Dying ceremony The dying ceremony , also called a farewell ceremony , was a brief ritual in which a Sage of the Baran Do — a Force - based organization located on Dorin — pretended to die . The Sage then joined the Hidden Ones , a secret sect of the Baran Do dedicated to preserving the Order ' s knowledge so that , should the Order ever be destroyed , it could be reinstated . The ceremony was established because the Hidden Ones required its members to accept that they were dead to the outside galaxy , ensuring that they had no desire to leave the Hidden Ones once they had joined in order for the sect to remain secret . In 43 . 5 ABY , Luke Skywalker and his son , Ben , traveled to Dorin to find out more about the Sith Lord Darth Caedus ' fall to the dark side . They trained briefly with the Baran Do before attending the dying ceremony of instructor Charsae Saal . The Skywalkers discovered that he had not actually died , however , and traveled with him to find the Hidden Ones , whom they persuaded to rebel against their corrupt leader , Koro Ziil . The Hidden Ones then returned to the Baran Do , forsaking their sect , and thus putting an end to the dying ceremony . The ceremony . Dying ceremonies took place behind the temple of the Baran Do — a Force - based order of Kel Dor — in the capital city of Dor ' shan , on the planet Dorin . The ceremonies were held in a large paved area with a raised hearth rimmed in a bronze metal . On the hearth was a pyre , in front of which was a platform ; both made from planks that contained a fuel enriched with oxygen , since normal wood didn ' t burn in Dorin ' s helium - rich atmosphere . As the ceremony began , a Sage who had decided to join the Hidden Ones — a secret sect of the Baran Do dedicated to preserving the order ' s knowledge — greeted guests and spoke with friends as small portions of food and drink were served . The Sage then made a farewell speech to those present , before lying down upon the platform and hiding their presence in the Force , appearing to simply die . Then other members of the Baran Do put a casket over the body of the Sage , and another Sage opened the platform ' s base with the Force , allowing the " dead " Sage to drop down into an underground storage chamber . Meanwhile , none of the guests could see the body missing since it had been covered with the casket , which was then placed upon the pyre . The leader of the Baran Do , the Master of the Order , then lit the pyre with a small bolt of Force lightning , and after the pyre burned , the ceremony was concluded . History . When the Clone Wars came to an end in 19 BBY , one of the Baran Do Masters , Tokra Hazz , feared that the Baran Do would suffer the same fate as the Jedi Order , which had been wiped out by the Galactic Empire . As such , he founded a secret sect called the Hidden Ones as a way of ensuring that the knowledge of the Baran Do would live on , even if the order itself was eradicated . The dying ceremony was then created as a way for Baran Do Sages to accept that they were dead to the outside galaxy before traveling to join the Hidden Ones , because , in order to ensure the sect ' s secrecy , once a Sage had joined the Hidden Ones they were never allowed to leave or make contact with anyone outside of the sect ' s caverns . Because the Hidden Ones were to remain secret , no beings outside of the Baran Do order were allowed to know that the Sage didn ' t actually die in the ceremony . As such , the Baran Do created a lie about the ceremony ' s purpose ; they told other beings that when a Sage decided that they had accomplished everything in life that they wished to accomplish and they believed that their time had come , they simply willed themselves to become one with the Force and died . The tradition was held for many Baran Do Sages over the next several decades , including Burra , Ithia , and Master of the Order Koro Ziil . Discovery . In 43 . 5 ABY , when Jedi Grand Master Luke Skywalker and his son , Jedi Knight Ben Skywalker , traveled to Dorin to find out more about Jedi Knight - turned - Sith Lord Jacen Solo ' s fall to the dark side of the Force , they attended senior combat instructor Charsae Saal ' s dying ceremony . Luke , however , wasn ' t convinced by Saal ' s apparent death , and after searching the area the Skywalkers discovered the trapdoor in the platform . They found Saal alive and well in the underground chamber with Mistress of the Order Tila Mong and several other Sages . The Skywalkers then traveled with Saal to the caverns that were home to the Hidden Ones , where they caused unrest among the sect ' s members . This led to a confrontation between Luke and Ziil , who had become the Hidden Ones ' leader . Ziil was defeated and the Hidden Ones rebelled against their corrupt leader . The sect was dissolved and its members returned to the Baran Do on the surface , effectively putting an end to the tradition of the dying ceremony . Behind the scenes . The dying ceremony was created by " Star Wars " author Aaron Allston for his first novel in the nine - part " " series , " " , released on March 24 , 2009 .