of State Leia Organa Solo and sowing discord through the New Republic as part of his plan. In response, Luke Skywalker pursued his former pupil to Almania, but Kueller sabotaged the Jedi Master's X-wing. After a crash landing, the injured Skywalker was easily captured, but managed to escape with the help of a thernbee that was in the same cell as he was. Meanwhile, Leia Organa Solo took a New Republic fleet with her under the command of General Wedge Antilles to confront Kueller. While Kueller's and Antilles' fleets clashed in orbit, Organa Solo journeyed to the surface in the yacht Alderaan, eventually followed by Mara Jade Skywalker, Han Solo, and a ysalamir in the Millennium Falcon. When Kueller caught up to Skywalker on the surface of Almania, he outdueled the weakened Jedi Master, but the Force-empty bubble of the ysalamir and the arrival of Skywalker's friends threatened Kueller's advantage. Outraged, he prepared to activate another round of detonator-equipped droids, but before he could do so, he was shot and fatally wounded by Leia Organa Solo, ending his rebellion.

Early life and fall
Kueller was born under the name Dolph on the planet] of [[Alamania and was discovered to be Force-sensitive. As such, he went to train under Luke Skywalker at his Jedi Praxeum on Yavin Four to become a Jedi Knight. After less than a year of training at the Jedi Academy, Dolph heard the tragic news that his parents had been killed by the Je'har regime&mdash;the then-current government on Almania. When he left the Academy to go to Almania to confirm the news, he found their bodies impaled before the governmental palace, having been slain by the Je'har.

Horrified and enraged by the atrocities he had seen, Dolph fell dark side of the Force and grew bitter towards the New Republic, specifically its Chief of State, Leia Organa Solo, who did nothing to interfere with the Je'har due to legal restrictions, despite pleas to take action. Seeking out vengeance against the government that killed his parents, he used his powers to aid him in bringing down the Je'har regime and gathered a faction of supporters. During this period he disguised himself with a Hendanyn death mask and took the name of Kueller: an infamous, long-dead Almanian general. The ranks of his forces quickly filled and he led them to victory, toppling the Je'har regime and then killed all those who he branded as sympathizers of the old regime. Eventually, he wiped out the entire populace of Almania's moon, Pydyr, except for the seafah jewel gatherers, as their skills were inimitable by droids. Plundering the considerable wealth of Pydyr, Kueller had a large reserve of credits and became Almania's undisputed ruler.

After many months, Kueller picked his next target: the New Republic, whom he blamed for the deaths of his family and people at the hands of the Je'har. He also encountered another prodigal apprentice from Skywalker's academy, Brakiss, who had been an Imperial spy sent to infiltrate the Jedi Praxeum. However, Skywalker had made Brakiss confront the dark side within him and Brakiss had fled, emotionally torn. When Kueller found him, the Almanian leader helped repair Brakiss's damaged psyche and incorporated him into his plans.

Almanian Uprising


"Impatience is the downfall of most megalomaniacs, Femon."

- Kueller to Femon

Kueller planned to bring down the New Republic by planting bombs in droids and critical components of computers manufactured under his orders. He took this first step by having Brakiss&mdash;another former student of Skywalker's that Kueller had helped&mdash;supervise the droid factories at Telti. Brakiss's role as supervisor would prevent anyone outside of the plot from discovering the bombs.

The droids would be sold at bargain prices to specific buyers, and then Kueller could use the bombs as a scalpel to undermine the faith of a populace that had already suffered crisis after crisis under New Republic rule. He used the revenue generated by the sale of the droids to purchase all available Imperial surpluses, intending to take advantage of the fear a resurgent Empire would provoke and further destabilize the Republic. Simultaneously, he would feed on the deaths caused by his droids to gradually increase his power in the dark side, which would enable him to defeat the Skywalkers, and thus become a new Emperor.

Kueller began his galactic campaign first by killing the inhabitants of Auyemesh and Pydyr, two of the three inhabited moons that orbited Almania. He quickly followed them up by causing the droids in the New Republic Senate to self-destruct as its first session was being opened. This had the effect of killing the representatives of several planets, forcing them to hold emergency elections. Several former Imperial officials became representatives of their planets, giving the opposition to Chief of State Leia Organa Solo a simple majority in the Senate. A no-confidence petition was soon filed.

Kueller further undermined Leia by demanding that she let him become the ruler of the New Republic, or else her brother&mdash;Luke, who had come to Almania to find him&mdash;would be executed. Instead of giving into the Dark Jedi's demands and allowing the no-confidence petition to come to a vote, she resigned from the position of Chief of State. Mon Mothma, Leia's predecessor, took over for her.



Leia took off for Almania to find Luke along with a small fleet led by General Wedge Antilles. When they arrived at Almania, Kueller was already ready for them with three Victory-class Star Destroyers that were crewed entirely by droids. Leia managed to slip past them and their fighters and made it to the surface of Almania.

Kueller's fleet was initially successful, inflicting heavy losses on the New Republic task force. However, by observing the actions of Kueller's fleet closely, General Antilles realized the true nature of the crew of the Star Destroyers and their fighters. He ordered his gunners to fire on the other ships in the Republic convoy. This caused the droids in Kueller's fleet to believe that the ships of the Republic fleet were actually their allies. The Star Destroyers went into a flanking position to protect their "allies." They were then crippled by precise turbolaser fire from the Republic fleet.

Back on Almania, Luke escaped from his prison, his sister found him, and both made their way to her ship. Luke was still weak and Leia accidentally left him behind when she rushed ahead. In those moments when they were apart, Kueller found Luke and forced a lightsaber duel. Leia came back to find both locked in combat. As they dueled, Luke abruptly decided to give up. As Kueller raised his lightsaber to strike Luke down, he lost his connection to the Force. He tried to use his anger to tap into the Force, but doing so was useless, since a thernbee that had swallowed an ysalamir nutrient frame had wandered into the general vicinity. He had one last trick up his sleeve though, he used a remote to send the signal to self-destruct his remaining droids. However, Kueller's last gasp of malice was thwarted thanks to the efforts of R2-D2, C-3PO, and a young mechanic named Cole Fardreamer. As Kueller had attempted to activate his remaining bombs, Leia shot him. She removed the death mask from his lifeless body, revealing Dolph's boyish face.

Personality and traits
Kueller was, for most of his adult life, aligned with the dark side of the Force. Luke Skywalker described him as deeply hurting and having known great pain, but Kueller ascribed much of his own strength to the anger he had developed over the years. He had a deep hatred for the Je'har and the New Republic, the former for slaying his countrymen and parents and the latter for doing nothing to oppose the Je'har, though they had the power to. He was also ambitious, desiring to completely rule the Galaxy. However, despite his ambition, he knew the value of patience, waiting until what he deemed was the proper moment to unleash his plan for a galactic rebellion instead of accelerating his plans, as his henchwoman, Yemon, desired.

In his dealings with subordinates, Kueller brooked no arguments and was known to execute and threaten those who failed or disobeyed him. He felt some comradeship with Yemon, but her later insubordination led him to choke her to death with the Force. Kueller felt that only those who understood the power of the Force could truly control the Galaxy and he had no qualms with using his own Force power to influence and manipulate others. He also had no problem with killing countless people across the galaxy in his bid for power, ending the lives of at least a million people in one instance as a demonstration of his abilities to Leia Organa Solo.

Behind the scenes
Kueller was first introduced to the Star Wars canon in Kristine Kathryn Rusch's novel, The New Rebellion, as the primary antagonist. He has since appeared in several reference works, but aside from mentions and briefly pictured in a dream in Star Wars: Union, he has yet to make any further in-universe appearances.

Appearances

 * Star Wars: Galaxies
 * The New Rebellion
 * Specter of the Past
 * Star Wars: Union

Notes and references
Kueller