Cin Drallig/Legends

"There is one lesson you've yet to learn. How to become one with the Force!"

- Cin Drallig to Darth Vader

Cin Drallig was an esteemed Jedi Master in the waning days of the Galactic Republic and during the Clone Wars.

Biography
Trained by Grand Master Yoda, Jedi Master Cin Drallig was an esteemed lightsaber instructor and battlemaster at the Jedi Temple on Coruscant, earning him the nickname "the Troll." Drallig made his home deep within the Jedi Temple and gave himself over completely to the will of the living Force.

Stationed on Coruscant, Drallig taught the basics of lightsaber combat forms one through six to thousands of students, including Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker. Sometime during his life, he came to see through the contentiousness of troublesome Padawan Serra Keto, and envisioned the great Jedi she had the potential to become. Under Master Drallig's tutelage, Serra's knowledge of the Force and skills with a lightsaber blossomed, inspiring a strong bond of devotion between the two. Serra's rebelliousness eventually subsided, and she went on to become Master Drallig's most accomplished apprentice.

After the death of fellow Jedi Mierme Unill in the Clone Wars, Unill's Padawan, Zett Jukassa, studied under Master Drallig while awaiting reassignment.



When the newly christened Darth Vader led the 501st Legion in a raid against the Jedi Temple, Drallig's skills marked him as a priority target for elimination by the Sith Lord himself. Deep within the Jedi Temple he prepared for Vader's coming, directing Jedi such as Olana Chion in the Temple's defense. Before he could move against the Dark Lord, however, Serra confronted Vader on her own, and was slain.

Drallig made a stand against Vader in the Temple training hall, backed by two of his students, Bene and Whie Malreaux. When Lord Vader entered the hall in search of the swordmaster, he quickly outclassed both Padawans, choking Bene with one hand while dueling Drallig with the other.

Following a short exchange of lightsaber strikes, Vader hacked through Drallig's shoulder and clove deep into his chest, killing the Jedi Master. The incident was recorded by Temple security camera TR4-121. Drallig's body was later found by Yoda and Obi-Wan Kenobi, who also watched the recording of the swordmaster's death.

When the Galactic Empire emerged, Cin Drallig's death was covered in incident report #890-I, filed by Commander CC-1119, leader of the 501st Legion. Official records compiled by Sate Pestage indicated that Drallig was killed in combat against Imperial agents.

Legacy
Cin Drallig lived on in the thoughts of others. Obi-Wan Kenobi felt grief at finding his body, having considered the swordmaster a friend.

While still adjusting to his life-supporting armor, Darth Vader often reflected upon the actions that had brought him to such a state. One of his clearer memories was that of crossing blades with Master Drallig, his former lightsaber instructor, the night of Order 66.

Powers and abilities


Cin Drallig's lightsaber instructor was none other than Master Yoda himself, and under Yoda's guidance, Drallig became an extremely skilled swordsman.

During the time of the Clone Wars, Master Drallig acted as the Jedi Order's battlemaster, making him the leading lightsaber combat instructor and one of the Jedi's top swordsmen. Drallig was a master of every form of lightsaber combat save Form VII, though he possessed enough knowledge of the style to give his pupils an accurate description.

In addition to his mastery of lightsaber combat, Cin Drallig was very adept in the use of Force Speed, often using it in combat to overwhelm his opponents.

Despite being one of the Temple’s finest swordmasters at the time of Darth Vader's raid on the Jedi Temple, even Cin Drallig was unable to defeat the Sith Lord in combat. By killing Master Drallig and his apprentice, Serra Keto, Vader had successfully removed one of the Temple's last hopes.

Behind the scenes
Cin Drallig was played in Revenge of the Sith by Nick Gillard, who was the stunt coordinator on all three films of the prequel trilogy, and a stuntman in A New Hope. In the Revenge of the Sith video game, the likeness of Nick Gillard is used in the character's appearance while, vocally, Cin Drallig is portrayed by Tom Kane.

The name "Cin Drallig" comes from reversing Nick Gillard's name, only removing the k in Nick.

The novelization of Revenge of the Sith tells a somewhat different version of Drallig's actions during the fall of the Jedi Temple. The novel mentions younglings fleeing into the Room of a Thousand Fountains (not the Temple training hall), with Drallig, Whie, and Bene coming backing after, deflecting clone troopers' blasterfire back at the shooters. Vader then kills the Jedi, allowing the remaining clones to blast the children to shreds. When Yoda and Obi-Wan later find Drallig's body, Yoda comments that Drallig would not abandon his young students.



In the film, he is seen only briefly in a holographic recording, however, he has a larger role in the Revenge of the Sith video game. It is unknown if Cin Drallig was as much of a challenge for Darth Vader as depicted in the game since only a brief portion of the fight with Vader is shown. According to Keeper of the Holocron Leland Chee, however, Drallig's death as it appears in the game is non-canon.

As Kit Fisto's lightsaber hilt was a personal favorite of Nick Gillard, Cin Drallig's lightsaber hilt bears a resemblance to Fisto's. Based on behind the scenes materials, the lightsaber blade was originally to be rotoscoped in yellow. However, George Lucas would only allow either blue or green as the color of any regular Jedi's lightsaber blade. With the exception of Samuel L. Jackson's violet lightsaber blade he used as Mace Windu, Lucas would go no further with other colors. With no choice, Nick Gillard chose green instead; however, in a promotional image, which can be seen at the top of this article, Drallig is shown with a blue lightsaber.

In the Revenge of the Sith game, Anakin kills Cin Drallig by impaling him via a lightsaber throw. The duel also takes place in the training room above and on the terrace outside the room of a thousand fountains. It is interesting to note that while in the movie, Drallig has dark blond hair, in the video game he is shown with white hair.

In Revenge of the Sith video game, Cin appears as a duel character. When the players both select Cin, one of them controls a seemingly dark side-version of him: dark robes, darker hair and a red lightsaber.

There is a possible appearance in the Star Wars the Force Unleashed novel as one of PROXY's training modules, but that has not been confirmed by the LucasArts team.

In the Star Wars Miniatures set Champions of the Force, the Jedi Weapon Master character resembles Cin Drallig.

Appearances

 * Labyrinth of Evil
 * Republic Commando: Order 66 game
 * Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith
 * Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith comic
 * Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith game
 * Dark Lord: The Rise of Darth Vader
 * Evasive Action: Recruitment
 * Dark Nest II: The Unseen Queen