Not long before the celebrated Battle of Yavin, a significant lightsaber confrontation transpired on the fifth planet within the Cophrigin system. This clash pitted the exiled Jedi Master An'ya Kuro against Darth Vader, the fearsome Dark Lord of the Sith. After Mara Jade, an Emperor's Hand, successfully tracked Kuro, known as "the Dark Woman," to her secluded location on Cophrigin V, Darth Sidious, Vader's Sith Master, commanded him to journey to the Outer Rim Territories. Vader's mission was to locate and eliminate the renegade Jedi, thus furthering his Master's objective of completely eradicating the Jedi Order, a directive ordered and initiated by Sidious almost two decades prior.
Kuro sensed Darth Vader's arrival on Cophrigin V, prompting the Jedi Master to steel herself for a confrontation with the Dark Lord. Vader discovered Kuro within her sanctuary and immediately launched an attack, anticipating a swift victory. However, he was taken aback by his opponent's remarkable dueling prowess. On multiple occasions, Kuro gained the upper hand over Vader, once employing the Force to subdue him using the surrounding plant life, and again when she dislodged his lightsaber from his grip. Nevertheless, the Dark Woman's stamina began to falter against the escalating dark side power emanating from Darth Vader. Ultimately, she was defeated when the Dark Lord employed his lightsaber and the Force to topple a massive tree, trapping her beneath it. Vader then advanced to deliver the killing blow, and An'ya Kuro's physical form dissolved into the Force. Her demise on Cophrigin V marked a triumph for Darth Vader and represented one of the last Jedi deaths in Lord Sidious' Great Jedi Purge.
Nearly two decades had elapsed since the Galactic Republic was overthrown by the Order of the Sith Lords and replaced with the establishment of a Sith-controlled Galactic Empire. The Jedi Order, who had served as stewards of the Republic since its inception, had been virtually annihilated in a purge initiated by the Sith's Dark Lord, a man known as Darth Sidious. On the very day that the Republic fell and was restructured into the Galactic Empire, Sidious, under the guise of Supreme Chancellor Palpatine, issued an order to the clone troopers of the Grand Army of the Republic to execute all Jedi without hesitation, thereby enacting the Great Jedi Purge. The vast majority of Jedi were killed, and the few survivors were relentlessly hunted down by agents of Sidious' Empire in the years that followed. Among these hunted individuals was a Human female Jedi Master named An'ya Kuro, known only to Imperial spies as the "Dark Woman."
Reports regarding Kuro's location in the Outer Rim Territories eventually reached Sidious through one of his operatives, Emperor's Hand Mara Jade. Jade was eager to eliminate the Jedi fugitive and even competed with the Emperor's Sith apprentice, Darth Vader, for the assignment. However, Sidious entrusted the task of hunting Kuro down to Vader, citing his reputation for successfully locating and eliminating Jedi Knights—regardless of their hiding places. Vader promptly departed for the fifth planet in the Cophrigin system with a contingent of Imperial stormtroopers in pursuit of the Dark Woman.
Upon Vader's Lambda-class shuttle landing on Cophrigin V, he instructed his accompanying stormtroopers to maintain their position with the craft, as their assistance was not required for his mission. The Dark Lord's arrival was sensed through the Force by Kuro, who, accepting her fate, ceased her meditation and prepared to face Darth Vader in combat. It was not long before Vader appeared at the entrance of a verdant sanctuary, where he was met by the enigmatic Dark Woman.
An'ya Kuro initiated a conversation with her would-be executioner, which evolved into a philosophical discussion concerning both the dark and light sides of the Force. Vader asserted that the power of the dark side surpassed that of the light—a notion he believed should be evident to someone who identified as the Dark Woman. Kuro, however, countered that while the dark path was easily accessible, it was only chosen by those lacking true strength of heart. Her words incensed Darth Vader, who ignited his lightsaber and attacked Kuro. The Dark Woman deflected his blow, and a fierce duel commenced.
Darth Vader had fully anticipated an easy victory over the Jedi Master, but he was surprised to encounter an opponent of advanced age who possessed the skill necessary to challenge a Sith Lord. Kuro also acknowledged Vader's exceptional dueling abilities before lunging at him, executing a series of acrobatic maneuvers in an attempt to overwhelm him. The Dark Lord remained steadfast in his defense, and after creating some distance between them, Vader reiterated his belief in the superiority of the dark side as he hurled boulders at Kuro using the Force, only to see them reduced to rubble by her purple lightsaber. She then employed the Force to manipulate the surrounding plant life and immobilize Vader with thorn-covered vines, temporarily restraining the Dark Lord. However, Vader managed to block the subsequent attack and break free from the plant-based restraints under her control, repelling the Jedi Master in the process.
This time, Vader pressed forward with powerful strikes, but these were met with resistance as the Dark Woman retaliated and vanished into the cover of a nearby waterfall. Emerging from behind Darth Vader, she caught him off guard, providing her with the opportunity to knock his lightsaber from his hand. However, her advantage was short-lived, as Vader seized her arm and wrested her own lightsaber from her grasp. Recognizing that the Dark Woman's strength was waning, the Sith Lord cast her aside and summoned his own weapon, preparing to deliver the final blow. Kuro retrieved her lightsaber but found herself backed against an enormous tree. With no avenue for escape, Vader sliced through the trunk with his lightsaber and used the Force to topple the tree onto the Dark Woman. Trapped beneath the fallen tree, Kuro lay helpless as Vader brought his blade down for the killing stroke. Her physical form then dissipated into the Force in the manner of Jedi Masters, leaving behind only her robes and a victorious Darth Vader.
Immediately following her death, An'ya Kuro manifested before Darth Vader as a Force ghost. Addressing him as Anakin Skywalker, the identity he held before succumbing to the dark side of the Force, Kuro asserted that her death demonstrated the greater power of the light side and that she perceived within him the potential to break free from the dark side's influence. However, Vader rejected the notion of liberation and struck at the apparition with his lightsaber, defying his former self. Kuro's ghost then vanished, and Darth Vader departed, having successfully executed another victim in accordance with the Great Jedi Purge.
The duel on Cophrigin V made its first appearance in author Ron Marz's two-part comic series titled "Extinction," which was featured in Star Wars Tales 1 and Star Wars Tales 2. It was later compiled into a trade paperback edition, Star Wars Tales Volume 1. Plausible narratives within Star Wars Tales 1–20 were initially categorized as S-canon until referenced in a non-Tales source, at which point the subject matter was elevated to C-canon. An'ya Kuro's death at the hands of Darth Vader was subsequently mentioned in both The New Essential Guide to Characters and The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia, thus elevating the event to C-canon status.
The duel resulted in one of the final deaths of Sidious' Great Jedi Purge, an event which began officially with the Showdown on Coruscant in Star Wars: Episode III Revenge of the Sith. The contest between Kuro and Vader also marked the initial use of "Plant Surge," a light-side Force power that was later elaborated upon in detail in Wizards of the Coast's Power of the Jedi Sourcebook, a guide for the Star Wars Roleplaying Game.
At the conclusion of the duel, the dialogue exchanged between An'ya Kuro and Darth Vader underwent alterations between the original two-part version found in Star Wars Tales 1 and Star Wars Tales 2 and the trade paperback version in Star Wars Tales Volume 1, which combined the two. The revised dialogue occurs when the Dark Woman's Force ghost appears before Vader. In the original version, the Dark Woman addresses Darth Vader by his original name, eliciting a response from him; in the trade paperback version, only the Dark Woman speaks while Vader remains silent.