Duel on the Temple of the Ancients

"The Dark Lord Revan is dead. I am a servant of the light now."

- Revan

In 3,956 BBY, near the end of the Jedi Civil War, a duel took place between ex-Jedi Knight Bastila Shan&mdash;who was now the Dark Lord of the Sith Darth Malak's apprentice&mdash;and the former Sith Lord Revan&mdash;was now a redeemed Jedi Padawan&mdash;and his fellow Jedi Jolee Bindo and Juhani. Shan confronted Revan and his companions on the roof of the Rakatan Temple on Rakata Prime, as they were attempting to shut off the disruptor field that originated from the temple, so the forces of the Galactic Republic could successfully assault the Star Forge space station which was fueling the Sith Empire's war effort. Revan, Bindo, and Juhani nearly defeat Shan, however, Shan attempted to persuade Revan to reclaim his former title. Revan rejected her offer and confirmed his devotion to the Jedi, causing Shan to flee to the Star Forge aboard a starship.

Prelude
In 3,956 BBY, during the Jedi Civil War between the Galactic Republic and the Sith Empire, the Jedi Knight Bastila Shan was defeated aboard the Dark Lord of the Sith Darth Malak's flagship Leviathan and taken prisoner. Malak took her to the planet Rakata Prime, where she rejected Malak's continued attempts to turn her. But after subjecting her to endless torture for a week, Malak eventually succeeded in forcing her to give in to her hate and fall to the dark side. He convinced her that the Council was holding her back, using her, and in retalliation she took her place as the Dark Lord's apprentice, replacing the slain Darth Bandon. Revan had found and collected the five Star Maps he needed to locate the Star Forge, but as the Ebon Hawk approached the space station, a disruptor field damaged its hyperdrive and the ship barely avoided a crash landing on the planet's surface. Juhani suggested to the group that they should search the other downed ships for the parts the Ebon Hawk needed to repair the hyperdrive, but the disruptor field still needed to be deactivated. The whereabouts of the generator was found by the utility droid T3-M4, which detected energy readings on the ship's sensors that seemed to be coming from the nearby Temple of the Ancients.

Revan was assaulted by Rakatan warriors of the Rakatan tribe, but after seeing Revan's power, he and his crew were granted an audience with the One. The One told Revan about his original promise to kill The Elders and gain their secrets to enter the Temple of the Ancients. Revan sought out the Elder tribe, when the Elder Council revealed how brutal and warlike the One and his tribe were, Revan and his crew decided to help the Elders instead. The Elder Council was very reluctant to trust Revan again due to his betrayal the last time they had met. They tasked Revan with rescuing an Elder scout from the One's enclave in order to regain their trust. Upon arriving at the One's enclave, the One and his tribe turned on Revan and his crew. The entire tribe fell under Revan's prowess, and he freed the scout. After gaining the support of the Elders, they granted Revan access to the Temple, but their tradition was that he had to go alone. While he was waiting with the Rakatan priest for them to lower the shield, both Juhani and Bindo received a premonition warning them of great danger laying inside, they insisted on accompanying Revan and struggled to persuade the Rakata priest to forgo tradition and allow the three inside. It turned out to be the right decision, as the temple was infested with numerous Dark Jedi, Sith Masters, acolytes, and battle droids who had been left their by Darth Malak and Revan when they first gained entrance to the temple. They discovered an ancient computer terminal which gave them the secrets to the Star Forge and the way to disable the disruptor field that brought them down to Rakata Prime in the first place. When the redeemed Jedi Revan came to the summit to deactivate the shield, which prevented the Ebon Hawk from taking off, along with Bindo and Juhani, they encountered what they least expected: their former companion Shan, corrupted by the dark side.

The Duel


Shan reunited with Revan, Bindo, and Juhani atop the Temple, though under unexpected circumstances. Shan told them that after the torture she'd endured, she had sworn allegiance to Malak and was now his apprentice, declaring that she would aid Malak in taking over the galaxy. She engaged all three of them in a lightsaber duel, but was no match for the three Jedi. Shan threw a Force wave at them in order to save herself from defeat.

After seeing how powerful Revan was despite what the Council had done to him, she came to believe Revan deserved to be the Dark Lord of the Sith. Shan attempted to persuade him to reclaim his former title and to take her as his apprentice, reminding Revan of all the things the Jedi Council had done to him. Revan was forced to come to terms with the dark legacy of his former self, and was faced with a decision that could alter the course of the galaxy. Shan reminded him that she could sense his thoughts through the bond linking them. Revan stated that there was something more than the Force between them: their love for one another. Shan denied this, however, claiming that the only thing between them was the Force and power. Shan pleaded for Revan to join her, to reclaim the Sith Empire and take revenge on Malak for his betrayal. Revan demanded to know how he could trust her after she had betrayed him. Shan informed him that she could not deny herself anything anymore, and would stand by his side forever as his lover and apprentice. She told Revan that they could defeat Malak together. Revan calmed himself, his resolve strenghtened by Bindo and Juhani, and made the choice of a true Jedi rejecting Shan's offer of power. Angered at her failure to turn Revan, Shan retreated to the Star Forge where she and Revan had their final battle.

Aftermath
Revan deactivated the disruptor field generated from the summit. He and his crew repaired the Ebon Hawk and followed Shan to the Star Forge as a Republic Fleet dropped out of hyperspace and commenced an assault on the Star Forge. The surviving Jedi from Dantooine's destroyed enclave boarded the Star Forge in hopes of disrupting Bastila's battle meditation so that the Republic capital ships could close in on the space station to destroy it. Aboard the Star Forge, Revan displayed his restored affinity for the Force and his mastery of lightsaber combat by nearly single-handedly confronting and defeating all of Malak's army of Star Forge battle droids and Dark Jedi. In the Star Forge's command center, Revan faced off against Shan once again, this time, alone. Though she was able to draw on the Star Forge to renew her strength, Revan still bested her. She begged Revan to kill her after all she had done, but Revan attempted to convince her to return to the light side by drawing on the powerful bond of love they shared. He succeeded, and Shan used her battle meditation to aid the Republic, turning the tide of the climactic battle. Revan went on to defeat his former apprentice and save the galaxy.

Dark side ending
"Malak is dead&mdash;all hail the return of Darth Revan, the true Lord of the Sith!"

- Bastila Shan

Accepting Bastila Shan's offer, Revan struck down the Jedi Jolee Bindo and Juhani (only Jolee if Juhani had been killed on Dantooine), the stain of their blood on the temple stone symbolizing Revan's return to power. He returned to the Ebon Hawk and explained the absences of Bindo and Juhani to his stunned party. Revan and Bastila offered the rest of the team the chance to join them. The droids HK-47 and T3-M4 were programmed to do so, and Canderous Ordo pledged his loyalty to the man he believed would bring him battles in which he could find the honor he had been looking for, as he had in the Mandalorian Wars. Mission Vao refused to believe that Revan had returned to the dark side and did not run away. Zaalbar initially agreed to join the dark side as he owed Revan a life debt and even agreed (via a mind trick from Revan) to kill Mission to prove his loyalty. (Note that the player could fail to persuade Zaalbar to attack Mission; in this case, the player must personally engage Mission, and kill Zaalbar as well.)

Before approaching the Star Forge, Shan tricked the Republic to into attacking the Sith fleet there as a preliminary measure to defeat the Republic. The Republic believed that she would use her battle meditation against the Sith, but she turned it against them just before Revan faced Malak. Master Vandar Tokare realized the truth just after Shan applied her battle meditation against the Jedi, but could do nothing to stop her. On the Command Deck Revan faced Malak's three most powerful Dark Jedi (each with different robes). Malak promised that the one who delivered the killing blow to Revan would become his new apprentice. Revan and Bastila fought and killed all three of them. After Revan defeated Malak, he re-assumed the title of Dark Lord of the Sith and made Shan his apprentice and lover. Together, they set out to conquer the galaxy.

Using the resources he now commanded as Master of the Star Forge, Darth Revan created an infinite fleet that rolled forth to crush the Republic. Surprisingly, however, Darth Revan soon halted his offensive. It was noted as odd that Revan deliberately avoided striking the Republic's manufacturing facilities in his previous war, and again that he seemingly ended the Star Forge's production of vessels early. Bereft of a strong dark side user to guide it, the Star Forge atrophied and was destroyed by the Republic. Before his departure, Shan installed secret commands into T3-M4. She knew that Revan would not take her into the Unknown Regions, fearing their bond would be a weakness to him. She also knew that Revan would take T3. She ordered the droid to return to known space should something happen to Revan. If T3 was unable to locate her, the droid was to find anyone, Sith or Jedi, who could help. She ordered T3 to keep this last command a secret from Revan.

Shan, left behind, seeing disorder among the Sith&mdash;and seeing none left with the power to control the Star Forge, devouring those too weak to harness its power&mdash;realized that Revan never intended to keep the Star Forge operational. She recorded her concerns in a Sith holocron placed in the Sith Academy on Korriban&mdash;shortly before the Sith Empire, along with most of the Order, completely collapsed. At the end of the holocron, Shan stated that she was leaving for the Unknown Regions to find and bring Revan back. It had not yet been proven if she left before Korriban fell into ruin, or died there before leaving.

It was assumed that Darth Revan visited all his former strongholds searching for something that is was not readily apparent. It is known, however, that he headed for the Unknown Regions with the intent of stopping something menacingly powerful, something that was apparently responsible for initially coercing the Mandalorians to invade. Revan's former Master, Kreia, suggested that Revan was searching for the original Sith Empire. In truth Revan left to stop the true Sith Empire that was behind his fall to the dark side and the Mandalorian Wars.

Appearances

 * Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic