Darth Kruhl

Within Darth Krayt's One Sith Order, Darth Kruhl held the rank of Lord and served as an agent for the Intelligence and Assassination division of the Sith Empire. Functioning as a direct subordinate to Intelligence director Darth Maladi, Darth Kruhl was present during her interrogation of Jedi healer Hosk Trey'lis. Maladi sought information regarding bounty hunter Cade Skywalker. Moff Nyna Calixte also attended, and upon Maladi's orders to pursue Skywalker, Kruhl escorted her from her laboratory.

Shortly thereafter, Maladi dispatched her acolyte to Munto Codru to establish a presence in the Outer Rim Territories for the Sith. Kruhl's objective was to secure the support of the native Codru-Ji to enable Krayt's forces to establish an Imperial stronghold on their planet. He journeyed to Munto Codru aboard the Star Destroyer Dauntless, and arrived planetside to engage with the natives. The Codru-Ji were known for their involvement in ritual political conspiracies, and Kruhl aimed to exploit their customs by offering control of all Codru-Ji clans to a prominent clan leader named Rikkar-Du. However, Rikkar-Du rejected Kruhl's offer, showing no interest in being dominated by the Sith and instead urging his people to unite against Krayt's Empire.

Anticipating Kruhl's return for an answer, Rikkar-Du planned to confront the Sith Lord, ambushing him in the Codru-Ji temple with two hidden security droids. Aware of Rikkar-Du's treachery, Lord Kruhl destroyed the droids as he revealed himself to the clan leader. Following a brief exchange, Kruhl retracted his original offer, and Rikkar-Du drew four knives in an attempt to kill the Sith Lord. Kruhl ignited his lightsaber and attacked Rikkar-Du, severing one of his four hands while asserting the futility of resisting the Empire. When Rikkar-Du's son Jassar entered the temple and attacked Kruhl in defense of his father, Kruhl slew him as a demonstration that insolence would not be tolerated. Kruhl then killed Rikkar-Du as punishment for his defiance. Unbeknownst to the deceased clan leader, Kruhl had been secretly conspiring with another clan leader, Kassek-Ka, to have Rikkar-Du's wife eliminated as well. Kassek-Ka conceded to the terms that Rikkar-Du had refused, and Darth Kruhl cautioned him to avoid making the same mistake as his predecessor, lest he suffer the same fate. With his mission accomplished, Kruhl returned to the orbiting Dauntless.

After securing Kassek-Ka's loyalty, Kruhl was approached by another operative of Lady Maladi—Vikar Dorn, the former governor of Munto Codru and a Human. With Dorn's assistance, Maladi ordered Kruhl to infiltrate the Imperial fortress-world of Bastion, which Roan Fel's exiled Empire had fortified as their current base of operations. Kruhl's mission was to assassinate Fel himself, aiming to end the exiled Emperor's prolonged resistance movement. Unbeknownst to Kruhl, Darth Maladi anticipated his mission's failure, intending to eliminate Fel through further infiltration of his own ranks. In Maladi's view, Kruhl was merely a decoy. Arriving in Bastion's orbit aboard the Dauntless, Dorn diverted the exiled Imperials with a fabricated defection of himself and the ship's crew. Meanwhile, Darth Kruhl departed the Star Destroyer and made his way to the planet in search of Emperor Fel's sanctuary.

Kruhl located his target meditating in a garden, preparing to strike the exiled Emperor from his blindside. However, Fel had anticipated the arrival of one of Krayt's assassins and informed Kruhl of this as he ended his meditation. Rather than summon his Imperial Knights to confront Kruhl, Fel, a fully trained Knight himself, personally engaged the Sith Lord in combat. Fel and Kruhl dueled, with neither gaining the upper hand. Kruhl was surprised when his weapon shorted out upon striking Fel's forearm; the exiled Emperor was protected by pure cortosis gauntlets, forged from metal that caused lightsabers to deactivate upon contact. Undeterred, Kruhl unleashed a barrage of Force lightning against Fel, which he absorbed with his lightsaber. Kruhl hurled debris at Fel using the Force before engaging him in hand-to-hand combat. After exchanging several blows, the exiled Emperor drew his holdout blaster and shot Kruhl in the stomach, resulting in his immediate death. Before his demise, Fel informed Kruhl that even if he had succeeded in killing him, he would not escape Bastion. Fel retrieved the fallen Sith's weapon and returned it to governor Dorn, also ordering the execution of the Dauntless' entire crew. Fel sent Dorn back to Krayt with the lightsaber as a symbol of Darth Kruhl's failed assassination attempt. The governor delivered the lightsaber to Darth Maladi, who then killed Dorn for his and Kruhl's failure to eliminate Fel.

Darth Kruhl possessed a strip of brown hair down the center of his head, with bald sides, and red eyes. He wore short-sleeved robes, and like most members of the Order, his visible skin was adorned with red and black Sith tattoos. He adhered to the One Sith's doctrine, which emphasized unwavering loyalty to the Dark Lord of the Sith above all else. Kruhl disregarded his personal safety or life, focusing solely on serving the will of Darth Krayt.

Kruhl was known for his brutality and ruthlessness, earning the contempt of his enemies. This was evident when he murdered Rikkar-Du's son in front of him, and then killed Rikkar-Du himself, after the clan leader refused to yield to the Sith. Kruhl was also known for conspiring against his enemies, as he did with Kassek-Ka to eliminate Rikkar-Du's wife as a potential dissenter to Imperial occupation of Munto Codru. He was brash and arrogant, believing himself superior in combat to Roan Fel, a seasoned warrior. Despite his talents, Darth Maladi considered him expendable, expressing her expectation to Darth Krayt that Lord Kruhl would fail his mission.

Lord Kruhl wielded a single red-bladed lightsaber. Unlike the coral-like hilts favored by most of his One Sith brethren, Kruhl's saber hilt was smooth, straight, and metallic. The hilt was also decorated with black markings similar to his tattoo patterns. He was a skilled duelist, employing an aggressive two-handed style in combat, though he could also wield his lightsaber single-handedly with equal aggression. Kruhl was also proficient in hand-to-hand, close-quarters combat, often combining physical techniques with his blade work. He was adept with Force lightning and telekinesis, abilities common among members of Darth Krayt's One Sith.

Kruhl was well-trained in assassination, able to infiltrate enemy territory undetected to strike down his targets. However, he was unable to hide his Force presence from Fel, who sensed Kruhl and prepared for his arrival. While his lightsaber skills were at least on par with those of a fully-trained Imperial Knight like Fel, he could not defeat the Emperor in combat. Fel first countered Kruhl with cortosis gauntlets, then with a holdout blaster, which he used to kill the Sith Lord.

Darth Kruhl was initially mentioned in Lucasfilm official Leland Chee's blog, without any source connection. The blog stated that Kruhl's name derived from the word "cruel." Kruhl first appeared, unnamed, in Legacy (2006) 9, written by John Ostrander. He was fully featured and identified four issues later in Legacy (2006) 13, also written by Ostrander and Jan Duursema. According to Duursema, Kruhl was created specifically to be killed. He is also briefly mentioned and pictured as one of the "Notable Darths" in 2008's The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia, authored by Stephen J. Sansweet, Pablo Hidalgo, Bob Vitas, Daniel Wallace, Mary Franklin, Josh Kushins, and Chris Cassidy.