Kento Marek Kento Marek was a Human male who lived as a Knight of the Jedi Order . Upon the outbreak of the Clone Wars , he fought on the side of the Galactic Republic alongside his fellow Jedi . Commissioned as a Jedi officer like the rest of the Order ' s members , Marek eagerly led clone troopers into battle on many fronts . As common with the younger generations of the Jedi Order , Marek craved excitement , adventure and the opportunity to perform many heroic acts as a warrior . Hence , he saw the conflict between the Republic and the Separatists as the opportunity to demonstrate his skills as a Jedi and a leader . During the Clone Wars , Kento Marek became acquainted with a fellow Jedi named Mallie . Unlike Kento , Mallie had no interest in seeking fame and glory as a warrior . Her sympathy for those who suffered throughout the conflict caused Marek to rethink his personal views . Despite their differences , the two developed a close relationship with each other , which eventually culminated into love — an emotional attachment that was expressly forbidden by the long - standing tenets of the Jedi Order . In the midst of the galaxy - wide fighting , Kento and Mallie renounced their allegiance to the Order and married in secret . Due to their self - imposed exile , the two former Jedi Knights abandoned the war and went into hiding in order to start a new life together . Their desertion saved their own lives when , upon the decree of Order 66 , the clone troopers betrayed and murdered their Jedi officers on thousands of fronts all over the galaxy . The systematic genocide extended to ex - Jedi as well , thus turning Kento and Mallie into fugitives . As the Galactic Empire ascended to replace the former Republic , the Mareks had settled on the planet Kashyyyk where they were hidden and protected by the native Wookiee population . For ten years , Kento hid on Kashyyyk , avoiding detection from the Empire . At some point after their arrival , Mallie became pregnant and gave birth to a son , Galen Marek . Shortly afterward , she was killed while trying to defend a group of Wookiees from Trandoshan slavers . Forced to raise their only child by himself , Kento and his son were still living on Kashyyyk when the Sith Lord Darth Vader launched a massive invasion on Kashyyyk . With the secrecy of his hidden location compromised , Kento Marek resumed his former role as a Jedi Knight and aided the Wookiees in defending their homeworld . When the battle was all but lost , Kento Marek made his last stand against Vader in front of his hut . After a brief duel , Kento was easily defeated by the more powerful Sith Lord . Upon his death , Vader took it upon himself to raise the Jedi ' s young son as his secret apprentice . Biography . Early life . In accordance with the strict recruiting policy of the Jedi Order , Kento Marek ' s connection to the Force was detected by the Order when he was a young child . Raised and trained within the Jedi Temple on Coruscant , Marek eventually passed his final trials as a Padawan learner and ascended to the rank of Jedi Knight . Like many other young Jedi , Marek was extremely confident in his status as a Jedi , but also proud and arrogant to a fault . When the Clone Wars began in the year 22 BBY , Marek was eager to pursue the opportunity to prove his skills and abilities in battle . He served as a Jedi officer in the Grand Army of the Republic , along with the rest of the Order ' s members . Commanding armies of clone troopers , Marek fought on various battlefields . As a thrill - seeker , he reveled in the fighting and took pride in his accomplishments as a general . Battle of Talus . Kento Marek ' s responsibilities as a Jedi General eventually brought him to a Core world of Talus . During that time , he became acquainted with Mallie , a fellow Jedi and self - styled freedom fighter . Unlike Marek ' s eagerness for battlefield glory , Mallie felt neither excitement or desire to fight in the Clone Wars . She strongly sympathized with anyone who suffered in one capacity or another due to the effects of the galactic - spanning conflict . Although they possessed different point of views at the time , the two Jedi were able to develop a rapport with each other . Marek ' s exposure to Mallie ' s personal views created a change within him that reshaped his original way of thinking . In losing his youthful desire for fame and recognition over his achievements , Marek came to share Mallie ' s sympathy towards others . As their relationship grew , Marek fell in love with Mallie , despite the Jedi Order ' s restrictions against love and other emotional attachments . Mallie also violated the Jedi Code by returning Marek ' s feelings . Self - imposed exile on Kashyyyk . Before the conclusion of the Clone Wars , Kento and Mallie married each other in secret . In doing so , they renounced their allegiance to the Jedi Order and became exiles in order to start a new life together . Ironically , their actions ultimately saved their lives . When Chancellor Palpatine , the public persona of the Sith Lord Darth Sidious , issued Order 66 to the Grand Army , thousands of Jedi officers were murdered by their own clone soldiers throughout the galaxy . With the Jedi Order all but eliminated , Palpatine dissolved the Republic and declared himself emperor of the first Galactic Empire . Although wracked with guilt for deserting his former comrades , Kento was forced to go into hiding with his wife in order to escape from the systematic extermination aimed at all surviving members of the Order — including ex - Jedi . While the two former Jedi escaped into hiding , Kento ' s Jedi Master was slain by the Emperor ' s apprentice , Darth Vader . After settling on Kashyyyk , Kento Marek would live amongst the Wookiees for ten years . During that time , Mallie gave birth to their only child , Galen Marek . The child of two Jedi Knights , Galen was born with an exceptionally powerful connection to the Force . His ability to wield the Force was far greater than his parents and his potential was equal to that of Emperor Palpatine as well . The family ' s happiness would be cut short with a tragedy when Mallie died while defending Wookiees from a group of Trandoshan slavers . The loss of his wife left Kento in the position to raise their son alone . The Invasion of Kashyyyk . Years later , at some point after Mallie Marek ' s death , Darth Vader discovered that a Jedi was being kept hidden by the Wookiees on Kashyyyk . Acting on the information , the Sith Lord amassed a fleet of Star Destroyers and invaded the planet once again . Kento organized the Wookiees and led them against the Galactic Empire . However , the Imperials underestimated the resolve and defenses of the Wookiees , thus resulting in many casualties during the initial wave . Yet Vader was unconcerned with the battle itself ; his only concern was hunting down and eliminating the Jedi who had escaped the Great Jedi Purge for years . Thus , he pardoned the Imperial Commander ' s incompetence after nearly choking him to death . Vader , accompanied by the stormtroopers of Triton Squad , proceeded on foot to infiltrate the Wookiee village . Slaughtering many of its defenders along the way , Vader finally arrived at the front entrance of Kento Marek ' s hut , which was adorned with the emblem of his household . After Marek , although disguised as a reclusive hermit , failed to deceive Vader , he was forced to make his last stand in front of his home . Using the Force to eliminate Vader ' s stormtrooper escort , the Jedi and the Sith engaged in a lightsaber duel . As the two enemies fought one another , Marek displayed average skill in Shii - Cho , but had almost no comprehension of the more advanced Makashi style . His abilities , both with a lightsaber and in the Force , were severely outmatched by the more powerful Sith Lord . Despite his efforts , Marek was disarmed of his weapon and rendered helpless in a telekinetic grasp . Vader then slammed Kento into a nearby tree , then into a Wookiee sniper nest , then back down to the ground . After having pummeled Kento , Vader utilized a powerful Force Push to send the Jedi crashing through the front entrance of his own hut , causing the Jedi Knight ' s lightsaber to shatter from the impact . Defeated and far too injured to continue the fight , Marek was unable to defend himself as Vader lifted him in the air while slowly choking him to death . However , the Sith Lord was restrained from striking his opponent down when he sensed an incredibly powerful presence in the Force that was somewhere nearby . Due to the fact that the mysterious Force - sensitive was much stronger than the Jedi in his grasp , Vader assumed that the source of the power was Marek ' s master . When Marek revealed that his mentor had been killed years prior to this moment , Vader reached the end of his patience and raised his lightsaber to cut the Jedi down . However , just as Vader moved to kill Marek , his saber was telekinetically ripped from his hand . He turned around to see where his weapon had landed , and was utterly shocked and astonished to see that a young child had used the Force through pure instinct to take his weapon . He quickly realized that the boy was the son of the Jedi that he was about to kill , Galen Marek . When Kento tried to warn Galen to run , the Sith Lord , while keeping his focus centered on the boy , closed his fist . The unmistakeable crack of bone filled the hut , and Kento Marek ' s form crumpled to the ground . He was dead , his throat crushed . As Galen watched in horror as his father ' s lifeless body fell to the floor , Vader cautiously tried to approach him in an non - threatening way , but Galen backed away , obviously frightened by the intimidating Sith Lord . At that moment , the Imperial Commander and a squad of stormtroopers entered the hut . Believing that Galen was trying to kill Vader with the Sith Lord ' s own weapon , he ordered his troops to execute the boy . However , Vader had already decided against killing Galen . After sensing the boy ' s potential , Vader realized that he had just discovered a prodigy of the Force — much like he once was during his life as the Jedi Anakin Skywalker . Hence , he had no intention of allowing such power to be wasted and was not about to allow the boy to be killed . Using the Force to reclaim his lightsaber , Vader blocked the blaster shots that were aimed at Galen before cutting down the commander and his stormtroopers . After eliminating the witnesses who saw Galen , Vader approached the frightened orphan and told him that they had to leave together before more Imperials arrived . Galen , traumatized by what he had just seen , complied with the man who had murdered his father and saved his life . As the Imperial forces went on to claim victory , the son of the late Kento Marek was taken away from Kashyyyk by his new guardian , Darth Vader . As he was escorted away by Vader , the young Galen turned to look for the last time at his family home and the body of his father , the hand outstreched as though reaching for something . Legacy . For roughly a decade since the death of Kento Marek , Galen learned the ways of the Sith under the tutelage of Darth Vader . The Dark Lord ' s training methods were brutal and bordered on torture ; " learn or die " was the creed he passed on to his student . At first , Galen was controlled by Vader through fear , but then learned to channel the dark side by embracing his anger and hatred . Yet despite Vader ' s harsh treatment of the boy , there was never any malicious cruelty behind his teachings . Once he made it clear to his protégé that the key to staying alive was obedience and success , it was up to Galen to prove himself worthy and strong enough to stand at Vader ' s side . As Galen grew to become a young adult over the years he spent as Vader ' s disciple , the memories of his parents and childhood were repressed until he forgot everything about his life before serving the Dark Lord of the Sith , including his birth name . Under the codename " Starkiller , " the boy was sent on various missions as Darth Vader ' s personal assassin ; his targets included the Empire ' s many enemies , but never any Jedi . On the verge of completing his training in 3 BBY , Starkiller finally realized his lifelong dream to hunt and kill Jedi targets . Dispatched to a TIE Fighter Construction Facility above Nar Shaddaa , Starkiller was under orders to kill General Rahm Kota . During their fight , the apprentice experienced a disturbing vision where he saw the face of his father , whom he no longer remembered . After being sent to the ruins of the Jedi Temple to further his training through the ancient Jedi Trials , Starkiller heard the voice of Kento Marek , who was attempting to guide his fallen son as the apprentice fought a training program of an ancient Sith Lord called Darth Desolous . Up until his final trial in the Temple , Starkiller was completely unaware that the mysterious Jedi in his visions was actually his long dead father . When he reached the top of the Temple ' s highly - damaged central tower , Starkiller came across a simulacrum that displayed Darth Vader and Kento Marek fighting one another . As Kento stood victorious over Vader , Starkiller moved to defend his master without hesitation . Through the simulacrum , Kento tried to reason with his son , only for his attempts to be utterly ignored as the apprentice immersed himself further into the dark side of the Force . Before the simulacrum was deactivated , Kento apologized to Starkiller for failing to protect him from the life of a Sith and referred to him as " son . " The revelation shocked Starkiller to the core , causing him to explore the Temple even further until he found a Holocron that contained a message from his father . Kento acknowledged that , although Starkiller had fallen deep within the embrace of the dark side , there was still time to be saved since Vader had not yet fully corrupted him . Starkiller later returned to his homeworld of Kashyyyk , by then heavily occupied by an Imperial military garrison . After discovering the ruins of his childhood home , he was caught in an overwhelming Force vision . Starkiller , in the ominous guise of the Sith Lord that he could become , fought his father in a duel once again . As before in the Jedi Temple , he easily demonstrated his superiority by defeating Kento Marek . As Kento left , Starkiller called out to his father and begged for him to stop , but to no avail . Ultimately , Starkiller later chose to accept redemption by embracing his Jedi heritage . Although he defeated his former master in combat , Galen Marek sacrificed his life to save the founders of the newly - formed Rebel Alliance from Darth Sidious . Though the last scion of the Marek family was dead , his heroic sacrifice inspired the countless rebels and dissidents to wage a full - scale war against Sidious ' Empire . Furthermore , the Alliance chose to honor Galen ' s memory by adopting his family ' s symbol as its official emblem . Hence , the son of Kento Marek left behind a legacy that changed the fate of the galaxy forever as the growing forces of the Alliance became emboldened to challenge the tyrannical rule of the Galactic Empire . Kento Marek ' s bloodline , although technically ended by Galen Marek ' s death , was preserved , ironically by Darth Vader himself . Just before Galen ' s untimely demise , Vader had learned of his expendable status when Sidious — preferring a younger and far more powerful apprentice — attempted to replace him with Marek . Though Marek chose redemption through death over life as a Sith Lord , his end had nevertheless robbed Vader of his greatest chance to overthrow Darth Sidious . But even death was not enough to dissuade him from undertaking a task that had been considered impossible throughout history . Thus , he brought Galen ' s body to the planet Kamino and preserved it within a secret freezing chamber of the Timira City Cloning Facility . Extracting cells from Galen ' s corpse , the Dark Lord began a long and painstaking six - month project to create a far more powerful and loyal version of his dead apprentice . But due to the dangerous and unreliable science of cloning , combined with the extreme complexities of cloning Force - sensitive subjects , Vader ' s first attempts to clone Galen ' s genetic code produced a series of aberrant monstrosities . Although Galen ' s genetic code remained intact within them , the imperfections in the cloning process resulted in clones that were physical deformed and psychologically unstable . Due to the memory imprints that were downloaded into the clones , they all suffered from an identity crisis and , due to their mentally deranged state of mind , were driven completely mad . Thus , the only way to perfect the process was by constantly creating new clones of Galen Marek , each one more improved than the last . Through a new and experimental style of cloning , Vader engineered " " accelerated " " clones — genetic duplicates that grew to reach young adulthood in a few short weeks . Over six months of one failure after another , Darth Vader witnessed much improvement in his clandestine project . After eliminating the causes behind the physical defects , new clones were individually trained by the Dark Lord . His ultimate goal was to pick the best and most stable clone , but each clone ultimately succumbed to insanity because of the memories that were downloaded into them from their genetic donor , as well as the emotional imprints that Vader failed to erase . Many clones progressed far in their training , but ultimately came to disappoint Vader . Some were far too distracted by thoughts of the child that Galen once was while others were undermined by memories of Kento Marek . Every clone was " born " with different fixations on certain individuals from Galen Marek ' s past , and it was Vader ' s goal to eliminate the final destabilizing factor in his experiment . Although a renegade clone succeeded in escaping from Kamino , Darth Vader ' s project finally ended in total success . The latest and most advanced subject to be activated ultimately proved himself to be the only perfect and fully stable clone of the original Starkiller . Like every other clone that preceded him , the dark clone was distracted by the memories of his progenitor and was particularly fixated on thoughts of Captain Juno Eclipse , the woman whom Galen fell in love with before his death . But unlike his " brethren , " the clone forcefully purged himself of Galen ' s emotions and gradually compartmentalized all of the downloaded memories , thus enabling him to distinguish his own experiences from the ones that belonged to Marek . As his training drew closer to an end , the clone had risen to become Darth Vader ' s new apprentice . Much like his superior brother , the clone who escaped and unofficially became known as " " Starkiller " " had been purged of most of Marek ' s emotions . With the exception of his extreme fixation on Juno Eclipse , the clone spared no feelings for his genetic template ' s parents or the boy he once was . He was neither distracted by thoughts of striking down PROXY or destroying the Rebel Alliance . Were it not for his inherent infatuation with Eclipse , Vader would have considered him to be the first successful clone . By the end of the Assault on Kamino , the legacy of Kento Marek was divided between the two surviving clones of Galen — Starkiller and the Dark Apprentice . Personality and traits . In his youth , Kento Marek yearned to test his Jedi abilities in battle . He reveled in the fighting that occurred throughout the Clone Wars , relishing the opportunity to fight on the frontlines with the clone troopers at his command . Though arrogant and overconfident , Marek was proud to serve the Galactic Republic as a Jedi Knight and exhibited the necessary courage to risk his life in war . His personal views were drastically altered by Mallie , a fellow member of the Jedi Order who also served in the Clone Wars . Through Mallie , Marek developed a greater degree of compassion for the many beings that suffered due to the conflict between the Republic and the Separatists . After falling in love with Mallie , Marek abandoned an entire lifetime of Jedi teachings and philosophy in order to marry her . He was willing to live in exile with his new wife and , although wracked with guilt when the Galactic Empire exterminated most of the Jedi Order , was determined to protect her by avoiding the detection of Jedi hunters throughout the galaxy . When Galen Marek was born , Kento became entirely devoted to ensuring the survival of his family in a galaxy that was almost completely hostile to any Jedi , including ex - Jedi . He deeply loved his wife and son , and when Mallie perished on Kashyyyk , Kento devoted the rest of his life to raising their only son on his own . When Darth Vader led an Imperial attack on Kashyyyk , Kento bravely stood alongside his Wookiee allies , despite how severely disadvantaged their position was against the superior forces of the Imperial Military . In spite of facing certain defeat , Kento Marek fought to the death to defend Kashyyyk . He was willingly to stand his ground against Darth Vader and , although outmatched and overpowered in every way , only submitted after being severely injured by the Sith Lord . In a final display of compassion , he used the last moments of his life to warn his son to run before being strangled to death by Vader . Powers and abilities . During the Clone Wars , Kento Marek was a capable Jedi General who served in the Clone Wars . His leadership skills and combat abilities were sufficient enough to keep him alive in a conflict that saw the deaths of many Jedi prior to Order 66 and the rise of the Galactic Empire . Against Darth Vader , however , he displayed a rudimentary command of the Force , though enough to hold his own for a short while against Vader . While he was able to incapacitate a pair of stormtroopers with a single Force push , his powers were still drastically inferior to Vader ' s . As typical for a Force - wielder , Marek was skilled in telekinesis , which he employed in his duel with Vader by grabbing several TIE fighters through the Force and hurling them at the Sith Lord . Marek ' s capabilities as a duelist amounted to an average skill in the Shii - Cho and a very rudimentary understanding of the Makashi combat style . His style of attack focused on an offensive barrage of saber strikes against his opponent , thus mirroring the Ataru , yet was also lacking in the more defensive Soresu technique . But despite his combined abilities as a combatant and Force - wielder , Marek ' s abilities ultimately paled in comparison to not only Darth Vader , but his own son , Galen . A rare prodigy of the Force , the boy who became Vader ' s secret apprentice was remarkably far more powerful than Kento Marek ever was . Behind the scenes . During the planning stages of " The Force Unleashed " , the creators of the game gave the name " Jacob Nion " to the character that would become Starkiller . As the planning continued , the creators opted for the name of " Galen Marek " instead . Despite this change , Kento ' s name in " The Force Unleashed " video game still appears as " Kento Nion " when viewed in the Databank on the " Rogue Shadow " . Apparently , his clothes were left untouched when he died ; his costume can be found in the damaged hut by Galen Marek in " The Force Unleashed " video game . In the Wii / PSP / PS2 versions of the game , the scene where Starkiller faces a vision of his father is not on Kashyyyk ; instead , it is at the end of Starkiller ' s third mission to the Jedi Temple on Coruscant , after a lightsaber duel . The face and voice of Kento Marek was provided by Tom Kane , who also plays Ozzik Sturn , and Lobot in the .