Battle of Nelvaan

After defeating the Separatist forces on a rain-soaked planet, Obi-Wan Kenobi, holding the rank of High Jedi General, and Anakin Skywalker, a Jedi General, received orders to proceed to the Outer Rim world of Nelvaan. This directive followed reports from Republic Intelligence suggesting that General Grievous was a frequent visitor to, and was currently located on, Nelvaan. They immediately set off and arrived over Nelvaan with several Venator-class Star Destroyers. Aboard the Integrity, Commander Cody informed the two Jedi that no Confederate forces were in the vicinity, but that strange geothermal readings were emanating from Nelvaan's surface. They disembarked for the planet's surface in a CR20 transport, landing near an ice lake with a detachment of troops, before venturing into a forest. The two Jedi observed that several of the planet's creatures were agitated, and not due to the Republic's arrival. A giant horax suddenly appeared from the trees, easily killing the clone troopers. Skywalker, lightsaber drawn, slashed at one of the creature's feet, before plunging his weapon into the horax's head. However, once the battle's dust had settled, a group of Nelvaanians emerged, angered by Skywalker's actions.

The Jedi were transported to the village of Rokrul on Nelvaanian mounts. Upon arriving, Skywalker and Kenobi noticed that only women and children were present—no men were to be seen. The chieftain, Tuzes-Adaz, led the Jedi into a cave where they met with an elder Nelvaanian, Orvos. It became clear to Kenobi, who understood the Nelvaanese language, that Skywalker had interrupted Tuzes-Adaz's son's rite of passage by killing the horax. Kenobi translated Tuzes-Adaz's complaints, relaying to Skywalker that something was plaguing the Nelvaanian lands, and that the males had been sent out to confront it, only to vanish. Tuzes-Adaz's son was to be the next to embark on this venture, before Skywalker's intervention. Orvos then spoke, and although Kenobi was unsure of his translation, he informed Skywalker that he would have to "journey into fire," a prospect that startled the young Jedi.

That night, the Jedi joined the Nelvaanians around a campfire for a ceremony conducted by Orvos. The elder began his incantation, "summoning fire," attempting to discern the true meaning behind Skywalker's arrival on Nelvaan. Orvos threw some powders into the fire, and the smoke formed the figure of a hand—the Nelvaanese "Holt Kazed" of legend and prophecy was whispered around the fire, which Kenobi translated to "Ghost Hand." Kenobi suddenly removed Skywalker's right glove, revealing the prosthetic replacement limb. This prompted recognition and shock from Orvos—Skywalker was determined (whether or not by fate) to be the one to venture out, and determine what was plaguing the land. In a continuation of the Nelvaanian ritual, Skywalker was taken back into Orvos' cave, where bruise-leech crawlers were applied to his torso, arms, and face. Skywalker questioned the necessity of the ritual, but Kenobi insisted that he respect the Nelvaanian ways. As the crawlers etched markings across Skywalker's body, Orvos instructed him on the path to choose, which was delivered in the form of cryptic sayings (metaphors) about the "mother's cry" (wind), "mother's tears" (rivers), "mother's mouth" (underworld cave) and "her inner flame" (subterranean forces)—metaphors for the heroic quest or journey, as these clearly referenced as well "the Great Mother" (the natural planet).

The following morning, as Skywalker saddled his riding beast, Kenobi approached him, informing him that his journey would serve as his final Jedi Trial, the Trial of the Spirit he had yet to complete. Skywalker, confident, assured his former master that he would not fail in his task. As he ventured deeper into the Nelvaanian wilderness, he recalled the first of Orvos' instructions: "you must follow the wind, for it is the mother's cry." Following this guidance, Skywalker was led to a frozen river, which he then followed in accordance with the next instruction, "travel her tears; they are frozen with fear." This, in turn, led the young Jedi to a cave, which correlated with Orvos' third and final instruction: "enter the mother's mouth, to awake her inner flame."

Dismounting from his riding beast, Skywalker explored the cave on foot, carefully avoiding dangerous steam vents. As he cleared the steam that shrouded the cave, he noticed that the walls were covered with Nelvaanian markings, depicting their culture. Suddenly, Skywalker began to experience a powerful vision through the Force: The Nelvaanians were seen living their everyday lives, until an angular and insidious monster invaded, threatening their peace. One Nelvaanian warrior battled the beast, driving it back towards its lair, but as he stood victorious, his arm was bitten off by the monster. It was soon replaced by an angular and dark arm that resembled the monster, which the warrior then used to conquer all variety of monsters and opponents. The arm became stronger with each victory, and when it defeated its final opponent, a horax, it began to spiral out of control, consuming the world and enveloping all the other Nelvaanians. It also claimed the warrior's loved one, and then corrupted the warrior himself, transforming him into a terrifying figure—a veritable monster himself—with a triangular mouthpiece. As the vision moved into its final stage, Skywalker heard Amidala's voice cry out his name, before he was abruptly thrust back into reality.

Upon awakening, Skywalker found himself on the edge of a large cavern, facing a gargantuan siphon generator of Confederate design, responsible for maintaining the planet's perpetual winter. Climbing the cavern wall, Skywalker discovered a Confederate installation, buried deep within the Nelvaanian rock. Secretly infiltrating the facility, Skywalker overheard several of its Skakoan overseers discussing "experiments" initiated by Grievous (who, intrigued by religious similarities with his own people, the Kaleesh, had originally enticed the Nelvaanian warriors to the generator facility by leading them to believe that he was the prophesied figure from their own mythology). Anakin soon came across several Nelvaan warriors, stored in tanks, mutated to greatly increased sizes, and with blaster cannons replacing their right arms. The young Jedi then moved into the area in which the Nelvaanians were mutated—and watched on as the Techno Union scientists had an untainted Nelvaanian, named Harvos, prepared for the trans-formative process. As the Nelvaanian's tank began to fill with 3L41UH7 mutagenic serum, Skywalker leaped into action, dispatching the droids guarding the area. The engineer responded by activating a squad of the mutant Nelvaanians. As they approached Skywalker and raised their weapons, the young Jedi pleaded for them to stop, as he did not wish to inflict any harm upon them.

Nonetheless, the mutated warriors opened fire on Skywalker, and he was forced to defend himself, severing their weapons and sending them flying around the room with Force Pushes. Harvos, who was still being mutated at the time, was enraged by the plight of his fellow Nelvaanians, and broke out of the tank of his own accord. Tackling one of his mutated tribesmen, Harvos pulled a strapped-on device off the Nelvaanian's chest, pulling them out of their mind-controlled stupor. Harvos attempted to explain this to Skywalker, but he failed to catch on. Harvos demonstrated once more, and it was all the prompt the young Jedi needed to take his lightsaber to the devices, swiftly and surely subduing all of the mutants. His tribesmen freed, Harvos instructed them to run rampant through the Confederate base, while pointing out to Skywalker the crystal in the middle of an energy chamber powering the installation. Immediately understanding the Nelvaanian, the young Jedi set about his new task.

Rushing through the base, destroying enemy droids as he went, Skywalker climbed to the top of the base's interior, and then leapt onto the main power generator's housing. Hanging upside down from the housing, he realized that he would not be able to strike at the crystal, as it was guarded by some sort of protective field. He was, however, able to put his robotic arm through the field, although it caused him a tremendous amount of pain. Summoning the crystal to his hand, Skywalker crushed it, and the resultant explosion destroyed his prosthetic replacement. Other explosions rocked all around the base, and Skywalker narrowly avoided death by nimbly leaping away to safety. By destroying the siphon generator, Skywalker instantaneously reversed the planet's climate, halting the winds, thawing the rivers, and allowing Nelvaan's sun to shine through the atmosphere once more.

The enraged Nelvaanian warriors then rampaged through the facility, tearing battle droids apart with their bare hands, and freeing their comrades from captivity. Because they had been chemically enlarged, they had a significant advantage in the battle. The Skakoan combat engineers at the base fled for the safety of their Hardcell-class interstellar transport, which had been parked above the base on the surface. Emerging from a fault in the ground, Skywalker saw the Skakoan engineers fleeing towards their Hardcell-class transport. Incensed by what he had witnessed in the base, the young Jedi sent the Skakoans flying using the truncated stump of his arm and the Force, pushing them off ravines and away from their escape craft. However, struggling with an ounce of his life, the head Skakoan attempted to pull his blaster on Skywalker, but the young Jedi, hearing the click of the blaster, rounded on him with a Force choke, damaging his pressure suit and causing his body to decompress.

The Nelvaanians, seeing their savior bereft of his "ghost hand," pulled off their cannon-equipped replacement arms, mimicking Skywalker's new found disability. They then saluted him, chanting "Holt Kazed" repeatedly. Skywalker then touched their minds through the Force, convincing them to return to their village. Upon their return, their appearance startled the Nelvaanian women, but when Harvos' child recognized him, despite his gross mutation, the returned warriors were reconciled with their families. As the Nelvaanians celebrated that night, Skywalker opted to watch on, and Kenobi wished to discuss his experiences in the cave. The young Jedi vaguely deflected the question, however, and questioned whether or not the Nelvaanians would ever be able to recover. Kenobi believed that they would, as long as they accepted themselves for what they were. In completing his Trial of the Spirit, Skywalker had demonstrated that he was indeed fit to be a Jedi Knight.

Following these events, Kenobi and Skywalker left the planet to a MedStar-class frigate orbiting the planet Belderone, where they resided for four days to check on their Twi'lek captive Fa'ale Leh. Onboard the frigate, Kenobi received a transmission from Jedi Masters Mace Windu and Yoda as well as Supreme Chancellor Palpatine, in which he was informed of CIS Count Dooku's location on the planet Tythe. Though Skywalker was reluctant to continue being separated from his wife Padmé Amidala, he nevertheless joined his former Master in the search. However, little did they know that the battle was a diversion by Palpatine (under the guise of Darth Sidious) to keep them away from the Core Worlds in advance of the massive Separatist invasion of Coruscant.

The Battle of Nelvaan first appeared in the Star Wars: Clone Wars television series. Due to the battle happening prior to the Battle of Coruscant, the battle and the recapture of Tythe, which appeared in the novel Labyrinth of Evil by James Luceno, contradict each other since Kenobi and Skywalker go to Tythe before Coruscant, instead of Nelvaan (Dooku only pauses briefly at Nelvaan). Initially, Leland Chee retconned this by stating that the Nelvaan events occurred after Tythe, but this was overwritten by The New Essential Chronology, which fixed the events the other way around. Therefore, this article includes information from The New Essential Chronology, which integrates details from both Labyrinth of Evil and Clone Wars.