Tau (individual)

"Never again will I be a slave. To anyone."

- Xesh to Daegen Lok.

Xesh was a Force-sensitive Human male who was captured and enslaved as a child by the Infinite Empire of the Rakata species. Branded with the Aurebesh letter Xesh on his face, back, and arms, Xesh was trained in the dark side of the Force as a Force Hound, the personal warrior of the Rakatan Predor Tul'kar, though his friendship with a fellow slave named Trill became a bitter rivalry when the two became Force Hounds. In Tul'kar's service, Xesh discovered many planets with strong Force signatures, and was considered to be one of the best Force Hounds in the entire Empire by the year 25,793 BBY, when he was tasked with finding a Force-strong planet in the Deep Core.

Xesh was successful in finding a path to the world, which was the planet Tython, but Tul'kar's starship Devourer exploded over Tython and Xesh found himself the only survivor&mdash;only to be confronted by Shae Koda, Tasha Ryo, and Sek'nos Rath: three young Je'daii Journeyers, members of an order of Force-sensitive warriors, scholars, and healers. Believing the Je'daii to be warriors like himself, Xesh fought them before fleeing into the canyon known as the Rift. However, Xesh's arrival on Tython caused a powerful Force storm that began to sweep across the planet, leading the Je'daii to pursue the dark stranger into the Rift. After witnessing Shae Koda's use of the light side of the Force in defense of her friends, a power that was alien and intoxicating to Xesh, the Force Hound joined the Je'daii in battling a saarl, an enormous creature in the Rift.

Defeated by the Je'daii, Xesh was exiled to the moon of Bogan to meditate on the Force, but his fellow exile, the mad Je'daii Daegen Lok, recruited Xesh in his mission to construct new Forcesabers&mdash;the powerful weapons of the Force Hounds. The two escaped Bogan and traveled the Settled Worlds of the Tython system, acquiring the materials needed for the Forcesabers, but Xesh grew more and more uneasy about his "ally" as their journey continued and as they were pursued by Je'daii, among them Shae Koda and Sek'nos Rath. Xesh captured Koda after rescuing her from death on the planet Nox, but Lok's attempt to secure the allegiance of the Twi'lek warlord Volnos Ryo ended in disaster as Ryo turned on Lok and their Je'daii pursuers caught up to them. Convinced by Koda to make his destiny his own, Xesh turned on Lok and helped the Je'daii capture the made warrior.

Childhood and training
"A child&hellip; with the same tatto as you. You as a child, Xesh? Yes. I sense&hellip; nothing in you&hellip; no empathy&hellip; no love. No compassion. No light. Only darkness. Only shadow. What did those monsters do to you?!''" "''I am as I was made. Born to be a Force Hound. Fated to serve my masters."

- Tasha Ryo and Xesh

A Human male slave of the Infinite Empire of the Rakata species, Xesh was found to be Force-sensitive and placed in a brood of other Force-sensitive children., Branded with a tattoo of the Aurebesh letter Xesh on his face, upper arms, and back, the boy found a friend in a fellow slave named Trill, and she defended him against the brood leader Yirt when the larger child attempted to attack him. While the rest of the slaves turned on Yirt and began to attack him, Trill and Xesh left Yirt to his fate. The two became friends and made blood oaths to protect and not to kill each other.

In the years that followed, Xesh and the rest of the brood were encased in the machines of the Rakata, which drew on their strength in the Force to fuel the Rakata's ships. It was then that he first touched the dark side of the Force, his powers unknowingly fueled by the pain, anger, and hate that he felt. These machines and the pain that they caused also effectively stripped Xesh of his empathy, leaving him unable to experience emotions such as love or compassion. One of the Rakata, a Predor named Tul'kar sensed Xesh's power and singled him out from the brood, training him as a Force Hound. Not long afterwards, Tul'kar forced him to fight Trill, who was also training as a Force Hound, and the two battled aboard Tul'kar's ship Devourer. Xesh was victorious in their battle, and he was ordered by Tul'kar to strike down Trill with his new Forcesaber. However, in an effort to save Trill's life, Xesh proposed that Tul'kar present Trill as a gift to his superior, Skal'nas, as a gift&mdash;but also an insult, as Trill would be less powerful than Xesh. Applauding his slave's cunning, Tul'kar agreed, and Xesh departed the chamber without responding to Trill's calling his name. Trill perceived Xesh's actions as a betrayal, and Xesh earned her undying hatred after their battle.

During his training on the planet Byss, Xesh was pitted against Isk, a Force Hound belonging to Tul'kar's superior Skal'nas, and Xesh was initially on the defensive against Isk, who was rumored to be Skal'nas's best Force Hound. However, when Isk attempted to use a set of darts against Xesh, the Human picked the darts out of the air as they passed before leaping on the offensive. Xesh was victorious in the battle, but refused to kill the defeated Isk when he begged for mercy and a good death in battle.

Tul'kar's Hound
"You have done well, Xesh&mdash;finding this planet, culling the sensitives. Yes, I think you are the best of the Force Hounds. And you are mine."

- Tul'kar

As Tul'kar's Hound, Xesh lived a life of loneliness, becoming the best Force Hound in the entire Infinite Empire. Garbed in black and grey armor, Xesh sought out planets with powerful Force signatures, after which the Rakata would conquer the planets and cull the Force-sensitives from the native population. Among Xesh's discoveries was the planet Sriluur, which was inhabited by the Weequay species. In 25,793 BBY, Xesh located the planet of Tatooine, and he led Tul'kar's forces there to conquer it and the native Kumumgah. Xesh then identified the Force-sensitive Kumumgah from the population, though his selection of a Kumumgah named Lonai caused Lonai's father to try and attack Tul'kar.

Tul'kar and Xesh were then summoned by Skal'nas to the planet Byss, and they learned that Skal'nas actually had need of Xesh's abilities. Trill had detected a Force-rich world in the Deep Core, but she was unable to reach it because of the hyperspace disturbances and astronomical anomalies that riddled the region. When asked if Trill's statement was correct, Xesh replied that only she was unable to find it, and an enraged Trill attacked her former friend. Xesh replied by throwing her with the Force before leaping and attempting to kick her, and his second kick sent her falling to the floor. However, as Xesh prepared to execute the pinned Trill with his Forcesaber, Skal'nas intruded and threw the two Force Hounds apart with the Force. Skal'nas repeated his question to Xesh, and the Hound replied that he was able to find the world.

But when Xesh led the Devourer to the world&mdash;the planet Tython in the Tython system&mdash;something happened to the vessel and it was wracked by several explosions. Realizing the ship was doomed, Xesh turned on his master and killed him before making his way to Tul'kar's escape pod, killing all of the Rakata guards who stood in his way. At the same time, Xesh unknowingly appeared in visions to four people&mdash;Sek'nos Rath, Shae Koda, and Tasha Ryo, and Daegen Lok. Koda, Rath, and Ryo were Je'daii Journeyers, students of the Force in the Je'daii Order on Tython, and Lok was an insane Je'daii who had been exiled to the moon Bogan. The three Journeyers were drawn to a volcanic region of Tython by the Force, where they witnessed the stricken Devourer crash, but they discovered Xesh's escape pod intact nearby.

Time on Tython
"You meet me with blades drawn and expect me to believe you mean no harm? Liars. You are the enemy! I will fight and die as a warrior! You will not feast on my bones!"

- Xesh

As he exited the pod, Xesh cast aside his helmet and drew his Forcesaber, and he scoffed at the Journeyers' claims that they meant no harm when he saw their drawn weapons. The Force Hound then leaped at Rath, slicing through the Sith's Madog steel sword, and he did the same to Koda's weapons when the girl landed a kick to his back. Xesh scored a grazing blow on Koda's arm, but Ryo stopped him with the Force and again asked him to surrender. Refusing, Xesh threw Ryo against a nearby rock and resumed his battle with Koda and Rath, and the Sith was astonished when Xesh absorbed the ball of Force lightning that Rath cast at his opponent. Growing tired with the duel, Xesh unleashed the absorbed energy against Koda and Rath, and the lightning injured Koda's pet rancor Butch. Xesh took advantage of her distraction to send her flying with the Force, but Rath managed to stop Xesh's attack with his Forcesaber and take the weapon from the Force Hound. However, Rath was unable to activate the weapon, and in his fury Xesh summoned Force lightning and a storm of wreckage from their surroundings in order to attack Rath.

Rath tossed the weapon to a returning Koda, and a furious Xesh pinned his opponent to the ground before threatening to burn the Sith with lightning unless Koda returned the Forcesaber. But to Xesh's surprise, Koda was able to channel her anger into activating the weapon, and Xesh soon realized that he had misjudged his opponet's powers. Smashing his fist into the ground, Xesh used the Force to tear the surrounding rocks apart before fleeing into the nearby canyon known as the Rift. However, Xesh was weakened by his wounds and concussion, and he collapsed, unconscious, while traveling through the section of the Rift known as the Abyss of Ruh. Xesh's presence on Tython also generated an immense Force storm, as his intense darkness had driven the planet out of balance, and the storm became centered on Xesh's unconscious body in the Rift.

Xesh's unconscious mind recalled the events on the Devourer, but the screams of the dying in his head awoke the Force Hound, who found that he was being encased in a cocoon of webbing by a swarm of spiders. As the creatures attempted to climb inside his mouth, Xesh summoned Force lightning and tore through the webbing, blasting away the spiders, but as he tore the rest of the webbing from his armor, Xesh was confronted with a nightmarish vision of those who had died on the Devourer, and he fled deeper into the Rift. Battling through the nightmares and the twisted creatures that pursued him, Xesh found that his lightning had no effect on the beasts that attacked him, causing his mind to flash back to the fight with Isk years earlier and how Force Hounds were trained to fight on and with any weapon when the stakes were conquer or die. In the absence of his lighting, Xesh resorted to telekinesis, but when one of the creatures bit his arm, Xesh fell to the ground in pain&mdash;only to grab spines off of a nearby plant and use them as projectile, felling all but one of the attacking creatures.

However, the beast was plucked off of Xesh by a saarl, an enormous worm-like creature that proceeded to attack Xesh after it ate the smaller creature. Fortunately for Xesh, the saarl was dissuaded by a large rock that struck it, which had been thrown by the newly-arrived Sek'nos Rath as Koda and Ryo pulled Xesh to safety. The two held back the saarl with the Force as it attacked them, but Xesh slipped away while the three Je'daii were distracted in battle, believing that the three had only saved him because they sought to kill the Force Hound himself. Xesh stopped his ascension of the nearby cliffs to savor the Je'daii's fear, but Koda's anger drew his attention as she struggled to activate the Forcesaber. Xesh called for her to give him the weapon, and despite her reservations, she tossed him the blade&mdash;only for Xesh to walk away from their fight with his weapon. Xesh did not leave, however, but remained hidden at the top of the cliffs while he observed the Je'daii fight with the saarl.

Xesh was confused as to why Koda and Rath did not simply sacrifice Ryo, the weakest of the three, so that they could escape, and he grew even more confused when Koda did not flee after Ryo and Rath were both knocked unconscious. The Force Hound watched in amazement as Koda, her fear vanishing, stood strong against the saarl and drew powerfully on the light side of the Force in her desire to protect her fallen friends. Intrigued and intoxicated by the sensation of her power, Xesh leapt into battle and stabbed the saarl, joining Koda in the fight. Three more Je'daii&mdash;Master Quan-Jang, Ranger Hawk Ryo, and Master Rori Fenn&mdash;arrived moments later, and Fenn and Hawk Ryo joined Koda and Xesh in battling the saarl as Xesh leapt onto the saarl and stabbed it through the eye with his Forcesaber. However, Xesh was caught in a storm of energy that exploded outward from the dying saarl and spiraled up to join the Force storm overhead, and the storm began to fuel his power in the Force as the Je'daii demanded that he stand down.

Xesh refused to surrender as the storm continued to grow in power, but Master Quan-Jang, working in conjunction with the other Je'daii Temple Masters across Tython, channeled the Force through the storm and struck down Xesh with lightning, shifting the planet's balance back towards the light and causing the storm to fade. An enraged Shae Koda, believing her master Quan-Jang to now be dead, grabbed Xesh's fallen Forcesaber and prepared to execute Xesh in her anger, but when Xesh informed Koda that she should have the honor portion of his body because of her bravery, Xesh's words confused Koda and brought her to her senses, causing her to deactivate the weapon and walk away. Xesh was taken to Mahara Kesh, the Je'daii Temple of Healing, where his wounds were tended to by a healer named Calleh, though Xesh did not understand what a "healer" was or why the Je'daii did not kill him.

Exile on Bogan
Over the next ten days, Xesh refused all of the healers' offers to help restore his now-shattered memory, which they believed resulted from the concussion he suffered in the crash of the Devourer. Tasha Ryo visited Xesh, who still could not understand why the Je'daii did not treat him as a prisoner or kill him, and Ryo helped Xesh remember fragments of his memory&mdash;but Ryo was horrified to find that Xesh had been without empathy since his childhood, as the darkness and violence of his life had long since suppressed his emotions. When questioned as to why he helped Koda defeat the saarl, Xesh found it difficult to express, but stated that he simply could not have allowed Koda's "light" to be extinguished. However, the Masters' Council of Je'daii decided that Xesh, with his intense inner darkness, was to be exiled to Tython's moon of Bogan, where he was to meditate on the Force and bring himself back into balance.

Ultimately, the Je'daii chose to exile Xesh to the moon of Bogan, to which they banished all those who had touched the dark side of the Force. Shae, Seknos and Tasha protested the decision, pointing out that Xesh didn't willingly choose the dark path, but the Council's decision remained final, and the Council stated that Xesh would have to meditate on the light side if he was to finally find balance within himself and the Force.

While exiled on the moon of Bogan, Xesh was discovered by fellow exile Daegen Lok. Lok had been exiled to the moon due to his fascination with the dark side and dire visions of an army of dark warriors brandishing red lightsabers. Lok attacked Xesh in his home and attempted to smother him in his own clothing, using the Force. He goaded Xesh into attacking him in order to gauge his worth. After Lok was being questioned by Xesh, he revealed that he used a "mind twist" to give the illusion that Xesh was suffocating, when in reality he was not; he went on telling Xesh that he appeared to him in a vision before Xesh's actual arrival on Bogan. After freeing Xesh of cuffs that relay a prisoner's location to sentry droids, Lok took Xesh to the wreck of a Shikaakwan fighter that crashed during the Despot War. He proceeded to tell Xesh of the vision that caused him to be exiled to Bogan, and Xesh recognized a carving on a wall as a Forcesaber, a weapon he himself used while in service of the Rakatans. Lok explained that he needed to obtain this weapon, so that the Je'daii would believe his vision. Further, there were crystals on the planet Krev Coeur and forges on the planet Nox that they could use to make a Forcesaber, but there was no way to get there.

However, Xesh was able to harness the Force to re-charge the ship's power cells. The intensity of the energy Xesh produced draws mynocks to the ship and causes the hull to glow. Lok tried to force Xesh to stop, but the Force Hound angrily told him to never interrupt him when he commanded the Force; the fallen Je'daii could not understand his power. Lok was willing to allow Xesh to live until he made a Forcesaber, but he was not certain if he would afterward.

Alliance with Daegen Lok
Upon arriving over Krev Coeur, the ship's controls started to malfunction, forcing the two to equip themselves with parachute backpacks and left the ship before it was destroyed by the impact on the planet's surface.

Personality and traits
Xesh had a purple tattoo on the face representing the letter Xesh of the Aurebesh alphabet.

Due to his harsh upbringing as the Infinite Empire's Force Hound, Xesh developed a survival-of-the-fittest philosophy. He believed that all beings are inherently selfish and would put themselves before others' well-being. But upon seeing the three Je'daii Journeyers unwilling to abandon each other, Xesh was spurned by their selflessness and felt that their light should not be extinguished.

Powers and abilities
Xesh was incredibly powerful and skilled, stated to be the greatest of the Force Hounds. Tul'kar prided his greatest weapon and would fight to keep him. Xesh had a rival in fellow Force Hound Trill, the servant of Skal'nas, and stated that she could not do the same as him. When she attacked, he proceeded to beat her unarmed and pulled out his Forcesaber for the killing blow. Xesh was also proficient in casting Force lightning and was also able to reflect it, repelling Sek'nos Rath's ball of lightning. He also defeated an armed and talented Force Hound opponent only using telekinesis. When Tasha Ryo lifted him in the air using the Force, he was able to turn the table by pushing Ryo backwards, making her collide with a rock.

Appearances

 * Dawn of the Jedi: Into the Void
 * Star Wars: Dawn of the Jedi: Force Storm
 * Star Wars: Dawn of the Jedi: The Prisoner of Bogan
 * Star Wars: Dawn of the Jedi 11: Force Wars, Part 1
 * Star Wars: Dawn of the Jedi 12: Force Wars, Part 2