Kyle Katarn

Kyle Katarn was a former Imperial trooper who became a Jedi Master and celebrated hero of the Rebellion and later the New Republic. He is the protagonist of the video game Star Wars: Dark Forces and its sequels. The surname comes from the katarn, a predator animal living on the planet Kashyyyk.

Son of Morgan and Patrician Katarn, farmers from Sulon, was educated at Republic Academy on Carida when his mother was killed by a malfunctioning BT-16 perimeter security droid. He became a decorated Imperial trooper but his father, unbeknownst to him, was a Rebel supporter. During the attack on his homeplanet of Sulon (officially a Rebel attack), he lost his father. Kyle grew hatred for the Rebel Alliance and supervised many Imperial operations against it.

But at the end he learnt from Jan Ors, a double Imperial Intelligence agent who was actually working for the Rebellion, that his father was tortured and killed for treason. He agreed to free Jan and defected becoming a neutral mercenary. Jan introduced Kyle to Mon Mothma, the leader of the Alliance, and he became an important spy.

''Note: Katarn's career here is presented according to the timeline of the games' periods. The following paragraphs are not intending to describe the games themselves.''

Star Wars: Dark Forces


As chronicled in the first game, he infiltrated an Imperial facility to retrieve the plans for the first Death Star I as a part of the Operation Skyhook. Leia Organa carried these plans in A New Hope. Eventually he discovered, investigated and managed to stop a dangerous imperial project known as the Dark Trooper Project after the Battle of Yavin.

Darth Vader's remarks about the Force in Katarn at the end, made the players expecting a sequel having to do with the Jedi.

After this, Kyle supervised the training of crack Alliance undercover commandos and quickly formed a tight-knit group of agents. Lieutenant Page, one of his cadets, took over as the leader of the squad when Kyle retired. Kyle also took part in a SpecForce mission put together by Corwin Shelvay, in which he teamed up with Force-sensitives Shira Brie and Erling Tredway to sabotage the superlaser of Death Star II en route to D'rinba IV.

Jedi Knight: Dark Forces II


When a year had passed after the Battle of Endor, Kyle was visited by the spirit of the Jedi Rahn who told Kyle of the Jedi heritage of his father: Morgan had helped the Jedi Master close off the Valley of the Jedi.

Kyle managed to become a Jedi by finding a recording from his father as well as the lightsaber of the late Rahn. He embarked on a journey where he battled against the Dark Jedi faction, led by the Dark Jedi Jerec, killer of his father. His adventure took him to a secret Jedi burial ground, the Valley of the Jedi, where many Jedi and Sith lay, having been trapped there after the Battle of Ruusan. This site was a nexus of power allowing great energies of the Force flow through its user. Jerec was attempting to gain this power for his own ends. The two dueled, and Jerec was slain, freeing (according to the prophecy) the souls of the Jedi, trapped millenia ago by Lord Kaan. During this adventure however, Kyle lost his ship, the Moldy Crow.

Although the player has the option to follow the Dark Side alternate ending, the canon goes that Kyle remained to the Light.

Kyle continued working with Jan for the New Republic, cooperated with Bey, Dash Rendar and Guri on an insertion mission to the Tof fortress world Saijo and nearly razing Space Station Kwenn while apprehending the Ketton spy Derrida. Kyle took a more permanent role with the New Republic and served with Page's Commandos, executing missions in various worlds like Kashyyyk, Boudolayz and to Garos IV.

Luke Skywalker offered to train Kyle further but Kyle was too afraid of the dark side.

Jedi Knight: Mysteries of the Sith
Approximately 5 years after the previous game, former Imperial assassin Mara Jade came under the tutelage of Kyle, taking up the rare bond of reciprocal apprenticeship, a facet of the Jedi Concordance of Fealty little practiced since the Cleansing of the Nine Houses. During this period, while investigating Sith ruins on Dromund Kaas, a long dead world, Kyle came under the influence of the dark side of the Force. His former pupil Mara Jade went to him and convinced him to come back to the light. After nearly succumbing to the dark side, Mara helped him turn back.

Skywalker made a second offer to Katarn and Kyle immediately accepted, believing it would help him tame his dark self. Kyle developed a friendship with fellow Jedi trainee Corran Horn, but when two students of the Academy fell to the dark side, Kyle's fear of the dark side multipled. Kyle gave up the Force and returned to his mercenary ways as Jan Ors' partner.

Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast
In this game that takes place 3 years after MotS, Kyle encountered many enemies like the Rodians Beedo, and Reelo Baruk, the Gran Ree-Yees, and the Dark Jedi Desann and his apprentice, Tavion.

Jan Ors was taken prisoner by Desann and apparently killed by Tavion. Angered by his partner's death (who was becoming a love interest), Kyle regained his Force powers by using the power of the Valley of the Jedi and once again treading dangerously close to the dark side. He went to the Jedi Academy on Yavin 4 to retrieve the lightsaber he had left in the safekeeping of Luke Skywalker, at that point learning Desann was a fallen student of Skywalker's. Luke and Kyle then set across the galaxy to bring Desann to justice. During his travels, he learned that Jan was still alive. She was eventually rescued, which allowed Kyle to overcome his thirst for revenge. Eventually he learned that Desann had discovered the Valley of the Jedi by following Kyle and had begun to create an army of Dark Jedi warriors to rule the galaxy. Kyle tracked Desann to the Jedi Academy on Yavin 4, and after an intense lightsaber duel, killed him, ending his plan for domination.

After Desann's defeat, Kyle decided to keep his lightsaber and continue in the ways of the Force as an instructor at Luke's academy.

Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy
In this game, Kyle is a relegated to the role of supporting character. He becomes the master of two students, Jaden Korr and Rosh Penin. Both students being talented, they quickly learn through Kyle's wisdom. Kyle's quest in the game is to defeat the Sith cult known as the Disciples of Ragnos. Rosh eventually succumbs to the Dark Side and joins the Disciples of Ragnos. Kyle again meets Tavion, who is the leader of the cult, possessing a device known as the Staff of Ragnos, and plans to resurrect the ancient Sith Lord Marka Ragnos.

Kyle's other student Jaden eventually becomes a Jedi, but depending on what the player chooses, Jaden may turn to the Dark Side by killing Rosh, or stay in the Light by forgiving him. In the latter choice, Kyle is proud of his students, who defeat Tavion. If Jaden goes to the Dark Side, Kyle later duels Jaden, who overpowers him using the Staff of Ragnos, stolen by defeating Tavion. Jaden escapes, and Kyle then questions whether or not he should be a Jedi, and takes a leave of absence to apprehend Jaden.

It is not clear which ending is canonical.

New Jedi Order
Kyle became the academy's foremost battlemaster, educating many knights like Jaden Korr. He managed to stop the berserker Jeng Droga. During the Yuuzhan Vong invasion, in the New Jedi Order saga, Kyle helped develop strategies against the invaders, freed the human captives of the Imperial Remnant world Ord Sedra. Near the end of the war, the living planet Zonama Sekot agreed to help the Republic and Kyle was one of several Jedi Knights bonded to seed-partners and provided with Sekotan starships in the final battle.

Kyle heard a rumor that the Sith still existed. Due to his personal experience on Drommund Kaas, Kyle investigated after the invasion, following clues from Ord Sedra in the Clacis Sector to Yaga Minor, resulting to the Cloak of the Sith. Since then, Kyle remains officially lost.

Other sources
Kyle Katarn's adventures are also told in three hardcover graphic story albums written by William C. Dietz which were even adapted into audio dramatizations: Soldier for the Empire, Rebel Agent and Jedi Knight.

Kyle appears in subsequent sequels and further comics, games and novels. He also has an entry in the Star Wars Role-Playing Game, although this Role-Playing Game does not advance his story. His latest appearance is where he helped the Jedi and the New Republic during the Yuuzhan Vong invasion.

The step of including Katarn in a major Star Wars novel means that he will probably be considered far more "canonical" (to the Expanded Universe, at least) than most other Star Wars video game characters.

Portrayers
Kyle Katarn was originally voiced by Nick Jameson for Dark Forces, and Jason Court acting the character in Dark Forces II Full motion video sequences. In Mysteries of Sith, Jedi Outcast and Jedi Academy, Kyle is exclusively a polygonal sprite, made to look like a slightly older Court, voiced by Jeff Bennett. For the audio dramatizations, he is portrayed by Randal Berger.