Lord Starkiller

Warning! This page contains MAJOR spoilers from The Dark Side Unleashed. Caution is advised.

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*"Lord Vader was a broken shadow of his former self… I knew that one day you would replace him."*

―Palpatine, to Galen Marek

**Lord Starkiller**, born **Galen Marek**, was a Force-sensitive Human male who trained in the ways of the dark side of the Force as the secret apprentice of the Sith Lord Darth Vader. The son of two Jedi Knights—Kento Marek and his wife, Mallie—Galen was born with an exceptionally powerful connection to the Force. Intrigued by the boy's potential, Vader abducted Galen from his home planet of Kashyyyk and raised him to embrace the teachings of the Sith. Having been taken by the Dark Lord of the Sith at a young age, Galen ultimately forgot his past along with his birth name, and only knew himself by the call sign of "Starkiller."

Though essentially trained as a Sith apprentice, the Rule of Two prevented Starkiller from truly claiming the title of Sith Lord. He therefore dedicated years of his life to becoming strong enough to help Vader overthrow his own Sith Master, Darth Sidious, the Emperor of the galaxy. In 3 BBY, three years before the Battle of Yavin, Starkiller was deemed ready by his master to hunt Jedi targets. As a result, the Jedi fugitives Rahm Kota, Kazdan Paratus, and Shaak Ti were defeated, in turn, by Vader's assassin. Having emerged triumphant against all three Jedi Masters in single combat, Starkiller believed that the time had come to confront Sidious at his master's side. Instead, Vader betrayed and severely wounded his apprentice at the behest of his own master. Despite this turn of events, Starkiller was saved by Vader and ordered to raise a rebellion against the Empire, leading the apprentice to believe that their plan to depose Sidious was still in motion.

Operating under the guise of a Jedi, Starkiller recruited several malcontents to his movement, including the Imperial senators Bail Prestor Organa, Garm Bel Iblis, and Mon Mothma. Together, they formally established the Alliance to Restore the Republic, at which point Vader betrayed Starkiller once more by capturing the Rebel leaders and leaving his apprentice for dead on the planet Corellia. Starkiller not only survived, but pursued his master to the Death Star in a quest to save his newfound allies from the Emperor. In doing so, the former apprentice embraced his Jedi heritage and reclaimed his original identity as Galen Marek.

Upon defeating his former master in a lightsaber duel, Marek was tempted—with Sidious' encouragement—to strike down Darth Vader and take his place in the Order of the Sith Lords. Giving in to his anger, Marek killed Vader, not only avenging his father's murder, but the two betrayals on himself as well. The Emperor was very pleased with the result, and gave the young man one final test—to strike down the injured Rahm Kota, thus destroying all of his ties to the Jedi and earning the title of Sith Lord. Marek readied his lightsaber for the killing blow, but instead turned and futilely swung at Palpatine, who foresaw the coming attack and easily knocked the apprentice back. Staggering on the ground, Marek saw that Bail and the other Rebel leaders had already been killed. He was helpless when Palpatine Force gripped his starship, the Rogue Shadow, piloted by Juno Eclipse, the woman Marek developed an emotional attachment to during his time as Vader's apprentice, and hurled it at Marek.

After nearly being crushed to death by his own vessel, Marek awoke and found his body encased in a suit of armor, similar to the one worn by the late Darth Vader. Palpatine stood before him, saying he expected more from the apprentice and thought he could have one day become the greatest Sith in the galaxy. Marek became Palpatine's apprentice, obliged to do the Emperor's bidding just as Vader before him. In the aftermath of his reconstruction, Starkiller performed more dangerous tasks for the Emperor, such as hunting down and killing An'ya Kuro, a Jedi Master from the Clone Wars. His service to his master continued when he was dispatched to Tatooine to search for two droids in possession of the Death Star plans. En route to intercept the droids, he destroyed Boba Fett and Obi-Wan Kenobi along the way.

Even though Starkiller was the Emperor's slave, he vowed to himself that he would eventually find a way to overthrow the most powerful Sith Lord. The apprentice's plan began to come to fruition when he encountered Luke Skywalker, who was the son of the late Darth Vader, during the Battle of Hoth. As Starkiller and his Imperial battle group crushed the remaining Rebels that failed to escape the planet, he defeated Skywalker and made him his apprentice.

## Appearances

* *Star Wars: The Force Unleashed*
* *Star Wars: The Force Unleashed: Ultimate Sith Edition*
* *The Dark Side Unleashed*
* *Starkiller: Approaching Darkness*

## Killed Victims

* Kazdan Paratus – **To be added**
* Shaak Ti – **To be added**
* Ozzik Sturn – **To be added**
* Darth Vader – **To be added**
* An'ya Kuro – **To be added**
* Jabba's rancor – **To be added**
* Boba Fett – **To be added**
* Obi-Wan Kenobi – **To be added**
* Sehrin Fortinet – **To be added**
* Jase Keler – **To be added**
* Keenah – **To be added**