Valley of the Jedi

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"Imagine someone who could destroy a star with a whisper, eradicate a solar system with a snap of his fingers, or 'think' a planet from its orbit."

―Qu Rahn's Force ghost describing the power of the Force nexus to Kyle Katarn^[1]

The Valley of the Jedi or the Valley of the Souls was the site of the Seventh Battle of Ruusan, the last battle of the New Sith Wars and a thousand years before the Battle of Yavin.

There, Lord Kaan's thought bomb trapped the souls of thousands of Jedi and Sith until they were finally freed by Kyle Katarn.

The Valley of the Jedi then became a concentrated area of Force energy called a Force nexus, and is widely believed to be the most powerful Force nexus in the entire galaxy.

Geography[]

Valleyplanpotj — Map of the Valley of the Jedi.

"The stairs lead down to a... a tomb of some kind. It's filled with burial markers, stone coffins; it's like a city of the dead, but... they're not dead. Those voices, they sound like they're in agony. It's like their spirits are trapped down here. But for how long? These ruins are ancient, hundreds of years old!"

―Morgan Katarn^[2]

The location of the Valley was several hours away from the former site of Olmondo, among the "badlands" of Ruusan, and several days away from Fort Nowhere. The region around the Valley was typical of the planet's landscape: rocky, scree-covered foothills, mesas and canyons, and nearby were rocky piles of rubble.^[1] The cave complex that formed the necropolis was far from the rich metal deposits of Ruusan.^[3]^[4]

The Convergence of the Force energy caused several phenomena to the geographic region around the Valley, observable by living creatures, especially Force-sensitives. Morgan Katarn felt the air thicker than normal, then a tickling in the back of his mind, becoming a steady hum, tingling on the skin and nervousness, including a desire to run away. Moaning voices, "heard" from within, move one's consciousness, causing headache and overwhelming emotions.^[1] The young Dark Jedi Yun in the vicinity of the Valley found easier to concentrate his thought and manifest it into energy. Jerec's men who were stationed could be annoyed, harassed and possessed by the loud apparitions of restless spirits, dubbed "screamers" by Jerec's men.^[3]

The entrance of the Valley was an open area surrounded by rock formations that towered above as if sentinel statues; an ancient roadbed led there. The area was actually the roof of a cavern, with a collapsed ragged opening, half a kilometer across. It was the only source of light below. Stairs, curving to the right, led to an arch, and the cavern's floor. The monument itself consisted of hundreds of slabs, made from the chamber's ceiling, spires with hieroglyphics, statues, tombs, even miniature temples.^[1] Radiating from the Valley were corridors leading to satellite caverns where several artifacts had been deposited and stored. At least one aqueduct brought rain water into the Valley.^[3]

Around the Valley the Imperial Remnant under Jerec built a garrison of prefab buildings, a docking tower with platforms, Stormtroopers, AT-STs, shuttles, TIEs and attack droids that guarded the perimeter. The tower served also as docking station for freighters that were loaded with archaeological loot and returned to their fleet. Before going to orbit, ships had to fly through a maze of canyons before emerging to the desert.^[3]

History[]

A monument to the Army of Light[]

"Welcome, Lord Hoth. Welcome to the grave and darkness from which none will ever emerge."

―Kaan to Hoth^[5]

Valleyy — The Force nexus in the valley.

At the close of the New Sith Wars, the Brotherhood of Darkness's situation had become so fragile that their leader, Lord Kaan, resorted to the use of a thought bomb to end the war.

Luring the Jedi deep into one of Ruusan's caves, Kaan and his Brotherhood detonated the thought bomb, hoping to wipe out Jedi Lord Hoth's Army of Light. However, Hoth perceived Kaan's strategy and left most of his army behind, taking only ninety-nine Jedi with him (one-hundred in total, including Hoth himself). This sacrifice was not in vain, as the Sith proved unable to control the thought bomb, killing the entire Brotherhood of Darkness and ending the New Sith Wars. However a side-effect of the thought bomb was that the spirits of the killed Jedi and Force users could not be liberated and become one with the Force, but remained imprisoned in the nexus.^[1]

Jedi Knight Johun Othone, Hoth's former Padawan, went against the will of the Jedi Council to build a monument to the heroes of the Army of Light and Lord Hoth, with a mausoleum adorned with massive statues. He also placed a huge Adegan crystal in a meditative chamber for the Jedi. The monuments were made by stones that came from various planets, like the heroes of the Army of Light. The graves of the heroes were contained in a central underground cavern of natural origin, with several satellite chambers hewn around it. They were filled with artifacts^[3] that presumably belonged to the fallen Jedi warriors.

Sometime after leaving Ruusan, and around the time she killed her cousin, Darth Zannah returned to the Valley^[6] being the last person who would for centuries. Shifting nebulae soon erased hyperspace routes to Ruusan, obscuring the planet from the Galaxy at large.^[7]

Some Jedi believed that the Empire or the Dark Jedi would try to take advantage of the power trapped in the Valley. Because of the monument's "illegality," the Jedi Council forgot about the Valley which eventually became legendary. Over a millennium later, Yoda and a few others, including Qu Rahn and Luke Skywalker who learned about it from Yoda, knew about the Valley, but did not know its location or even whether it existed at all. Rahn had searched about it without success by 1 BBY. And Luke had heard others after Yoda talking about it.^[2] Another who knew the lore of the Valley was the Prophet Cronal, and from him, the Inquisitor Jerec.^[6]

The Jedi of the Valley — The spirits of the Valley of the Jedi.

After centuries of imprisonment and torture, even the wisest souls of Jedi Masters lost their sanity, and individuals could perceive them as mindless wailing apparitions creating havoc.^[3] The Bouncers of Ruusan believed in the Poem of Ages, that they would be freed when a 'Knight' returned to release them.^[1]

Poem of Ages[]

"And a Knight shall come, a battle will be fought, and the prisoners go free."

―Poem of Ages^[8]

Yoda-like Ruusan — Morgan Katarn descending into the Valley cavern.

The planet Ruusan had been forgotten save to only a few smugglers, until 1 BBY when they transferred some colonists from Sulon to escape the wrath of the Empire. Their leader, Rebel sympathizer Morgan Katarn decided to explore the area to ensure the safety of his people. He was met by the locals, whom he named "Bouncers", who considered him a figure of legend: according to the Poem of Ages, they believed that he would redeem the spirits trapped there. With their directions, Katarn discovered the Valley, but the weight of the Force and the tortured spirits overwhelmed him, along his inability to help them.^[1]^[2]

Katarn never talked about his experience to anyone, only to Qu Rahn whom he met sometime later. Rahn recognized it as the legendary place he had been looking for, and warned Katarn about the danger of that information, should it reach Emperor Palpatine or his Dark Jedi. He refused himself to even know about the location of the planet, and told Katarn to record and hide the information somewhere. He complied making a map hidden in plain sight. Rahn hoped that sometime later, after the fall of the Emperor, he would find an appropriate time and Katarn would lead a team to the Valley to study it.^[1]

Meanwhile, around the time of the Battle of Endor, Jerec, now militarily and financially powerful, was searching for the valley on behalf of the Prophets of the Dark Side, as well as the Pentastar Alignment. Cronal, now known as Blackhole, didn't know that, and after the death of Palpatine, charged Jerec with finding the Valley for the glory of the reincarnated Emperor and his Dark Empire. Jerec of course intended to find it for himself, and took advantage of the funding from all three parties.^[6]

Luke also heard others, after Yoda, talking about the legend. With Katarn lost, Rahn himself attempted to arrange a team and find his way there before Jerec. Rahn and his team were captured above Dorlo by Jerec's apprentices, and Jerec executed him, after ripping from his mind the fact that Katarn had a map to Ruusan carved into the ceiling in his house.^[1]^[2]

Traveling to Sulon, they took the map. Rahn's spirit spoke to Kyle Katarn, Morgan's son, and instructed him in the Force. Katarn tracked down 8t88, the droid that had deciphered the map, and retrieved the coordinates from his internal memory.^[1]^[2]

With the coordinates, both factions made their way to Ruusan. Jerec's Vengeance Battle Group invaded the planet and established a garrison around the Valley, in the meantime looting its archaeological treasures, in defiance to the "screamers" who spread havoc among them. Jerec had observed that the forces that kept the screamers imprisoned had been weakened after the centuries, and proceeded to some repairs in order to keep them there, and allow him to tap their power.^[3]

After Jan was captured by Jerec's forces, Katarn fought his way through hordes of stormtroopers and defeated Jerec's remaining Dark Jedi minions until he finally confronted Jerec himself at the Valley's focus. There, Jerec basked in the power of the Valley, becoming almost godlike in his power. Katarn was able to cut off Jerec from the Valley's power and defeat him. Katarn freed the trapped spirits, finally fulfilling the Poem of Ages.^[3]^[6]

Desann discovers the location of the Valley[]

*Raven's Claw* leaves the Valley of the Jedi.

High Inquisitor Antinnis Tremayne was one of those who knew about the Valley in the years of the Imperial Remnant, who made it known to his ally, Lord Hethrir. Rogue Jedi Desann was tasked by Hethrir to find the Valley.^[6] To this end, he staged the "death" of Jan Ors at the hands of Tavion Axmis in front of Kyle Katarn, who had abandoned the Jedi ways. Fueled with vengeance, Katarn once again traveled to the Valley in order to make use of its residual Force energy to re-establish his lapsed connection with the Force. Unknown to him, he was tracked to Ruusan as part of Desann's plan. Desann moved in his forces and began using the Valley's power to boost that of mildly Force-sensitive recruits, creating the Reborn.^[6]^[9]

Fortunately, Katarn had revealed the location of the Valley to Luke Skywalker as a precautionary measure. Skywalker led Rogue Squadron to Ruusan and routed Desann's forces, driving him from the planet and cutting off his supply of Reborn warriors.^[9]

The planet also became a target of Tavion's Disciples of Ragnos. Tavion was using Ragnos's scepter to drain areas of the Force to resurrect Marka Ragnos. Kyle Katarn was assigned to investigate cult activity there.^[10]

Despite the fulfillment of the ancient prophecy by Katarn, Jerec's spirit, as well as that of the ancient Sith, continued to linger in the valley for thousands of years.^[11]

Behind the scenes[]

The name "Valley of the Souls" was used interchangeable for the Valley of the Jedi on the LucasArts website for Star Wars: Jedi Knight: Dark Forces II. The name was also used in Part 2 of The Dark Forces Saga.