Lit The Force Unleashed - Dark Side Ending

I'm considering writing a fanfic that takes place in the TFU Dark Side Ending. I've had a couple questions about this AU. Obviously the answers don't exist, but I would like to know what y'all think would happen.

-The story would center around Imperial Intelligence, so my question is; Who would be Director in this AU? The history would be quite different in this timeline, so would Armand still be executed, or would he remain Director around 0 ABY? If he was executed, who would replace him?

-When would the senate be dissolved in this timeline? For the sake of the story, it would make sense to have it happen later; The plot revolves around the Empire being slightly accountable to the public. After the Senate's liquidation the Empire became wholly fascist, and wouldn't care about accountability.

-Darth Vader is killed by Starkiller, obviously: Did the Empire know the truth about Vader's demise? Were they given any information on Palpatine's new apprentice? I imagine the events of the game would be quite confusing to the Imperials. Would Palpatine keep the story secret?

The story would chronicle the Empire's investigation into the Starkiller character before Vader's death, and how Starkiller became the new Executor after his death. I assume any outsider, suddenly given such an important title would be subject to investigations by Military Intelligence. It would be great if you guys could answer any of these questions, as it would help a whole lot.

 

Is it Legends or canon based?

Intelligence you might have Isard still in charge.

The dissolution of the Senate? Perhaps a little later than when it happened in ANH.

I don't think either the general public or the imperial higher ups would be in the know when it came to Vader Palpatine probably would come up with some sort of cover story.

Remember Palpatine ultimately calls the shots, as Imperial intelligence would indeed be curious if an outsider all of a sudden became important Palpatine could delay or end any investigation that might reveal the true nature of the relationships therein.

 

Here's a question about the Sith Stalker Ending.

Just how bad were Starkiller's injuries after Palpatine crashed the Rogue Shadow on him? He seems to need that helmet of his, but his arms and legs appear to be flesh and blood. He can't be as much a cyborg as Vader was.

 

In the DLC missions Palpatine uses him as an assassin and calls him apprentice with a slight disgusted tone.

 

Yeah Sidious was not pleased with Starkiller as an apprentice. Probably because Marek was trained by Vader to be a blunt instrument and nothing. No leadership, no strategy, nothing resembling the cunning and vision of a Sith Lord. Just a weapon, albeit an unstoppable weapon. With Vader, Sidious could issue an objective and trust Vader to get the job done by whatever means he saw fit. With Starkiller, at least in the DLC Content, Sidious seems to have to impart very specific instructions to his new apprentice.

 

Yeah as broken and mentally scarred as Marek is he would make a good blunt instrument but a poor sith lord, unstoppable and terrifying yes but poor in the finer arts of dark side practice and politicking.

 

If the Sith Stalker spirit seen in the Jedi Temple can be believed, he can survive without the helmet, though obviously this is of dubious reality.

It seems like the injuries are mostly from the blunt force trauma of the crash, although a few fingers on the right side have been replaced, and there are some cybernetics in the arm as well.

The Cyborg transformation skin implies that it could have been much worse, with Starkiller's organs in vats, hid entire lower half replaced by cybernetics, and barley any flesh left on the top half.

 

I haven't played TFU, so forgive me if I'm wrong, but Garm Bel Iblis dies in the dark side ending, right? If so, he's not alive to be the protagonist in Interlude at Darkknell, which was the series of events that Ysanne Isard used to set up and depose her father. While she's clever enough to potentially come up with an alternative means of betraying him with whatever replacement sequence of events happens on Darkknell, there's no reason that it *has* to happen if you want to keep Armand Isard in power for your story. Note that, if you *do* decide to depose him as happened in official Legends, that Ysanne doesn't get to claim his chair right away; Blackhole serves as interim director for several months.

I don't think there's any established reason why the Senate would be dissolved any later in this timeline, but there should be plenty of room for you to fabricate such a reason for the purposes of your story.

As for the story of Vader's demise, only Palpatine and Starkiller saw it and survived, so Palpatine can spin it however he desires for his own purposes. Though, at the very least, the Star Destroyer captain at Tatooine was aware of Starkiller's existence and importance to the Emperor.

 

While Bel Iblis and Mon Mothma aren't seen dead directly, Bail is, and there would be no way for them to escape with the Rogue Shadow crashed.

Leis presumably set up the Rebel alliance seen in the Tatooine and Hoth DLCs.

 

You know the one thing I loved about TFU is that the top Rebel brass come face to face with the Emperor.

They witness the most powerful warrior they've ever seen defeat Darth Vader in single combat.

Then they watch him proceed to take on the Emperor. And lose.

The Battle aboard Death Star I was very very instructive for the Rebel Leaders. They learned that trying to capture or even assassinate the Emperor is impossible. Palpatine commands powers they cannot comprehend or even imagine. That's why Mon Mothma is so excited about Palpatine visiting Death Star II. Because that's their only chance to take him down. Even a Sith Lord can't survive the destruction of an entire space station.

 

Actually, while Interlude at Darkknell has been retconned all over the timeline (even its own internal continuity references are baffling), it's probably best placed before the ending of TFU from Garm's perspective. In Darkknell, Garm is shocked when a bomb set by Imperial agents and meant for him, kills his family. He's also interested in finding out what Tarkin's project at Despayre is all about. In TFU he's taken to Despayre and held prisoner on the Death Star, where Palpatine personally tells the Rebel leadership that their families will be targeted and that they will be executed.

There are a couple of sources that differ on this, but IMO it's the only way it makes sense. The TFU RPG sourcebook also seems to line up with this version of events.

 

Normally I don't like the darkside endings of the games, but TFU is the one darkside ending I prefer over the canon lightside, as here we see Palpatine crush Starkiller and show him who is really the boss, and without accidentally helping to start up the Rebel Alliance.

Anyway, spinning off from the darkside ending, theoretically the Rebellion's progress could be anywhere from much slower to non-existent without the three major leaders (Mothma, Organa and Bel Iblis) surviving. With a weaker Rebellion, the Senate might not be disbanded (as in ANH its mentioned the Rebellion was gaining sympathy in the Senate), or at least might last longer if there's no Rebellion to support. The war might not escalate so much, so Armand might last longer too. I'm sure Ysanne would get rid of her father somehow, but the timing is up for debate.

I think there were some DLC based off the darkside endings, but mostly they were just excuses for Starkiller to stomp on canon (see him kill Obi-wan, then kill his Force ghost and so on), so anything goes really.

One of the more interesting things (to me) about that ending was Palpatine saying directly that Starkiller was just a placeholder until Palpatine could find someone better. Well, there's always that whole Sith master vs. apprentice power struggle, but in RotS Sidious expected Vader to surpass him, but then there was that whole lava "incident" and depending on the story, Palpatine still wanted Vader to be a worthy apprentice/rival (although there's the clone/immortailty thing too). Starkiller isn't even that, he's just a useful temporary tool. Starkiller was still plotting too (I think one DLC had him subjugating Luke as his apprentice?), but he doesn't

 

I always wondered what the Sith master-dynamic would be between Starkiller and a dark Luke Skywalker.

 

The idea of the story is that Intelligence was investigating Starkiller long before he became Palpatine's apprentice. In the game there are Shadow Troopers aboard the Imperical, clearly spying on Vader's illegal operation. Shadow Troopers report solely to Intelligence, never Vader. Also the story would be mostly Legends. An altered Rogue One story might fit as well.

 

Sidious wanted Starkiller complete and undamaged, unlike Vader - that was the point. He was seeking a new Sith Apprentice, someone capable and powerful, younger. Which follows Lucas in that that a damaged Force wielder is a less powerful one - which still follows current (Marvel)canon in Sidious seeking out a replacement or new apprentice for the damaged Vader after his failure on Mustafar. Sidious was behind Galen Marek being trained, Vader was a front . The "canon" ending was that Marek died in the Force storm explosion created by both Starkiller and Sidious fighting eachother, with Starkiller grabbing the Emperor & engulfing him in the pain and power of his own and Marek's Force lightning. Which also created a massive shockwave wiping out all the Imperial soldiers in the process . Marek embraced the Force and sacrificed himself. He would become more powerful than Sidious could've imagined - by becoming the Rebel's inspiration, the rallying symbol of the Rebel Alliance.

 

You had such promise. You could have been my successor, my equal. But now.....but I may still have some small use for you. I still have enemies to find and destroy. You will do my bidding until I find a new apprentice, and then, like Vader, you will be cast aside.

Finish him!

 

Yeah in the dark side ending Palpatine sees him as a placeholder, somebody to root out his remaining enemies while Palpatine searches for a superior replacement.

 

It's interesting that he sees Starkiller that way since Sidious is unlikely to find anyone who can overpower Lord Starkiller.

Interesting tidbit. Starkiller could have been Palpatine's equal. Darth Vader could have been twice as powerful as Darth Sidious.

 

Marek even if you disdain the game mechanics of TFU clearly had a ton of potential, by the dark side ending he is a broken man who doesn't really grasp the subtleties of being a Sith Lord and can only blast his way through his enemies.

 

The Dark Side ending was not canonical, but it did continue in the expansion Ultimate Sith Edition which was quite fun, and even then Lord Starkiller was unstoppable and their was no other Jedi around once he finished off Kenobi and converted Luke as his apprentice .

 

Yeah the ultimate Sith edition was pretty awesome.

 

Dark Side Ending is my favorite part of the game, story-wise. The regular story was quite meh, esp. from a broader prospective.

 

Of course, Palpatine grossly misjudges him and Starkiller corrupts Luke Skywalker before presumably killing Palpatine and ruling the galaxy as brothers.

 

Yep. Vader was mentally broken because of Padme. Starkiller had no such limitations.

 

Palpatine in the dark side ending made it clear though that Starkiller's days were numbered he was to destroy the last of Palpatine's enemies and be an errand boy until Palpatine presumably found a replacement or actually discovered a working technique of immortality in which cases he would have been disposed of.