Star Wars Legends: Top 5 Tales of the Jedi characters

Formerly known as the Expanded Universe, Star Wars Legends consists of all the material that is outside the six original films that were created prior to April 2014, with the exception of The Clone Wars animated series.

It consisted primarily of books and comic books but also included video games and other media. Legends stories take place at various points in the Star Wars timeline, including The Old Republic — an era set thousands of years before the events of The Phantom Menace. Digging deeper into the Old Republic era of Star Wars Legends, you will find a series of comic books written under the Tales of the Jedi subheading.

What is Tales of the Jedi in Star Wars Legends?

These books were published in the 1990s by Dark Horse Comics. They consisted of seven story arcs: Knights of the Old Republic, The Freedon Nadd Uprising, Dark Lords of the Sith, The Sith War, The Golden Age of the Sith, The Fall of the Sith Empire and Redemption.

Ultimately, these stories told the tales of the ongoing conflict between the Jedi and the Sith of the Old Republic. These stories were taken on by writers such as Kevin J. Anderson, Tom Veitch, Chris Gossett, and many others. Most of these story arcs take place approximately 4,000 years before the Battle of Yavin. In the case of Golden Age of the Sith and The Fall of the Sith Empire, however, the timing is much older as those stories are placed about 5000 years prior to Yavin.

Tales of the Jedi gave us many iconic characters, both on the side of the Jedi and the Sith. With so many to choose from, we are going to tackle some of the quintessential characters from these adventures.

5. Freedon Nadd

Freedon Nadd was originally a promising Jedi under the tutelage of Jedi Master Matta Tremayne. His desire for power caused him to turn on his master and kill him. After which he became the apprentice of Naga Sadow whom he also killed when he felt that he had learned all that he could from the dark lord. He later became the king of the planet Onderon.

After his death, he was worshipped on Onderon by a Sith cult that called themselves Naddists. He continued to cement his legacy by teaching many others about the dark side of the force as a Force ghost, one such student will be mentioned later in this list.

4. Nomi Sunrider

Nomi Sunrider was the wife of Jedi Knight Andur Sunrider, mother of future Jedi Master Vima Sunrider, and Grand Master of the Jedi Order. After the death of Andur, she answered destiny’s calling and began training as a Jedi under the tutelage of Master Thon. Nomi was one of the most important generals in the Great Sith War which took place approximately 4,000 years prior to the Battle of Yavin. Under her leadership, the Republic was able to put an end to the war and helped to rebuild the Jedi Order.

3. Naga Sadow

The aforementioned master of Freedon Nadd, Sadow was a dark lord of the Sith that was primarily concerned with Sith alchemy. He was also a proponent of expanding the Sith Empire at a time when most of the Sith were isolationists. This difference in opinion led to a power struggle with his rival Ludo Kressh after the death of the reigning dark lord Marka Ragnos and ultimately triggered the Great Hyperspace War between the Sith Empire and the Republic that took place approximately 5,000 years before the Battle of Yavin.

His main base of operations was Yavin 4, where, after the defeat of the Sith Empire in the Great Hyperspace War, he put himself in suspended animation and remained in that state until he was awoken by Freedon Nadd.

2. Ulic Qel-Droma

Ulic Qel-Droma took on many titles: Jedi Knight, warlord of the Empress Teta system, Dark Lord of the Sith, and in the end, redeemed Jedi. Ulic distinguished himself as a Jedi as the hero of the Beast Wars of Onderon and the Freedon Nadd Uprising, also on Onderon. When the Empress Teta system was overpowered by the Krath, Ulic volunteered for the dangerous undercover mission of infiltrating the Krath and destroying them from within. Unfortunately, he was not powerful enough and eventually fell to the dark side of the Force.

Along with dark lord Exar Kun, they set off the Great Sith War. During this war, he conquered the Mandalorians and took them on as allies to help fight the Republic. At the end of the war, he murdered his brother Cay on Ossus and his connection to the force was disabled by Nomi Sunrider. After this, he helped the Republic defeat Exar Kun and the Mandalorians, ending the Great Sith War. Still a wanted man for his crimes against the Republic, he wandered from star system to star system, eventually found by the daughter of Nomi, Vima Sunrider, to whom he helped teach the ways of the Force.

1. Exar Kun

Exar Kun was a conflicted individual. Even as a Padawan under the teachings of master Vodo-Siosk Baas he was interested in knowledge that had been forbidden to students in the Jedi Order. His interest and curiosity in the Sith came with frequent admonishment by his master filled him with rage and led to his eventual fall to the Dark Side. He left the Jedi Order and traveled the galaxy looking for more information about the Sith and the dark side of the Force.

His travels took him to Onderon, where he met with the spirit of Freedon Nadd, Korriban, the ancient homeworld of the Sith, and Yavin 4, where he subjugated the Massassi creatures living there. During his campaign to destroy the Naddist cult of the Krath, and met Ulic Qel-Droma. Together with Qel-Droma, he commenced the Great Sith War against the Republic, one of the bloodiest wars the galaxy had ever seen.

Ultimately, he was betrayed by Qel-Droma and was defeated by the Republic on Yavin 4 and released his spirit before being killed. Centuries later, his spirit was discovered by Luke Skywalker, a Jedi Master by this time, as he searched for a Jedi training facility. Kun turned one of Luke’s padawans to the dark side but was defeated by Skywalker and the rest of his apprentices.

Follow Dork Side of the Force for all your Star Wars news, reviews, and more!