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Valley of the Jedi

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Valley of the Jedi

General information

Chronological and political information

Affiliation

"Imagine someone who could destroy a star with a whisper, eradicate a solar system with a snap of his fingers, or 'think' a planet from its orbit."

―Qu Rahn's Force ghost describing the power of the Force nexus toKyle Katarn^[1]

TheValley of the Jedi or theValley of the Souls was the site of theSeventh Battle of Ruusan, the last battle of theNew Sith Wars and athousand years before theBattle of Yavin.

There, LordKaan's thought bomb trapped the souls of thousands ofJedi andSith until they were finally freed byKyle Katarn.

The Valley of the Jedi then became a concentrated area ofForce energy called aForce nexus, and is widely believed to be the most powerful Force nexus in the entiregalaxy.

Geography[]

Valleyplanpotj — Map of the Valley of the Jedi.

"The stairs lead down to a... a tomb of some kind. It's filled with burial markers, stone coffins; it's like a city of the dead, but... they're not dead. Those voices, they sound like they're inagony. It's like their spirits are trapped down here. But for how long? These ruins are ancient, hundreds of years old!"

―Morgan Katarn^[2]

The location of the Valley was several hours away from the former site ofOlmondo, among the "badlands" of Ruusan, and several days away fromFort Nowhere. The region around the Valley was typical of the planet's landscape: rocky, scree-covered foothills, mesas and canyons, and nearby were rocky piles of rubble.^[1] The cave complex that formed the necropolis was far from the rich metal deposits of Ruusan.^[3]^[4]

TheConvergence of theForce energy caused several phenomena to the geographic region around the Valley, observable by living creatures, especiallyForce-sensitives.Morgan Katarn felt the air thicker than normal, then a tickling in the back of his mind, becoming a steady hum, tingling on the skin and nervousness, including a desire to run away. Moaning voices, "heard" from within, move one's consciousness, causing headache and overwhelming emotions.^[1] The youngDark Jedi Yun in the vicinity of the Valley found easier to concentrate his thought and manifest it into energy. Jerec's men who were stationed could be annoyed, harassed and possessed by the loud apparitions of restless spirits, dubbed "screamers" by Jerec's men.^[3]

The entrance of the Valley was an open area surrounded by rock formations that towered above as if sentinel statues; an ancient roadbed led there. The area was actually the roof of a cavern, with a collapsed ragged opening, half akilometer across. It was the only source of light below. Stairs, curving to the right, led to an arch, and the cavern's floor. The monument itself consisted of hundreds of slabs, made from the chamber's ceiling, spires withhieroglyphics, statues, tombs, even miniature temples.^[1] Radiating from the Valley were corridors leading to satellite caverns where several artifacts had been deposited and stored. At least one aqueduct brought rain water into the Valley.^[3]

Around the Valley the Imperial Remnant under Jerec built a garrison of prefab buildings, a docking tower with platforms,Stormtroopers,AT-STs,shuttles,TIEs andattack droids that guarded the perimeter. The tower served also as docking station for freighters that were loaded with archaeological loot and returned totheir fleet. Before going to orbit, ships had to fly through a maze of canyons before emerging to the desert.^[3]

History[]

A monument to the Army of Light[]

"Welcome, Lord Hoth. Welcome to the grave and darkness from which none will ever emerge."

―Kaan toHoth^[5]

At the close of the New Sith Wars, theBrotherhood of Darkness's situation had become so fragile that their leader, Lord Kaan, resorted to the use of athought bomb to end the war.

Luring the Jedi deep into one ofRuusan's caves, Kaan and his Brotherhood detonated the thought bomb, hoping to wipe out Jedi LordHoth's Army of Light. However, Hoth perceived Kaan's strategy and left most of his army behind, taking only ninety-nine Jedi with him (one-hundred in total, including Hoth himself). This sacrifice was not in vain, as the Sith proved unable to control the thought bomb, killing the entire Brotherhood of Darkness and ending the New Sith Wars. However a side-effect of the thought bomb was that thespirits of the killed Jedi and Force users could not be liberated and become one with the Force, but remained imprisoned in the nexus.^[1]

Jedi KnightJohun Othone, Hoth's formerPadawan, went against the will of theJedi Council to build a monument to the heroes of the Army of Light and Lord Hoth, with a mausoleum adorned with massive statues. He also placed a hugeAdegan crystal in a meditative chamber for the Jedi. The monuments were made by stones that came from various planets, like the heroes of the Army of Light. The graves of the heroes were contained in a central underground cavern of natural origin, with several satellite chambers hewn around it. They were filled with artifacts^[3] that presumably belonged to the fallen Jedi warriors.

Sometime after leaving Ruusan, and around the time she killedher cousin,Darth Zannah returned to the Valley^[6] being the last person who would for centuries. Shifting nebulae soon erasedhyperspace routes to Ruusan, obscuring the planet from the Galaxy at large.^[7]

Some Jedi believed that theEmpire or theDark Jedi would try to take advantage of the power trapped in the Valley. Because of the monument's "illegality," the Jedi Council forgot about the Valley which eventually became legendary. Over a millennium later,Yoda and a few others, includingQu Rahn andLuke Skywalker who learned about it from Yoda, knew about the Valley, but did not know its location or even whether it existed at all. Rahn had searched about it without success by1 BBY. And Luke had heard others after Yoda talking about it.^[2] Another who knew the lore of the Valley was theProphet Cronal, and from him, theInquisitor Jerec.^[6]

The Jedi of the Valley — The spirits of the Valley of the Jedi.

After centuries of imprisonment and torture, even the wisest souls ofJedi Masters lost their sanity, and individuals could perceive them as mindless wailing apparitions creating havoc.^[3] TheBouncers of Ruusan believed in thePoem of Ages, that they would be freed when a 'Knight' returned to release them.^[1]

Poem of Ages[]

"And a Knight shall come, a battle will be fought, and the prisoners go free."

―Poem of Ages^[8]

Yoda-like Ruusan — Morgan Katarn descending into the Valley cavern.

The planet Ruusan had been forgotten save to only a fewsmugglers, until1 BBY when they transferred some colonists fromSulon to escape the wrath of the Empire. Their leader,Rebel sympathizerMorgan Katarn decided to explore the area to ensure the safety of his people. He was met by the locals, whom he named "Bouncers", who considered him a figure of legend: according to thePoem of Ages, they believed that he would redeem the spirits trapped there. With their directions, Katarn discovered the Valley, but the weight of the Force and the tortured spirits overwhelmed him, along his inability to help them.^[1]^[2]

Katarn never talked about his experience to anyone, only to Qu Rahn whom he met sometime later. Rahn recognized it as the legendary place he had been looking for, and warned Katarn about the danger of that information, should it reach EmperorPalpatine or his Dark Jedi. He refused himself to even know about the location of the planet, and told Katarn to record and hide the information somewhere. He complied making amap hidden in plain sight. Rahn hoped that sometime later, after thefall of the Emperor, he would find an appropriate time and Katarn would lead a team to the Valley to study it.^[1]

Meanwhile, around the time of the Battle of Endor, Jerec, now militarily and financially powerful, was searching for the valley on behalf of the Prophets of the Dark Side, as well as thePentastar Alignment. Cronal, now known asBlackhole, didn't know that, and after the death of Palpatine, charged Jerec with finding the Valley for the glory of the reincarnated Emperor and hisDark Empire. Jerec of course intended to find it for himself, and took advantage of the funding from all three parties.^[6]

Luke also heard others, after Yoda, talking about the legend. With Katarn lost, Rahn himself attempted to arrange a team and find his way there before Jerec. Rahn and his team werecaptured aboveDorlo by Jerec's apprentices, and Jerec executed him, after ripping from his mind the fact that Katarn had a map to Ruusan carved into the ceiling in his house.^[1]^[2]

Traveling toSulon, they took the map. Rahn's spirit spoke toKyle Katarn, Morgan's son, and instructed him inthe Force. Katarn tracked down8t88, the droid that had deciphered the map, and retrieved the coordinates from his internal memory.^[1]^[2]

With the coordinates, both factions made their way to Ruusan. Jerec'sVengeance Battle Group invaded the planet and established a garrison around the Valley, in the meantime looting itsarchaeological treasures, in defiance to the "screamers" who spread havoc among them. Jerec had observed that the forces that kept the screamers imprisoned had been weakened after the centuries, and proceeded to some repairs in order to keep them there, and allow him to tap their power.^[3]

After Jan was captured by Jerec's forces, Katarn fought his way through hordes of stormtroopers and defeated Jerec's remaining Dark Jedi minions until he finally confronted Jerec himself at the Valley's focus. There, Jerec basked in the power of the Valley, becoming almost godlike in his power. Katarn was able tocut off Jerec from the Valley's power and defeat him. Katarn freed the trapped spirits, finally fulfilling thePoem of Ages.^[3]^[6]

Desann discovers the location of the Valley[]

*Raven's Claw* leaves the Valley of the Jedi.

High Inquisitor Antinnis Tremayne was one of those who knew about the Valley in the years of the Imperial Remnant, who made it known to his ally, LordHethrir. Rogue Jedi Desann was tasked by Hethrir to find the Valley.^[6] To this end, he staged the "death" of Jan Ors at the hands ofTavion Axmis in front of Kyle Katarn, who had abandoned the Jedi ways. Fueled with vengeance, Katarn once again traveled to the Valley in order to make use of its residual Force energy to re-establish his lapsed connection with the Force. Unknown to him, he was tracked to Ruusan as part of Desann's plan. Desann moved inhis forces and began using the Valley's power to boost that of mildly Force-sensitive recruits, creating theReborn.^[6]^[9]

Fortunately, Katarn had revealed the location of the Valley toLuke Skywalker as a precautionary measure. Skywalkerled Rogue Squadron to Ruusan and routed Desann's forces, driving him from the planet and cutting off his supply of Reborn warriors.^[9]

The planet also became a target of Tavion'sDisciples of Ragnos. Tavion was using Ragnos's scepter to drain areas of the Force to resurrectMarka Ragnos. Kyle Katarn was assigned toinvestigate cult activity there.^[10]

Despite the fulfillment of the ancient prophecy by Katarn, Jerec's spirit, as well as that of the ancient Sith, continued to linger in the valley for thousands of years.^[11]

Behind the scenes[]

The name "Valley of the Souls" was used interchangeable for the Valley of the Jedi on theLucasArts website forStar Wars: Jedi Knight: Dark Forces II. The name was also used in Part 2 ofThe Dark Forces Saga.