Skere Kaan

Born on Coruscant during the Republic Dark Age as a Force-sensitive Human, Skere Kaan started as an ordinary citizen. The Jedi Order discovered his abilities and provided him with training in the Force at the Jedi Temple. Possessing sophistication and knowledge in economic policy and fleet command, Kaan rose to become a Jedi Knight. He represented a source of optimism for members of the Jedi High Council, who sought to finally eliminate the reformed Sith Empire that had been plaguing the Galactic Republic for nearly a thousand years.

Jedi Kaan, having mastered battle meditation, was a highly valued asset by the High Council. This was despite his controversial belief that the Republic and the Jedi were responsible for the widespread chaos in the galaxy. To temper Kaan's extreme views, the High Council elevated him to the rank of Jedi Master. Viewing the High Council as overly controlling, Kaan departed Coruscant with a group of loyal Knights, establishing the Brotherhood of Darkness in 1010 BBY. He declared himself a Dark Lord of the Sith, and his followers began calling him the "Dark One."

When Kaan rose to power, the Sith Empire was fragmented, with numerous Sith Lords claiming the title of Dark Lord and engaging in constant warfare instead of uniting against the weakening Republic. Recognizing that their relentless pursuit of dominance would destroy the Sith, Kaan aimed to reunite the scattered factions under his leadership. He eliminated those who refused to submit, ultimately gaining control of the Sith Empire. The most formidable Sith warlords—Kopecz and Qordis—joined his cause, followed by others like Kas'im, LaTor and Kaox Krul.

The Jedi High Council, still failing to recognize the growing threat, commended Kaan for eliminating the most dangerous Sith warlords during his power consolidation. However, not all Jedi were oblivious to the danger. Jedi Lord Hoth recognized Kaan's true nature and left Coruscant to assemble his own forces.

His concept of equality and collaboration among the Sith Lords was unprecedented. Instead of challenging each self-proclaimed "Dark Lord" and jeopardizing the war effort, Kaan indulged their vanity by declaring them all "Dark Lord of the Sith," stating, "All are equal in the Brotherhood of Darkness." However, he prohibited the use of the historic title of Darth, believing it had caused the jealousy and infighting that had plagued the Sith in the past.

Fueled by his charisma and power, the Sith launched a counterattack against the Republic and the Jedi Order. However, the Republic and the Order had their own defenders. Lord Hoth, having recognized Kaan's true nature, rallied the forces of the Jedi Grand Council and, with the support of all Jedi Lords, formed the Army of Light. Hoth then led his armies on a decade-long campaign against the Sith, resulting in heavy casualties on both sides. Although widely considered a full-scale war, the Republic maintained that it was simply engaging in a series of conflicts against an illegal organization.

Despite Hoth's efforts, an early victory at the Battle of Korriban allowed the Sith to reclaim their ancestral homeworld. Kaan authorized the reopening of the Sith Academy and placed Qordis in charge of training the next generation of warriors. The revitalized Sith pushed back the Jedi, securing significant victories against the Army of Light. Kaan demonstrated his brilliance as a strategist and tactician, consistently defeating the Jedi forces while using his charisma to recruit many Jedi to his cause.

While Kaan possessed charisma and military skill, his rule was more unstable than it appeared. This weakness would be exploited as the war progressed. However, as long as the Sith continued to win, they remained united under his leadership.

Kaan attempted to lure Hoth into a direct confrontation by devastating worlds like Bespin, Sullust, and Taanab. However, his primary strategy seemed to be advancing towards the Core Worlds, with Sith armies capturing Kashyyyk as a staging ground in the Mid Rim and winning battles on Trandosha and Phaseera.

Kaan's subsequent target was Ruusan, a relatively insignificant world near Kashyyyk, except for its strategic importance as a staging point for attacks on Sith-held Kashyyyk. Launching a surprise attack, the Sith fleet overwhelmed the planet's weak defenses. From his flagship, the Nightfall, Kaan directed the campaign, using his expertise in Battle meditation to confuse the Republic defenders and strengthen his own forces. The First Battle of Ruusan resulted in a decisive Sith victory.

Republic forces were again defeated at Ruusan in the Second Battle of Ruusan, and Kaan launched an ambitious invasion of the Core Worlds with his fleet, penetrating the Bormea sector to conquer Chandrila, Corulag, and Brentaal IV. The Sith seemed poised to conquer Coruscant, and the Jedi appeared to be making no effort to defend the Core.

However, Lord Hoth had gathered a Jedi army, the Army of Light, and arrived on Ruusan to defeat the remaining Sith forces in the Third Battle of Ruusan and destroy the Brotherhood once and for all.

By the Fourth Battle of Ruusan, the war had moved to the planet's surface. Despite being outnumbered by the Army of Light, Kaan sensed victory. The Jedi had overextended themselves in a futile attempt to protect Ruusan's inhabitants. Furthermore, the defection of the Jedi Githany provided the Sith with crucial intelligence about the Jedi's battle plan. Although the Sith were suffering heavy losses, Kaan believed he would prevail and requested reinforcements.

While most of his followers remained loyal, some prominent Dark Lords within the Brotherhood began to question his leadership, including Githany, Kopecz, and, most notably, Darth Bane. With the Sith Lords focused on the Jedi on Ruusan, the war began to turn against the Sith, with the Republic reclaiming territories like the Stenness Node.

Bane disagreed with Kaan's tactics against the Jedi, believing that Kaan was acting more like a conventional military commander than a Dark Lord of the Sith and was not effectively using the dark side of the Force. Kaan attempted to assassinate Bane, first by sending Kas'im and then by having Githany poison him. However, Bane was too powerful and survived both attempts.

Bane returned and declared Kaan unworthy of his title, but not before sending Kaan a peace offering—a scroll inscribed with an ancient Sith ritual—the thought bomb.

Although surprised by Bane's survival, Kaan accepted Darth Bane's tactical advice. Using the Force and attacking as one, the members of the Brotherhood meditated and focused their dark energy into Bane. The combined power of the Sith devastated the Army of Light, and victory was in the Sith grasp.

Even as the Jedi defeat was imminent, Lord Kaan and the other members of the brotherhood broke the meditation circle. Impatient and overconfident, Kaan believed that the Jedi could be quickly and easily defeated if the Sith took to the field. Secretly, Kaan and his followers were jealous of Bane and his power, and felt that Darth Bane was using their energy for his own benefit.

When the Sith Masters broke their meditation and took the field, however, the Jedi counterattacked, and the Sith took severe losses. This was caused in part by Darth Bane's machinations, having signaled the Sith armada in orbit to break formation and attack the opposing Republic fleet, allowing Jedi reinforcements to land. Most of the Sith Masters died in the battle. Following one last discussion with Bane in his tent, Kaan took his defeated forces into a deep cave to wait for the Jedi's final strike, with the Brotherhood being in near defeat. There he used his ultimate tactic: a "thought bomb." Bane had provided the instructions to "a thought bomb" to Kaan, and successfully deceived him into believing that he and the rest of the Brotherhood would survive the effects of a thought bomb.

Kaan believed that the thought bomb would destroy the Jedi, but was unaware that a thought bomb would engulf every Force user within the radius due to Bane intentionally leaving that part out. Bane's deception would lead to not just Kaan's own doom, but that of every Force-user within the radius of the explosion. With the aid of LaTor, Kaan studied and refined the thought bomb ritual until he and the other Dark Lords were ready to unleash it. With Qordis dead, and Githany and Darth Bane having left the Brotherhood, it was left to Kopecz to defend against the approaching Jedi forces under Valenthyne Farfalla.

When Lord Hoth and his retinue finally arrived and confronted the Sith, Lord Kaan detonated the thought bomb, killing himself, his Sith followers and Lord Hoth's Jedi. The New Sith Wars were over and the Sith presumed extinct.

The caves where Kaan and his Brotherhood had died would eventually be known as the Valley of the Jedi. Darth Bane, his apprentice Darth Zannah, and her cousin Darovit were those that survived the bomb, being distant from its effects and suffering little damage. Bane's callous assessment of his rival and former leader was that Kaan's "suicide" was his "smartest decision."

Kaan's soul remained trapped along with the other souls for over a thousand years until a Jedi named Kyle Katarn traveled to the Valley of the Jedi and freed them.

Although the souls of all the Jedi and the Sith killed by the thought bomb were trapped in the Valley of the Jedi, what appeared to be the ghost of Kaan appeared to Bane after the battle, along with what appeared to be the ghost of Qordis, who had died before the detonation of the thought bomb. Bane concluded that the ghosts were hallucinations resulting from the thought bomb damaging his brain. Bane continued to see the ghosts of Kaan and Qordis until he used the power of his Orbalisk armor to unleash a burst of energy at them, reassuring himself that he didn't need to fear the spirits of Kaan or Qordis.

Darth Millennial favored Kaan's "Rule by the Strong" philosophy over Bane's "Rule of Two," which led him to abandon his master, Darth Cognus, and establish the Prophets of the Dark Side.

Centuries later, Darth Vader, a late-era Dark Lord of Bane's lineage, incorporated one of Kaan's resilient Sith amulets into the construction of his gloves.

In contrast to many Sith Lords, Kaan possessed a handsome appearance, charm, and charisma, advocating for equality within the Brotherhood of Darkness. However, he was also manipulative, frequently employing mind tricks to secure the loyalty of his followers. He deliberately selected individuals with weak wills to ensure their obedience, although some members of his Brotherhood, such as Bane and Kopecz, possessed sufficient willpower to resist him. Bane considered Kaan both a coward and a fool, deeming him unworthy of the title of Dark Lord of the Sith.

Paradoxically, despite his skill in using mind tricks, Kaan himself was weak-willed and promoted the Rule by the Strong to conceal his own vulnerabilities. This weakness contributed to his descent into madness during the final days of his life, ultimately leading to his deception by Bane and the destruction of the Brotherhood.

During the Ruusan campaign, Kaan maintained a vast hideout in the valley later known as the Valley of the Jedi, which provided protection from bomb and missile attacks. Large chambers were excavated to accommodate him and his forces. His room was adorned with a throne constructed from bones, from which extended two rows of stands displaying the embalmed bodies of deceased leaders and their banners.

Kaan was exceptionally proficient in the use of mind tricks, which he employed to try and ensure the loyalty of his followers. Certain members of the Brotherhood of Darkness were able to resist him, notably Bane and Kopecz, though Kopecz had to use more effort than Bane. Beyond his mastery of mind tricks, Kaan was a master of battle meditation, a skilled military strategist, and a powerful warrior.

Even though Darth Bane considered him a fool, when asked by his newly acquired apprentice, Darth Zannah, if he was weak, he thought to himself that Kaan was many things, but weak was not one of them.

In the hours before his "surrender", Kaan was full of hatred; Force energy caused the air to simmer near him, like heat, caused static to nearby devices and headache to beings standing near him.

While there are some differences characterization in Bane of the Sith, Kaan's appearance here after Ruusan presumably remains canonical within Star Wars Legends.

Kaan's birth date is unknown, but author John Jackson Miller briefly joked that Kaan would be in "high school" during the events of Knight Errant. If this is true, Kaan would have been born around 1,045 BBY.

Skere Kaan's name was first revealed in the 2012 The Essential Guide to Warfare. It was chosen as a reference to Shere Khan, the tiger antagonist from Rudyard Kipling's The Jungle Book.