Darth Malak

"I am sorry I started you on this path. But you chose to continue down it."

- Revan

Malak (&mdash;3,956 BBY) was a fallen Jedi, known primarily for his time as a Sith Lord during the Jedi Civil War circa 3,956 BBY.

Early career


Little is known of Malak's origins or childhood. His recorded history begins with the Jedi Order on Coruscant, where he became best friends with Revan while they were both Padawans. The gifted pair soon made a name for themselves as rising stars of the Jedi Order, forever seeking more knowledge of the Force. They often turned to Masters other than their own for additional training. Zhar Lestin would later remark on this as something that may have hinted at their eventual fall. By the time of the Mandalorian Wars, Revan and Malak had been promoted to the rank of Jedi Knight.

When the Mandalorians turned their attention from the Outer Rim worlds and began a direct attack on the Inner Rim, initiating the Mandalorian Wars, Revan defied the Jedi and insisted on defending the Galaxy alongside the Republic. The first to follow him was Malak, his closest friend. After that, Revan and Malak rallied many young Jedi; those who were recruited by Malak personally included Talvon Esan, Nisotsa, Cariaga Sin, Xaset Terep, and the Jedi Exile. Bastila Shan&mdash;at that time&mdash;refused to join, warning other Jedi to obey the Council. Revan, Malak and their followers began destroying the Mandalorians in battle after battle, finally defeating their leader above Malachor V. The pair took the Republic fleet, however, and passed beyond known space, insisting that they had to destroy the remnants of the Mandalorian armada. Leaving the fleet in uncharted space, they began a search for the Star Maps that would lead them to an ancient marvel of Rakatan engineering; the Star Forge. Corrupted by the dark side energies present in and the power represented by the Star Maps and Star Forge, Revan and Malak fell to the dark side and indoctrinated their followers with the teachings of the Sith, twisting the allegiance of the former Republic forces still under their command.

Using persuasion and violence they wrested control of a large space fleet from the Republic and began their career of conquest. As Revan was the stronger of the two Sith Lords, he claimed the coveted title of Dark Lord of the Sith, and Malak grudgingly consented to be his Sith Apprentice. One of his early actions was to order the bombing of Telos IV, forever earning the wrath of Carth Onasi. He chafed under Revan's control, though, and awaited the opportunity to replace his Sith Master.

Dark Lord of the Sith


The moment came when a Republic strike team, led by Jedi Padawan Bastila Shan, staged an assault on Revan's flagship. In an attempt to slay the powerful Jedi and his master at the same time, Malak ordered his ship's guns to fire on Revan's ship. Malak believed that Revan was dead and assumed command of the Sith Empire, at last taking the mantle of Dark Lord for his own.

While the war against the Republic was going very well, he feared Bastila's rare gift with Battle Meditation, a Force power that enabled her to strengthen the Republic forces' resolve and coordinate their fighting effort while sapping the will of their enemies. Her skill with this ability surpassed even the masters of the Order, making her a grave threat to the entire Sith war effort. Darth Malak expended tremendous resources in an attempt to locate and capture her.

Malak nearly succeeded when he blockaded the planet Taris. Although he had the planet destroyed to prevent Bastila's escape, she nonetheless was able to return unharmed to Dantooine accompanied by her rescuers. Among these heroes were three citizens of Taris, Mission Vao and Zaalbar and a Mandalorian Canderous Ordo; Republic pilot Carth Onasi; the utility droid T3-M4; and Revan himself, his mind reprogrammed as a crewmember from the Republic cruiser Endar Spire. It was Revan who had raced in a hazardous swoop tournament in order to free Bastila from the clutches of one of the street gangs of Taris.

Bastila and her companions left Dantooine in search of the source of Malak's power; the Star Forge. While on their search, Bastila was captured by Malak. Malak corrupted Bastila to the dark side of the Force and made her his apprentice, replacing his previous apprentice, Darth Bandon, who had recently been killed in battle against Revan.

It was not surprising that Malak's fate would be bound up tightly with Bastila's. The two were very much alike -- courageous, arrogant, and heedless of the warnings of their Jedi instructors to beware the call of the dark side. But the true reason Malak chose Bastila for his apprentice was the unimaginable advantages the Sith Empire could gain from her Battle Meditation.

The final battle


Finally, reaching the end of their journey, the heroes on the quest for the Star Forge called in the Republic fleet to attack the Sith. For a while, it looked as if Malak would be able to destroy his foes in a single, glorious day. Fate &mdash; or the Force &mdash; handed Malak a stunning defeat, however, and it would be he who would die when his former master, Revan, returned; during the battle, his old master boarded the Star Forge in the Ebon Hawk, defeated an attack force of Forge droids, slew nearly the entire pool of Malak's Dark Jedi and Sith apprentices, and finally killed his old friend in single combat. And so it ended as Malak somehow always knew it must: in darkness.

In the end, Malak's story was a tragic one. He was one of the most gifted and respected Jedi in their Order, and had a lifelong friend in Revan. But by taking the path of the dark side, which, ironically, Revan started him down in the first place, he lost that respect and friendship in a mad quest for power, trading them in for fear, hatred, and, eventually, death. But even after years of the corruption of the dark side, Malak was not entirely evil. As he lay dying, his mortal wounds dealt to him by his best friend, he couldn't help but wonder, had their positions been reversed, if he would have possessed the strength to return to the light as Revan did, and what his life would have been like had he been able to do so. He tried to blame Revan for his fate, but then admitted that, in the end, the only person he had to blame for how his life had ended was himself. Humbled and belittled by that knowledge, and bested by Revan despite all his clever plans and conquests, Malak, realizing that nothing he had ever done or could ever do would compare to accomplishments of his former master, at last acknowledged his inferiority. His final words were the truest he had ever spoken:
 * "And in the end, as the darkness takes me, I am nothing."

The Exile
Although Malak was gone, Revan's final duel with him would not be the last anyone ever saw of him. While exploring the cave on Korriban, the Exile discovered an unlocked tomb where he encountered visions from the past. The first vision he encountered was that of Malak, before his fall to the dark side. Malak attempted to lure the Exile into the Mandalorian Wars many years ago. The vision eventually became hostile, and attacked the Exile. The Exile prevailed, and made it through the tomb alive.

Abilities
Darth Malak was a master swordsman and an adept Force-user, excelling particularly in such skills as Force Lightning, Force Drain, Force Horror, Force Immunity and Force Stasis. He has wielded powers such as Force Whirlwind, Force Rage, Force Grip, and Mind Control.

Traits


Darth Malak was a bald, pale-skinned human. His head was adorned with tattoos, and later in his life, a large metal shield covered his face from the nose down. The shield was a prosthetic made necessary by a ghastly lightsaber injury that completely severed his lower jaw and occurred at an unknown point prior to his becoming Dark Lord of the Sith. A portion of this device allowed him to talk but his voice now reverberated with a gruff electronic influence. This created a very disconcerting effect because his jaw prosthesis didn't move. When he spoke the only hint of emotion came from his cruel, sunken eyes.

He wore skin-tight red-orange body armor that showed off his powerful and imposing physique, draped in a cape of black cloth. He always carried his lightsaber, and sometimes a Sith sword, with him.

Behind the scenes
Like many Sith Lords before and after him, Malak's name could be derived from real languages—mala is Latin for "jawbone." Similarly, the word mal means "bad" in languages such as Spanish and French, possibly in reference to Malak's fall to the dark side of the Force. Curiously, the Arabic root "m-l-k" can be translated as "king". Some other, perhaps unrelated coincidences include the Greek offense word malakas, the Philippinese malakas which means "strong" (the name of the first man in the local creation myth) and the Turkish melek which means "angel" (cf. Hebrew malach).

However, it is worth noting that unlike later Dark Lords, Malak (and Revan) did not a choose alias but his real name.

Appearances

 * Shadows and Light (vision to Duron Qel-Droma)
 * Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic
 * Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords (vision to the Jedi Exile)