Dark Side Cave

"That place&hellip;is strong with the dark side of the Force."

- Yoda

The Dark Side Cave was a cave on Dagobah corrupted by dark side energies after a Bpfasshi Dark Jedi was killed there hundreds of years before Clone Wars.

History
Hundreds of years before the Clone Wars, the Jedi Minch battled and killed a powerful Bpfasshi Dark Jedi, and his energies absorbed into its surroundings, first tainting the passage with the Dark Side.

Later during the war, Yoda had a vision of the Dark Side Cave during one of his meditations. In this vision the spirit of Qui-Gon Jinn guided a nine-year-old Anakin Skywalker into the cave to face his fears, telling him the same thing Yoda would tell Anakin's son Luke years later.

During the Great Jedi Purge, Yoda realized that proximity to the Dark Side cave could help neutralize his strong Light Side Force signature and took up residence near the cave and lived there for the next two decades, through the reign of the Galactic Empire.



When Luke Skywalker traveled to Dagobah to train with Yoda in 3 ABY, the elder Master tasked him to enter the cave. Luke confronted an illusion of Darth Vader within and defeated it in a lightsaber duel, dipping into the passion of the dark side in the process. It was there that he realized what would happen if he turned to the dark side of the Force. Behind the mask of Darth Vader, he saw his own face. It also presaged the revelation that Vader was, unknown to him at the time, actually his father, Anakin Skywalker.



Five years after Yoda's death, Luke Skywalker returned to the cave. This time, he had a vision of a possible past, one where Mara Jade accompanied Jabba the Hutt's retinue to the Sarlacc. She was able to pull Luke's lightsaber away from him, and Luke was thrown into the Sarlacc. While in the cave the second time, he found a beacon left behind by Jorj Car'das.

In 14 ABY, the dark side power of the cave was siphoned by the Disciples of Ragnos. This supposedly removed all of the dark energy, but it presumably returned to its source when the Scepter of Ragnos was destroyed or otherwise somehow regenerated itself. In 22 ABY, Anakin Solo, Tahiri Veila and Uldir Lochett entered the cave after Anakin had a recurring nightmare of becoming the infamous Darth Vader. There, Tahiri encountered a vision of her parents and grandfather, and Anakin faced the manifestations of his own doubts. The two both emerged victorious. Uldir, however, encountered nothing in the cave but vast emptiness.

Other Force-sensitive beings to enter the cave include Tash Arranda and Zak Arranda.

Behind the scenes
Heir to the Empire describes how Jedi Master Yoda battled and defeated another powerful Bpfasshi Dark Jedi inside the Cave. But, in Star Wars Insider 98 Leland Chee writes that this is no longer considered part of continuity because Yoda had never been on Dagobah before his exile.

Appearances



 * Star Wars: Clone Wars
 * Chapter 21
 * Galaxy of Fear: The Hunger
 * Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back
 * Star Wars 43: The Empire Strikes Back: Betrayal at Bespin
 * Heir to the Empire
 * Star Wars: Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy
 * Junior Jedi Knights: Anakin's Quest
 * Junior Jedi Knights: Vader's Fortress
 * Junior Jedi Knights: Kenobi's Blade

Non-canon appearances

 * Heart of Darkness
 * Star Wars Infinities: A New Hope
 * LEGO Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy
 * LEGO Star Wars: The Complete Saga
 * Star Wars Infinities: The Empire Strikes Back
 * Star Wars: Battlefront II