Qu Rahn

"With the Force there are two paths&mdash;good and evil&mdash;one may take, nothing in between. One leads to a full life, no matter the years. The other is most assuredly a short path that leads to a certain solitary end. One should choose wisely."

- Qu Rahn

Qu Rahn was a Human male Jedi who served the Galactic Republic during its waning years. When the Republic was reformed into the Galactic Empire in 19 BBY and the Great Jedi Purge began, Rahn went into hiding, evading numerous Imperial Inquisitors. At some point during the Purge, Rahn visited his former master Yoda, from whom he learned the secret of living as the Force ghost after the physical death. Elevating Rahn to the rank of the Jedi Master, Yoda also told him about the long-lost Valley of the Jedi, a powerful Force nexus which contained numerous Jedi souls. Rahn swore to find it, but after many years of obsessive and fruitless search, he almost gave up.

However, a vision led Rahn to a common farmer called Morgan Katarn, who had accidentally stumbled upon the Valley. Having foreseen that he would soon be captured, Rahn instructed to pass the information about the Valley to Morgan's son, Kyle. In 5 ABY, just as he had seen in his vision, Rahn was captured by one of the Inquisitors, Jerec, and his band of Dark Jedi. Jerec, who also wanted to find the Valley in order to obtain its power, probed Rahn's mind and learned about Morgan and his discovery. Having become a traitor in his own mind, Rahn aggressively attacked Jerec's Dark Jedi, but was killed by the Inquisitor himself.

Following Yoda's teachings, Rahn continued to live as a Force ghost, appearing to Kyle Katarn and instructing him to stop Jerec. Rahn also appeared to the youngest of Jerec's Dark Jedi, Yun, guiding him towards the light side. Rahn was successful with both his apprentices, as Katarn killed Jerec and freed the souls of the Jedi and Yun sacrificed his life while saving Katarn.

Early life


Qu Rahn was born on Socorro, around the year 55 BBY, and, after being identified as Force-sensitive, was taken from his parents and brought to Coruscant to be trained as a Jedi at the Jedi Temple. As a youngling, Rahn was member of the Katarn Clan, where, like most Jedi of his time, he trained under Master Yoda. Rahn grew to become an extremely loyal, steadfast Jedi.

During the Separatist crisis in 22 BBY, Rahn led a special joint task force of Judiciary and SBI agents investigating suspected Separatist terrorist Gavrilonnis Tejere.

Rahn would continue to serve the Order and the Republic throughout the coming conflict as a General, eventually surviving the main strike of Order 66 and the early years of the Purge itself. Like many of the Jedi that escaped death, he went into hiding. Shortly after the formation of the Empire, Rahn was listed as one of the Jedi fugitives by Imperial Holovision, along with Kai Justiss, Ydra Kilwallen, Maw, Ranik Solusar and Halagad Ventor. Later, Rahn would be part of the group of Jedi that was betrayed by Ventor to the Sith Lord Darth Vader. Vader killed all the Jedi at the location&mdash;except for Rahn himself.

Troubled and confused about how Jedi such as Anakin Skywalker, Jerec, and Ventor could turn to the dark side of the Force, Rahn made the dangerous journey to Dagobah to visit Yoda. Rahn hoped that Yoda's wisdom would help to give clarity to the thoughts that were troubling him. Instead of a reassuring conversation, Yoda merely spoke enigmatically about a planet, on which was located a "valley of Jedi souls". Yoda bestowed upon Rahn the rank of Jedi Master, giving him a gold lightsaber in the process and sending him on his way, but not before teaching Rahn the ability to live on after death as a Force ghost. Although Rahn was baffled by both the new knowledge and the weapon Yoda gave him, Rahn accepted it and vowed to protect the lightsaber as it would him.

Search for the Valley of the Jedi
"Sorry, my friend, but the knowledge is safer with you. Much safer. I must travel. And there are those who hope to find me. Hide what you know and leave instructions for someone you trust. Those who follow the dark side would like nothing better than to find this place and use it for evil."

- Rahn instructs Morgan Katarn to keep the location of the Valley in secret.

For the next few decades Rahn searched obsessively for any information about the history or location of the long lost Valley of the Jedi. Time and time again any leads Rahn found to the valley's hiding place left him empty handed. In his mind the valley seemed unreachable&mdash;as mythic as the planet Millinar or the Lost City of the Jedi. To make matters worse, the Galactic Empire's Inquisitorius relentless task to find every last Jedi made travel nearly impossible. Ultimately one Inquisitor caught wind of Rahn's search&mdash;Jerec&mdash;and the race to be the first to find the Valley of the Jedi was on.



After countless years of dead ends and false leads, Rahn was close to admitting defeat in what was increasingly looking like a fruitless quest, but then a vision helped restore his resolve. The vision led him to a simple farmer living on Sulon&mdash;a man named Morgan Katarn. From Katarn, Rahn learned that the Valley did in fact exist. Katarn also shared with Rahn a thousand-year-old prophecy dating back to the Seventh Battle of Ruusan, that the native Bouncers had told him about the Valley. Katarn also wanted to tell Rahn the coordinates of the Valley, but the Jedi Master strongly forbid him to do so, having seen in the same vision that he would be captured before he could reach the valley. Rahn entrusted his personal green-bladed lightsaber to Morgan, and urged him to pass down the location of the valley and the lightsaber to Morgan's own son&mdash;Kyle Katarn&mdash;whom Rahn had sensed was strong with the Force.

Rahn also apparently made contact with the Rebel Alliance, as its leader, Mon Mothma, while meeting with Kyle Katarn, mentioned Rahn, calling him a mutual friend and delivering Rahn's greetings to Morgan's son.

Around the time of the Battle of Yavin, Rahn heard a report that Halagad Ventor, the man who had caused so many Jedi deaths, had been found by a group of Rebel Alliance soldiers and redeemed before he died. But Rahn scoffed at such rumors, refusing to believe the tale that had found its way to his ears, remembering that Yoda had told him during their meeting on Dagobah that if one should choose the dark side, it would forever dominate his destiny. In Rahn's opinion traitors to the Jedi Order, like Jerec, Skywalker, and Ventor had sealed their own fates&mdash;they could never be saved. Luke Skywalker heard about Rahn from Yoda.

Confrontation with Jerec
Qu Rahn led a team of Rebel Alliance agents, which included a young pilot called Duno Dree, the female wire-thin weapons expert Cee Norley and Rolanda Gron, a Klatooinian technologist, on Dorlo. Their mission was to find the linguistics expert Nij Por Ral, who was working at an excavation site there, and convince him to join Rahn's group. Having acquired Por Ral, however, they faced opposition from three Dark Jedi&mdash;another Jedi traitor Maw, the Prophetess of the Dark Side Sariss and the young Epicanthix Yun&mdash;who were sent by Jerec to capture Rahn. Qu Rahn and his men set out to their CR90 corvette on foot, but Jerec's Dark Jedi, riding skimmers, quickly gained on them. To buy Rahn and the others some time, Norley remained behind with a rocket launcher, which she used to destroy one of the skimmers. Norley was ultimately killed, but her sacrifice bought some time for Rahn, Dree, Gron and Por Ral to reach the ship. Dree managed to pilot the ship off the planet, destroying the remaining Jerec's skimmer in the process, although not killing its crew of Dark Jedi.

However, once in space, the corvette was caught in the tractor beam of the Vengeance, Jerec's personal battleship. An assault shuttle then docked with the corvette, carrying another one of Jerec's lackeys, Boc. The Rebels were asked to surrender, but did not respond. The Imperials then used the sleeping gas to render everyone aboard unconscious and transfer them to the shuttle. The corvette itself was used for target practice by Vengeance's artillery crew.

Rahn soon awoke from the effects of the gas, only to find two more Dark Jedi, Gorc and Pic, staring at him. Rahn tried to reach for his lightsaber, but found out that Pic had taken Yoda's gift. Rahn and his companions were then escorted to the Vengeance's bridge, where they faced Jerec and all his minions.

Jerec began questioning Rahn about the Valley. The Jedi Master refused to answer, so Jerec ordered his men to kill Rahn's comrades. One by one, Gron, Por Ral and Dree were killed, but Qu Rahn still did not answer. Rahn attempted to will himself to die, having already seen this event in a vision, but Jerec was able to prevent Rahn's attempt at a noble demise, and used the Force to rip the information he needed about the Valley of the Jedi from his mind.

Rahn was devastated, in his own mind he had become the very thing he had despised&mdash;a betrayer of the Jedi. Not only had he now lost Yoda's lightsaber, but he had betrayed Morgan Katarn and a secret that had been kept for generations. In that dark moment, the loyal Jedi Master gave into despair, and, using a Force Pull, he stole the Dark Jedi Yun's lightsaber and attacked his captors.

Rahn put up a valiant fight, with Jerec's minions proving unable to even touch him, managing to sever one of Jerec's companions, Maw, in half at the waist, only to be brought to his knees by a blast of the Force from Jerec. As Jerec moved in for the kill, Yoda's voice echoed in Rahn's head the promise that one day he would understand.

At that moment Jerec struck the killing blow, decapitating the helpless Jedi Master. However, in his final moments, Rahn saw the spirits of Anakin Skywalker and Halagad Ventor and finally realized what Yoda wanted him to understand&mdash;that no one was beyond redemption.

The spirit of Rahn
"A crossroad lies before you .... The same man who murdered your father contemplates an even greater evil. His name is Jerec, and he seeks a place called the Valley of the Jedi, a place where thousands of Jedi spirits are trapped, a place of almost unbelievable power, a place he must never reach. Because if he does - the results could be catastrophic. Imagine someone who could destroy a star with a whisper, eradicate a solar system with a snap of his fingers, or `think' a planet from its orbit."

- Rahn to Kyle Katarn



After his physical death, Rahn lived on as a Force ghost as he had been taught by Yoda. He started appearing to Kyle Katarn either in dreamlike visions or as a voice in Katarn's inner ear. Rahn first helped Katarn to evade death from the hands of several bounty hunters on Nar Shaddaa. While Katarn was recovering from that encounter, Rahn appeared to him in a dream, telling about the Valley and of great danger that could be caused should Jerec find it. Guided by Rahn, Katarn returned to his home on the planet Sulon, where he found Rahn's lightsaber and discovered that the stone map embedded on the ceiling had been taken by the droid 8t88 to Jerec's palace in the city of Barons Hed. As he reached the city, Katarn was attacked by a female bounty hunter with a drone. Rahn guided Katarn again, helping Kyle to defeat them with Rahn's lightsaber. He appeared to Katarn as a voice several more times, providing Morgan's son with information on Jerec's Dark Jedi, guiding him and helping not to fall to the dark side. When Katarn finally confronted Jerec on the planet Ruusan near Jerec's cargo ship, the Sulon Star, he was pushed into the ship by the Miraluka, who then sent the ship towards the surface. Rahn then helped Katarn evade death by telling him that Kyle's ship, the Moldy Crow had been kept in the hangar bay of the Sulon Star

Rahn also contacted Yun, the youngest of the Seven Dark Jedi in attempt to turn him to the light side. The encounter with Rahn made a deep impression on Yun, and was one of the decisive factors in Yun's redemption moments before his death.

Personality and traits
Rahn was an extremely loyal Jedi. He was deeply troubled by the actions of Jedi traitors and truly hated them. Rahn considered that they could not be saved once they took the dark path. When Jerec ripped information about Morgan from Rahn's mind, the Jedi Master became a traitor to the Order himself in his own mind, attacking Jerec's Dark Jedi in anger. However, right before his death, Rahn realized that he had been wrong all the time as he glimpsed at the spirits of the redeemed Ventor and Skywalker. This understanding led Rahn to appear to Yun, helping the young darksider to turn to the light.

Another part of Rahn's personality was his obsession with finding the Valley of the Jedi, which led him to many years of passionate search.

Rahn could write, read and speak two languages, Socorran and Basic; was skilled in computers, some simple weapons and diplomacy. He also had some knowledge on how to treat injuries.

Powers and abilities
A fully-trained Jedi, Rahn was skilled with both the Force and the lightsaber, being able to single-handedly defeat five of Jerec's minions and severely wound one of them. In order to do it, Rahn used Force Pull to steal Yun's lightsaber. Rahn knew Force Speed and Force Sense and was one of the few Jedi to appear as the Force ghost.

Behind the scenes
Qu Rahn first appeared in the 1997 Lucas Arts video game Star Wars: Jedi Knight: Dark Forces II where he was portrayed by Bennet Guillory. Rahn's only appearance in the game was in the introductory cutscene, where he was killed by Jerec, but his voice guided the main protagonist throughout the rest of the game. Rahn later appeared in the 1998 novella adaptations of the game&mdash;Dark Forces: Rebel Agent and Dark Forces: Jedi Knight&mdash; and, subsequently, in the audio drama adaptations of the novellas, Dark Forces: Rebel Agent audio drama and Dark Forces: Jedi Knight audio drama. In the audio dramas, Michael Tezla portrayed Rahn. Rahn was also mentioned in the first installment of the Dark Forces trilogy - Soldier for the Empire and its audio drama adaptation. Like Kyle Katarn, Rahn was originally a character created for a video game, one of the few first who has since made the transition to the wider Expanded Universe.

In Dark Forces II: Jedi Knight, he only appears as Rahn. The first name Qu appears only in the game's manual, perhaps a word-play on the Qur'an, the holy book of Islam.

Rahn's Force ghost appeared during a time when fans and writers believed that this state was the normal fate of all the Jedi, a belief that was retconned as incorrect by Revenge of the Sith. However, this matter too has been retconned by stating that Rahn was taught Qui-Gon Jinn's secret by Yoda.

Rahn was originally going to appear in Star Wars Insider 84's HoloNet feature on rogue Jedi, but his image was instead made into Koffi Arana.

Rahn's name is misspelled "Qu Rhan" in HoloNet News

Non-canon ending
"For you, the choice is the dark side. Forever will it dominate your destiny."

- Qu Rahn to Kyle Katarn before leaving him

In the non-canon ending of Jedi Knight: Dark Forces II, where Kyle Katarn chooses the dark side path, Rahn abandons him during the crash of the Sulon Star.

Appearances

 * Dark Forces: Soldier for the Empire / audio drama
 * Star Wars: Jedi Knight: Dark Forces II
 * Dark Forces: Rebel Agent / audio drama
 * Dark Forces: Jedi Knight / audio drama
 * Dark Forces: Rebel Agent / audio drama
 * Dark Forces: Jedi Knight / audio drama