During the Jedi Civil War, one pivotal event was the devastation of Taris. This occurred after the Sith battle group, in their attempt to capture Bastila Shan, a Jedi Padawan, annihilated the Endar Spire. Darth Malak, the Dark Lord of the Sith leading the Sith Empire, deployed his fleet to the Outer Rim world of Taris. His objective was to seize the Jedi Padawan Bastila Shan, whose command of battle meditation had been vital to the Galactic Republic's struggle. After a successful ambush of the Endar Spire, a Hammerhead-class cruiser carrying Shan, Sith troopers under Darth Bandon boarded the ship with the intention of capturing her alive. However, Shan, along with Carth Onasi and Revan, the amnesiac former Sith Lord, managed to escape before the vessel was destroyed. Subsequently, Malak commanded the conquest and blockading of Taris to locate the Jedi. The escape pod carrying Shan crashed in the Undercity, where she was taken prisoner by the Black Vulkars swoop gang.
Revan, aided by the Hidden Beks swoop gang, located and rescued Shan. Impressed, Canderous Ordo, a Mandalorian mercenary, offered Revan a chance to escape the planet by stealing the Ebon Hawk, the flagship of Davik Kang, an Exchange boss. Revan accepted, raiding the main Sith base to obtain codes necessary to bypass the blockade. Ordo then led him to Kang's estate to steal the ship. Meanwhile, Malak, growing impatient with the prolonged search, ordered Admiral Saul Karath to thoroughly bombard the surface to eliminate Shan. As the Sith fleet in orbit repositioned, Ordo and Revan successfully accessed the Hawk. However, they were confronted by Kang and Calo Nord, a bounty hunter. A brief firefight ensued as the bombardment commenced, resulting in Kang's death and Nord's incapacitation. The group, with the path clear, boarded the freighter, picking up Onasi, Shan, Mission Vao, Zaalbar, and T3-M4, and launched into space. The Ebon Hawk evaded a vanguard of attacking Sith fighters before jumping into hyperspace, heading towards the Jedi Enclave on Dantooine. Despite their escape, the bombardment persisted, virtually wiping out all life on the planet, resulting in billions of deaths. However, after three centuries, Taris's ecosystem recovered, prompting the Republic to initiate a resettlement program.
Darth Malak, seeking to capture Bastila Shan, the Jedi Padawan whose battle meditation skills were invaluable to the Galactic Republic against the Sith Empire, tracked her to the Outer Rim world of Taris. She was aboard the Hammerhead-class cruiser Endar Spire. Malak positioned his fleet in orbit to trap her vessel and deployed numerous Sith fighters from his flagship, the Interdictor-class cruiser Leviathan, to attack the ship as it exited hyperspace, planning to board it afterward. During the ensuing battle, Shan managed to escape in an escape pod, which crashed in the Undercity of Taris. Captain Carth Onasi, a decorated veteran of the Mandalorian Wars, and Revan, the recently mind-wiped former Dark Lord of the Sith, were also on the doomed ship. After fighting off or evading Sith troopers and Dark Jedi from the boarding party, they met on the starboard side and used the last escape pod to reach the Upper City of Taris just before the Endar Spire was destroyed. After landing, Onasi rescued the unconscious Revan and, navigating through the crowds of Upper City residents, found safety in an abandoned apartment.
Realizing Shan had survived, Malak ordered the immediate conquest of Taris, imposing a massive blockade to prevent all space travel. Shan, however, had been captured by the Black Vulkars, a swoop gang based in the decaying Lower City. They offered Shan as the prize for the winner of the Tarisian Season Opener swoop race, a major event in the Galactic Swoop Racing Circuit. Revan and Onasi, with the help of Mission Vao, a Twi'lek, and her Wookiee companion Zaalbar, eventually gained the favor of the Hidden Beks, a rival swoop gang led by Gadon Thek, by returning a stolen prototype accelerator. As part of their agreement, Thek agreed to sponsor Revan for the race. After Revan beat all other opponents, Brejik, the Vulkar leader, retracted the prize, accusing the Beks of cheating. Shan, having freed herself, intervened in the ensuing fight, which ended in Brejik's death.
Malak grew impatient as his troops failed to locate Shan. To eliminate her and deny her battle meditation to the Republic, he ordered Admiral Saul Karath to initiate an orbital bombardment of Taris. Karath, initially hesitant, noted the time needed to arrange the fleet and questioned Malak about the Sith personnel stationed throughout the city. Malak, enraged, ordered immediate preparations, disregarding the potential loss of life, regardless of allegiance. With the armada in position, the bombardment began. The Taris government and representatives from major sectors froze themselves in carbonite for preservation, storing themselves in an underground archive until Taris was restored to the Republic.
Meanwhile, Revan partnered with Canderous Ordo, a Mandalorian mercenary, who proposed escaping the planet. To infiltrate the Sith military base and acquire the codes to bypass the blockade, he instructed Revan to obtain the astromech droid T3-M4 from Janice Nall, a Twi'lek droid dealer in the Upper City. With T3's help, Revan successfully raided the base and secured the codes after a duel with the Sith Governor. Ordo then promised Revan the means to steal the Ebon Hawk, the recently acquired flagship of Davik Kang, the head of the Exchange on Taris. Ordo brought Revan to Kang's estate to hijack the Hawk, claiming Revan was a potential recruit. While attempting to steal the ship, including freeing its former pilot and getting the hangar security codes, Revan and Ordo were confronted by Kang and Calo Nord, a bounty hunter. Kang died in the ensuing fight, but the bombardment had already begun. The hangar started collapsing, injuring Nord and preventing him from activating a thermal detonator. Revan boarded the Ebon Hawk, gathered his companions, and fled the planet amidst the turbolaser fire.
After gathering everyone aboard the Ebon Hawk, Carth Onasi piloted the ship off Taris, escaping its gravity well despite the bombardment. The fleeing vessel encountered elements of the Sith fleet. Revan manned the ship's laser cannon turret, destroying a half-squadron of Sith fighters and allowing Onasi to jump into hyperspace. The Ebon Hawk and its crew, urged by Shan, fled to the Jedi Enclave on Dantooine. The bombardment continued, reducing Taris to ruins and killing billions. Skyscrapers collapsed, including the Sinking City, Taris's cultural and business districts.
The Sith fleet devastated Taris, resulting in billions of casualties. The destruction was so widespread that survival was unlikely for most, except for the Outcasts. Aside from Revan and his companions, Calo Nord survived, escaping on his ship and later offering his services to Malak to hunt down Shan.
The destruction of Taris had significant repercussions throughout the galaxy. People on other planets, like Dantooine, feared similar attacks. Revan encountered discussions about the event wherever he went. Even his companions expressed shock (Mission Vao) or anger (Juhani, a Cathar Jedi from Taris). Commerce was disrupted, as Taris was a major commercial, cultural, and swoop racing hub. The Revan victory in the race was doubted by everyone. A shortage of Tarisian ale created a business opportunity for Griff Vao, Mission's brother.
The Outcasts reached their Promised Land, the original colony, despite the bombardment. A rakghoul serum given by Revan allowed them to survive for generations, but the serum eventually ran out, and they were killed off by rakghouls and radiation. Milos Brejik survived the bombardment, becoming a scavenger.
Over the centuries, Taris's ecosystem adapted to the toxic environment. Plants overgrew the wreckage, and animals repopulated the jungles, adapting to the pollutants. Many factories, including the Taris ChemWorks Factory, were damaged, releasing chemical waste. A factory believed to belong to Ark Brell was destroyed, forming Lake Brell and the Brell Sediment.
Ancient species, like the bogstalker, were rediscovered. Bogstalkers absorbed pollutants, becoming poisonous. Ferrazid hounds also recovered, developing a robust population. However, the rakghoul population thrived, with some mutating due to radiation, becoming stronger.
An unexpected result was the evolution of the nekghoul, a sentient rakghoul subspecies with Force abilities. Tarsarian stompers, released from zoos, were infected by rakghouls and became tarsarian devourers, wiping out their stomper cousins.
Around 3648 BBY, during the Cold War, the Republic established the Taris Reconstruction Authority to oversee the resettlement. They created the Republic Tarisian Archival Database to preserve knowledge of Taris. Archaeological teams cataloged bodies for identification.
Colu's Syndrome, a rare cancer, affected descendants of Taris refugees. Pirates scavenged the wreckage. While the Reconstruction Authority made progress under Governor Leontyne Saresh, the Sith Empire invaded Taris, destroying their work and seeking to restore a monument to Darth Malak.
By 3 ABY, much of the planet had been rebuilt, but the scars remained. By 40 ABY, it was a hub for galactic culture, including Mandalorians.
The destruction of Taris in Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic is depicted through cutscenes and scripted sequences. The player's involvement is limited to securing the Ebon Hawk and shooting down Sith fighters. Cut content reveals that Sith landing craft were sent to retrieve troops, including Deadeye Duncan, who was to meet Revan on Manaan.
The battle is indirectly referenced in Star Wars: Empire at War and Forces of Corruption. Legacy of the Force: Bloodlines mentions Mandalore Boba Fett's visit to Taris. When writing Star Wars: The Old Republic, the creators wanted to return to Taris, making its destruction a key factor in the landscape and its reestablishment a plot point.