Desolator ( superweapon ) The Desolator was a superweapon built by the Sith Empire during the Cold War with the Galactic Republic . Combining the technologies of the Planet Prison , Shock Drum , and Death Mark laser — all weapons projects stolen from the Republic superweapon initiative — the Desolator was a ship - mounted weapon designed as a planet killer . Built by the Sith Lord Darth Angral during the Desolator crisis , the weapon was the central part of his plan to exact revenge upon the Jedi Knight who had killed his son Tarnis . The Desolator ' s first and only successful test of its capabilities was on the agriworld of Uphrades , but the destruction of Angral ' s warship " Oppressor " above the Jedi homeworld of Tython brought the weapon ' s short - lived reign of terror to an end . The technology would later be salvaged by Imperial engineers , giving rise to the far less powerful Firestorm Turbolaser . Description . A combination of three separate superweapon technologies , the Desolator was designed to mounted directly onto a starship and integrated into the ship ' s systems . The first stage of the weapon , developed from the Planet Prison weapon , ionized a planet ' s atmosphere and effectively transformed the world into an enormous ion cannon . This prevented any craft from landing or taking off as well as disrupted communications , trapping the inhabitants of the target planet . The second stage , building off of the Death Mark laser , ignited the planet ' s ionized atmopshere and turn the very air of the target into a firestorm . The laser would also penetrate the planet ' s crust , allowing the third and final stage to proceed . Using technology developed from the Shock Drum weapon , the Desolator would then destabilize the target world ' s core with a sustained series of intense seismic vibrations . These vibrations would cause the planet to literally tear itself apart in a matter of hours , with large chunks of the world breaking off and smaller debris creating an asteroid field surrounding what was left of the planet . The firestorm in the atmosphere would eventually die down in a matter of hours , though the ionization was expected to take several months to dissipate , preventing any rescue attempts . The Desolator inherited the major flaw of its predecessor , the Planet Prison , in that it required both a massive amount of energy to fire and extended periods of time to recharge . The Sith Lord Darth Angral , who developed the Desolator , mounted it on his warship " Oppressor " and devoted three of the ship ' s reactors to powering the weapon . History . The Desolator weapon was developed from several different weapons projects , all of which were created by the Republic superweapon initiative — a weapons program started by the Mon Calamari general Var Suthra during the Cold War between the Galactic Republic and the Sith Empire . However , Tarnis — the son of the Sith Lord Darth Angral and a Sith Lord in his own right — decided to infiltrate the Planet Prison project on the Republic capital of Coruscant by posing as a Republic scientist . Masking his status as a Sith Lord through the Force , Tarnis operated under the name " Eli Tarnis " for several years as the project neared completion . He also had a hand in the other projects , and unbeknownst to his fellow scientists , the Sith designed a way to combine the different technologies into a single device , which he gave the codename " Desolator " . In 3643 BBY , the research team completed the prototype of the Planet Prison and were preparing to start field tests when Tarnis ' s presence was detected by the Jedi Order — though the Jedi were unaware as to the precise source of the disturbance in the Force they sensed . Feeling that his position was threatened , Tarnis hired the Migrant Merchants ' Guild and Black Sun criminal organizations to steal the plans for the device and to stage his kidnapping , and the Sith masterminded an elaborate ruse upon the Republic so that he could escape to the ruins of the Jedi Temple to set up the prototype . However , Tarnis was pursued by a Jedi Knight , the former apprentice of Jedi Master Orgus Din , and the Padawan Kira Carsen . The two Jedi fought and killed Tarnis before a live holofeed of Darth Angral and his three apprentices , and Angral declared undying hatred for the Jedi Knight who killed his son . Angral then waged war upon the Republic in a quest for revenge , using the files on the superweapon initiative that Tarnis had sent him before his death . By using files on the Republic ' s superweapon projects — sent to him by his son before Tarnis ' death — to seize control of the Power Guard Project , the Shock Drum , and the Death Mark weapon . Sending his apprentices Sadic , Praven , and Nefarid to Nar Shaddaa , Tatooine , and Alderaan respectively to take control of the projects , Angral also pursued rumors of Doctor Nasan Godera ' s presence on Taris by sending Imperial Intelligence to capture the scientist . Using information gathered by his apprentices on the captured weapon projects , Angral had his scientists begin combining the different technologies . Behind the scenes . The Desolator first appears in the " " , released by BioWare and LucasArts on December 20 , 2011 . The central plot device of the Act I storyline for the Jedi Knight class , it is first mentioned in " New Intelligence " , the first mission of Act I on the Republic - only planet of Ord Mantell . The player ' s companion T7 - O1 recovers a series of transmissions and files from one of Darth Angral ' s bases in a raid on the facility , and T7 mentions that the files contain references to something called the " Desolator . " It is not explicitly mentioned until much later in Act I , after the player has completed the class storylines on Taris , Nar Shaddaa , Tatooine , and Alderaan . The player then travels to the class - restricted location of Uphrades , which has been destroyed by Angral with the Desolator . After defending the Republic medical frigate " Daybreaker " from an Imperial attack , the player follows Angral to Tython and boards his warship , the " Oppressor " . While T7 remains behind , the Knight and Kira Carsen disable three reactors in order to send the Desolator offline , and then face Darth Angral on the ship ' s bridge . After successfully defeating Darth Angral and the possessed Carsen , the player and Carsen escape from the " Oppressor " moments before Republic bombers destroy the ship and the Desolator with it . The Desolator receives mention later on in Act III of the Jedi Knight story , during the mission " Firestorm " on Corellia . In a Codex entry gained during the mission , it is revealed that Imperial engineers adapted the atmospheric effects of the Desolator technology into the Firestorm Turbolaser .