HK-47

HK-47 was a Hunter-Killer assassin droid and Jedi hunter constructed by the Dark Lord of the Sith Darth Revan shortly after the end of the Mandalorian Wars in 3,960 BBY. In the wake of widespread destruction caused by the Mass Shadow Generator, a superweapon used during the final battle of that conflict, Revan was inspired to seek more subtle methods of defeating his enemies. HK-47 was sent throughout the galaxy on his missions and successfully assassinated countless targets whom Revan had deemed threats to galactic stability and peace. However, HK-47 was badly crippled and captured on a mission in Mandalorian space shortly before Revan himself was captured by the Jedi Order. The assassin droid's memory core was damaged, causing him to forget about his master, and he went from owner to owner, many of whom he inadvertently slew personally. Eventually, he ended up on the planet Tatooine and was sold and unwittingly reunited with Revan, whose memory had been erased following his capture. The droid went on to aid Revan after his return to the Jedi Order in his campaign to find and destroy the Star Forge, an ancient factory that Revan had used during his reign as the Dark Lord of the Sith and that his former Sith apprentice was utilizing in an attempt to conquer the Galactic Republic.

HK-47 accompanied Revan to the edge of the Unknown Regions along with Revan's utility droid, T3-M4, before being left behind in Revan's starship, the Ebon Hawk, as the redeemed Jedi Knight journeyed on to face a threat he had remembered from his time as the Dark Lord. Sometime later, HK-47 was damaged and was 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 of HK that Revan had mass-produced, became active in the galaxy, working as bounty hunters and saboteurs. 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 he considered an insult to himself. HK-47 also aided the Exile in her search for the Jedi Masters who survived the First Jedi Purge and even advised her on techniques to more efficiently kill Jedi so that the Exile could better defend herself.

HK-47 eventually succeeded in finding the HK Manufacturing Plant, where the HK-50s were created. There, he convinced the HK-50s to join his and the Exile's cause. This action eventually culminated in a final confrontation on Malachor V between HK-47, assisted by the HK-50s, and G0-T0, whose interests conflicted with that of the Jedi Exile, and the latter droid was destroyed. Four millennia later, HK-47 was found on the planet Mustafar, where his memory core was preserved within the computer of a derelict starship. HK-47 manipulated a group of spacers who discovered him, having them create a new body for him and then 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 triumphed over the droids, although HK-47 managed to escape destruction.

Revan's assassin
HK-47 was originally constructed by the Dark Lord of the Sith Darth Revan shortly after the final battle of the Mandalorian Wars in 3,960 BBY. 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. As a result, the battle devastated the entire surface of the planet where it was fought and destroyed the majority of the warships on both sides. Not long after the end of the war, Revan and his friend, Malak, fell to the dark side and began making plans to conquer the Republic. With this goal in mind, Revan constructed HK-47 using Czerka's HK-24 design as a basis for his model and included several of his own upgrades. Not wanting to repeat the devastation caused at Malachor V, Revan turned to using HK-47 to assassinate political opponents as 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.

As a result of Revan's programming, HK-47 displayed obedience to those he identified as his master but had little regard for any form of life and was driven by a desire for violence and carnage. HK-47 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 reprogram 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 at a secret facility on the planet Telos IV.

HK-47 continued to serve Revan during the Jedi Civil War, a devastating conflict between the Sith Empire that Revan had created after his turn to the dark side, and the Galactic Republic. During this time, HK-47 helped Revan to locate the Star Forge superweapon and also assassinated beings who could potentially destabilize the galaxy, which eventually led to a mission into Mandalorian space in 3,957 BBY. 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 at the bridge of Revan's flagship. The Jedi High Council ordered Revan's mind to be re-written, and the Sith Lord lost all the memories of his former self, including those of HK-47's existence. Meanwhile, although HK-47 succeeded in his assassination mission, his motor functions were damaged, and he ended up in the possession of a Mandalorian soldier. The Mandalorian reprogrammed and laid claim to the crippled droid, repairing him&mdash;though not particularly well in the droid's opinion&mdash;and beginning to use the droid to elevate his own rank by having him eliminate his superiors and clear the way for his own promotion.

HK-47 had lost much of his memory due to the damage he had received and lacked the knowledge as to where he had been created, though he believed himself to be of Systech Corporation's manufacture. Conversely, rumors circulated that his true creator was Czerka Corporation. 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-47 to assassinate the reigning Mandalore. HK-47 failed and was captured by his target, who reprogrammed his objectives to send the droid against his master. The Mandalorian soldier was subsequently 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 based on the planet Sleheyron.

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

The next target the Senator ordered HK-47 to kill was his own wife, who, as he had discovered, had been 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, HK-47 had no choice but to shut down once more. 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 following his discovery of the droid's assassination protocols, the officer 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, the officer 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, again forcing the droid to deactivate himself for killing his master.

Back with Revan


After the accident with the Systech Corporation officer, HK-47 was sold to Yuka Laka&mdash;an Ithorian droid dealer at the Anchorhead settlement on the planet Tatooine&mdash;who fitted him with a restraining bolt, further restricting the droid's memory and his protocol and assassination protocols. There, HK-47 encountered 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. This time, Revan was acting on behalf of the Jedi Council in order to locate and destroy the superweapon and save the Republic from defeat. Revan 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 and could not understand the 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.

In keeping with his violent programming, HK-47 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 from fallen Tusken Raiders. Revan was able to successfully reach an accord with the chieftain by trading two moisture vaporators he had 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 well as a map of the area of Tatooine where the Star Map was located. At that, HK-47 expressed his disappointment at the loss of a chance for combat against the Sand People. HK-47 was present when Revan was allowed to meet with the Sand People storyteller in return for presenting the chieftain with a krayt dragon pearl. HK-47 translated for this meeting as well, cautioning Revan against making any potentially offensive statements.

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. Revan eventually restored everything but HK-47's the memory core, which was too fragile to attempt to repair manually. Revan later encountered Malak for the first time since his former Sith apprentice had betrayed him. This meeting 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 unlock and undo the damage to his primary memory core, allowing the droid 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 later commented that Revan had changed since he had last served him, stating that Revan was more compassionate than before despite the droid's belief that Revan was just as capable. The droid also expressed 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. Shortly thereafter, more of Revan's memories returned, and the Jedi recalled a threat to the galaxy that he had 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 starship Ebon Hawk, Revan left him with his former teacher Kreia before departing for the Unknown Regions. Revan also had HK-47's memory of the past four years erased so that the droid would not discover his destination.

The Jedi Exile


Somehow during the intervening time, HK-47 was once again heavily damaged and almost entirely dismembered. When the Jedi Exile, a former Jedi and one of the few individuals to escape assassination by a new Sith Order, gained ownership of the Ebon Hawk in 3,951 BBY, she discovered a deactivated HK-47 on board. Using parts retrieved from the imitation HK-50s and a junk dealer on Nar Shaddaa, the Exile reactivated HK-47. The droid was enraged when he was informed of the existence of his copies and saw the coloration of his successors and their lack of using the "meatbag" reference&mdash;their term was instead "organic"&mdash;as signs of their inferiority, believing them to be an insult to himself. Hoping to encounter more of these copies and eventually track them to where they were being created, HK-47 joined the Exile on her journey to find and unite the surviving Jedi Masters from the former Jedi High Council after the First Jedi Purge. He also regained a few memories of his past adventure on the Ebon Hawk after the Exile reactivated him.

The damage that HK-47 had sustained 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 recognize G0-T0, a droid crime lord who also joined the Jedi Exile. HK-47 began to analyze the Ebon Hawk and discovered an anomaly: the ship's navicomputer was locked, making him curious as to where the ship had recently been. Before he could investigate, T3 disabled him and erased his memory of the anomaly. HK-47 continued to follow the Exile until after the Battle of Telos IV. During the battle, HK-47 left the group after 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. However, the Ebon Hawk crashed due to the stormy atmosphere of the planet, where the group was separated. The Exile had left instructions to destroy Malachor V, an order that G0-T0 tried to prevent from being carried out, 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. G0-T0's destruction allowed the remote assistant of Bao-Dur, another companion of the Exile, to activate a superweapon and destroy the planet.

"Retirement" on Mustafar
"Your resistance is most entertaining, meatbag. I do want to thank you for all you have done for me up to this point. As a parting gift, you may tell me the name of some meatbag that you do not like and I will personally kill them. Oh why not, I'll throw in the rest of their family for free. But first, we have a little business to settle ourselves."

- HK-47, to the spacers who helped him obtain a new body

Sometime during the thousands of years between the destruction of Malachor V and the Galactic Civil War, HK-47's artificial intelligence was transferred to a computer located in a Hammerhead-class cruiser, and his chassis was left on board. The cruiser later 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 ongoing 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 them defeat the Republic. The result was the new HK-77 model. Mass production was ready to begin when the former Jedi and newly christened Sith Lord Darth Vader arrived on Mustafar and wiped out the Separatist leaders, ending the Clone Wars and the Separatist movement and securing the stability of the new Galactic Empire. HK-47's chassis, along with the rest of the new HK-77 models, was forgotten and lay dormant after Vader and the Imperial forces left Mustafar.

Over 20 years later, circa 1.5 ABY, HK-47 used the systems in the Hammerhead-class cruiser and contacted a group of spacers. HK-47 instructed the spacers to aid in transferring his artificial intelligence from the ship to an abandoned research facility nearby, which was said to date back to the years of the Galactic Republic. Once the spacers succeeded in doing so, HK-47 ordered them on another quest: this time, they were to enter the facility and restore its power. The spacers succeeded in restoring the power to both the facility and the droid factory and were soon commanded by HK-47 to help him gain control of reactivated factory. The group fought their way through various reactivated battle droids and finally succeeded in giving HK-47 control. They then 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 planned to begin the production of battle droids in order to evict those who had taken the factory 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 that 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. The mining camp had been built virtually on top of the ruins of the droid factory and as such was in imminent danger from HK-47's assault.

HK-47 assembled an army of AK-1A "Hammer", AK-3 "Reaper", GK-5, and HK-77 droids in order to destroy all organics on Mustafar. The army attacked the 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 the droids HK-58 Aurek, HK-58 Besh, HK-Taskmaster, CY-M Prototype, and Doom Bringer before shutting the factory itself down. The spacers made their way to a lava crater to destroy HK-47. Although the spacers succeeded in doing so 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."

Characteristics


HK-47's personality programming caused him to appear misanthropic, bordering on sociopathic, to those who encountered him. The droid enjoyed observing&mdash;and often causing&mdash;death and destruction, showing complete disregard for bystanders on more than one occasion, HK-47 was the only droid in the first Knights of the Old Republic game to have a dark side alignment. The only organics HK-47 displayed any respect for were his masters, although he indirectly caused the death of almost all of them. 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.

HK-47 displayed several unique behavioral tendencies as a result of his programming. HK-47 had a definite sense of pride and considered himself to be superior to all organics and droids except for Revan, who was the only person he seemed to admire&mdash;mostly for, what the droid considered, the "creative atrocities" that Revan performed as a Sith Lord. The droid also had a peculiar and perverted idea of the concept of love, which he described as "making a shot to the knees of a target 120 kilometers away using an Aratech sniper rifle with a tri-light scope." He further mused that love was a matter of odds and found it odd that although most "meatbags" could not make such a shot, not many would derive a feeling of love from it. HK-47 had a unique speech trait and would vocally prefix every statement he made with a speech conditional that described the type of statement that it was. For example, if asking a question, he would first say "Query:" before beginning to speak.

Due to his appearance, HK-47, as well as his subsequent models, was often mistaken by many for a protocol droid. 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 and led him to a deeper understanding of his prey. This upgrade had to be removed, however, 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.

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, primarily using the Droid Assassin's rifle and often citing the satisfaction that he derived from using them in many combat scenarios.

As a Jedi hunter, HK-47 was knowledgeable in many techniques for assassinating Jedi, which he explained to the Jedi Exile so that 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, all of which exemplified 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 one's use of Force powers. Mines and gas were useful in catching a Jedi by surprise, giving HK-47 the advantage in combat. HK-47 also mentioned using a sniper rifle to attack from long range in order to avoid detection. In addition to these weapons, HK-47 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 or Padawan to be a sound tactic, as Jedi would often sacrifice themselves to save an ally.

In addition to his combat proficiency, HK-47 possessed many other skills. Like many droids, HK-47 was experienced as 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 a protocol droid in many other respects. He was fluent in over 6,000 forms of communication, including Galactic Basic Standard, Tusken, Binary, and Jawa trade language.

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 come from BioWare writer Drew Karpyshyn, who drew inspiration from the name of his billiard's team as well as that of the infamous AK-47 rifle. HK-47 has received highly positive critical reception for his character design and unique personality. HK-47 has won several awards for his character, including "Original Character of the Year" in the 2004 Game Developers Choice Awards and Computer Gaming World's 2003 "NPC of the Year" award.

HK-47 was featured as a miniature in the Star Wars Miniatures set Champions of the Force. He was rated "Very Rare" 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 that he is able to join either light or dark side factions during skirmishes. HK-47 is also available in the Star Wars: The Legacy Collection action figure line. He is included in the "Wave 7: ATTACK OF THE CLONES" set as the "Build-A-Droid" bonus feature; parts to build HK-47 are packed with the other figures in the set.

Cut content
In Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords, HK-47 was originally going to attack the secret HK Manufacturing Plant on Telos, of whose existence he learns of by torturing an HK-50 droid. The segment was to occur shortly after the final meeting on Dantooine and the confrontation with Atris. In the sequence, HK-47 travels to the surface of Telos IV just as Darth Nihilus begins his assault on Citadel Station. The droid tackles the factory alone while the Exile, Visas, and Mandalore assault the Ravager. In the factory, HK-47 gains the support of the new HK-51s, due to their self-preservation program, and after destroying the HK-50s and halting their production, the droid group travels to Malachor V to either help Bao-Dur's remote and dismantle G0-T0 or preserve Malachor and destroy the remote.

T3-M4 and G0-T0 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 offers to upgrade him, but HK-47 refuses, saying that he had been tampered with enough by other "unskilled meatbags." Bao-Dur is insulted by this comment, so HK-47 says that he will allow Bao-Dur to work on him after he is more sure of the Zabrak's ability. Later in the game, HK-50 units attack the Ebon Hawk, and their strength make HK-47 feel inferior, so he decides to allow Bao-Dur to upgrade him. After the procedure, HK-47's system checks return optimality, and he apologizes for doubting Bao-Dur's abilities. This encounter results in a permanent extra constitution point for HK-47.

As of April 2005, a collective group of "modders" called Team Gizka has been restoring the content, using the cut content rescued from 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