HK-47

HK-47
Production information
Creator	Revan
Manufacturer	Systech Corporation (claimed) Czerka Corporation (rumored)
Product line	HK-series assassin droid
Model	HK-47
Class	Assassin/protocol droid
Technical specifications
Height	1.8 meters
Gender	Masculine programming
Sensor color	Orange
Armament	Integrated modular weapon mounts
Equipment	Blaster rifle
Chronological and political information
Affiliation	Systech Corporation Sith Empire Mandalorian Neo-Crusaders Hutts Revan Jedi Exile

Warning: This infobox has missing parameters: cost, type, plating, pronouns, mass and unrecognized parameters: era

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HK-47 was a Hunter-Killer assassin droid and Jedi hunter constructed by Revan shortly after the beginning of the Jedi Civil War to assassinate those who Revan believed would destabilize the galaxy. After the devastating loss of life at the Battle of Malachor V, Revan constructed HK-47 as an alternative as he no longer felt such massive destruction necessary for his goals. HK-47 was captured on a mission in Mandalorian space shortly before Revan's capture by the Jedi, and HK-47 went from owner to owner, many of whom he slew himself, before being unwittingly reunited with his master. The droid went on to help Revan find the Star Forge once more. The droid would accompany Revan to the edge of the Unknown Regions along with T3-M4 before being left behind in the Ebon Hawk as Revan continued his search for the True Sith.

Sometime later, HK-47 was damaged and left aboard the Ebon Hawk, which eventually ended up in the hands of the Jedi Exile. During this period, HK-50 assassin droids, and advanced version Revan constructed for similar purposes, were found by GO-TO and used for his purposes. The Exile finally repaired HK-47, who went on to defeat G0-T0 with help from HK-50 droids he persuaded to join the Exile. HK-47 would also aid the Exile in her search for the surviving Jedi Masters, and even passed on techniques on how to kill Jedi in order for the Exile to learn how to better defend herself.

Four millennia later, HK-47 was found on the planet Mustafar and given a new body. HK-47 turned on those that had created it for him, who were forced to disable HK-47's new droid army and the factory producing them. This battle climaxed in a showdown between these spacers and HK-47's best droids; the spacers won, though HK-47 escaped.

HK-47 was extremely bloodthirsty, even for an assassin droid. He took extreme pleasure in any sort of violence and even described his work as a form of art. He also made a habit of branding all organic lifeforms meatbags.

Biography

Revan's assassin

"I am like a veritable fable, warning against the karma caused by murdering others, a morality tale if you will. What utter irony."

―HK-47 to Revan

HK-47 was originally constructed by Revan, shortly after the Battle of Malachor V, to be the quintessential assassin. With tactics that resulted in the amount of destruction at Malachor V no longer a part of Revan's plan, he turned to using HK-47 as a more selective way of achieving his goals. Although he considered himself to be a unique construct, this was not entirely accurate, as he bore a close resemblance to other Hunter-Killer droids produced by Czerka Corporation. Revan did, in fact, use the HK-24 design as a basis for his model, with several of his own upgrades.

While HK-47 was completely loyal—friendly, even—to those he identified as his master, he had virtually no regard for any form of life, and was driven by an unquenchable thirst for violence and carnage. He 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 friend and apprentice Darth Malak had asked what the droid thought of him. In his statement of opinion, HK-47 informed him [Malak] of his meatbag status. Revan found the insult (as well as Malak's annoyance) amusing enough to reprogram HK to consider all organics meatbags.

After witnessing HK-47's abilities first-hand, Revan decided that more droids of this design would make excellent agents for his purposes. So HK-47 became the basis for a new model of HK-series assassin droids: the HK-50. However, Revan was captured and his memory was erased before this plan could be realized, and the production on the HK-50 model ceased for several years.

The droid remained in Revan's possession, helping him locate the ancient space factory known as the Star Forge and assassinating beings who could potentially destabilize the galaxy until his master sent him on an assassination mission into Mandalorian space. Though HK-47 succeeded, his motor functions were damaged, and he ended up in the possession of a Mandalorian soldier who claimed him as his spoils. The Mandalorian repaired HK-47 to the extent he was capable of and began using him to raise his rank.

HK lost much of his memory because of this and he could not figure out where he had been created, though he believed himself to be of Systech Corporation's manufacture. All he knew was his urge to kill, but he had no idea why or the reason he was so well equipped to do so.

From master to master

File:HK47-NEGD.jpg

HK-47 with glowing photoreceptors.

"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 to assassinate an unidentified Mandalore. He failed and was captured by the Mandalore, who reprogrammed him and sent him after his former master, who was successfully 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 on the planet Sleheyron.

HK-47 helped Bochaba maintain his reputation of the most feared gangster on Sleheyron, terminating 322 targets in a single year before Bochaba was finally assassinated by his rivals. The droid shut himself down once again after this discovery, and was sold to a Human senator on Coruscant.

The senator first assumed HK to be a mere protocol droid, but later one of his assistants discovered the droid's assassination functions and asked the senator to destroy him. The senator instead ordered HK to kill the assistant. The droid remained with his master and helped him eliminate his political enemies. The senator was on the way to being elected as the Supreme Chancellor, but things did not go as they were planned.

The next target the senator ordered HK-47 to kill was his own wife, who, as he discovered, was cheating on him. As HK approached the wife and her lover to terminate them both, his master suddenly regretted his order and dove between HK and his intended victims. Having accidentally terminated his master, the droid had no choice but to shut down. 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 in two months he found out about the droid's assassination protocols. After that, he sent HK 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.

What the officer did not know was that the competing company was, in fact, another branch of Systech Corporation. By the time he realized this, HK-47 had already terminated 104 Systech employees with 15 more to go. HK assumed that, being the only officer remaining, his master would be promoted. Instead, he went insane and attacked the droid. While doing so, he 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 and once again forcing the droid to deactivate himself.

Back with Revan

HK-47 during his travels with Revan.

"You are a very harsh master, Master. I like you."

―HK-47 to Revan

After that accident, HK-47 was sold to Yuka Laka, an Ithorian droid dealer on Tatooine. There, he was encountered by his original master, Revan, who had suffered memory loss and was ignorant of his true identity. He 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. Revan was quite taken aback to discover that HK had, indirectly or otherwise, been the cause of death of all of his interim owners. This did not stop Revan from making extensive repairs to the droid, eventually repairing everything but the memory core, which was too fragile to attempt to repair manually.

Eventually, when Revan discovered the truth about his own history, this proved to be the stimulus necessary for HK-47's internal programming to undo the simulated damage to his primary memory core, allowing the droid both full access to his entire memory as well as his entire combat and assassination protocol package. The droid remained with Revan until the end of the former Dark Lord's journey, following him to the Battle of Rakata Prime and to Malachor V, where, along with T3-M4 and the Ebon Hawk, Revan left him before departing for the Unknown Regions.

The Jedi Exile

Somehow during the intervening time, HK-47 was once again severely damaged and almost entirely dismembered. He was partially repaired by an unknown party. When the Jedi Exile reactivated HK-47, using parts retrieved from the imitation HK-50s and a junk dealer on Nar Shaddaa, the droid was enraged to discover these copies of himself. He was particularly angered by their respectful references to organics. Hoping to encounter more of these copies and eventually track them to where they were created, the droid joined the Exile in her journey to find and unite the surviving Jedi Masters of the First Jedi Purge.

Having much of his memory gone, HK-47 did not remember is former companions, such as T3 or Canderous, although he did seem familiar with GO-TO. HK-47 began to analyze the ship and discovered an anomaly: the Ebon Hawk's navicomputer was locked; it made him curious as to where the ship recently been. Before he could find out anything else, T3 disabled him. It was also learned that Revan erased his memory of the past four years so he wouldn't find out where he was going. However he regained memories of his past adventure on the Ebon Hawk after the Exile reactivated him.

HK-47 eventually found the HK Factory under the surface of Telos IV and persuaded the HK-50s to join his cause. They then allied with HK-47 to destroy their employer, G0-T0, during their final showdown on Malachor V, freeing Bao-Dur's remote to activate the Mass Shadow Generator and destroy the planet.

"Retirement" on Mustafar

Sometime during the thousands of years between then and the Galactic Civil War, HK-47's AI was transferred to a computer located in a Galactic Republic cruiser. For unknown reasons the cruiser crashed on the volcanic Outer Rim planet Mustafar.

Thousands of years later a tectonic shift exposed the cruiser. When the Confederacy of Independent Systems arrived on Mustafar during the on-going 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 to finally defeat the Republic. The result was the new HK-77 model. Mass production was ready to begin when Darth Vader arrived on Mustafar and wiped out the Separatist leaders, bringing an end to the Clone Wars and the separatist movement. The deactivated HK-47 chassis, along with the rest of the new HK-77 models, were forgotten; and lay dormant after Vader and the Imperial forces left Mustafar.

Over 20 years later, c. 1.5 ABY, the terminal in the Republic cruiser contacted a group of spacers. HK-47 instructed the spacers to invade the Kubaza Beetle Cavern and enable his AI to be transferred from the ship. Once they succeeded in doing so, he ordered them on another quest; this time, they were to enter an old research facility on Mustafar which was said to date back to the years of the Galactic Republic and restore the power. Though the group had to fight through much of the indigenous life of the planet as well as several battle droids, they eventually managed to complete their task.

File:HK-47.JPG

HK-47, back in his body.

Terminal Delta Five, a computer in the newly powered Research Facility, immediately contacted the group and ordered them to enter the old Droid Factory on the planet and enter a six-digit code into the main terminal. Unfortunately, the code was scattered over three separate terminals which were only operational for ten seconds each. As soon as the group managed to enter the code, however, the Factory Guardian appeared, and attempted to kill them. Once they had dealt with this threat, they returned to the Old Research Facility where they received a message from HK-47, now returned to a new body, similar to his former 4000-year old one.

He informed them that, although he appreciated their help for returning him to his body, he would have to get the factory back up and running to get some payback from those who had taken it from him. Unfortunately, he was not sure who had taken it in the first place, and so he decided to simply kill any meatbags he came across, starting with the group of spacers who 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 Mensix Mining Facility.

HK quickly assembled an army of AK-1A "Hammer", AK-3 "Reaper", GK-5 Sentry, and HK-77 droids in order to destroy all organics on Mustafar. The army attacked the Koseyet 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 HK-58 Aurek, HK-58 Besh, HK-Taskmaster, CY-M Prototype and Doom Bringer before shutting the factory down. The spacers made their way to The Lava Crater at the Central Volcano to destroy HK-47. Though the spacers succeeded after a long, strenuous battle against HK-47's most elite droids, they received a message from HK-47, explaining that he was, in fact, still alive.

HK-47 admired the spacers' ability, however, and in a slightly sarcastic motion, awarded them with a decorative hologram of himself. The plaque at the hologram's base simply read "Meatbag."

Personality and traits

File:Hk47.jpg

HK-47.

"Statement: Now do you understand the travails of my existence, master? Surely it does not compare to your existence, but still…"
"I survive. Somehow."
"Commentary: As do I. It is our lot in life, I suppose, master. Shall we find something to kill to cheer ourselves up?"

―HK-47 and Revan about how meatbags survive with squishy parts

HK-47's personality programming can be best described as misanthropic, bordering on sociopathic. He was a high-performance assassin droid who excelled and delighted in all manner of violence. About the only person safe from the droid's bloodlust was his current master, though friendly fire was a very real and lethal threat, as all of his owners except Revan and the Exile found out. He was more than willing on several occasions in his second service to Revan to rip the head off of anyone who only slightly annoyed Revan. In fact, the droid was quite eager for the chance, causing the memory wiped Revan a considerable amount of unease around the droid.

The droid had several odd quirks in his programming. Whether these were intentionally installed by Revan or simply part of his protocol droid package was never known. For one, HK-47 acted very dignified and had a definite sense of pride. He considered himself extremely superior to all organics and all droids except for Revan, who was the only person he seemed to admire; mostly for the droid considered creative atrocities that Revan performed as a Sith Lord. Perhaps his oddest trait was his speech. While using a very extensive and refined vocabulary, HK-47 would vocally label anything he said, stating what type of statement he was making. For example, if asking a question, he would say "Query:" then ask his question as normal. As his AI was taken to create the next generation of HK droids, this trait also carried over to the HK-50 model.

Despite his inherently menacing disposition, he was often mistaken for a protocol droid by many, and he used this to his advantage on more than one occasion, hiding his true nature. HK-47 was an adept and patient killer, as well as highly innovative, especially for a droid. Amusingly enough, his primary function, before he was damaged, was known as his assassination protocols.

He did, however, possess a number of protocol functions in addition to his less legal ones, being fluent in Galactic Basic Standard, Tusken, Binary, Jawa Trade Language, and boasted that he was fluent in over 6,000 languages.

Several modifications were made to HK-47 throughout his life span by his less fortunate owners, modifications that served to re-enforce his position as a ruthless, efficient killing machine. Regrettably, most of these modifications were damaged beyond anything less than intrusive repair after his dismemberment in his second service to Revan. However, the Exile briefly installed the HK protocol pacifist package which gave HK-47 a short-lived appreciation for peace and pacifism, only leading to a deeper understanding of his prey. This upgrade had to be removed, for the simple reason that he found himself horrified at the very thought of causing harm to another being and by the fact that he his new behavior severely disconcerted the Exile. When the program was removed, HK-47 showed a rare moment of fear. It turned out that the thought of being a normal, peaceful protocol droid forever had frightened him.

Abilities

"Still, you will find me a valuable asset, master, willing and able to terminate anything you point me towards."

―HK-47 to the Exile

True to his design as a highly sophisticated assassin droid, HK-47 was a deadly opponent, able to fight effectively as an assassin 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, often citing the satisfaction he derived from using them in many combat scenarios. As a skilled Jedi hunter, the droid was knowledgeable in many techniques for assassinating Jedi, which he explained to the Jedi Exile so 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, and mines, showing the droid's versatility in combat. In addition to these weapons, HK-47 also would attempt to erode the will of his opponents, which he found to be an effective method for weakening their concentration.

In addition to his combat proficiency, HK-47 also possessed many other skills. Like many droids, HK-47 was an expert 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, as did Bao-Dur, increasing his overall efficiency. As much of his original programming was based on protocol subroutines, the droid was capable of acting as a translator and as a protocol droid in many other respects.

Behind the scenes

HK-47's original concept art.

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 a popular character due to his self-deprecating demeanor and darkly cheerful attitude towards senseless violence, which has earned him a spot on ToyFare's Fan Choice Figure nominations in 2005-2006. At the ToyFare 's Fan Choice Figure nominations the man who received the nomination in his stead quoted him, saying: "HK-47 would like to thank all the organic meatbags who made this nomination possible."

HK-47 is known to call organic lifeforms "meatbags", which is something that the robot Bender from the show Futurama has said on occasion.

Despite being a self-described killing machine, HK-47 is still a morally ambiguous character. The fact that he is a droid and possesses no free will but is instead bound to the orders of his owner is emphasized at various points throughout the game. As HK-47's actions are ultimately the responsibility of his master, this serves to underscore the theme of light versus dark portrayed throughout Knights of the Old Republic.

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.

Name origin

The answer for the origins of HK-47's name comes from BioWare writer Drew Karpyshyn. He states on his website that the origin for the name of HK-47 is as follows: "My billiard team is the original source of the name for a popular character in the Knights of the Old Republic game. My team was made up of 4 players with the last name Harrison, and 1 player (me) with the name Karpyshyn. So with 4 H’s and 1 K we were going to call ourselves the HK-41’s. But we decided HK-47 sounded more intimidating because of the well known AK-47 rifle, so we became the HK-47’s. Several years later, when I went to work for BioWare, I tacked the name onto the homicidal Hunter-Killer robot assassin who joined the player on his quest."

HK-47 in the Sublevel before entering the HK-50 and 51 factory, cut from final production. (Note: This is a preview shot from the TSLRP Mod by Team Gizka)

Products

HK-47 was a miniature in the Star Wars Miniatures set Champions of the Force. He had a "Very Rare" rarity level (circled star) 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 he could join either light side or dark side factions during skirmish

Cut content

HK-47, in Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords, was originally going to attack the secret HK Manufacturing Plant on Telos IV, whose existence he learns of by torturing an HK-50 droid. The segment would have been a solo mission for HK-47 while the rest of the party fought off Nihilus' assault on Telos IV.

In the factory, HK would gain the support of the new HK-51s, due to their self-preservation program; and after destroying the HK-50s and halting their production, they would travel to Malachor V to either help Bao-Dur's remote and dismantle G0-T0, or preserve Malachor and destroy the remote. It is unknown if it was intended that HK-47 would perish with Malachor V, but given his resurgence in the Rebellion era, no ending in which he did can be considered canon-compatible.

As of April 2005, a collection of "modders" called Team Gizka has been restoring the content, using the cut content rescued off of 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 (First appearance)
• Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords
• Star Wars Galaxies: Trials of Obi-Wan

Sources

• "HK-47: An Expanded Universe Character from Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic" (original article link) on Wizards.com (content now obsolete; backup link)
• HK-47 in the Databank (content now obsolete; backup link)
• The New Essential Chronology
• Exploring Mustafar on the official Star Wars Galaxies website
• The New Essential Guide to Droids
• Star Wars Miniatures: Champions of the Force
• Knights of the Old Republic: Opportunities
• Knights of the Old Republic Campaign Guide

External links

• Drew Karpyshyn Creative Works - Hobbies