Kento Marek

Due to the Jedi Order's strict recruitment practices, Kento Marek's connection to the Force was recognized during his early childhood. He was raised and trained within the Jedi Temple located on Coruscant. Eventually, Marek successfully completed his final trials as a Padawan learner and achieved the rank of Jedi Knight. Like many young Jedi, Marek possessed a strong sense of confidence in his Jedi status, but also exhibited pride and arrogance.

When the Clone Wars commenced in 22 BBY, Marek eagerly sought the opportunity to demonstrate his skills and abilities in combat. He served as a Jedi officer within the Grand Army of the Republic, alongside other members of the Order. Leading forces of clone troopers, Marek participated in battles across various fronts. As someone who enjoyed excitement, he relished the fighting and took pride in his accomplishments as a general.

As a Jedi General, Kento Marek's duties eventually led him to the Core world of Talus. During this time, he met Mallie, a fellow Jedi who considered herself a freedom fighter. In contrast to Marek's enthusiasm for battlefield glory, Mallie felt no excitement or desire to participate in the Clone Wars. She deeply sympathized with those who suffered in any way due to the widespread conflict. Despite their differing viewpoints, the two Jedi managed to establish a connection with each other.

Marek's exposure to Mallie's perspectives caused a shift in his thinking, altering his initial mindset. As he shed his youthful desire for fame and recognition, Marek began to share Mallie's empathy for others. As their relationship grew, Marek fell in love with Mallie, despite the Jedi Order's disapproval of romantic relationships. Mallie also violated the Jedi Code by reciprocating Marek's feelings.

Before the Clone Wars ended, Kento and Mallie secretly married. By doing so, they abandoned their allegiance to the Jedi Order and became exiles in order to begin a new life. Ironically, their actions ultimately saved their lives. When Chancellor Palpatine, the public identity of the Sith Lord Darth Sidious, issued Order 66 to the Grand Army, countless Jedi officers were murdered by their own clone soldiers across the galaxy.

With the Jedi Order nearly destroyed, Palpatine dissolved the Republic and declared himself emperor of the first Galactic Empire. Although burdened by guilt for abandoning his former comrades, Kento was forced to go into hiding with his wife to escape the systematic extermination targeting all surviving members of the Order, including former Jedi. While the two former Jedi went into hiding, Kento's Jedi Master was killed by the Emperor's apprentice, Darth Vader.

After settling on Kashyyyk, Kento Marek lived among the Wookiees for ten years. During that time, Mallie gave birth to their only child, Galen Marek. As the child of two Jedi Knights, Galen possessed an exceptionally strong connection to the Force from birth. His ability to wield the Force surpassed his parents, and his potential rivaled that of Emperor Palpatine. The family's happiness was cut short by tragedy when Mallie died while defending Wookiees from a group of Trandoshan slavers. The loss of his wife left Kento to raise their son alone.

Years after Mallie Marek's death, Darth Vader discovered that a Jedi was being sheltered by the Wookiees on Kashyyyk. Acting on this information, the Sith Lord assembled a fleet of Star Destroyers and invaded the planet once more. Kento organized the Wookiees and led them against the Galactic Empire. However, the Imperials underestimated the Wookiees' resolve and defenses, resulting in numerous casualties during the initial assault. Yet Vader was not concerned with the battle itself; his sole focus was to find and eliminate the Jedi who had evaded the Great Jedi Purge for years. Consequently, he excused the Imperial Commander's incompetence after nearly choking him to death.

Vader, accompanied by stormtroopers from Triton Squad, proceeded on foot to infiltrate the Wookiee village. After slaughtering many defenders along the way, Vader arrived at the entrance of Kento Marek's hut, which was adorned with his household's emblem. After Marek, disguised as a reclusive hermit, failed to deceive Vader, he was forced to make his final stand in front of his home. Using the Force to eliminate Vader's stormtrooper escort, the Jedi and the Sith engaged in a lightsaber duel.

During the fight, Marek displayed average skill in Shii-Cho but lacked understanding of the more advanced Makashi style. His abilities, both with a lightsaber and in the Force, were severely outmatched by the more powerful Sith Lord. Despite his efforts, Marek was disarmed and rendered helpless in a telekinetic grip. Vader then slammed Kento into a nearby tree, then into a Wookiee sniper nest, and then back down to the ground. After pummeling Kento, Vader used a powerful Force Push to send the Jedi crashing through the entrance of his own hut, shattering the Jedi Knight's lightsaber upon impact.

Defeated and too injured to continue the fight, Marek was unable to defend himself as Vader lifted him into the air, slowly choking him to death. However, the Sith Lord stopped himself from striking his opponent down when he sensed an incredibly powerful presence in the Force nearby. Due to the fact that the mysterious Force-sensitive was much stronger than the Jedi in his grasp, Vader assumed that the source of the power was Marek's master. When Marek revealed that his mentor had been killed years prior, Vader lost patience and raised his lightsaber to kill the Jedi.

However, just as Vader moved to kill Marek, his saber was telekinetically ripped from his hand. He turned around to see where his weapon had landed, and was utterly shocked and astonished to see that a young child had used the Force through pure instinct to take his weapon. He quickly realized that the boy was the son of the Jedi that he was about to kill, Galen Marek. When Kento tried to warn Galen to run, the Sith Lord, while keeping his focus centered on the boy, closed his fist. The unmistakeable crack of bone filled the hut, and Kento Marek's form crumpled to the ground. He was dead, his throat crushed. As Galen watched in horror as his father's lifeless body fell to the floor, Vader cautiously tried to approach him in an non-threatening way, but Galen backed away, obviously frightened by the intimidating Sith Lord. At that moment, the Imperial Commander and a squad of stormtroopers entered the hut. Believing that Galen was trying to kill Vader with the Sith Lord's own weapon, he ordered his troops to execute the boy.

However, Vader had already decided against killing Galen. After sensing the boy's potential, Vader realized that he had just discovered a prodigy of the Force—much like he once was during his life as the Jedi Anakin Skywalker. Hence, he had no intention of allowing such power to be wasted and was not about to allow the boy to be killed. Using the Force to reclaim his lightsaber, Vader blocked the blaster shots that were aimed at Galen before cutting down the commander and his stormtroopers. After eliminating the witnesses who saw Galen, Vader approached the frightened orphan and told him that they had to leave together before more Imperials arrived. Galen, traumatized by what he had just seen, complied with the man who had murdered his father and saved his life. As the Imperial forces went on to claim victory, the son of the late Kento Marek was taken away from Kashyyyk by his new guardian, Darth Vader. As he was escorted away by Vader, the young Galen turned to look for the last time at his family home and the body of his father, the hand outstreched as though reaching for something.

For approximately a decade after Kento Marek's death, Galen studied the ways of the Sith under Darth Vader's guidance. The Dark Lord's training methods were harsh and nearly torturous; the principle he imparted to his student was learn or die. Initially, Galen was controlled by Vader through fear, but he then learned to channel the dark side by embracing his anger and hatred. Yet despite Vader's harsh treatment of the boy, there was never any malicious cruelty behind his teachings. Once he made it clear to his protégé that the key to staying alive was obedience and success, it was up to Galen to prove himself worthy and strong enough to stand at Vader's side.

As Galen matured into a young adult during his time as Vader's disciple, the memories of his parents and childhood were suppressed until he forgot everything about his life before serving the Dark Lord of the Sith, including his birth name. Operating under the codename "Starkiller," the boy was sent on various missions as Darth Vader's personal assassin; his targets included the Empire's numerous enemies, but never any Jedi. Nearing the completion of his training in 3 BBY, Starkiller finally achieved his lifelong ambition to hunt and kill Jedi targets.

Dispatched to a TIE Fighter Construction Facility above Nar Shaddaa, Starkiller was tasked with assassinating General Rahm Kota. During their fight, the apprentice experienced a disturbing vision in which he saw the face of his father, whom he no longer remembered. After being sent to the ruins of the Jedi Temple to further his training through the ancient Jedi Trials, Starkiller heard the voice of Kento Marek, who attempted to guide his fallen son as the apprentice fought a training program of an ancient Sith Lord called Darth Desolous.

Until his final trial in the Temple, Starkiller was completely unaware that the mysterious Jedi in his visions was actually his long dead father. When he reached the top of the Temple's highly-damaged central tower, Starkiller came across a simulacrum that displayed Darth Vader and Kento Marek fighting one another. As Kento stood victorious over Vader, Starkiller moved to defend his master without hesitation. Through the simulacrum, Kento tried to reason with his son, only for his attempts to be utterly ignored as the apprentice immersed himself further into the dark side of the Force. Before the simulacrum was deactivated, Kento apologized to Starkiller for failing to protect him from the life of a Sith and referred to him as "son." The revelation shocked Starkiller to the core, causing him to explore the Temple even further until he found a Holocron that contained a message from his father. Kento acknowledged that, although Starkiller had fallen deep within the embrace of the dark side, there was still time to be saved since Vader had not yet fully corrupted him.

Starkiller later returned to his homeworld of Kashyyyk, which was then heavily occupied by an Imperial military garrison. After discovering the ruins of his childhood home, he was caught in an overwhelming Force vision. Starkiller, in the ominous guise of the Sith Lord that he could become, fought his father in a duel once again. As before in the Jedi Temple, he easily demonstrated his superiority by defeating Kento Marek. As Kento left, Starkiller called out to his father and begged for him to stop, but to no avail. Galen had a brief encounter with his father Kento's spirit, who apologized to his son stating that he never want his life to turn out as it did. After the encounter, Galen found his father's robe and blue lightsaber crystal in some rubble behind the hut.

Ultimately, Starkiller later chose to accept redemption by embracing his Jedi heritage. Although he defeated his former master in combat, Galen Marek sacrificed his life to save the founders of the newly-formed Rebel Alliance from Darth Sidious. Though the last scion of the Marek family was dead, his heroic sacrifice inspired the countless rebels and dissidents to wage a full-scale war against Sidious' Empire. Furthermore, the Alliance chose to honor Galen's memory by adopting his family's symbol as its official emblem. Hence, the son of Kento Marek left behind a legacy that changed the fate of the galaxy forever as the growing forces of the Alliance became emboldened to challenge the tyrannical rule of the Galactic Empire.

Kento Marek's bloodline, although technically ended by Galen Marek's death, was preserved, ironically by Darth Vader himself. Just before Galen's untimely demise, Vader had learned of his expendable status when Sidious—preferring a younger and far more powerful apprentice—attempted to replace him with Marek. Though Marek chose redemption through death over life as a Sith Lord, his end had nevertheless robbed Vader of his greatest chance to overthrow Darth Sidious. But even death was not enough to dissuade him from undertaking a task that had been considered impossible throughout history. Thus, he brought Galen's body to the planet Kamino and preserved it within a secret freezing chamber of the Timira City Cloning Facility. Extracting cells from Galen's corpse, the Dark Lord began a long and painstaking six-month project to create a far more powerful and loyal version of his dead apprentice.

But due to the dangerous and unreliable science of cloning, combined with the extreme complexities of cloning Force-sensitive subjects, Vader's first attempts to clone Galen's genetic code produced a series of aberrant monstrosities. Although Galen's genetic code remained intact within them, the imperfections in the cloning process resulted in clones that were physical deformed and psychologically unstable. Due to the memory imprints that were downloaded into the clones, they all suffered from an identity crisis and, due to their mentally deranged state of mind, were driven completely mad. Thus, the only way to perfect the process was by constantly creating new clones of Galen Marek, each one more improved than the last. Through a new and experimental style of cloning, Vader engineered "accelerated" clones—genetic duplicates that grew to reach young adulthood in a few short weeks.

Over six months of one failure after another, Darth Vader witnessed much improvement in his clandestine project. After eliminating the causes behind the physical defects, new clones were individually trained by the Dark Lord. His ultimate goal was to pick the best and most stable clone, but each clone ultimately succumbed to insanity because of the memories that were downloaded into them from their genetic donor, as well as the emotional imprints that Vader failed to erase. Many clones progressed far in their training, but ultimately came to disappoint Vader. Some were far too distracted by thoughts of the child that Galen once was while others were undermined by memories of Kento Marek. Every clone was "born" with different fixations on certain individuals from Galen Marek's past, and it was Vader's goal to eliminate the final destabilizing factor in his experiment.

Although a renegade clone succeeded in escaping from Kamino, Darth Vader's project finally ended in total success. The latest and most advanced subject to be activated ultimately proved himself to be the only perfect and fully stable clone of the original Starkiller. Like every other clone that preceded him, the dark clone was distracted by the memories of his progenitor and was particularly fixated on thoughts of Captain Juno Eclipse, the woman whom Galen fell in love with before his death. But unlike his "brethren," the clone forcefully purged himself of Galen's emotions and gradually compartmentalized all of the downloaded memories, thus enabling him to distinguish his own experiences from the ones that belonged to Marek. As his training drew closer to an end, the clone had risen to become Darth Vader's new apprentice.

Much like his superior brother, the clone who escaped and unofficially became known as "Starkiller" had been purged of most of Marek's emotions. With the exception of his extreme fixation on Juno Eclipse, the clone spared no feelings for his genetic template's parents or the boy he once was. He was neither distracted by thoughts of striking down PROXY or destroying the Rebel Alliance. Were it not for his inherent infatuation with Eclipse, Vader would have considered him to be the first successful clone. By the end of the Assault on Kamino, the legacy of Kento Marek was divided between the two surviving clones of Galen—Starkiller and the Dark Apprentice.

In his younger years, Kento Marek was eager to experience real combat and demonstrate his Jedi skills. He found great satisfaction in the battles of the Clone Wars, eagerly seizing opportunities to fight alongside clone troopers on the front lines. Despite his arrogance and inflated sense of self-importance, Marek was a loyal servant of the Galactic Republic as a Jedi Knight, willingly risking his life in the conflict.

His beliefs underwent a profound transformation thanks to Mallie, a fellow Jedi who also participated in the Clone Wars. Through her influence, Marek gained a deeper understanding of the suffering endured by countless beings caught in the crossfire between the Republic and the Separatists. After falling in love with Mallie, Marek renounced his lifelong Jedi teachings and principles in order to marry her. He chose to live in exile with his new wife and, despite feeling immense guilt when the Galactic Empire decimated the Jedi Order, was committed to protecting her by evading the Empire's Jedi hunters.

With the birth of Galen Marek, Kento dedicated himself entirely to ensuring his family's survival in a galaxy that had become largely hostile to all Jedi, even former ones. He cherished his wife and son deeply, and after Mallie's death on Kashyyyk, Kento devoted the remainder of his life to raising their son alone. When Darth Vader launched an Imperial assault on Kashyyyk, Kento bravely fought alongside his Wookiee allies, despite their disadvantage against the superior Imperial forces. Kento owned a special Jedi robe crafted by Wookiee artisans, who presented it to him as a token of their friendship and gratitude. Kento wore this robe until his death at the hands of Lord Vader during the battle of Kashyyyk.

Even when faced with certain defeat, Kento Marek fought valiantly to defend Kashyyyk. He willingly confronted Darth Vader and, though utterly outmatched, yielded only after sustaining severe injuries from the Sith Lord. In a final act of compassion, he used his dying breath to warn his son to flee before Vader strangled him to death.

Kento Marek was a competent Jedi General during the Clone Wars. His leadership qualities and combat skills enabled him to survive a conflict that claimed the lives of many Jedi before Order 66 and the rise of the Galactic Empire. However, his command of the Force against Darth Vader was relatively basic, although sufficient to briefly hold his own.

While he could incapacitate stormtroopers with a single Force push, his powers were far weaker than Vader's. As is common for Force-sensitive individuals, Marek possessed skill in telekinesis, which he used in his duel with Vader by seizing TIE fighters and hurling them at the Sith Lord. Marek's abilities as a duelist included a mediocre level of skill in the Shii-Cho and a very basic grasp of the Makashi combat style.

His fighting style emphasized a relentless series of saber attacks, reminiscent of the Ataru style, but lacked the defensive aspects of the Soresu technique. Despite his combined combat and Force abilities, Marek's skills were ultimately overshadowed by both Darth Vader and his own son, Galen. The boy who became Vader's secret apprentice was an exceptionally gifted Force prodigy, far more powerful than Kento Marek ever was.

During the development of The Force Unleashed, the game's creators initially named the character who would become Starkiller "Jacob Nion." Later, they changed the name to "Galen Marek." Despite this change, Kento's name in The Force Unleashed video game is still listed as "Kento Nion" in the Databank on the Rogue Shadow.

Reportedly, his clothing was left untouched after his death; Galen Marek can find his costume in the damaged hut in The Force Unleashed video game. In the PS3 and Xbox versions, players could find a holocron at the start of the Imperial Kashyyyk level, in front of the Mareks' hut. This holocron contained a blue lightsaber crystal, possibly Kento Marek's. After a short cutscene inside the hut, players could find another holocron in some rubble behind the hut, containing Kento Marek's robe. This robe then became one of the many costumes players could wear in the game.

In the Wii/PSP/PS2 versions, Starkiller's vision of his father does not occur on Kashyyyk. Instead, it takes place at the end of Starkiller's third mission to the Jedi Temple on Coruscant, after a lightsaber duel.

Tom Kane provided the face and voice of Kento Marek, and also played Ozzik Sturn and Lobot in the Star Wars: The Force Unleashed video game.