Duron Qel-Droma

"Why couldn't he accept that Shaela and I are in love? He claims our passion for each other will lead us down the Dark Side, but he can't even see how his own pride and arrogance are leading him away from the light."

- Duron's thoughts on Guun Han Saresh as recorded in his journal

Duron Qel-Droma was a Jedi Knight during the Great Sith War, and a nephew to the more famous Ulic and Cay Qel-Droma. He inherited the Qel-Droma Robes from Cay and went on to be a central figure in the Great Hunt.

Biography
Three years after the war, Duron was sent by the Jedi on the Great Hunt, a mission to search and destroy terentateks (a vicious carnivore that fed on Force-sensitives), along with other Jedi including Cale Berkona, Shaela Nuur, and Guun Han Saresh. Duron's special position in the team was to make contact with the terentateks' mind and confuse them, allowing the other members of the team to make the kill. This ability proved vital, directly saving Cale in one battle when the Jedi was at the mercy of one of the beasts.

Duron, Nuur, and Saresh formed a special bond while together, making them the premier hunting team of the Jedi. Furthermore, he and Nuur covertly became romantically involved.

After successfully cleansing Tatooine of the terentatek presence Duron's team was recalled to Dantooine and the Great Hunt was officially called off. Unofficially, the Dantooine Enclave Council gave the trio new orders. There was one more planet the Jedi wished to see cleansed: Korriban. There was some dissent over the command. Vrook Lamar thought sending a Qel-Droma was unwise. Bala Nisi, although not in agreement over the threat of Duron's bloodline, thought that too few Jedi were being sent on the mission. However, Aleco Stusea, Qual, and the Jedi High Council itself thought otherwise. It was believed that the trio's bond would serve to protect them from the Dark Side's influence.

The team traveled to Dreshdae and began tracking their prey, but Duron quickly became unsettled. He was tired of the killing, specifically weary of warping the minds of living creatures, evil or not. Furthermore, he began to become suspicious of the planet's influence on the team's actions, which he saw as becoming more reprehensible with each day.

As he was discussing this with Nuur he was suddenly struck with a vision. Although he did not understand, he was seeing the destruction of Taris, the enslavement of the Wookiees by Czerka, and the torture of Bastila Shan by Darth Malak. The vision disturbed him greatly, and Nuur attempted to comfort him, but at that moment Saresh returned.

An argument ensued, with Saresh accusing the pair of violating the Code with their relationship and Nuur declaring Saresh to be a hypocrite (he had slept with a Sith to acquire information). As the argument escalated Duron shattered the room's windows with the Force in a moment of desperation, horrified at the conflict between friends that he saw as the culmination of the planet's influence. Saresh asked Duron if the pair could abandon their relationship. When Duron honestly answered no, Saresh gave them the information on the Korriban terentateks and left, intent on destroying another beast he had learned of on Kashyyyk. He parted with a final suggestion that the pair leave Korriban before it was too late.

They persisted in their mission, however, successfully tracking down one of the beasts in the shyrack cave behind the Sith Academy. Then, for reasons unknown, Duron failed to connect with the terentateks mind and the creature attacked Nuur. Duron charged to his lover's defense and wounded the beast, but was in turn mortally wounded before Nuur could drive the creature off. As he lay dying in Nuur's arms, he received another vision. This time Duron saw a redeemed Revan recovering the Qel-Droma Robes from Duron's final resting place and wearing it when he defeated Malak on the Star Forge. This reassured Duron in his final moments, with him believing that the light was victorious in the end. He attempted to convey these assurances to Nuur, urging her to leave, and his last words to were a farewell and a declaration of love for her.

Nuur did not take Duron's assurances or request to heart and was driven to the dark side with grief. She was slain trying to avenge Duron when she unsuccessfully tried to take on several more of the terentateks inside the tomb of Naga Sadow.

37 years later, true to Duron's final vision, Revan would discover Duron's skeletal remains, recover the Qel-Droma robes, and go on to defeat Malak.



Behind the scenes
In Knights of the Old Republic, if the player reads Guun Han Saresh's journal (which can be found on Kashyyyk), it reads Duran Qel-Droma. Unfortunately the mistake was not found until after the game was published.

In Shadows and Light, Duron experiences several visions of the future, the last of which shows him Revan defeating Darth Malak, and Revan is seen wearing Duron's robes during the duel. This particular vision is a source of some debate over canon, as the robes look completely different in the game.

First, Duron's robes in the game do not need to be equipped at the final battle. In fact, they are not even the most powerful form of Jedi robe available, that position belonging to the Star Forge Robes. There is thus some debate over how canonical Revan's use of Duron's robes is.

Also, the vision depicts Revan wearing his mask from his time as Dark Lord of the Sith, which he did not possess in-game at that point. Since it is a vision, however, it is open to interpretation and is likely merely the vision's way of representing Revan. In reality it is most likely used by the artist to avoid giving Revan a canonical appearance, which at this point is still determined entirely by the player.

Finally, it depicts Revan wielding a blue lightsaber, leading some readers to interpret Revan as belonging to the Guardian class of Jedi as well as using the Mantle of the Force lightsaber crystal. However, the entire vision is tinted blue, rendering both lightsaber-related debates futile.

It is unknown whether Duron is the son of Ulic's and Cay's sister or brother. However, in the Polish version of Knights of the Old Republic he is described as bratanek, which means 'son of a brother'.

Appearances

 * Shadows and Light
 * Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic