- "To drive the darkness away, it seems, the light will have to perish with it!"
- ―Hoth
The Ruusan campaign was the last campaign of the New Sith Wars. The campaign also was referred to simply as the Battle of Ruusan, although that was also used to describe the seventh battle. They consisted of seven battles and a number of minor skirmishes on the planet Ruusan that were stretched over a two year span from 1002 BBY to 1000 BBY.
During the campaign, the Galactic Republic's Army of Light was commanded by Jedi Lord Hoth, and the Brotherhood of Darkness was led by Skere Kaan, Dark Lord of the Sith. Throughout the course of the battles, additional reinforcements attempted to land on Ruusan, though many Jedi forces were destroyed by an orbiting Sith blockade and many Sith reinforcements were destroyed by the Republic Navy en route to Ruusan. Four of the seven battles were won by the Army of Light, although the first battle of Ruusan was an absolute victory for the Sith; the Republic's forces were utterly destroyed and not a single Republic soldier escaped that battle alive.
The final battle led to the destruction of both the Brotherhood of Darkness and after thousands in the initial battle, a final hundred Jedi, who sacrificed themselves to force Lord Kaan to detonate his final superweapon, the thought bomb, underground in the caverns on Ruusan, taking himself and all Sith lords with him. This controversial decision and the enormous damage caused to the planet by the ongoing space, air and ground battles with ever changing fortune and the ecological aftereffects of the thought bomb lead to the Ruusan Reformation of Supreme Chancellor Tarsus Valorum and the Rule of Two of Darth Bane, who secretly arranged these course of events to wipe out the Brotherhood of Darkness and so start again with only his apprentice, to now conquer by stealth and deception.
Battles[]
- Battle on Ruusan
- Skirmish on Ruusan
- Massacre on Ruusan
- First Battle of Ruusan
- Second Battle of Ruusan
- Third Battle of Ruusan
- Fourth Battle of Ruusan
- Fifth Battle of Ruusan
- Sixth Battle of Ruusan
- Seventh Battle of Ruusan
Behind the scenes[]
- "Here we fought seven terrible battles... Battles in which thousands of Jedi died. In spite of their superior numbers, in spite of their brutality, in spite of their willingness to invoke the dark side of the Force, the Brotherhood of Darkness lost all but two of those engagements."
- ―Lord Hoth to Tal
The Campaign and the seventh battle were first mentioned in the novella Dark Forces: Rebel Agent. In Dark Forces: Jedi Knight, According to Hoth's words, experienced in a vision to Kyle Katarn, the Brotherhood won only two of those battles, whereas in Darth Bane: Path of Destruction mentions that the Sith won the First, the Second and the Fourth.[2]
Appearances[]
- Darth Bane: Path of Destruction (and audiobook)
- ° Star Wars: Jedi vs. Sith
- Darth Bane: Rule of Two (and audiobook) (Mentioned only)
- "Coruscani Dawn" – Living Force campaign (Mentioned only)
- Star Wars: The Clone Wars — "Lightsaber Lost" (Depicted in painting)
- "EndTimes: The Eye" – Living Force campaign (Mentioned only)
- "Echoes of the Jedi" – Dawn of Defiance campaign (Mentioned only)
- Dark Forces: Rebel Agent (First mentioned)
- Dark Forces: Rebel Agent audio drama (Mentioned only)
- Dark Forces: Jedi Knight (First appearance) (In flashback(s))
- Dark Forces: Jedi Knight audio drama (Mentioned only)
Sources[]
- The Official Star Wars Fact File 1 (MAU 1-4: Darth Maul)
- "The Sith Fortress" on Wizards.com (content now obsolete; backup link)
- The New Essential Chronology
- "Ask the Master" — Star Wars Insider 85
- "Heritage of the Sith" — Star Wars Insider 88
- The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia (as Battle of Ruusan)
- Star Wars: The Official Starships & Vehicles Collection 21
- The Written Word on Hyperspace (article) (content obsolete and backup link not available)
- The Jedi Path: A Manual for Students of the Force
- Book of Sith: Secrets from the Dark Side
- The Essential Guide to Warfare
- Star Wars: The Essential Guide to Warfare Author's Cut, Part 5: Zenith of the Republic on StarWars.com (article) (backup link)