Rakghoul plague The rakghoul plague or rakghoul disease was a disease engineered by the ancient Sith Lord Karness Muur . Muur , seeking a means to escape death and achieve galactic conquest , forged a Sith amulet that came to be known as the Muur Talisman , an item into which Muur poured his mind , will , and Sith magic . The Muur Talisman ' s power could almost instantaneously turn any nearby sentient being into a mindless rakghoul , a Sith - spawned mutant subservient to Muur ' s will . But the talisman ' s power was not perfect , and it could not transform Force - sensitives or beings belonging to certain non - Human species into rakghouls , and thus Muur designed the rakghoul plague to compensate for this weakness . The virus - like plague , carried by every rakghoul in existence at the time , could be spread to another being by a bite or a scratch from a rakghoul ' s claw . The victim would then suffer through an incubation period lasting approximately six to forty - eight hours before being transformed into a rakghoul , one fully capable of spreading the Sith - made disease on to further victims . In the years before , during , and after the Mandalorian Wars , the rakghoul plague spread nearly unchecked through the Undercity of the planet Taris , and well over a million Mandalorian Neo - Crusaders fell victim to the plague ' s effects on the ice - covered world of Jebble . Though the rakghouls were widely thought to have become extinct at a time prior to the rise of the Galactic Empire in 19 BBY , the rakghoul plague — and by extension , the rakghouls themselves — would continue to exist in the galaxy by the powers of the Muur Talisman until 137 ABY , when the dangerous Sith artifact was finally destroyed by the Jedi Cade Skywalker on the Deep Core Imperial world of Had Abbadon . Characteristics . The primary means for the spread of the Sith - spawned rakghoul s was through the Sith magic of the Muur Talisman , a Sith amulet forged by the ancient Sith Lord , Karness Muur . In the hands of Muur , or in the possession of another Force - user following Muur ' s death , the talisman ' s power transformed any sentient being without a connection to the Force into a rakghoul . Even protective suits designed to shield a wearer from harmful germs or chemicals could not hold off the effects of the Sith magic . But the rakghoul plague in its most infamous form existed as a virus - like disease , which Muur engineered as a means of circumventing the talisman ' s weakness : Force - sensitives and a number of non - Human species were immune to the effects of the talisman . This disease , as its name implied , was a plague that could be spread from an existing rakghoul by means of a bite or scratch from its claw , infecting the victim from even the smallest wound . Following contact with a rakghoul , the progression of the infection was a rapid and painful experience . Incubation periods for the disease differed between species , but a period of six to forty - eight hours was typical . A victim ' s body would become twisted , and the pigmentation of the skin became paled to a white ned , corpse - like state , and bleeding from the eyes , mouth , and skin were not uncommon . Not long after this point , the victim underwent a bodywide mutation , their body growing and transforming into a rakghoul similar to the creature that infected him or her , and capable to spreading the rakghoul plague to another . This included the victim ` s five toes would become feet with three big claws , Spikes growing over their body , teeth becoming much larger , sharper , and deadlier , and victims ' s hands becoming huge clawed tearing machines . The transformation was usually very painful for any victim . In some cases a victim had been so badly injured by a Rakghoul that they wanted the transformation to happen sooner so the pain would end . Aside from the physical effects of the rakghoul plague , the mental and psychological effects the disease had upon its victims was significant . Once transformed into a rakghoul , the original being ' s intelligence was seemingly lost , and most thought so little of the mental capacity of the common rakghoul as to denote them as " mindless " . In truth , however , the plague destroyed only the personality of the infected , leaving behind the being ' s knowledge and skills they had accumulated in their former lives . Left on their own , rakghouls behaved as beasts , serving their base instincts and existing as slaves to their own hunger . But if a being skilled in the powers of the Force were to wield the Muur Talisman , the rakghouls would be able to draw upon those latent skills and abilities to be used in service to the talisman ' s possessor , even utilizing weapons and operating equipment . Unfortunately for the transformed beings , though , their original personalities could not be restored once they became rakghouls , and these seemingly more intelligent creatures operated only on an imprint left behind of their former lives . Variants . There were two known variants of the rakghoul plague virus : the Bozan strain and the Hirano strain . They differed because of the mutation of a Clawdite - derived gene sequence although it was not expanded on which was modified from which . The rakghoul plague was often thought to be without a cure , and that the most merciful option was to kill the unfortunate afflicted before the plague could be spread further , but there were two known methods that did indeed exist with the capability to halt the rakghoul transformation in a victim infected with the plague . A serum had been found during the time of the Jedi Civil War , by Darth Revan and Malak ' s Sith Empire , and their Sith trooper s often carried viles of the curative serum on their person during trips into the Undercity of the planet Taris , where the number of rakghouls was highest . The serum would be administered in the period of time prior to the victim ' s transformation , halting the progression of the infection and preventing the rakghoul mutation . Another means was discovered by a Jedi by the name of Cade Skywalker thousands of years later , during the Second Imperial Civil War . After he and his companion , Azlyn Rae , had been infected with the rakghoul plague , Skywalker used his radical healing ability to purge them of the plague , curing and saving them both . History . Introduction to the galaxy . The rakghoul plague was originally created by the Sith Lord Karness Muur . Muur was one of the Dark Jedi Exiles who were banished to the Sith - controlled world of Korriban , following their defeat at the Battle of Corbos which ended the Hundred - Year Darkness . Like many of his contemporaries , Muur used the power of the dark side of the Force to manipulate life . Muur ' s prized achievement was the flesh - eating rakghouls and he believed that the rakghouls would be the army he would use to conquer the galaxy , using the rakghoul plague to turn his enemies into his slaves . Using his Sith magic , Muur could transform any nearby sentient into a mindless rakghoul , but he found there were exceptions , however , as both Force - sensitive beings and beings from a number of non - Human species proved immune to the talisman ' s effects . To combat this flaw , Muur engineered a new form of the rakghoul plague , a virus - like disease that could be spread from a rakghoul ' s bite or a scratch from its claws . The infected victim , no matter the species or Force - sensitivity , would then slowly mutate into a rakghoul within a timeframe spanning mere hours . Muur ' s ambitions for galactic conquest would be dashed after he was killed by jealous rivals , but Muur ' s spirit lived on through the Sith amulet he had forged in life , into which the Sith Lord had poured his mind , will , and the power to transform nearby beings into rakghouls . Possession of Muur ' s talisman was fleeting following his death , and eventually the talisman fell into the hands of a being who brought it to the Outer Rim world of Taris where a cave in deep within the decrepit Undercity left the talisman ' s owner dead and the Sith amulet forgotten in the bowels of the planet . There , the rakghoul plague ran rampant , and countless beings were infected . However , the government of Taris made little effort to fight the spread of the plague as it was contained in the lower levels of the ecumenopolis , a region occupied in large part by Taris ' criminal underclass . It was not until the Mandalorian Wars that the talisman would be rediscovered , by a Mandalorian Neo - Crusader search team led by the Mandalorian scientist Pulsipher . Pulsipher took the talisman from Taris to the Mandalorian - held world , Jebble , infecting a cadre of his soldiers with the rakghoul plague aboard his ship while en route . There , the infected Mandalorians transformed into rakghouls and attacked their former comrades , spreading the plague further in a cascading chain that led to the transformation of almost every Mandalorian and Neo - Crusader recruit on Jebble . Pulsipher lost possession of the talisman to the Jedi Knight Celeste Morne , who chose to entomb herself and the dangerous Sith artifact inside the Sith Lord Remulus Dreypa ' s oubliette — on Jebble and among other Force - related items Pulsipher had been collecting — in order to prevent the further spread of the plague . Mandalorian commander Cassus Fett , upon being warned of the rakghoul plague outbreak on the planet ' s surface by Jedi Padawan Zayne Carrick , chose to orbitally bombard Jebble with nuclear missiles in order to destroy the infection . The rakghouls were all destroyed in the attack , and the oubliette containing Morne sunk beneath the seas formed as Jebble ' s glaciers melted from the immense heat . Though the Muur Talisman was gone , Taris continued to be afflicted by the rakghoul plague in the years leading up to the Jedi Civil War . The Undercity remained heavily infested and more were infected with the rakghoul plague regularly , after being scratched or bitten . By that point , it was estimated that over sixty million beings on the planet had been infected by the rakghoul plague . The Sith Empire formed by the former Jedi Knights - turned - Sith Lords , Darths Revan and Malak came to occupy Taris during the new war between their new Sith and the Jedi Order . With them came a curative serum for the rakghoul plague , capable of healing those infected by the rakghoul plague who had yet to complete the transformation , but the Sith restricted access to the serum to those Sith troopers that were sent down into the Undercity . An Revan — his memory of his time as a Sith Lord after falling to the dark side removed by the Jedi Council — later found a vial of the curative serum on the body of a dead Sith trooper while on Taris , and used it to heal several Undercity residents infected with the rakghoul plague before finally giving it to the Upper City doctor , Zelka Forn . Forn was able to use this sample to synthesize a mass - produced serum that could be sold at a low price to all Tarisians . Shortly after , Taris was subjected to a devastating orbital bombardment by Darth Malak ' s Sith armada , killing an untold number of beings on the planet , including a significant number of rakghouls . The Cold War . However , many rakghouls survived the bombardment , and terrorized the Outcasts and other survivors . The Outcasts , who had rediscovered their Promised Land — which was actually the original Taris colony site — survived through use of the rakghoul serum that Revan had given them , but their later generations ran out of the serum and were eventually killed . Almost three hundred years after the bombardment , the Republic decided to begin a resettlement project on the planet . Many believed that restoring the planet would serve as a symbol that the Republic would recover from the Great Galactic War and triumph over the Sith Empire , and the Republic Military established a presence there to protect the settlers . The rakghouls had thrived and once again terrorized the inhabitants of the planet , roaming the overgrown ruins of the city . Around 3641 BBY , a group of rakghouls were discovered in the eastern Tularan Marsh that had been exposed to a mixture of chemicals and radiation , mutating and strengthening them . Around that same time , Professor Sadus Vraal and Mola Haxtor discovered that a subspecies of rakghoul had developed nearby — the Force - sensitive nekghoul s . With the help of a Republic - allied individual , they investigated the factory that the nekghouls were inhabiting , but the individual discovered that the holocron of Bay - Yon Siu , a Jedi of the Sanej Temple , was teaching the nekghouls . The Jedi Knight Danah Jor had attempted to destroy the nekghouls , but had been captured , and Siu convinced the individual to allow the nekghouls to live while he taught them the ways of the light side . The Tionese scientist Doctor Sannus Lorrick weaponized and released a strain of the plague on the planet Kaon to get revenge on the Tion Hegemony for disgracing him . He fled to Ord Mantell , where he set up an island base and continued his experiments . Lorrick also gave an infected risp to the smuggler Zama Brak , who boarded the passenger liner " Stardream " departing Ord Mantell . The risp spread the plague among almost all of the crew and the 492 passengers aboard in the matter of fifteen days , causing the infected captain Magnus to crash the ship into the Dune Sea on the planet Tatooine . As the ship broke up on its descent , it spread wreckage and escape pods filled with infected passengers across the Dune Sea and the neighboring Jundland Wastes , forcing both the Republic and the Empire to declare the planet a quarantine zone . Imperial and Republic containment troops deployed immediately to the planet , stopping all infected from leaving the planet . The plague also infected many of the native Tusken Raiders and wildlife , including banthas , reeks , and wraid s . Outbreak . Awakening . Over time , the rakghouls were isolated on Taris and — likely due in part to the serum Revan recovered — driven to extinction . However , while the Muur Talisman remained , the threat of the rakghouls did as well . Approximately fourteen hundred years before the galaxy - spanning Clone Wars , ice miners discovered the oubliette of Dreypa beneath the surface of Jebble . A mystery to it finders , the oubliette became known as the " Jebble Box " , and the inability to open it or scan what was inside bred numerous rumors as to its origins . Collectors bought and sold the box they believed to be an ancient Jedi treasure , and wars were even fought over the mysterious object . In 19 BBY , the crew of the starship " Uhumele " brought the box to a desolate moon with the intent to sell it to the scholar and antiquities collector Fane Peturri ; Peturri was in league with Darth Vader and his Sith Master , Darth Sidious , and the black - armored Sith Lord released Celeste Morne from stasis . Upon finding her rescuer to be a Sith , Morne attacked Vader and engaged him in a battle of lightsabers . When Vader proved too powerful , Morne was forced to use the Muur Talisman to unleash the rakghoul plague and save herself , transforming Vader ' s stormtroopers into rakghouls that subsequently attacked their former commander . Vader fled , but the activation of the talisman ' s magic had an unintended side effect : the talisman transformed the only human member of the " Uhumele " crew into a rakghoul as well , and the ship ' s captain was forced to kill her . Vader fled , as did the " Uhumele " crew , leaving Morne alone on the moon with only the rakghouls she had spawned and the spirit of Karness Muur for company . Spreading infection . Close to twenty years passed , but Vader did not forget the events that transpired on that barren moon . Nine months after the Battle of Yavin , Vader ordered a scouting party to the desert moon to ascertain the fate of Morne . When the shuttle of stormtroopers neared the moon ' s surface , Morne used the Force to drag the shuttle down before transforming everyone aboard with the talisman - borne rakghoul plague . Now sure that Morne did indeed still live , Vader tasked his spy , Wyl Tarson , with instructions to leak word of a secret Imperial weapon located on the moon , and ensure that it was noticed by members of the Alliance to Restore the Republic , a group of rebels that had been formed in the years since Vader had first confronted Morne as a force to oppose the oppressive Empire and restore the Republic that it had once been . A small team of " Rebel Alliance " members traveled to the moon , unable to resist the lure of the potential victory over their Imperial enemies . Almost immediately upon setting down , however , the strike team was beset by Morne ' s rakghoul horde , and a number of them were infected by the rakghoul plague during the resulting skirmish . One group of rebels were able to escape the attack aboard Captain Han Solo ' s personal ship , the " Millennium Falcon " , while rebel leader Princess Leia Organa and friend Luke Skywalker were momentarily left behind with the former clone trooper , Able . Morne , having suffered through nearly twenty years with none but the corrupting presence of Karness Muur ' s spirit as a companion , had become convinced that the Jedi had abandoned her and attacked the Force - sensitive Skywalker . When Organa attempted to assist him and Morne turned her blade on her instead , Able rushed to the Princess ' defense only to fall victim to the rakghoul plague and be transformed into a rakghoul . When Muur ' s spirit realized the untapped Force potential within both Skywalker and Organa , he detached his talisman ' s hold on Morne and attacked Skywalker . Coming to her senses , Morne batted the Sith amulet away and retook the burden onto herself . Her control over Muur regained , Morne turned away from the two rebels and boarded the shuttle they had arrived on the moon with , and departed with her legion of rakghouls , leaving Skywalker and Organa to flee aboard the returned " Millennium Falcon " . As she passed out of the moon ' s orbit , Morne flew by a waiting " Imperial " - class Star Destroyer , turning the crew into rakghouls with the talisman ' s plague before vanishing into space as the capital ship crashed into the surface of the moon and was destroyed . A partial remedy . Over a hundred years passed as Morne traveled the galaxy , before being taken aboard the " Pellaeon " - class Star Destroyer , " Iron Sun " in 127 ABY . Believing the cruiser to be in the employ of the Empire she had awoken to under Vader and Palpatine , Morne unleashed the rakghoul plague upon the Star Destroyer , transforming the " Iron Sun " crew into a new rakghoul army . Another ten years passed before the commandeered " Iron Sun " took on new captives : the crew of the " Mynock " , led by Cade Skywalker and on a mission to assassinate the current Dark Lord of the Sith , Darth Krayt . The crew was shortly attacked by rakghouls , and during their efforts to repel the beastly aggressors , Skywalker was bitten and his Imperial Knight companion , Azlyn Rae , scratched , both becoming infected with the rakghoul plague . Celeste Morne was able to halt the rakghouls ' attack after reasserting control , but when she discovered the two had been infected , the Jedi took it upon herself to isolate Skywalker and Rae from their companions , imprisoning them within a detention cell while she promised each a swift death after the transformation occurred . To her surprise , however , Skywalker was able to use his tremendous Force - healing ability to cure himself and Rae of the plague , impressing Morne and earning the " Mynock " crew a new ally against Krayt . Skywalker ' s team launched an attack on the Imperial base located on the Deep Core planet of Had Abbadon , shortly after . There , Morne transformed a number of the base ' s stormtroopers into rakghouls , who then aided the group in battle against the Devaronian Sith Lord , Darth Reave . Reave was wounded by the rakghouls , and fled back to Coruscant where he delivered a report to Darth Krayt at the Temple of the Sith . During the meeting , Reave succumbed to the effects of the rakghoul plague and transformed into a rakghoul , attacking his former Sith allies before being struck down by Darth Stryfe . Taking the bait laid before them , Krayt and a cadre of his loyal Sith traveled to Had Abbadon where they were ambushed by Skywalker and his group ; Morne unleashed her rakghoul horde on Darth Krayt , but the combined force of Krayt ' s Force lightning and Darth Stryfe ' s protective lightsaber defense cut the rakghouls down in droves . Still , the Sith fell to Skywalker ' s team and Krayt himself was dealt a mortal wound by Azlyn Rae that left everyone involved believing Krayt dead . In the battle ' s aftermath , Morne asked that Skywalker end her life , knowing she was losing her battle for control with the spirit of Karness Muur . Skywalker solemnly granted her wish and took her life with his lightsaber , only for the Muur Talisman to target Skywalker as its new host . However , Skywalker had no interest in the power Muur offered , and instead used the Force to destroy the talisman once and for all , putting an end to its ability to spread the rakghoul plague . Though the Muur Talisman was gone , any rakghouls that continued to live after the events on Had Abbadon , still carried the potential to spread the rakghoul plague to other victims .