Darth Malon

"*You are a child playing with shadows. Whereas, I am the darkness from which your power derives.*"
―Malon to Blythe[src]
**Darth Malon**, a Force-sensitive human male, was a Sith Lord who served as the last Grand Moff of the Sith Brotherhood, the second Emperor of the Sith Empire, and the last reigning Dark Lord of the Sith prior to Darth Bane's establishment of the Rule of Two. Malon, born **Kelan Nomar**, was trained in the dark side of the Force by the Muun Sith Malignus. Eventually, he betrayed and murdered his master and became a Moff, lording over Saleucami. Following the Battle of Coruscant at the midway point of the Galactic War, having played a role in saving Darth Solum, then the Dark Lady of the Sith, Malon was made a Sith Lord and the Dark Lady's personal apprentice. He kept up the persona of a faithful apprentice, all the while Kyuss Thaun announced that the Brotherhood would reorganize into the second Sith Empire.

Shortly thereafter, he challenged his master for her title on her homeworld of Rhen Var and won, ascending to the title of reigning Dark Lord of the Sith. As the new Dark Lord, he continued to menace the Old Republic, until a surprise attack on Chandrila ended the life of the Emperor Kyuss. The Emperor named Malon his personal successor and the Dark Lord became the first Sith to rule the new Empire. He then swiftly defeated the Jedi Grandmaster in the Senate Rotunda and returned to lead his Empire to victory, completing the previous Emperor's dream of crushing the Old Republic and scattering the confused Jedi Order. He then went on to lead a five year campaign into the Core Worlds that expanded Sith rule to much of the known galaxy.

During the last years of the old Sith Order, Malon ruled the Empire with an iron fist, crushing the various noble families attempting to tear the Empire asunder. He also put down numerous attempted rebellions before the Jedi, under the leadership of two new Grandmasters, launched a series of successful campaigns to destabilize the Sith Empire, which had grown bloated and lax. He made his final stand above Coruscant, where he faced the most powerful Jedi alive in the galaxy in his day, Corvo Vis, the Jedi Battlemaster, near the Sith shrine on the planet's surface. There, both combatants met their end and the last Sith Emperor to rule the galaxy (until Darth Sidious ruled the Galactic Empire a millennia later) was no more.

## Powers and abilities

### Force powers

As the Dark Lord of the Sith and Sith Emperor, Darth Malon was the single most powerful Sith in the Sith Empire and indeed one of the most powerful Force-users in the entire galaxy. His skill with the Force certainly reflected this level of mastery.

Malon had a keen mastery of the ability to sense, able to detect when he was being deceived or outright lied to. Like most Forceful beings, he could also accurately detect the presence of others through use of the Force. In later years, this ability expanded, giving him incredibly keen foresight and the ability to perceive shatterpoints: an ability that manifested during his fight with Darth Vanus. This ability extended to both physical objects and the fabric of space and time. He first used this ability as an ordinary Sith Lord, during his battle with Darth Vanus, to locate the weaknesses in a series of boulders being thrown at him; he then destroyed them by pouring the Force into the cracks. As Emperor, his skill with this ability improved to the point where he could use it to perceive events before they happened, and to see when an event was tied to critical events in the future.

Malon also had a firm grip on the use of telekinesis. During the Battle of Coruscant, he used the Force to effortlessly rip a live child out of the hand of a skilled Republic pilot, crushing the child's neck brutally and swiftly, and without much difficulty. He was also powerful enough with the ability to loose devastating blasts of power whenever he perceives a weakness in his opponent's form or an opening in their defenses. Due to his tremendous Force stamina, he prefers to interrupt his opponents with Force blasts, as shown during his battle with Darth Vanus, distracting them and breaking their focus, while allowing him to set up for more powerful combos. He was also a master practitioner of Sith lightning. The bursts of his lightning were immensely painful, and capable of killing in high does. In its most potent form, he was capable of summoning a storm of lightning, which he could then use to instantly vaporize unprepared foes and severely damage even those who were prepared.

However, his true power with the Force came from his usage of it to enhance his lightsaber combat. His already keen battle instincts were further sharpened by using the dark side of the Force to center and focus himself. Doing so turned him into a juggernaught, giving him the precognitive abilities to fight efficiently with his lightsaber and ruthlessly attack his enemies, striking terror into their hearts seemingly without any fear of his own. While was in this "zone," he fed upon his opponent's fear and confusion to bolster his connection (and therefore his strength) with the dark side, turning him into a very refined weapon of the Force itself.

Malon also learned to use his Force zone outside of combat. He did so by quieting the "voices" found within the Force, drawing himself to its absolute center—an ability he considers unique to the dark side. From there, he could speak out to any of his servants and call them to him, summoning them from across the galaxy at times. He described this ability as seeking out the darkness within his servants and using that darkness to compel them to do his bidding. After becoming the Dark Lord, Malon began to intensify his studies of the dark side in his quest to become the symbol of the dark side within the Sith Order. As a result, he took to studying Sith magick, and more broad dark side powers, transforming him into a well-rounded and extremely deadly foe in combat.

### Lightsaber abilities

Despite being a potent Force user, Malon's most deadly skill was his use of the lightsaber. Malon specialized in Form V combat. Form V was one of the standard lightsaber combat forms, which emphasized using one's opponent's power against them. As a result, Malon was rarely the aggressor in lightsaber combat, preferring to goad his foes into attacking him instead, and then using the power of their strikes to fuel his counterattack. Malon's tremendous physical strength made this Form more effective, as opponents found that their attacks were powerfully blocked and parried despite minimal effort on Malon's part. This also meant that his counteroffensive were as threatening as his suit of armor; he preferred a one-handed attack style, and switched to a two-handed grip when preparing to make a finishing blow.

As proven during his death match with Darth Vanus, Malon was particularly masterful with Jar'Kai: the art of using two lightsabers in combat. In that particular match, Malon proved that his skill with the technique was such that he could adjust the form to his needs in mid-combat and use it to overwhelm opponents at the Sith Lord-level. In fact, it was his mastery of the Jar'Kai form that allowed him to vanquish Vanus, utterly defeating her in sword combat.

Despite his efficiency with Form V and Jar'Kai, the true danger of Malon's lightsaber style was his ability to pick sequences from other lightsaber forms and seamlessly meld them into his fighting style. For instance, despite being a novice at Form IV, he was able to make use of some of its more aggressive sequences to surprise a foe who was used to his slower, more methodical use of Form V, such as he did against the Jedi he faced during the Battle of Coruscant.

## Notes and references

1. ↑ The Thing That Killed My Master
2. ↑ *Star Wars Propaganda: A History of Persuasive Art in the Galaxy*
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 3.6 Kelan Nomar on TheStarWarsRP.Com
4. ↑ Sith "Wraith" Armor on TheStarWarsRP.Com
5. ↑ Malice-series heavy armor on TheStarWarsRP.com
6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4 6.5 6.6 6.7 The Way of the Sith: Darth Malon vs. Darth Vanus
7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 'Till I See You Again
8. ↑ Homecoming
9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 Battle of Coruscant: Our Solemn Hour
10. ↑ A Farewell to Those You Love, Part II
11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 Lords of the Sith
12. ↑ But It's When They Start to Get Along...