The HK-50 series assassin droid was a HK series assassin/protocol droid model designed by Revan after the Mandalorian Wars. Like their predecessors, these droids possessed incredible linguistic skills and highly sadistic tendencies. The primary function of the HK-50 droids, as they stated it, was to "facilitate communications and terminate hostilities." In accordance with the usual perceptions of HK model assassin droid, the best way to terminate hostilities was to kill everything present. HK-50 units were identical in appearance to HK-47, with the primary exception being that they are "a rather poor shade of durasteel" in color instead of HK-47's rusty red.
The HK-50 droids were first designed and manufactured in secret by the Jedi turned Sith Revan for his war against the Republic. Further modifying and improving the designs of his first HK model, HK-47, the HK-50s were to be used as saboteurs aboard Republic warships. The plan was halted and production ceased after the Dark Lord was captured by the Jedi Council. Sometime after Revan's disappearance, production continued again under the planning droid turned crime lord G0-T0, who discovered the HK-50 manufacturing facility hidden on Telos IV and reactivated it, disseminating the newly created HK-50 droids throughout the galaxy searching for the Jedi.
Three HK-50s on board the Visionary.
HK-50 assassin droids were often able to successfully pose as protocol droids and they infiltrated much of the Galactic Republic fleet in doing so. Negotiations where HK-50s were used to translate often did not conclude well, as their cruel and violent desires influenced their interpretations of the various spoken languages.
A hologram of an HK-50 unit on board the Harbinger.
After G0-T0 reactivated the HK-50s, he sent them out among the galaxy to hunt down Meetra Surik, who was believed to be the last of the Jedi. One HK-50 managed to infiltrate the Republic capital ship: Harbinger, when he managed to sabotage the ship's protocol droid, made it step on a frag mine, then stepped in as its replacement. The HK-50 was present when Surik was taken aboard as a passenger. The assassin droid forged orders that Surik report to the medical bay for automated and mandatory injections. The HK-50 had programmed a kolto tank to inject Surik with a dose of juma juice sedatives that would be lethal to a non-Jedi, but which would only render her unconscious. The HK-50 then locked the unconscious Surik in the ship's more armored cargo hold and began to sabotage the Harbinger, creating a cascade of failures that affected the communications, engines, and weapons, effectively disabling the ship. While the Sith forces arrived to collect Surik, the HK-50's plans were foiled when Kreia, flying in the Ebon Hawk, was brought on board the Harbinger and rescued Surik. The Ebon Hawk had been pursued by and fired upon by a Sith capital ship. When the Sith ship was investigated, cloaked Sith assassins boarded the Harbinger and seized it. Kreia and Surik escaped the ship on the Ebon Hawk, but the HK-50 unit tagged along. While the Ebon Hawk suffered further damage in the escape, the HK-50 hid itself in the ship's storage compartment, but became locked in. It managed to slice access to the door and escape, attacking the ship's two astromech droids: T3-M4 and 3C-FD.
The Ebon Hawk, despite severe damage, made its way to the Peragus Mining Facility. Once there, the HK-50 again posed as a protocol droid and began to sabotage the facility much like he did the Harbinger. These included: recording the maintenance officer's voice and access codes to pose as him; sending a signal to the Harbinger, before disabling most communication systems in and out of the facility; inciting a division in the miners over how to deal with the Jedi (as she had a bounty on her head), thus preventing coordinated resistance; access and modify the mining droids' behavior cores, causing them to attack the mining crew (as well as begin to repair and ready the Ebon Hawk for escape); slicing the medical bay's systems to cause the kolto tanks to inject all the patients with a lethal dose of sedatives (being sure the the dosage wouldn't kill the Jedi exile, only keep them unconscious); placing and detonating improvised explosives through out the facility, thus force an emergency lock down and gather the miners into emergency sections of the station (well away from any system controls); flooding the dormitories with toxic gases; then finish off any survivors using an Aratech 500 portable mining laser. By the time sedatives wore off and Surik regained consciousness, every member of the mining station has been killed.
Upon the reawakening of Surik, HK-50 continued to try and subvert their escape. It ambushed T3-M4 in the fuel depot and badly damaged him, to try and stop him from opening any escape routes for the exile, before disposing of him in the station's ship refueling tunnel; executing the station's maintenance officer to prevent him telling the station's access codes; slicing the fuel depot's systems to force it to lock down and start venting fuel onto exterior catwalks, severing access to the hanger bay; and trying to convince Surik to return to the medical bay to await "rescue". Despite delaying them until the arrival of the Harbinger, Surik and her companions successfully rejoined and began to execute an escape to reach the Ebon Hawk. This forced the HK-50 to confront the group directly. He was destroyed in the ensuing fight, and his vocabulator salvaged by Surik.
An HK-50 aiming at the Exile's shuttle on Telos IV.
Surik, and her companions encountered more HK-50s on the planet of Telos IV. While searching an abandoned military base, they found a damaged HK-50 near a collapsed tunnel. Upon reactivating him, he wordlessly followed them a short distance, before malfunctioning and exploding. Not long after Surik's team commandeered a shuttle to the planet's polar region, a team of HK-50s made it to the facility, trying to catch up to the exile. They discovered Surik's shuttle's course and dispatched another team of HK-50s to intercept them at the Jedi's destination.
Reaching Surik's intended destination first, the team of HK-50s shot down the Jedi's shuttle. Detecting that Surik was still alive, they quickly activated mines and prepared to fight their quarry if necessary. Much to the HK-50s' relief, Surik awakened soon after, as they only wanted to disable the ship and they had worried that Surik may have been seriously injured in the crash. They questioned why Surik would have come to the polar region, since their sensors could detect no reason. The HK-50s were defeated by Surik's team, and one of their control cluster components salvaged by Surik.
The HK-50s all exhibit a number of traits common to the HK series droids, including: cruelty, extreme blood-lust, misanthropy, a fair amount of (somewhat justified) arrogance, remarkable proficiency in assassination and combat, a rather deceptive, devious, opportunistic method of causing deaths (indirectly or otherwise), and were quite psychopathic.
Unlike most HK models, the HK-50s were designed around mass casuality attacks and sabotage. Originally intended to destroy Republic warships from the inside out, the HK-50s' 'philosophy of murder' was that murder is about "wanton slaughter" and "body count", causing as many casualties with the least amount of effort. In order to be more easily accepted onto and destroy Republic ships, they were left unpainted (as opposed to the rusty red colors of previous models), their vocabulators were improved by remove intimidating static, each had a powerful explosive installed in their chest as a last resort. They were programmed to be more polite, submissive acting (until their cover was blown), cooperative with one another to better coordinate attacks, and subtly destabilize negotiations to create violent outcomes.
Upon being reactivated by G0-T0, the HK-50s were repurposed to hunt down and capture the last Jedi, demonstrating extensive knowledge of how to combat Jedi. However, due to being ordered to bring Surik back in one piece, the HK-50s were far more gentle and merciful towards her than anyone else. The used violence only as a last resort to bring her in and expressing relief when she survived their ambush on Telos IV unharmed.
A noticeable flaw in their design is they are prone to hint their true nature to would be targets, via indirect boasting of their actions and abilities, often followed by claiming the hint was either a sarcastic remark, a turn of phrase, or a malfunction in their vocabulator. Also, despite being capable of performing the functions of a protocol droid to better disguise themselves as one, they were noted as not following commands very well.
An HK-50 Assassin Droid (left) and a Kellenech Sentinel Droid (right) prepare their upgraded weapons.
Though the HK-50 droid factory on Telos (In the Military Base Sublevel) was cut from the game due to deadline constraints, HK-47 was supposed to discover its location. HK-47 would have gone to the factory and, after shutting down the HK-50 production line, would have enlisted the help of the (not quite bug free) HK-51 droids. The HK-51 units would later come to HK-47's aid against their manufacturer, G0-T0, in a final confrontation on Malachor V.
While in the factory, HK-47 would discover the HK-50s' entire plan and more info including the Kossa Prime sector, a location where the HK-50s would normally operate. Commissioned to be built by Revan, they were shut down for a long time due to his capture by the Jedi. Later, they were reactivated by G0-T0 who ordered them to bring all Jedi to him. He added that if the Jedi would not go, to destroy them. The HK-50s themselves claim that they do not know how the factory on Telos came to be.
HK-50 was included as a part of the build-a-droid series of the Hasbro Star Wars toy line, where various pieces were included in packages to assemble upon collecting of all pieces.
- Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords: Prima Official Game Guide
- The New Essential Guide to Droids
- Star Wars Saga Edition Knights of the Old Republic Campaign Guide
- The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia
- Star Wars: The Official Starships & Vehicles Collection 22