Power without purpose is meaningless. The galaxy is chaotic. Order must be imposed because it will never be chosen. . . The Jedi will not do it. A new order of Sith must be created in secret.
ne of the most imaginative and powerful Sith Lords to ever ignite a crimson blade, Darth Krayt endured from the Clone Wars to outlast the likes of Palpatine, Vader, and Luke Skywalker. He awakened from stasis in order to establish his own order of Sith and conquer the galaxy.
What other Sith Lord can claim to have fought against Obi-Wan Kenobi, alongside Luke Skywalker, and against Luke’s descendent, Cade Skywalker? In many ways, Darth Krayt is the epitome of Legends continuity at its finest.
Very few villains have backstories as deeply explored as that of Krayt. On the one hand, the Clone Wars comics from Dark Horse featured his father, Sharad Hett, as the sworn rival of Aurra Sing, who is featured in a number of adventures. On the other hand, Krayt’s backstory is explored in a number of flashbacks throughout the Legacy comics, Claws of the Dragon in particular.
His journey to Sith mastery is the stuff Legends are made of, to be sure. He began life living among the Tusken Raiders on Tatooine and even slayed a Krayt dragon after his father’s demise was taken in by Jedi Council member Ki-Adi-Mundi, under whom he apprenticed. He was even faced with the decision of whether or not to enact vengeance on his father’s killer, choosing the high road like a good Jedi should.
Hett befriended Anakin Skywalker during a mission during the Clone Wars, taking him under his wing when Kenobi wasn’t around. Eventually the two came to a confrontation over Anakin’s hatred of Tusken Raiders.
How, then, did A’Sharad Hett, Tusken Raider Jedi and friend of Anakin Skywalker, reestablish a Sith Empire? Obi-wan wasn’t the only Jedi to have the bright idea to hide out on Tatooine after Order 66.
Hett, however, believed himself to be the lone survivor of the Jedi Purge. Thus his eventual confrontation with Kenobi at the border of the Lars homestead came as quite the surprise. Hoping to reclaim his heritage and raise up an army of warriors to take on the Empire, Hett united the disparate Tusken Raider clans under his banner of war.
They waged a campaign against the human moisture farmers who had invaded their land, eventually leading them to cross paths with Kenobi and the galaxy’s last hope he had promised to protect.
Following his humiliating defeat at the hands of Kenobi, Hett wandered the galaxy as a bounty hunter. This eventually led him to Korriban, where he found a Sith holocron. Initially intending to enact revenge against Palpatine and Vader for the destruction of the Jedi, Hett’s journey down the dark path was paved with good intentions.
Unfortunately his Sith training on Korriban was more time-consuming than he realized. Once he resurfaced in order to put his new skills to the test, he came to realize that he was too late. Palpatine and Vader were no more.
Disillusioned and aimless, Hett wandered into the Unknown Regions. There, his story takes another wild turn.
Captured by Vergere, former Jedi emissary to the Yuuzhan Vong-turned-Sith, Hett was subjected to the Embrace of Pain. There, he came to the realization that only a singularly dominant will could restore order to the galaxy; neither the ways of Bane’s Sith Order nor the Jedi could accomplish his new vision for the galaxy.
After escaping from Vergere, armed and inflicted with bio-implants that threatened to consume him, Hett was reborn as Darth Krayt, master of the One Sith.
Krayt used the Second Galactic Civil War and the threat posed by Darth Caedus to escape notice of Luke Skywalker and his new Jedi Order. Hiding out on Korriban and surviving an unnaturally long time through the use of Force stasis, Krayt recruited and raised up an army of Sith, biding his time until he could conquer the galaxy.
That about covers it! Of course, from there, Krayt waged war against Emperor Roan Fel and his Imperial Knights, taking the throne but having one last Skywalker to eliminate. . . and save him from Vergere’s implants with his healing abilities. That story is found in John Ostrander and Jan Duursema’s truly epic Legacy series, set about 100 years after the events of the Original Trilogy.
Luckily, you don’t have to hide in the tombs of Korriban, find an ancient holocron, or enter into Force stasis in order to get your chance to learn about Darth Krayt! Every single issue of Legacy is available in three volumes of Marvel’s Epic Collections.
Beyond that, his Old Republic Tusken Raider Jedi stories can be found in Outlander, Emissaries to Malastare, The Siege of Selucemi, and The Hunt for Aurra Sing. His father’s backstory is in Last Stand on Jabiim.
Will you be convinced of Krayt’s ultimate vision to unite the galaxy under his leadership? Or should Kenobi have ended him on Tatooine? You’ve got plenty of reading ahead in order to forge your own opinion!
Coming Soon
Our team is hard at work building out this collection. Stay tuned!
Books in this Collection
Legends Epic Collection: Legacy Vol. 1
Head far into the future of long ago, in a series that explores the state of the galaxy more than 100 years after Star Wars: Episode VI Return of the Jedi. A new evil has arisen, shattering a resurgent Empire and seeking to put an end to the Jedi once and for all. The Sith Lord Darth Krayt sits on the throne. Only one hope remains – the last remaining heir to the Skywalker legacy. Cade may be strong in the Force but, years after a tragedy, he is a bounty hunter, working with Jariah Syn and Deliah Blue. When he reluctantly finds himself at the center of galactic turmoil, Cade may be forced to embrace his heritage. But will the path he embarks on be one of redemption, or damnation?
COLLECTING: STAR WARS: LEGACY (2006) 0–19
Legends Epic Collection: Legacy Vol. 2
Feel the full fury of the Sith! Continue to explore the legacy of Star Wars, a century in the future! With the Sith Empire and the Galactic Alliance locked in war, Admiral Gar Stazi steers his flagship the Indomitable into all-out space combat! Emperor Krayt sets out to teach the galaxy a lesson in obedience! And bounty hunter Cade Skywalker and his ragtag group settle scores! But when Cade heads to a Hidden Temple, will he find Jedi for a New Age? Master of magic Darth Wyyrlok undertakes his own crucial mission, the Mon Calamari face extinction, and Rogue Squadron encounters Mandalorian mayhem. But when the era-spanning Celeste Morne arrives in the future, will she be the secret weapon that will help Cade take down Emperor Krayt once and for all?
COLLECTING: STAR WARS: LEGACY (2006) 20-36, 41, 0-1/2
Legends Epic Collection: Legacy Vol. 3
Clone Wars Volume 3: Last Stand on Jabiim
General Obi-Wan Kenobi and his Padawan Anakin Skywalker find themselves in command of a regiment of Clone Troopers on the muddy battlefields of the rain world of Jabiim. With their supply lines stretched thin and reinforcements unable to land due to the perpetual storms, the Jedi and their army have become easy targets for the rebel Alto Stratus and his elite Nimbus warriors. The situation goes from bad to worse when General Kenobi is listed missing in action, and Anakin is teamed with a group of other masterless young Jedi on a doomed mission to hold the last line in the Republic's defense!
Republic: Emissaries to Malastare
Republic: Outlander
Clone Wars Volume 8: The Last Siege, The Final Truth (2006)
While both the Republic and the Separatists have suffered staggering losses during the Clone Wars, nothing could have prepared them for the battle they face on the desert world of Saleucami. Beneath the surface of this Outer Rim planet, the Dark Jedi Sora Bulq has begun cloning an army of Morgukai assassins. Unwilling to leave this grave new threat unchecked, the Jedi and their armies soon find themselves entrenched in a five-month siege. Now, time and resources have run out, and it's up to a crack team of Jedi, led by Quinlan Vos and Aayla Secura, to infiltrate the Separatist base.
Republic: The Hunt for Aurra Sing
Kenobi
Following Order 66, General Obi Wan Kenobi vanished from the galaxy along with all the other Jedi. Years later, he re-emerged as a crazy old hermit by the name of Ben to play a hand in the fate of the galaxy. However, much more happened in the preceding years than one might expect. Even on a backwater planet like Tatooine, there is conflict, and soon Ben finds himself wrapped up in a decades-long feud between the moisture farmers and their arch nemeses, the Tusken Raiders. Ben must find a way to get to the bottom of an ever-deepening mystery that lies beneath the conflict while also keeping his identity—and his true purpose on Tatooine—a secret.
Kenobi is hands down one of the best books in the Expanded Universe. John Jackson Miller crafted a well-written, easy-to-read piece that not only focuses on one of the most beloved characters in all of Star Wars, but also manages to fill in a crucial gap in the story between movie trilogies. It takes the Western influences in Star Wars and runs with them to create not only an engaging story, but an essential one.
The Republic has fallen.
Sith Lords rule the galaxy.
Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi has lost everything . . .
Everything but hope.
Tatooine—a harsh desert world where farmers toil in the heat of two suns while trying to protect themselves and their loved ones from the marauding Tusken Raiders. A backwater planet on the edge of civilized space. And an unlikely place to find a Jedi Master in hiding, or an orphaned infant boy on whose tiny shoulders rests the future of a galaxy.
Known to locals only as “Ben,” the bearded and robed offworlder is an enigmatic stranger who keeps to himself, shares nothing of his past, and goes to great pains to remain an outsider. But as tensions escalate between the farmers and a tribe of Sand People led by a ruthless war chief, Ben finds himself drawn into the fight, endangering the very mission that brought him to Tatooine.
Ben—Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi, hero of the Clone Wars, traitor to the Empire, and protector of the galaxy’s last hope—can no more turn his back on evil than he can reject his Jedi training. And when blood is unjustly spilled, innocent lives threatened, and a ruthless opponent unmasked, Ben has no choice but to call on the wisdom of the Jedi—and the formidable power of the Force—in his never-ending fight for justice.
Apocalypse
In the stunning finale of the epic Fate of the Jedi series, Jedi and Sith face off—with Coruscant as their battlefield. For the Sith, it’s the chance to restore their dominance over the galaxy that forgot them for so long. For Abeloth, it’s a giant step in her quest to conquer all life everywhere. For Luke Skywalker, it’s a call to arms to eradicate the Sith and their monstrous new master once and for all.
In a planetwide strike, teams of Jedi Knights take the Sith infiltrators by swift and lethal surprise. But victory against the cunning and savage Abeloth, and the terrifying endgame she has planned, is anything but certain. And as Luke, Ben, Han, Leia, Jaina, Jag, and their allies close in, the devastating truth about the dark side incarnate will be exposed—and send shock waves through the Jedi Order, the galaxy, and the Force itself.
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