Freedon Nadd
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| Star Wars character | |
| Freedon Nadd | |
|---|---|
|
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| Position | Jedi Padawan, Dark Lord of the Sith |
| Homeworld | Unknown |
| Species | Human |
| Gender | Male |
| Height | Unknown |
| Affiliation | Jedi, Sith |
| Portrayed by | N/A (appears only in books and comics, is mentioned in numerous video games) |
Freedon Nadd is an ancient Dark Lord of the Sith in the fictional Star Wars Expanded Universe.
This ancient Sith Lord started his life in the opposite direction, as a Jedi student, trained at the Jedi Temple on Ossus some 4,400 years before the Battle of Yavin. He was amazingly open and willing to touch the Force, which may have inevitably led him down the dark path. Even though so strong in the Force, he failed his first true test, when he was told by the Jedi Masters at Ossus that he would not receive his promotion to Jedi Knight.
Enraged with their decision, Freedon Nadd turned to reach out to his anger and struck down his Jedi Master, Matta Tremayne. With this act Nadd had begun his fall to the dark side; he did not turn back. Nadd completely succumbed to the teachings of the Sith and became proficient in the use of dark side Sith magic. Believing that he would never be more than an Sith acolyte, since there could only be one Dark Lord at a time, Freedon grew even more enraged and fled to the jungle moon of Yavin IV, led on by the Force.
Searching for the Sith, Nadd inevitably heard rumours of Yavin IV. The jungle moon's strong presence in the dark side only lured him more avidly. There he came upon the former Dark Lord of the Sith Naga Sadow, who had used a technique to suspend bodily animation and enter a coma on the moon at the end of the Great Hyperspace War, where he remained for over 400 years. Until Nadd came. Sadow awoke, and began training Nadd, gifting him with the Sith artifacts and sought to complete his training under Sadow. Before his training was complete, however, Freedon felt he was strong enough to conquer and claim the Sith throne as his own.
After collecting many Sith artifacts from Korriban, and certain that his training was now complete, Freedon Nadd went to Onderon, where he taught the Onderonians about Sith lore and magic, hoping to establish his own Sith Empire. Legends spread of Nadd single-handedly using Sith magic to repel the Beast Riders time and time again. This legend spread down through generations on Onderon and Freedon became somewhat of a god in Onderon truism for defeating the "wild beasts and aborigines" on Onderon.
His teachings were widely accepted by the Onderonian people and the dark side energy grew on Onderon as Nadd's bloodlines were extended during his stay. When Freedon Nadd died, he was able to preserve his soul inside one of the ancient Sith artifacts he had earlier discovered on Korriban (this artifact would be encased in a sarcophagus, protected deep within the palace catacombs), and his spirit could extend its influence from beyond the grave. Nearly four hundred years later, the Onderonian King, a direct descendant of Freedon Nadd and his dark side followers, sparked a series of revolts to finally exterminate the Beast Riders and the other outsiders and criminals and exiles of Iziz, the walled capital of Onderon. King Ommin called the revolts "The Freedon Nadd Uprising" in his ancestor's honor. This uprising was short-lived as Jedi Master Arca Jeth and his taskforce came and killed the Onderonian King, slain at the hand of Ulic Qel-Droma, and brought the wars to an end.
Around the same time, the exiled Jedi acolyte Exar Kun, who himself was slipping closely to the dark side, discovered the Sith artifacts and was controlled and manipulated by Nadd's evil spirit, which led Kun to Korriban and then to Yavin IV. Upon Korriban, the cunning spirit led Kun deep into one of the Sith Lord's tombs and triggered a cave-in, trapping Kun. He then manifested to Kun, telling him that to survive Kun must abandon the light side for the dark side. Kun accepted this forced choice with alacrity. Nadd intended to use Exar Kun to further his own progression and slip further down the dark side and find the Sith Amulets hidden on the moon. Consequently while doing so, Exar Kun, now bearer of the amulets, became more powerful than Freedon Nadd's spirit could control. Exar Kun took complete control of the ancient Massassi race on Yavin IV and utterly exterminated Nadd's spirit in the process.
Freedon Nadd's tomb was featured in the 2004 videogame Knights of the Old Republic II, which occurred roughly 400 years after the Dark Lord's death. The Jedi Exile sent a squad of three of his allies to the tomb to discover the nature of the Sith's interest in the tomb. The party of three found that the Sith were using the dark energy from the tomb in rituals meant to strengthen their power in the dark side of the Force. Those Sith were soon vanquished from the tomb by the party of three, however.
[edit] References
- Tom Veitch, Chris Gossett, Janine Johnston, David Roach (1994). Knights of the Old Republic, trade paperback. ISBN 1-56971-020-1.
- Tom Veitch, Tony Akins, Dennis Rodier (1997). The Freedon Nadd Uprising, trade paperback. ISBN 1-56971-307-3.
- Kevin J. Anderson, Tom Veitch, Chris Gossett, Art Wetherell. Dark Lords of the Sith, trade paperback. ISBN 1-56971-095-3.
- Bill Slavicsek, J. D. Wiker (2001). The Dark Side Sourcebook, 1st printing, Wizards of the Coast. ISBN 0-7869-1849-7.
- Daniel Wallace, Michael Sutfin (2002). The New Essential Guide to Characters, 1st edition. ISBN 0-345-44900-2.
