Tulak Hord, also known by the titles Lord of Hate and Master of the Gathering Darkness, was a Dark Lord of the Sith who reigned during the early days of the Sith Empire. He commanded vast armies and possessed an unmatched mastery of both the dark side of the Force and lightsaber combat, making him a formidable figure. To inspire fear in his enemies, Hord always wore a black mask when he went into battle.
As a Force-sensitive male, Tulak Hord studied the dark side of the Force and became a student within the early Sith Empire. As he rose through the ranks, Hord instilled fear in his rivals, even during his early years. He had already mastered both lightsaber combat techniques and Force manipulation. Early in his career, Hord engaged in an honorable duel with a Dashade named Khem Val, who would later become his most loyal companion. Gathering a large army of followers, Hord and Val launched a campaign of terror to crush rebellious militants on the planets Yn and Chabosh. During this campaign, a Sith named Aloysius Kallig approached Hord, seeking to serve him. Hord initially rejected Kallig, but Kallig refused to accept this dismissal. Kallig challenged and defeated Hord's best general. Impressed by Kallig's victory, Hord accepted him into his service, and Kallig led Hord's forces to numerous victories. In battle, Hord utilized his knowledge of Sith rituals, draining the strength of his foes and using it to empower himself. He earned the titles Lord of Hate, Master of the Gathering Darkness, and ultimately, Dark Lord of the Sith. Lord Hord remained undefeated, vanquishing all who dared to challenge his power. While Kallig's military skill brought Hord great success, it also made the Dark Lord uneasy, as he feared Kallig could become a dangerous rival. To resolve this, Hord arranged for Kallig to be assassinated, leading his family to go into hiding.
Lord Hord further explored the arts of Sith sorcery, writing numerous tomes of knowledge and creating his personal holocron. Rumored to possess the secret to immortality, Hord concealed his teachings in remote and difficult-to-reach locations, ensuring only the most worthy could gain access to his knowledge. After discovering and conquering the Dromund system, it was said that the Sith Lord conquered over a hundred worlds for the Empire. One individual who proved worthy during Hord's lifetime was his only known apprentice, Ortan Cela, who learned much from the great Sith.
Valuing his relationship with the honor-bound Khem Val, Lord Hord placed his ally and servant in suspended animation within a stasis chamber located deep within what would later become Sith Lord Naga Sadow's tomb on Korriban. Not long after this, Ortan Cela betrayed his master, killing him by stabbing him in the back. Cela's Dashade servant Veshikk Urk then consumed the dying Sith Lord's Force energy.
Following his death, his devoted followers constructed a grand tomb for their fallen master in the Valley of the Dark Lords on Korriban. Within the tomb, they placed several tomes of his writings, his holocron, and his signature mask.
After the Great Hyperspace War concluded and Korriban was bombed by the Galactic Republic and Jedi Order, much of Lord Hord's history was either destroyed or lost. Although the tomb remained intact, traps were set in place to deter looters and test the worth of any Sith seeking knowledge. In 3956 BBY, during the Jedi Civil War, Revan entered the tomb. Revan successfully navigated the traps and discovered the Dark Lord's mask, taking it with him when he left. Revan also found several treasures inside the tomb, including three rare lightsaber crystals: an amethyst, a firkrann and a bondar crystal.
Before leaving the planet, Revan discovered Sith Master Jorak Uln hiding within the tomb, having been ousted by fellow Master Uthar Wynn as the Headmaster of the Sith Academy on Korriban. Consumed by anguish and madness, Uln captured Revan and his companions, intending to torture them before executing them. While imprisoned, Revan and his companions allied with the captured Sith apprentice Mekel and defeated Master Uln. Five years later, the exiled Jedi Meetra Surik investigated the tomb during her travels, only to find it looted and the entrance collapsed.
Following the resurgence of the Sith Empire, some of Hord's artifacts were rediscovered. Darth Marr, before earning a seat on the Sith Emperor's Dark Council, found Hord's lightsaber hidden on Dromund Fels. During the Galactic War, Hord's spirit was among several Sith spirits that appeared briefly on the moon Yavin 4.
During the Cold War, the Sith Inquisitor acolyte Kallig, a descendant of Aloysius Kallig, Hord's defeated rival, awakened and rescued Khem Val. Although initially hostile, the Dashade came to see the young Sith Lord as a worthy successor to both their own ancestor and their former master.
Tulak Hord was famous for his exceptional dueling skills. Centuries later, when questioned by Meetra Surik, Kreia stated that Hord was "the greatest lightsaber duelist of the Sith Lords". She added that his skill was "remarkable even for his time, when many true lightsaber masters lived". Kreia also revealed that if Surik were to face an ancient Sith Lord in combat, she would realize that "we are as children playing with toys compared to the prowess of the old masters." Later, Khem Val told Darth Nox that Hord single-handedly broke the sieges laid by Jedi to Imperial strongholds in the Yn and Chabosh systems. Over a thousand Jedi died in these battles.
Hord was a powerful master of the dark side. He had extraordinary skill in telekinesis. When Darth Nox approached the wreckage of the Endar Spire, Khem Val revealed that "The great Tulak Hord once pulled a ship this size from the sky." Hord was also a master of sorcery.
Hord used a lightsaber that emitted an orange blade. He was very skilled in using it in combat.
The placement of Tulak Hord within the timeline was initially a source of confusion. In Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords, Kreia explains that Hord was a master of lightsaber combat and a Sith Lord of the original Sith Empire. However, The Dark Side Sourcebook stated that the Sith Empire did not have lightsabers. Later sources, such as the Star Wars: Lost Tribe of the Sith series, clarified that the Sith Empire did possess lightsabers. The video game Star Wars: The Old Republic and its associated materials greatly expanded on Hord, definitively establishing him as a Dark Lord of the Sith who lived before Marka Ragnos.