Horak-mul

Horak-mul was a Sith Lord in the years leading up to the Great Hyperspace War. A member of the Sith species, Horak-mul was native to an area of space known as the Sith Empire. After the death of Dark Lord of the Sith Marka Ragnos, Horak-mul sided with one of the contenders for the title, Ludo Kressh. Kressh's main rival was Naga Sadow, a progressive Sith Lord with expansionist ambitions. In 5000 BBY, Sadow staged an attack on the Sith Empire by the Galactic Republic, and used this opportunity to declare himself the new Dark Lord of the Sith. This led to a schism between Sadow and Kressh, with Horak-mul siding with the latter. Sadow then staged another raid, this time leaving evidence that he was actually complicit; upon seeing this evidence, an angered Kressh ordered Horak-mul and a fellow supporter, Dor Gal-ram, to gather their forces to attack Sadow. What ensued was a skirmish at Khar Delba, and Horak-mul and his allies were outwitted and defeated by Sadow. Horak-mul, along with Gal-ram, was killed in the battle when Sadow ordered the crew of Horak-mul's flagship to betray and kill him.
==Biography==
Horak-mul was a Sith Lord in the years leading up to the Great Hyperspace War and was native to a region in the galaxy known as Sith Space. During his lifetime, Horak-mul participated in an event that was later known as the Subjugation of the False Apprentice, and he created a number of tablets alongside fellow Sith Dor Gal-ram. In 5000 BBY, longtime Dark Lord of the Sith Marka Ragnos died after a century of iron-handed rule. Two Sith Lords, Naga Sadow and Ludo Kressh, stepped in to try and fill the power vacuum.Tales of the Jedi – The Golden Age of the Sith 2 Horak-mul supported Kressh, the more conservative Sith Lord, over Sadow, an ambitious Lord who wanted to expand the Sith Empire's boundaries. During the Funeral of Marka Ragnos, a ship coming from the Galactic Republic, the Starbreaker 12, landed in Korriban's Valley of the Dark Lords, a canyon where the funeral was taking place, and its crew—the two Humans Gav and Jori Daragon—were detained. A great debate began regarding the Humans' fate; Kressh wanted to execute them immediately, while Sadow wanted to keep them alive, believing that they had important information.
Finally, Sadow staged a Republic attack on the Sith Empire, riling the Sith into a frenzy. Following this attack, during a meeting of the Sith Council on the planet Ziost, Sadow declared himself the new Dark Lord of the Sith. Horak-mul watched on in silence as the majority of other Sith Lords voiced their support of Sadow. An outraged Kressh called his remaining supporters to rally around him, and Horak-mul left the meeting with the Sith Lord.Tales of the Jedi – The Golden Age of the Sith 3 After the meeting, Naga Sadow, now having been officially crowned the Dark Lord of the Sith, staged a Republic attack on the Starbreaker 12 hangar on Ziost and made off with the ship. Upon witnessing the scene, Ludo Kressh found Sadow's emblem amidst the carnage. Shocked and angry, Kressh summoned Horak-mul and Dor Gal-ram to his private world of Rhelg to confer on these developments. There, Kressh informed them of Sadow's complicity in the assault and ordered Horak-mul and Gal-ram to gather their fleets to stage a surprise attack on Sadow.
Horak-mul did as he was commanded, massing his forces and joining Kressh's and Gal-ram's fleets at Khar Delba, the site of Sadow's citadel. They commenced their attack, launching a rain of fire on Sadow's base. Horak-mul exclaimed that victory was inevitable; however, Sadow had another trick up his sleeve. Sadow had hidden his fleet in orbit around Khar Delba's moon Khar Shian, and the fleet attacked and caught Horak-mul and his allies off-guard. Sadow then moved on to the next stage of his plan, ordering the crew of Horak-mul's ship, in reality Sadow'een—Sadow's elite assassins—to kill him. The Massassi crew attacked Horak-mul while he was distracted by the battle, caught him unaware, and murdered him—though Horak-mul would later claim that it took five assassins to kill him. Dor Gal-ram was killed by the same treachery, and Kressh was defeated in the Battle of Khar Delba.
The artificial eye of Horak-mul was eventually lost, but was retrieved in 3963 BBY, over a thousand years after Horak-mul's death, by Jedi Covenant Shadow Celeste Morne. Horak-mul was later buried on the moon of Yavin 4 by his followers, though scavengers removed Horak-mul's sarcophagus from the moon over a thousand years later and were carrying it aboard their ship, the Starrunner, when the Sith Lord's spirit drove the crew insane above the planet Hoth. A few years later, in 3642 BBY, Horak-mul's spirit was possessing the body of an Ortolan chief when he encountered the Sith Inquisitor Kallig of the reconstituted Sith Empire. Kallig possessed the power of Force walk, the ability to bind Force ghosts to one's own body and draw upon their power, and Horak-mul agreed to allow Kallig to bind him if the Sith would perform a task for him: the destruction of a Sadow'een Temple on Hoth.
After Kallig desecrated the temple, Horak-mul possessed the shell of a droid in order to inform Kallig of the Starrunner location. Upon locating Horak-mul's spirit in the depths of the crashed superdreadnaught Star of Coruscant, Kallig bound Horak-mul's spirit, and the ghost aided the Inquisitor in the young Sith's battle against the Sith Lord Darth Thanaton. However, Horak-mul and the other Sith spirits whom Kallig had bound later mentally harassed Kallig, threatening to drive the Sith insane. As he was haunting the Inquisitor's thoughts, Horak-mul said: "You think you're the puppeteer, but you're just the puppet.
Eventually, Kallig discovered a mind-healing ritual on Voss that could the subdue the ghosts. With help from a Voss dream-walking cult, Kallig confronted Horak-mul in a dream. The Sith Lord assumed the appearance of Darth Thanaton but his illusion was destroyed when a Gormak Force-shaman named Hadrik used a dream-rock to force Horak-mul to reveal himself. Kallig then used Horak-mul's power, along with the other ghosts, to finally defeat Thanaton and assume his seat on the Dark Council. Though the other ghosts pleaded to be freed, Horak-mul willingly decided to stay, knowing that he'd at least see the galaxy rather than be bound to his tomb on Hoth.
==Personality and traits==
Horak-mul was a staunch supporter of Ludo Kressh and considered Naga Sadow's ambitions to expand the Sith Empire as self-destructive and foolish. However, due to the popularity among Sith Lords of supporting Sadow, and the risks inherent in speaking out against the Dark Lord of the Sith, Horak-mul was careful to hide his opposition to Sadow's dreams of conquest. Before the attack on the Starbreaker 12 that Sadow manipulated to appear as a Republic raid, Horak-mul considered the Republic a myth; however, the attack convinced him otherwise. Horak-mul sported an artificial right eye known as the Eye of Horak-mul. He also wore a ceremonial robe. During his duel with Kallig on Voss, the spirit of Horak-mul wielded a purple-bladed lightsaber.
==Behind the scenes==
Horak-mul first appeared in Star Wars: Tales of the Jedi – The Golden Age of the Sith, a story arc of the Star Wars: Tales of the Jedi comic series, which was written by Kevin J. Anderson and released in 1996. In these appearances, Horak-mul was illustrated by Dario Carrasco, Jr. He was later mentioned in Knights of the Old Republic 25. In 2008, Horak-mul received an entry in The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia.
If the Sith Inquisitor chooses to free the ghosts at the end of Act III of Star Wars: The Old Republic, Horak-mul refuses to depart and stays on with the Inquisitor. However, if the Inquisitor was more light sided, they would have the option to let the ghosts pass on.
==Appearances==
*Tales of the Jedi – The Golden Age of the Sith 3 
*Tales of the Jedi – The Golden Age of the Sith 4
*Tales of the Jedi – The Golden Age of the Sith 5
*Knights of the Old Republic 25 
*Star Wars: The Old Republic 
==Sources==
*The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia
*Star Wars: The Old Republic Encyclopedia
==Notes and references==
Category:Cyborgs
Category:Force ghosts
Category:Males
Category:Sith Councilors
Category:Sith species