Duel in the Iron Citadel (Exar Kun)
A confrontation unfolded near the close of the year 3997 BBY. It pitted two Dark Jedi against one another: Exar Kun, who craved power, and the impetuous Ulic Qel-Droma. This confrontation occurred in Cinnagar, the capital city of the Tetan system, specifically within the Iron Citadel controlled by the Krath cult devoted to the dark side of the Force. Qel-Droma had recently engaged and killed Satal Keto, the leader of the Krath. Following this, Aleema Keto, Satal's cousin, gifted him an ancient Sith amulet and made him co-leader of the Krath alongside herself. Unbeknownst to them, Exar Kun, a Dark Jedi, had learned about their existence from the spirit of Freedon Nadd, an ancient Dark Lord of the Sith, who had also provided Kun with his own amulet. Kun, viewing the Krath as a potential obstacle to his envisioned new Sith Empire, journeyed to Empress Teta and landed in its capital city. Guided by the Force to their location, Kun invaded the Iron Citadel and confronted Qel-Droma.
A swift, intense confrontation ensued, with neither warrior gaining a definitive advantage. However, as they fought, the amulets they possessed reacted to each other, resonating with dark side energies. These energies then summoned the spirit of Marka Ragnos, an ancient Dark Lord, who halted the confrontation. After a brief declaration, Ragnos bestowed upon Kun the title of Dark Lord of the Sith and designated Qel-Droma as his primary Sith apprentice.
Prelude
In the year 3997 BBY, Exar Kun, a Dark Jedi, made his way to the planet of Empress Teta. He had amassed considerable Sith powers while serving as an apprentice to the ancient Dark Lord Freedon Nadd. Believing he had absorbed all possible knowledge from the Sith Lord, Kun employed his newly acquired powers to obliterate Freedon Nadd's spirit, effectively killing him for a second and final time. Just before his demise, Nadd contacted Satal and Aleema Keto, the leaders of the Krath dark side cult, whom he had also initiated into the ways of Sith magic. Nadd warned them of Kun's betrayal, labeling him a pretender to the Sith legacy. Nadd asserted that the Krath, along with the Jedi Knight Ulic Qel-Droma (whom the Ketos had imprisoned and tortured under suspicion of being a Jedi spy), held the future of the Sith in their hands. Nadd's spirit then vanished, leaving the Ketos to ponder his words' significance. Kun was aware of Nadd's other apprentices and considered them threats to his ambition of establishing a new Sith Empire. Planning to eliminate them, Kun traveled to Empress Teta to locate Nadd's other Sith acolytes, just as the Jedi launched an attack on the Tetan capital of Cinnagar in an attempt to rescue Qel-Droma.
The Jedi, under the leadership of Master Nomi Sunrider, failed in their extraction mission to liberate Qel-Droma, leaving him with Aleema Keto inside their palace, the Iron Citadel. After killing Satal in a vengeful outburst for a previous attack on Deneba, Qel-Droma was appointed by Aleema as her co-leader of the Krath. Qel-Droma confessed to her his intention to infiltrate and dismantle her Krath cult, a plan she revealed she was already aware of. Aleema then presented Qel-Droma with a Sith amulet that had formerly belonged to Satal. Unbeknownst to both of them, Kun had recently arrived on Empress Teta with his Massassi warriors, seeking Nadd's other students. When his own amulet began to resonate with the dark side's power, Kun realized he had located his adversaries. Guided by the Force, he reached the Iron Citadel, catching both Qel-Droma and Keto by surprise. He swiftly incapacitated the latter with a blast of Force energy. With the woman out of the picture, Kun and Qel-Droma ignited their lightsabers and engaged in lightsaber combat.
The duel
The resulting duel was brief, with Kun and Qel-Droma remaining evenly matched for much of it, neither able to secure an advantage. However, unexpectedly, the Sith amulets worn by the two men began to interact. Unknown to them, the amulets had once been a pair, separated thousands of generations prior. This sudden and unexpected reunion awakened the spirit of the long-deceased Dark Lord of the Sith, Marka Ragnos.
Aftermath
The ancient Dark Lord promptly brought the duel to a halt, explaining that his appearance was a consequence of the amulets' reunion. Ragnos sensed that both individuals had embraced the dark side and recognized their potential to restore the Sith to the Golden Age they had experienced under his rule. He seized Kun, marking his forehead with the symbol of the Dark Lords, and proclaimed him the new Dark Lord of the Sith. Ragnos also tattooed Qel-Droma's forehead, designating him as Kun's foremost apprentice. Ragnos then declared that through Kun and Qel-Droma, the foundations would be laid for the Sith to one day exact revenge on the Republic and the Jedi. Bound by destiny and united by prophecy, Kun and Qel-Droma joined forces as Sith Master and apprentice, respectively. Together with Keto's Krath, the trio later terrorized the Republic, forming the Brotherhood of the Sith.
Kun and his Brotherhood were eventually defeated, but a new Sith threat emerged more than 300 years later. The remnants of the Sith Empire, defeated and exiled during the Great Hyperspace War of 5000 BBY, returned to besiege the Republic in another struggle for total galactic domination. The Jedi, unaware of this previously unrealized threat, tasked Gnost-Dural, a Kel Dor Jedi archivist serving on the High Council, with uncovering the origins of the revitalized Sith Empire. In his research, Gnost-Dural recounted the conflict between Kun and Qel-Droma, emphasizing its significance in relation to the Sith's return. Upon concluding his account, the Kel-Dor Master expressed his belief that the Sith spirits who supported Kun's ascension to Dark Lord might have disagreed with the machinations of the Sith Emperor whose forces were besieging the galaxy during Gnost-Dural's time.
Behind the scenes
The Second Duel in the Iron Citadel made its debut in issue 6, "Dark Lords of the Sith 6: Jedi Assault," of the Tales of the Jedi comic series. Tom Veitch and Kevin J. Anderson conceived and wrote the duel, while Art Wetherell provided the artwork. Veitch and Anderson employed this crucial duel to signify the alliance between the two fallen Jedi, Ulic Qel-Droma and Exar Kun, ensuring both characters fulfilled Marka Ragnos's prophecy and became Sith Lords. Following the 1995 release of the "Dark Lords of the Sith" story arc, the Second Duel in the Iron Citadel also appeared in the Tales of the Jedi: Dark Lords of the Sith audio drama. John Cygan lent his voice to Ulic Qel-Droma, while Peter Reneday portrayed Exar Kun.
In October of 2010, the Second Duel in the Iron Citadel was showcased in "The Exar Kun War," the tenth installment of in-universe videos providing backstory for the upcoming Star Wars: The Old Republic video game developed by BioWare. The video portrays the sequence of events somewhat differently from what is depicted in Jedi Assault. It presents Kun's arrival in Cinnagar as a full-scale invasion, complete with a legion of Massassi warriors, whereas both Jedi Assault and the audio drama clearly depict an infiltration mission undertaken by Kun and only two Massassi companions. The timeline video also shows Kun and Qel-Droma dueling outside the Iron Citadel, supported by their respective armies, while the duel actually takes place within the palace in Jedi Assault. Furthermore, in the comic and audio adaptation, Kun only becomes a Sith Lord after the duel concludes, but Timeline 10 states that Kun had already achieved this rank after defeating the Sith wyrm on Yavin 4.
In Jedi Assault, Qel-Droma's attire consists solely of yellow boots, brown trousers, and a bare upper body exposing his wounded torso. However, Timeline 10 erroneously depicts him in the armor he only donned after partnering with Kun and returning to the Empress Teta system, as seen in "Edge of the Whirlwind," the first issue of the Star Wars: Tales of the Jedi – The Sith War story arc. Robert Chestney, a game developer for BioWare's The Old Republic video game, attributed these conflicting details to the accounts of a poorly informed Jedi Master who lived more than 300 years later.