A superweapon of the Sith, known as the Dark Reaper, came into being during the era of the Great Hyperspace War, specifically around 5000 BBY.
This weapon functioned by drawing upon the Force through the use of a Force Harvester. This device annihilated all life within its operational radius by extracting their Force energy and channeling it into potent beams, causing immense destruction. However, the Reaper was ineffective against areas already wounded in the Force.
Furthermore, the Dark Reaper was armed with turbolasers powered by the dark side. To successfully counter the Dark Reaper's power, a long-ago Jedi Knight named Ulic Qel-Droma instructed the Jedi Order on how to resist its effects.
The Sith developed this weapon of mass destruction within an armory located on Thule during the Great Hyperspace War. It was subsequently deployed against the forces of the Galactic Republic.
During the Great Sith War, Exar Kun rediscovered the weapon while conducting excavations on Yavin 4. The [Krath](/article/krath-legends] directed it to target the Living Force to provide the massive energy required for its function. When the fallen Jedi Ulic Qel-Droma returned from the Krath, he shared with the Jedi the knowledge needed to defeat the Reaper.
The final confrontation occurred on Thule, situated in the heart of the ancient Sith Empire. A Jedi strike force launched a calculated assault on the Dark Reaper and, employing the information provided by Ulic, managed to disable the weapon. After dismantling the deadly device, the Republic undertook a substantial effort to conceal its various components across numerous planets. The [Force Harvester](/article/force_harvester], the Dark Reaper's power source, was hidden on the junkyard planet of Raxus Prime.
During the Great Galactic War, both the Sith Emperor and Darth Malgus believed that the Reaper was buried on Ord Radama.
Millennia passed, and during the Clone Wars, Count Dooku and his mercenary Cydon Prax began searching Raxus Prime for the Force Harvester. This device was essential for reconstructing the Dark Reaper, with the aim of destroying the Galactic Republic. Dooku utilized Cydon Prax to activate the Force Harvester, which resulted in the destruction of a forest on a Kashyyyk moon as a demonstration of its power. To further assess its capabilities, he planned to use the Harvester on captured Wookiees, Bera Kazan, and Anakin Skywalker, all of whom had been captured on Raxus Prime. The energy surge released by the Harvester decimated half of the moon's thriving forest. Anakin and Bera narrowly avoided the energy wave and subsequently contacted the Republic to alert them to Dooku's discovery. Dooku then used the Harvester to gather energy on Mon Calamari, Agamar, and Bakura. The attack on Mon Calamari, which resulted in millions of deaths, led the planet's inhabitants to align with the Confederacy, including Commander Merai.
Dooku initiated a search across the galaxy to locate the scattered pieces of the Dark Reaper. While their specific locations remained unknown, Mace Windu noted that they were distributed across the galaxy's most remote regions, implying that systems within the Outer Rim were likely candidates. Dooku then traveled to Thule and activated the Dark Reaper within an ancient Sith city located on the planet.
On Rhen Var, Anakin Skywalker sought out the tomb of Ulic Qel-Droma to learn how to resist the effects of both the Dark Reaper and the Harvester. Shortly after the Dark Reaper was reactivated, Anakin spearheaded an assault on the city and successfully destroyed the weapon using his TX-130 fighter tank, defying an order from Obi-Wan Kenobi to await reinforcements. Despite his success in destroying the Reaper, the knowledge he gained from Qel-Droma fostered a sense of arrogance towards Obi-Wan, contributing indirectly to his descent towards the dark side of the Force.