Cylo

Doctor Cylo was a cybernetics expert who came to believe that technological superiority was inevitable and that mystical elements like the Force were outdated. He began researching new life forms that relied on technological augmentations, using smuggled alien parts and cybernetic upgrades. He eventually experimented on himself, creating a map of his personality with memory banks and calculation systems to achieve immortality. This allowed him to grow multiple upgraded bodies; when one died, another was activated at his research base, with no memory of the previous body's experiences. By the time of the Battle of Yavin, Cylo had already lost three bodies and was using Cylo-IV.

Cylo's work began before the Clone Wars, funded by the Astarte line of Celanon. However, their support of the Separatist Alliance during the war led to reprisals from the Galactic Empire after the war. The Astartes entrusted their children, Morit and Aiolin, to Cylo to protect them. Cylo incorporated the two children into his experiments, transforming them into cybernetically enhanced warriors.

Before the Clone Wars concluded, Darth Sidious, the Dark Lord of the Sith who declared himself Galactic Emperor when the war ended, took notice of Cylo. He was among the scientists tasked with saving [Darth Vader](/article/anakin_skywalker], his critically injured apprentice, after his duel with Obi-Wan Kenobi on Mustafar. After a long night of operations, the scientists successfully saved Vader's life by replacing his lost limbs with prosthetics and placing him in mechanical armor that allowed him to breathe despite his severely damaged lungs.

Intrigued by the scientists who had saved his apprentice, the Emperor retained them to see what they could achieve without the scrutiny of the Republic and the Jedi. Cylo continued his research and experiments with the Emperor's full support and funding. He enhanced Morit and Aiolin with the best genetic augmentations and integrated advanced technology into their bodies. He also trained them in lightsaber combat, giving them abilities similar to the Jedi and Sith without the need for the Force.

Besides Morit and Aiolin, Cylo developed other subjects, including Commander Karbin, a cybernetically enhanced Mon Calamari. Karbin, a Clone Wars veteran injured when his ship was lost near the end of the conflict, spent eighteen years on life support before Cylo upgraded him about two years before the Battle of Yavin. He modeled Karbin's cybernetics after General Grievous, the Separatist droid army leader he admired. This allowed Karbin to wield four lightsabers like Grievous, and Cylo added propulsors to his back for combat advantage. Cylo also took an interest in Tulon, a brilliant scientist involved in high-level research and development for the Empire, including the Tarkin Initiative and the Death Star project. Cylo enhanced her cerebellum and connected it to drone-droids, which she controlled through distributed intelligence. These drones provided her with weapons and shield generators, allowing her to see and fight. As a result, Tulon adopted the name "Voidgazer." Cylo was particularly pleased with Tulon, noting that her upgrades had made her even smarter.

In addition to his sentient subjects, Cylo developed a solution to what he believed was the biggest problem with enforcers: their mortality. Believing that a system could succeed where an individual failed, he began work on a cyberanimation program. He developed a "trainer" AI to guide a host's instincts while removing undesirable traits and emotions. This cyberanimate would only feel what the programmer wanted. Cylo adapted this program to a Trandoshan, believing it could work on any host, even a rancor.

During his time with the Empire, Cylo was heavily involved with the Tarkin Initiative, possibly contributing to the Death Star's creation. He befriended Professor Thlu-Ry, who worked on the battle station's alignment tests before the Battle of Yavin. His influence allowed him to develop his own fleet of upgraded spacefaring creatures, which he used as a research base and hid in galactic nebulae. He also developed an armed force to protect his creations. As a result, Cylo became powerful and influential. He believed his subjects were the Empire's future and pushed the Emperor to use them as enforcers instead of Darth Vader, whom Cylo saw as outdated. Vader would be relegated to a ceremonial role as the Emperor's apprentice, while Cylo's subjects enforced his will. Unbeknownst to Cylo, the Emperor was becoming concerned about his growing influence. Seeing his reliance on the scientists as a mistake, he decided to eliminate Cylo as a potential threat, but only after the Death Star was completed, fearing that removing him would cause a schism among the scientific community. Although he tolerated Cylo's persistence in trying to replace Darth Vader, Sidious began to consider ways of removing the scientist without causing a rift.

After Vader failed to prevent the Rebel Alliance from destroying the Death Star at the Battle of Yavin, his position with the Emperor was compromised. Furthermore, he failed to prevent the destruction of the Empire's Weapons Factory Alpha on Cymoon 1. To test Vader, Sidious considered Cylo's plans to replace his apprentice with one of his subjects and summoned Cylo, in his fourth body, Cylo-IV, to the Imperial Palace on Coruscant to discuss these plans. Vader, who was briefing the Emperor when Cylo-IV arrived, demanded to know who he was, but Sidious refused and dismissed him. The Emperor decided to see whether Cylo's subjects or Vader impressed him most. The winner would be his sole enforcer, while the others would be eliminated. Cylo eagerly accepted the challenge, confident that his future would surpass Vader's past. Secretly, the Emperor hoped Cylo-IV would overplay his hand and allow one of his subjects to win, enabling him to paint Cylo as a traitor and eliminate him.

After Vader's meeting with Cylo-IV, he became suspicious and hired the Wookiee bounty hunter Krrsantan to find and capture him. The bounty hunter tracked down Cylo-IV and discovered he was shipping illegal alien organs to his secret base. Before he could learn the base's location, Cylo-IV realized he was being tracked. Nevertheless, he was captured and brought to Vader. Vader ordered his droid, 0-0-0, to torture Cylo-IV for information about his work for the Emperor. 0-0-0 inadvertently killed Cylo-IV during the interrogation, but not before discovering the location of his research base and the existence of his specimens. Cylo-IV's death led to the activation of Cylo-V.

Cylo's base was then attacked by Darth Vader, his droid army, and Doctor Aphra. Vader encountered Cylo's subjects, the twins Morit and Aiolin Astarte, in the dojo and engaged them in a duel. Cylo-V arrived and stopped the duel, revealing how he had survived and that he was creating enforcers for the Empire, not replacements for Vader. He claimed the Force was obsolete and that his subjects were Vader's successors. Enraged, Vader tried to kill Cylo-V but was stopped by the Emperor, who had arrived.

The Emperor then requested a presentation of Cylo's subjects. As Vader fought the Astarte twins, Tulon Voidgazer, Commander Karbin, and a Trandoshan, Cylo told Sidious about their special skills and abilities. Dissatisfied with the lack of injuries, Sidious demanded a real presentation and ordered them to fight to the death. While Vader fought the Trandoshan, Morit intervened and killed the enforcer. Sidious stopped the fight, stating that their mission was to defeat the Empire's enemies, not each other, and forbade them from killing each other without his knowledge. With that, the Emperor and his apprentice left. Cylo was then appointed to serve under Grand General Cassio Tagge in the Imperial Military.

Commander Karbin's attempt to assassinate Vader during the battle that occurred on Vrogas Vas was a failure, resulting in his own demise at Vader's hand. Subsequently, the Emperor, influenced by Tagge, instructed Cylo to accompany Vader and his retinue to Shu-Torun in order to quell the burgeoning rebellion led by the Ore-dukes. During their meeting, Cylo cautioned Vader that any misstep could lead the Emperor to replace him with Cylo and his forces. The reality was that Vader's continued triumphs and the failures of Cylo's creations were fueling Cylo's envy, pushing the scientist towards open rebellion against the Empire if it meant Vader's downfall.

While strategizing with Queen Trios within the ancestral retreat belonging to the Shu-Torun royalty, they faced an assault from a ship commanded by Lord Rubix, the leader of the rebellious Ore-Dukes. Darth Vader, aided by the Astarte twins, successfully destroyed the attacking vessel. Later, Cylo and General Tagge discussed the progress of the war, during which Tagge noted Vader's effectiveness while also pointing out his flaws. Tagge then advised Cylo that the victory on Shu-Torun should be perceived as a triumph for the Empire, not solely for Vader. Shortly thereafter, Cylo, in an act of betrayal against the Empire, contacted the Rebels, offering to deliver Vader to them in the Lithoporoite seam, where the Ore-dukes could eliminate him.

Under the guise of a combat drill, Vader led his troops and the Astarte twins towards Rubix's delving citadel, but the drill, having been sabotaged by Cylo, was diverted to the Lithoporoite stream, where Rubix's forces lay in wait. As Vader fought Rubix's elite warriors, Queen Trios, believing Vader to be dead, began preparations to attack the citadel, but Cylo ordered her to abort the mission and recalled his troops. Vader managed to escape Cylo's trap, but the two enforcers turned against him. Vader defended himself, and Morit seized the opportunity to kill his sister, who, with her dying breath, revealed Cylo's treachery to Vader.

Trios launched an assault on Rubix's citadel with her forces, soon joined by Vader, who arrived with Imperial reinforcements. Cylo, along with Morit and Voidgazer, fled the planet during the battle. After defeating the Ore-Dukes, Vader informed the Emperor of Cylo's betrayal.

Aboard the Super Star Destroyer Executor, Sidious explained to Vader that while Cylo's brilliance and lack of morals had initially been beneficial, he had become too powerful. His influence within the Tarkin Initiative was so pervasive that forcibly removing him risked creating a schism among the Empire's scientists. Therefore, Sidious manipulated Cylo into openly rebelling against the Empire by appealing to his ego and approving his plan to create a replacement for Vader. Vader responded that he was aware that if any of Cylo's creations were successful, Sidious would be delivering the same speech to them. Nevertheless, he considered it irrelevant, confident that none of them could ever defeat him. Sidious concurred and instructed Vader to eliminate Cylo.

After obtaining the location of Cylo's fleet from Thlu-Ry, an Imperial scientist and associate of Cylo, Vader arrived at the Crushank Nebulae aboard the Devastator. Upon learning of Vader's arrival, Cylo instructed Tulon to activate the contingencies and Morit to execute Escape Plan JGT-HB-4. Cylo's whale-ships engaged Vader's TIE Advanced x1 starfighter and several TIE fighters, while one of the whale-ships broke formation and launched smaller craft that disabled the Devastator with ion pulses.

Refusing to be deterred, Vader blasted a hole into Cylo's flagship and rammed his TIE Advanced into it, just moments before it jumped into hyperspace. Tulon reported the situation to Cylo, who initially wanted to deploy troops, but Tulon persuaded him to let her confront Vader, eager to study a Sith Lord up close.

Tulon attacked Vader using a cyberanimate rancor, but Vader managed to sever its cyberanimate system and kill it. As Tulon engaged Vader personally, Cylo realized her fate was sealed, remarking that while her loss was regrettable, her true work was complete. As the flagship emerged from hyperspace above Kuat, Cylo ordered Voidgazer's protocols to be activated and for him and Morit to head for the escape pods as the ship approached the Executor.

As Vader was about to kill Tulon, she revealed that Tagge had instructed her to improve the Executor's firing arrays, and while she had complied, she had also taken the opportunity to add her own features. Simultaneously, the Executor's weapons were disabled by Voidgazer's protocols, sleeping gas was released into the ship's air supply, and the Emperor's chamber was isolated from the rest of the ship.

Upon reaching the flagship's bridge, Vader discovered that the ship had been set on an unalterable collision course with the Executor. As the ship crashed into the Executor and exploded, Cylo commented that her loss was a shame, and he would remember her fondly as the weapon that ended Darth Vader. Triumphantly, he declared that the time for mourning was over and that their new flagship awaited them.

On the bridge of the Executor, Morit informed Cylo that they had cleared the docks. Cylo instructed Morit to activate the ion charges, disabling the surrounding Imperial starships and preventing them from pursuing the stolen Executor or sending a distress signal. Dr. Cylo thanked the late Tulon Voidgazer once more for her work, remarking that geniuses like them had created the ship, and it was only fitting that they should possess it.

However, before Cylo could order the crew to depart, the Executor's engines suddenly lost power. At that moment, Vader contacted the bridge from the engine room, having severed its power cables. He warned Cylo that he was coming for him. Morit questioned how Vader had survived, and Cylo speculated that he had likely ejected, landed on the Executor's hull, and cut his way inside, but ultimately it was irrelevant, and he must not survive.

Morit requested Cylo to send him to confront Vader. Instead, Cylo ordered his forces to divide their efforts between retrieving the Emperor and guarding the bridge. He then instructed Morit to reroute the engines and evade Vader by traveling across the ship's surface, before examining a small device in his hand, expressing his fear of using it as a last resort.

Unfortunately for Cylo, Vader anticipated Morit's route and intercepted him. After a brief battle, Vader sent Morit plummeting off the ship, burning to death in Kuat's atmosphere. In response, Cylo recalled all his troops to the bridge.

After swiftly defeating Cylo's troops, Vader confronted Cylo, who held the small device in his hand. Vader declared that his machines were insufficient, to which Cylo retorted that Vader was also one of his machines. He then pressed the single red button on the device, disabling Vader's cybernetics.

As Vader fell to his knees, paralyzed, Cylo gloated that he had not wished to use the device, as it was possible that his private access might have been revoked in the years since he had helped rebuild Vader. He then stated that he had always wondered whether it was a machine or a man who had risen from the operating table, and it was satisfying to finally have an answer.

Cylo then signaled the fleet to proceed with the plan, declaring that the Executor had been secured and Vader was no longer a threat. However, Vader eventually regained control of his body through sheer willpower, much to Cylo's astonishment. He then retrieved his lightsaber using the Force and used it to kill Cylo, before reactivating his cybernetics using the device.

Aboard one of Cylo's whale ships, Cylo-VI awoke upon the death of Cylo-V and realized that he had to escape. Meanwhile, Vader departed from the Executor in a TIE Advanced in pursuit of Cylo.

Despite Cylo ordering the rest of his fleet to provide cover for his escape, Vader quickly caught up to Cylo's ship and entered it through its anterior docking bay. Cylo ordered all of his marines to stop Vader, but Vader swiftly slaughtered them all before proceeding to the room where Cylo grew his clones.

All of Cylo's clones had emerged from their tanks and armed themselves with various weapons, with one of the clones taunting Vader, asking if he felt jealousy at Cylo's immortality. Vader easily dispatched the clones, stating that Cylo was mistaken and the fact that he could kill Cylo repeatedly was his most appealing quality.

Finally, Vader confronted Cylo-VI on the whale ship's bridge. Cylo gloated that Vader could not take away his achievements and that he had transcended the laws of nature and the trap of the Force, making him immortal. Vader replied that he would reduce him to ash and used a mind trick, saying "You will fly into the sun". Cylo asserted that his mind was protected against such trickery, but Vader revealed that he had used the mind trick not on him, but on the whale ship's brain.

As the whale ship emerged from hyperspace and headed for the nearest star, Cylo futilely attempted to regain control of the ship while Vader evacuated in his TIE Advanced. Cylo was incinerated by the sun along with the ship.

In 9 ABY, years following Cylo's death, his experimentations became the subject of supposed rumors. The Rodian chemist Skora expressed admiration for him and his work, although she was unaware of his demise. However, despite Skora's respect for Cylo, the Rodian criticized his overreliance on technology rather than chemistry, imagining what he could have achieved with a combination of both.

Cylo appeared to be human but possessed grafts from multiple species, notably the green scaly Rodian skin and a black eye replacing his right eye. The rest of his skin was light, and he had grey hair and a light beard—a contrast to Cylo-IV, who had darker hair. He also had cybernetic implants across his head and neck.

Cylo believed that the universe needed to evolve and that progress was inevitable. He also believed that organic species were running out of time and that the Force was obsolete. He continued the work of previous iterations of Cylo by creating new specimens whom he intended to introduce as new enforcers for Darth Sidious. He believed that individuals like Vader lacked the vision to see the need for evolution, but that the Emperor possessed that vision. However, he did consider Vader to be a bridge between the "old world" and his new world, given that Vader was more machine than man.

Cylo also eliminated his tendency to hold grudges from his system, so he did not blame Vader for the death of Cylo-IV. Instead, he claimed that he would have acted the same way in Vader's position.

Cylo made his first appearance in Darth Vader (2015) 1. According to Kieron Gillen, the Rodian eye and cybernetics were intended to suggest "the sort of things this guy might get up to." Gillen further stated that the creative team debated which type of alien look to use for the character's right eye before ultimately deciding on a Rodian. Comic book artist Salvador Larroca based Cylo's design on his own appearance.