The Darkknell system was located in the Outer Rim Territories and Western Reaches regions of the galaxy, within the Grumani sector. The star system was situated in grid square M-17 of the Standard Galactic Grid and was connected the Hydian Way super-hyperroute, with another hyperspace route linking it to the celestial body Sanrafsix. The star system contained the astronomical object Darkknell.
In 231 BBY, former Nihil Tempest Runner Pan Eyta attacked the Galactic Republic correctional vessel Restitution after discovering that his nemesis, Tempest Runner Lourna Dee, was imprisoned onboard. During the attack, Dee launched fellow inmate Sestin Blin, whom she had befriended, off of the Restitution in an escape pod. The battle ended with Dee killing Eyta and reforming her Tempest, claiming the Restitution as her new flagship. Afterward, the Republic Defense Coalition patrol ship Moonseeker found the pod in the Darkknell system upon tracing its distress beacon.
The Darkknell system was first mentioned in the current Star Wars canon on a galactic map included in the January 29, 2016 StarWars.com article "Where in the Galaxy Are the Worlds of Star Wars: The Force Awakens?" by Mark Newbold. It made its first proper appearance in the 2021 audio drama The High Republic: Tempest Runner, written by Cavan Scott for the Star Wars: The High Republic multimedia project's Phase I. The work was also the first to confirm that the location was in fact a star system.
In the Star Wars Legends continuity, the Darkknell system first appeared in the novella "Interlude at Darkknell," which was co-authored by Timothy Zahn and Michael A. Stackpole and published in the 1999 anthology Tales from the New Republic. It was subsequently named the Knel'char system by Essential Atlas Extra: The Knight Errant Gazetteer, a 2010 StarWars.com article co-authored by Daniel Wallace, Jason Fry, and John Jackson Miller that served as a supplement to the 2009 reference book The Essential Atlas. The system was then given its first visual depiction in the third issue of the Deluge story arc of the Star Wars: Knight Errant comic book series, which was written by Miller, penciled by Iban Coello, and published by Dark Horse Comics on October 19, 2011.
The audio drama Tempest Runner contained the first canonical appearance of the Darkknell system.
The Darkknell system was first mentioned in the current Star Wars canon on a galactic map included in the January 29, 2016 StarWars.com article "Where in the Galaxy Are the Worlds of Star Wars: The Force Awakens?" by Mark Newbold. It made its first proper appearance in the 2021 audio drama The High Republic: Tempest Runner, written by Cavan Scott for the Star Wars: The High Republic multimedia project's Phase I. The work was also the first to confirm that the location was in fact a star system.
In the Star Wars Legends continuity, the Darkknell system first appeared in the novella "Interlude at Darkknell," which was co-authored by Timothy Zahn and Michael A. Stackpole and published in the 1999 anthology Tales from the New Republic. It was subsequently named the Knel'char system by Essential Atlas Extra: The Knight Errant Gazetteer, a 2010 StarWars.com article co-authored by Daniel Wallace, Jason Fry, and John Jackson Miller that served as a supplement to the 2009 reference book The Essential Atlas. The system was then given its first visual depiction in the third issue of the Deluge story arc of the Star Wars: Knight Errant comic book series, which was written by Miller, penciled by Iban Coello, and published by Dark Horse Comics on October 19, 2011.
- Star Wars: The Force Awakens Beginner Game
- The High Republic Free Digital Sampler