The Darker was a being composed entirely of the hate, anger, fear and other negative emotions of the Arbran species, who purged their bodies of such ill feelings before leaving their homeworld Arbra behind to start anew. Their dark energy manifested into the Darker, a creature that had the ability to instill negative emotions in other beings, but was kept trapped within an ancient city with a force screen. In 3 ABY, the Rebel Alliance established a major base on Arbra, a development that the Darker attempted to use to his advantage to escape. However, after luring several Rebels into his lair, the Darker was killed by the Wookiee Chewbacca, who overcame the Darker's powers with the help of the droid C-3PO and several native Hoojibs.
Eons before the Galactic Civil War, the Arbrans who originally inhabited the planet Arbra developed technologically to the point where they discovered how to rid themselves of the emotions of anger, hatred, and fear. However, when they removed the dark energy from their bodies, those negative emotions manifested themselves into a sapient being that called himself the Darker. Still seeing the Darker as part of them, the Arbrans decided against destroying him—not long afterward, the Arbrans abandoned their homeworld to start anew on a new planet, leaving their dark aspect behind trapped behind a force screen in the ruins of a forgotten city. Over the millennia, a new telepathic species developed on Arbra called Hoojibs. The Hoojibs made their home beneath the surface of the planet, but had never entered the tunnel leading to the Darker's prison because they sensed great evil there.
Chewbacca throws the Darker into the force screen, destroying the entity.
In 3 ABY, following the Battle of Hoth, the Rebel Alliance established their new base of operations on Arbra. The Darker detected that the Rebels had the technology to free him from his prison, nd immediately got to work creating a fake distress call that could lure one of the planet's new visitors to his lair. Eventually, his call ensnared an astromech droid called R2-D2, which the Darker captured and disassembled intending to use the components to build a mechanism to disable the force screen which held him captive. R2-D2 was followed by several more Rebels investigating the droid's disappearance, including fellow droid C-3PO, the Wookiee Chewbacca, and several Hoojibs. The Darker intended to dismantle C-3PO as well, and used his powers over dark emotions to bring forth hatred in Chewbacca toward C-3PO, causing the Wookiee to turn on the droid.
While fleeing from the Wookiee through the city, C-3PO discovered an ancient Arbran text which revealed the Darker's weakness: the power of the force screen which held the Darker within the city would destroy him if he contacted it. Chewbacca then surprised the Darker by overcoming his induced hatred with C-3PO's help, after being reminded of his loyalty to his longtime companion Han Solo. With the help of the Hoojibs, Chewbacca then battled through the crushing fear the Darker attempted to subdue him with, fighting his way within reach of the being himself. Chewbacca then grasped the Darker and hurled him into the force screen, destroying the creature—the ensuing explosion razed the ancient city to the ground.
The Darker subdues Chewbacca by imposing fear in the Wookiee.
The Darker was aptly named—he was a creature of pure malice, evil and ill intent, having been formed solely out of the hatred, anger and fear of an entire civilization. Granted enormous control over the emotions of the beings around it, the Darker reveled in the power it had, and enjoyed being able to twist the minds of its victims. The Darker particularly enjoyed inducing fear in the minds of its targets, and experienced genuine surprise when his control was overcome. The Darker manifested as a floating green-skinned reptilian creature, wearing a flowing red robe.
Within the force screen that entrapped the Darker within the ancient Arbran city he called home, the creature had significant power over the same negative emotions that composed him. The Darker had the ability to instill fear, anger and hatred in any creature it came into contact with, either creating them from scratch, or twisting existing emotions into what he desired. For instance, the Darker could twist loyalty into violent hatred and anger. However, these powers were not absolute—with enough willpower, they could be overcome. And while the Darker appeared invulnerable to conventional attacks, he could be destroyed by the same energy that created him, the force screen that held him in place.
The Darker appeared as the antagonist of Star Wars (1977) 67, written by David Michelinie, illustrated by Ron Frenz and released in 1982.
- "ComicScan: Marvelously Silly Aliens" — Star Wars Galaxy Magazine 3
- The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia