Hardin Hardin , known as Bug for most of his life due to the custom of his homeworld Somov Rit , was a Force - sensitive Human who was recruited into Jedi Lord Hoth ' s Army of Light as a youth , in the service of which he died . Living an uneventful life on Somov Rit with his cousins Root , Darovit , and Zannah , Hardin chafed , longing to escape and take charge of his life . When Jedi Torr Snapit arrived and recruited Hardin , Darovit , and Zannah into the Army of Light for training , Hardin leaped at the chance to depart Somov Rit . Zannah ' s presumed death soon after arriving on Ruusan , followed by Snapit ' s self - sacrifice in defense of the two young boys , stripped away Hardin ' s gruff , cynical exterior and left him admiring the Jedi , whom he had long criticized in response to Darovit ' s idolization of them . When Darovit ' s ideals met reality , he was devastated by the fallibility of the Jedi and the lack of glory in the Light and Darkness War . He defected to the Sith Brotherhood of Darkness , leaving Hardin more determined than ever to prove himself as a Jedi Knight and make up for Darovit ' s abandonment of the Jedi . During the Seventh Battle of Ruusan , as Hardin guarded an exit from the caves in which Dark Lord of the Sith Skere Kaan detonated his thought bomb , Hardin encountered and dueled Darovit . Darovit ' s Sith Master , Githany , crippled Hardin , but Darovit could not kill his cousin . Instead , Hardin ' s spirit became victim to the thought bomb , trapped for over one thousand years . His death , however , galvanized Darovit into rejecting the Sith ways and living the life of a hermit on Ruusan . Biography . Childhood . Hardin spent his youth on the quiet world of Somov Rit , undisturbed by the Light and Darkness War raging across the galaxy . There he lived a rural existence with his cousins Darovit and Zannah , whom he knew as " Tomcat " and " Rain . " Natives of Somov Rit believed that if one ' s true name was spoken , the swamp demon would claim the unfortunate individual , and as a result used nicknames instead . Hardin went by " Bug " in his interactions with others . Cared for by elder cousin Root , Hardin and Darovit were known to be Force - sensitives , though Zannah was not believed to possess the ability to touch the Force . Hardin learned to use his Force talents , summoning fish to him so that he could catch them for the family ' s meals . This use of the Force angered Darovit , an idealistic young man . Darovit ' s idolization of the Jedi annoyed Hardin , who felt his cousin to be naive and frequently told him so . Hardin chafed on the backwater planet , seeking to find a better life elsewhere , and longed to live without his family members , whom he found annoying . Recruitment . One day in 1000 BBY , the cousins were visited by Torr Snapit , a Jedi scout seeking Force - sensitives to recruit into Jedi Lord Hoth ' s Army of Light for training . Though he was dismayed by Hardin and Darovit ' s arguing , Snapit agreed to train the children . Despite his skeptical view of the Jedi , Hardin was eager for any chance to leave Somov Rit and make his way in the wider galaxy . After a display of Force - use from Zannah , she too was allowed to travel with Snapit to Ruusan , the site of Hoth ' s long campaign against Dark Lord of the Sith Skere Kaan ' s Brotherhood of Darkness . Hardin remained moody during the journey to Ruusan , finally confronting Darovit over his belief that the young man had used the Force during Zannah ' s test , and not the girl herself . Darovit defended himself by saying he did not want to leave their family behind . They continued arguing as Snapit descended to Ruusan and the ship came under attack by Sith Buzzard fighters . Their fellow recruits Slatka and Sladak were killed , and Zannah tumbled out of the ship into the forest below . Jedi reinforcements arrived , staving off the Buzzards , only after the loss of Hardin ' s cousin . Snapit had to put the damaged ship down in the forest , forcing the boys to trek with him through the terrain toward Hoth ' s camp . One evening , as they journeyed , the trio was attacked by Sith soldiers . Wielding only a tree branch as a club , Hardin defended himself , subduing at least two warriors in the melee . Continuing harassment by Sith forces led the group to flee to a rope bridge crossing a small canyon . Snapit , wounded by an arrow to the leg , held the bridge as the boys scrambled across before cutting it , plunging himself and the enemy troops into the chasm and guaranteeing the safety of the Jedi candidates . Hardin wanted to move on to safety , but Darovit insisted on climbing into the ravine to retrieve the Jedi Knight ' s lightsaber . By the time Darovit returned to the top , a party of Sith arrived . Before they could attack , a Jedi squad under General Kiel Charny annihilated the Sith contingent , saving the boys . Charny led the pair to the Jedi encampment . There , Darovit expressed his disillusionment with the Jedi ' s rough camp life and susceptibility to death , leading Hardin to abandon his gruff demeanor and defend the Jedi as noble and admirable . When the pair was assigned to assist in moving the kitchen wagon , Hardin accepted the assignment while Darovit angrily objected to taking a duty he saw as beneath him . Hardin continued to serve in camp until after the devastation of the Sixth Battle of Ruusan . He sought out Darovit , who had been involved in the fighting , only to hear that his cousin had killed Charny and joined the Sith . Astounded and outraged , Hardin was initially disgusted with his cousin ' s behavior before realizing that it was up to him to take Darovit ' s place among the Jedi and restore a balance within his family . As Hoth prepared for a final confrontation with the Brotherhood of Darkness , Hardin was armed with the rest of the support staff . Hoth personally questioned Hardin ' s commitment in the wake of Darovit ' s defection , seeking to make sure he was not acting out of a desire for revenge or sympathetic to his relative . Hardin ' s explanation of his motives impressed Hoth , who granted Hardin a lightsaber and welcomed him to the Jedi Order , prompting Hardin to reveal his true name . Confrontation . As Hoth led his men into the caves where Kaan awaited , Hardin and two other members of the kitchen staff were assigned to guard a rear exit from the caves . Hearing something within , Hardin led the others inside . There they found the Sith Lord Githany and her apprentice , Darovit . The others were killed , and Githany disarmed Hardin before he used his affinity with animals to summon the bats within the cave to swarm her . Hardin then dueled his cousin , taunting him as a traitor . As soon as Githany recovered , she used her lightwhip to sever Hardin ' s right leg , leaving him for Darovit to kill . Darovit could not manage to strike down his cousin , however . At that moment , Kaan activated his thought bomb . The thought bomb drained Hardin ' s life as the cave began crumbling , a falling stalactite crushing Hardin ' s withered body . Hardin ' s death proved to be the shock needed to jar Darovit away from the dark side of the Force . Surviving the thought bomb , he abandoned both the Jedi and the Sith to live as a simple hermit . Hardin ' s spirit was trapped by the thought bomb , to be held for over one thousand years in what became the Valley of the Jedi . His spirit , along with the rest of the trapped Jedi and Sith spirits , would eventually be released when Kyle Katarn defeated Jerec and freed the souls in the Valley of the Jedi in 5 ABY . Personality and traits . As a boy on Somov Rit , Hardin was skeptical and argumentative , often to the point of rudeness . He disdained Darovit ' s idolization of the Jedi , instead believing that reality was not nearly as heroic as Darovit believed . As a result , he was prone to antagonize his older cousin in the name of challenging Darovit ' s views . He did not get along with the others well , instead maintaining that he wanted to be rid of them and of his boring life on Somov Rit . After Zannah ' s presumed death , Hardin grew less confrontational and more apt to express attachment to others . He was openly aghast when Torr Snapit sacrificed himself on Ruusan , crying out against it . He spoke in defense of the Jedi ' s inner nobility after Darovit criticized camp life in the Army of Light , and was outraged when his cousin impugned Snapit . In the wake of Darovit ' s defection , Hardin was furious with his cousin . His anger soon gave way to a commitment to join the Jedi and attempt to atone for Darovit ' s actions by taking his place and fighting on the side of the light . He saw their cause as noble , and when he confronted Darovit he displayed his anger and sense of betrayal at Darovit ' s desertion , chiding him for turning away from the Jedi path . Powers and abilities . Root believed that the Force was strong with Hardin . As a youth on Somov Rit , Hardin was able to use the Force to lure fish to him , allowing him to kill them for food . It was a manifestation of a telepathic ability which allowed him to read the minds of other beings and communicate with animals . Behind the scenes . The character of Hardin was created by writer Darko Macan for the comic " " and illustrated by Ramón Bachs . Though initially portrayed as the darkest of the three cousins whom the comic follows , Hardin was the only character of the trio to remain true to the light side throughout the entire story .