Wookieepedia:Featured article queue/April 5, 2011

Freedon Nadd was an Old Republic Jedi prodigy whose conscious decision to embrace the dark side of the Force had a significant impact on galactic events for many generations after his death. Beginning his career as a student training on the planet Ossus, Nadd's lust for greater power caused him to slay his Master, Matta Tremayne, before renouncing his affiliation with the Jedi Order. He fled Ossus and made his way to the heart of the old Sith Empire, where he gained an enormous wealth of dark side knowledge. He eventually followed the Force to the jungle moon of Yavin 4, where he found and apprenticed himself to the ancient Dark Lord Naga Sadow. Sadow trained Nadd in the Sith arts, and led the young Jedi even further down the dark path. Eventually believing that he had learned all he could from Sadow, Nadd used his newfound powers to destroy his mentor and left Yavin 4 behind in search of a world that he could conquer as his own. Proclaiming himself to be the new Dark Lord of the Sith, Nadd located the planet Onderon and used his sorcerous powers to subjugate the world and make himself king. He ruled Onderon from his fortress in Iziz until his physical demise in 4,350 BBY. Following Nadd's death, his body was entombed below the royal palace of Iziz, which became a focal point of Sith power. His spirit lingered there as well, teaching the descendants of his bloodline and further steeping Onderon in the miasma that was the dark side of the Force.

By 4,000 BBY, the exaltation of Freedon Nadd's memory was the catalyst for the final battle of the centuries-spanning Beast Wars of Onderon, a conflict that arose between the citizens of Iziz who worshiped the deceased Dark Lord and those who had been cast out for their refusal to pledge allegiance to the Sith. A team of Jedi Knights led by Arkanian Master Arca Jeth came to Onderon and ended the battle by bringing a temporary halt to Nadd's influence over the planet with the defeat of Queen Amanoa. However, Amanoa's husband, King Ommin, reasserted Sith influence over the planet when he summoned Freedon Nadd's spirit from the depths of Chaos. The restored Naddist cult then instigated an uprising when they stole the Dark Lord's sarcophagus in a surprise attack during Amanoa's funeral. Nadd revealed himself to the Jedi and participated in the capture of Arca Jeth, who was ultimately rescued by the Jedi after the defeat of King Ommin during the final stages of the Naddist insurrection. Conceding failure, Nadd abandoned Ommin to the mercy of the Jedi, and his spirit was forever banished from Onderon by the power of Arca Jeth. Prior to his departure, however, Nadd happened upon Tetan socialites Aleema and Satal Keto&mdash;who had come to Onderon in search of dark side knowledge&mdash;and chose to pass the Sith teachings on to them. While Nadd's tomb was relocated to Onderon's jungle moon by the Jedi, his spirit appeared to one of them, Ulic Qel-Droma, and foretold the young Knight's destiny as a Lord of the Sith.

For months Freedon Nadd trained the Ketos in Sith magic, but his interests shifted when Exar Kun, a powerful fallen Jedi with dark side curiosities, stirred the Dark Lord's spirit from within his lunar grave. Nadd guided Kun to the ancient Sith homeworld of Korriban where, through a series of trials designed to test his resolve, he decided that Exar Kun was worthy of Sith apprenticeship. Nadd then led Kun to the ancient dwellings of his own Sith Master on Yavin 4 and was pleased when Kun wholeheartedly embraced the Sith after defeating an enormous Sith wyrm and subjugating the native Massassi warriors. Finally convinced that his apprentice had become one with the dark side, Nadd revealed his need for Exar Kun to create a physical body for him through alchemical means, that he might once again command the power of the Force. However, Kun refused to entertain Nadd any longer, and in that moment betrayed him. His apprentice's strength tremendously amplified by a Sith amulet, Nadd was attacked by Kun with a potent blast of Force energy that mortally wounded the Sith spirit. Consigned to oblivion for a second time, Nadd contacted the Ketos in his final act and warned them of the threat that Exar Kun posed. He then declared that, along with Ulic Qel-Droma, the future of the Sith rested with Satal and Aleema, before fading into Chaos and dying a second death.