In the aftermath of the Sith rebellion, a former Sith human male known as The Ronin journeyed to the distant reaches of the Outer Rim Territories. He later acquired the moniker Grim. This Ronin had initiated the rebellion as the Dark Lord of the Sith, commanding the Sith armies after their separation from the Jedi clans. Their goal was to seize control of their destinies and put an end to the endless conflicts between rival feudal lords and their Jedi knights. The lords united, dispatching their Jedi to confront the dark lord, his witch, their combined forces, and the Sith demons resurrected by the witch from the dead. However, the dark lord grew disillusioned with the Sith's transformation during the rebellion, leading him to turn against his own followers and bring the rebellion to a halt. He then disavowed the Sith, abandoned his previous identity, and adopted the name Ronin. Following the rebellion's failure, the former rival lords established a renewed Empire that governed a significant portion of the galaxy.
Accompanied by his loyal astromech droid, B5-56, the Ronin embarked on a self-imposed exile throughout the Outer Rim, remaining silent about his past. He pledged allegiance to no clan, dedicating his life to hunting down and eliminating other Sith, collecting their kyber crystals to prevent further evil. He was both guided and tormented by the disembodied voice of the Witch within his mind, to whom he occasionally responded aloud.
Two decades following his rebellion, he stumbled upon a village on the planet Genbara that was under attack by a bandit group led by Kouru, who proclaimed herself Dark Lord of the Sith. Their lightsaber duel concluded with the Ronin's victory, but she was revived as a Sith demon.
As the Ronin continued his travels, he encountered the Traveler upon hearing their [flute](/article/flute] performance. The Traveler then accompanied him to the Osou spaceport.
Before the Empire's reunification, Jedi knights served various perpetually warring feudal lords. The Sith emerged as a dissenting group from the Jedi clans, seeking autonomy and an end to the incessant conflicts plaguing the galaxy. The individual who would become the Ronin had once been a Dark Lord of the Sith, spearheading and leading the Sith rebellion against the feudal system in the galaxy. The future Ronin, alongside a Sith witch, led this rebellious faction. The witch had the power to resurrect the dead, preventing them from joining the Force, and transforming them into Sith demons who continued to fight for the Sith cause.
As the dark lord, he pioneered lightsaber auxiliary technology, enhancing the capabilities of [lightsabers](/article/lightsaber]. The blueprints for his designs were disseminated among Sith cells. After the young warrior Kouru constructed her lightsaber, she received the dark lord's plans to create a parasol auxiliary, and her Sith master crafted a fan auxiliary. The dark lord and the Sith witch were romantically involved, and they conceived a daughter, a fact unknown to the dark lord.
During the great muster on Rei'izu, the dark lord gazed into the divine kyber mirror of Shinsui Temple and witnessed a vision of unimaginable horrors and warfare. This vision led him to become disillusioned with the rebellion he had initiated, and he turned his lightsaber against his Sith followers. The Sith rebellion concluded with the Ronin's change of heart. At the rebellion's end, the Empire was reunited through alliances between the rival feudal lords, and the Jedi became the Emperor's most loyal servants. The Sith population dwindled as they were hunted by Jedi Knights, agents of the Empire, and the Ronin himself. Unbeknownst to the Ronin, the witch gave birth to their daughter on Rei'izu.
Two decades after the Sith rebellion concluded, the Ronin roamed the Outer Rim Territories alongside his droid companion, B5-56. On one occasion, a lord fired a blaster bolt at the Ronin. While he evaded the shot, it struck the left side of his face, leaving his jaw disfigured and scarred. Consequently, the Ronin began wearing a metal prosthetic that supported his jaw from ear to ear. He also took the lord's blaster to carry on his own belt. Furthermore, he began hearing a mysterious voice whispering in his mind, compelling him towards danger. He committed himself to hunting down other Sith, collecting their kyber crystals to prevent them from causing further destruction.
Eventually, the duo arrived on the planet Genbara, where the Ronin stopped at a teahouse just outside a village. He repaired the shopkeeper's power droid in exchange for food and tea, when a gang of bandits led by a self-proclaimed Dark Lord of the Sith named Kouru attacked the village. Kouru's bandits gathered the village's residents in a central location when a group of bounty hunters hired to protect the village launched a counter-attack. They began to gain the upper hand when Kouru appeared, killing a Trandoshan guard with her lightsaber parasol.
B5-56 sustained damage from the attackers' shrapnel. The teahouse's Sullustan shopkeep, a former mechanic, was entrusted with repairing the astromech while a pot of tea brewed. The Ronin then departed to confront Kouru. The former Sith casually walked down the village road towards the bandit leader amidst the chaos until he reached her. Kouru questioned who dared challenge her, noting that he did not appear to be a villager. The errant Sith identified himself as "just a simple wanderer." Kouru removed her lightsaber's parasol auxiliary and lunged fiercely to strike him. However, the Ronin froze the bandit mid-air using telekinesis, prompting her to boast "it's been a long time since I killed a Jedi." The Ronin drew his red lightsaber and retorted that he was not a Jedi, unfortunately for her; claiming that if he were, she may have stood a chance.
The pair dueled in the village square before moving to a river. They continued to fight on floating logs down the river to the edge of a waterfall that concealed a temple. The bandits had killed all but one guard, a Gran, when the shopkeep's tea boiled. At that moment, B5-56 flew up in the air and launched a salvo of missiles which killed every bandit except Kouru.
The Ronin jumped off the log upon which he and Kouru had been balancing and lay in ambush in the temple below. Kouru followed his footsteps into the temple, where she saw the more handsome of his lightsabers activated. She struck the being holding his saber, cleaving it in half, only to see that it had been held by a metal statue of a Jedi rather than her foe. The Ronin then killed Kouru, stabbing her through the chest with the blade of his scabbard auxiliary. After returning to the village, he was initially mistaken for a Jedi knight by the child village chief. He demonstrated to the villagers that he was not by unsheathing one of his red blades and using it to shatter Kouru's lightsaber hilt. Although he initially collected the kyber crystal from within, the voice in the Ronin's head observed to him that the boy had a familiar look on his face. Recognizing that the boy was too ready to become old but had no protection to help him survive, the Ronin gave the crystal to the child and said it would ward off evil.
As the Ronin made his way to the Osou spaceport, he met a being who was playing their flute with little musical skill. They told the Ronin to call them the Traveler.
Having his status as a Sith revealed, he was hunted down by the mobilized Genbara army, but intercepted by Kouru, narrowly escaping her.
Though no longer in the prime of his health in the decades after his rebellion, the Ronin was a capable lightsaber duelist and skilled with the Force. At the time of his duel against Kouru on Genbara, the Ronin believed his sensitivity to the Force had dulled with lack of practice.
The Ronin had long been skilled as a mechanic, with the Force amplifying his affinity for the workings of electrical and mechanical systems including droids and vehicles. He believed those talents made him better understand intricate electronics than other sentient beings. He used his talent for repairs to earn credits, food, and lodging during his travels. Likewise, his mechanical genius made him skilled at designing the Sith lightsaber auxiliaries and at breaking starships.
After the Sith rebellion, the Ronin used a prosthetic jaw support due to a prior blaster injury, and later a respirator after his duel with Hanrai resulted in weakened lungs. The Ronin carried two lightsabers with him, one of which had an elegant hilt and was sheathed in a scabbard constructed from other lightsaber hilts, and the other a scabbard auxiliary that had a cruder appearance. He more publicly utilized the former lightsaber, while the second was a backup and used to trick his opponents. He also carried the blaster that had injured his jaw and kept it well-maintained.
The Ronin first appeared in "The Duel," a short film and episode of Star Wars: Visions produced by Kamikaze Douga and released for streaming on Disney+ on September 22, 2021.
In real-life, rōnin were vagrant, masterless samurai warriors in feudal Japan.