Before - Legends The Naddist Chronicles

Hey guys! This is my first Fan Fiction, and it aims to tell the story of Freedon Nadd during life. To me, he was one of the most interesting of the Sith Lords, and I've always been curious to know more about him. In the end, I was actually inspired by, of all things, some fan art (below).

Spoiler

The story begins with Freedon Nadd, having just been denied Knighthood by the Jedi, slaying his Master. This will try to fit within established canon, while still adding interesting twists to the lore. Constructive criticism is very welcome! The only thing I don't want is flaming, trolling, or worse...silence. I'll be posting in Chapters. Please enjoy!

Chapter 1: The Dark Side

Freedon Nadd shed no tears. He walked away with purpose, his face set with determination, his eyes smoldering with restrained anger.

Behind him, his master lay dead, cleaved from her left shoulder to her right hip by a vicious blow, her eyes staring blankly at the cloudless sky of Ossus. Her lightsaber had rolled from her fingers, and thin wisps of steam rose from the blade emitter. She had denied him Knighthood among the Jedi, and he had killed her.

As he walked, Nadd kept expecting to feel guilt, remorse, to turn back and grasp his fallen Master and shake her and cry out for help, or for justice, or to wish for his fellow Jedi to swoop down and exact righteous vengeance. But instead he walked. Around him, he sensed a shift in the Force. No...a shift in himself. He had always perceived the Force within him as a symphony; in alignment, beautiful, balanced, and serene. Once, he had looked inwards and seen nothing but the purest whites and blues, and the Force had been gentle.

Now, the Force was a tempest within him, straining to be free. It was as if it had taken on a mind of its own, becoming a fierce rancor, and he was but a chain around its ankle, straining to hold in the primordial fierceness of it all. And yet, somehow this felt right. He clenched his fists, feeling this new strength course through him.

He raised a hand, and the body of Matta Tremayne, once his dearest mentor, ignited in a blast of dark energy. It burned for a few moments, and when it cleared, there was a great emptiness in the Force where she had lain. There would be no peace for her. She would not become One with the Force.


Hours passed before concern grew at the Praxeum. Tremayne had been the foremost Battlemaster in Ossus City, the primary training grounds for the Jedi Knights, and her absence was noted. Freedon said nothing, simply packing in his own lightsaber, his clothes, some supplies, and a golden blaster he had acquired years before, and making his way slowly to the spaceport.

Part of him wanted to remain on Ossus, to unleash whatever darkness he had discovered within himself, but the wiser part of him knew better. He would seek out the source of this power, study it, understand it, and master it. Freedon had heard little of the Dark side before, knowing only that it had been the purview of the now extinct Sith species, but he felt it calling to him. Although he had yet to put a name to it, he could already sense that whatever was growing within him was somehow more insidious than what he had once seen as the Force. It was more passionate, and he thought, more powerful. It was fire, or it was poison.

Freedon arrived at the Ossus City spaceports as night was falling, and selected a Crescent-X8 starship, a fast and agile starship with an almost unmatched Hyperdrive rating of 1.5. It would be expensive, of course, but Freedon had no fear of that. He approached the Rodian owner, who was unloading some minor cargo.

"How much for your ship?" The Rodian looked at Freedon with a skeptical expression, and the former Jedi felt a surge of hatred that surprised him. Who was this Force dead alien weakling to deny him anything? If the starship was left with him, he would do what with it? Move spice? What a waste. He would not negotiate. He would take what was rightfully his.

Before he could reply, Freedon called upon the Force, thinking to alter the Rodian's mind to make him give him the ship willingly. But the Force came out in a deluge of power, and instead of changing the Rodian's perception or memory, it was crushed. His eyes glazed over, and the Rodian fell to the ground. It was as if he had tried to lift an insect off of his skin, and had instead crushed it. He felt no more guilt than if that had been the case.

Nobody had seen the Rodian collapse, as it was approaching the later hours of the night, and so Freedon stowed his body in the cargo hold he had been unloading. He was about to board the ship when somebody called his name.

"Nadd!" Freedon turned to see two of his fellow padawans running towards him. One was Xahn, a human from Nadd's own homeworld, whom Freedon had often trained with in his days as a youngling. The other was a woman he knew little about, a Miraluka named Evene. Like all Miraluka, she had no eyes, and saw purely through the Force, though despite this deformity she was a beautiful woman. Watching them, Freedon felt the same bile rise as he had when he saw the Rodian. This time though, it was more focused, more intense. They were fools for stunting their own power, denying their anger, their hatred, and even their fear, instead of using them. Emotionless, detached, and ineffectual. Freedon wondered why he hadn't seen this sooner.

"We're looking for Master Tremayne," said Xahn, smiling. He was happy to see his old friend again. Nadd and Xahn had rarely been able to spend time together in recent months, as their studies grew more demanding. "I thought you went and trained with her this morning. Have you seen her?" Freedon stared at his two peers, barely registering the question. Evene frowned, but Xahn continued to smile at Freedon.

"No. I have not seen her. I have business to take care of. Please, leave me." Xahn's smile faltered.

"Is everything ok? Did something happen?" Fool. This so called Jedi Knight was nothing more than a gnat to be swatted. Nadd resisted the temptation to attack then and there, knowing that subtler methods were needed. He forced a smile.

"Of course, Xahn. Nothing to worry about. I did see Tremayne this morning, but she seemed preoccupied. Have you checked the library?" Evene's frown deepened, creasing her otherwise beautiful features.

"You are lying." She took a step forward. "Your presence in the Force...it's changed. It's..." she cried out, and fell to her knees. Immediately, Freedon called his blaster to his hand, releasing two deadly bolts. His first struck Xahn between the eyes before he could register what was happening, but Evene drew the blaster within herself through the Force.

She stood. "You killed Master Tremayne, didn't you?" A tear fell from the bandages around her face. "Please, come back with me to the Temple. No further blood needs to be shed."

Freedon ignited his lightsaber. The blade was shorter than most, and had a unique bronze hue to it. He preferred the lightsaber to anything more unwieldy, and it had allowed him to develop his own fighting style, as none of his fellow Jedi had a similar weapon. Evene ignited her own lightsaber, and a brilliant blue blade roared to life.

Freedon attacked first, lunging forward to close the gap and negate any advantage her longer blade would give her. He roared as he charged, infusing the battle cry with the rage within him. Evene flinched backwards, shocked at his ferocity, and barely managed to parry his first few blows.

Freedon was relentless, imbuing every strike with the full force of his newly discovered power, but slowly Evene stopped moving backwards and held her ground. Where he struck without thought, guided by his anger, but that seemed only to drive Evene towards serenity. Without thinking, guided by the Force, she began to drive Freedon back, until he was pressed against the door of the cargo hold.

"Please, give up now. There is still a chance at redemption." She pointed the tip of her lightsaber towards him, threatening, but also promising mercy.

"I do not seek the forgiveness of fools." Nadd reached out with one hand, guided by extinct, and a blackness seemed to come from within him, a dark mist that enveloped Evene. She cried out, but was helpless to stop it. The Force through which she saw the world was misted over, and then blocked out completely. For the first time in her life, the blind Jedi could not see.

She screamed and dropped her lightsaber as the darkness crept down her throat and tightened around her body, mummifying her. There was a moment of silence, and then the darkness dissipated. Evene dropped to the ground, dead at Freedon Nadd's feet.

A voice whispered through the air. Good Freedon, good. Your power in the dark side is great. You must follow the path before you...to a Golden Age... The words became indecipherable, and then faded altogether. Freedon reached his arms out, exulted in his newfound power. Like Matta Tremayne, the corpses of Evene and Xahn ignited in black fire. Throughout the planet, Jedi - Masters and Padawans alike - sensed the Dark Side of the Force for the first time in many centuries. Their fear grew, and Freedon Nadd reveled in it.

He boarded his new ship, and, guided by the Force, set the coordinates for Korriban, where he knew the secrets behind his new strength lay.