Valley of the Jedi
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 over one-hundred Jedi and Sith until the Jedi 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
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 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 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]
History
A monument to the Army of Light
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.
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 that presumably belonged to the fallen Jedi warriors. At least one aqueduct brought water into the Valley.
It is believed that the spirits of the Jedi were trapped and the Bouncers of Ruusan said that they would be freed when a 'Knight' returned to release them.
Shifting nebulae soon erased hyperspace routes to Ruusan, leaving it inaccessible from the Galaxy at large. Because of the monument's "illegality," the Jedi Council forgot about the Valley which eventually became legendary. Yoda and a few others, including 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.
Poem of Ages
Over a millennium later, the location of the Valley had been lost to all but a few. The Jedi Master Qu Rahn believed that the Empire or the Dark Jedi would try to take advantage of the power trapped in the Valley and tried to keep its existence safe when his friend Morgan Katarn accidentally discovered its location.
Years after Jerec murdered Katarn, he and his minions learned of the existence of the Valley and captured Rahn, whom they executed after ripping from his mind the fact that Katarn had a map to Ruusan carved into the ceiling in his house. Traveling to Sulon, they took the map and began occupying Ruusan. There, Jerec basked in the power of the Valley, becoming almost godlike in his power.
However, his dominion of the Valley would not go uncontested. Rahn's spirit spoke to Kyle Katarn, Morgan's son, and instructed him in the Force. Katarn tracked down the map, only to have it destroyed before he could read it. He proceeded to hunt down 8t88, the droid that had deciphered the map, and retrieved the coordinates from his internal memory.
With the coordinates, Katarn and his partner Jan Ors made their way to Ruusan. 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, he 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.
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.
Appearances
- Dark Forces: Rebel Agent / audio drama
- Dark Forces: Jedi Knight / audio drama
- Star Wars: Jedi Knight: Dark Forces II (First appearance)
Sources
"Game Room: Playing with the Dark Side" – Star Wars Galaxy Magazine 8- "Game Room: Game Knights" – Star Wars Galaxy Magazine 13