To Fall So Far, pt. VII: Exar Kun

The brilliant but dangerous student. The power-hungry learner who destroyed his master, and nearly eradicated the order of his day. A schemer, a plotter, a talented lightsaber duelist, a charismatic who drew much of the order to his side with a compelling philosophy. A dark lord who destroyed a planet with his anger, and nearly defeated Luke Skywalker himself after 4000 years of survival.

Exar Kun was the first Dark Lord of the Sith we met outside the movies, and he remains a central figure in the totality of the saga. His fall remains one of the most referenced in the saga, and the legacy he left shaped at least the next half-century, if not the entire future of the order.

The snippets we hear of the impact he made on the Jedi Order include the growing aversion to attachments, the formation of a Jedi Council, the indecisiveness that would often plague that council, the Mandalorian Wars and their attendant consequences in the so-called Jedi Civil War and the near destruction of the order at the hands of Sion and Nihilus, and millennia of copycats. His legacy shaped and shapes the Jedi Order even through the days of Legacy in ways both great and small.

Discuss.

- Keralys

 

"I would rather go to Hell knowing that I had done all the things I had done willingly than go to Heaven by saying that I had been pushed."
-A famous quotation

What I really like about Exar Kun is that he's one of the most sympathetic origins of all Sith Lords, yet entirely avoids anything that is piteous. With the possible exception of using the Dark Side to save his life, Exar Kun chooses the Dark Side of the Force because it is honestly the better path for him. Anakin Skywalker, Ulic Qel Dromel, and even Jacen Solo are diminished by their hand wringing all the way into the darkness.

In the case of Exar Kun, he actually has improved with recent years because we see a character who actually founded a Sith Order based on knowing exactly what he wanted and decisively choosing to act on that want rather than being tricked. Exar Kun is similiar to Alexander the Great, Napoleon, and Julius Caesar in that he's the only Jedi we've met so far who simply decided that there was no reason that Force Users (and specifically him) should not rule the galaxy.

It's easy to understand where Exar Kun is coming from as well. Exar is clearly ambitious from the beginning. While we're introduced to him as a racist with a temper problem, it's interesting to note that he actually overcomes his racism and temper (as illustrated by his rejecting revenge against Sylvara) by becoming a Sith Lord. Exar realizes early on that he's destined for nothing more than a life of service and humility as a Jedi Knight while Freedon Nadd shows him that he can be something so much more.

Exar Kun also managed to win me over as a young man because while Ulic Qel Dromel is interested in destroying the Republic with his vast armies and forces, Exar is actually more interested in gaining the secrets of the Jedi Knighthood. Exar Kun may have been lying about being a Jedi Archaelogist or he may not have been but it's nice to see that he was a genuine scholar. I loved I, Jedi but sadly, I always felt that it lacked much of the personality so beautifully illustrated in DLOTS and TSW. Exar Kun is whimsical, humorous, and has numerous qualities that are positive in addition to being a Sith Lord.

He's not a thug like so many of them.

 

I object to this title! Exar Kun did not fall to the Dark Side!

He dove in headfirst.

 

Ah, but in diving, he did fall a very great distance, did he not?

- Keralys

 

And bizarrely, he's one of the least insane Sith we've met.

Exar Kun was evil, there's no doubt about it, but he also lacks a lot of the cackling evil that we've come to expect from the Dark Lords of the Sith. Exar Kun mostly keeps his attacks restricted to the Jedi Knighthood and seems uninterested in randomly spreading malevolance across the galaxy. By comparison, Ulic the Apprentice is the one who gnashes his teeth and spouts how he's going to destroy everyone in the galaxy.

Exar seems to have a genuine affection leftover for Master Vodo, even when he murders him. It seems Exar managed to maintain most of his original personality and not become Baddy Bad McEvil by the fact that he wasn't weighed down all the excessive guilt and self-justifications that the other Sith we've known are dominated by.

 

No, no, no, he turned to the dark side.

Or did he?

He was convinced he was still a light sider for a while, after all....

Exar Kun: I'll never turn to the dark side
Freedon Nadd: Um, you already have mate. Galaxy-spanning scream, remember?

That would imply a fall.

Edit: Keep in mind I go by Kreia's defitions of "Turn" and "Fall" to the dark side. The former is a willing, conscious decision, the latter is something you don't realise you've done.

 

@ Charles: That's a great point, and I think it's one we've touched on briefly before.

What is the primary difference between those Sith who go insane and those who don't? Thus far, by and large it's been those who fell versus those who started out as Sith. There are exceptions, but we generally see some degree of madness in those who fall - Jacen being the prime example. The choice to use the dark side because it makes sense doesn't seem to have the same consequences as falling slowly, being corrupted, trying to rationalize it does. Bane is the same way in this, from what we see, as are most of the Sith Lords in JvS.

Exar Kun being the exception to the general rule of "start Sith, not mad; go Sith, go mad" says something striking about how one's reasons for turning to the Dark Side (just for you, Ulicus) effect what happens afterward. It strikes me that Kun and Bane (at least, POD Bane) have a certain similarity, despite differences in backgrounds: they both just see the dark side as making sense, and going with it for that reason and that reason alone. Not because they want to save the galaxy, not because they're manipulated into it. Just because it makes sense.

ETA: Uli, yeah, good point. I think Exar comes in somewhere in the middle. He may have fallen, but he quite consciously chose to pursue a path he knew would lead him there, and I think he takes a stumble and turns it into a turn.

- Keralys

 

Of course, I can't really say Exar was evil then either. He'd killed a few Sith Dogs then and some Freedon Nadd cultists. We're not talking galaxy class evil here. It's only when he discovers his Megaman Mega-Buster on Yavin IV that Exar Kun REALIZES what the Dark Side can offer him and embraces it. Before, it's him just not wanting to die.

 

Yeah, Kun knew what he was doing by becoming Sith. And thus retained most of his common sense/sanity. I haven't read much of him in TOTJ, mostly from the JAT.

 

Honestly, I think its interesting to speculate on the fact that Exar Kun was the first to come up with the Dooku-like idea that the Jedi Way and the Sith way were not irreconcilable. His recruitment speech to the Jedi apprentices is just to get them to be brainwashed by his Sith holocron's dark side magics but the idea behind it seems fairly clear.

Use the Force, rule the Empire of the galaxy. Get knowledge of the Force that is easily available and the power that comes with it.

Exar Kun's curiosity and its constant presence was a refreshing change to be honest.

 

Exar's probably my favorite Sith. None of this junk about how certain powers are evil and turn you to the darkness by using them. He chose it willingly because that's what he wanted. He kept going on these archaelogical raids, which was a nice touch. You can't help but feel a little sorry for him; the other Sith ghosts on Korriban have each other to chat with, but he's stuck there alone. Would have been interesting to see him recreate his body like he said he'd be able to...

 

I'm of the mind it'd be cool if he showed up in Knights of the Old Republic.

 

I think one of my favourite scenes from TOTJ was the trial of Ulic, where Exar just comes in, tells the entre gathered Republic reps that they're irrelelvent, get's what he came for, kills Vodo, and wanders off. He doesn't campaign against the Republic because the Republic just doesn't matter. They can't stop him. And for once, this isn't over-estimation on his part, it's the truth. Exar could wander into the Senate, kill the Supreme Chancellor, and, if he wanted, pretty much declare himself Emperor right there, and nobody could stop him (bar the Jedi, of course, but we'll get to that). But the whole system of government and adminstration just aren't important. Exar keeps his eye on the prize: The Force is what matters. Control that, and you can do anything. That is what a Sith Lord should be, to me. Just a complete master of the Force, to the point that he's all but unstoppable.

He knows, of course, that the only thing that could stop a force-user of his calibre is other force users, hence his pogram against the other Jedi masters. In what was basically a kind of prelude to Order 66, the turned a group of Padawan's against their Masters using Sith magic, which heightened their ambitions and flaws to the point of brainwashing (similar, I think, to what happened to Ulic). With a ready made strike force of Dark Jedi, Masters across the galaxy suddenly start dropping like flies. While I think the comic could have portrayed this idea better, the idea itself was cool beans, and another reason why Exar rocks. So yeah. Go Exar.

 

A rather odd one, since not admitting responsibility for your actions wouldn't let you get into any idea of heaven I've ever heard of.

Although Exar Kun appears to rush into the Dark Side, I don't think he ever really admits to himself what he's doing until it's too late.

He lies to himself quite a bit. He's like "I'm haven't fallen to the dark side, I can turn back any time I want".

 

The road to hell is paved with good intentions, isn't it?

And I think it's funny that after 13 posts no one has commented on the awesomeness of his lightsaber.

 

Yeah, his double-bladed lightsaber was awesome, wasn't it? Although I'm not sure I like the idea that simply turning one blade into two blade automatically powers up someone, I think there was a Darth Maul story that implied too, hm....

Anyway, yeah, Exar Kun is one of my more favorite Sith in that he's pretty much unrepentant evil. A tad delusional here and there, with grandeurs of power, but unlike certain other more recent examples, he stays sane and rational for most of it. Heck, stuck on Yavin IV alone for thousands of years, he still manages to retain his sanity (I think), which is almost impressive.

I also liked that he and Ulic had an... trusting relationship? This was before Bane, so while all Sith were ambitious, the "survival of the fittest" of the Rule of Two hadn't been established yet, so I think Exar and Ulic worked together relatively well.

Its also good that it wasn't a tragedy, like with Anakin Skywalker or Jacen Solo, Exar walked into it mostly knowing what he was doing, and at the end, there were no protests about being wrong, or about doing it fokr the good of everyone, he was just put down by the New Jedi Order like a good old-fashioned villain, also acting as a nice initial crowning acheivement for the NJO. Not that I think there should be that many Sith running around, but it was a nice baptism of fire for Luke's first class, and most of them passed it, even the Solo children helped, I think. Ah, such simple times, when the Solo kids were just full of potential.

 

I believe the quote refers to the common misconception about the Devil.

 

Exar Kun (I pronounce it Kuhn, not Koon, that's just dumb to me) is the perfect example of the knowledge hungry student who got way over his head, without really knowing it at first.

Does anyone know (I don't have the comics right now) what he was thinking when he strolled into the Senate and killed his master? Did he think he was still with the light then?

Oh, his lightsaber was made of win

 

I think by then he was past caring, at least if his murder of the character I presume was meant to be the Chancellor is anything to go by. By that stage it was basically pure "I am God, do as I say."

I think the thing with Exar Kun is his definition of "light" was karked up. Even when he still was going on about not wanting to fall to the dark side, he was talking nonsense. His actions from the start showed all he cared about was being the best, he was never very "Jedi like". I always thought of him, in a sense, being Sith before being Sith. It was in his blood, so to speak, he just didn't know it yet.

Its one of the reasons I always loved Exar Kun's character. Even before Nadd corrupted him fully, he was never "good". There was none of this "I did it to save the galaxy" poodoo which seems to be a requirement for Sith Lords these days. Exar Kun may not have wanted to admit he had fallen to the big bad dark side, but he sure wasn't doing it to save the galaxy, just to prove he was the most powerful Jedi there was and that the Jedi Masters were fools.

This is why I feel its hard to decide whether he fell or turned. I tend to look at it in the sense of that he turned but refused to admit it. To fall is to not realise or to not do so intentionally, to turn is to embrace the dark side. He embraced it, even if he kept telling himself he was doing nothing wrong. I think it was self denial more than anything, as he sure didn't care what the Masters thought, so he had no actual reason or loyalty to the Jedi Code. I think it was more his own fear from being brought up to believe the dark side was this evil demon that would swallow his soul. After Nadd showed him "it was nothing to worry about" he just dived right in, Jedi Code be damned.

Admittedly, I've always found the KOTOR depiction of Exar Kun a bit different to how I always interpreted TotJ. Before KOTOR I used to feel Exar Kun was the kind of darksider who didn't really care about anything but his own power, he was the sort of Dark Empire Palpatine who didn't seem to care about the Sith Code anymore than he did the Jedi Code. For Exar Kun, it was all about his pursuit of Godhood. KOTOR's Sith worship of him and Ulic as the most awesome Sith Lords of the past though has forced me to re-evaluate my view of them a bit into treating them as more "loyal" to the Sith cause than TotJ made it seem. TotJ left me feeling Exar Kun was basically a graverobber, that he'd use the Sith teachings, but didn't really care less about Naga Sadow or the Sith Empire or continuing the legacy.

KOTOR changed that. I've never really been able to decide whether it was for the better or not though. I love that the Great Sith War has been retconned into being much bigger than TotJ made it appear. But I liked the idea Exar Kun was just in it for himself. He treated Ulic like dirt, couldn't care less about his other apprentices, sending them to their doom or else just sacrificing them, slaughtered the entire race of Massassi... the idea of him caring about establishing a "Sith Order" just never really felt right to me. Crado and the others all just seemed to be tools to Exar Kun, not the beginnings of a new Sith Order. Curiously enough, I suppose Exar Kun struck me as epitomising the Kaan/Bane era's view of the Darths, just Exar Kun didn't have the title, but was still big on the whole "I'm the boss, kneel or die" thing. Too many Dark Lords are softies or taken in by the politics of their orders.

 

(Yeah, I pronounce it "Exar Khan")

I think it's also important that people should not attempt to treat Exar Kun like he was pure evil before he turned either. Exar Kun disliked Sylvar intensely because she hated that Crado, her husband for all intents and purposes, chose him over her (Bros before Catgirls).

On the other hand, his relationship with Crado wasn't necessarily the healthiest but it was similiar to enough RL friendships that I wouldn't call it fake. Likewise, Exar Kun genuinely loved his master. Exar Kun's only major problem was that Vodo was holding him back (and like Anakin, it was for good reason).

Exar Kun didn't join the Sith because he wanted to conquer and destroy either. Exar Kun resisted Freedon Nadd's entreties and only after he'd nearly been killed three or four times did he embrace the power and his first act was to kill Freedon Nadd. Even then, he didn't wage war against the Jedi. It took Marka Ragnos to set him on the path. Exar Kun would have been literally content to just stay on Yavin IV and study magic for the rest of his life.

Trying to make him into an ultimate evil figure fails because it actually requires the prodding him want to care about galactic domination. I find that a very interesting thing and its why I actually find the assignment of Ulic as the redeemed and Exar as the bad guy to be somewhat arbitrary.

Like Darth Malak and Darth Revan, Malak as the Ultimate Evil Doer while Revan is actually just a hero just doesn't hold water. Ulic waged war on the entire galaxy for the hell of it while Exar is a scholar that's basically told by his teachers to go conquer the universe. I honestly tend to think that Exar was just as much a candidate for redemption as Ulic and probably deserved it more.

I think it's important to also remember that Exar Kun is a product of the Pre-Traitor Expanded Universe. The Pre-Traitor expanded universe may confuse some new readers in that the Dark Side of the Force isn't a emotional state. The Dark Side of the Force is a literal source of magic that's seperate and distinctive from the Light Side of the Force. It's not just a metaphor for evil.

It's as distinctive as Black Magic and White Magic from Final Fantasy.

Exar Kun strikes me as the kind who took the Brakiss view of the Force (now the Count Dooku view of the Force). For Exar Kun, the distinctions between Darkness and Light are largely meaningless ones. Unlike the Potenium, he didn't think the Dark Side doesn't exist, just that Jedi Knights should harness it for their own use. I also think he was sincere in his offer to Master Vodo (even if it's fairly clear Exar didn't expect Vodo to accept).

Exar didn't have any fear about sharing his knowledge freely and that would have probably horrified people like Darth Bane. Exar was the first of the Kaanite Sith and later Krayt to some extent. There's a certain assumption of comraderie there, though we can see how Sith comraderie works out. The Exar Kun Empire is the second Sith Empire destroyed by treachery within.

I really hope Exar Kun shows up in the Knights of the Old Republic comics.

Edit--- Hehe, me and Zorrixor have the opposite views on Exar in most things. Of course, only Crado and Ulic are genuine Kun followers.

 

I think we've got similar views as far as Exar Kun's character goes, since I'd agree that he didn't really seem to care less about the Jedi or the Sith, he was simply corrupted by the dark side. Its part of why I feel KOTOR has lost us a bit of Kun's character by trying to fit him into an archtypical post-TPM "all the best darksiders must be Sith" box.

Prior to KOTOR, I tended to view Exar Kun more as just a really powerful Dark Jedi Master who had studied Sith teachings, but who wasn't actually that fussed about starting up a new Sith Empire. He just wanted to be the absolute undisputed Master of the Force and know all there was to know. I suppose in that sense I can see where you're coming from about him just being misguided, since he'd have been happy to just study the dark side, but was naive enough to blind himself to the fact the dark side HAD consumed his soul, even if he kept telling himself it hadn't.

I'd fully agree that he never seemed to care about conquering the Republic. That always seemed to be more Ulic and the Krath. Kun used Ulic and the Krath, sure, to get at what he wanted, since a Dark Jedi Master can't just stroll into the Jedi Temple and loot the archives, but he seemed more interested in his rituals and becoming immortal and stuff than declaring himself Emperor.

Where I think we probably differ is on him being bad from the start. I always felt he was on a fairly slippery slope from the start. The dark side karked him up, definately, as TotJ was back from the days when there were no arguments about a genuine dark side, but I think he was set on falling no matter what, since he wasn't really interested in being a Jedi, but in mastering the Force. "Doing good deeds" didn't seem as important to Exar Kun as having the power to do good deeds. I suppose he's actually similar to people like Kreia and Atris in a way, as he had the "Jedi historian" thing going for a bit.

Worryingly, I'm almost tempted to compare him to Betrayal-Jacen. That is, "I want to know everything"-Jacen, not "Calling myself a Darth magically makes me more powerful"-Jacen. Exar Kun is what Jacen probably could have been had he just learned Lumiya's stuff, killed her, and gone on to become a Dark Jedi Master without the Sith obsession.

 

Re: Exar Kun's relationship with the Sith, I think Exar actually founded a very loyal group of Sith around him as of KOTOR the video game. Before, all of Exar Kun's converts are brainwashed except for Crado. However, Jolee indicates that he genuinely persuaded a lot to follow him willingly. If his speeches were anything like the kind he used to lure the 20 knights to Yavin IV then its easy to see that Exar Kun may have believed very strongly in his Reborn Sith Empire.

...Except Exar Kun's Sith Empire won't resemble the Sith of Old except very loosely. Instead, it seems like the Sith Knighthood of Count Dooku's description in the ROTS novelization. Basically, a place where Dark Jedi use Sith knowledge to rule the galaxy rather than Sith as a distinct thing themselves. Also, it doesn't seem that Exar Kun disdained the Light Side of the Force.

Instead, he used it in cohabitation with the Dark Side. He was a Sith Lord, but he was a very different kind than Darth Bane or the Sith of Old.

But I'm not sure that Exar Kun was always destined to fall ot the Dark Side. I don't think that he was a bad person to begin with, so much as had some deep personal character flaws (arrogance, a temper, and a desire for more knowledge). As the scene where he abandons Sylvar shows, the arrogance and temper actually are things that he CAN learn to get under control. It could have just as easily have been his Jedi training that allowed him to do it as his Sith.

I tend to think that Pre-Sith Lord Exar Kun is very much like Count Dooku or Jerec in that they stradle the line between Lawful Good and Lawful Neutral. No, they're not people that can exist as Jedi Knights without a support network. However, if Exar Kun had no gone to Dxun out of fear of endangering his relationship with Master Vodo, then I suspect Exar Kun would have eventually just finished his Jedi PHD and then gone on to satisfy his curiosity in the libraries. He'd probably have Odan Urr's job by the time of Knights of the Old Republic.

Having a critical character flaw that can be exploited doesn't necessarilly mean you're destined to fall unlike say Sedriss or Desann whom are just wall to wall psychopaths.

 

Y'know, I'm tempted to fanfic that idea-- an Alternate Universe where Exar Kun goes down in history as the greatest Jedi scholar, historian, professor, etc. the galaxy ever saw. Yes, he's arrogant, yes, he has an ego the size of the ThonBoka, but he never falls... Hmmm...

 

Ironically, the big difference between Ulic and him is no one is there to fish Exar Kun out. Ulic was a malevolent nutcase but Ulic was shocked into betraying Exar by murdering his brother. Exar, on the other hand, has no friends to speak of aside from Ulic and apparently no family other than Vodo.

Of course, since he's the one who kills Vodo, perhaps that says much about the critical difference between them.

 

It's funny you should bring that up, since the (Old) Essential Guide to Character's actually implies that Exar Kun wrote the Sith Code.

"Exar Kun and Ulic Qel-Droma disappeared for several years, gaining tremendous powers of the dark side. Kun created a distorted version of the Jedi Code for his dark-side followers, establishing a powerful Brotherhood of Sith."



I've actually always half suspected that the research done for KotOR into Exar Kun and Ulic drew more heavily upon the Essential Guide as opposed to the comics, especially since KotOR's recounting of the Sith War more closely corresponds with the EG's account.

And, I have to say this again... does anyone else sometimes feel that it's somewhat unfortunate that the KotOR games are set when they are? I love them, I really love them, but they do seem - in some respects - to have undermined the influence and impact of Kun and Qel-Droma.

I mean, who's the casual fan going to think is more impressive and Sithly? A Sith Lord called DARTH Revan, or a Sith Lord called Exar Kun?

I'd half like to see Kun and Ulic given "secret" Darth names (ala Dooku, though I don't know why they'd keep them secret) in a retcon, just to give them some of their gravitas back.

And then I read this.

A very interesting take, Zor. Though I'm not sure that it matches up entirely with Kun's *professed* desire to restore the Golden Age of the Sith, I really the idea that - to Kun - being "Dark Lord of the Sith" wasn't what defined him, nor something he was particularly invested in from a... cultural/religious perspective (unlike Bane, at least in JvS) it was simply his title by virtue of the fact he knew more about the Sith than anyone. Nice.

In fact, if he did know about the "Darth Tradition", that might explain why he didn't take the title. Maybe taking that title acknowledges some sort of... subservience to the Sith Ways, whilst Kun saught to elevate himself above everything. The "Golden Age of the Sith" could have just been a pipedream with which he satisfied his followers whilst he delved into how to become a god.