Varon Krul was a Human male Sith who briefly ruled as Dark Lord of the Sith in 41 ABY. Born Varon Sendor, Krul was the genetic offspring of Darth Vorath.
Trained as an acolyte in his father's Sith Order, Krul went on to become an apprentice in the Sith Order of Darth Sedriss, with whom he had a brief affair. Upon seceding from Sedriss' order and forming his own, Varon took on the name Darth Taral and attempted to establish a new empire. When his plot failed, Taral retreated to his homeworld of Damosus, where he re-assumed his birth name and settled down with Lysira, hiding from the public eye as they raised their son together.
Biography[]
Early life[]
Born to the Dark Jedi Lumiya, Varon Sendor was long assumed to be the child of Andros Sendor, who had had another child with Lumiya two years earlier, named Orran. Unbeknownst to him however, Varon had actually been conceived by a clone of Darth Vorath, the ruling Dark Lord of the Sith, who desired an heir to possess his consciousness should he ever be vanquished.[1]
Losing his father at an early age, Varon and his brother were raised by their uncle Vandos for most of their childhoods. Although Vandos cared for both his nephews, he greatly favored Orran over his brother and Varon was often left with hand-me-downs and cheap presents while his older sibling was given more expensive gifts.[1]
On his eleventh birthday, while out by himself, Varon met a mysterious cloaked man who called himself Kalon. Varon instantly formed a connection with the man and told him all the woes of his life, such as how his brother constantly bullied him while his uncle turned a blind eye. When he was finished, Kalon gave Varon a lightsaber, telling him he would know what to do with it. Indeed, upon returning home and receiving a beating from his uncle for staying up past curfew, Varon gave into his anger and used his lightsaber to slay both his uncle and brother.[1]
When he was finished, he returned to Kalon, who revealed himself to be Darth Vorath, as well as his true father. He then took Varon with him to Dromund Kaas, where he would be trained in the ways of the Sith.[1]
Training[]
During his time as a Sith acolyte, Varon decided to abandon his surname of Sendor, having grown to despise it because of his uncle and brother. Instead, he took on the last name Krul after the Sith Lord Kaox Krul.
Despite knowing his true father, Varon was not at all close to Darth Vorath, whom he rarely saw again after their meeting on Damosus. Instead, he found a father figure in his master Roon Altor, who was far more benevolent than other Sith Masters. He also became acquainted with fellow Sith acolyte Lysira Naris, whom he quickly developed feelings for.
Two years after becoming a Sith, Varon's father was slayed on Coruscant by the Jedi Knight Toah Jarsan, leaving the Sith in disarray. While most retreated to Korriban, Varon and Altor relocated to Thule, where they would stay for the next ten years until midway into the Glorian War.
Around 36 ABY, Lysira Naris visited Thule in search of Varon and his master. She revealed to them that she was building a new Sith Order to preserve the teachings of the Sith, rather than use them to destroy the Jedi. Both Varon and Altor agreed to join this new organization and the latter took on the name Darth Paxis, becoming one of twelve Sith Masters while Varon joined eleven others as students.
During this time, Varon took part in a secret affair with Lysira herself, resulting in the conception of their child. Lysira hid the existence of this child, whom she named Kalon, from Varon and gave the infant to his mother Lumiya, who had since turned away from her Sith teachings and was living on Damosus as Brisha Syo.[1]
Sith Insurgency[]
Preparations[]
In 39 ABY, Varon came into contact with a being who claimed to be one of the last Sith Lords of Darth Vorath's empire. Introducing himself as Snoke, the mysterious man told Varon of Vorath's intended purpose for his existence: To serve as a vessel for the Dark Lord's consciousness. Having always desired to make his father proud of him, which he never seemed to do when Vorath was alive, Varon agreed to perform a series tasks for Snoke that would bring Vorath back from the dead and give him full control of the galaxy.
After convincing his fellow students to assist him, Varon got to work, making sure his operations went unnoticed by the Sith Masters. He started by making alliances with powerful figures across the galaxy, such as Prince Xalren of Black Sun, Atinar Cabur of the Mandalorians, and even powerful political figures in the Galactic Alliance. He also forged a partnership with the ruling Moff Council of the Imperial Remnant, knowing that they would be in full support of a new reigning Empire.
The following year, Varon embarked on a search of Sith artifacts, in the hope that they would lead him to potential resources. He eventually acquired a holocron that belonged to the Sith Lord Darth Vidius, who had at some point discovered an army of Sith encased in carbonite.[2] With this, Varon tracked down the comatose form of Darth Glovoc to Nyriaan and freed him from his oubliette. He then had Glovoc awaken his carbonite Sith army.[3]
Not long after this, Imperial ships came across the ancient Sith dreadnaught Harbinger that had gone through an unstable hyperspace tunnel, launching it forward five thousand years in time. Knowing that the dreadnaught had been one of two sent to retrieve a rare, dark side-strong ore known as Lignan from the moon of Phaegon III, Varon extracted the name of the second vessel—the Omen—and went in search of it.[4]
While his initial searches led him nowhere, Varon eventually found the lead he needed in the form of a sentient Sith Meditation Sphere which called itself Taral, after the Sith word for protector. Taral knew of the location of the Omen, having come into contact with a forgotten tribe of Sith formed by the survivors of the crashed dreadnought.[5]
At Varon's behest, Taral brought him to the planet Kesh, where he spoke with the Lost Tribe of Sith. After forming an alliance with them, he then proceeded to execute the first stage of his endgame and the first step towards creating the First Order.[5]
Endgame[]
The first stage of Varon's endgame required the removal of the powerful leaders whom he knew would stand in his way. This included Boba Fett, the current Mandalore, and Grand Moff Rolan Verradun of the Imperial Remnant, whom were the first to be executed. He also made a deal with the Hutts to eliminate the leaders of Black Sun, whom he recently learned had been scheming against him.
While these tasks were performed by his followers, Varon made preparations for the next stages of his plan. Along with Taral, he set about destroying both Centerpoint Station and Sinkhole Station, ancient relics of the fabled Celestials, in order to free the dark side entity known as Abeloth. Snoke had told Varon that Abeloth would be vital in establishing a "pantheon" of Force users, of which Varon would be a part of. Once Abeloth was freed, Varon then destroyed the consciousness that controlled Taral and decided to then make his debut.[6]
Accessing HoloNet networks all across the galaxy, Varon revealed his existence to billions of people. Introducing himself as Darth Taral, he claimed that he and his followers were protectors and that they would restore the galaxy from the turmoil it had fallen into because of the previous conflicts with the Sith and the Glorians. This broadcast succeeded in stirring fear and paranoia, and led to the removal of Chief of State Via Eerin from office, replaced with the naïve Luewet Wuul.[6]
Varon Krul as Darth Taral
In the following months after this, Darth Taral began gathering forces for his eventual takeover. Knowing the Jedi would prove an obstacle, he recruited dark side cults from across the galaxy, including the Marked Ones of Kursid and the Nightsisters of Dathomir. He also made an alliance with the mysterious Kylo Ren of the Knights of Ren, who was secretly working for Snoke and was tasked with monitoring Taral to see if he would succeed in fulfilling the Supreme Leader's plans.[1]
Once he had gathered his army-- comprised of Sith, Imperials, and Mandalorians-- Taral traveled back to Dromund Kaas to confront the reigning Dark Lord Darth Sedriss-- in truth his former lover Lysira-- and his former master Darth Paxis. While he succeeded in killing Paxis, Sedriss fled from the planet before he could face her. However, she ended up being captured by Taral's flagship, the Finalizer and Taral had her placed in a stasis tube, unable to bring himself to actually kill her.[1]
After this, Taral continued with the next stage of his plan: the eradication of the Jedi Order. Led by Kylo Ren, Taral's Sith forces struck the planet Ossus and slew down several Jedi, including the current Grand Master Kro Sadoon. While many Jedi managed to survive and escape Ossus, Taral heeded them no mind and moved onto his next task, which struck closer to home.[1]
Taral returned to his homeworld of Damosus, which he had not been to in seventeen years. There he confronted his mother Brisha Syo with the intentions of killing her and thus severing all ties to his past. However, he was stopped when Brisha told him of his son Kalon, whose existence he had not been made aware of. Upon learning of this, Taral began having doubts about his purpose and wondered if ruling the galaxy as a vessel for his father was truly what he desired.[1]
The final betrayal[]
Kylo Ren, the catalyst of Darth Taral's failure
Returning to his flagship, Taral received news that Kylo Ren, without his knowledge, had executed the Moff Council and taken the Imperial Remnant to the Unknown Regions, depriving him of major resources. Enraged by this, as well as at a complete loss on how to proceed, Taral then summoned his followers to meet with him on the Finalizer. At this meeting however, his followers expressed their lack of faith in his leadership and revealed to them that they had already found favor with Snoke and were working for him now.[1]
This, along with Ren's betrayal, brought Taral to the startling realization: Snoke had abandoned him. All the signs of weakness he had shown in the past, such as sparing Sedriss and showing genuine kindness towards his followers, had been reported to the Supreme Leader and as a result, he had been deemed unworthy of carrying out his plans for domination. This was only further solidified by the arrival of the Resistance-- a massive fleet comprised of Alliance, Glorian, and third-party ships. With only Mandalorian and a few Sith ships to spare, Taral realized he had been left to die.[1]
While his former followers left to return to Snoke, Taral was shortly confronted by Kylo Ren, who was sent to ensure that he died, whether by Ren or the Resistance. After a quick duel, Taral managed to flee from the Knight of Ren and rushed to the chamber in which Sedriss was being held. Freeing her from her stasis tube, he admitted his love to her and convinced her to leave the Sith behind with him. Sedriss agreed and the two of them, now Lysira and Varon once more, fled from the Finalizer and left their lives as Sith behind.[1]
A new life[]
Varon and Lysira made their way to Damosus, where they met with Brisha and were reunited with their son Kalon. Brisha proceeded to help them in finding a new home and Varon founded a job as a construction worker. Varon and Lysira also wasted no time in tying the knot, and were married two days after their arrival.[1]
Months after settling down with his new family, Varon felt the death of his mother through the Force. Unbeknownst to him, she had sacrificed her life to destroy the entity known as Atha Prime, whom he had been working with in order to bring back Darth Vorath through him. With Atha destroyed — and the Jedi having already destroyed the Mindspear with Vorath's consciousness — Varon was rid of everything that had tied him to his father and the Sith.[1]
Things fall apart[]
Varon's happiness proved to be short-lived. In 42 ABY, while shopping with his family in Roth's Town, Varon sensed the arrival of Kylo Ren, who had come to Damosus to track him and his wife down and kill them to tie up the loose ends of Darth Sedriss's Sith Order. Varon and Lysira quickly packed up their things and attempted to leave Damosus with their son, only for their shuttle to be shot down by Kylo Ren's TIE Silencer.[7]
Surviving the crash, Varon and Lysira were about to be killed by Ren only for their son Kalon to suddenly use the Force and push the Knight of Ren back. In truth, Kalon had been possessed by the revived spirit of Varon's father Darth Vorath. At that moment, Supreme Leader Snoke's Star Destroyer Supremacy arrived at Damosus, and Varon and his family were subsequently taken captive.[7]
Varon and his family remained in captivity aboard the Supremacy until the battle over Naboo, at which point Darth Vorath took control of his, Kalon, and Lysira's bodies, using them to confront Snoke in his throne room. During the fight, Varon was incapacitated when one of the Elite Praetorian Guard slashed him across the chest with their vibro-voulge. Varon survived the encounter and was taken back into captivity after Kylo Ren seemingly killed Snoke, taking control of the Supremacy.[8]
During the Battle of D'Qar, Varon managed to free himself, Lysira, and their son before commandeering a Xi-class light shuttle and using it to escape the Supremacy. Approaching the Errant Venture, Varon surrendered himself to the Resistance, knowing that any punishment they gave him for his crimes would be better than suffering under the First Order. Booster Terrik, captain of the Errant Venture, agreed to bring them on board on the suggestion of Toah Jarsan.[9]
When Toah Jarsan disembarked on a mission to Darkknell, he brought Varon, Lysira, and Kalon with him at the behest of Terrik in order to keep an eye on the spirit of Vorath, who still possessed Kalon. While aboard the Renegade, Varon apologized to Jarsan for his actions and told Jarsan what he knew of Snoke's involvement in his insurgency.[9]
Upon arriving at Darkknell, Varon sensed the presence of Daiman Valrisa, whom he realized was another child of Darth Vorath. Before he could fully explain the situation to Jarsan, he lost his connection to Vorath as the Dark Lord's spirit abandoned him and he succumbed to the wounds he had sustained aboard the Supremacy.[9]
Legacy[]
With the approval of the Jedi Council, Varon was buried on Tython, with Lysira and Kalon—now free of Vorath's influence—being allowed to live on the Jedi homeworld.[9]
Appearances[]
- The Elusive Shadow (First appearance)
- The Dying Sun
- The Forgotten Man
- The Yesterday Jedi
- The Gathering Force
- The Lifted Veil (First identified as Darth Taral)
- The Final Destiny
- Walkers in the Sky
- The Seventh Heir
- The Balancing Act