Dark side burst

"Too bad we don't have a Dark Jedi handy we could kill. Remember that big blast when C'baoth died?"

- Mara Jade

A burst of dark side energy occasionally occurred when a powerful Sith or Dark Jedi was killed. The resulting shockwave was sometimes very powerful, other times it was a simple dissolving of physical matter.

History
The first known sighting of these occurrence was in 3,951 BBY, when the remains of Darth Nihilus were consumed by a small burst of scarlet energy after his death at the hands of the Jedi Exile. In the year 2 BBY, Galen Marek apparently released a dark side burst when he was severley injured by Darth Sidious's Force lightning. Six years later, Sidious released a massive surge of blue dark side energy after being thrown down a reactor core shaft aboard the second Death Star. Later on the planet Ruusan, Jerec's body dissipated after he was killed by Kyle Katarn. In 8 ABY the Nightsister Ocheron gave off a burst of dark energy after being beheaded by Luke. One year later, at 9 ABY, Joruus C'baoth also released a blast of energy after being killed by Mara Jade with Skywalker's lightsaber, blowing a gaping hole in the side of Mount Tantiss.

Behind the scenes
Darth Traya appears to release a dark side burst in the video game Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords, when the Exile throws her off of Trayus Core into a bottomless pit. However, this only occurs in the dark side ending of the game and is therefore not a canonical event.

Appearances

 * Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords
 * Star Wars: The Force Unleashed
 * Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi
 * Star Wars: Jedi Knight: Dark Forces II
 * The Last Command
 * I, Jedi
 * Vision of the Future
 * The Courtship of Princess Leia