Battle of Malachor V

The Battle of Malachor V was the battle which concluded the Mandalorian Wars in 3,960 BBY. It transformed Malachor V into a "graveyard world" after Revan sacrificed his own forces to obliterate the Mandalorian army.

Malachor was a world taboo in Mandalorian culture, something the fallen Jedi Revan used against them in order to win the war. Revan amassed an enormous fleet (composed, not coincidentally, of Jedi and Republic soldiers whose loyalty to Revan was in question) at the planet, providing the Mandalorians with a target too good to pass up. Directing his forces from the heart of Malachor, an ancient Sith learning center called the Trayus Academy, Revan used a mass shadow generator weapon developed by Zabrak engineer Bao-Dur to literally crush his enemies—Mandalorian, Jedi, and Republic soldier alike. Malachor was nearly wiped out as upon its surface countless beings died in a cataclysmic explosion that engulfed the planet. In the resulting destruction, almost the entire Mandalorian fleet was obliterated—as well as many Republic vessels. Left orbiting the planet was the wreckage of countless Mandalorian and Republic warships. All that remained on the surface was a desolate graveyard echoing with the deaths of thousands Jedi and Mandalorians, littered with destroyed ships and inhabited by vicious Storm Beasts. The survivors of the Battle of Malachor were few, but most were fated for no more than legendary status: Darth Revan, Carth Onasi, Canderous Ordo, Bao-Dur, Atton Rand, and, most telling of the atrocities of the battle, Darth Nihilus and a Jedi Exile.

The concentrated deaths of so many Jedi, Mandalorians, and Republic soldiers all at once sent a powerful shockwave throughout the Force, resulting in the Jedi Exile purposely severing all ties with the Force. More sinisterly, it was Malachor that had marked Revan's final descent into a darkness, a journey that would at last be completed when the former Jedi hero declared himself Dark Lord of the Sith. His fall sent his Jedi Master, Kreia, in search of answers. She found them at the Trayus Academy.

From the ashes of Malachor V arose three immensely powerful Sith Lords: Darth Sion, the Lord of pain; Darth Nihilus, the Lord of hunger; and Darth Traya, the Lord of betrayal. Together, they nearly brought about the complete and utter destruction of the Jedi Order.

Their plans were finally foiled, however, by the Jedi Exile. Nine years after the end of the Mandalorian Wars, Malachor V was at last completely destroyed, along with the Trayus Academy, Darth Sion, Darth Traya, and, for the moment, the future of the Sith.