Lit Ajunta Pall in Tales of the Jedi, and other misc. Exiles observations

From DLOTS, we have a scene from the Sith Holocron, shown to Ulic Qel-Droma as a warning. The Holocron is said to hold the histories of their Dark Lords, yet Dark Lord was a title that did not exist until after the Exiles had subdued the Sith. The same Holocron scene clearly depicts a bald, male, Humanoid Jedi who chose to learn the ways of the Dark Side and who turned against his own Master and slew him. So, it must depict a Jedi, who used a lightsaber, who also later became a Dark Lord. Only two of the Exiles became actual Dark Lords: Ajunta Pall and Tulak Hord. We never get to see what Hord looks like out of his armor (or do we?), and the visual similarities between Pall (and his statue from his Tomb) look exactly like the Jedi turned Dark Lord from the Holocron! The DLOTS Sith Holocron scene shows Ajunta Pall turning against his own Master! Do you doubt that possibility? Then recall from Kotor the very last thought Pall's spirit has upon his redemption, the very last thing his spirit recalls before passing into the Force: “If... if I could return. Oh, my Master... it has been... so long... and I regret so much...”

 

Notes on the Exiles, the Hundred Year Darkness, and Sith history in general.

The Exiles- who, what, when, where, etc? They were the founders of the Sith Empire, in-Universe. They were the first Lords of the Sith. There were the only survivors of the Hundred Year Darkness, one of the worst Wars in Galactic history, and one of the longest lasting. They were the Darksiders who had waged War against the Jedi, the Republic, against the Light Side itself. From circa 7,000 BBY to 6,900 BBY, the HYD became known as one of only a few Great Schisms (the Second, to be exact) in the 25,000-some year history of the Jedi. For a conflict that lasted a whole Century, we don't actually have that many details about it. A few stand out, though:

• Coruscant saw fighting and conflict during it. The Exiles themselves know it well- Dreypa makes it his first destination upon acquiring a spaceship in Spiral. Sorzus Syn might even be from Coruscant, given her numerous mentions of it within a few short pages of text- “any Coruscant marketplace”, “the highest of Coruscant's spires”, “the ramparts of the Jedi Temple”, her reference to the legendary Zhell, etc. At the very least, she's familiar with Coruscant. Karness Muur knows it well and had also been there, and we even get to see an amazing glimpse at Coruscant as it looked in his time, during the HYD:
  
  
• Those images, along with the following from Golden Age of the Sith, give us an idea of what sort of weapons, ranged and melee, were in use at the time, along what the Republic military uniforms looked like.
  
  
• We know who some of the Dark Siders were during the HYD, but who were among the Jedi? We do know of a few: Garnoo, Odd Bnar, and Shayoto's Master's Master. Garnoo is said in DLOTS to have been an “ancient Neti” which given Neti longevity would make him many thousands of years old, and certainly old enough to have been around during the HYD. Ood Bnar is similarly old, and Tales of the Jedi Companion indicates that he is old enough to have been around for “millennia” and to have had previous experience battling the Dark Side. Shayoto's Master's Master is outright stated to have experienced the HYD. We also see several Jedi veterans in Spiral, who are keeping watch for the Exiles outside of Sith Space.
  
  
• Syn mentions that the Leviathans are merely the culmination of previously deployed horrors: the Shamblers, Howlers, Pit Horrors. She (and likely her fellow Dark Jedi) also experimented with living alchemy, and approved of slavery, per her own words. The Dark Jedi likely used such slave forces to bolster their military.
  
  
• Beyond monsters and slaves, they also had quality ground forces, such as the Black Legions, and several Fleets, which themselves must have had some manner of crews. But where did they get such ships- enough in number that they were able to fight against the main Galactic power for an entire Century? One almost has to think the Star Forge was their source.
  
  
• So, did the Dark Jedi have access to the Star Forge? That would certainly explain how they were able to build up their space forces, Pall mentions “our oldest secret” (the Exiles usually refer to themselves as a collective) and seems to hint at it in Kotor, but if they had it they obviously lost it prior to Corbos. The Forge was a living entity, an evil one that only a tremendously strong Darksider could wield and not be consumed by, per Kotor. If an early leader of the Dark Jedi (NOT one of the eventual Exiles) had discovered it but kept it mostly to themselves, and was later destroyed by it, leaving the Dark Jedi unable to replenish their Fleets, then it would easily explain how the tide of the War eventually turned against the Dark Jedi. ToR later claimed that it was Vitiate who sent Revan and Malak to find the Star Force for him- but how did he know about it in the first place? The Forge was nowhere near Sith Space, so he must have had some information on it from someone who had been to it or who at least had knowledge of it. That knowledge can only have come from surviving records of the Exiles. Vitiate was primarily known as a scholar, a contrast between him and most of his contemporaries. His patron, Marka Ragnos, a direct descendant of several Exiles, is also one of the few other known Sith Lord who knew of his ancestors connections to the Jedi and Republic, per the Dark Side Sourcebook. No matter what, if the Star Forge was the “oldest secret”, and if Pall wasn't referring to the age of it, then it would mean that he and the Dark Jedi had it toward the start of the HYD. Per Pall: “It... we were not the first to fall to the dark side. But we... had more power than those before us. It... came from elsewhere... “ “Our oldest secret. Only... only we would know, we lords. Only we would know where our power came from... “ “It is a secret of so long ago... I no longer remember. You who bristle with the Force... you must find this place... “ “I... see your heart, human Jedi. I see your power, your pride. You... you will find the old place, the dark place... and you will regret it” “Or... have you? Or did you? Or... will you?” When in Kotor he is asked what is at the place, he says “So much power... it is blinding”, meaning that at least once Pall had seen it in person.
  
  
• How did the HYD begin? Pall confirmed that he was “one of the first, the first to rebel, to betray”, “Our Jedi Masters. Those who had taught us to use the Force... who warned us against the dark side. Yet we embraced it in secret, reveled in its power. We were... discovered? Or did we act?” From DLOTS, we have a scene from the Sith Holocron, shown to Ulic Qel-Droma as a warning. The Holocron is said to hold the histories of their Dark Lords, yet Dark Lord was a title that did not exist until after the Exiles had subdued the Sith. Yet, the same Holocron scene is clearly said to depict a bald, male, Humanoid Jedi who chose to learn the ways of the Dark Side and who turned against his own Master and slew him. So, it must depict a Jedi, who used a lightsaber, who also later became a Dark Lord. Only two of the Exiles became actual Dark Lords: Ajunta Pall and Tulak Hord. We never get to see what Hord looks like out of his armor (or do we?), and the visual similarities between Pall (and his statue from his Tomb) look exactly like the Jedi turned Dark Lord from the Holocron! The DLOTS Sith Holocron scene shows Ajunta Pall turning against his own Master!! Do you doubt that possibility? Then recall from Kotor the very last thought Pall's spirit has upon his redemption, the very last thing his spirit recalls before passing into the Force: “If... if I could return. Oh, my Master... it has been... so long... and I regret so much...”
  
  
• Balmorra- some big event happened there during the HYD. Syn thought it important enough to record, and Tulak Hord is said to have battled the Jedi there.
  
  
• Alderaan, Rafa? Tulak Hord was not buried with a lightsaber, though he was buried with several lightsaber crystals, one from Rafa V and one from the Alderaan system. This heavily suggests that there were conflicts on those systems during the HYD.
  
  
• Fluwhaka trap? Muur saved his fellow Dark Jedi from it via "Force-centered battle tactics"?
  
  
• Corbos began in orbit, and Dreypa may have been taken by surprise or was simply overwhelmed, Syn blames Dreypa for the defeat. Corbos was the last Dark Jedi world left. Golden Age of the Sith #0 shows an entire fleet of Dark Sider ships fleeing Republic Space once they realized that they had been defeated, but only one small ship ever reached Sith Space as every other source clearly indicates, and the same panel showing the huge fleet also shows a single Exile ruling over the Sith. How to reconcile these differing accounts? What must have happened is that the fleet seen in GaotS 0 was the same one commanded by Dreypa (per BoS), and that they all fell back to Corbos. Corbos was not within Republic Space, but rather close to Sith Space. We already know that Syn had already been searching for the “fabled” Sith Kingdom before Corbos, which may have been part of the reason why it was chosen to be a major Leviathan breeding ground.

The Exiles



How many Exiles were there? The only account to specify an exact number is the (in-Universe) Book of Sith, written by Sorzus Syn. She says 12, including herself. Can that number be trusted? We have a flashback from Golden Age of the Sith that actually shows them boarding their transport into Exile, and it does seem to show about a dozen Exiles. A look through all the relevant sources gives less than 12 directly named or definitively identified Exiles, and two more who can only be Exiles. The total of 12 does indeed hold up, with room for one or two more. They are as follows, in order of their first appearances in-Universe:

1. Throne Figure #1
   
   
2. Throne Figure #2
   
   
3. Throne Figure #3
   
   
4. Throne Figure #4
   

Empire's End has Palpatine visiting the mortal remains of 4 different Exiles who were entombed together for all eternity. These Exiles are all Human/Humanoid males, and are buried within walking distance of entirely humanoid statuary on Korriban, in an area NOT identified as the Valley of the Dark Lords. These Throne Figures, 4 in number, as we only hear 4 distinct spirits in spite of an extra, empty Throne being present among them, are confirmed by the Emperor as being “preserved by the very alchemy that made them outcasts”. That same “living alchemy” is directly confirmed by Book of Sith to be what the Exiles practiced! So, they're Human/oid, they're outcasts due to alchemy, and they're buried on Korriban around entirely Human/oid statues. No new burials were on Korriban after the Fall of the Sith Empire. Many of the Exiles knew the secrets to long life (how else did they wage war for a Century?), and the Throne Figures also indicate that they ruled for Centuries. The 4 Throne Figures must therefore be Exiles. Names have not (yet) been given to any of them. None ever became the Dark Lord. They are also not any of the Sith Lords from ToR, but there is an image from a flashback video showing three unidentified Exiles standing together. As there are only 12 Exiles, the flashback must depict three of the Throne Figures as they were in life!

1. 
   5. The Red Armored Sith Lord
   
   

Golden Age of the Sith Issue 0 has a flashback showing (many!) ships of the Dark Jedi leaving the Republic into Exile, but only one figure in red armor actually arriving in Sith Space and standing alone as a ruler of the Sith. The Dark Side Sourcebook shows an enhanced view of the same exact Red-Armored Sith Lord, with a lightsaber clearly visible. It is possible that this figure is one and the same as Tulak Hord. The mask from Hord's armor is stated in Kotor to be “blackened with age”- meaning that it wasn't originally black in color. The figure is clearly not Ajunta Pall, and Hord is the only other Exile that actually became the supreme Dark Lord.

1. Ajunta Pall. He is unambiguously an Exile, and the first to be explicitly named. He was one of the first to fall, and per his own account knew the “living alchemy” powers of life extension, among others. He was old enough to have been a Jedi Master at the start of the HYD, to subsequently survive the 100 year-long conflict, and to subsequently rule for “many years” after the Exiles arrived in Sith Space. He must have been a masterful combatant- even his spirit retained ample power for millennia. He slew a dozen Jedi at Corbos by himself- “an age when many true Masters lived”, and he survived the rebellions of Dreypa, Syn, and Andeddu. How did he ultimately die? Hord killed him. The traditional method of succession among the Sith was that one challenenged the Master for supremacy, and it is known that Hord became Dark Lord after Pall. Pall's own spirit confirms that it was his own “blade that destroyed me”- that can be interpreted as having it turned against him in mortal combat. Pall was also the only Exile who was ever redeemed back into the Light, notably. He is also the only Exile outright stated to have sired descendants.
   
   
2. Tulak Hord: Tulak Hord is one of the few Exiles never explicitly stated to have been a Jedi, unless of course he is the Red-Armored Sith Lord and possibly also the mysterious Dark Armored figure from the Jedi Holocron. Hord used crystals in his lightsaber that came from the Alderaan system and Rafa V, fought battles against Jedi long before the Great Hyperspace War on Planets nowhere near Sith Space (Yn, Chabosh and Balmorra- the latter explicitly known to have taken place during the HYD), and was a Dark Lord sometime before Marka Ragnos (there were no burials on Korriban after the GHW). Hord was one of the Dark Siders who led their ground forces, doing the acutal work of conquering the Planets controlled by the Exiles, and subsequently the Sith Empire. While Pall was the first Dark Lord, Hord eventually succeeded him. We know that the Exiles all eventually turned on themselves over the issue of returning to the Republic, but Hord must have sided with Pall in that conflict and kept on with the conquest of Sith Space instead of leaving with Dreypa or Andeddu. Pall's own account confirms that none of those who left ever came back to Sith Space, even after many years. Given his military prowess and combat skills, it seems obvious that Hord eventually grew powerful enough to challenge Pall and defeat him in combat to become the second Dark Lord of the Sith.
   
   
3. Darth Andeddu: Explicitly said to have been born on Prakith per the Legacy #27 publisher summary; wielded a lightsaber; was Human/oid (he has no evident Sith facial features) was known to the Jedi; the Jedi attempted to purge all mention of his name from the Galaxy the same way they did for all the other Exiles (per DoE, Ajunta Pall's own account, and the Heritage of the Sith article in Insider); knew Muur and was very familiar with his work (knowledge that was lost by the time of Naga Sadow); knew the same life-extending living alchemy powers that left their user mummified alive; spoke of himself as part of a collective as Pall, Syn, and Dreypa did (“our Apprentices”, during his fight with Wyrlock); used a Sith title; was able to flee Sith Space and return all the way to Prakith in the Republic while the Dep Core Hyperspace routes he would have known were still valid; and lastly fled from his peers who were trying to steal his knowledge (Pall's “we desired each other's secrets”). It is impossible that he was anything other than one of the 12 Exiles, given all of the above. As for why he wasn't explicitly mentioned by Syn, his skill was not in combat (even Wyrlok can defeat him), but rather in deception. He wasn't one of the leaders of the Dark Jedi, merely one of those “who had not perished” in the HYD. He also must have left apart from Dreypa, but not too long afterwards.
   
   
4. Karness Muur: outright stated to have been an Exile. Never left Sith Space, but also never became the reigning Dark Lord. Shown to grow old and die in Sith Space. Had no known Tomb, nor any Holocron. Only his Talisman, and a Codex (later translated by Naga Sadow). It's notable that almost all knowledge of Muur was lost to the Jedi by the time of the Covenant (Lucien's “Muur is believed to have been a Sith Lord of antiquity”- they didn't actually know for sure) and is outright said to have vanished at some point, though his dead body is shown. Even by the time of Sadow knowledge of him was lost- “he and the other Sith Lords of a millennium ago tore each other apart looking for it” and “all they knew was that it was ancient- and somehow involved with the manipulation of life”. That would seem to indicate that he wasn't an ancestor of any of theirs. Millennia later, Darth Krayt and the One Sith also had little knowledge of him, despite having the Holocron of his own peer XoXaan (who obviously didn't tell them much about him), and they had to rely upon the newly found records from Andeddu's stronghold to tell them. While Muur was immensely powerful (enough to survive Corbos, that his mere spirit was enough to give Celeste Morne stregnth to repel Darth Vader, who later thought him powerful enough to be able to help him kill Sidious, and was able to defeat Darth Krayt in battle!), he didn't stand against Pall, nor did he join those Exiles who attempted to leave Sith Space. He seems to have kept to himself, ruling perhaps his own world and eventually dying of old age and transferring his spirit into his Talisman after perfecting the Rakghoul plague.
   
   
5. Baron Remulus Dreypa: Baron of what? He is said to have extensive fleet experience and per Spiral is familiar with Coruscant. Was he born into the Core Worlds nobility? Did he have some sort of Naval background? Syn mentions in BoS that “He will be pleased to learn that his bloodline will not only persist but thrive”, so such things must have been a concern of his. Him and Syn both are shown to be at odds with Pall on the matter of whether to return to the Republic, and even allied with each other to map Sith Space. Syn also wanted the Sith to construct more battleships to use against the Republic. Yet, Syn did not leave with him, and Dreypa only left with one ship and without Syn- the same one that had bought the Exiles into Sith Space. Dreypa and Syn evidently did rebel against Pall, who survived their defiance, and likely killed Syn, leaving Dreypa with only a few minions as shown in Spiral.
   
   
6. Sorzus Syn: Probably from Coruscant or had at least spent a lot of time there, per all her references to it. She is known to have created a Holocron “toward the end of her life”- but how did that life end? She and Dreypa were the impatient Sith who wanted to leave Sith Space and return to the Republic, yet she did not leave with Dreypa. She also never became Dark Lord, nor is known to have had a Tomb on Korriban but merely an “empty throne”. Her own writings make it clear that she wanted to usurp Pall, but obviously she did not survive the attempt, and whatever happened in the conflict among the Exiles destroyed her. There may have been nothing left of her physically. There were no remains left to entomb on her Throne as was done with her fellow Exiles. Dreypa claimed to have stolen Leviathan larvae from her labs, which may indicate that he ultimately betrayed her and left without her, and that she ultimately was eliminated by Pall and those Exiles loyal to him.
   
   
7. XoXaan: May have originally been a Jedi Guardian, given her military background. She was not among the Exiles who wanted to leave Sith Space, but also never became Dark Lord. Her eventual Tomb has nothing more than a small nook deeply buried in an out of the way location on Korriban that remained unfound for millennia. She felt the need to hide her Holocron from “those who sought” her- and she may well have used the same technique as Andeddu and transferred her spirit into her Holocron. She also uses the same “my brethren” phrase as Ajunta Pall, referring to herself as part of a group in the same manner as all the Exiles.
   
   
8. Unidentified Dark Jedi from the BoS chart. BoS has an illustration of a helmet-less, bald, Human/oid Dark Jedi wearing black armor and wielding a red lightsaber. It may a generic image, but it could easily be a depiction of one of the Throne Figures from Empire's End, or perhaps Tulak Hord sans helmet!
   
   
9. The three Exiles shown together in the ToR video flashback. They must be three of the Throne Figures as they were in life.
   

A potential Exile is a Broodica, who in the FFG continuity is outright stated to have been one of them. She is not mentioned in any EU/”Legends” source, and thus is NOT canoncial in that continuity. That being said, there is a practical need for another female Exile, to serve as an ancestor of Ragnos, Sadow, Kressh, and the other Sith who were all descended from the 12, particularly when one of them, Syn, certainly didn't have any offspring with Pall. Broodica might be able to be imported into EU continuity.

The Dark Siders seen with Dreypa in Spiral are explicitly identified as “minions” and never indicated to be Exiles. Dreypa must have recruited them from among the population of Sith Space.

Kallig may possibly be one of the Exiles, given his connection to Hord, though cannot have been anything other than one of the minions, and possibly not even then. Much of the ToR lore around him simply does not logically add up, and actively conflicts with other continuity.

 

Who were the exact ancestors of Ragnos, Sadow, Kressh, etc?


All three of them make a big deal of their Jedi ancestry, and all clearly have descent from multiple Exiles. Which Exiles, though? Pall confirms having many offspring, and that of his “brethren”, so at least two of them had descendants. Dreypa is implied to have continued his line via an unidentified Sith Priestess, and at least one other Exile must have been an ancestor of the Hyperspace War era Sith. The Dark Jedi bloodline, “THE bloodline is strong” in Naga Sadow, as a Sith Councilor observes, is the lineage that all of the Dark Lords and ranking Sith Lords of the Sith Council shared. Sadow, Kressh, etc- they're all not so distant Cousins!. Several early Sith Lords are seen in ToR, ones that cannot have been among the Exiles themselves, but who are mostly or entirely Human/oid in appearance. They logically would be the children of Exiles, and the ancestors of Ragnos' generation.

1,900 Years is a long time by real-world standards, but when dealing with Sith Lords who live for Centuries, that doesn't actually leave that many generations between the Exiles and the already Centuries-old Sith Lords of 5,000 BBY. Several Exiles are confirmed to have lived for long periods of time: Pall was already well over 100 (as were Syn, XoXaan, Muur, etc) when he arrived in Sith Space and subsequently ruled for many years afterwards, the Throne Figures noted how they “held dominion for centuries”, and Muur is shown to grow old in Sith Space. Of the Hyperspace War generation, Ragnos ruled for over a Century and was likely Centuries old at that point as he is confirmed to have died of what was considered old age by Sith standards; Sadow actually witnessed Ragnos' duel with Simus and was not considered old over a century later (per GAotS) and the NEGtC entry for him confirms that he and all of his peers used the Dark Side to keep their bodies alive for hundreds of years. Having only a few generations in the span of 1,900 years might seem ludicrous to us, but it is the continuity of the EU and has to be kept in mind.

It also means that the surnames Ragnos, Kressh, Sadow, Dakhan, Mul, Gal-Ram (though not Tenebrae but possibly Dramath)- may also have been among the surnames of their ancestor Exiles. We only know the full names of about half of the Exiles, and we don't know XoXaan's full name nor what Darth Andeddu's original name was. So, when all the Exiles full names are eventually revealed, some of them will have the same surname as their not so distant descendants of 5,000 BBY.

 

Was there a Shadow War going on between the Republic and the Sith Kingdom?


Was the existence of Sith Space a closely guarded Republic state secret? Rumors and tales of “dark magicians ruling empires out in Wild Space” (DESB) are common even into the Trilogy Era, and we have a mention from the Essential Guide to Vehicles and Vessels that Republic Fleet Systems was founded circa 15,000 BBY to “design warships to counter Sith-backed uprisings in the distant corners” of the Old Republic. Sith presences were established on worlds such as Arkania that were well within Republic Space, but which never lasted. Book of Sith confirms that Sith raids had taken captives from Republic worlds, and Syn's own account confirms that she had been searching for the Kingdom of the Sith PRIOR to Corbos. Corbos itself is located fairly close to Sith Space (what would become Esstran Sector) so Syn must have been getting close.

The Republic must also have known- they intentionally left Corbos as the last Dark Jedi world. The Republic also put the 12 Exiles on that transport on autopilot into the direction of Sith Space- and some Jedi HYD veterans spent years waiting outside the Caldera which they obviously knew how to reach but not penetrate, for the Dark Jedi to emerge from it. They had “escorted” (followed) the Exiles' craft, all the way to the Caldera. They were using the surviving Exiles to try and find the Sith Kingdom, and purposely pointed them in its general direction, so that they could find it and finally eliminate that threat. They did pounce on Dreypa and his minions- only for both sides to become lost on Kesh.

Thus, the path back into Sith Space remained hidden from the Republic until the Hyperspace War. When they finally did make their way into it, a highly uncharacteristic lack of mercy was shown by the Republic and the Jedi. Per the Encyclopedia the Fall of the Sith Empire lasted for 10 years, the Sith species was targeted for genocide, almost all of their worlds were bombed and their palaces, libraries, temples, and artifacts were all destroyed save a few intentionally kept intact. It's almost as though the Republic had been waiting millennia to eliminate the threat of the Sith...

 

The Deceptions of Andeddu

Did Andeddu know Essence Transfer? Darth Bane ripped the knowledge of it from his Holocron, and Andeddu later taught it to Set Harth, but he obviously never used it himself. How do we know? If he had used it, then he wouldn't still have had his original body intact in his sarcophagus! Unless, that body isn't his original body, and was originally somebody else's...

It likely is his original body, which is mummified by the very same alchemical powers that kept him alive for Centuries, as was the case with his fellow Exiles. Unlike them, when those powers finally corrupted the body to the point that his spirit was forced out, he used a Force illusion to seem as though he were still alive and in control of his body. His knowledge of Essence Transfer, while genuine, was just a distraction, a way to throw his peers off from what his real secret was. He went so far as to construct a false Tomb on Korriban, in which he was never buried, as he was too afraid and weak to actually survive combat against the likes of Pall and Hord and Muur. Andeddu wasn't even strong enough to withstand Wyrlok. He relied on deception and misdirection to thwart those who would steal his knowledge.

His Essence Transfer knowledge, together with his huge library of books, eventually drew the attention of his Exile peers. They tried to kill him and steal what he knew, but he somehow managed to flee from Sith Space, from Korriban itself all the way back to his homeworld of Prakith. They never found him, though. Once he “died” or when the other Sith finally turned on him, he would have been buried on Korriban the same as his other peers, but the ship carrying him to his previously constructed Tomb on Korriban from either Ziost or whatever Planet he ruled in Sith Space must not have made it. It must have changed course and headed out of the Caldera carrying his body hidden in his sarcophagus and most of his books. His Holocron, which was actually a fake, with his spirit pretending to be a mere Gatekeeper, was with him, and remained on Prakith until claimed by Bane and Set Harth shortly thereafter.

Upon reaching the safety of Prakith, Andeddu resorted to another deception, one which completely fooled Darth Bane: there were two burial chambers, and possibly two sarcophagai. One, which Bane went immediately towards, is stated in DoE to have carvings depicting him and has no mention whatsover of shelves crammed with books and scrolls, which Bane could not have failed to miss. The real burial chamber, seen in Legacy 27, is hidden underground, concealed by yet another shrouding illusion, has no carvings and is filled with shelves full of lore. Andeddu hid his “Holocron” in the first chamber, but kept his real treasures in the second one with his actual body. Bane fell for the decption, never suspecting what else Andeddu held in his Keep.

 

Ever since Kotor 1, we've known that all the Exiles eventually turned on each other. We also know that of them all, only Pall and Hord ever became the Dark Lord. They were the only two specifically buried in the Valley of the Dark Lords as opposed to more basic burials elsewhere on Korriban. So what happened to all of the others, and what was the sequence of events that led them to destroy each other?

The first conflict seems to have been caused by the disagreement of whether to return to the Republic. Most of the Exiles preferred "ruling mongrels in Exile" per Dreypa in Spiral, but he and Syn wanted to attack the Republic. Syn didn't leave with Dreypa, nor did she ever have a Tomb of her own, only "an empty throne", the same one later seen among her fellow Exiles in Empire's End. Syn was either killed by Pall in such a manner that nothing was left of her, or betrayed by Dreypa, who survived but still left Sith Space with a few minions.

Pall continued to reign as Dark Lord for many years after Dreypa left, per the Essential Guide to the Force. Eventually he was destroyed by his own blade, and we know that Tulak Hord succeeded him as the Dark Lord. Hord must have eventually challenged him for the Dark Lord title- and won.

We know that the Throne Figures rules for centuries, and thus probably survived Pall, and thus would have to have been subservient to Hord.

Both Andeddu and XoXaan confirmed that their peers turned on them, desiring their secrets. Whether this was during the reign of Pall, Hord, or even afterward is not clear. Pall's spirit told Revan in Kotor that they all "desired each others secrets", so somebody among the Exiles who wasn't Dreypa, Syn, or Muur had to have come after them. Either Pall did so in response to the rebellion of Dreypa and Syn, or Hord did after killing Pall to become the Dark Lord.

Some of the Exiles descendants still had mostly Human/oid features, yet Pall and Syn clearly had no mutual descendants. That leaves only XoXaan as a possible companion for Pall, as the only other female Exile. If so, it she would logically have sided with Pall against Dreypa and Syn, and her closeness to Pall would have marked her as an enemy when Hord came to power.

Andeddu must have been targeted by Pall during his reign, as he left Sith Space while there was still a valid Hyperspace route back to the Republic and while the Hyperspace routes he knew in the Deep Core were still usable. Any later and it wouldn't have been possible for him to have reached Prakith. Unlike Syn and Dreypa, he likely didn't leave Sith Space by choice. He was forced to flee.

Quite separately from all of this, Muur seems to have taken a side against any of his fellow Exiles, but also never became the Dark Lord. Given his power, Pall and Hord opted to leave him alone. He is shown growing old in Sith Space as no other Exiles are. Knowledge of him was and the location of his Talisman was lost by the reign of Marka Ragnos.

So, Syn and Dreypa turned on Pall after 2 years, Pall won. Syn was obliterated and Dreypa managed to flee. Pall then came after Andeddu, and thought that he killed him. Pall continued to rule as Dark Lord for many years. Hord eventually turned on Pall and killed him in combat, becoming the second Dark Lord. Hord then had XoXaan killed so as to eliminate a rival. Hord later turned on Kallig and killed him. Muur died naturally of old age, as did the Throne Figures. Hord eventually succumbed to old age or was finally killed by his eventual successor as Dark Lord.

 

Coruscant, as Muur knew it during the HYD. One of the only glimpses we ever got of that conflict.

 

Gosh, I just love seeing the panel artwork blown up like this. Why is this character still so mysterious after all these years? Could something as of yet be in store for us?

 

I have a feeling that the First Sith Lord is gonna be someone totally different not named Ajunta Paul.

 

Sadow, Ragnos, Kressh, etc all living for Centuries and yet not being considered very old before the Hyperspace War:



At least some of the Exiles also lived, and ruled, for Centuries:

 

I assume that the Exile taking one last look back is Pall. The visual resemblance is there, and as he was the leader he might have been the last one loaded up. That panel is important because it proves that there were only around a dozen Exiles, and that their ship isn't big enough for more.

I have that same feeling. Ajunta was merely the first Dark Lord. There were Sith Lords for hundreds of millennia prior to him. Some of Korribans Tombs were as old as the Zhell...

 

Ancient Jedi also lived for Centuries



It wasn't at all unheard of. One of the worst elements of the real-world that got dragged into the EU were assumptions about Human aging. Truce at Bakura Sourcebook was one of the few that really got it right:

...and that was common folks on a distant World near the edge of the Outer Rim. Granted, it's millennia later, but it does serve to make other advanced (by our standards) ages much more believable.

 

"Our apprentices"? That's the tell, him referring to himself as part of a group, as all the other Exiles did.




"We... hid from the Jedi, but it was not they who destroyed us. Is it not... obvious what we did? We destroyed each other. We desired the secrets of each other, to increase our power..."- Ajunta Pall, per Kotor 1. They all turned on each other. I hope we get to see the exact sequence of betrayals among all the Exiles one day.

 

Thanks for the info. I did not know some of that. If you like the dotj period come and join us in the fanclub in the EU the more the merrier..

 

All the names of the Exiles were purged from the Galactic records. Pall's own account and the Heritage of the Sith article confirm it, as do multiple passages in Dynasty of Evil:

Andeddu was one of the 12. Nothing else makes any sense.

 

@SheaHublin One of my headcanons is that the Exiles believed that Sek’nos Rath was wronged by his fellow Je’daii.

 

If you don't mind me questioning your head canon, how could the Exiles be aware of Sek'nos Rath? We really don't have anything on Sek'nos post-DOTJ. And then also, Sek'nos and his grandmother and grandfather were highly regarded by the Je'daii. The Sek'nos Rath discussion thread is set up specifically to show that Sek'nos and his family were highly regarded by the other Je'Daii. Master Lok is the one who went rogue and went off the deep end with his mad visions of the approaching storm that was the Rakata.

 

My theory is that Sek’nos went dark at some point and I’m sure the Jedi kept records of their history.

 

Not to turn this thread into a Sek'nos Rath discussion, but my view on the wookiepedia page is that it takes the wrong angle on Sek'nos. Last time I read it through, it was full of typos. https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Sek'nos_Rath

 

This topic is pure gold and this post my favourite!

Regarding long human life, medical tech and so on you should also quote the Millennium Falcon novel that had a fancy station with medtech and rich folks using the most advanced medtech availeable to live for centuries.

As well as other prolonged lifespans without any Forcetricks as the human Dathomir witches do have in COPL not due to some Force secret but naturally it seems for Forceusers living the healthy life.

The ancient thought in early EU was that natural life for humans was longer due to medtech and lessons learned (Truce at Bakura), and that Forceusers even reach far longer than those already enlongated lifespans due to their inner balance and harmony with the universe (COPL).

With natural humans reaching 200-300 and Forceusers 400 and up... Yodas lifespan seems no longer farfetched when compared to humans. Maybe TESB's humorous "when 900 years you reach not look as good you will" is less a joke and more a reality that his species ages better than humans, but humans can reach the age but at less fortunate looks. If Forceusers employ the life lengthening tech normal folks do, 400 + additional centuries sounds likely. Add arcane Force tricks and you are at millennia easily.

 

I quite like this as a lot from the sources you cited does indeed point towards secret knowledge, being on guard and shadow wars and conflicts going back and forth.

I do wonder, given how full the picture became thx to your epic accumulation of lore and references, how rooted these events now are in even far more ancient times. There is the Sith Kingdom in the Caldera, there are earlier Jedi shisms that may or may not be connected to other dark side forces and lost kingdoms. There are the Rakata and their leftover tech that repeatedly got found and lost and found again.

While not all concurrent with each other, I cound quite some Sith Regions in the Rim and around it that could qualify as these ancient Sith Kingdoms the Republic feared or guarded against.
1) The most famous of course is the Caldera/Korriban-Sith.
2) But what about the Cloak of the Sith and Roon? Like the caldera a hard to reach place with only two hyperlanes to and from it.
3) The Centrality also is an interesting entity with the Sorcerers of Tund.
4) The Sorcerers of Rhand also may qualify in the Unknown Regions region called the Nihil Retreat (lets hope the High Republic era uses this retreat too!)
5) close or maybe part of 4) is canons Exegol, if not its own group of Sith Eternal
6) The Chiss: their name phonetically is close to Sith that it could be a derivation of that term over time. They are said to be a lost human colony turned nearhuman in over 4000 years with some even saying from before the formation of the Old Republic, placing them in the Sith Empire timeframe where ships headed to the Unknown could have been stranded on Csilla. They have their own Forceusers as Astrogators and are close to Exegol even. Additionally they allied with the Sith in TOR and that alliance may have some ancient roots maybe.
7) The Rakatan Archipelago with ancient tech, cultural leftovers and whoever found them trying to create his dominion even before Revan and Vitiate? (Vitiates Sith were hidden Sith but the True Sith he and Revan sought may be with the Rakatans or Exegol).
8) Zakuul obviously
9) Ancient pre-lava Mustafar? (for details see my post in Headcanon topic and DotF topic)
10) ...

Furthermore, the Zeffo used their own as well as the Old Tongue ur-kittat runes in their temples (Jedi Fallen Order). We know that the Old Tongue was used galaxywide in Forceuser temples light and dark both. Some of it evolved into the later Sith kittat, other Old Tongue parts though evolved into Aurebesh and other letters. Galactic linguistics thx to Aurekfonts ( https://twitter.com/AurekFonts ; https://aurekfonts.github.io/ ). efforts and those of some other friends of me, point toward a linguistic evolution of the SW alphabets that may or may not tie the Sith and their kittat back to the ur-kittat Old Tongue and thus the main galactic precurser language from times before the Rakata even (who used Aurebesh as per Dawn of the Jedi comics)!

Therefore who knows how widespread or influential the Sith once have been in ancient times. Be it the Red Sith like Sekos Rath and his Jedi kin and shaman kin back on the homeworld of Korriban, or be it other pre-historic Sith who took the name with them to a differently named species that adopted it as their own on Korriban later on.

 

This is some incredible work, @SheaHublin! I envy the work you've done here to piece together all of the continuity from TOTJ, KOTOR and beyond. Your point about the Star Forge is very interesting and something I never considered after all those times I cleansed Ajunta Pall's soul on Korriban.

As for Naga Sadow, bloodlines, and the Dark Lord title, I think you should look at this post that @Sauron_18 made in a thread on Tales of the Jedi discussing how things got turned around on Sadow's lineage:

While it might no longer apply to modern continuity, I hope you still view it as an important piece of the puzzle to work out. I'm keeping in touch with this thread for certain.

 

Something very poetic and a bit ironic actually just occurred to me: if Book of Sith has Pall becoming the Dark Lord by killing King Hakagram Graush with his own double-bladed war sword, and we know from Kotor that Pall was later "that is the blade that destroyed me" with his own double-bladed war sword by his presumable sucessor (the traditional Sith method), a successor who can only have been Hord (the only other Exile specifically called a Dark Lord and strong enough to defeat Pall), then not only are both weapons one and the same but Hord must have intentionally claimed the mantle of Dark Lord in that exact manner.

 

There is a way that Sadow can be considered part of the Priesthood caste and one of the Dark Lords: if one of his (not actually that distant) ancestor pairs were Dreypa and that unidentified "Sith priestess" Syn mentioned him having an eye on in Book of Sith. It would allow him to be considered both.

It's also rather appropriate that Dreypa and Sadow both share the exact same trait and fatal flaw of over-ambition and both are undone by their shared desire to attack the Republic. Even in real life, we see various traits being common in families, and there is a bit of familial resemblance between Dreypa and Sadow, who with a few generations and some minor Kissai blood could easily be Dreypa's great- or great-great grandson. 1,900 years isn't a lot of time when each generation lives for several Centuries.

We know that Dreypa and Pall were at odds on the matter of leaving Sith Space, exactly the same as how Sadow was at odds with Ragnos and Kressh. We also know that Sadow and Kressh had at least one different ancestor among the Exiles (per Sadow's own musings in GAotS), while nothing in the continuity prevents Kressh and Ragnos from sharing mutual Exile ancestry. The "minor differences of opinion" between Sadow and Kressh (and Ragnos) gain a much deeper meaning when it's realized that they're all carrying on their ancestral disputes! Naga Sadow is Remulus Dreypa's (and others) descendant, and Marka Ragnos and Ludo Kressh are descended from Ajunta Pall (and others), and their individual dynasties stick by their ancestral views. Just as Dreypa (in Spiral) denigrates his fellow Exiles for not wanting to leave, so too does his descendant Sadow condescend toward his contemporaries. Just as Pall notes that too much ambition is unwise (in the Essential Guide to the Force) and what a bad idea it is to attack the Republic, so too do his descendants Ragnos and Kressh, who unlike Sadow are well aware of just how badly their ancestors were defeated.

 

Can someone tell me where Tulak Hord was identified as an Exile? I always thought he was a Sith who was Dark Lord at some point between Ajunta Pall and Marka Ragnos.