Naga Sadow

"The Sith Empire will burn brightly, like a supernova, dwarfing the complacent Republic. We shall hold the entire galaxy in our grasp."

- Naga Sadow

Naga Sadow was a male Sith Lord, and renowned dark side magician during the days of the first Sith Empire. Sadow had ancestors among both humans and the Sith species of the planet Ziost. He rose to prominence in the final days of the Sith Golden Age, when Marka Ragnos, the reigning Dark Lord of the Sith, passed away, leaving the mantle of Dark Lord vacant. During Ragnos' funeral, Sadow engaged in a duel with rival Sith Lord Ludo Kressh for Ragnos' title, only to have their contest ended by the spectre of the deceased Dark Lord himself. After a brief admonition, the ghost departed while issuing a warning to both Sadow and Kressh, stating that the fate of the Sith Empire hung on the balance of their decision on how to proceed with leadership of the Sith people.

However, the unexpected arrival of two Hyperspace-traveling siblings on Korriban, Gav and Jori Daragon, immediately spurred Sadow's progressive nature. Seeing them as passports to an ideal opportunity for conquest of the Galactic Republic from which they originated, Sadow masterminded a plot that resulted in his ascendance to Dark Lord of the Sith, with many of the lesser Sith Lords swearing fealty to him&mdash;save Ludo Kressh and those loyal to him. Kressh in turn gathered his own followers, and made an attempt on Sadow's life, striking at his decoy-fortress on the planet of Khar Delba in error. Kressh's attack was thus fruitless, and his forces were defeated by those of Naga Sadow. Now the undisputed ruler of the Sith Empire, Sadow allowed one of the alien travelers, Jori, to return home in feigned earnest; he was in truth allowing the girl to unwittingly lead his forces directly to the Republic.

Daragon made her way to the Empress Teta system to warn the Republic of the impending Sith invasion, but the Sith fleet emerged from hyperspace before an ample defense could be mustered. Leading the Sith forces from his personal meditation sphere, Sadow gave command of his flagship to Gav Daragon, and the Sith launched attacks against various unsuspecting Republic worlds. However, Sadow was betrayed by Gav when he fired upon the Dark Lord's sphere and interrupted his meditations, causing the illusions he had been projecting to fade. The tide of battle immediately turned in favor of the Republic as the bulk of Sadow's forces simply disappeared, and the war ultimately lost to the invaders. His fleet in shambles, Sadow then fled back to Sith space, where he engaged in a final battle with Ludo Kressh, one that resulted in the latter's death. Under the forces of Empress Teta, the Republic followed Sadow to his Empire, in an attempt to destroy the remaining Sith, once and for all. Sadow fled to Yavin 4 with his remaining Massassi warriors, where he hoped to rebuild the Empire.

Failing in his goal, Sadow entered a Sith sarcophagus to wait for someone to seek him out to continue the Sith Empire. 600 years later the fallen Jedi Freedon Nadd arrived on Yavin 4, awakening Sadow's spirit. After he learnt all he could, Nadd destroyed Sadow's spirit and left Yavin 4 to rule over the planet Onderon as the new Dark Lord of the Sith.

The death of Marka Ragnos
"You have held us back long enough, keeping the Sith Empire from its great destiny."

- Naga Sadow, to Ludo Kressh

Naga Sadow lived circa 5,000 BBY, 20,000 years after the formation of the Old Republic. Sadow was descended from the Dark Jedi who had fled the Republic after the Hundred-Year Darkness, with only minimal Sith blood to dilute his Human lineage.

As Sadow grew, he was trained by the Sith Lord Simus, one-time rival of Marka Ragnos. Sadow would develop his own rivalry with fellow Sith Lord Ludo Kressh, leading to severe confrontations between the two several times. After the death of Marka Ragnos, the two Sith Lords emerged as favorites to succeed him as Dark Lord. During the funeral of Ragnos on Korriban, Sadow and Kressh engaged in a duel of Sith swords, after a disagreement as to who would better serve the Empire as Dark Lord. They were interrupted by the spirit of Marka Ragnos, who told of a great past and an uncertain future for the Sith Empire, encouraging the Sith to band together.

Moments later, hyperlane mappers Gav and Jori Daragon arrived, hoping to establish a trade relationship with the Republic. They were quickly captured and sent to the underground Sith prison on Ziost soon after.

Fate of the Daragons
"They must be precursors to an invasion&hellip;we should kill them at once!" "No&mdash;not until we interrogate them. They may be alien spies&hellip;or they may be the key to ripe new fields for the Sith Lords to conquer."

- Ludo Kressh and Naga Sadow discuss the Daragons

Naga Sadow, meeting with nine other Sith Lords on Ziost, the central world of the Sith Empire, discussed the Daragon's ultimate fate. Ludo Kressh demanded that they be killed immediately, citing that they would return to the Republic, which would attack with a large military force. As was usually the case between the two, Naga Sadow (along with his former master Simus) passionately disagreed with Kressh, outlining the possibilities of keeping them as prisoners to his fellow Sith. Precisely what he said at that point is unknown, though it apparently won over many of those present.

Sadow later sent a group of his loyal Massassi guards to the impound dock of Ziost, where the Daragons' ship, the Starbreaker 12, was being held, to steal a distinct Republic blaster from the cargo hold. He gathered tens, possibly hundreds, of his Massassi and infiltrated the Ziost prison, freeing the Daragons, killing anyone in their way, including Sadow's former mentor Simus. After purposefully leaving the Republic blaster behind, Naga took the Daragons to his private fortress on Khar Shian, the moon of Khar Delba.

Dark Lord of the Sith
Naga Sadow returned to Ziost to find a meeting underway regarding the recent attack. The other Sith Lords, most of all Ludo Kressh, were angered by the apparent Republic rescue of Gav and Jori Daragon, and Sadow, pretending to be shocked at the death of Simus, insisted that they must retaliate against the Republic. Further, he insisted that he be crowned the new Dark Lord of the Sith, promising to not falter in the face of the "new threat." He was unanimously (with the exception of Ludo Kressh) given this title, and was soon given the ceremonial circular mark on his forehead to signify this.

It was around this time that Naga Sadow transported Jori Daragon to his decoy fortress on Khar Shian's host planet of Khar Delba, to isolate the siblings from each other. His aim in doing this was to begin teaching Gav Daragon ancient Sith magic, sensing his innate strength in the Force. Before long, Gav began forming images out of thin air, noting the dissimilarity between it and what the Jedi attempted to teach him when he was a child.

Naga Sadow once again sent his Massassi to Ziost, this time to capture the Daragons' starship, the Starbreaker 12, and transport it to Khar Delba. In the bloody massacre that preceded the ship's commandeering, the Massassi once more left behind a clue, this one being Naga Sadow's emblem. It wasn't long after this that, upon seeing the evidence left behind, Ludo Kressh attacked Sadow's decoy fortress on Khar Delba.

Ludo Kressh, along with allied Sith Lords Dor Gal-ram and Horak-mul, bombarded the icy planet with a large fleet of battleships. Naga Sadow, planting a homing beacon on the Starbreaker 12, encouraged Jori Daragon to flee to safety. She was hesitant to leave without her brother, but Naga was able to convince her to leave. After confirming her leap to hyperspace, the Dark Lord called upon his fleet on Khar Shian, surprising and overwhelming Kressh's forces. Naga Sadow, with the press of a button, commanded apparent Massassi spies on Horak-mul and Dor Gal-ram's ships to kill their captains, and they did so without question. Following this and brutal attacks from the Khar Shian fleet, Ludo Kressh had no choice but to retreat.

Later, as Naga Sadow's Massassi workers attempted to repair the considerable damage done to the Dark Lord's decoy fortress, Gav Daragon was transported to Khar Delba at Sadow's request. Once he arrived, Naga Sadow began to convince him to assist the Sith Empire in his invasion of the Republic; Gav, tied up in the whereabouts of his sister, was easily manipulated. Shortly thereafter, during a meeting in the Dark Lord's war room, what was unbeknownst to Naga Sadow a decoy fleet of ships arrived at the fortress on Khar Delba, relaying a hologram message of Ludo Kressh. Sadow ordered Gav to press a button on the wall, causing what would seem to be Kressh's flagship to explode. Ignoring Gav's shock from killing someone, Naga Sadow began preparing his forces for their invasion.

Assistance in his war effort came from all across the Sith Empire, perhaps most notably from Ch'hodos and its ruler, Sith Lord Shar Dakhan. Gathering a massive fleet of warships, each carrying thousands of Massassi warriors and gigantic war beasts retrieved from various Sith worlds. The Dark Lord himself sat in his comparatively small meditation sphere, ominously shaped like an eye. As his fleet converged over Khar Shian, Naga Sadow appointed Gav Daragon to Commander of the attack on Koros Major, Gav's home planet. And with that, the fleet made the jump to hyperspace, prepared for anything the Republic might throw at them.

The Great Hyperspace War
"My plan has worked perfectly&hellip;now, without question, the Sith Empire is mine. So, too, will be the Republic."

- Naga Sadow, plotting against the Galactic Republic

The Sith fleet's first encounter was with the Starbreaker 12, under new ownership of Ssk Kahorr, who had recently gotten it as recompense for damages done to his business by Jori Daragon. The Sith promptly destroyed the Starbreaker 12, and Sadow assured Gav, who feared for his sister, that there were no Human lifeforms aboard. Gav's ships then made their way to Koros Major, with Naga Sadow traveling to the massive star Primus Goluud to meditate.

From here, Sadow formed great illusions on the battlefields of Koros Major, Coruscant and Kirrek, creating mirages of war beasts and Massassi troops, weakening the resolve in his Jedi and Republic opponents, as well as those planets' civilians. This meditation was eventually interrupted by Gav Daragon, who, piloting one of his capital ships, fired upon the Dark Lord's meditation sphere, breaking his concentration and causing his magical illusions to fade, eventually leading to Sith defeats on all three planets.

Naga Sadow lured Gav to his meditation sphere, asking to discuss the matter peacefully. Gav agreed, taking his personal shuttle to the damaged craft, but the Dark Lord was gone by the time he arrived. As a small fleet of Koros ships, commanded by Empress Teta herself, and including Jori Daragon, arrived, Gav transmitted coordinates to the Sith Empire to the Empress, citing that all of their defenses were away invading the Republic. Moments later, the regrouped Sith fleet led by Naga Sadow arrived, apparently focusing the Force through his flagship into Primus Goluud before withdrawing to hyperspace. As explosions started to ripple all over the supergiant, Gav yelled at Jori to leave, and reluctantly, she and the opposing fleets did so just before the star went nova.

The Dark Lord's fleet came out of hyperspace over Korriban, and were quickly confronted by a large contingent of Ludo Kressh's ships. Ludo Kressh declared himself the new Dark Lord of the Sith, casting Naga Sadow out of the Sith Empire forever. A brief space battle ensued between the two, until Naga Sadow crashed one of his own ships into Ludo's flagship, killing the self-proclaimed Dark Lord.

Moments later, Empress Teta's forces arrived above Korriban, and attacked Sadow's fleet. The Koros ships quickly took advantage, crippling the Dark Lord's flagship. As a last resort, Naga Sadow ordered the Massassi on two of his ships to kill their captains, forming a barricade between himself and the Republic ships. A small squadron of starfighters followed Sadow however, but he once again used the Force to manipulate solar flares, this time on the nearby Denarii stars, causing them as well to go nova, destroying the starfighters and their pilots. Empress Teta, presuming Sadow to have died in the explosion, recalled her fleet and returned to Koros Major.

Naga Sadow, with his lone ship, retreated to the remote moon of Yavin 4, fourth moon of Yavin Prime. It was here that he conducted alchemical experiments on his Massassi warriors, causing them to mutate from red-skinned Humanoids into fearsome, savage, hunchbacked predators. Despite these abuses, his Massassi slaves treated him like a god, building huge temples to honor their Sith Lord. Naga Sadow had hopes of reconstructing a new base to form a new Sith Empire, but this was never realized by him. However, another Dark Lord, who managed to escape in the Unknown Regions, later rebuilt the Empire and even attacked the Republic more than a thousand years later.

Legacy of the Dark Lord
"I cannot fail like this! Conquest is the destiny of the Sith Empire!"

- Naga Sadow

Sadow encased himself in a suspended animation chamber, beneath the focusing chamber of a primary temple, where he remained in a coma-like trance for centuries, waiting for someone to call upon his power and continue the history of the Sith. He remained in suspended animation until 4,400 BBY, when a dark-hearted Jedi named Freedon Nadd arrived on Yavin 4, awakening Sadow's spirit. Nadd learned the ways of the Sith from Sadow's spirit and King Adas's Holocron and then attempted to destroy Naga Sadow's spirit after gleaning information about Sith Sorcery and plundering Sadow’s vaults for Sith artifacts. Nadd then traveled to the planet Onderon, which he conquered and made his own; there he proclaimed himself the new Dark Lord of the Sith.

During Sadow's reign the Sith constructed a tomb for him on Korriban. Though there is no indication that he ever occupied it, the tomb did house a Star Map left behind by the Infinite Empire. During the Great Hunt, Shaela Nuur died in this tomb while fighting two terentateks. This tomb was later used by the Sith Academy Master Uthar Wynn as a final test for Sith hopefuls to join the Sith Order, in which a student would have to retrieve a lightsaber from the farthest room in the tomb, where the Star Map was located. Here it was that Revan and Malak found the Star Map, and later Revan returned after his memory was wiped to again find the Star Map. During his second visit Revan may also have recovered a powerful poison blade. After Revan retrieved the Star Map and the lightsaber, he killed Master Uthar Wynn as Wynn's treacherous apprentice, Yuthura Ban, looked on. Revan also defeated Ban in a duel immediately afterward, but spared her life and allowed her to return to the light. The tomb was also later visited by the Jedi Exile, though she could not enter it as its door was blocked.

In 3,756 BBY, Jedi Master Barel Ovair and his Padawan Eison Gynt traveled to Yavin IV to explore Sadow's tomb. The Jedi found that Sadow's Massassi warriors survived the bombardment of the moon during the Great Sith War, and were promptly attacked by the beasts. They fled inside the temple, and only Ovair returned to Coruscant. The Jedi Master lied in his report to the Jedi Council that Gynt was killed. Gynt was still alive, and was eventually possessed by Sadow's spirit. Using the Padawan's body, the Dark Lord reached Coruscant years later, and fought Ovair, but lost. Later, Jedi historian Gnost-Dural ascertained that Ovair was in reality a Sith, who infiltrated the Jedi Order. His orders from the Sith Emperor were to seal Naga Sadow's spirit, so that the dead Dark Lord would not interfere with the Emperor's plans.

Sometime in his life Sadow wrote a treatise about the use of alchemy and poisons which would one day be read by Darth Bane. At some point before his death, he also created a holocron in which he transcribed his knowledge of alchemy. This holocron was lost until its discovery by Darth Sidious, who incorporated its study of alchemy into his own work, The Creation of Monsters, and into the Telos Holocron.

Personality and traits
"Your progressive ways will ruin the Sith Empire, Naga Sadow!"

- Ludo Kressh

Naga Sadow believed that beings who were not of Sith blood were nonetheless capable of participating in the furtherance of the dark side and of the Sith Empire. Ambitious and ruthless, Sadow would stop at nothing to achieve his goal of becoming Dark Lord of the Sith and pursuing the expansion he felt necessary for the Empire's survival. His willingness to kill his own mentor, Simus, in the process demonstrated the lengths to which he would go. He was also intelligent and manipulative, framing the Republic for his actions to gain the support of the other Sith Lords and luring Ludo Kressh into a trap in an attempt to eliminate his rival, while at the same time tricking the Daragons into thinking he could be trusted.

However, Sadow was also overly confident, and it was this that led to his downfall. The Republic was much larger than the Sith Empire and Sadow overexerted his forces during his invasion. At the same time he left the Empire undefended and, therefore, returned to find his power usurped by Kressh. Sadow commanded loyalty from those who served him but appeared to care little about them, frequently sacrificing his Massassi in order to further his goals. On Yavin 4, he demonstrated his contempt for them by conducting his experiments with apparently no remorse for the side effects of his actions.

Powers and abilities
"Here in my Meditation Chamber I can see the galaxy in my mind's eye...I can visualize vast armies, powerful fleets, invincible warriors...and with Sith arts, my imagination can make them real!"

- Naga Sadow

Naga Sadow was an accomplished Sith sorcerer. He chose to delve into forbidden Sith teachings, and augment his dark side power with long-forgotten Sith traditions. One of Sadow's greatest strengths was his ability to create illusions. From his meditation sphere Sadow could focus his abilities to generate illusions of large Sith forces on remote worlds. These phantom forces were able to even cause damage to Republic troops. Furthermore, even several Jedi Masters present at Coruscant could not recognize the illusions for what they were. If it was not for the intervention of Gav Daragon, this may have been enough to deliver victory for the otherwise outnumbered Sith forces.

Sadow also demonstrated an ability to manipulate solar activity through the Force, giving him the power to destroy stars and twice using this to escape from Republic forces.

Equipment
Naga Sadow had a sword which was simply called "Naga Sadow's Poison Blade." It was a mystical Sith sword. The blade carried an unknown toxin which poisoned the victim when it inflicted injuries. During the Jedi Civil War when Revan searched for the Star Maps, he retrieved a poison sword in the tomb of Naga Sadow.

Behind the scenes
His original appearance and backstory in Tales of the Jedi: Dark Lords of the Sith contradicts his later exposition. In Dark Lords of the Sith, despite appearing Human, Sadow is stated as being pure Sith, and not claiming any descent from the exiled Dark Jedi. He was also stated to have been only a Sith acolyte and powerful magician, and to have been 'banished' to Yavin IV by the ruling Dark Lords of the Sith. The story was fully developed (and somehow altered) in Tales of the Jedi: The Golden Age of the Sith

IGN has reported that the Sith Emperor of Star Wars: The Old Republic is none other than Naga Sadow, but since other sites, including the official website, remain vague on the matter, the identity of the Sith Emperor remains uncertain. However due to a misunderstanding in a recent interview many have taken the words of Daniel Erickson, lead writer for Star Wars: The Old Republic, to mean the Sith Emperor was indeed the Emperor during the Great Hyperspace War. He has since posted a message saying this was not his intention and that the Sith Emperor was not the Emperor during that era, and therefore not Naga Sadow.

Although earlier sources remained ambiguous on the death of Naga Sadow, the Freedon Nadd entry in The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia mentions that Sadow's spirit was destroyed by Nadd as do most other more recent canonical sources when referring to Naga Sadow's death.

Appearances

 * Tales of the Jedi: The Golden Age of the Sith
 * Lost Tribe of the Sith: Precipice
 * Lost Tribe of the Sith: Paragon
 * Lost Tribe of the Sith: Savior
 * Tales of the Jedi: The Fall of the Sith Empire
 * Tales of the Jedi: Dark Lords of the Sith
 * Tales of the Jedi: Dark Lords of the Sith (audio)
 * Shadows and Light
 * Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic 25: Vector, Part 1
 * Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic 28: Vector, Part 4
 * Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic
 * Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords
 * Timeline 7: Peace for the Republic?
 * Darth Bane: Path of Destruction
 * Darth Bane: Rule of Two
 * Star Wars: Empire at War
 * Star Wars: Empire at War: Forces of Corruption
 * Young Jedi Knights: Lightsabers
 * Invincible
 * Crosscurrent