And as for the one called Zak Koroen?
Yes, well, He is a... special case.
—Two of the Kov discussing Zak Koroen.
Zak Koroen was a Human Jedi Master around the time of the New Republic. Born on the planet Tyst, he was trained from birth in the ways of the dark side of the Force by the Dark Jedi Wonger Krekt. However, a chance encounter with the Jedi Master Luke Skywalker convinced him that the dark side was wrong, and he joined Skywalker's New Jedi Order.
Koroen was trained by the Master Moroen Pekeye, and soon reached the rank of Jedi Knight. He fell in love with and married fellow Knight Meno Kalen, with whom he had three children: Shmi, Gret, and Reto Koroen. Koroen and his wife fought together in the Droid Wars, during which time the Sith lord Darth Xana gained an interest in him, noting that Zak would make a powerful Sith.
Xana eventually converted Zak, dubbing him Darth Pluto. This began a divergent timeline in which Zak, as Pluto, aided Xana in exterminating the Jedi Order and subjugating the Galaxy. Ultimately, Zak came to the conclusion that what he had done was wrong, and with the aid of the ghosts of the Jedi he'd killed, used the Force to reverse time and prevent all that had transpired from ever occurring. In the restored timeline, Zak captured Xana on Ygtep, ending the Schism. Zak subsequently remarried and aided in the Declon War and Declon Eradication War. Following this, Zak and the crew of SPEER 001 flew to Wild Space to investigate reports of a mysterious new threat.
Zak sacrificed himself to save the Galaxy during the Mortrax A Conflict, but the omniscient race called the Kov believed this to be an unsatisfactory ending for him, so they fused his mind with the body of a New Republic agent, creating the being known as Jordann Koroen. Zak's consciousness eventually exited Jordann's body, and he gained a new body of his own. Before his consciousness burned this new body up and Zak died once again, he trained the now-sentient Jordann in the Jedi arts.
After dying again, Zak returned as a Force ghost, and delivered his favorite lightsaber to his daughter Cura Koroen as a gift.
Biography[]
Early life[]
You're a Jedi! I HATE Jedi!
—Zak Koroen meets Luke Skywalker.
Zak Koroen was not always a Jedi. His parents died when he was a baby, and he was raised by the Dark Jedi Wonger Krekt, who sensed his potential as a Force-user and trained him in the dark side. As Zak grew, so did his cruelty and Force powers. He eventually killed Krekt because he felt she was taking too long to train him properly, and took her lightsaber for his own. One day, long after the Emperor and Darth Vader had died, Luke Skywalker came to Zak's home to investigate the tremendous Force power coming from the makeshift shelter. Zak, however, had been trained by Krekt to hate all Jedi, and engaged Luke in a lightsaber duel. Surprisingly, Zak overpowered Luke. However, while Zak had Luke at his mercy, he began to second-guess the dogmas that had been ingrained in his mind. Skywalker managed to convince Zak that the dark side was not the right path for him, and Zak agreed to join Luke's New Jedi Order.
The Padawan years[]
Why are we here? To kick your sorry hides across the Galaxy, that's why!
—Zak Koroen to the Bounty Hunters League
Koroen was chosen by Master Moroen Pekeye as his Padawan. Pekeye and Zak grew to be like father and son, a freindship that would last for the rest of their lives. Zak quickly became recognized as one of the most talented Padawans of his times. As a sign of his troubled mind, he constantly rotated lightsaber designs. His personality often swung violently. After Pekeye was grazed by a blaster bolt on Cato Nui, Zak became enraged and charged the Bounty Hunters League who had injured Pekeye, becoming critically wounded in the process. He was saved by Jeremie Hopper who used an experimental fusion of bacta and kolto to treat Zak. The process nearly failed, but Zak's life was ultimately saved.
Jedi life[]
Zak was soon promoted to the rank of Jedi Knight after facing Darth Thugee on Vulpter and defeating him. He fell in love with a friend from his Padawan years, Meno Kalen. The two married, and had two children. After he helped to defeat the Der Treen Darth Vader Clone, he was deemed proficient enough in the Jedi arts to become a Jedi Master. He took a Padawn learner, Cret, and joined the New Council. He also worked on the Marabouta project, though he left after the purpose of the project was changed from waste control to weapons development. His life would come crashing down on him when Cret turned to the Dark Side. Although he had opposed the New Republic Droid Army, he now decided to fight in the Droid Wars.
Droid Wars[]
Zak fought in many battles, serving as a general in the New Republic military. He unveiled his YT-2000 freighter, SPEER 001, during the Battle of Kessel. His most notable victory came during the Battle of Quermia, when SPEER 001 took down an Imperial Nova-Class War Frigate. He eventually encountered Cret on Cato Nui. They battled, and Zak accidentally killed his former student, though it was later revealed that the wounds Zak had inflicted upon Cret were not fatal. Ashamed, he returned to the Jedi Temple, only to find it under attack. He faced Exar Kun, but was defeated by the ancient Sith. Soon, however, he recovered from his injuries and took Hasee Kasa as his new Padawan. However, the belief that he had killed Cret still haunted him, and he left the New Council, though he would later return to it.
In the war's final year, Meno gave birth to her and Zak's third child, Reto Koroen, and Zak led the aerial campaign of the Battle of Mustafar. During all this, Hasee became a Jedi Knight.
Soon, Zak learned that Cret had survived and had become Darth Hity. Zak, shocked, started a search for Cret. He found and defeated Cret, but despite all his former apprentice had done, Zak could not bring himself to kill the man who had once been the child he had loved like a son. Zak let Cret go, but warned him that next time, he would bring someone who would not hesitate to kill the Sith.
Soon afterward, Zak was one of the ten sent as reinforcements to the Droid Revolt on Retyule. Zak later faced Darth Rameses after it was revealed that Rameses was the one who had murdered Zak's lifelong friend Greetyw, and came out with a single scar. Rameses' fate remains uncertain, though it is safe to assume that Zak killed him.
Darth Vesuvius crisis[]
Some years later, Zak's son Gret turned to the Dark Side and became Darth Vesuvius. This crushed Zak's spirit, and caused him to question whether he could ever keep the Dark Side from tainting his family. Begrudgingly, Zak agreed to help stop Gret. Along with Srel, Meno, Keeshel' and Reto, Zak prepared a trap for Gret, but this failed. Shmi eventually stopped Gret's rampage, using the Force for the first time in the process. With his faith in family restored, Zak returned to the New Council.
Great Jedi Schism[]
Zak and his family managed to help win several battles for the New Republic during the Great Jedi Schism. Zak was devastated when Meno was killed by Jef Vecc during the Battle of Gand. His heart was filled with anger and grief, and it was because of this that Darth Xana was finally able to win Zak over to the Sith.
In the penultimate battle, the Battle of Ygtep, Zak faced Darth Xana hiself, who managed to turn Zak back to the dark side by convincing the Jedi that his Jedi comrades were the ones responsible for Meno's death. Zak became known as Darth Pluto. This led to a horrific alternate future in which Zak and his new Sith Master Darth Xana ruled a dystopian galaxy. Eventually, Zak, having repented after a confrontation with the spirits of all the Jedi he had killed in his life, managed to turn back time and stop Darth Pluto from ever existing. Zak killed Dark Jedi leader William and captured Xana, and the Schism ended.
New Sith War[]
During this brief war, Zak and his family helped win five of the nine battles. During the final battle aboard the Sith flagship Reven's Inferno, Zak's good friend Hades Pluto was killed by Darth Borden. In a moment of pure and undiluted rage, Zak slew the Sith with one slash. He then ascended to the bridge and killed Sith leader Darth Sivaji.Zak was horrified by what he had done, but accepted his actions. He gave the eulogy at Pluto's funeral.
Post-Skywalker era[]
During a mission with Luke Skywalker, Zak returned to their camp from a diplomatic discussion from the monarch of Ulmexos to find the Jedi Grand Master dead, lying prone on the ground. Shocked, Zak rushed back to Coruscant. At Luke's funeral, Luke's son Ben approached Zak and informed him that he blamed Koroen for not being able to protect his father. Ben swore revenge on Zak. At the reading of Luke's will, Zak recieved Luke's skyhouse on Bespin.
The rise of Darth Guillotine[]
A few months later, Ben reentered Zak's life. He had studied the ways of the Dark Side on Korriban, and had dubbed himself Darth Guillotine. He attacked and threatened Zak's loved ones until Zak himself came to face him. Zak severely injured Guillotine and threw him in a vat of acid, but Ben's body was retrieved by the New Sith Order and placed into a suit of armor identical to Darth Vader's.
Emuzoniuh[]
Following this, Zak left to a remote Outer Rim planet called Emuzoniuh. There he met and fell in love with its queen, Meddedum Brepdool. They married in an extravagant ceremony, and a child some time later, a daughter named Cura. Zak lived on Emuzoniuh for several years afterward. Zak and Meddedum's happiness was to be short-lived, however, as Darth Guillotine tracked Zak down and killed Meddedum. Zak decided that he was fed up with Ben's quest for vengeance and engaged him in a final battle in the Undercity of Taris. Zak defeated and finally killed Darth Guillotine. He then left known space with the crew of SPEER 001. He left Reto behind.
The Mortrax A conflict and death[]
SPEER 001 later returned to known space. However, Zak and the droids D-3PO and R5-T67 were nowhere to be found. Shmi was dead, Ryyyooop was dying, and Hasee Kasa was comatose. Gret was the only one left in reasonable health. He told of an impending war with extradimensionl beings, and that Zak had remained in a place called Mortrax A to hold of the enemy. The majority of Republic and Jedi forces were scrambled for the war, and SPEER 001 led the fleet to the point of entrance to Mortrax A. Gret and Cura, along with Reto, found their father, who had been transformed into an energy being due to exposure to an unknown energy within the core of Mortrax A. Zak identified the enemy. It was not the Kov, as they had originally thought, but rather another species known only as The Relentless. during the final battle with The Relentless, Reto was killed. Zak lost his resolve, recounting all the people he had lost in his life, from his parents to Reto. He returned to the battle when Gret and Cura convinced him not to dwell on those he had lost, but instead celebrate those he still had. Zak walked into the machine The Relentless were planning to use to destroy the galaxy, sacrificing himself for the lives of many.
Jordann Koroen[]
The Kov were unsatisfied with Zak's death, and placed his mind into the body of New Republic agent Mallorie Jordan. This hybrid being, calling itself Jordann Koroen, was soon given its own mind by Jeramie Hopper, with Zak's mind inhabiting the body of a coma victim.
This new body would not last, as Zak's mind was quickly burning it up. Knowing that his time was short, he passed on all he knew to Jordann before dying for a final time.
Zak's spirit lived on as a Force ghost, and he decided to do one last act before fading into the Force. He sent his favorite lightsaber to Gret's apartment on Coruscant. Next to it was a note to Cura, saying simply: "You've earned it."
Legacy[]
Zak Koroen left behind a long legacy. Hasee Kasa's son, Saa Kasa eventually married Cura, and they had a son, Zak Kasa. Gret married an unspecified woman and his son, Jek, became Jedi Grand Master and had a son of his own, Jym. Jym became a renowned spacer and Jedi, as did his children Cret and Mari Koroen. Zak's collection of lightsabers became a permanent exhibit at the Galactic Museum on Coruscant, and three holofilms were made of his life. By 211 ABY, his story had become a folk legend.
Personality and Traits[]
Zak Koroen was known to be friendly and outgoing at times, brooding and angry at others. This was due in part to lingering effects of the dark side training he'd experienced as a child. He was respected all the same, though some were put off by his origins as a servent of the dark side on a Sith planet. This only worsened when he temporarily turned back to the dark side. However, after his death, he became legendary.
Behind the Scenes[]
Zak was notorious for often dyeing his hair. Zak also had many lightsaber designs. At various points he had blue, green, black, orange, silver, red, and yellow lightsabers.