A lightsaber [battle](/article/lightsaber_duel/legends], a duel, unfolded on the ice planet of Rhen Var. This event, occurring in 3986 BBY, saw a confrontation between Ulic Qel-Droma, the one-time Sith Lord, and Sylvar, the Cathar Jedi Knight. Sylvar, fueled by a desire for retribution for the casualties of the Great Sith War (a conflict significantly instigated by Qel-Droma during his association with Exar Kun's Sith Brotherhood as a Dark Lord roughly ten years earlier), tracked the self-exiled Qel-Droma to Rhen Var with the aid of a spacer named Hoggon. Qel-Droma, who on Rhen Var had been providing Jedi training to Vima Sunrider, the daughter of his former love Nomi, accepted Sylvar's challenge, and the two engaged in lightsaber combat. However, Qel-Droma swiftly discerned that Sylvar's rage was pushing her dangerously close to embracing the dark side of the Force, a path he himself had once trod. Choosing not to be the catalyst for Sylvar's downfall, Qel-Droma deactivated his weapon and ceased fighting. Sylvar, a devoted Jedi, found herself unable to strike an unarmed opponent, compelling her to break off the engagement and acknowledge the perilous direction her emotions had taken her. Ironically, Ulic Qel-Droma, the very object of Sylvar's fury, became the instrument of her redemption, freeing her from the long-held hatred.
Sylvar's newfound inner peace, however, was immediately tested. Hoggon, an observer of the duel, grew resentful of the Cathar Jedi's sudden change of heart. In an attempt to etch his name into galactic history, he fatally wounded Qel-Droma with a shot from his blaster pistol. The spacer then quickly fled, spared from Sylvar's wrath only by her recent redemption, which prevented her from killing him. As Ulic Qel-Droma lay dying on a cliff, he declared Nomi's daughter, Vima, a fully fledged Jedi. To everyone's astonishment, he then vanished into the Force, in the manner of recently deceased Jedi Masters.
Ten years following the conclusion of the Great Sith War, the galaxy remained in a protracted recovery phase, a direct consequence of the devastation caused by the war's primary instigator: Exar Kun, the Dark Lord, and his Sith Brotherhood. While the Sith were defeated and their Dark Lord ultimately destroyed on the jungle moon of Yavin 4, Ulic Qel-Droma, Kun's protégé and accomplice in the conflict, survived, albeit at a significant personal cost. Nomi Sunrider, a Jedi Knight, had rendered him Force-blind. Furthermore, the fallen Jedi was never held responsible for his actions, instead being permitted to roam the galaxy freely. Despite having relinquished his position as a Sith Lord, Qel-Droma remained haunted by his past transgressions and sought complete withdrawal from galactic affairs through permanent exile. Maintaining his anonymity, he enlisted the services of Hoggon, a spacer with a strong affinity for the Jedi, to transport him to a remote location where he could live out his days in solitude. After considering several planets that he deemed unsuitable for various reasons, Qel-Droma ultimately chose the ice world of Rhen Var.
Around the same period, a Jedi Convocation was convened, marking the first such gathering since the conclave on Deneba approximately ten years prior. Nomi Sunrider, the Head of the Order, organized it on the Exis mining station within the Teedio system. Among those present, Sylvar, a female Cathar Jedi who had lost her mate, Crado, during the war, was particularly vocal. Sylvar held Qel-Droma accountable for Crado's death, as well as the deaths of countless others who perished during Qel-Droma's time as a Sith, even though it wasn't directly his fault.
Enraged by the Republic's failure to bring Qel-Droma to justice, Sylvar's anger festered, and she became consumed by thoughts of enacting personal revenge against the former Knight. Tott Doneeta, a Twi'lek Jedi and her comrade, made several attempts to assist Sylvar in releasing her hatred, but without success. The negativity of Sylvar's emotions was dangerously leading her toward the dark side of the Force, and upon realizing this, Doneeta left Sylvar to resolve her own issues. However, when she received news that Nomi Sunrider's daughter was missing, Sylvar put aside her quest for vengeance to assist her fellow Jedi Knight.
Sylvar encountered Sunrider on Exis Station, only to discover that Vima had willingly left Nomi to become Qel-Droma's student. Outraged by what she perceived as Sunrider's weakness, Sylvar stormed off, only to encounter Hoggon, who had come to the station with the intention of informing the Jedi of Qel-Droma's exile location. He had overheard the conversation between the two women and offered Sylvar passage to Qel-Droma's location, hoping to witness a climactic battle between two renowned Jedi Knights. Driven by retribution, Sylvar accepted his offer and allowed Hoggon to transport her to Rhen Var.
Master Sunrider arrived on Rhen Var before the Cathar Jedi, having come to the ice world to retrieve her wayward child. While she briefly reunited with her daughter and Qel-Droma, who had recently completed Vima's Jedi training, Hoggon's ship landed near the rear of the fortress where Qel-Droma had chosen to spend his remaining days. Hoggon offered to help Sylvar bring Qel-Droma down, but she sharply refused, immediately exiting and setting out to find her target. Lightsaber in hand, Sylvar located Qel-Droma alone in the fortress and issued her challenge, accusing him of being a Republic war criminal and blaming him for Crado's death. Qel-Droma, however, was hesitant to fight her and refused to accept responsibility for the choices made by Sylvar's mate. He argued that Sylvar's self-proclaimed role as a dispenser of justice was merely a façade to conceal her own guilt for failing to save Crado. Nevertheless, he activated his yellow-bladed lightsaber in defense, just before the Cathar Jedi attacked him in a fit of rage.
Sylvar unleashed her hatred, raining blows upon Qel-Droma. He blocked each attack without retaliating, unwilling to engage in combat and reciprocate her aggression. When an opportunity arose, Qel-Droma disengaged from Sylvar and fled, while attempting to persuade her to abandon her convoluted need for revenge. Sylvar remained unmoved by his words and pursued him, eventually cornering him on a steep cliff wall, where she re-engaged him in combat. Determined to make Sylvar recognize the error of her hatred, Qel-Droma allowed the Cathar Jedi to release her negative emotions with each blow as she steadily pushed him backward. When he had finally been forced to the edge of the precipice, Qel-Droma deactivated his lightsaber and refused to fight Sylvar any longer. Unable to strike an unarmed and unwilling opponent, Sylvar also retracted her energy blade and cursed Qel-Droma for the irony of him—the cause of her anger—also being the means of her redemption.
Sensing the conflict between Sylvar and Qel-Droma through the Force, Nomi and Vima Sunrider hurried to the scene of the battle, arriving to find Sylvar finally at peace with Qel-Droma and herself. Hoggon, who had been observing the fight nearby, was disappointed by Sylvar's failure to strike down her adversary. Before anyone could stop him, the spacer shot Qel-Droma at point-blank range through the chest with his personal blaster pistol. Believing himself to be a hero for having killed the man considered by many to be a war criminal, Hoggon reveled in the magnitude of his act and planned to boast about it to everyone he knew. However, Sylvar quickly seized him, holding him in contempt for his ignorance and would have surely killed him had her own repentance not occurred moments earlier. Confused, Hoggon then scurried away from the Jedi, leaving them on Rhen Var and wondering why his action was not met with gratitude.
Meanwhile, as Nomi cradled the dying Ulic Qel-Droma at the edge of his solitary fortress, Qel-Droma asked for forgiveness from his former love, while also declaring her daughter a full-fledged Knight of the Republic. He then died, and to the surprise of those present, his body vanished into the Force, as was the way of Jedi Masters.
The Duel on Rhen Var served as the concluding scene in the fifth installment of Tales of the Jedi's Redemption story arc, entitled simply Master. The duel represents the second instance in which Nomi Sunrider, one of the bystanders, witnesses the death of a lover or former lover, the first being the murder of her husband Andur thirteen "in-universe" years prior. Coincidentally, Sunrider's daughter, Vima, also witnessed both events.
The scene, like the entire Redemption storyline, was the result of months of close collaboration between writer Kevin J. Anderson and artist Chris Gossett, who worked closely together to create a highly emotional climax to the entire Tales of the Jedi series. In an interview, Gossett mentioned that the death of Ulic Qel-Droma, the first professionally drawn Star Wars character of his career, was particularly significant to him. Knowing that Qel-Droma's death was planned to occur in Redemption, Gossett was invited to Kevin J. Anderson's home in Colorado, where they spent considerable time planning each scene frame-by-frame.