HK-47

HK-47 was a Hunter-Killer assassin droid and Jedi hunter constructed by Dark Lord of the Sith Darth Revan shortly after the beginning of the Jedi Civil War to assassinate those who his master believed would destabilize the galaxy. HK-47 was constructed after the widespread destruction caused during the final battle of the Mandalorian Wars caused Revan to seek more subtle methods of defeating his enemies. HK-47 was badly damaged and captured on a mission in Mandalorian space shortly before Revan was captured by the Jedi. The assassin droid lost his memory and went from owner to owner, many of whom he inadvertently slew personally, eventually ending up on Tatooine before being unwittingly reunited with his master, whose memory was erased following his capture. The droid went on to help Revan rediscover the Star Forge, an ancient superweapon Revan had used during his reign as Dark Lord of the Sith. The droid would accompany Revan to the edge of the Unknown Regions along with another one of Revan's droids before being left behind in Revan's ship, the Ebon Hawk as Revan, now a Jedi Knight, journeyed on to face an threat he remembered from his time as Dark Lord.

Sometime later, HK-47 was damaged and left aboard the Ebon Hawk which eventually ended up in the hands of one of Revan's allies from the Mandalorian Wars, the Jedi Exile. During this period, HK-50 assassin droids, a newer version that Revan had mass produced for purposes similar to HK's, were found by the leader of the Exchange organization on Nar Shaddaa. GO-TO hired them as bounty hunters and the HK-50s soon began traveling around the galaxy helping him achieve his goals. The Exile repaired HK-47, who recognized her as his new master and accompanied her in order to find the source of the HK-50s whose very existence was considered an insult by HK-47. HK-47 would also aid the Exile in her search for the surviving Jedi Masters, and even passed on techniques on how to kill Jedi in order for the Exile to learn how to better defend herself. HK-47 eventually succeeded in finding the HK Manufacturing Plant and convinced the HK-50s to join his cause, culminating in a final confrontation between HK-47 and the HK-50s former employer, GO-TO, whose interests conflicted with that of the Jedi Exile.

Four millennia later, HK-47 was found on the planet Mustafar, his memory core having been preserved within the computer of a derelict starship. HK-47 manipulated the group of spacers who discovered him into creating a new body for him before subsequently turning on them with the help of several battle droids. The spacers were forced to disable HK-47's new droid army as well as the factory producing them. After a fierce battle, the spacers managed to triumph over the droids although HK-47 managed to escape destruction.

Revan's assassin
HK-47 was originally constructed by the Sith Lord Revan shortly after the final battle of the Mandalorian Wars fought around the planet of Malachor V, a battlefield chosen because of its status as a forbidden world in Mandalorian superstition, which gave the Republic forces a psychological edge over their opponents. Revan was still a Jedi Knight serving as the commander of the Republic forces at this point and decided to resort to extreme tactics to decisively end the war. During the course of the battle, Revan ordered the activation of a Mass Shadow Generator, invented by Republic engineer Bao-Dur, which devastated the entire surface of the planet and destroyed a majority of the warships on both sides. Not long after the resolution of the war, Revan renounced the Jedi Order and left along with his friend Malak to search for Star Maps left behind by an ancient civilization so he could find and use the superweapon known as the Star Forge. Revan turned to using HK-47 as a political assassin and a more selective way of achieving his goals. Although he considered himself to be a unique construct, HK-47 bore a close resemblance to other Hunter-killer droids produced by Czerka Corporation. Revan did in fact use the HK-24 design as a basis for his model and included several of his own upgrades.

While HK-47 displayed obedience to those he identified as his master, he had little regard for any form of life and admitted that he was driven by a desire for violence and carnage. He characteristically used the term meatbag when speaking of organic life forms, especially Humans. This insult was originally used in passing by the droid when Revan's apprentice Darth Malak had asked what the droid thought of him. In stating his opinion, HK-47 informed Malak of his meatbag status. Revan found the insult, as well as Malak's annoyance, amusing enough to re-program HK-47 to consider all organics "meatbags."

After witnessing HK-47's abilities first-hand, Revan decided that more droids of this design would make efficient agents in his plans to preserve galactic stability. HK-47 became the basis for a new model of HK-series assassin droids: the HK-50s, which were manufactured in a secret facility on Telos IV.

The droid would continue to serve Revan during the Jedi Civil War, a devastating war between a Sith Empire that Revan created after his turn to the dark side and the Galactic Republic, helping him locate the Star Forge and assassinating beings who could potentially destabilize the galaxy until his master sent him on an assassination mission into Mandalorian space. While HK-47 was on this mission, Revan was captured by the Jedi after Malak turned on his master and fired a volley of turbolaser fire into the bridge of Revan's flagship. As a result, Revan lost his memories, including those of HK-47's existence. Though HK-47 succeeded in his assassination mission, his motor functions were damaged, and he ended up in the possession of a Mandalorian soldier who claimed him as his spoils. The Mandalorian repaired HK-47, though not particularly well in the droid's opinion, and began using him to elevate his rank by eliminating rivals.

HK-47 had lost much of his memory due to the damage he received and he lacked the knowledge as to where he had been created, though he believed himself to be of Systech Corporation's manufacture. All that remained was his affinity toward violence, although he could not recall why he had been equipped for such a purpose.

From master to master
"You're just a traveling piece of bad luck, aren't you?"

- Revan to HK-47, about his dead masters

Eventually, the Mandalorian ordered HK to assassinate the reigning Mandalore. He failed and was captured by the Mandalore who re-programmed him and sent him after his former master who he successfully terminated. Since HK-47 was programmed to shut down whenever his current master died, he deactivated himself after killing the Mandalorian and was sold to Bochaba the Hutt, a crime lord on the planet Sleheyron.

HK-47 helped Bochaba maintain his reputation as the most feared gangster on Sleheyron, terminating 322 targets in a single year before Bochaba was finally assassinated by his rivals. The droid shut himself down once again after this discovery and was sold to a Human senator on Coruscant. The senator first assumed HK-47 to be a mere protocol droid but later one of his assistants discovered the droid's assassination functions and asked the senator to destroy him. The senator instead ordered HK-47 to kill the assistant. The droid remained with his master and helped him eliminate his political enemies. The senator was on the way to being elected as the Supreme Chancellor, but things did not go as they were planned.

The next target the senator ordered HK-47 to kill was his own wife who, as he discovered, was cheating on him. As HK-47 approached the wife and her illicit lover to terminate them both, his master suddenly regretted his order and dove between the droid and his intended victims. Having accidentally terminated his master, the droid had no choice but to shut down. The senator's wife later sold him to a low-ranking commercial officer of Systech Corporation.

At first, the officer used HK-47 as a protocol and bodyguard droid but later he found out about the droid's assassination protocols. After that, he sent HK-47 on a mission to eliminate workers of a competitor company that was developing a product which, if launched onto the market, would ruin the officer's career. The officer did not realize that the competing company was, in fact, another branch of Systech Corporation. By the time he realized his mistake, HK-47 had already terminated 104 Systech employees. HK-47 assumed that, being the only officer remaining, his master would be promoted. Instead, the officer in dismay attacked the droid. While doing so he pierced one of HK-47's actuators with a writing utensil resulting in an electric shock that killed him and destroyed the droid's assassination protocols once again forcing the droid to deactivate himself for killing his master.

Back with Revan


After that accident, HK-47 was sold to Yuka Laka&mdash;an Ithorian droid dealer in the Anchorhead settlement on Tatooine&mdash;who fitted him with a restraining bolt, further restricting his memory and both his protocol and assassination protocols. There he was encountered by his original master, Revan, whose mind had been erased by the Dantooine Jedi Enclave Council after being injured at the hands of Darth Malak. Revan was once again trying to find the Star Forge and was looking for the Star Map located on Tatooine. He purchased the droid for his knowledge of the Sand People dialect as he intended to negotiate with the local chieftain about ceasing attacks against Czerka Corporation personnel after Revan realized that he could not understand their dialect himself. HK-47 eagerly accompanied Revan, as he disliked Yuka Laka, and acted as a translator when Revan met with the chieftain of the local tribe. HK-47, in keeping with his violent programming, advocated for simply eliminating the local tribe but Revan opted for a peaceful method and managed to gain entrance to the Sand People Enclave by using disguises taken off fallen Tusken Raiders. Revan was able to successfully reach an accord with the chieftain by trading two moisture vaporators he bought from the Czerka outpost so that the tribe could journey farther away from the settlement and cease their constant raids. As a sign of appreciation, the chieftain gave Revan his personal gaffi stick as a sign of gratitude as well as a map of the area of Tatooine where the Star Map was located. HK-47 expressed his disappointment at the loss of a chance for combat against the Sand People.

When Revan later asked HK-47 about the droid's past, he was quite taken aback to discover that the droid had, indirectly or otherwise, been the cause of death of all of his interim owners. This did not stop Revan from making multiple repairs to the droid, despite some trepidation on HK-47's part, eventually restoring everything but the memory core, which was too fragile to attempt to repair manually.

Eventually, Revan encountered Malak for the first time since his former Sith apprentice had betrayed him; this proved to be the stimulus necessary for Revan to remember the truth about his own history. It was also the signal for HK-47's internal programming to undo the simulated damage to his primary memory core allowing the droid both full access to his entire memory as well as his entire combat and assassination protocol package. HK-47 appeared more than satisfied to be reunited with his master but would later comment that Revan had changed since HK-47 had last served him, stating that Revan was more compassionate than before, although the droid still believed Revan to be just as capable. The droid would also express his alleged frustration and rage at being absent during Malak's betrayal and his inability to defend Revan from Malak's treachery.

HK-47 remained with Revan until the end of the former Dark Lord's journey, following him to the Star Forge, and aiding in the destruction of the superweapon as well as the defeat of Darth Malak. HK-47 was honored with Revan's other companions as a hero of the Republic and was awarded the Cross of Glory beside them. Not long after, more of Revan's memories would return and the Jedi would recall an unknown threat he uncovered as a Sith Lord. HK-47 accompanied Revan to Malachor V, where, along with T3-M4&mdash;another one of Revan's droids&mdash;and the Ebon Hawk, Revan left him with his former teacher Kreia before departing for the Unknown Regions.

The Jedi Exile


Somehow during the intervening time, HK-47 was once again heavily damaged and almost entirely dismembered. He was partially repaired by an unknown party. When the Jedi Exile who had since gained ownership of the Ebon Hawk reactivated HK-47, using parts retrieved from the imitation HK-50s and a junk dealer on Nar Shaddaa, the droid was enraged to discover these copies of himself, citing their coloration and their lack of using the meatbag reference, instead using "organic," as examples of their inferiority in his eyes. Hoping to encounter more of these copies and eventually track them to where they were created, the droid joined the Exile in her journey to find and unite the surviving Jedi Masters from the former High Jedi Council of the First Jedi Purge. .

The damage taken by HK-47 was not fully repaired by the Exile, his assassination protocols were still damaged and his personality had become more violent than it had been during the Jedi Civil War. Much of HK-47's memory was also gone, and because of this HK-47 did not remember others who had followed the amnesiac Revan, such as T3-M4 or Canderous Ordo, although he did seem familiar with GO-TO. HK-47 began to analyze the ship and discovered an anomaly: the Ebon Hawk's navicomputer was locked; it made him curious as to where the ship had recently been. Before he could investigate, T3 disabled him and erased his memory of the anomaly. It was also learned that Revan erased HK-47's memory of the past four years so he would not find out the former Sith Lord's destination. However, he regained a few memories of his past adventure on the Ebon Hawk after the Exile reactivated him. HK-47 continued to follow the Exile until after the Battle of Telos IV. Darth Nihilus, a member of an organization of Dark Lords of the Sith, was tricked by Kreia into attacking the Jedi Academy there, thinking that he could sap the Jedis' Force energy when in reality the only Force-sensitive in the academy was its founder, Jedi Master Atris, the rest were Force-blind Echani Handmaidens. The attack failed when the Jedi Exile, and her companions Visas Marr, Nihilus's former Sith apprentice; and the current Mandalore, Canderous Ordo, along with a large force of Mandalorians boarded Nihilus's flagship, the Ravager. The Exile's team planted proton bombs at strategic locations in the ship before confronting and defeating Nihilus. The destruction of the Ravager gave the Republic reinforcements commanded by Admiral Carth Onasi the advantage, sparing Telos from destruction. HK-47 left the group after this, capturing and torturing an HK-50 unit into telling him the location where the HK-50 models were being produced.

HK-47 eventually tracked the HK-50s to the HK Manufacturing Plant under the surface of Telos IV and, upon arrival, persuaded the HK-50s to join his cause. HK-47 then returned with the Exile to Malachor V in order to defeat the Sith Lord Darth Traya, although the Ebon Hawk crashed due to the stormy atmosphere of the planet and the group was separated. The Exile had left instructions to destroy Malachor V, which GO-TO tried to prevent, as he viewed the Sith artifacts on the planet to be too valuable to destroy. HK-47 and the HK-50s intervened on the Exile's behalf, and destroyed their former employer, freeing Bao-Dur's remote to activate the Mass Shadow Generator and destroy the planet.

"Retirement" on Mustafar
Sometime during the thousands of years between then and the Galactic Civil War, HK-47's artificial intelligence was transferred to a computer located in a Hammerhead-class cruiser. For unknown reasons the cruiser crashed on the volcanic Outer Rim planet of Mustafar.

Thousands of years later, a tectonic shift exposed the cruiser. When the Confederacy of Independent Systems arrived on Mustafar during the on-going Clone Wars, they discovered the wreckage and HK-47's chassis. Separatist scientists began studying design elements of HK-47 and incorporating them into their own technology, hoping to create new droid models that would help to defeat the Republic. The result was the new HK-77 model. Mass production was ready to begin when Darth Vader arrived on Mustafar and wiped out the Separatist leaders, bringing an end to the Clone Wars and the Separatist movement. HK-47's chassis, along with the rest of the new HK-77 models, were forgotten and lay dormant after Vader and the Imperial forces left Mustafar.

Over 20 years later, c. 1.5 ABY, the terminal in the Hammerhead-class cruiser contacted a group of spacers. HK-47 instructed the spacers to invade the Kubaza Beetle Cavern and enable his AI to be transferred from the ship. Once they succeeded in doing so, he ordered them on another quest; this time they were to enter an old research facility on Mustafar which was said to date back to the years of the Galactic Republic and restore the power. Though the group had to fight through much of the indigenous life of the planet, as well as several battle droids, they eventually managed to complete their task. Terminal Delta Five, a computer in the newly powered Research Facility, immediately contacted the group and ordered them to enter the old Droid Factory on the planet and enter a six-digit code into the main terminal. Unfortunately, the code was scattered over three separate terminals which were only operational for ten seconds each. As soon as the group managed to enter the code, however, the Factory Guardian appeared and attempted to kill them. Once they had dealt with this threat, they returned to the Old Research Facility where they received a message from HK-47, now integrated to a new body similar to his former 4000-year old one.

HK-47 informed them that, although he appreciated their help for returning him to his body, he would have to get the factory back up and running to get some payback from those who had taken it from him. However, he was unsure as to who had taken it in the first place, and decided to simply kill any organics he came across, starting with the group of spacers who had helped him. The group managed to escape, however, and returned to the Mensix Mining Facility to speak with Milo Mensix, the foreman, and leader of the facility.

HK-47 assembled an army of AK-1A "Hammer", AK-3 "Reaper", GK-5 Sentry, and HK-77 droids in order to destroy all organics on Mustafar. The army attacked the Koseyet Mining Camp where they were met by several miners, as well as the spacers who had previously escaped from HK-47, starting the Battle of Koseyet. Though the droids attacked relentlessly they were eventually defeated. The group of spacers proceeded to the Droid Factory, attacking and destroying HK-58 Aurek, HK-58 Besh, HK-Taskmaster, CY-M Prototype and Doom Bringer before shutting the factory down. The spacers made their way to the lava crater at the Central Volcano to destroy HK-47. Though the spacers succeeded after a long battle against HK-47's elite droids, once they returned to Milo Mensix for their reward, they received a message from HK-47, explaining that he was, in fact, still alive. HK-47 admired the spacers' ability and in a sarcastic motion, awarded them with a decorative hologram of himself. The plaque at the hologram's base simply read "Meatbag."

Personality and traits
"Statement: Now do you understand the travails of my existence, master? Surely it does not compare to your existence, but still&hellip;''" "I survive. Somehow." "''Commentary: As do I. It is our lot in life, I suppose, master. Shall we find something to kill to cheer ourselves up?"

- HK-47 and Revan about how organics can live with their physical structure.

HK-47's personality programming caused him to appear misanthropic, bordering on sociopathic, to those who encountered him. The droid seemed to enjoy observing, and often causing, death and destruction, showing complete disregard for bystanders on more than one occasion. The only organics HK-47 displayed any respect for were his masters, although he indirectly caused the death of almost all his owners. He was more than willing on several occasions while serving Revan to dispose of anyone who annoyed the Jedi. From Revan's point of view, the droid was much too eager to act on his programming, which unnerved the amnesiac Jedi.

The droid displayed several unique behavioral tendencies as a result of his programming. Whether these were intentionally installed by Revan or simply part of his protocol droid package is unclear. HK-47 had a definite sense of pride, and considered himself superior to all organics and all droids except for Revan, who was the only person he seemed to admire; mostly for what the droid considered creative atrocities that Revan performed as a Sith Lord. HK-47 also had a unique speech trait, where he would vocally prefix every statement he made with a speech conditional that described the type of statement it was. For example, if asking a question, he would first say "Query:", before beginning his question ("Query: Who would you like killed today, master?"). As his AI was taken to create the next generation of HK droids, this trait also carried over to the HK-50 models though these later models would more often add adjectives to their speech conditionals (such as "Veiled threat" or "Irritated statement"), most likely to contribute towards their disguises as protocol droids.

Due to his appearance, he, as well as his subsequent models, was often mistaken for a protocol droid by many, and he used this to his advantage on more than one occasion, hiding his true nature in order to covertly achieve his goals. HK-47 was a proficient killer, as well as highly innovative, using many varied techniques, most notably when hunting Jedi.

The Jedi Exile briefly installed the HK protocol pacifist package which gave HK-47 a short-lived appreciation for peace and pacifism, which lead to a deeper understanding of his prey. This upgrade had to be removed, for the simple reason that the droid found himself horrified at the very thought of causing harm to another being and by the fact that his new behavior disconcerted the Exile. When the program was removed, HK-47 strongly suggested the Exile scan any future packages before installing them, as the thought of becoming a pacifist in function seemed to appall the droid.

Skills and abilities
True to his design as an assassin droid, HK-47 was a dangerous opponent, able to fight effectively in a stealth operation as well as in open combat. His combat programming made him a deadly combatant with a large variety of weapons, including blasters of any design as well as a multitude of droid weapons such as flamethrowers and carbonite projectors. HK-47 had a particular affinity for blaster rifles, using the Droid Assassin's rifle primarily, often citing the satisfaction he derived from using them in many combat scenarios. As a Jedi hunter, the droid was knowledgeable in many techniques for assassinating Jedi, which he explained to the Jedi Exile so she could better defend herself against her enemies. When faced with a Jedi, HK-47 utilized various weapons specifically selected to be most effective against lightsaber techniques, such as grenades, sonic screamers, cluster rockets, plasma charges, poison gas and mines, showing the droid's versatility in combat. These weapons could not be deflected by a lightsaber, and sonic weapons were useful in shattering a Jedi's concentration, preventing the use of Force powers. Mines and gas were useful in catching a Jedi by surprise, giving HK-47 the advantage in combat. HK-47 mentioned using a sniper rifle to attack from long range in order to avoid detection. In addition to these weapons, HK-47 also would attempt to erode the will of his opponents and make them doubt their beliefs, which he found to be an effective method for weakening their concentration and disrupting their connection to the Force. The droid also found attacking a Jedi's allies, as Jedi would often sacrifice themselves to save an ally.

In addition to his combat proficiency, HK-47 also possessed many other skills. Like many droids, HK-47 was a mechanic and had at least some knowledge in demolitions and slicing. During his journey with Revan, he could start a fighter simulation so that Revan could practice his skills at manning the turret of the Ebon Hawk. Revan also upgraded HK-47 on various occasions, increasing his overall efficiency. As much of his original programming was based on protocol subroutines, the droid was capable of acting as a translator, voice impersonator and as a protocol droid in many other respects. He was fluent in Galactic Basic Standard, Tusken, Binary, Jawa Trade Language, and boasted that he was fluent in over 6,000 forms of communication.

Several modifications were made to HK-47 throughout his life span by his many owners, modifications that served to re-enforce his abilities and enhance his performance. Most of these modifications were damaged beyond anything less than intrusive repair after his dismemberment during his second service to Revan.

Behind the scenes


HK-47 is featured in the games Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords and Star Wars: Galaxies. He is voiced by Kristoffer Tabori in both KOTOR games.

HK-47 is known to call organic lifeforms "meatbags", which is something that the robot Bender from the show Futurama has said on occasion.

With a Force alignment of 20, (0 being Dark Side Mastery and 100 being Light Side Mastery) HK-47 has the very lowest (darkest) alignment score of any member of Revan's party. He often expresses delight at the cruel actions of a Dark Side player. Conversely, HK-47 often expresses disappointment at just actions undertaken by a Light Side player.

The origins of HK-47's name comes from BioWare writer Drew Karpyshyn. He states on his website that the origin for the name of HK-47 is as follows: "My billiard team is the original source of the name for a popular character in the Knights of the Old Republic game. My team was made up of 4 players with the last name Harrison, and 1 player (me) with the name Karpyshyn. So with 4 H’s and 1 K we were going to call ourselves the HK-41’s. But we decided HK-47 sounded more intimidating because of the well known AK-47 rifle, so we became the HK-47’s. Several years later, when I went to work for BioWare, I tacked the name onto the homicidal Hunter-Killer robot assassin who joined the player on his quest."



HK-47 was a miniature in the Star Wars Miniatures set Champions of the Force. He had a "Very Rare" rarity level (circled star) and was depicted holding a blaster rifle. True to Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, where he was introduced, he is affiliated with the Fringe, meaning he could join either light side or dark side factions during skirmish

HK-47 is also available in theStar Wars: The Legacy Collection action figure line. He is included in the "Wave 7: ATTACK OF THE CLONES" set.

Cut content
HK-47, in Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords, was originally going to attack the secret HK Manufacturing Plant on Telos, whose existence he learns of by torturing an HK-50 droid. The segment would have occurred shortly after the final meeting on Dantooine and the confrontation with Atris. HK-47 would travel to the surface of Telos IV as Nihilus began his assault on Citadel Station and tackle the Factory alone while the Exile, Visas and Mandalore assaulted the Ravager.

In the factory, HK would gain the support of the new HK-51s, due to their self-preservation program; and after destroying the HK-50s and halting their production, they would travel to Malachor V to either help Bao-Dur's remote and dismantle G0-T0, or preserve Malachor and destroy the remote. It is unknown if it was intended that HK-47 would perish with Malachor V, but given his resurgence in the Rebellion era, no ending in which he did can be considered canon-compatible.

T3-M4 and GO-TO can be upgraded in cutscenes by Bao-Dur, another member of the Exile's party, while HK-47 cannot, though it was initially planned and the dialogue was recorded. Bao-Dur would have offered to upgrade him but HK would refuse, saying that he had been tampered with enough by other "unskilled meatbags." Bao-Dur was insulted by this comment so HK said that he would allow Bao-Dur to work on him after he was more sure of the Zabrak's ability. Later in the game, HK-50 units would attack the Ebon Hawk and their strength made HK-47 feel inferior so he decided to allow Bao-Dur to upgrade him. After the procedure, HK's system checks would come back optimal and he would have apologized for doubting Bao-Dur's abilities. This encounter would result in a permanent extra constitution point for HK.

As of April 2005, a collection of "modders" called Team Gizka has been restoring the content, using the cut content rescued off of a game disk. As of October 1, 2008, they are nearing completion, and are currently in the beta stage of restoration.

Appearances

 * Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic
 * Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords
 * Star Wars Galaxies: Trials of Obi-Wan