For the most part timeline #12, The Great Hyperspace War, re-tells events we are already familiar with: Gav and Jori Daragon’s stumblance into Sith space, the struggle for power between Kressh and Sadow, and how these events led to the fall of the Sith empire.
Sadow, if we recall, was an expansionist. After winning over the other Dark Lords of Korriban, he brought the Sith armada into Republic space in order to destroy the Republic. However, the Republic won the day, leaving Sadow to limp back to Sith space, only to be met by Kressh, and then the Republic, and sent packing again, this time to Yavin 4.
What this particular narrative of Star Wars history adds to what we already know is this: not content with simply sending Sadow and his Sith forces packing, the Republic chased their aggressors all the way back into Sith space and began wiping out all the inhabitants of Korriban – a world up until that point in time was unknown to the Republic. The Republic began a mass genocide of the Sith remaining on Korriban. These regular rank-and-file Sith were presumably loyal to Kressh, the Sith Lord who favored staying hidden in deep space, since they were not out with Sadow on his expansionist quest. Only a few hundred Sith citizens survived this assault, and escaped with their “leader” (as Gnost-Dural says), who then did a blind hyperspace jump into deep space.
It is the question of Sith leadership I want to focus on. By the time the Republic makes its way into Sith territory, Sadow is already by this time a two-time loser. He lost going into Republic space, and he lost coming out of Republic space. The only other leader vying for authority at this time in Sith culture is Ludo Kressh, as he says to Sadow upon his return from Republic space: “I, Ludo Kressh, now hold that title! I am the Dark Lord of the Sith…as I should have been since the death of Marka Ragnos!” (Tales of the Jedi Vol. 1, 243). Kressh then tells Sadow he faked his death previously; however, Kressh’s death is strongly implied in the next scene, where Sadow rams Kressh’s flagship with one of his own – strongly implied, but not verified. There were still some of Kreesh’s ships around after his flagship was destroyed, as one of Sadow’s cronies’ comments: “Some of Ludo’s ships are still out there Lord…” (246).
In timeline 11 Sadow appears again, which implies that sometime after his escape to Yavin 4, he met up with the survivors of the Korriban massacre, but this time, he is most definitely not in a position of extreme authority; rather, he seems subservient to the Sith emperor. What is more, though I haven’t engaged with the sources yet themselves, it appears as though he is killed in the cinematic Return by his apprentice Darth Malgus (if I have indeed interpreted these events correctly).
With regards to Ludo Kressh, we can deduce two things from The Fall of the Sith Empire: firstly, he was understood and recognized by the Sith on Korriban as their undisputed Dark Lord. Secondly, he has been known to fake his death, or otherwise appear dead when he was in fact alive.
What is more, we know the Sith emperor had a long standing feud with Sadow, as were are told through the narrative of Barel Ovair and Eison Gynt in timeline #7, Peace for the Republic. In that narrative, Ovair, under the commands of the Sith emperor, sought out and destroyed the spirit of Sadow through the bodily incarnation of his apprentice Eison Gynt, thereby taking out all otherworldly challengers to the Emperor’s reign. Kressh and Sadow have been long standing rivals, ergo my claim: the Sith emperor is Ludo Kressh (and by Ludo Kressh I mean the spirit of Ludo Kressh, as I also believe Kressh as mastered the art of essence transfer and has been passing his spirit into various bodily hosts for the last many centuries).
I’m looking forward to the release of The Old Republic, yet I’m also lamenting the fact that I won’t really be able to play it – not like the way I played SWG or WOW. Life is far too busy. Besides, any extra time I have is spent on the Chronology Project, and anything that is not my family or job will only slow me down.
For my next post I’m going to continue with JJM’s Lost Tribe of the Sith narrative, and engage with Sentinel. Until then my friends, may the Force be with you.
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