Confrontation on Ambria

"I am Master Tho'natu of the Jedi. We're here to help you.''" "''No! You'll never get me! No! No! No!"

- Tho'natu and Darovit

This confrontation was a short duel on Ambria in 990 BBY between the failed Jedi Padawan&mdash;and later redeemed Sith&mdash;Darovit and a team of six Jedi Masters and eight Jedi Knights. Darovit had been on Coruscant, where he ran into his cousin, Darth Zannah, who was undercover as a Jedi. Fearing she would be discovered, she took him to her Master, reigning Dark lord of the Sith Darth Bane, on Tython. During a Duel on Tython&mdash;where a group of Jedi engaged the last two remaining Sith Lords&mdash;Bane suffered life-threatening injuries. After the duel, Zannah took Bane to the healer Caleb on Ambria, who refused to heal the dying Dark Lord unless Zannah surrendered her Master to the Jedi Order. Zannah accepted Caleb's demands and sent word to the Jedi that a Sith still lived, only to betray and murder the healer after his part of the bargain was upheld. Zannah then used Sith magic to drive Darovit insane, and furnished him with a gold-bladed lightsaber.

When a team of fourteen Jedi, led by Twi'lek Jedi Master Tho'natu, arrived on Ambria to arrest the last surviving Sith Lord, they were attacked by the insane Darovit. Believing him to be the Dark Lord, they cut him down in seconds. Assuming the Sith had finally been eliminated from the galaxy, the Jedi left the planet. Though the encounter lasted no more than three seconds, it had lasting effects, as the Sith would remain hidden from the Jedi for nearly a millennium, until they finally rose again with the power to take over the galaxy.

Prelude
"Bane's time is running out. You have to decide.''" "''Tell Caleb I agree to his demands."

- Darovit pleading for Zannah to save her master and return to the light

A cousin of Darth Zannah, Darovit&mdash;a failed Jedi Padawan and redeemed Sith&mdash;had been taken to the Jedi Temple on Coruscant in 990 BBY, where he planned to reveal that two Sith Lords still lived. Before he was able to speak out, however, he ran into Zannah, who was disguised as Nalia Adollu, a Padawan who had been stationed on Polus with her Master since 995 BBY. Fearing that she would be exposed, Zannah took him with her to meet her Master, Dark Lord of the Sith Darth Bane, on Tython. A group of five Jedi, led by Valenthyne Farfalla, tracked down the Sith, and engaged Zannah and Bane in a duel. Though the Jedi were defeated, several of the parasitic, impenetrable orbalisks that formed Darth Bane's armor were killed by his own expulsion of Force Lightning, which released deadly toxins into his body for which there was no known antidote. Darth Zannah took the ailing Bane on board her starship, Loranda, along with her cousin Darovit, who remained in hiding while the Jedi and Sith dueled. The trio flew to Ambria, where Zannah located the healer named Caleb, who had saved Bane's life ten years earlier during the New Sith Wars. At the time, though, Bane had forced Caleb to heal him by threatening the man's daughter. Fearing that Bane would return and threaten her again, Caleb had sent his daughter away, making her move to another planet and change her name. That way it would be impossible for anybody to track her down, and not even Caleb knew where she was. Zannah attempted to force Caleb to heal Bane, but he resisted her torture, and only agreed to heal Bane if Zannah called in the Jedi to arrest her Master.

Zannah was hesitant at first, for there was still much for her to learn from her Master. If she turned him over to the Jedi, there was a good chance many secrets of the Sith that he had not yet revealed to her would be lost forever. She knew, however, that if she did not send the message, then Bane would surely die, and the secrets would most certainly be lost. Darovit pressured her to save Bane's life, join the Jedi when they came, and turn away from the dark side of the Force. Realizing that she had no choice, Zannah gave in to Caleb's demands.

Caleb healed the Dark Lord, and Bane eventually regained consciousness. When Zannah told her Master what she had done, he expressed his anger, and told her to kill him rather than allow him to fall into the hands of the Jedi. Instead of killing him, however, Zannah devised a plan that included killing Caleb, and used her skills in Sith magic to drive her cousin insane. She then gave Darovit the deceased Farfalla's gold-bladed lightsaber, with the intention of having Darovit attack the Jedi when they arrived.

The confrontation
"A Sith Lord still lives. He killed five Jedi on Tython. He is now on Ambria, under the care of a healer name Caleb. He is badly injured and helpless."

- Zannah's message to the Jedi

Zannah hid herself and her Master in a small trapdoor inside Caleb's hut, and hid their presences in the Force, so that the Jedi would not sense them. A team of fourteen Jedi led by the Twi'lek Jedi Master Tho'natu arrived on Ambria in the Jedi cruiser Light of Truth to take the Sith into custody. The Jedi found the dismembered corpse of Caleb outside the healer's shack. Moving towards the shack, Tho'natu called out that they had arrived and were there to help. Darovit emerged, screaming and brandishing the golden lightsaber of the recently fallen Jedi Lord Valenthyne Farfalla. Darovit attacked Tho'natu and the other Jedi, and they returned the attack, killing him in seconds.

Aftermath
"One day I will surpass you. And on that day, I will kill you. But that day is not today."

- Zannah to Darth Bane

Recalling that Jedi Master Farfalla had used a golden lightsaber, Tho'natu assumed that Darovit was the Sith Lord that had killed the Jedi on Tython. Noticing that Darovit was missing one hand, he also surmised that Darovit had been grievously injured and had come to Caleb for help. Tho'natu further inferred that the healer had sent the message to the Jedi shortly after Darovit's arrival, but Darovit had found out, and, once healed, had killed Caleb in retaliation. The Jedi, mistakenly convinced that they had finally destroyed the last of the Sith, took Caleb's remains to Coruscant&mdash;the capital of the galaxy&mdash;for a proper burial and left the Loranda for the junkers. Zannah and Bane escaped a few days later on the starship, and Bane expressed his approval of Zannah's actions.

The Jedi Order honored the five fallen Jedi who had been killed at Tython by engraving their names and images on a white block of stone, in which was inlaid their lightsaber hilts. Caleb was also honored on this list. Jedi Master Obba, an Ithorian who had been a member of Tho'natu's strike team and by 980 BBY was a member of the Council of First Knowledge, recounted the events of the confrontation to Princess Serra of Doan, who was actually Caleb's daughter. This prompted Serra to hire an assassin to hunt down Bane and capture him.

Zannah's actions allowed the Sith to remain hidden from the Jedi for nearly a millennium&mdash;990 BBY to 32 BBY&mdash;permitting them to grow in power until they were strong enough to take on the galaxy once more, first with their reappearance as they organized the Invasion of Naboo, which ultimately led to a division in the Republic that paved the way for a galaxy-wide war &mdash;the Sith orchestrating events on both sides of the conflict, thus ensuring their victory. The war led to the deterioration of the Republic and corruption of its bureaucracy, which allowed the Sith to carry out the Great Jedi Purge, nearly eradicating the Jedi and returning the balance of power to the dark side, and opening the door for the Sith to finally rule the galaxy in form of the first Galactic Empire.

Behind the scenes
The Confrontation on Ambria was created by Drew Karpyshyn for his 2007 novel, Darth Bane: Rule of Two. This event served to present the deaths of two established characters, Caleb and Darovit, as well as further demonstrating Darth Zannah's devotion to the dark side. Karpyshyn used this event as the origin of the Jedi Order's belief that the Sith were extinct, as presented in Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace.

Appearances

 * Darth Bane: Rule of Two
 * Darth Bane: Dynasty of Evil