Temple of Exar Kun

The Temple of Exar Kun, also known as the Tomb of Exar Kun was a Sith temple on Yavin IV.

Design and Layout
The temple was situated on a volcanic island in the middle of a lake. It was made from polished black-coloured glass that was studded with corusca gems and etched with Sith heiroglyphics and pictographs. At it's apex was a large statue of the Sith Lord Exar Kun.

Inside, the temple had just one chamber and catecombs beneath it. These consisted of a number of chambers, interlinked by tunnels. The last chamber contained the sarcophagus of Exar Kun, where presumably his body was placed.

History
Just before he fully embraced the dark side of the force, the fallen Jedi, Exar Kun came to Yavin 4, where he enslaved the native Massassi, who saw him as a god and he had them construct temples in his honor, one of which would later become known as the Temple of Exar Kun.

Shortly before his death at the end of the Great Sith War in 3,996 BBY, Kun drew upon the life forces of the entire Massassi population to transfer his spirit into the temple, where his spirit resided for the next four thousand years.

The temple was rediscovered during the Battle of Yavin by a Rebel naturalist called Dr'uun Unnh. He instantly realised that it was a Sith temple and was intrigued by the fact that, while all the other temples on Yavin IV were worn and ruined, this temple showed no signs of ageing at all. Unnh was killed shortly after, when his speeder bike was hit by a crashed TIE Fighter, but details of the temple were recovered on his data pad, by a search team.

In 1 ABY, Professor Walter Emanus led a University of Corellia archaeological expedition to the temple and discovered a number of rare artifacts, such as the Valahorn. Horn resisted and Kun realised that he was just their to distract him, while the other Jedi students worked to vanquish the Dark Lord's spirit, which they succeeded in doing.

With Exar Kun destroyed, Kyp was redeemed to the light side of the Force. On Kyp's return to Yavin 4, Luke took him to the temple, to face a test similar to the experience Luke had in the Dark Side Cave on Dagobah. Instead of Vader, Kyp faced Exar Kun and passed the test, by refusing to strike him down with anger. Kun then resolved into Kyp's dead brother Zeth as a Force ghost, much as Luke had seen himself in Vader's mask. Zeth's image was probably formed through the Force powers in the temple in which he appeared to teach Kyp an important lesson, though it is impossible to say for sure.

Shortly after, Corran Horn launched some proton torpedoes at the temple from his X-Wing, destroying the temple, so as to ensure that it would never tempt anyone to the dark side again.

Appearances

 * Star Wars Galaxies
 * Dark Apprentice
 * Champions of the Force
 * ''I, Jedi