- "The Battle of Mizra (1466 B.B.Y.) saw the victory of a massive Sith army over the Jedi. It was immortalized by the poet Felloux, who described scores of Sith speeders bearing scores of Sith Lords […] The Sith Lords' drawn lightsabers illuminated the ash-blackened sky, and their whining repulsorlift chariots drowned out the screams of the dying."
- ―A Galactic Alliance historical document
The Battle of Mizra was an engagement of the millennium-long New Sith Wars that took place in 1466 BBY. It pitted a force of Galactic Republic soldiers, accompanied by Jedi and led by a Jedi coordinator, against a massive army of the New Sith that featured many Sith Lords riding speeders. At one point during a Jedi retreat, a Sith sniper killed the Jedi coordinator—who had been using the battle meditation Force ability to improve the combat performance of the Republic force—causing a rout that saw the deaths of more than half a million Republic troops and capture of hundreds of Jedi.
The defeat at the Battle of Mizra served as a turning point in the New Sith Wars, resulting in significant loss of Republic political control over the Outer Rim Territories and a rise in power for the Sith. Centuries after the battle, it was mentioned in documents such as the Jedi trainee guidebook The Jedi Path: A Manual for Students of the Force, the Sith text The Rule of Two, and a galactic history chronicle by the Historical Council of the Galactic Federation of Free Alliances. The battle was also immortalized in a description by the poet Felloux.
Prelude[]
The New Sith Wars were a conflict waged from 2000 BBY to 1000 BBY between the Galactic Republic and the New Sith, a group of members of the Sith tradition of Force-users. Initially set back by numerous instances of Sith sabotage, by 1500 BBY the Republic had managed to draft sufficiently many soldiers to counter Sith offensives at the Outer Rim Territories celestial bodies Gap Nine and King's Galquek as well as the astronomical object Corphelion in the Expansion Region. At the same time, however, the Sith allied with members of the Devaronian and Hiitian species.[1]
The battle[]
- "At the Battle of Mizra, the death of the Jedi coordinator to a Sith sniper turned the Jedi retreat into a full-scale slaughter."
- ―Jedi Master Sabla-Mandibu, The Jedi Path: A Manual for Students of the Force
1466 BBY saw the occurrence of the Battle of Mizra, which shared its name with the Mizra system of the Inner Rim. A force of at least half a million Republic troops, accompanied by Jedi—members of the Jedi Order, which was the ideological anti-thesis of the Sith[1]—and led by a Jedi coordinator[2] faced a massive Sith army at a location within an atmosphere. The latter force included numerous Sith Lords riding speeders—such as Hssiss, Ng'ok, and Sleeth—each of which was named after a predatory creature whose nature corresponded to the rider's character.[3]
In the battle, in which the Jedi coordinator was employing the battle meditation Force ability to boost the combat performance of the Republic soldiers and hinder that of the Sith,[2] the latter faction nevertheless emerged victorious.[3] At one point, the Jedi mounted a retreat, at which point a Sith sniper killed the Jedi coordinator. As a result, the retreat turned into a slaughter,[2] with more than half a million Republic troops perishing in the battle and hundreds of Jedi becoming captured and subsequently converting to the dark side of the Force.[1]
Aftermath[]
Remembrances grave and flippant[]
- "There is a pouch on your ship that belongs to me."
"So you keep saying. The Jedi stole your stealth suit. I believe she also brought along a walking tank from the Battle of Mizra. I expect it's hiding underneath her bunk." - ―Narsk Ka'hane and Jarrow Rusher
The outcome of the Battle of Mizra led to the eventual rise in power of Darth Rivan.
The defeat of the Jedi and Republic forces at the Battle of Mizra was remembered as a game-changing reversal to the sluggish war effort of the Republic. The event caused a particularly notable loss of Republic control over the Outer Rim—one after which it could be argued that centralized Republic political power never returned in that region. After the battle, the Sith also underwent a hardening rise in power, leading to the reign of[1] the Dark Lord of the Sith[5] Darth Rivan on the Expansion Region[1] planet[5] Almas and[1] the Dark Lord[6] Belia Darzu utilizing[1] the half-organic, half-mechanical beings known as technobeasts[6] during the Sictis Wars of 1250 BBY–1230 BBY.[1]
In 1032 BBY,[7] the spy Narsk Ka'hane repeatedly asked the mercenary Jarrow Rusher—who was knowledgeable about military history—about retrieving his Cyricept Personal Concealment System, Mark VI stealth suit, which had fallen into the possession of Jedi Knight Kerra Holt and subsequently had ended up aboard Rusher's warship Diligence. In response, the disbelieving Rusher quipped that he also thought that Holt had brought on-board and hidden underneath her bunk a "walking tank" from the Battle of Mizra.[4]
Written accounts[]
- "The so-called New Sith Wars lasted a thousand years. Many warlords during that time sought to control the destiny of the Sith Empire. They achieved victories from the Battle of Mizra to the Sictus [sic] Wars, but those were victories without a clear line of succession."
- ―Darth Bane, The Rule of Two
The Battle of Mizra was mentioned in the book The Jedi Path: A Manual for Students of the Force.
The Battle of Mizra was later mentioned in several documents, as well. Jedi Master Sabla-Mandibu noted the reversal of the Jedi fortune in the battle in a chapter of[2] the 990 BBY[2][9] Jedi trainee guidebook The Jedi Path: A Manual for Students of the Force.[2] At some point between 1000 BBY[8] and 980 BBY,[10] the Dark Lord of the Sith[11] Darth Bane also namedropped the Battle of Mizra in his work The Rule of Two. Bane recognized the event as one of the Sith victories of the New Sith Wars but characterized it as a victory "without a clear line of succession," scorning the constant Sith infighting that took place both before and after the battle.[8]
Finally, the poet Felloux immortalized the battle by describing how the drawn and ignited lightsabers of the "scores" of Sith Lords riding speeders during the engagement illuminated the ash-blackened sky above the battlefield. In Felloux's characterization, the whining of the speeders drowned out the screams of the dying. Eventually, the Battle of Mizra and its description by Felloux were also noted in a 36 ABY galactic history chronicle by the Historical Council of the Galactic Federation of Free Alliances.[3]
Behind the scenes[]
The Battle of Mizra was first mentioned in the 2005 reference book The New Essential Chronology by Daniel Wallace and Kevin J. Anderson.[3]
Appearances[]
- Knight Errant (Mentioned only)
Sources[]
- The New Essential Chronology (First mentioned)
- The Essential Atlas
- The Jedi Path: A Manual for Students of the Force
- Book of Sith: Secrets from the Dark Side
Notes and references[]
- ↑ 1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.10 1.11 1.12 1.13 1.14 1.15 1.16 1.17 1.18 1.19 1.20 The Essential Atlas
- ↑ 2.00 2.01 2.02 2.03 2.04 2.05 2.06 2.07 2.08 2.09 The Jedi Path: A Manual for Students of the Force
- ↑ 3.00 3.01 3.02 3.03 3.04 3.05 3.06 3.07 3.08 3.09 3.10 The New Essential Chronology
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Knight Errant
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 "Echoes of the Jedi" – Dawn of Defiance campaign
- ↑ 6.0 6.1
Evil Never Dies: The Sith Dynasties on Hyperspace (backup link) (original site is defunct)
- ↑ The Essential Reader's Companion dates the events of Knight Errant to 1032 BBY.
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 Book of Sith: Secrets from the Dark Side
- ↑
Daniel Wallace's Geekosity — Endnotes for Star Wars: The Jedi Path (part 1 of 4) on Blogspot (backup link)
- ↑ The Essential Reader's Companion and Darth Bane: Dynasty of Evil date the events of the latter work to 980 BBY.
- ↑ Darth Bane: Dynasty of Evil