Darth Malgus

"I fight because that is what I was made to do and the Empire is the instrument through which I realize my purpose. The Empire is war made manifest. That is why it is perfect."

- Darth Malgus

Darth Malgus was a Human male Sith Lord of the Sith Empire during the Great Galactic War. He was born under the name Veradun within Imperial space, and raised by his adoptive father. While still young, Veradun killed a Twi'lek servant on his father's estate, revealing the dark will behind his sensitivity to the Force. The young boy was subsequently sent to the Sith Academy on the Imperial capital of Dromund Kaas, where he became a Sith Warrior and a successful commander of the Imperial Military. During a trip to the Outer Rim world of Geonosis, Veradun discovered the Twi'lek slave girl Eleena Daru and took her as his own. Although she was technically his slave, the two fell in love with one another and fought side by side in many battles during the Great Galactic War against the Galactic Republic. Veradun later eschewed his birth name and adopted the Sith moniker of Darth Malgus.

At the height of the war, Malgus led a surprise assault on the Core World of Alderaan; though initially successful, Malgus and his forces were defeated in a concentrated Republic counterattack. The Sith Lord was heavily wounded during the battle, and was forced to wear a respirator for the remainder of his life. In 3,653 BBY, the Empire entered into sham peace negotiations with the Republic, which were truthfully nothing more than a distraction from the Sith's true target: the Republic capital of Coruscant. Malgus was chosen by his superior Darth Angral to participate in the attack on Coruscant as the leader of a strike team that would invade the Jedi Temple. Malgus succeeded in killing a substantial number of Jedi defenders&mdash;including Jedi Master Ven Zallow, who became Malgus's most notable kill&mdash;before the Sith fleet arrived to lay waste to the rest of the world. By the end of the engagement, the Sith had destroyed the Jedi Temple, killed half of the members of the Jedi High Council, and disgraced the Jedi Order in the eyes of the Republic.

Although Malgus had been under the impression that the Imperial Armada was going to raze Coruscant and destroy the Republic once and for all, the battle was ultimately used only as leverage in the peace negotiations on Alderaan. While the Alderaanian summit progressed, the Sith settled into an occupation of Coruscant. Malgus was placed in charge of orbital security, but the Sith Lord defied his orders and traveled back to Coruscant's surface to strike against the renegade Jedi Aryn Leneer, who was targeting Malgus for his murder of her Master, Ven Zallow. Although Leneer ultimately failed, the conflict caused Malgus to become disillusioned with the Empire and to view his relationship with Daru as a weakness. Thus, he was forced to kill his lover to preserve his own power, which he later used to cleanse the Empire of the politicians whom he blamed for allowing the Republic to survive. During the Cold War years that followed the successful peace negotiations, Malgus led Sith forces into the Unknown Regions, claiming previously-unknown territories for the Empire.

Becoming a Sith
"I think you'll be a great warrior, Veradun. A tremendous asset to the Empire."

- Veradun's adoptive father

Veradun was a Force-sensitive Human male alive three centuries after the Jedi Civil War. He was raised by an adoptive father in a region of space controlled by the Sith Empire, which had been in hiding from the larger galaxy for several millennia. His guardian served the Imperial Science Corps as a biologist, and oversaw a private zoo that the Empire had allowed him to maintain on his estate. Veradun tended to the creatures in the menagerie from a young age, feeding the animals and cleaning their cages. The young man also participated in lessons on the Force with a number of instructors, all of whom noted his impressive potential. Sometime in his youth, a female Twi'lek servant on the estate committed a minor offense; although the offense itself was meaningless to Veradun, he killed the woman to prove to himself that he was capable of doing so. His father was pleased with his son's actions, and so contacted the Sith Academy on the Imperial capital world of Dromund Kaas. Veradun was to leave the estate and train at the academy to become a Sith Warrior.

The day prior to Veradun's departure, his adoptive father took him on a tour of the zoo to teach him three lessons on personal conduct, deception, and expectations. The lessons, which his father crafted through the use of the animals and their behavior, had a profound impact on Veradun and shaped his philosophies for later in life. The next day, Veradun was taken to Dromund Kaas, where he became a Sith Warrior and further developed his philosophies regarding the Empire and its relationship to the Force. During a trip to the Outer Rim world of Geonosis, Veradun discovered the young Twi'lek slave girl, Eleena Daru. Upon seeing that Daru was abused and physically beaten by her owner, Veradun killed her master and took the Twi'lek as his own. Although she remained his slave, the two became lovers and he eventually came to treat her as a wife, despite the Empire's anti-alien policies.

Early campaigns and heavy defeats
In 3,681 BBY, the Empire emerged from hiding and launched a series of assaults against the preeminent interstellar government, the Galactic Republic, in what would come to be known as the Great Galactic War. As the conflict progressed, Veradun became a commander of the Imperial Military and saw much success through the use of surprise assault tactics. During this time, Veradun made multiple pilgrimages to the ancient Sith holy world of Korriban, which was recaptured by Sith forces early in the war. It was on the first of these journeys that he experienced a Force vision in which the galaxy and its ruling government burned. From then on, Veradun believed that he would be responsible for the fall of the Republic and its Jedi Order.

Near the height of the Great Galactic War, Veradun was recognized for his talents and was elevated to the status of Sith Lord. He was granted the new name of Darth Malgus and was chosen to lead Imperial forces in a surprise attack on the tranquil Republic Core World of Alderaan. After the Republic Navy was drawn away from the planet in a successful feint, Alderaan quickly fell to the Imperial forces. Malgus initiated the orbital bombardment of the planet before traveling to the surface, where he trekked across the countryside with his armies, burning cities to the ground. In the final leg of his campaign, the Sith Lord led his forces in a march towards the capital city, but a guerrilla counterattack was launched as the trooperss of the Republic's Special Forces Havoc Squad emerged from the forest surrounding the city to engage the Sith. The invaders responded quickly to the threat; Malgus swatted away incoming fire with his lightsaber and killed several of the Republic Special Forces soldiers.

The Imperials, with their vastly superior numbers, quickly gained the upper hand, but the tide of the battle was turned when Jedi Knight Satele Shan joined the fray, leading the remaining Republic troopers in beating back the enemy forces. Shan personally engaged Malgus in lightsaber combat, dueling him in the Alderaan forest and using her surroundings to her advantage. Malgus nearly defeated his younger opponent, but when he moved in for the kill, Shan used her hands to absorb the energy of his lightsaber, distracting him long enough for a Republic trooper to tackle him. The trooper detonated a grenade he held in his hand causing an explosion that threw both combatants in opposite directions. Shan seized the moment to throw Malgus into a stone wall, and followed by releasing a surge of Force energy that shattered the stone around the Sith Lord. The remaining Republic forces prevailed, winning back Alderaan as the Republic fleet arrived in-system. Malgus, near death, survived the encounter and was picked up by his personal shuttle as the Imperial forces retreated. Frustrated and enraged by the defeat, he payed little attention to his wounds.

As he departed Alderaan, Malgus sensed the presence of a Jedi within a ruined city on the planet. Desiring revenge against those who had deprived him of victory, Malgus ordered his shuttle's pilot to turn the craft around and hover over the city. Against the protests of the pilot, Malgus leaped from the craft to confront the Jedi within the city's ruined streets. There, the Sith found a Zabrak Jedi and rushed to engage him, but was caught off guard when the Zabrak brought two duracrete buildings down upon him. Malgus used the Force to shield himself from the debris, focusing his anger to blast away the rubble before emerging to confront the Jedi in a lightsaber duel. Malgus's repeated blows overpowered the Jedi, but the Zabrak made no effort at a counterattack. Realizing that he was being drawn into an ambush, Malgus detected the presence of another Jedi nearby. After knocking the Zabrak out of the way, the Sith Lord Force gripped the second Jedi and crushed his windpipe. The murder of the second Jedi enraged the Zabrak, who assaulted Malgus until the Sith attacked him with Force lightning. Malgus continued his barrage until the damage caused by the lightning proved too much for the Zabrak, who dropped to the ground in defeat. The Sith took a moment to observe the look of failure in the Jedi's eyes before impaling him and rejoining his forces in retreat. Following the battle on Alderaan, Malgus was nursed back to health by Daru, but jaw wounds he received during the battle forced him to don a respirator mask that covered his nose, mouth, and neck.

Sacking of Coruscant
"You were deceived. And now, your Republic shall fall."

- Darth Malgus to Ven Zallow

In 3,653 BBY, twenty-eight years after the war's beginning, the Empire's leading Dark Council contacted the Republic Senate, expressing their wish to negotiate an end to the conflict. While delegations from the Empire, the Senate, and the Jedi Order prepared to meet on Alderaan to form a peace agreement, the Sith made preparations for a strike on the Republic's capital world of Coruscant. The high-ranking Sith Lord Darth Angral was placed in charge of the entire operation while Darth Malgus was chosen to lead an early attack on the Temple of the Jedi Order. Under the impression that the Empire would invade Coruscant and proceed to wipe it clean of life via orbital bombardment, Malgus eagerly accepted the responsibility, believing it to be the fruition of his vision on Korriban, wherein he destroyed the Republic. Malgus's attack plan involved him entering the Temple, wherein he would distract the Jedi while a force of fifty Sith Warriors infiltrated the ancient edifice and destroyed the planetary defense grid mainframe within. Although Malgus requested that he be the preliminary attack's sole leader, Angral insisted that Lord Adraas, a rival of Malgus's and a political ally of Angral's, act as the second-in-command by overseeing the fifty-man infiltration team.

In the months leading up to the attack, Malgus and his team diligently practiced and planned for their mission and the Sith Lord personally viewed computerized models of the assault thousands of times. When the negotiating parties began their peace summit on Alderaan, the Sith's plan was set in motion; Malgus, accompanied by Eleena Daru, arrived on Coruscant and proceeded on foot to the Jedi Temple, passing through crowded plazas filled with Coruscanti citizens unaware of the impending attack. The two used the opportunity to discuss their views on both their life of battle and the Force, sharing a passionate kiss on the way. Before reaching the Jedi Temple, Malgus received a confirmation from the Mandalorian bounty hunter Shae Vizla that Coruscant's defensive grid had been disabled in preparation for the Sith assault. Arriving at the Temple, Malgus was halted by a squad of Temple security guards, but the Sith Lord wasted no time in killing them before they could deal with the threat. Vizla, observing the sight from a recess in the face of the Temple, took this as her cue, and infiltrated the Temple via a maintenance hatch as her colleagues strode in through the main entrance.

Within, Malgus and the Twi'lek were confronted met by curious Jedi who were intrigued by the lone Sith Lord who had come into their home. While Padawans gathered on the upper mezzanines to watch the action unfold, Jedi Master Ven Zallow and a group of his Knights approached Malgus to bar him from penetrating any further into the Temple. The adversaries remained motionless until a hijacked NR2 Republic drop ship crashed through the Temple's main entrance and destroyed much of the Great Hall. While Jedi were crushed beneath the careening vessel, Malgus remained motionless until it came to a halt directly behind him. The craft's hatch blew open to reveal Adraas and the team of fifty Sith Warriors who proceeded to ignite their lightsabers and join Malgus, Daru, and the bounty hunter Vizla in attacking the Jedi and their security forces.

Enveloped in the dark side of the Force, Malgus cut a swath through the developing battlefield, Force gripping one Jedi and smashing him against debris while he unleashed Force lightning against another. Soon he spotted Zallow, his primary target in the midst of the chaos, and moved to engage him. Daru attempted to aid her lover, but Zallow deflected her blaster shots back into her body before throwing her into a downed column. Enraged, Malgus continued his advance toward the Jedi Master, defeating any opponents who stood in his way. The Jedi Master and Sith Lord finally met, locking sabers for a moment before separating once more. As Zallow briefly struck at two Sith opponents, Malgus threw his lightsaber at the Jedi, who barely avoided it as he leaped into the air. Malgus took the opportunity to Force push the Jedi through a pile of debris, knocking him to the floor. Retrieving his weapon, Malgus Force jumped toward the Jedi, driving his lightsaber into the ground where Zallow had been lying only a moment earlier. Zallow managed to quickly avoid the strike and was back on his feet, continuing the duel. The melee was short-lived however, as the Sith Lord managed to drive his lightsaber into his opponent's abdomen, ending their own conflict as the battle raged on around them. As Zallow died, Malgus told him that all of Coruscant would burn.

The Sacking of Coruscant had begun, and while Sith forces led by Darth Angral took control of the Senate Building and killed the Republic's Supreme Chancellor, the Sith armada had begun their bombardment of the capital on the command of Adraas, who had bypassed Malgus to issue the order. Within the Temple, Malgus basked in the destruction, congratulating the surviving Sith before tending to Daru. He had Adraas send for a medical team from the Imperial medical ship Steadfast before dismissing him for his insubordination in ordering the bombardment. Malgus watched from the Temple's ruined entrance as Imperial bombers brought destruction to the city-planet, taking the opportunity to contact Darth Angral aboard the Oppressor Battle Cruiser Darkness and inform him of the battle.

When the medical team arrived, Malgus ordered them to care for the wounded, Daru included. Despite the her initial protests about leaving Malgus's side, the Twi'lek went with the medics to the Steadfast in orbit when the Sith Lord informed her that he would travel to the medical ship once he was finished on Coruscant. Adraas approached Malgus and questioned him on the fate of the Jedi's bodies; as Malgus believed that they had fought honorably, he decided to make the Temple their final resting place, using the remaining explosives in the drop ship to destroy the structure. As the remaining Sith joined Malgus twenty meters away from the Temple, he took in all the building's features before activating the detonator. The ancient symbol of the Jedi Order fell in on itself, spewing debris in every direction. Malgus and the others created a wall of Force energy that shielded them from the destruction, allowing them to watch the entire process in safety as they cheered.

As the battle across Coruscant continued to rage, Malgus's warriors returned to their orbiting warships. The Sith Lord chose to remain at the ruins of the Jedi Temple so that he could watch the orbital bombardment firsthand. After waiting for several hours and witnessing a gradual reduction of Imperial forces, Malgus contacted the Darkness captain, Jard, demanding to know why the orbital bombardment had not yet commenced. The captain revealed to Darth Malgus that Lord Angral had ordered the Empire's forces to shift into occupational procedures, as the negotiations on Alderaan were continuing. Enraged, Malgus quickly traveled to the Senate Building, where Angral had commandeered the offices of the Republic's Supreme Chancellor, who was killed during the initial invasion. While en route, Darth Malgus learned that the Sith leaders had chosen to use the occupied Coruscant as political leverage in the negotiations instead of outright destroying the planet. In the Sith Lord's eyes, this directly contradicted both his purpose as well as the purpose of the Empire, and also prevented his vision of destroying the Republic from coming to fruition.

Disillusionment
"Do you know your own Order betrayed you, Jedi? They informed us that you might be coming here.''" "I no longer belong to an Order." "''Then we have more in common than anger."

- Darth Malgus and Aryn Leneer

Unrest during the Cold War
"You are a mongrel, Adraas. Angral's mongrel and you and those like you have mongrelized the purity of the Empire with your pollution, trading strength for wretched peace."

- Darth Malgus, to Adraas

Following the signing of the Treaty of Coruscant, which officially ended the war, Malgus distanced himself from the power games being played by various Sith vying for a seat on the Empire's governing Dark Council. Instead, Malgus led Sith forces into the Unknown Regions, expanding the Empire's control into the largely-unexplored territories. Though a fierce fighter, he stood out as an oddity among the Sith of his day, often employing mercenaries of various alien species thought by the Empire to be deceitful and disloyal. Malgus learned many languages as a result.

Personality and traits
"He hurts even those he himself loves. These men and their wars. His name is Veradun, Jedi. And he would kill me if he knew I told you. But names are important."

- Eleena Daru, to Aryn Leneer

Darth Malgus was a fierce warrior who often utilized alien mercenaries, long thought unreliable by the Sith. He even took a female alien as his lover, treating her not as a slave but as a wife. Because of his interactions with many species, Malgus learned many alien languages. He saw the Force as a source of conflict that only Sith could fully understand; the Jedi, in his opinion, could only grasp certain aspects of its nature. Despite this, he considered some honorable.

A confident being, Malgus boldly entered the Jedi Temple and confronted a group of Jedi with only his wife for backup. When the captured shuttle crashed through the Temple's main entrance and skidded along the walkway, Malgus held his position while the majority of Jedi around him prepared to flee if necessary. When Zallow remained stationary, Malgus acknowledged his lack of fear with a nod of respect. During his duel with Zallow, he tapped into the dark side of the Force, using it to fuel his body for combat. Malgus took joy in killing Republic soldiers, especially after one injured him during the Battle of Alderaan. When faced with a desire to slay someone, he was prepared to kill his own allies if no enemies remained just to satisfy his rage. In later years, Zallow became Malgus's most notable kill.

Malgus was often a voice of opposition regarding issues of policy, continually calling for reform, which led many Sith to despise him. However, Malgus lacked any power base and therefore followed orders. Following the Treaty of Coruscant, he walked away from the backstabbing politics of the top-ranking Sith desiring seats on the Dark Council, instead preferring to lead military expeditions into the unexplored territory of the Unknown Regions.

Powers and abilities
Darth Malgus utilized many Force powers during the attack on the Jedi Temple, including saber throw, Force push, Force jump, and Force lightning. He was also proficient in the handling of a lightsaber, using this skill during combat in the Temple to gain the upper hand in his duel with Zallow and, ultimately, to impale him. When in battle, Malgus used his emotions&mdash;and the pain of others&mdash;to fuel his power.

Behind the scenes
"He's definitely not a hero, and he's not an anti-hero. My goal was to create a character that readers can respect but still abhor. I very much enjoy writing characters who live in a moral twilight."

- Paul S. Kemp, on developing Malgus for The Old Republic: Deceived

Darth Malgus first appeared as an unidentified Sith in the Deceived trailer to the upcoming video game, Star Wars: The Old Republic. In the trailer, Malgus&mdash;voiced by Jamie Glover &mdash;serves as narrator, though the character does have at least one line of dialogue, when he kills his Jedi opponent. Malgus was first identified in an entry on The Old Republic website's Holonet databank which features Aurebesh phrases such as "Friend to Mandalore," "Yablari, Trandosha, Kalee," and "First Contact." Malgus made an appearance in the Hope trailer, and will be featured as a major character in Paul S. Kemp's upcoming novel Star Wars: The Old Republic: Deceived, to be released on March 22, 2011.

Appearances

 * Hope
 * Deceived
 * Star Wars: The Old Republic: Deceived
 * Star Wars: The Old Republic
 * Star Wars: The Old Republic

Notes and references
Darth Malgus Darth Malgus Darth Malgus Darth Malgus Darth Malgus