Harkun

Harkun was a male Human and a member of the Sith Order who lived during the era of the Great Galactic War. Harkun was trained as an acolyte on the Sith graveyard world of Korriban and upon graduation became entwined within the Sphere of Ancient Knowledge as an inferior to a supervisor at the academy, the Sith Lord Zash. By the time of the Cold War between the reconstituted Sith Empire and the Galactic Republic, Harkun had been elevated to the rank of an Overseer of acolyte training on Korriban, conducting the brutal process which ultimately turned hopeful initiates into Sith Lords. Around 3643 BBY, the Overseer was tasked by Zash to gather a new class of pupils from the low-born slave classes of the Empire, so that a student worthy of becoming her new apprentice might be identified. Harkun, a severe xenophobe and classist, begrudgingly complied and took six new acolytes from the Empire's slave pens and brought them to the academy for tutelage and evaluation.

Hoping to manipulate the process to ensure the continuing domination of high-born Sith, Harkun secretly brought in the acolyte Ffon Althe, who had received advanced training from across the Empire and was far more adept at Sith techniques than the new slave recruits. However, throughout his direction of the new class of acolytes, Harkun's designs were repeatedly foiled by a young slave-turned-acolyte who, through savvy and skill, managed to overcome all of the Overseer's challenges. As a result, Harkun fostered an intense hatred for this acolyte and specifically schemed to ensure their downfall, despite Lord Zash's favorable views on the new student. Towards the end of the training and evaluation period, when only Althe and Harkun's unfavored acolyte remained, Zash ordered that the Overseer send the surviving acolytes on a final mission to retrieve a star map once belonging to the ancient Sith Lord Tulak Hord from a danger-filled tomb on Korriban's surface. Harkun attempted to give Althe an advantage over the other acolyte, but was confounded by interference from Zash, who ensured the success of Harkun's least favorite pupil.

As punishment for his attempted manipulations, Harkun was forced to watch Zash execute Althe before taking the other acolyte as her apprentice. The Sith Lord and her new pupil departed Korriban shortly thereafter, leaving Harkun to continue as an Overseer at the academy. Several years later, after the death of Lord Zash and the elevation of her apprentice to the rank and title of Lord Kallig, Harkun was asked yet again to gather a new class of acolytes from which Sith Lords could select an apprentice. Again Harkun fulfilled his duties as Overseer, managing a class of six new students; the group was initially offered to the elder Sith Lord Darth Thanaton, but he passed, allowing Lord Kallig to select an apprentice from the group. Harkun loyally served Kallig's interests, but found himself unable to accept the ultimate success of another slave-turned-acolyte, the Kaleesh warrior Xivhkalrainik. Lord Kallig, who was impressed with the Kaleesh, chose not to tolerate Harkun's protests and instead killed the man with concentrated blasts of Force lightning.

Text and facts from the “Harkun” article on Wookieepedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0. Modified for this site.