Yun

In 17 BBY, on the world of Panatha, a Force-sensitive male Epicanthix was born who would be known as Yun. As the indulged son of a prosperous mineral baron, Yun was accustomed to having his every desire fulfilled, leading to a deficiency in both patience and composure. To cultivate these essential qualities, deemed necessary for success in the family enterprise, Yun was dispatched to the planet Bunduki around 3 ABY to receive instruction from the Followers of Palawa. However, after a year with the ancient monastic order, the Palawa monks deemed him unfit to learn the secrets of the ancient martial art Teräs Käsi, considering him unprepared for such advanced skills. Consequently, Yun abandoned his education and returned to his home, much to the dismay of his father.

Yun's father decided that his son should spend more time with the baron's fiancée, Sariss, the Prophetess of the Church of the Dark Side. Before long, Yun began to acquire knowledge of the dark side of the Force from Sariss. As he absorbed her teachings, Yun eventually developed romantic feelings for the Prophetess. Recognizing this, Sariss seduced Yun, but she informed him that their relationship was forbidden due to her commitment to Yun's father. Manipulated by the Prophetess, Yun committed parricide against his own father and succumbed to the dark side. He then apparently abandoned, if not killed, his mother and sister. Following this, Yun pledged his family's assets to Sariss's Master, the Miraluka Dark Jedi Jerec, and joined Jerec's group of Dark Jedi. In addition to Sariss and Jerec himself, the group included the former Jedi Maw, the deranged Twi'lek Boc Aseca, and the Sithspawn Gorc and Pic, also known as the Brothers of the Sith. Subsequently, Yun constructed his own yellow-bladed lightsaber.

Under Jerec's command, Yun participated in numerous senseless killings, becoming increasingly callous and desensitized to violence. Prompted by the Prophetess, Yun resolved to exact revenge upon his Palawan masters. He led a squad of stormtroopers and his fellow Dark Jedi to Bunduki, where he murdered his former instructors. On Bunduki, amidst the carnage initiated by Yun, his forces encountered the twenty-five-thousand-year-old master of Teräs Käsi, the former Emperor's Hand Arden Lyn. However, after some time he began experiencing countless nightmares in which he killed many people. He also noticed that Sariss was not responding to his feelings and Yun started to doubt if his actions were right, but Sariss suppressed such thoughts in her apprentice.

Following the death of Emperor Palpatine in 4 ABY, Jerec began formulating plans to rebuild the collapsing Empire, with himself as the new Emperor. To realize these ambitions, he required the power of the Valley of the Jedi, a Force nexus created during the final battle of the New Sith Wars over a millennium ago. The souls of countless Jedi and Sith were trapped within the valley due to the explosion of the thought bomb, a devastating weapon detonated by Lord Kaan, one of the last leaders of the Sith during that era. By controlling the essence of the valley, Jerec believed he could attain the immense power necessary to achieve his objectives. As one of his subordinates, Yun assisted the Miraluka Dark Jedi in his pursuit.

Jerec somehow discovered that the Jedi Qu Rahn might possess knowledge of the valley's location. In 5 ABY, the Miraluka tracked Rahn to the planet Dorlo and ordered his capture. Yun, along with his mentor Sariss and Maw, led the landing party, which consisted of two skimmers. It was important for Yun to be invited to participate in that mission next to his mentor, and be treated as an equal. Initially, their target evaded them, and Cee Norley ambushed their skimmers, destroying the one carrying the Stormtroopers; the Dark Jedi neutralized her and shot her, with Yun keeping on firing, mad with the thought that anyone would dare to ambush them.

The Rebels managed to reach their transport and attack the remaining skimmer carrying the Dark Jedi as it escaped the planet; Yun ordered their helmsman to steady the skimmer which however crushed on a wall, with Yun bruised his thigh. Rahn and his Rebel companions—the young pilot Duno Dree, the Klatooinian technologist Rolanda Gron and the linguistics expert Nij Por Ral—however, could not escape from Jerec's Super Star Destroyer, the Vengeance, and soon they were captured and brought aboard.

Rahn and the Rebels were then interrogated. Each time Rahn refused to answer the question Jerec asked him, the Miraluka ordered his Dark Jedi to kill one of Rahn's men, with Yun being instructed to kill Nij Por Ral. Before doing so, the young darksider asked Rahn about the location of the valley himself. While Por Ral begged for mercy, passing the responsibility to Rahn, the Jedi refused to answer, and Yun struck Por Ral with his lightsaber. However, perhaps owing to his inexperience combined with the stress knowing that all were looking at him, he accidentally hit the linguist's shoulder instead. Embarrassed by his failure to make a clean kill, Yun struck once again, this time killing the screaming Rebel, making Jerec to comment that the man's mangled body was "not very pretty".

Eventually, Rahn was left alone. He tried to provoke Jerec into killing him, but Jerec probed his mind instead and discovered that although Qu Rahn did not know the location of the valley, his friend Morgan Katarn, killed by Jerec several years ago, did and had kept the map leading to it in his home on the planet Sulon. In his agony, Rahn sought Yun's eyes, who turned them away. Realizing that Jerec had learned his secret, Rahn, using the Force, stole Yun's lightsaber from the youth's belt and attacked the Dark Jedi. Having lost his weapon, Yun barely avoided Rahn's blow and then could only watch as the Jedi Master easily dealt with the far more experienced Boc, Sariss, Maw, and Gorc, one by one, until Jerec intervened and killed Rahn; Yun managed to pull Boc from Rahn's flurry, after seeing that the Twi'lek's tendon had been severed.

Subsequently, Jerec dispatched Boc, Sariss, and Yun to Sulon with the mission of locating the map he had gleaned from Rahn's mind. They discovered it embedded on the ceiling of the Katarn homestead, removed the tiles, numbered and loaded them on their shuttle on grav pellets. He taunted Boc who complained about his aching leg, which hadn't healed completely, reminding him that should Jerec realize any of them became useless, he would punish or dismiss them. Yun hoped that the legendary Valley should exist, so that all this work wasn't for nothing. With the final sled loaded, Sariss explained them that they would take them to the Government House located in the city of Barons Hed, in order to be deciphered by the droid information broker 8t88, whom Jerec hired. Yun thought that 8t88 eventually would make good lightsaber practice, before Sariss reminded him that Jerec needed the droid.

After 8t88 deciphered the map and transmitted a digital copy to Jerec aboard the Vengeance, Sariss sent Yun back to Sulon with a detachment of Stormtroopers to destroy the original map and safeguard the valley's location from potential discovery. However, at that moment, Morgan Katarn's son, Kyle Katarn, an aspiring Jedi seeking to thwart Jerec, appeared in the tower and began questioning 8t88 about the map. Yun, descending from the tower's roof via an elevator, created a distraction that allowed 8t88 to escape. Yun realized that the Rebel was the presence Boc sensed earlier in the farm. He then destroyed the Map, and used Force Destruction to knock Katarn into the wall, threw his blaster away with the Force, and mocked him, forcing the Jedi into a duel.

However, the inexperienced Yun was quickly defeated by Katarn, who had a lightsaber of his own, and fencing experience. The duel ended when Katarn struck Yun on the arm. Defeated, the young Dark Jedi told Katarn to kill him, but the latter spared the defenseless youth's life. Surprised and feeling that something was right in Katarn's action at the same time, Yun started to question if mercy was really "weakness" as he had been taught, and thought that he would disappoint Sariss. He used the Force to retrieve his lightsaber, which he had lost during the duel, and escaped the tower by levitating through the roof. But not before threatening Katarn that this weakness would be his downfall.

Yet, his encounter with Katarn made Yun's long-suppressed regrets to resurface. Yun was tormented by dreams of himself killing many people, including Nij Por Ral who begged for mercy, which Yun ignored, desiring status and recognition. This was followed by shame for his failure to kill him with the first strike. Then he proceeded to his father, mother, and sister. In them, Yun's lightsaber was transformed into an ancient-styled metallic sword. The dreams raised questions in Yun about his path.

Rejoining his dark side comrades on the Vengeance, Yun traveled along with the rest of Jerec's forces to Ruusan, the planet where the Valley of the Jedi was located. There, they discovered a settlement called "Fort Nowhere". By Jerec's orders, Sariss took Yun and Boc there under the guise of parlaying with the locals, while their real intent was to learn if the people who lived in the fort knew about the valley's location. While on the assault shuttle, Yun wondered what made the dissidents to relocate to such an awful place; Boc remarked that for them the Empire was even worse for them. While one gunner considered taking the shuttle down, Marie Peeno decided to let them land, attracting a lot of curious bystanders. After Sariss made an example of a settler, many of them started to disperse, and Yun shouted that it would be healthier if they stayed with them.

While Sariss "negotiated" with Mayor Byron Devo III, Yun and Boc looked around the fort. They eventually discovered that the fort-dwellers had no knowledge of the valley and, upon hearing that, Jerec ordered them to destroy the settlement. Soon, a battle broke out on the planet. Commanded by Sariss, the Imperial forces captured or killed almost all of the people from the fort, though some managed to escape. Yun participated in the battle and at its end, he was given the task of destroying the colonists' subsurface farms, after which he returned to the Vengeance.

Aboard the Vengeance, Yun once again began having one of his nightmares, waking up in horror and activating his lightsaber. He was approached by Boc, who said that Jerec needed him and his "scrawny presence". Yun made a threatening step forward, causing a laugh from Boc, who advised to save his energy for later. He asked Boc if he ever dreamed about blood, which was what kept him warm every night.

Sensing self-doubt in him, Jerec encouraged him to focus on hate and fear, especially fear of failure so that he will avoid it. Initially elated to be necessary to his Master, Yun was very disappointed when his task was only to accompany Jerec planetside and oversee the excavation works at the valley's caves filled with archaeological artifacts -- "junk" according to Yun. Specifically, Yun was to replace Major Vig whose team afflicted by the spirits of the Jedi and Sith that scared the stormtroopers and halted the excavation. The young Jedi accompanied his Master and savored every one of the few precious moments he could have with him: the attention stance and salutes from the officers, boarding the shuttle and being escorted by two TIEs to the planet; in a rare opportunity when Jerec showed his charm, he narrated many amusing stories along the way. Following this trip, all Yun's doubts and frustrations temporarily faded away.

The next morning, Yun had his first shower and breakfast brought by a droid, but not without complaining to it for the low temperature. He met a Stormtrooper at the base of the newly-constructed Valley Tower, and on their way down a ravine to meet Major Vig, they were attacked by one of the spirits, or "screamers" as Jerec's troops had dubbed them. Yun took advantage of the intense concentration of the Force, shaped it with his thought and attacked the banshee momentarily; only to return angrier with more like it, with Yun's guide running frightened. Suddenly, he heard a strange but familiar voice in his head. Wondering at first if it was one of the screamers, he listened as that voice told him to think about the extent to which the spirits had suffered in order to make them go away: by showing empathy and understanding their millennial plight. Successfully exorcising several spirits this way Yun felt his anger subsiding and a sense of warmth.

In the Valley of the Jedi, Yun met Major Vig's team, who considered him an exalted mystical being --some of them never met Jerec or a Jedi before, and welcomed him in relief. The Major took him to a tour around the ancient storerooms filled and demonstrated some ancient technology from the New Sith Wars, before inviting him to a formal lunch with some officers in a repurposed storeroom. After the meal a screamer possessed a Lieutenant, and in his attempt to reach out to the spirit, he was possessed by it, and felt a strong entity pulling out his being; unable to react, Yun listened as the same voice telling him to reach out. Yun's mind welcomed the spirit who rushed in, showed understanding and hope for freedom, soothing the tortured entity. Yun initially thought the voice was Nij Por Ral's but it revealed it was Qu Rahn himself. Rahn warned that the fate of billions of lives were dependent on the events that would take place on Ruusan and that Yun would play an important part in it, a part that was entirely up to himself to choose. Rahn also informed Yun that, deep inside of him, the light side of the Force was weak, but still present.

Days later, the necropolis experienced a worldquake which caused pieces of rock falling. While Yun would normally find the exit, he unconsciously followed the screams and voices and found a rescue team and droids attempting to remove a large piece of rock the fell on top of an Imperial called Jaru. Under the influence of the light side, Yun ordered the men to grab Jaru from his ankles, closed his eyes, and used the Force to lift the rock, even though he hadn't attempted telekinesis with objects of that size. Momentarily losing his concentration, he saw the rock falling, thinking that Jaru was still there, only to see the man thanking him. After that event, Rahn briefly contacted him again, telling him that the dark side was not the only source of power. Yun thought on Rahn's words, and later that night, he slept well for the first time with a smile on his face. After that event, something changed inside of Yun—a fact that did not escape Sariss's eyes, though she did not understand what the reason was.

A short time later, Yun was called by Sariss to her office, who told him that Jerec acknowledged that Yun did well with the rock. Despite being driven closer to the light side of the Force, Yun was still pleased with such words. Sariss then gave Yun his next assignment—to find out what happened to Patrol Zulu, Able, Mary 341, which was long overdue; searches returned nothing and Sariss would need Yun's brain to determine what happened. His previous task having been given to Boc, Yun toured Aagon's and his missing troopers' quarters and noticed that they kept sphere-shaped organisms as hunting trophies, which the other troopers didn't know what they were. He took an AT-AT and an AT-ST and set off on the mission, preferring the vehicles both for their practicality and their imposing presence. He rode the Scout with Second Lieutenant Momo.

Still finding no trace, and remembering the hunting trophies of Aagon's men, Yun determined that they often left their authorized area, and turned his vehicles to the northern smooth hardpan, where the native species were rumored to live. They reached a pile of rocks where Yun could sense that there had been a battle, although not when. A company of Stormtroopers disembarked from the AT-AT and fanned out. Yun oversaw from the top of his Scout, and looking at a mesa off to the west, he also felt a presence in the Force. One of those minds was known to him: Kyle Katarn, watching and waiting, whose presence was explained only by the fact that he came to stop Jerec and everything Yun worked for. His thoughts were interrupted with the discovery of a helmet bearing the tag RW957, confirming Yun's theory about the fate of the squad; Momo suggested they had time to go after the Rebels who killed the squad, but Yun, without revealing his thoughts, ordered to camp and continue next morning, even though they had two more hours of daylight. He pondered the new-found concept of mercy, and the knowledge after interacting with the screamers: seeing them as personalities instead of forces to be exploited by Jerec. Katarn's will to stop Jerec's dark plans did not seem wrong, and the best thing he could do was to to repay his debt to Katarn by not mentioning his presence to the troops.

While in the tower alongside his comrades and Jerec, Yun bore witness to the Dark Jedi Master's capture of Katarn's beloved partner, Jan Ors. Subsequently, Maw was unleashed against Katarn as a ploy to draw him towards the dark side. Katarn, however, did not extend the same mercy he had previously shown Yun, instead eliminating Maw on a landing platform adjacent to Jerec's personal transport, the Sulon Star. Jerec then presented Sariss and Boc to Katarn, making a passing reference to Yun. Katarn then boasted of his earlier victory over Yun, which Jerec dismissed, citing his act of mercy as a display of weakness, a mistake he did not repeat with Maw. Jerec attempted to sway Katarn to the dark side by urging him to murder Ors. Katarn resisted the allure of power, remaining steadfast in the light, while Yun observed as his Master forced the Jedi to retreat. Yun grew uneasy when Jerec noticed his uncharacteristic silence during the ordeal, to which he could only reply that he was awaiting his Master's instructions. Subsequently, Jerec dispatched the doomed vessel towards the surface and commanded his remaining three servants to locate and eliminate Katarn.

Katarn successfully fled the Sulon Star aboard his own ship, the Moldy Crow, though the escape resulted in a crash landing. He was later discovered unconscious by Yun, Boc, and Sariss, who extracted him from the wreckage into the night air. As Katarn lay paralyzed, Yun grew irritated by Boc's sadistic taunts and requested that Sariss order him to cease, prompting Boc to remark that Yun was becoming soft. Sariss then moved to execute Katarn with her lightsaber, but Yun, seemingly acting on instinct, intercepted Sariss's strike, redirecting it back towards himself and inflicting a fatal wound. With his last breath, Yun declared to Sariss that Katarn, as a Jedi, deserved a proper battle, not an execution. As he saw a bright light, Yun was redeemed and returned to the light side before his death. After Katarn killed Sariss, he thanked Yun before pursuing Jerec in honor of his father and in memory of Yun.

With his own lightsaber destroyed, Katarn seized the fallen Dark Jedi's weapon to defend himself against Sariss, ultimately defeating her. With Yun and Sariss dead and Maw, Gorc, and Pic previously slain by Katarn, only Boc and Jerec remained alive within Jerec's Dark Jedi group. Wielding Yun's lightsaber, Katarn ventured deeper into the valley, where he also eliminated them.

In the end, Yun played a crucial role in saving billions of lives, as prophesied by Rahn. By blocking Sariss's attack, he preserved Kyle Katarn's life, enabling him to find the Valley of the Jedi, defeat Jerec, and save the galaxy. After Jerec's demise, Katarn continued to wield Yun's lightsaber for several years, even using it to duel his former apprentice Mara Jade while he was corrupted by the dark side, until he eventually constructed his own.

At just twenty-two years of age, Yun possessed a strong sense of arrogance and impatience, constantly seeking to prove his worth to his Masters, especially Sariss, for whom he held genuine affection. His descent into the Dark Side was fueled by a desire for status, self-importance, and recognition from his peers. This attitude led to him being regarded as the most unrestrained member of Jerec's cadre. One of Yun's methods for demonstrating his worthiness was through participation in numerous killings. Murder became commonplace for Yun, and he eventually craved more. However, he soon realized that Sariss did not reciprocate his feelings, viewing him as nothing more than a son. Yun began to question whether being near his love was worth the price he had paid. Although Sariss suppressed these thoughts, Yun continued to struggle with self-doubt and question the righteousness of his path on several occasions. However, during moments of attention from Jerec, such as spending time with him, these doubts would dissipate, and the price seemed worthwhile.

In his arrogance, Yun held disdain for non-Force-sensitives, referring to the stormtroopers under his command as "brainless faceplates." He was enraged by the thought of anyone daring to ambush the Dark Jedi and continued to fire relentlessly at Cee Norley even after she was dead. As for 8t88, the droid that handled Jerec's affairs during his quest for the Valley of the Jedi, Yun viewed it as a target for lightsaber practice. Nevertheless, Yun was deeply concerned about the high number of stormtrooper casualties during the battle of Fort Nowhere, until Sariss reassured him that it was what they were paid for and urged him to be less sensitive. However, upon witnessing the stormtroopers' fear of the Jedi ghosts, Yun requested that Major Vig execute several of them. Vig's refusal led Yun to find his method of compassion "interesting." Qu Rahn ultimately provided the catalyst for Yun to make a series of seemingly insignificant decisions that collectively formed a crucial choice: to save Katarn. Even though at the moment he blocked Sariss's blow, Yun did not fully understand when and how he decided to do that; he only felt himself respond. He only seemed to realize why he saved the Jedi after Sariss struck him with her lightsaber.

Yun also developed a unique perspective on his fellow Dark Jedi. For example, he found Maw's ability to sense fear distasteful, comparing him to a Nek battle dog sniffing out its prey. Yun considered his own displays of power to be more "elegant." He was also annoyed by Sariss's habit of sneaking up on him and surprising him. As for his master Jerec he thought he had many unpleasant qualities, but could be very charming when he chose to, and enjoyed being in Jerec's company. He basked in the glory reflected from his Master, when stormtroopers jumped out of the way and officers came to attention upon seeing him. Nonetheless he knew that Jerec saw him and his peers as tools; for all their powers, Jerec would promptly punish or throw them away anytime he couldn't make more use of them.

Yun was a fair-skinned individual with black hair and dark brown eyes. Yun's vanity was exemplified with wearing a carefully combed hair even during field missions; he even used his telekinetic powers to protect his hair from the wind.

Despite being the most recent addition to Jerec's Dark Jedi and having spent only a year with them, Yun developed into a proficient Force-user, primarily employing non-aggressive Force powers. He excelled in telekinesis, as demonstrated by his ability to Force-throw Katarn's blaster and levitate through the roof following his duel with the Jedi, while simultaneously summoning his lightsaber. As a subtle display of his abilities, he could manipulate the skimmer's slipstream to avoid disturbing his carefully combed hair and induce the helmsman to believe he was experiencing an itch. Yun's telekinetic abilities appeared to amplify further when he attempted to lift a rock the size of a hovercraft from Jaru, without any conscious thought of the dark side.

Yun's Force sense perceived the Force as a constant, gentle vibrating hum, particularly distinct in the vicinity of the Valley of the Jedi. His senses were less refined and occasionally failed him: he disliked Sariss's habit of sneaking up on him, although he later sensed Katarn's presence on Ruusan. Yun also practiced Force speed, Force blinding, Force Jump, and various forms of Mind trick, including Force Persuasion.

Yun's most notable offensive power was a somewhat weaker version of Force Destruction, which he employed against Katarn. Unlike the typical effects of Destruction, which instantly kill or drain all powers, Yun's attack merely threw the Jedi against the wall. While on Ruusan, Yun also attempted to exploit the Force nexus, finding it easy to shape his thoughts and direct them toward the wailing spirits, before trying another tactic suggested by the spirit of Rahn—to sense their pain.

Yun was fluent in two languages, his native Epicant and the widely spoken Basic. He was skilled with blaster pistols and other basic weaponry. He also constructed his own unique lightsaber, featuring a "modified pistol grip" with carefully cast projections that mirrored the Human hand, providing a resting place for his index finger. The grip was crafted from a highly malleable "live" polymer that adapted to the user's hand, forming a solid, customized grip. Katarn was immediately impressed with the lightsaber upon wielding it.

However, Yun's lightsaber skills were less impressive, as evidenced by his defeat at the hands of Katarn, who had only acquired his own lightsaber hours before their duel, and by his failure to kill Por Ral with a single blow.

Yun made his debut in Star Wars: Jedi Knight: Dark Forces II, a 1997 first-person shooter video game released by LucasArts. In the game's live-action cutscenes, Yun was portrayed by Rafer Weigel, who also provided his voice for Yun's CGI appearances. Yun later appeared in Dark Forces: Rebel Agent and Dark Forces: Jedi Knight, the 1998 novella adaptations of the game, as well as in the Dark Forces: Rebel Agent audio drama and the Dark Forces: Jedi Knight audio drama, which adapted the novels into an audio drama in which Yun was voiced by Timothy Kuhlmann.

Yun's likeness was subsequently reused in Jedi Knight's standalone expansion pack Star Wars: Jedi Knight: Mysteries of the Sith to represent a type of statue which the player encounters in the last two levels of the game. Yun is also a playable character in multiplayer modes of both Mysteries of the Sith and Jedi Knight: Dark Forces II itself.

In the non-canonical ending of Dark Forces II, where Kyle Katarn has chosen the dark side, Yun also remains aligned with the dark side. He is then tasked with preventing Katarn from reaching the valley and claiming it for his own purposes. Yun confronts Katarn, who has successfully landed the Moldy Crow near the crash site of the Sulon Star. There, Katarn rectifies his "earlier mistake" and kills Yun.

The Dark Forces: Rebel Agent audio drama omits the scene of Yun's sloppy execution of Nij Por Ral, and Rahn's subsequent attack on the Dark Jedi.

Yun's dialogue before his first duel with Katarn is portrayed differently between the game, the novel Dark Forces: Rebel Agent,and the audio adaptation. In the game and the novel he says a single line, although it differs between the sources. In the audio drama, Yun and Katarn engage in a much longer dialogue that continues throughout their fight.

Yun's death is shown slightly different in Star Wars: Jedi Knight: Dark Forces II, Dark Forces: Jedi Knight, and the Dark Forces: Jedi Knight audio drama. In the game, he blocks Sariss's blow with his lightsaber, and she accidentally deflects her lightsaber into Yun. Before dying, Yun tells her that Katarn is a Jedi and deserves a battle. In the novella, Yun hits Sariss in the arm and she instinctively strikes him in self-defense on the shoulder.

In the audio version, Yun blocks Sariss's blow and informs her that he intends to save Katarn, seeing the wrong in their ways so far. Sariss does not side with her former student and deliberately strikes him to "help" his confusion. Sariss's action angers Katarn, prompting him to pick up Yun's saber and attack Sariss. After Katarn kills Sariss, he checks on Yun, who is still breathing. The two have one more brief exchange of dialogue, before Yun passes away.