Bast Castle

"They always lock the door&hellip;you think they'd have learned by now."

- Kyle Katarn, when he and Jaden Korr tried to enter Bast Castle

Bast Castle was Darth Vader's private fortress on the acid rain-soaked planet of Vjun. It later became the headquarters of the Dark Side Elite.

History
"There it is, X2... Bast Castle! It resonates with the power of the Dark Side. Even here, I can still sense my father's anger and regret&hellip;"

- Luke Skywalker to X2 at the Battle of Vjun.

The secret sanctuary of Darth Vader, Bast Castle was an immense black fortress located near a beach on Vjun. His personal home, Vader often retired to Bast when not on assignment for the Emperor. Very few sentients knew of its existence and it was here in solitude that Vader studied the dark side and attempted to learn what he needed to heal his broken body. After the death of both Vader and the Emperor, the castle stood alone and forgotten for years.

After the Battle of Endor, the fallen clone trooper X1 decided to forge a new empire with himself on the throne. Declaring himself a Sith Lord, he sought to attain the power of the dark side. However, he lacked the knowledge of the Sith and thus traveled to the Vjun in order to acquire a holocron located at Bast Castle. His brother X2 traveled to Bast Castle in order to stop him but by the time he reached the surface, he learned that his clone brother had departed for Mustafar.

During Emperor Palpatine's resurgence in a clone body, Palpatine interrogated and tortured inexperienced Ysanna Jedi in Bast Castle under the gaze of a massive statue of Vader that had been erected by Sedriss QL. When Luke Skywalker and Kam Solusar attacked the castle to rescue the Ysanna, it was heavily damaged in the fighting, and Vader's statue was toppled.

In 14 ABY, Kyle Katarn and Jaden Korr visited Vjun and the castle in order to try and stop the Disciples of Ragnos from draining it of its Force energy. It was then that Rosh Penin revealed that he had turned to the dark side. Prior to the encounter with Penin, Korr came across the toppled statue of Vader and jokingly told himself that somebody really didn't like Vader. Korr eventually defeated Penin and killed the Kothos twins who accompanied Penin and empowered him with the Force.

Later, in 22 ABY, the Jedi historian Tionne Solusar discovered that Obi-Wan Kenobi's lightsaber had been recovered by Vader and stored at Bast Castle. Since an information broker had sold this information to them, she feared that others may have gotten to it first. Thinking it was just a simple trip and time for training, Tionne allowed Anakin Solo, Tahiri Veila, Uldir Lochett, and Ikrit to accompany her. They left on her Jemlaat-class yacht Lore Seeker.

Having arrived at Bast Castle, they discovered another vessel and feared another group had reached it first. Having survived the fortress's automated defense systems and booby traps, they discovered the lightsaber in a secret alcove. Unfortunately, a cloaked man named Orloc arrived. Orloc stole Kenobi's lightsaber and claimed to be a mage who possessed great powers.

In response, the Jedi pursued Orloc and his henchmen on a chase through Bast Castle. They managed to defeat Orloc and escape Bast Castle, along with Kenobi's lightsaber and the holocron of the ancient Jedi Master Asli Krimsan.

The statue of Darth Vader
"Someone didn't like Vader much&hellip;"

- Jaden Korr upon seeing the destroyed statue



After the death of Vader, Bast Castle became the stronghold of the Emperor's Dark Jedi. As an homage to the previous owner and Dark Lord of the Sith, the new Military Executor, Sedriss QL, erected a statue of the Dark Lord in the middle of Bast Castle. Carved from black stone, it stood about 6 meters tall. Palpatine ordered Sedriss to destroy the image of the traitor, but in an act of defiance, Sedriss overlooked the order because of his admiration for Vader's abilities.

Sedriss was eventually killed by Ood Bnar and the ownership of the castle fell to the new Executor, Xecr Nist. Palpatine ordered once again that the statue be removed, and wishing to avoid the fate of his predecessor, Nist promised that he would. However, before the deed could be done, a task force of Jedi including Luke Skywalker, Rayf Ysanna, Kam Solusar, and Empatojayos Brand attacked the stronghold. A vicious fight ensued between the four Jedi and the Dark Side Elite.

In an ironic twist, Skywalker defeated Nist and used the Force to push the enormous statue upon the remaining Dark Side Elite, killing them and winning the day for the Jedi. The statue lay broken in Bast Castle for years and the rubble was still present when Kyle Katarn and his student Jaden Korr visited the planet in an attempt to stop the Disciples of Ragnos from siphoning the Force energy. Anakin Solo and Tahiri also visited the castle during their training at the Jedi Praxeum and witnessed the remnants of the massive statue.

Defenses and garrison
Bast Castle was surrounded with a complex network of manned defenses that extended several kilometers into the surrounding ravines. It was also equipped with at least one turbolaser turret. The facility also contained a number of ASP-38 Droids that were tasked with eliminating intruders though many of these were eliminated by X2. They took many hits and were all eliminated.

During Jaden Korr and Kyle Katarn's Mission to Vjun, a pair of TIE Bombers strafed a valley and entrance to the Castle. This makes it likely that Bast Castle possessed starfighter hangars. Later in the mission they encountered several locked doors that proved impervious to lightsabers. The two Jedi passed through the Castle's extensive shield generation facility, moving through several control rooms and causing the collapse of the power column room through which gap they were able to gain access to the Upper Castle.

The Castle appeared to have an extensive garrison of stormtroopers, many equipped as rocket troopers or hazard troopers, in addition to many E-Web Emplacements. From ruins found by Jaden Korr, AT-ST walkers were most likely stationed at Bast Castle at some point in time.

Behind the scenes
Early concept art for Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back included a sketch by Ralph McQuarrie depicting what was to be Vader's castle.

Appearances

 * Star Wars Battlefront: Elite Squadron
 * The Rise and Fall of Darth Vader
 * Lightsider
 * Dark Empire II 6: Hand of Darkness
 * Dark Empire II audio drama
 * Empire's End 1: Triumph of the Empire
 * Empire's End audio drama
 * Star Wars: Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy
 * Junior Jedi Knights: Vader's Fortress
 * Junior Jedi Knights: Kenobi's Blade