Battle of Nelvaan

"Anakin, the most difficult trial a Jedi must face is&mdash;to look inside one's self. Often we see things we don't like. But these aspects are not set in stone. It is our decisions that shape our destinies."

- Kenobi to Skywalker

The Battle of Nelvaan took place at the planet Nelvaan in the third year of the Clone Wars. Following the siege of a rain-soaked planet occupied by the Confederacy of Independent Systems, High Jedi General Obi-Wan Kenobi and Jedi General Anakin Skywalker were contacted by Supreme Chancellor Palpatine and Jedi Master Mace Windu to investigate the Outer Rim world of Nelvaan after word supplied from Republic Intelligence indicated that General Grievous was currently stationed there. Departing immediately, Skywalker and Kenobi arrived at the planet via their Star Destroyer Integrity. A clone trooper informed Skywalker and Kenobi that no enemy forces were detected on the planet, save for a number of strange geothermal readings. Deciding that the readings were worth investigation, Skywalker, Kenobi, and a small force of clone troopers landed on the planet's surface via CR-20 troop carrier.

While investigating, Kenobi and Skywalker were suddenly ambushed by a massive Horax. After the beast wiped out their force of clones, Skywalker fought and slaughtered it with his lightsaber. In the wake of the Horax's death, a group of Nelvaanians appeared, and Skywalker, as it turned out, had interrupted a coming-of-age ritual for one of the young Nelvaanians. He and Kenobi were then escorted to the tribe's village, Rokrul. There, the two were presented to the village shaman Orvos, who revealed that Skywalker's killing of the Horax interrupted the young boy's rite of passage trial. The Nelvaanian adult males, who embarked on similar quests, never returned to their village, and only the "Ghost Hand" could save their village. After Kenobi presented Skywalker's prosthetic arm to the villagers, they realized that he himself was the "Ghost Hand". After enduring a Nelvaanian ritual in which bruise-leech crawlers left geometric tracks over young Skywalker's body, he began his long journey to save the village and uncover why Nelvaan was shrouded in seemingly eternal winter and to find the missing Nelvaanian warriors&mdash;this was the final Jedi Trial Skywalker had yet to face.

Following the Force, Skywalker uncovered a cave in the midst of a blizzard. Ambushed by gas fumes, he uncovered a vision of a Nelvaanian who, after losing his arm and garnering a new one, consumed all of those he loved and held close to his heart; this was a foreshadowing to Skywalker's future as Darth Vader. Snapping out of the vision, he uncovered a CIS base containing a siphon generator that was powered by a geothermal crystal and kept the planet in its wintry state. Investigating the base, he uncovered a group of Skakoan combat engineers dicussing the Techno Union's plans to created mutant cyborgs from Nelvaanian captives at the request of General Grievous. Harvos, the only Nelvaanian captive who had yet to be altered, was placed in a tank and immersed in green liquid, slowly mutating him. Skywalker, finishing off a squad of B1 battle droids, fought the mutant Nelvaanians, freeing them from their trace by cutting off their cybernetic chestplates with his lightasber. Harvos, breaking free from the tank, led the Nelvaanians as they rebelled against the Skakoans. Meanwhile, Skywaker lept to the base of the siphon generator and reached his prosthetic arm into its energy sphere, destroying both it and the crystal powering the generator in the process. As the planet's ice age came to a close, Skywalker clambered to the surface, killing off the Skakoans and their leader in the process. After Skywalker returned the Nelvaanian males to Rokrul, he and Kenobi departed the planet to the Integrity.

Prelude
"Think of it as&hellip;reconnaissance in force.''" "Your favorite. *laughter*"

- Kenobi and Skywalker

After defeating Separatist forces on a rain-soaked planet, High Jedi General Obi-Wan Kenobi and Jedi General Anakin Skywalker were dispatched to the Outer Rim world of Nelvaan after Republic Intelligence reported that General Grievous made frequent trips to, and was currently, there. They departed immediately and arrived over Nelvaan with several Venator-class Star Destroyers.

After interrupting a Nelvaanian coming of age ritual hunt, Skywalker and Kenobi were taken to their village, Rokrul. There they learned that all the Nelvaanian males in the village had embarked on similar quests and never returned. After enduring a Nelvaanian ceremony, Skywalker embarked on a quest to discover why Nelvaan was shrouded in seemingly eternal winter and to find the missing Nelvaanian warriors. This was the final Jedi Trial Skywalker had yet to face.

Anakin's task
"You must follow the wind, for it is the Mother's cry. Travel her tears, they are frozen. Enter the Mother's mouth...to awake her inner flame."

- Kenobi, reciting the Nelvaanian prophecy

Following the Force, Skywalker entered a cave that led deep beneath the surface. Inside the cave, the Force revealed a Nelvaanian vision to him: a village was attacked by an unknown force of evil, and a lone warrior went against it. Fighting with his spear, the warrior destroyed the evil, but lost his arm in the process. His newfound limb seemed helpful at first, but as it killed more and more, it became increasingly malevolent, eventually turning against the warrior's friends and family, last of all being his wife. As Skywalker's wife Padmé Amidala screamed his name, the paintings slowly arranged into the shape of Darth Vader, who Skywalker would soon become.

Then, he awoke and discovered a siphon generator that was powered by a captured geothermal crystal. This machine kept the Rokrul region in its wintry state by draining all the thermal energy from the land. He also saw that there was a base above him and climbed up to investigate. There, he discovered B1 battle droids on guard duty, proving that there was indeed a Separatist presence on Nelvaan. Continuing his investigation, he discovered a pair of Skakoan combat engineers in their pressure suits conversing with each other. From their conversation, he learned that the Techno Union was creating mutant cyborgs from Nelvaanian captives for General Grievous and that there was only one unaltered Nelvaanian captive left&mdash;Harvos.

The laboratory
Turning around, a horrified Anakin discovered an overweight Nelvaanian floating in a glass tank immersed in a green liquid. The unfortunate Nelvaanian had been chemically enlarged and one of his arms had been replaced with a blaster arm. Continuing, he saw more Nelvaanian captives. At the end of the chamber, he discovered the unaltered Nelvaanian Harvos in a glass case being gradually filled up with green liquid. Surrounding the cylinder, was a squad of B-1 battle droids. Above the chamber were a few Skakoan combat engineers. One of them pressed a button on a remote that activated the weighting process of Harvos. Slowly, the transformation began.

An enraged Skywalker then intervened and disposed of the squad, though the transformation still continued. As more B1 battle droids closed in on Anakin the Skakoans unleashed the mutant Nelvaanians and just as Anakin finished off the remaining droids the mutant Nelvaanians fired apon him. They were controlled by control harnesses, though Anakin did not realize their purpose. He tried to plead with the mutant Nelvaanians saying that they had been altered and had to regain control of themselves. However, they attacked him with their blaster arms and the young Jedi Knight was forced to defend himself (though he did it mainly with his Force Pushes, trying not to wound them).

Suddenly, Harvos&mdash;who had been altered&mdash;managed to burst free of his restraints and smashed the tank. He then ripped the cybernetic chestplates off two of the Nelvaanians. Anakin soon got the idea and cut the rest off using his lightsaber. After that, Harvos spoke to his brethren, reminding them of their heritage and that they had been altered, and then telling them to attack the Techno Union engineers. After dispatching his fellow Nelvaanians, he spoke to Skywalker and pointed to the siphon generator, telling him that he had to free the trapped crystal in order to end the eternal winter.

The enraged Nelvaanian warriors then rampaged through the facility, tearing battle droids apart with their bare hands, and freeing their comrades from captivity. Because they had been chemically enlarged, they had a significant advantage in the battle. The Skakoan combat engineers at the base fled for the safety of their Hardcell-class Interstellar Transports, which had been parked above the base on the surface.

The siphon generator
Meanwhile, Anakin leaped to the top of the siphon generator and then lowered himself into the crystal chamber. He reaches his prosthetic arm into the energy sphere of the generator. He used the Force to pull the energy crystal out of its socket and shattered it in his mechanical hand. The generator exploded after and Anakin leapt to safety as his hand self-destructed. As a result, the weather began to change dramatically and the snow began to melt. The Nelvaanian warriors reached the planet's surface, where the waiting battle droids were destroyed as the planet's artificial ice age came to an end.

An angry Skywalker clambered to the surface, where he viciously created a catastrophe which resulted in all five of the Skakoan engineers getting hurt or killed while trying to flee into their ship. First, he shattered a ramp with Skakoans on it with the Force and then threw more down to the Nelvaanians who finished them off. However, struggling with an ounce of his life, the head Skakoan pointed his blaster in the direction of Skywalker. The Jedi heard the click of the blaster and used Force choke on him, damaging his pressure suit and causing his body to decompress.

Aftermath
Seeing Anakin's destroyed arm, the Nelvaan overweights worshiped him as "Holt Kazed"&mdash;"ghost hand"&mdash; their savior, and in solidarity they tore the implanted weapons from their own arms. Anakin and the Nelvaans returned to the village shortly after the victory. The female villagers were at first silent by the mutants, but when Harvos's child recognized her father, the familial bonds were restored, provoking a celebration in the Nelvaanian village. Following these events, Kenobi and Skywalker returned to their Venator-class Star Destroyer, where they received orders to search for Darth Sidious on the planet Tythe.

Behind the scenes
The Battle of Nelvaan first appeared in the Star Wars: Clone Wars television series. Due to the battle happening prior to the Battle of Coruscant, the battle and the Third Battle of Tythe, which appeared in the novel Labyrinth of Evil by James Luceno, contradict each other since Kenobi and Skywalker go to Tythe before Coruscant instead of Nelvaan (Dooku only pauses briefly at Nelvaan). Initially, Leeland Chee retconned this by stating that the Nelvaan events occurred after Tythe, but this was overwritten by The New Essential Chronology, which fixed the events the other way around. Therefore, this article includes information from The New Essential Chronology, which integrates details from both Labyrinth of Evil and Clone Wars.

Appearances

 * The Rise and Fall of Darth Vader
 * The Rise and Fall of Darth Vader
 * The Rise and Fall of Darth Vader
 * The Rise and Fall of Darth Vader