Zombie/Legends
- "You know how someone seems a little less human when they lose people they love? A little more like a zombie?"
- ―Han Solo
A zombie, also referred to as the undead, was the corpse of a sentient or non-sentient creature that had been reanimated from the dead as a mindless and violent being.
History
Through Sith alchemy the Sith were able to create Korriban zombies as guardians of the Valley of the Dark Lords. Sith undead were also to be found guarding the Dark Force Temple on Dromund Kaas.
In 4645 BBY, on the ice-blanketed world of Odacer-Faustin the Sith Lord, Darth Drear established the Odacer-Faustin Sith Academy in hopes of achieving Immortality through the use of a complex Sith alchemical formula for an elixir more akin to a virus and specific rituals. He died however soon after attempting the rituals while self-infected with his virus-like elixir aka, "the Sickness".
The Rakghoul plague was able to turn beings into mindless creatures similar to zombies.
During the Cold War in 3645 BBY, Sith Lord Scabrous planned to use Drear's elixir and rituals to attain what his predecessor could not, eternal life. Despite using all the ingredients required including the Murakami orchid, he and the entire academy's student body, faculty and staff save for one dockhand, Pergus Frode all fell victim the Sith-created virus that turned them into cannibalistic undead.
The Zelosian people believed that zombies existed on their planet. That particular phenomenon was later attributed to parasitic worms infesting corpses and causing zombie-like movement.
Zombies were known to be used by the energy vampire Rajine, who utilized their services against trespassers and as palace help. Although it is unknown whether this effect would be had upon all zombies, Rajine's minions were turned against her using Samuro's Jedi holocron.[1]
During the Second Battle of Geonosis, the Jedi Luminara Unduli and trooper Buzz, while in search for Archduke Poggle the Lesser, entered the Progate Temple during a sand storm and disappeared. Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker were sent to investigate with a squad of clone troopers lead by Commander Cody. They found Geonosians controlled by a hive mind that was so strong, it could resurrect dead warriors, similar to zombies. This was achieved by using worms that controlled the bodies, while Karina the Great was the controller.[2]
During the Clone Wars, Mother Talzin and the Nightsisters kept a group of undead individuals that helped the Nightsisters during the Battle of Dathomir.[3]
The darkstaff, an ancient Sith artifact, had the power to reanimate corpses and turn them into dark side-wielding zombies. In about 19 BBY, the Human Len Markus used the staff to suck the Force essences out of the Force Adepts San Herrera and Nia Reston, then turn their cadavers into zombies. The two zombies attacked a group of freelance agents in the jungles of the planet Cularin, and the agents were eventually able to defeat the undead pair.[4]
Shortly after the Battle of Yavin, Cornelius Evazan, working on the Empire's Project Starscream, performed experiments in reanimating the dead on Necropolis. He developed a successful resurrection serum which allowed him to return to life after he was killed by Boba Fett.
Around 1 BBY an Imperial biological weapons project had been tasked with engineering a virus, under the codename of Blackwing. The virus seemed to turn almost any being, living or dead, who came in contact with it to a mindless flesh-craving undead creature. These creatures seemed to possess only primitive feral instincts after being turned, but were able to communicate and learn from each other through what seemed like unintelligible screeching. They were also capable of operating machinery and handling weapons, such as blasters, and were even able to pilot ships, such as X-Wings and TIE Fighters. The two known outbreaks that occurred during this time were on the Star Destroyer, Vector where Blackwing had been reintroduced to sentient hosts, causing the vessel and its former crew to drift in deep space. Ten weeks after the outbreak, the Imperial prison barge Purge that had experienced engine malfunction docked to the Vector and sent two teams to search for engine parts to repair their ship and move on. Soon after the virus infected nearly the entire population of the barge, crew and inmates with a few survivors forced to escape onto the larger vessel. After a series of close calls and more deaths, the survivors escaped the Star Destroyer via a drop shuttle.
After the Vector incident, the Blackwing project was relocated to a secret Imperial Research and Prison Facility on the planet Dathomir. However, after the Battle of Yavin, an accident happened in the Imperial Research and Prison Facility and the virus escaped containment another time. The Empire created the Quarantine Zone to contain the infection.[5]
Han Solo and Chewbacca once visited an uncharted planet which was haunted by dead, living skeletal figures. These zombies were once the 1,000 crew members of a Great Interplanetary Ark that had crashed on the planet some time before. The souls would haunt the villagers every night, because they never made the land. However, Solo laid down two lines of tandgor gems to light a runway for the ghostly form of the Great Interplanetary Ark to land, finally putting the souls to rest.[6]
Appearances
- Dawn of the Jedi: Force Storm 4
- Red Harvest
- Red Harvest audiobook
- Darth Plagueis (Indirect mention only)
- Darth Plagueis audiobook (Indirect mention only)
- Outbound Flight (Mentioned only)
- Star Wars: The Clone Wars junior novelization (Mentioned only)
Star Wars: The Clone Wars – "Legacy of Terror"
Star Wars: The Clone Wars – "Brain Invaders"
Star Wars: The Clone Wars – "Massacre"
Star Wars: The Clone Wars – "Revenge" (Corpses only)
Star Wars: The Clone Wars – "Sacrifice"
"No Way Out"—Star Wars: Clone Wars Adventures Volume 9
- The Eye
- Coruscant Nights I: Jedi Twilight (Mentioned only)
- Death Troopers
- Death Troopers audiobook
- File:SWG logo sm.png Star Wars Galaxies: An Empire Divided
- Galaxy of Fear: City of the Dead (First appearance)
- Star Wars Journal: Hero for Hire (Mentioned only)
- "Gathering Shadows"—Tales from the New Republic
- Luke Skywalker and the Shadows of Mindor
- Assault at Selonia (Mentioned only)
- Legacy of the Force: Sacrifice (Mentioned only) (As expression)
- Legacy of the Force: Inferno (Mentioned only)
- Riptide
- Fate of the Jedi: Outcast (Indirect mention only)
- Fate of the Jedi: Outcast audiobook (Indirect mention only)
Non-canon appearances
- "Planet of the Dead" — Star Wars Tales 17
- "Lunch Break" — Star Wars Tales 16 (Mentioned only)
- LEGO Star Wars III: The Clone Wars
Sources
- Planets of the Galaxy, Volume Two
- Star Wars Gamemaster Handbook
- Shadows of the Empire Sourcebook
"Hapes: Ladies First" (original article link) on Wizards.com (content now obsolete; backup link)
- The Unknown Regions
- File:Gal-icon.jpg Friday Feature - An Inside Look At Death Troopers on the official Star Wars Galaxies website (content now obsolete; backup link)
- File:Gal-icon.jpg The Witches of Dathomir Gallery on the official Star Wars Galaxies website (content now obsolete; backup link)
- Star Wars: The Ultimate Visual Guide: Updated and Expanded
"10 Amazing Moments from Star Wars: The Clone Wars: Season Four" – Star Wars Insider 134
- The Essential Reader's Companion
"Evil Empire!" – Star Wars Insider 149
Nightsister zombies in the Encyclopedia (content now obsolete; backup link)
Notes and references
- ↑
"No Way Out"—Star Wars: Clone Wars Adventures Volume 9
- ↑
Star Wars: The Clone Wars – "Legacy of Terror"
- ↑
Star Wars: The Clone Wars – "Massacre"
- ↑ The Eye
- ↑ Script error: No such module "SWGcite".
- ↑ "Planet of the Dead" — Star Wars Tales 17
External links
- What to Expect from Clone Wars dark second season, an article at io9.com
- Zombie, Revenant and Lich on Wikipedia