Over the years, the Star Wars franchise has highlighted more than a few wars that happen to take place among the stars. Some conflicts are featured heavily throughout the film series, while others have their own dedicated television series. Interestingly, there are only a handful of mysterious Star Wars battles across the series.
One of the most mysterious and yet significant battles is commonly known as The Great Scourge Of Malachor. In-universe, the battle is a thing of legend that Jedi speak of with caution. In a rare instance, this specific battle ended up without a clear victory for either side.
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What Was The Great Scourge Of Malachor?
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Great Scourge Of Malachor |
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Date |
Thought to have taken place sometime between 5000 BBY – 1032 BBY. |
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Location |
A Sith temple on the planet Malachor |
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Forces |
A mass of Jedi Knights battled against a base filled with Sith. |
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Casualties |
Countless participants were petrified by a superweapon. An unknown number of Sith and Jedi were killed beforehand. |
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Outcome |
Malachor is mostly left alone with the petrified warriors left to serve as a reminder of the conflict. |
The Great Scourge of Malachor was a massive battle fought between the Jedi and the Sith — nothing new there. Before the battle had begun, the Sith Darth Tanis had taken residence at a Sith temple on the planet Malachor and begun construction on a powerful weapon. Far more powerful and ancient than most weapons, it became known as the Malachor superweapon. The device required a massive kyber crystal and a specific Sith holocron to use, but once activated, it would completely petrify anyone in the range of the weapon. This weapon was a massive danger to the future of the galaxy, and required the Jedi to jump into action upon its discovery.
There isn’t much explanation of how the superweapon was planned on being used without decimating Sith forces as well, but a Dark Lord of the Sith likely didn’t care much about that calculation. With the knowledge that thousands of Sith were ready to defend the weapon, the Jedi would have had to lay the pressure on heavily to stop the Sith before they were capable of using the weapon across the galaxy. That is precisely what the Jedi did. This led to the massive, bleak battle that eventually became known in legend as the Great Scourge of Malachor.
Who Fought In The Great Scourge Of Malachor?
The Great Scourge of Malachor is a rather mysterious event, and not much is known about who actually participated in the battle. In most instances across the series, even lesser-mentioned battles have a few identified heroes or villains who managed to win the day or turn the tide of the battle. For reasons that are yet to be revealed, it’s uncertain who precisely was involved for both the Jedi and the Sith. With only a handful of crucial mentions in the Star Wars series, Darth Sidious (Palpatine) gives the fans the best indication of who was involved and what happened in the Darth Maul comic series:
It was here on…on this dead world…that the Jedi struck a terrible blow against the Sith. Many of our order were struck down. All because they wanted to be free.
There isn’t a single named Jedi who is known to have taken part in the Great Scourge of Malachor, but it is known that a large group of powerful Jedi Knights were involved. Considering the use of a Sith superweapon was on the table, the Jedi likely came in large numbers. With everything at stake when a superweapon is controlled by the powerful Sith, it is also likely that many high-ranking Jedi were involved in the battle.
On the side of the Sith, considering the battle took place on one of their personal stations complete with a doomsday-level weapon, they probably had a solid force ready to take on the Jedi. Whether some combatants managed to flee before the worst happened or those monitoring the battle witnessed the end, everything came down to the Sith superweapon.
How Did The Great Scourge Of Malachor End?
The Great Scourge of Malachor ends on a sad note. While Star Wars fans are no strangers to seeing the heroes lose, this battle was likely disheartening for the Jedi order. At some point, the Sith may have realized that they were in a losing fight, with the Jedi Knights likely overpowering whatever Sith forces existed on Malachor. Seeing their loss on the horizon, the magic-infused Sith superweapon was activated, decimating both forces in an instant. Instead of some kind of laser that blew up Malachor, the superweapon let a mysterious pulse that instantly petrified everyone in the immediate vicinity.
The result was a planet that remained filled with the petrified bodies of both Sith and Jedi combatants. Interestingly, both the Jedi and the Sith would view the event as something to be remembered for different reasons. As seen through Sidious’ earlier quote, the Sith use it as more fuel to hate the Jedi. Meanwhile, the Jedi used the event to teach the newer generations of the Jedi Order and explain the dangers of the Sith. There’s no telling what kind of backlash occurred due to this event, but it is safe to say that the activation of the superweapon ended the struggle on Malachor immediately.
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