Pernicar

"There is no shame in falling. There is only shame if you refuse to rise once again."

- Pernicar

Pernicar was a male Human Jedi Master who fought in the New Sith Wars. The son of a scribe, Pernicar's father sent him to the Jedi Order once he proved himself to be Force-sensitive, something he resented for many years. From 1,010 BBY until 1,000 BBY, Pernicar fought in the New Sith Wars against the Brotherhood of Darkness, at one point being forced to kill his former Padawan, Wud Mortull, who had fallen to the dark side of the Force. In 1,002 BBY, he was called into action to fight on the planet Ruusan in the Army of Light, a Jedi army led by Pernicar's good friend, Lord Hoth. During the Ruusan campaign, Pernicar found himself as the mediator in the frequent arguments between Hoth and another high-ranking member of the Army of Light, Master Valenthyne Farfalla. Pernicar was killed in a Sith attack in 1,000 BBY on Ruusan, around the time of the Sixth Battle of Ruusan.

Early life
"I never wanted to be anything else but a scribe, just like him&hellip;"

- Pernicar

Pernicar, a male Human, was born a Force-sensitive, one of four brothers. His father was a small-town scribe, writing letters for people who couldn't write. As a boy, Pernicar wanted nothing more but to be a scribe like his father, but his father sent Pernicar away to join the Jedi Order once he proved himself to be adept to the Force. This hurt Pernicar, who subsequently hated both his father for sending him away and himself for being attuned to the Force and deserving his father's contempt. It would take him years to realize why his father sent him to the Jedi; there would never be enough letters to feed he and his brothers if they were all to be scribes. However, by the time Pernicar finally realized this his father had died.

Life as a Jedi
"When the battle comes, I will fight like a Jedi."

- Pernicar

Pernicar rose through the ranks of the Jedi Order, eventually achieving the rank of Jedi Master. At some point, he was able to convince the father of future Jedi Master Valenthyne Farfalla to join the fold of the Galactic Republic, an act that Farfalla would remember years later. At some point, Pernicar took Wud Mortull as a Padawan. Pernicar was present when Mortull built his first lightsaber, a green-bladed weapon that Mortull confided that he felt a strong connection to. However, Mortull would disappear some time after. During his time as a Jedi, Pernicar became good friends with hot-tempered Jedi Master Hoth. In 1,010 BBY, the former Jedi Master Lord Kaan reorganized the Sith into the Brotherhood of Darkness, an army over 20,000 strong. The Brotherhood of Darkness began a new campaign against the Republic, scoring many victories.

In 1,010 BBY, Pernicar fought in a battle against the Sith. During the battle, Pernicar saw his former Padawan, Wud Mortull, amongst the ranks of the Sith. Mortull, noticing his former Master, ran in Pernicar's direction, smiling and laughing as he made his way toward Pernicar. As Mortull neared Pernicar, he activated a red-bladed lightsaber, having forsaken his old green one. Mortull attacked Pernicar, but Pernicar was able to cut Mortull down. Temporarily oblivious to the chaos of the battle around him, Pernicar examined Mortull's lightsaber, believing that the lightsaber may have turned him to the dark side of the Force, as he could not imagine that his Padawan would turn on his own volition. After the battle's conclusion, he took the weapon to the Jedi armorer, who referred Pernicar to a holobook on the subject of lightsaber crystals. Pernicar would go on to pen an essay on his experience fighting his former Padawan and his theories on lightsaber crystals affecting the behavior of the user.

The New Sith Wars raged for a decade, and in 1,002 BBY, the war reached the strategically-valuable planet of Ruusan. The Sith won the First Battle of Ruusan and repelled a Republic effort to retake the planet. After the Republic's failure to retake Ruusan, Pernicar's friend, Jedi Master Hoth, organized a large army of Jedi known as the Army of Light to fight the Brotherhood. Pernicar served in this army as Hoth's right-hand man. The Army of Light was sent to Ruusan to fight the Sith, who were advancing rapidly toward the Core Worlds. In response, the Brotherhood sent their entire force and their apprentices still in training in Sith academies to fight in what would be a climactic series of battles. The Army of Light surprised the Sith in the Third Battle of Ruusan and retook the planet.

During the Ruusan campaign, the numbers of the Army of Light began to dwindle greatly. Pernicar suggested to Hoth that they recruit Force-sensitive children to fight for them, reasoning that if they did not recruit children, the Brotherhood of Darkness would. Hoth rejected this idea at first, but eventually relented, allowing children to fight for them. Following the third engagement on Ruusan, Pernicar was forced to mediate an argument between Hoth and another high-ranking member of the Army of Light, Valenthyne Farfalla. Hoth was dismayed by the lack of ready fighters that the Army of Light had, and Farfalla chided him for his lack of tact in recruiting new members. Farfalla offered to leave and get one hundred new members to fight for the Army of Light, saying that Hoth was lacking in the art of diplomacy. Hoth accepted the offer, and Farfalla left. Once Farfalla was out of earshot, Pernicar questioned whether allowing Farfalla to leave was a prudent decision, as the Army of Light's numbers were low as it was. Hoth proposed a change of strategy&mdash;the able Jedi would use guerrilla tactics, and deny the Sith the chance to face the full Jedi force until Farfalla's reinforcements had arrived.

In 1,000 BBY, the Fourth Battle of Ruusan took place, a Jedi victory where Lord Gale and Jedi General Kiel Charny disabled the gun turrets guarding the Sith encampment, at the cost of Gale's life. This paved the way for the fifth battle on the planet the next morning, which resulted in another Jedi victory. Pernicar was by Hoth's side at the main Jedi encampment at the time of the battle, and as such did not participate. After the conclusion of the battle, Pernicar and Hoth received a messenger who relayed the details of the confrontation. Hoth was especially dismayed by the Jedi losses in the battle, believing that defeating the Sith might mean the destruction of the Army of Light. Pernicar tried to comfort Hoth by telling him that Valenthyne Farfalla was bringing reinforcements, but to no avail. Some time later, Pernicar related the story of why he joined the Jedi to Hoth. Hoth responded in kind by telling his tale&mdash;that he dreamed of being a hero and destroying the forces of the dark side. After telling his story, Hoth asked Pernicar whether he thought less of Hoth for his dreams. Pernicar said no, telling Hoth that he was the greatest Jedi he had ever met and that they would fight together when the time came.

Death and legacy
"You were a worthy Jedi, Pernicar."

- Valenthyne Farfalla, after Pernicar's death

Pernicar was eventually killed in a Sith attack on Ruusan. After his death, Valenthyne Farfalla arrived with Jedi reinforcements and helped the cornered Jedi forces win the Sixth Battle of Ruusan. After the conclusion of the battle, Farfalla was informed by Hoth about Pernicar's death. The loss of the Jedi Master shocked Farfalla, who performed a short eulogy for his fallen comrade, promising to fast for him. Hoth and Farfalla got into an argument when the former told the latter of Pernicar's death, with Hoth blaming Farfalla for the killing of Pernicar. Later, Pernicar appeared to Hoth in a dream. Hoth confided in Pernicar that he feared that he had driven Farfalla away from the Army of Light, but Pernicar revealed that Farfalla's ships were still in orbit around Ruusan. Pernicar subsequently instructed his old friend to make amends with Farfalla.

The Seventh Battle of Ruusan, the final battle of the New Sith Wars, took place shortly afterward. Lord Kaan unleashed the deadly thought bomb weapon, which decimated both the Army of Light and the Brotherhood of Darkness. Pernicar's friend Hoth was killed by the bomb, along with one hundred volunteers who decided to accompany him in facing the Sith in the final battle. Farfalla survived, having been ordered to take his forces out of the bomb's range. Due to his actions, many Jedi were able to survive the thought bomb explosion, while virtually all of the Sith forces were wiped out. Only one member of the Sith survived; a man named Darth Bane, who would keep the Sith Order alive with his apprentice, Darth Zannah.

One of the planets of the Hoth's Brand system&mdash;formerly the Ruusan system&mdash;was named Pernicar in honor of the deceased Jedi Master. The planet was one of many in the system named after Jedi who had fallen in combat during the Ruusan campaign. In the year 40 ABY, more than a thousand years after Pernicar's death, his essay on lightsaber crystals written after his duel with Wud Mortull was included in Jedi Master Tionne Solusar's tome about the Force.

Personality and traits
"Neither one of us is young&mdash;though we both have had more than our share of foolish moments."

- Pernicar to Hoth

Pernicar was always very calm and in control of his emotions, as opposed to his hot-tempered friend, Lord Hoth. Pernicar frequently served as the mediator in arguments between Hoth and Valenthyne Farfalla, and Hoth often confided in Pernicar. The two were good friends, and Pernicar greatly admired Hoth, calling him the best Jedi he had ever met. Pernicar hated his father for sending him to the Jedi Order when he desired to be a scribe, and hated himself for being adept in the Force and subsequently deserving of being sent away. However, he finally realized that his father had acted in his best interests by sending him to the Jedi, but by that time, his father was dead. When Pernicar's former Padawan, Wud Mortull, attacked him on the battlefield, the Jedi Master showed no hesitation in cutting him down, but still refused to believe that he had turned to the dark side of his own volition.

Behind the scenes
Pernicar made his first appearance in the Star Wars: Jedi vs. Sith comic series, released in 2001. Pernicar is introduced in the first issue and killed in the fourth issue. He would appear again in Drew Karpyshyn's 2006 novel Darth Bane: Path of Destruction, which covers the same time period as the Jedi vs. Sith comics. One of the essays in Jedi vs. Sith: The Essential Guide to the Force is attributed to Pernicar, and in 2008, he was given an entry in The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia.

The events of Pernicar's death differ in both Jedi vs. Sith and Darth Bane: Path of Destruction; Path of Destruction has Pernicar dying in a Sith ambush on a Jedi supply convoy that Pernicar and Hoth were accompanying before the Sixth Battle of Ruusan, and Jedi vs. Sith implies that Pernicar dies in the Sixth Battle of Ruusan itself. An entry of Drew Karpyshyn's blog on StarWars.com addresses some of the continuity issues created by Path of Destruction, although no mention is made of Pernicar's death. So far, the canonical flow of events has yet to be cleared up.

Appearances

 * Darth Bane: Path of Destruction
 * Star Wars: Jedi vs. Sith