Yun

Yun was a Force-sensitive Epicanthix male born in 17 BBY on the planet Panatha. The pampered son of a wealthy mineral baron, Yun had everything he wanted—as a result, he lacked patience and level-headedness. To develop such traits, which were needed in the family business, Yun was sent to the planet Bunduki around the year 3 ABY to learn from the Followers of Palawa. However, after spending a year with the ancient monastic order, the Palawa monks refused to teach him the secrets of the ancient martial art Teräs Käsi, thinking him to be unprepared for such skills. Yun abandoned his education and returned home to the disappointment of his father.

Yun's father decided that his son should spend more time with the baron's fiancée, Sariss, the Prophetess of the Church of the Dark Side. Soon, Yun started learning the secrets of the dark side of the Force from Sariss. While listening to her teachings, Yun eventually fell in love with the Prophetess. Sariss, realizing this, seduced Yun, but she told him that they could not be together because of Sariss's vow to Yun's father. Manipulated by the Prophetess, Yun killed his own father and succumbed to the dark side. He then apparently abandoned, if not killed, his mother and sister. After that, Yun pledged his family's assets to Sariss's Master, the Miraluka Dark Jedi Jerec, and joined Jerec's cadre of Dark Jedi. Besides Sariss and Jerec himself, the cadre included the former Jedi Maw, the insane Twi'lek Boc Aseca, and the Sithspawn Gorc and Pic, also known as the Brothers of the Sith. Yun then constructed his own yellow-bladed lightsaber.

Serving under Jerec and participating in many senseless slayings, Yun became very cold-blooded, with killing becoming normal for him. Soon, egged on by the Prophetess, Yun decided to wreak vengeance on his Palawan masters. He took a squad of stormtroopers and his comrade Dark Jedi to Bunduki, where he killed his former teachers. On Bunduki, during the height of the carnage that Yun had started, his men met the twenty-five-thousand-year-old master of Teräs Käsi, ex-Emperor's Hand Arden Lyn. However, he after some time he began experiencing countless nightmares in which he killed many people. He also noticed that Sariss was not responding to his feelings and Yun started to doubt if his actions were right, but Sariss suppressed such thoughts in her apprentice.

With the death of Emperor Palpatine in 4 ABY, Jerec started thinking of plans to rebuild the collapsing Empire, with himself as the new Emperor. In order for his plans to come to fruition, however, he needed the power of the Valley of the Jedi, a Force nexus formed in the final battle of the New Sith Wars more than a thousand years ago. The souls of numerous Jedi and Sith were trapped in the valley as a result of the explosion of the thought bomb, a powerful weapon detonated by Lord Kaan, one of the last leaders of the Sith during that period. If Jerec could control the essence of the valley, he would possess the great power that he felt he needed to achieve his goals. As one of his servants, Yun helped the Miraluka Dark Jedi in his quest.

Somehow, Jerec learned that the Jedi Qu Rahn might have known the location of the valley. In 5 ABY The Miraluka tracked Rahn to the planet Dorlo and ordered his capture. Yun, his mentor Sariss, and Maw led the landing party, which consisted of two skimmers. It was important for Yun to be invited to participate in that mission next to his mentor, and be treated as an equal. At first their prey evaded them, and Cee Norley ambushed their skimmers, destroying the one carrying the Stormtroopers; the Dark Jedi neutralized her and shot her, with Yun keeping on firing, mad with the thought that anyone would dare to ambush them.

The Rebels managed to reach their transport and attack the remaining skimmer carrying the Dark Jedi as it escaped the planet; Yun ordered their helmsman to steady the skimmer which however crushed on a wall, with Yun bruised his thigh. Rahn and his Rebel companions—the young pilot Duno Dree, the Klatooinian technologist Rolanda Gron and the linguistics expert Nij Por Ral—however, could not escape from Jerec's Super Star Destroyer, the Vengeance, and soon they were captured and brought aboard.

Rahn and the Rebels were then interrogated. Each time Rahn refused to answer the question Jerec asked him, the Miraluka ordered his Dark Jedi to kill one of Rahn's men, with Yun being instructed to kill Nij Por Ral. Before doing so, the young darksider asked Rahn about the location of the valley himself. While Por Ral begged for mercy, passing the responsibility to Rahn, the Jedi refused to answer, and Yun struck Por Ral with his lightsaber. However, perhaps owing to his inexperience combined with the stress knowing that all were looking at him, he accidentally hit the linguist's shoulder instead. Embarrassed by his failure to make a clean kill, Yun struck once again, this time killing the screaming Rebel, making Jerec to comment that the man's mangled body was "not very pretty".

Eventually, Rahn was left alone. He tried to provoke Jerec into killing him, but Jerec probed his mind instead and discovered that although Qu Rahn did not know the location of the valley, his friend Morgan Katarn, killed by Jerec several years ago, did and had kept the map leading to it in his home on the planet Sulon. In his agony, Rahn sought Yun's eyes, who turned them away. Realizing that Jerec had learned his secret, Rahn, using the Force, stole Yun's lightsaber from the youth's belt and attacked the Dark Jedi. Having lost his weapon, Yun barely avoided Rahn's blow and then could only watch as the Jedi Master easily dealt with the far more experienced Boc, Sariss, Maw, and Gorc, one by one, until Jerec intervened and killed Rahn; Yun managed to pull Boc from Rahn's flurry, after seeing that the Twi'lek's tendon had been severed.

Jerec then sent Boc, Sariss and Yun to Sulon to find the map about which he learned from Rahn's mind. They found it embedded on the ceiling of the Katarn homestead, removed the tiles, numbered and loaded them on their shuttle on . He taunted Boc who complained about his aching leg, which hadn't healed completely, reminding him that should Jerec realize any of them became useless, he would punish or dismiss them. Yun hoped that the legendary Valley should exist, so that all this work wasn't for nothing. With the final sled loaded, Sariss explained them that they would take them to the Government House located in the city of Barons Hed, in order to be deciphered by the droid information broker 8t88, whom Jerec hired. Yun thought that 8t88 eventually would make good lightsaber practice, before Sariss reminded him that Jerec needed the droid.

8t88 deciphered the map and sent a digital copy to Jerec on board the Vengeance. Sariss then sent Yun back to Sulon with a detachment of Stormtroopers, to destroy the original Map and to protect the secret of the valley's location from anyone else. However, at that moment the son of Morgan Katarn and an aspiring Jedi, Kyle Katarn, who was trying to stop Jerec, appeared in the tower and started asking 8t88 about the map. Yun, rode an elevator down from the roof of the tower creating a distraction that allowed 8t88 to escape. Yun realized that the Rebel was the presence Boc sensed earlier in the farm. He then destroyed the Map, and used Force Destruction to knock Katarn into the wall, threw his blaster away with the Force, and mocked him, forcing the Jedi into a duel.

However, the inexperienced Yun was quickly defeated by Katarn, who had a lightsaber of his own, and fencing experience. The duel ended when Katarn struck Yun on the arm. Defeated, the young Dark Jedi told Katarn to kill him, but the latter spared the defenseless youth's life. Surprised and feeling that something was right in Katarn's action at the same time, Yun started to question if mercy was really "weakness" as he had been taught, and thought that he would disappoint Sariss. He used the Force to retrieve his lightsaber, which he had lost during the duel, and escaped the tower by levitating through the roof. But not before threatening Katarn that this weakness would be his downfall.

Yet, his encounter with Katarn made Yun's long-suppressed regrets to resurface. Yun was tormented by dreams of himself killing many people, including Nij Por Ral who begged for mercy, which Yun ignored, desiring status and recognition. This was followed by shame for his failure to kill him with the first strike. Then he proceeded to his father, mother, and sister. In them, Yun's lightsaber was transformed into an ancient-styled metallic sword. The dreams raised questions in Yun about his path.

Rejoining his dark side comrades on the Vengeance, Yun traveled along with the rest of Jerec's forces to Ruusan, the planet where the Valley of the Jedi was located. There, they discovered a settlement called "Fort Nowhere". By Jerec's orders, Sariss took Yun and Boc there under the guise of parlaying with the locals, while their real intent was to learn if the people who lived in the fort knew about the valley's location. While on the assault shuttle, Yun wondered what made the dissidents to relocate to such an awful place; Boc remarked that for them the Empire was even worse for them. While one gunner considered taking the shuttle down, Marie Peeno decided to let them land, attracting a lot of curious bystanders. After Sariss made an example of a settler, many of them started to disperse, and Yun shouted that it would be healthier if they stayed with them.

While Sariss "negotiated" with Mayor Byron Devo III, Yun and Boc looked around the fort. They eventually discovered that the fort-dwellers had no knowledge of the valley and, upon hearing that, Jerec ordered them to destroy the settlement. Soon, a battle broke out on the planet. Commanded by Sariss, the Imperial forces captured or killed almost all of the people from the fort, though some managed to escape. Yun participated in the battle and at its end, he was given the task of destroying the colonists' subsurface farms, after which he returned to the Vengeance.

Aboard the Vengeance, Yun once again began having one of his nightmares, waking up in horror and activating his lightsaber. He was approached by Boc, who said that Jerec needed him and his "scrawny presence". Yun made a threatening step forward, causing a laugh from Boc, who advised to save his energy for later. He asked Boc if he ever dreamed about blood, which was what kept him warm every night.

Sensing self-doubt in him, Jerec encouraged him to focus on hate and fear, especially fear of failure so that he will avoid it. Initially elated to be necessary to his Master, Yun was very disappointed when his task was only to accompany Jerec planetside and oversee the excavation works at the valley's caves filled with archaeological artifacts -- "junk" according to Yun. Specifically, Yun was to replace Major Vig whose team afflicted by the spirits of the Jedi and Sith that scared the stormtroopers and halted the excavation. The young Jedi accompanied his Master and savored every one of the few precious moments he could have with him: the attention stance and salutes from the officers, boarding the shuttle and being escorted by two TIEs to the planet; in a rare opportunity when Jerec showed his charm, he narrated many amusing stories along the way. Following this trip, all Yun's doubts and frustrations temporarily faded away.

The next morning, Yun had his first shower and breakfast brought by a droid, but not without complaining to it for the low temperature. He met a Stormtrooper at the base of the newly-constructed , and on their way down a ravine to meet Major Vig, they were attacked by one of the spirits, or "screamers" as Jerec's troops had dubbed them. Yun took advantage of the intense concentration of the Force, shaped it with his thought and attacked the banshee momentarily; only to return angrier with more like it, with Yun's guide running frightened. Suddenly, he heard a strange but familiar voice in his head. Wondering at first if it was one of the screamers, he listened as that voice told him to think about the extent to which the spirits had suffered in order to make them go away: by showing empathy and understanding their millennial plight. Successfully exorcising several spirits this way Yun felt his anger subsiding and a sense of warmth.

In the Valley of the Jedi, Yun met Major Vig's team, who considered him an exalted mystical being --some of them never met Jerec or a Jedi before, and welcomed him in relief. The Major took him to a tour around the ancient storerooms filled and demonstrated some ancient technology from the New Sith Wars, before inviting him to a formal lunch with some officers in a repurposed storeroom. After the meal a screamer possessed a Lieutenant, and in his attempt to reach out to the spirit, he was possessed by it, and felt a strong entity pulling out his being; unable to react, Yun listened as the same voice telling him to reach out. Yun's mind welcomed the spirit who rushed in, showed understanding and hope for freedom, soothing the tortured entity. Yun initially thought the voice was Nij Por Ral's but it revealed it was Qu Rahn himself. Rahn warned that the fate of billions of lives were dependent on the events that would take place on Ruusan and that Yun would play an important part in it, a part that was entirely up to himself to choose. Rahn also informed Yun that, deep inside of him, the light side of the Force was weak, but still present.

Days later, the necropolis experienced a worldquake which caused pieces of rock falling. While Yun would normally find the exit, he unconsciously followed the screams and voices and found a rescue team and droids attempting to remove a large piece of rock the fell on top of an Imperial called Jaru. Under the influence of the light side, Yun ordered the men to grab Jaru from his ankles, closed his eyes, and used the Force to lift the rock, even though he hadn't attempted telekinesis with objects of that size. Momentarily losing his concentration, he saw the rock falling, thinking that Jaru was still there, only to see the man thanking him. After that event, Rahn briefly contacted him again, telling him that the dark side was not the only source of power. Yun thought on Rahn's words, and later that night, he slept well for the first time with a smile on his face. After that event, something changed inside of Yun—a fact that did not escape Sariss's eyes, though she did not understand what the reason was.

A short time later, Yun was called by Sariss to her office, who told him that Jerec acknowledged that Yun did well with the rock. Despite being driven closer to the light side of the Force, Yun was still pleased with such words. Sariss then gave Yun his next assignment—to find out what happened to Patrol Zulu, Able, Mary 341, which was long overdue; searches returned nothing and Sariss would need Yun's brain to determine what happened. His previous task having been given to Boc, Yun toured Aagon's and his missing troopers' quarters and noticed that they kept sphere-shaped organisms as hunting trophies, which the other troopers didn't know what they were. He took an AT-AT and an AT-ST and set off on the mission, preferring the vehicles both for their practicality and their imposing presence. He rode the Scout with Second Lieutenant Momo.

Still finding no trace, and remembering the hunting trophies of Aagon's men, Yun determined that they often left their authorized area, and turned his vehicles to the northern smooth hardpan, where the native species were rumored to live. They reached a pile of rocks where Yun could sense that there had been a battle, although not when. A company of Stormtroopers disembarked from the AT-AT and fanned out. Yun oversaw from the top of his Scout, and looking at a mesa off to the west, he also felt a presence in the Force. One of those minds was known to him: Kyle Katarn, watching and waiting, whose presence was explained only by the fact that he came to stop Jerec and everything Yun worked for. His thoughts were interrupted with the discovery of a helmet bearing the tag RW957, confirming Yun's theory about the fate of the squad; Momo suggested they had time to go after the Rebels who killed the squad, but Yun, without revealing his thoughts, ordered to camp and continue next morning, even though they had two more hours of daylight. He pondered the new-found concept of mercy, and the knowledge after interacting with the screamers: seeing them as personalities instead of forces to be exploited by Jerec. Katarn's will to stop Jerec's dark plans did not seem wrong, and the best thing he could do was to to repay his debt to Katarn by not mentioning his presence to the troops.

Yun later was in the tower with his fellows and Jerec when the Dark Jedi Master captured Katarn's partner and love, Jan Ors, and let Maw against Katarn to lure him to the dark side. Katarn did not show the mercy he had shown to Yun earlier, and killed Maw on a landing pad near Jerec's personal cargo ship, the Sulon Star. Jerec introduced Sariss and Boc to Katarn, making a mention to Yun; Katarn boasted his victory over him, which was dismissed by Jerec for showing mercy later, a sign of weakness, a mistake he didn't repeat with Maw. Jerec tried to turn Katarn to the dark side by persuading him to kill Ors. Katarn managed to hold off his temptation for power, and stay with the light, and Yun watched as his Master pushed the Jedi back, who retreated. Yun felt uneasy when Jerec noticed that he had been strangely silent all this time watching, and could only say that he was waiting for his Master's orders. Jerec then sent the doomed ship towards the surface and ordered his three remaining servants to find and kill Katarn.

Katarn managed to escape from the Sulon Star in his own ship, the Moldy Crow, though he crashed the vessel in the process. He was later found unconscious by Yun, Boc and Sariss and pulled outside from the ship into the night air. As Katarn lay paralyzed, Yun was annoyed with Boc's sadistic taunts and asked Sariss to order him to stop, getting the comment from Boc that he was getting soft. Sariss then attempted to execute Katarn with her lightsaber; but Yun, whose body seemed to act on its own, blocked Sariss's blow, which deflected against him, inflicting a mortal wound. Before dying, Yun told Sariss that Katarn, as a Jedi, did not deserve to be executed, but instead should be granted a battle. Seeing a bright light before his eyes, Yun was redeemed and returned to the light side before he drew his final breath. After killing Sariss, Katarn thanked him before running after Jerec both for his father and Yun's memory.

With his lightsaber destroyed, Katarn took up the fallen Dark Jedi's lightsaber in order to defend himself from Sariss, whom he eventually slew. With Yun and Sariss dead and Maw, Gorc, and Pic all killed by Katarn earlier, Boc and Jerec were left as the only living members of Jerec's Dark Jedi cadre. Using Yun's saber, Katarn descended further into the valley and killed them as well.

Ultimately, Yun had played his part, indirectly saving billions of lives, as predicted by Rahn. By blocking Sariss's blow, he had saved Kyle Katarn, enabling him to locate the Valley of the Jedi, slay Jerec, and save the galaxy. Following the death of Jerec, Katarn continued to use Yun's lightsaber for several more years and used it to duel his former apprentice Mara Jade when he was corrupted by the dark side until he eventually constructed his own.

Being only twenty-two years old, Yun was very arrogant, impatient and always wanted to prove himself to his Masters, especially Sariss, whom he truly and deeply loved. His path to the Dark Side was fueled by his thirst for status and self-importance, and zeal for recognition from his peers. Because of such an attitude, he was considered the most wild of Jerec's cadre. One of Yun's ways of showing his worthiness was the participation in many slayings. Killing became normal for Yun, and he eventually found out that he wanted more. However, he soon realized that Sariss was not responding to his feelings, as she in fact considered him no more than a son. Yun then started to doubt if being beside his love was worth the price he had paid for it. Such thoughts were eventually suppressed by Sariss, but Yun still was plagued by self-doubt and questioned the righteousness of his path several more times; in some moments—like being shown attention by Jerec and spending time with him—such doubts disappeared and the price seemed worth paying.

In his arrogance, Yun felt contempt for the non-Force-sensitives, and considered the stormtroopers working with him "brainless faceplates". He was mad with the thought that anyone would dare to ambush the Dark Jedi and continued to fire maniacally at Cee Norley even after she was dead. As for 8t88, the droid that did Jerec's business during his quest for the Valley of the Jedi, Yun thought of it as target for lightsaber practice. Still, Yun was severely worried with the amount of stormtrooper casualties during the battle of Fort Nowhere, until Sariss assured him that that was what they were paid for and asked Yun to be less sensitive. However, when Yun saw that stormtroopers were scared by the ghosts of the Jedi, he asked Major Vig to execute several of them. Vig refused and Yun found his method of compassion "interesting." Qu Rahn provided a final catalyst for Yun to make a long chain of seemingly minor decisions, which, when taken together, formed one important decision—to save Katarn, even though at the moment he blocked Sariss's blow, Yun did not fully understand when and how he decided to do that; he only felt himself respond. He only seemed to realize why he saved the Jedi after Sariss struck him with her lightsaber.

Yun also developed a unique attitude towards his fellow Dark Jedi. For instance, he found Maw's talent to sense fear distasteful, likening him to a Nek battle dog sniffing its prey. Yun himself considered his demonstrations of power more "elegant". He was also irritated with how Sariss sneaked on him and answering surprising him. As for his master Jerec he thought he had many unpleasant qualities, but could be very charming when he chose to, and enjoyed being in Jerec's company. He basked in the glory reflected from his Master, when stormtroopers jumped out of the way and officers came to attention upon seeing him. Nonetheless he knew that Jerec saw him and his peers as tools; for all their powers, Jerec would promptly punish or throw them away anytime he couldn't make more use of them.

Yun was a light-skinned man with black hair and dark brown eyes. Yun's vanity was exemplified with wearing a carefully combed hair even during field missions; he even used his telekinetic powers to protect his hair from the wind.

Despite being the newest addition to Jerec's Dark Jedi and spending only a year with them, Yun became a skilled Force-user, although he mostly used non aggressive Force powers. He was especially adept at telekinesis, as indicated by his ability to Force-throw Katarn's blaster and then to levitate through the roof after his duel with the Jedi while summoning his lightsaber at the same time. As a subtle demonstration of his powers, he was able to make the skimmer's slipstream avoid his carefully combed hair and to lead the helmsman into believing that his body was itching. Yun's telekinetic powers seemed to increase even more when he tried to lift the rock the size of a hovercraft from Jaru, not thinking about the dark side at all.

Yun's Force sense ability understood the Force as a constant gentle vibrating hum, notably different in the vicinity of the Valley of the Jedi. His senses were less developed and sometimes failed him: he hated how Sariss sneaked behind him, although he later sensed Katarn's presence on Ruusan. Yun was also a practitioner of Force speed, Force blinding, Force Jump and various incarnations of Mind trick, including Force Persuasion.

Yun's most notable offensive power was a somewhat weaker version of Force Destruction, which he used to attack Katarn. Instead of killing Katarn instantly or draining all his powers as Destruction usually did, Yun's attack only threw the Jedi into the wall. While on Ruusan, Yun also tried to take advantage of the Force nexus, finding easy to shape his thought and hurling it towards the wailing spirits, before trying another tactic suggested by the spirit of Rahn—to sense their pain.

Yun could read, write and speak two languages, his native Epicant and the widespread Basic. He was proficient with blaster pistols and some other simple weapons. He also managed to build his own lightsaber, which was a unique weapon. It came equipped with a so-called "modified pistol grip"—meaning that carefully cast projections echoed the Human hand and gave his index finger a place to rest. Not only that, but the grip was made from a highly malleable "live" polymer that explored the user's hand and morphed into a solid, highly customized grip. When Katarn took the lightsaber, he immediately fell in love with it.

Yun's skill with the lightsaber was not as good, however, as shown by the fact that he was defeated by Katarn, who had acquired his own lightsaber only hours before their duel; and by Yun's failure to kill Por Ral with one strike.

Yun's first appearance was in Star Wars: Jedi Knight: Dark Forces II, a 1997 first-person shooter video game published by LucasArts. In the live action cutscenes of the game, Yun was portrayed by Rafer Weigel, who also provided his voice for Yun's CGI appearances. Yun later appeared in Dark Forces: Rebel Agent and Dark Forces: Jedi Knight, the 1998 novella adaptations of the game, as well as in the Dark Forces: Rebel Agent audio drama and the Dark Forces: Jedi Knight audio drama, which, in turn, adapted the novels into an audio drama in which Yun was voiced by Timothy Kuhlmann.

Yun's likeness was later reused in Jedi Knights standalone expansion pack Star Wars: Jedi Knight: Mysteries of the Sith to represent a type of statue which the player encounters in the last two levels of the game. Yun is also a playable character in multiplayer modes of both Mysteries of the Sith and Jedi Knight: Dark Forces II itself.

In the non-canonical ending of Dark Forces II, where Kyle Katarn has chosen the dark side, Yun remains on the dark side as well. He is then sent to stop Katarn from reaching the valley and claiming it for his own needs. Yun faces Katarn, who has managed to land the Moldy Crow safely near the crash site of the Sulon Star. There, Katarn corrects his "earlier mistake" and kills Yun.

Yun's dialogue before his first duel with Katarn is portrayed differently between the game, the novel Dark Forces: Rebel Agent,and the audio adaptation. In the game and the novel he says a single line, although it differs between the sources. In the audio drama, Yun and Katarn engage in a much longer dialogue that continues throughout their fight.

Yun's death is shown slightly different in Star Wars: Jedi Knight: Dark Forces II, Dark Forces: Jedi Knight, and the Dark Forces: Jedi Knight audio drama. In the game, he blocks Sariss's blow with his lightsaber, and she accidentally deflects her lightsaber into Yun. Before dying, Yun tells her that Katarn is a Jedi and deserves a battle. In the novella, Yun hits Sariss in the arm and she instinctively strikes him in self-defense on the shoulder.

In the audio version, Yun blocks Sariss's blow and informs her that he intends to save Katarn, seeing the wrong in their ways so far. Sariss does not side with her former student and deliberately strikes him to "help" his confusion. Sariss's action angers Katarn, prompting him to pick up Yun's saber and attack Sariss. After Katarn kills Sariss, he checks on Yun, who is still breathing. The two have one more brief exchange of dialogue, before Yun passes away.

Additionally, the Dark Forces: Rebel Agent audio drama omits the scene of Yun's sloppy execution of Nij Por Ral, and Rahn's subsequent attack on the Dark Jedi.