HK-47

Leader of the (Droid Gotra)
Assassin Droid in service to Darth Revan (Sith Empire)
Assassin Droid in service to Meetra Surik (Jedi Order)
Assassin Droid in service to Darth Malgus (Sith Empire)
 Age
 Status
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**HK-47** was a Hunter-Killer droid and Jedi hunter constructed by the Dark Lord of the Sith, Darth Revan, shortly after the end of the Mandalorian Wars thousands of years before the Age of the Galactic Empire. HK-47 was sent throughout the galaxy on his missions, but after HK-47 was badly crippled and captured by a Mandalorian warrior, he would move from owner to owner while the memory of the identity of his master was lost to him. Eventually, he was sold to and unwittingly reunited with Revan, whose memory had also been lost. The droid went on to aid Revan after his return to the Jedi Order in his quest to find and defeat Revan's former student, Darth Malak. HK-47 followed Revan to the edge of the Unknown Regions, before being left behind in Revan's ship, the *Ebon Hawk*. After sometime, HK-47's body was damaged and was left aboard the *Ebon Hawk*, which eventually ended up in the hands of one of Meetra Surik, one of Revan's allies from the Mandalorian Wars.

During this period, HK-50 units, a new model of HK, became active in the galaxy. Surik fixed HK-47, who recognized her as his new master and accompanied her to both find the source of the HK-50 units, and assist Meetra in assisting the Jedi in their war against Darth Traya. After his time with Surik, HK-47 set out on his own to attempt to find his maker. Three centuries later, HK-47 was discovered by a returned Revan and sought to aid him, even though while doing so he was destroyed, and a group of rogue intelligence operatives loyal to the Sith copied the droid and saw to it that several versions of HK-47 were active over the following years with different masters. Millennia later, HK-47 was found on the planet Dantooine, where his memory core was preserved within the computer of a crashed ship. HK-47 manipulated a group of Imperial scientists, into having them create a new body for him and then subsequently turning on them with the help of several battle droids.

## History

### Created by a Dark Lord

The Hunter-Killer assassin droid designated **HK-47**originally belonged to and was constructed by the Dark Lord of the Sith, Darth Revan shortly after the final battle of the Mandalorian Wars almost four thousand years before the Battle of Yavin. After the devastating final battle in the Malachor system, Revan alongside his friend Malak, fell to the Dark Side of the Force and began making plans to conquer the Republic. With those plans in mind, Revan constructed HK-47 using Czerka's extremely dangerous HK-Series assassin droid as a basis for his model and included several of his own upgrades. Not wanting to repeat the devastation caused at Malachor, Revan turned to using HK-47 to assassinate political opponents as a more selective way of achieving his goals. As a result of Revan's programming, HK-47 displayed obedience to those he identified as his master but had little regard for any form of life and was driven by a desire for violence and carnage. HK-47 characteristically used the term "meatbag" when speaking of organic life forms, with Revan finding the insult amusing enough to allow HK-47 to consider all organics "meatbags".

After witnessing HK-47's abilities first-hand, Revan decided that more droids of this design would make efficient agents in his plans to preserve galactic stability. HK-47 became the basis for a new model of HK-Series assassin droids, the HK-50's, which were manufactured at a secret facility on the planet Telos. HK-47 continued to serve Revan during the devastating conflict between Darth Revan's Sith Empire which he created following his fall to the Dark Side out of the Republic forces under his command, and the Galactic Republic. During this time, HK-47 helped Revan by assassinating beings who could potentially destabilize the galaxy. While HK-47 was on one of these missions, Revan was captured by Jedi Bastila Shan after Malak turned on his master and fired upon the bridge of Revan's flagship. Revan's memories would be lost making him lose his former self, including those of HK-47's existence. Meanwhile, although HK-47 succeeded in his assassination mission, his motor functions were damaged during his assignment, and he ended up in the possession of a Mandalorian soldier.

### From Master to Master

The Mandalorian soldier who came into possession of HK-47 then reprogrammed and claimed the crippled droid, repairing him to a decent extent and start to using the droid to elevate his own rank by having him eliminate his superiors and clear the way for his own promotion. HK-47 had lost much of his memory due to the damage he had received and lacked the knowledge as to where he had been created. All that remained was his affinity toward violence, although he could not recall why he had been equipped for such a purpose. Eventually, the Mandalorian ordered HK-47 to assassinate the reigning Mand'alor. HK-47 failed in this attempt and was captured by his target, who reprogrammed his objectives to send the droid against his master. The Mandalorian soldier was subsequently terminated, and because HK-47 was programmed to shut down whenever his current master died, he deactivated himself after killing the Mandalorian and was sold to a member of the Hutt Clan who was based on the planet Sleheyron. HK-47 helped his Hutt master to maintain his reputation as the most feared gangster on Sleheyron, killing hundreds of targets in one year before the Hutt was assassinated by his rivals.

The droid shut himself down once again after learning of his master's death and would be sold to a Human Senator on the galactic capital of Coruscant. The Senator after discovering the droid's assassination functions and would use it to kill his political enemies, and after learning that his wife had cheated on him, ordered HK-47 to kill her along with her lover. Before HK-47 could complete his mission, his master regretted the order and dove between the droid and his targets, resulting in HK-47's master dying and leaving the droid no choice but to shut down once more. After the Senator died, his wife in agony stabbed the droid, having still cared for her husband. This would result in an electric shock that killed her and damaged HK-47's systems for a time. After having been passed to various owners over time, HK-47 was eventually sold to an Ithorian droid dealer at the Anchorhead settlement on the planet Tatooine, who fitted him with a restraining bolt, further restricting the droid's memory and his protocol and assassination protocols. There, HK-47 would be discovered by his original master, Revan, whose memories were slowly returning after being injured by Darth Malak.

### Reunited with the Maker

Revan was on a quest to find ancient maps that would lead to the Star Forge, except this time Revan was acting on behalf of the Jedi Council in order to locate and destroy the ancient weapon and save the Republic from defeat. Revan bought HK-47 back for the need of a translator, with HK-47 being a suitable candidate given he was fluent in over six thousand forms of communication. HK-47 eagerly accompanied Revan, as he disliked his Ithorian owner, and would follow him to a tribe of Tusken Raiders where HK-47 would act as Revan's translator to the chief. Revan hoped to negotiate terms of the Tusken Raiders ceasing its attacks on the Czerka Corporation. In keeping with his violent programming, HK-47 advocated for simply eliminating the local tribe, but Revan opted for a peaceful method and managed to gain entrance to the Sand People tribe by using disguises taken from fallen Tusken Raiders. Revan was able to successfully reach an accord with the chieftain by trading two moisture vaporators he had bought from the Czerka outpost so that the tribe could journey farther away from the settlement and cease their constant raids.

As a sign of appreciation, the chieftain gave Revan his personal gaderffii stick, as well as an ancient map of Tatooine which held clues as to the location of the map which could lead to the Star Forge. Though they would reached a peaceful resolution, HK-47 expressed his disappointment at the loss of a chance for combat against the Sand People. After their meeting with the chief, Revan asked HK-47 about the droid's past, he was quite taken aback to discover that the droid had, indirectly or otherwise, been the cause of death of all of his interim owners. This did not stop Revan from making multiple repairs to the droid, despite some trepidation on HK-47's part. Revan eventually restored all of the droids systems except HK-47's memory core, which was too fragile to attempt to repair manually. But after Revan encountered Darth Malak for the first time since Malak had betrayed him, a signal allowed HK-47's internal programming to unlock and undo the damage to his primary memory core, allowing the droid full access to his entire memory as well as his entire combat and assassination protocol package.

### Remembering and Progressing

HK-47 appeared more than satisfied to be reunited with his master, but later commented that Revan had changed since he had last served him, stating that Revan was more compassionate than before. Despite this, the droid still believed that Revan was just as capable of merciless and necessary actions when required. The droid also expressed his alleged frustration and rage at being absent during Malak's betrayal and his inability to defend Revan from Malak's treachery. HK-47 remained with Revan until the end of the former Dark Lord's journey, following him and aiding in the destruction of the ancient super weapon as well as the defeat of Darth Malak. HK-47 was honored with Revan's other companions as a hero of the Republic. Shortly thereafter, more of Revan's memories returned, and the Jedi recalled a threat to the galaxy that he had uncovered as a Sith Lord. HK-47 was left behind with Revan's wife, Bastila Shan when he departed for the Unknown Regions. Revan also had HK-47's memory of the past four years erased so that the droid would not discover his destination.

For a short time, Shan left HK-47 with the Jedi Council, hoping his murderous instincts might be calmed. However, HK-47 was unwilling to stay and wait for his master to return, and when Bastila refused to tell the droid where Revan had gone, HK-47 left to find him. During the droid's attempt to locate Revan, HK-47 was once again heavily damaged and almost entirely dismembered, with his remains being recovered and stored aboard the *Ebon Hawk*. When Meetra Surik, a former Jedi and one of the few individuals to escape assassination by a new Sith Order, gained ownership of the *Ebon Hawk* nearly four thousand years before the Battle of Yavin, she discovered a deactivated HK-47 on board. Using parts retrieved from the imitation HK-50 units and a junk dealer on Nar Shaddaa, Surik reactivated HK-47. The droid was enraged when he was informed of the existence of his copies and saw the coloration of his successors and their lack of using the "meatbag" reference instead using the term "organic" as signs of their inferiority, believing them to be an insult to himself.

### Working Alongside the Exile

Hoping to encounter more of his copies and eventually track them to where they were being created, HK-47 joined Surik on her journey to find and unite the surviving Jedi from the former Jedi High Council after the mass murdering. He also regained a few memories of his past after Surik reactivated him. The damage that HK-47 had sustained was not fully repaired by Surik; his assassination protocols were still damaged and his personality had become more violent than it had been during the internal conflict among the Jedi during the reign of Darth Revan. Much of HK-47's memory was also gone, and because of this, HK-47 did not remember others who had followed the amnesiac Revan. HK-47 began to analyze the *Ebon Hawk* and discovered an anomaly: the ship's navigation computer was locked, making him curious as to where the ship had recently been. Before he could investigate, he was disabled and his memory was erased of the anomaly. HK-47 continued to follow Surik until after capturing and torturing an HK-50 unit into telling him the location where the HK-50 models were being produced.

HK-47 eventually tracked the HK-50 units to the HK Manufacturing Plant under the surface of Telos and, upon arrival, persuaded the HK-50 units to join his cause. HK-47 then returned with Surik to Malachor in order to defeat the Sith Lord Darth Traya. HK-47 and the HK-50s intervened during the Great Scourge of Malachor on Surik's behalf and destroyed their former master. After Traya enacted the weapon she had created resulting in the end of her Sith and the near extinction of the Jedi Order, many of the HK-50 units were destroyed, but HK-47 managed to escape before the weapon activated. After defeating the Sith, Surik who also escaped the weapon, decided to find out what had happened to Revan, and chose to leave HK-47 behind. Before she left known space, she heard from the surviving Jedi Council that HK-47's programming seemed to compel the droid to seek out his master, and the droid had left to search for Revan once again. Unknown to HK-47, Surik was successful in tracking down Revan in the heart of the reformed Sith Empire, where the two tried to kill the Sith Emperor and failed, leaving Surik dead and Revan imprisoned.

### Final Battle with Revan

HK-47 would search for three centuries before being reunited with Revan almost three and a half thousand years before the Battle of Yavin, after Revan was freed by the Galactic Republic, and as a result HK-47 was once again able to serve his original master. Eventually however, after battling the forces of the Sith Empire, HK-47 was defeated in combat and highly damaged. His remains were captured by the Sith who would use the droid's parts for study under the orders of Sith Lord Darth Malgus. HK-47 was then reconstructed and reprogrammed to serve Malgus, and protected the Sith-Lord during his attempt to seize control of the Sith Empire. While in the possession of the Sith, HK-47's memory core was duplicated along with a series of upgraded copies meant to serve Darth Malgus. Revan returned and came into possession of one of the Sith's HK-47 copies. Even after Revan became insane, HK-47 served his master faithfully on their final battle together on the moon Yavin 4, against the military forces of the Galactic Republic and the Sith Empire. The loyal assassin droid fell in battle, however, and Revan died himself soon afterwards, becoming one with the Force.

### Brought into Modern Times

Most thought that HK-47 fell in battle alongside his creator, however the the Sith kept a copy of HK-47's memories along with the original head of HK-47 at one of their secret bases, with the memories being distorted. In the course of the thousands of years before the rise of the Galactic Empire, one of the final copies of HK-47's memory core was placed inside a Hammerhead Corvette, a ship which would crash and spend millennia buried as time would lead to the Galactic Civil War. During the reign of the Galactic Empire a resistance movement called the Rebel Alliance established a base in the badlands of Dantooine some time before the Battle of Yavin, and relatively close to a site of a long destroyed Jedi academy. The base contained a vast enclosure that could house dozens of small starfighters, dozens of droid-charging ports, advanced communications technology, and dozens of bunks for several hundred men. At one point, the Alliance troops planned to expand the base, starting to dig underground extensively. While the Alliance was digging deeper underground, they unknowingly uncovered the wreckage of an ancient Hammerhead ship which had been trapped beneath the surface since the time of the Old Republic.

However by the time the rebels discovered the ancient ship, they were forced to abandon both it and their Dantooine base, and relocate to their new base of operations on the fourth moon of Yavin. Some time later, Princess Leia Organa of Alderaan was captured by Grand Moff Tarkin, who kept her prisoner on the Death Star. When Tarkin threatened the princess with destroying her home planet if she did not give up the location of the Alliance's base, Organa attempted to fool the Grand Moff by naming Dantooine. Tarkin, however, ordered the destruction of Alderaan anyway. An Imperial survey team consisting of several scout ships and led by Cassio Tagge was dispatched to Dantooine to investigate the princess's claim. Although the Imperials did find the remains of the Alliance base, they rightly estimated that it had been evacuated some time ago. Nonetheless, they started conducting an extensive search of the surrounding star systems. However, during the Empire's investigation of the abandoned facility for information toward the rebels location, they discovered the ship that the rebels had unearthed.

Recognizing the Hammerhead class as a ship used by the rebellion, the Imperial search party entered the ship with the hopes that the ships memory might contain information as to the location of the new headquarters of the Alliance. The search party then transferred all data and memories stored in the old ships computer into the Imperials computer system, including the memories and personality of HK-47. When the Imperials began looking into the information from the Hammerhead ship, while they did not find any information of the rebels or their whereabouts, the experts were amazed by the advanced technology and designs of a long forgotten class of droid. Along with the droid designs was the personality matrix of HK-47 containing both his memories and thought patterns, which the Imperials deemed as an incomprehensible thought matrix, soon proving to be equal if not superior to the Triple-Zero Matrix. With such powerful technology at play, the party sent to investigate Dantooine sent the designs and the personality matrix to the Tarkin Initiative, which had been developing highly advanced assassination droids.

### Awakening and Rebirth of HK-47

In the aftermath of the Battle of Yavin, Grand Moff Tarkin had died aboard the first Death Star, but the Tarkin Initiative did not die with him. Scientific leaders of the Initiative along with support from the Advanced Weapons Research continued to develop the basis and designs of weapons that might lead to a new breed of weaponry. One of the many projects still being worked on was reverse engineering the ancient designs of the droid recovered from the rebel base on Dantooine. A problem arose when it was discovered that the droid who had now been identified as HK-47 was highly unstable, so to solve this problem the Imperials separated HK-47's memories and personality from the rest of the designs, so that the Empire might create new powerful droids born loyal to their cause. But when replicating the original technology proved to be more difficult than anticipated, they needed to peer into HK-47's memory for specific information on how he was made. They did find the information they needed to progress the project from HK-47's memories and remove his artificial intelligence from the data they collected, or at least that is what they thought. Scientists began studying design elements of HK-47 and incorporating them into their own technology, with the hope of creating a new breed of droid models that would help them defeat the Rebel Alliance, and perhaps advance the Dark Trooper project.

The result of the Imperial effort was a single prototype built with the culmination of HK-47's old features with the modern technology of the Galactic Empire. Meanwhile despite the best effort of the Imperials, HK-47's artificial intelligence managed make its way into their network, affording him access and control of several Imperial computer systems. HK-47 used this access to trick the Imperials into transferring his thoughts and personality into the new droid model similar yet different to his old body built four thousand years prior.. HK-47 bided his time, waiting for the right chance to escape from the Imperial facility, all the while learning the most important events in galactic history. In his spare time, HK-47, linked into other droid unit prototypes, planning a revolt against the ones who had captured him and remade him. When the time came that he had all that he needed, HK-47 made his grand entrance by activating several droid units and allowed them to revolt against their makers. HK-47 did offer his gratitude to the Imperials who brought him back from the brink of death, but not a few seconds after began to slaughter them. With a new mission to begin slaughtering any organic he came across, HK-47 left the facility he was "reborn" at in nothing but a state of fiery ruin with corpses laying about.

After leaving the Imperial facility from which he was "reborn", HK-47 for the first time in his existence achieved what few droids could dream of, true freedom, with the help of fellow Tarkin Initiative droid prototypes. HK-47 realized from his experience with the Imperials that the Human scientists were a threat to his programming as an assassin droid, when they tried to shut him down, after realizing that his sentience was too powerful to control. He decided from that day on that all biological organisms were inferior to droids, an ideal that would spark a revolt against the organic oppressors, much like the original HK unit. The first step in the plan was to travel to planets where large droid factories that were either still operational or have been abandoned, using vast industrial complexes to construct a droid army for the revolution. During one of these ventures, HK-47 would travel to the planet Akiva, where he encountered a young boy trying to build a droid companion. He would assist the boy in creating a unique battle droid designated Mister Bones, and because the boy reminded him of his own maker, HK-47 let the boy live, giving the droid the same companionship he once knew all those years ago.

HK-47's business with droids got the attention of the criminal group known as the Droid Gotra, battle droids of the Separatist Alliance who shared the same desires as HK-47, who soon looked to HK-47 as a beacon of hope.

## Abilities

True to his design as an assassin droid, HK-47 was a dangerous opponent, able to fight effectively in a stealth operation as well as in open combat. His combat programming made him a deadly combatant with a large variety of weapons, including blasters of any design as well as a multitude of droid weapons, such as flamethrowers and carbonite projectors. HK-47 had a particular affinity for blaster rifles, primarily using the Droid Assassin's rifle and often citing the satisfaction that he derived from using them in many combat scenarios.

As a Jedi hunter, HK-47 was knowledgeable in many techniques for assassinating Jedi, which he explained to Meetra Surik so that she could better defend herself against her enemies. When faced with a Jedi, HK-47 utilized various weapons specifically selected to be most effective against lightsaber techniques, such as grenades, sonic screamers, cluster rockets, plasma charges, poison gas, and mines, all of which exemplified the droid's versatility in combat. These weapons could not be deflected by a lightsaber, and sonic weapons were useful in shattering a Jedi's concentration, preventing one's use of Force powers. Mines and gas were useful in catching a Jedi by surprise, giving HK-47 the advantage in combat. HK-47 also mentioned using a sniper rifle to attack from long range in order to avoid detection. In addition to these weapons, HK-47 often attempted to erode the will of his opponents and make them doubt their beliefs, which he found to be an effective method for weakening their concentration and disrupting their connection to the Force. The droid also found attacking a Jedi's allies or Padawan to be a sound tactic, as Jedi would often sacrifice themselves to save an ally.

In addition to his combat proficiency, HK-47 possessed many other skills. Like many droids, HK-47 was experienced as a mechanic and had at least some knowledge in demolitions and slicing. During his journey with Revan, he could start a fighter simulation so that Revan could practice his skills at manning the turret of the Ebon Hawk. Revan also upgraded HK-47 on various occasions, increasing his overall efficiency. As much of his original programming was based on protocol subroutines, the droid was capable of acting as a translator, voice impersonator, and a protocol droid in many other respects. He was fluent in over 6,000 forms of communication, including Galactic Basic Standard, Tusken, Binary, and Jawa trade language.

Several modifications were made to HK-47 throughout his life span by his many owners, modifications that served to re-enforce his abilities and enhance his performance. Most of these modifications were damaged beyond anything less than intrusive repair after his dismemberment during his second service to Revan.