Galen Marek

"I bring Darth Vader's enemies to justice."

- Starkiller

Galen Marek, also known as Starkiller and The Apprentice is the protagonist villain in the video game Star Wars: The Force Unleashed, while a clone of him is the protagonist of The Force Unleashed II. He was raised secretly from a young age as the apprentice to Darth Vader. As Vader's apprentice, he was promised that he would aid Vader in overthrowing Emperor Palpatine and that he would eventually come to be a true Dark Lord of the sith. He was a very competent wielder of both the Dark and Light sides of The Force, and a master of the Shien variant of lightsaber combat.

Past
Galen was the son of Jedi Knights Kento and Mallie Marek, who secretly deserted the Jedi Order and the Grand Army of the Republic just before Order 66. Living on Kashyyyk, away from the prying eyes of the Empire and its Sith rulers, they lived peacefully alongside the valiant and loyal Wookiees. While Marek was still an infant, his mother was killed defending a group of Wookiees from a band of Trandoshan slavers, leaving Kento to raise the boy on his own. A few years later, Galen witnessed the brutal Imperial attack on Kashyyyk and his father's defeat at the hands of Darth Vader. As Vader was about to execute Kento, Galen telekinetically ripped Vader's lightsaber from the Dark Lord's hand. Surprised by the boy's natural affinity for the Force, Vader nonchalantly crushed Kento's windpipe and stood before the boy as a group of stormtroopers entered the house. Noticing the stormtroopers' intentions to kill the boy, Vader retrieved his lightsaber and quickly dispatched the helpless Imperials. He took the young Galen away from Kashyyyk, intending to mold him into a weapon of the Dark Side.

Star Wars: The Force Unleashed
Darth Vader was a brutal and uncompromising Master, ensuring that Galen, whom he codenamed "Starkiller", was a perfect assassin. Vader gave Galen a Sith training droid, PROXY, which Galen sparred with regularly. In order to enhance the reality of the training, Vader programmed PROXY with a primary directive to kill Starkiller. As Starkiller grew older and more powerful with the Dark Side, he was sent on numerous espionage, subterfuge, and assassination missions. Starkiller himself revered Darth Vader and was a staunch Imperialist. It seemed that Darth Vader went against the Sith imperative in the sense that Starkiller was fanatically loyal to Vader, and Vader probably never instilled the ambition for greater power that was characteristic of most Sith Lords. Vader never outright referred to Starkiller as his apprentice for many years, though he had always assumed that he occupied that role.

Nearly 19 years after the events on Kashyyyk, Vader officially dubbed Starkiller as his apprentice, and sent him on his first true mission. Starkiller was instructed to travel to an Imperial Shipyard above Nar Shaddaa, where a Jedi Master named Rahm Kota was leading an attack against the Imperial forces stationed there, and kill the Jedi and bring back his lightsaber as proof. As Starkiller turned to depart for his mission, Vader firmly told him that he was to kill everyone aboard: Imperial or Militia. Although Starkiller was uncomfortable with this, he made sure not to voice his displeasure. When he reached his ship The Rogue Shadow, he met his new pilot, decorated Imperial fighter pilot Juno Eclipse. Arriving at the shipyard, Starkiller ruthlessly cut a swath of destruction to the aging Jedi General. When Starkiller finally reached Kota, the old man scoffed, believing that he could easily overpower the boy that Vader had sent. After a heated duel, during which Kota used The Force to separate the room they were in and send it falling towards the planet surface, Starkiller finally overpowered the Jedi Master. As their lightsabers were locked, Kota explained that Darth Vader wouldn't always control Starkiller, and that eventually Kota would become his Master. Shocked and angered by this, Starkiller pushed the General back, blinding him with his own lightsaber, and threw him from the falling control tower. Retrieving the fallen Jedi's lightsaber, Starkiller leapt from the tower into The Rogue Shadow.

Upon returning to Vader, he was promptly sent on a new mission, which Vader did not believe that Starkiller was strong enough to accomplish. Starkiller was sent to the junkyard world of Raxus Prime to kill the deranged Jedi mechanist Kazdan Paratus. Fighting his way through Force-powered scrap guardians and Rodian mercenaries, Starkiller managed to reach the faux-Jedi Temple that Paratus had constructed from the scrap metal that littered Raxus Prime's surface. After defeating the diminutive Jedi, Starkiller boarded his ship and began meditating. He was interrupted by PROXY, who was acting as a middle-man for Vader and Starkiller to communicate. During their conversation, Starkiller boldly claimed that he was ready to stand by Vader against Darth Sidious, though Vader sharply objected. Vader told Starkiller that his third and most difficult test was to go to Felucia to kill Master Shaak Ti, one of the last living members of the Jedi High Council besides Obi-Wan Kenobi, Yoda, and Vader himself.

As The Rogue Shadow passed over the surface of the densely floral planet, Shaak Ti warned her apprentice Maris Brood to hide from the Sith in order to ensure the Jedi Order's survival. Reluctantly, Brood complied and remained out of sight. Ti had befriended the local Felucian populace while in exile, and trained them to hone their already considerable strength with the Force. As a result, the Felucians formed a powerful organized force. Despite this, Starkiller battled his way through the wilds of Felucia to the Ancient Abyss, where Shaak Ti hoped to lure Starkiller into a Sarlaac Pit. Shaak Ti proved to be a powerful opponent, though she eventually fell to Starkiller. Before falling into the Sarlaac's waiting mouth, she warned Starkiller that the Sith always betray one another, and that he would become more than a mere Sith assassin. Starkiller angrily declared that he would never betray Vader, and returned to The Rogue Shadow to notify his Master of his success.

When Vader heard of Shaak Ti's death, he told Starkiller that he was finally ready to stand against the Emperor. Instructing Starkiller to return to Vader's flagship The Executor, he said that they would at last control the galaxy. When Starkiller arrived, Vader notified him that the Emperor's fleet had arrived. Starkiller, believing that Vader had lured the Emperor to them, asked when they would strike. Vader told him that he had not summoned the Emperor, and turned and stabbed Starkiller through the back with his lightsaber, saying that the Emperor's spies had followed Starkiller. Vader let Starkiller collapse to the ground as the Emperor approached them. Starkiller, writhing in pain at Vader's feet, could only helplessly listen as Sidious commanded Vader to kill him. Vainly attempting to convince Vader that they could destroy Sidious, he could only wait for Vader to end his life. Goaded by Sidious, Vader used the Force to throw Starkiller about the room before sending him through the viewport behind him. Satisfied, Sidious left to return to Coruscant. Vader then sent one of his Imperial probe droids to retrieve Starkiller's body from space.

Rebel Jedi and founding the Rebel Alliance
Starkiller awoke six months later onboard an Imperial laboratory frigate called The Empirical. Vader used this vessel for his top secret medical experiments. Starkiller, outraged at Vader's betrayal, attempted to lash out at Vader, only to find that he was restrained. Vader explained that he never meant to kill Starkiller, he only needed to make the Emperor believe that he was dead. Still angry, Starkiller reluctantly asked what Vader's will was. Vader told Starkiller that the Emperor's spies diligently watched Vader's every move. They would have no opportunity to attack the Emperor as long as they were occupied with Vader's activities. To that end, Vader instructed Starkiller to assemble an army of rebels to oppose the Empire in order to sufficiently distract the Emperor. He left Starkiller by telling him that his destiny was now his own, and that no one was to know that he still served Vader. His image dissolved, revealing the familiar form of PROXY. Before making his escape, Starkiller fought through the frigate to the holding cell where Juno was being kept. Freeing her from her prison, Starkiller told her that he was leaving the Empire behind.

The first person Starkiller thought to recruit was Master Kota, since during their duel Kota said he would eventually become Starkiller's master. Tracking Kota from Nar Shaddaa to the Sith world of Ziost, he eventually found Kota in a cantina at Cloud City. The old man had become a shadow of his former self, haggard in appearance and constantly drowning his sorrows with strong beverages. Starkiller jostled the drunken Jedi out of his stupor and told him that he needed his knowledge of fighting the Empire, to which Kota said that no one could fight the Empire and win. He also said that he could be of no help to Starkiller since losing his eyesight had apparently lessened his connection to The Force. They were then interrupted by a group of stormtroopers entering the bar, looking for Starkiller. Helping the Jedi to his feet, Starkiller fought his way to the landing platform where Juno was waiting in The Rogue Shadow. After defeating a mysterious Dark Side acolyte, Kota told Starkiller that he had a contact in the Senate that would benefit from his help.

Kota's instructions led them to Kashyyyk, which had long since been Imperialized and many portions of the planet's dense forests had been razed. Upon touching down, Starkiller immediately sensed Dark Side energy radiating from a nearby hut. Cautiously entering the hut, he was confronted by a ghostly apparition of what appeared to be a Jedi. Shocked, Starkiller instantly recongnized the spirit as that of his murdered father and he regained a host of repressed memories. Looking around the hut, he found the shattered remains of his father's lightsaber and salvaged the blue focusing crystals that powered it. Installing them in his own lightsaber, he abandoned the red crystals that marked him as a Dark Side wielder and effectively created a proper Jedi weapon. Concerned, Juno contacted him via comlink, though Starkiller reassured her that he was fine. She then warned him that there was a large Imperial installation near his location. Wielding his new blue blade, he valiantly fought through the Imperial forces to a holding cell located in the personal quarters of the Imperial Captain Ozzik Sturn. In the cell, he found a young woman with dark brown hair and regal bearing accompanied by a blue and white astromech droid. Telling the woman that he did not serve the Empire, Starkiller clarified that he was working with Master Kota and that she needed to get offworld immediately. However, she refused to leave without first disabling the Empire's skyhook, which was used to ferry thousands of Wookiee slaves offworld. Reluctantly agreeing, Starkiller continued to push back the Empire's forces until he reached the skyhook. While attempting to sabotage the machine, he was attacked by Ozzik Sturn in a customized AT-ST. Sturn proved to be no match for Starkiller's strength with The Force, and he succeeded in destroying the skyhook.

When he returned to The Rogue Shadow, Starkiller demanded that Kota tell him who the girl was. Kota responded by telling him that she was Princess Leia Organa, and that her father Bail Organa was his Senatorial contact. When Starkiller demanded to speak to Bail, Kota informed him that Bail had gone missing after searching for Master Shaak Ti on Felucia. Realizing that he would need Bail's resources in his rebellion, he decided to return to Felucia to hopefully find and resuce Bail. Landing of Felucia, he found that it was radically different from the lush planet he had been to only six months earlier. He had to contend with not only legions of Imperial forces, but also the maddened natives as well. He eventually came upon the Ancient Abyss where he dueled Shaak Ti, and was abhorred by the sight he was greeted with. The Empire had installed a tunnel system within the still-living Sarlaac. Taking measures to lessen the creature's suffering, he journeyed through the Sarlaac's anatomy, hoping that Bail was not dead and digested. When Bail was nowhere within the Sarlaac, Starkiller exited and came upon the Rancor Graveyard, where he found Bail dirty and beaten. Bail warned Starkiller that the madness of the planet was due to Shaak Ti's apprentice Maris Brood, who had turned to the Dark Side following her Master's death. Maris attacked Starkiller with the aid of a monstrous Bull Rancor, though Starkiller managed to overpower both with relative ease. Defeated, Brood vowed that if Starkiller spared her, she would abandon the Dark Side and leave Felucia forever. Allowing her to leave, Starkiller reunited Bail with Kota, who convinced the Senator to join Starkiller's rebellion. Bail also assured Starkiller that he would attempt to convince other disillusioned Senators to join their cause.

When they left Felucia, Starkiller secretly made contact with Darth Vader in his meditation chamber. He notified Vader of his progress with his mission, though he needed advice on what his next target should be. Vader reminded Starkiller that fear was the Emperor's primary tool when ruling and that Starkiller needed to symbollically destroy that fear. He pointed Starkiller to a Star Destroyer construction facility over Raxus Prime, which could be destroyed from the planet surface. Starkiller offered a half-hearted thanks, and Vader reminded Starkiller that he was still under the Dark Lord's control. When the hologram faded, PROXY noticed Juno standing behind Starkiller. Outraged that Starkiller was still serving Vader, despite his apparent betrayal, she urged Starkiller to make the right decision and not force her to abandon another life. This, along with his vision on Kashyyyk, pushed Starkiller further along the path to redemption.

Landing on Raxus Prime, Starkiller was once again greeted by an entire legion of the Empire's forces, as well as Rodian mercenaries. As he made his way to the Imperial facility on the planet's surface, Juno notified Starkiller that PROXY had for some reason left The Rogue Shadow. Thanking Juno for the advance warning, he continued to fight his way to the facility. When he finally reached the facility, he was confronted by another Sith Acolyte like the one he encountered at Cloud City. After a short duel, the image faded to reveal PROXY. The droid stated that he was attempting to fulfill his primary directive, and that his tactical computers suggested that he had to strike at that moment. He switched randomly between foes that Starkiller had defeated previously, including Rahm Kota, Shaak Ti, and Maris Brood. Continuously outmatching PROXY, Starkiller told him to shut down. In response, PROXY activated a persona that he had never used previously: the legendary Sith warrior Darth Maul. Still managing to defeat PROXY, Starkiller left the droid pinned to a wall while he continued about his mission. He overrode the facility's ore cannon to fire directly at the orbiting shipyard, destroying it. However, one Star Destroyer managed to avoid being destroyed, and was heading straight for Starkiller. Kota told him that he would never get clear of the ship in time, and that he would need to use The Force to pull the massive ship into the cannon. Incredulous, Starkiller stated that it was impossible, only to be reminded that he was a Jedi, and that size meant nothing to a Jedi. After much effort avoiding TIE fighters and telekinetically pulling the ship down, he finally succeeded and barely managed to escape the crashing ship. PROXY, who also managed to avoid destruction, told Starkiller that the shockwave overloaded his primary programming. Relieved, he brought PROXY back to The Rogue Shadow, where they reunited with Juno and Kota.

Again contacting Vader, Starkiller told him that he needed to cease contact with Vader for a time in order to gain the trust of his new allies. Warning Starkiller not to wait to long to make contact, Vader ended the transmission. Juno asked Starkiller if Vader could be trusted, to which he said that Vader wouldn't risk his mission. Juno then told him that they had arrived at Corellia to meet with the other rebels. She asked him what his plans were for the rebellion, but he simply asked that she trust him. Joining the other rebels, Starkiller and Kota began the meeting. Bail Organa, along with Senators Mon Mothma and Garm Bel Iblis pledged their support and resources to the cause, as long as Starkiller would be leading them with the power of The Force. Just as they officially declared rebellion against the Empire, they felt a tremor from an explosion. Looking outside, Starkiller was horrified to see that the Empire had arrived en masse. Vader, along with a group of stormtroopers, blasted into the building and ordered that the rebel leaders be taken alive to be personally executed by the Emperor. Vader then mocked Starkiller by calling him his apprentice just before throwing a large stone table at him. Landing outside in the snow, Starkiller angrily shouted accusations at his former Master, outraged at yet another betrayal. Revealing that he never planned to kill Sidious with Starkiller's help, he prepared to kill his former apprentice. Just as he was about to deliver the deathblow, PROXY intervened in the form of Obi-Wan Kenobi. Easily defeating the droid, Vader turned to see that Starkiller had apparently fallen over the edge of the neaby cliff. Satisfied that his pawn was dead, he turned to leave the freezing planet. Unknown to Vader, Starkiller had survived the fall and was picked up by Juno in The Rogue Shadow.

Final Battle and Death
Enraged at Vader's betrayal, Starkiller resolved to liberate the rebels before they could be executed. Sinking into a deep meditation, he had a vision of the Empire's dreaded superweapon, the Death Star, which was still under construction in the Outer Rim. Arriving, he told Juno that he would probably never see her again. In response, Juno passionately kissed him before he dove off the ship's ramp to the battlestation below. Cutting his way through hundreds of stormtroopers, dozens of AT-ST's and several of the Emperor's elite guards, Starkiller finally arrived at the Emperor's observation dome above the Death Star's laser convergence array. Confronted by Darth Vader, Starkiller boldly ignited his lightsaber in preparation to duel his former Master. After a long duel, which was a fairly even match, Starkiller eventually defeated Darth Vader, severely damaging the armor that kept the Dark Lord alive. At the sight of his apprentice battered and broken yet again, Sidious started goading Starkiller to kill Darth Vader and take his place as the Emperor's apprentice.

Kota desperately attacked Sidious, hoping to stop him from turning Starkiller. Blasting him with Sith Lightning, Sidious easily subdued Kota. Torn between revenge on Vader and saving his allies, Starkiller eventually decided to save Kota from Sidious' attack. Left without a lightsaber due to Kota's intervention, Sidious was forced to fight Starkiller using his considerable powers with the Dark Side, periodically summoning aid from his guards. Again, after a long fight that caused much damage to the throne room, Sidious was defeated by Starkiller's superior affinity for The Force. Prepared to kill Sidious for all he and Vader had done, Starkiller was convinced by Kota that to strike him down in anger would put him down the path to the Dark Side. Relenting, he deactivated his lightsaber and began preparations to leave the Death Star. However, Sidious renewed his assault on Kota, which prompted Starkiller to intercept the Emperor's powerful lightning attack. Shouting, Starkiller caused a large explosion that allowed the rebels to make their escape. However, in saving the rebels he sacrificed his own life. Vader and Sidious, dismayed that they had unwittingly created a great threat to their Empire, began preparations to hunt down and kill the rebel leaders before they could do any damage.

The rebel leaders converged on Kashyyyk, in Starkiller's old hut, where they officially founded the Alliance to Restore the Republic, more commonly known as the Rebel Alliance. Leia suggested that they find a flag to rally behind, and chose Starkiller's family crest in order to memorialize the sacrifice he had made for the galaxy.

Early life and training
When the original Starkiller stormed the Death Star in a bid to rescue the captured Rebel Alliance leaders, Emperor Palpatine presented him with the opportunity of killing Darth Vader and replacing him as Palpatine's Sith apprentice. While Starkiller refused, he perished in the ensuing battle with Palpatine to provide his friends the means to escape, and Vader was at last made aware of Palpatine's long standing desire to replace him with a more able apprentice.

Now earnestly pursuing the idea of a secret apprentice to help him assassinate Palpatine, Vader preserved Starkiller's body, taking it to Kamino and extracting cells toclone the Force Adept. Due to the inherent difficulty in cloning Force-sensitives, many of the initial clones were deformed and aberrant monstrosities. As the process was refined, the clones became increasingly stable, though many still succumbed to madness after the period of a few months, at which point Vader would simply move on to training a new test subject. The Starkiller clone - designated as Subject 1138 - was just the latest in a long line.

Escape
Starkiller's training progressed rapidly, thanks in large part to the imprinted memory flashes from the original Starkiller. He was also subjected to numerous brutal tests by Darth Vader, such as having to spend thirteen days in isolation without food or water, forced to survive by relying on the Force. Upon one of Vader's visits, the clone was released from the isolation pit and was informed by Vader that Rahm Kota, the original Starkiller's Jedi mentor, had been captured on Cato Neimoidia. At the conclusion of his training, Starkiller was to travel there and execute the Jedi. When Vader inquired about Starkiller's visions, the clone elaborated, curious about their meaning. Vader explained that they were nothing more than "the memories of a dead man," a temporary side effect of the accelerated cloning process. With that, Vader initiated a training session, providing Starkiller with a pair of lightsabers. Engaging a number of Sith Training Droids imitating Rebel Alliance soldiers, Starkiller cut them down with brutal efficiency, falling into a trance-like state. However, as he turned on the last faux-Rebel, he realized that it was an imitation of Juno Eclipse.

Despite Vader's orders, Starkiller was unable to strike her down. Disappointed at Starkiller's inability, Vader struck down the false Eclipse himself, and Starkiller ran to the cut-up droid to check it, as if it were Juno herself. Vader then declared that Starkiller would suffer the "same fate as the others." Now aware that he was going to be discarded by the Sith Lord, Starkiller lost all respect for him, even doubting the fact that there were other clones of the same template; he believed that any other version of Vader's fallen apprentice would be in love with her as well and seek out Juno Eclipse just as he was. Experiencing a sudden memory flash of the original Starkiller being betrayed by Vader, Starkiller then decided to escape this outcome, and therefore turned on Vader at the last moment.

Darth Vader brandished his lightsaber to execute the clone, but was caught off-guard by a sudden barrage of Force lightning from an enraged Starkiller, dropping to one knee as his cybernetics malfunctioned. Starkiller used the opening to blast a hole in the wall of the reinforced training room, leaping out of the tower into the Kamino rainstorms. Using the Force to clear his path of TIE fighters and exterior fixtures on the tower, Starkiller plummeted onto the exterior ramparts of the Timira City cloning facilities. Drawing his two lightsabers, he cut a bloody swath of destruction along the rain-slicked platforms, eventually reaching the landing platform where Vader's TIE Advanced x1 starfighter was docked.

As Starkiller paused, Darth Vader emerged from within the facility. Quickly boarding the fighter, Starkiller lifted off and escaped Kamino, despite Vader's brief attempt to telekinetically halt the fighter. Although he knew better than to believe he was free, Starkiller further gave in to his imprinted feelings by dedicating himself to finding Juno Eclipse.

Cato Neimoidia
Knowing that Rahm Kota would most likely be a valuable asset in tracking down Juno, Starkiller decided to rescue his progenitor's former Jedi ally. Thus, he followed up on Darth Vader's information and traveled to Cato Neimoidia. As he had not changed the transponder in Vader's ship, he was believed to be the Dark Lord and was directed to an executive landing pad, where he was greeted by a full retinue of Stormtroopers and Baron Merillion Tarko, the Imperial governor controlling the world from Tarko-se, a city that he named after himself. When Starkiller, clad in a tattered Imperial flightsuit, emerged from the vessel, Tarko immediately noticed that something was wrong, informing Starkiller that Kota had been in the Tarko-se Arena for the past several days before questioning his knowledge of the local Imperial security codes. When Starkiller didn't answer, Tarko and the Stormtroopers brandished their weapons, prompting Starkiller to ignite his lightsabers. Tarko retreated while Starkiller quickly cut down the troopers.

Carving his way through the eastern archway of Tarko-se, Starkiller eventually reached a public tramway to the western arch where the arena was situated. En route, he was forced to defend the vehicle against an assault by Imperial air forces, destroying most of the opposition. However, the tram finally malfunctioned and fell out of the sky just before reaching the western arch, forcing Starkiller to leap the distance to the tram station. Once in the western arch, he made his way to the entrance to the Tarko-se Arena.

Once within the arena, he approached an exhausted Rahm Kota in the ring. An incredulous Kota turned to him, plainly surprised, but expressing his certainty in Starkiller's survival. As one of the arena doors opening, releasing a Rancor, Starkiller brandished one lightsaber. However, his relaxed attitude quickly vanished when the rancor was seized and consumed by a massive Gorog, and he ignited his second blade. While Kota fled the arena to hunt down Tarko, Starkiller remained to contend with the Gorog. With Kota's strategic assistance, Starkiller managed to use the Gorog's restraints built into the arena to pin the beast's arms, before leaping onto its head and cutting into its brain.

The Gorog managed to break loose of its restraints and fling Starkiller aside, destroying the hanging arena's supports in an enraged pursuit of the Force Adept. Starkiller allowed it to do so, hoping it would fall with the rest of the arena. Making his way to Tarko's executive box, he rendezvoused with Kota and confronted the Baron. However, the confrontation was cut short by the Gorog, who seized hold of the box in a last ditch effort to avoid falling. Tarko fell into the Gorog's open mouth while Kota was grabbed by the beast before it fell. Starkiller leapt after them, attacking the Gorog with bursts of Force lightning and lightsaber throws. Finally, Starkiller used the Force to burst through the creature's torso, causing the Gorog to release Kota from its grip. Once freed, Kota used his comlink to contact the Rogue Shadow, which swept in on autopilot and caught them before landing hard on the rocky terrain below.

Once within the ship, Starkiller charged into the cockpit, expecting to find Juno Eclipse there. Kota revealed that he didn't know where she was, as the Rebel fleet had been scattered. Starkiller convinced Kota to help him find Juno, and Kota provided the coordinates for the Rebel rendezvous in the Athega system. However, they were ambushed by an Imperial fleet upon their arrival, and forced to flee. Kota was quick to try convincing Starkiller to join the Rebellion in a counterattack against the Empire, brushing aside Starkiller's claims of being a clone with the supposed certainty that cloning Force-sensitives was impossible; he also tried to drill Starkiller for information regarding the Kaminoan cloning facilities in order for the Alliance to launch a full-scale invasion of Kamino.

However, Starkiller remained unconvinced that he could be the real Starkiller, believing that Vader found a way to successfully clone Force-wielders with the aid of Kaminoan technology. Furthermore, he remained committed to finding Juno and also stated that he simply needed a quiet place to meditate on his situation. Kota was enraged that Starkiller would not immediately commit to the Rebellion, believing that the clone was putting one woman and his own inner conflict above the needs of the galaxy. Realizing that he could not convince or force Starkiller to change his mind, Kota stormed out of the cockpit, but not before giving the Rogue Shadow to him, feeling that the ship had always been his, and demanding to be let out on the nearest spaceport before Starkiller got "lost in the stars".

Vision on Dagobah
Dropping Kota off on Malastare, Starkiller then followed up on both his Force visions and hints Kota had inadvertently dropped. Traveling to Dac, he found the planet in turmoil from recent resistance activity. On Kashyyyk, he experienced a vision of the original Starkiller's father. From freeing Kota to visiting several worlds, he had found that all of his attempts to find Juno had proven to be counter-productive to his primary goal. Having exhausted all other options, he decided to travel to Dagobah.

Landing on the planet, he probed the swamps through the Force, discovering an odd Force signature that studied him in return. Picking his way through the swamps towards it, Starkiller was forced to fight off several predators, but prevailed. Reaching the Dark Side Cave, he was greeted by Yoda. Yoda steered Starkiller into entering the cave, which the Force Adept did after a moment.

Within the cave, Starkiller experienced a vision. Now clad in the robes of a Jedi Knight and wielding blue lightsabers, he wandered the interior of the cave, only to be accosted by various versions of himself. Initially brandishing his lightsabers, Starkiller lowered them and forced his way through. Entering a final chamber shrouded in shadows, he experienced additional layers of the vision, seeing Darth Vader hiring Boba Fett to track him down, and Juno Eclipse being attacked and wounded on the bridge of her vessel, the Salvation.

Emerging from the cave, Starkiller was counciled by Yoda to follow what he had seen. Returning to his ship, Starkiller traveled to Malastare to find Kota. Finding Kota in the workshop of the Rebel contact Berkelium Shyre, Starkiller was recognized by Shyre, who was infatuated with Juno, as the man whom Juno Eclipse always spoke of. After Kota left to rendezvous with his new squad, Starkiller erased Shyre's memory of him, and of his own last meeting with Juno. Afterward, Kota introduced Starkiller to his squad's medic, the Cerean Ni-Ke-Vanz. Vanz possessed extensive knowledge of cloning, having been educated in the subject by a Khommite slave during a shared sentence in the Spice Mines of Kessel. Vanz elaborated on how cloning was not the equivalent of immortality. A clone was its own distinct individual, based on the biological structure of the original subject, but ultimately a different version of its template. Vanz also elaborated on the complications of cloning Force-sensitives, particularly how the clones would lapse into insanity, causing them to develop psychotic and violent tendencies. Although he was unsure, Vanz speculated that the Force was in some way responsible for undermining the stability of Force-sensitive clones.

Starkiller wasn't reassured by this information, despite Kota's belief that it proved he wasn't a clone. They departed for Nordra, the current location of the Rebel fleet, soon afterward. En route, Kota presented Starkiller with a pair of blue lightsaber crystals, relics of the Clone Wars; Starkiller accepted the gifts and installed them in his dual-lightsabers.

Attack on the Salvation
Arriving at Nordra, Starkiller and Kota docked aboard the Salvation ahead of Kota's squad, which had taken an alternate vessel. While taking a rapid cargo tram towards the Salvation bridge, Kota informed Starkiller about the state of affairs within the Alliance. The Alliance leadership was deadlocked, as they didn't have the firepower to take out a meaningful Imperial target, and hit-and-run raids wasted too many lives. Juno Eclipse was part of the militarist camp, calling for an aggressive strike, even for only a symbolic victory. Kota didn't tell Juno that Starkiller was with him, feeling that it would be better for her to see for herself. Starkiller handed Kota an encrypted code cylinder that contained information about the Timira City cloning facilities; everything the Alliance needs to launch a successful attack.

The cargo tram suddenly ground to a halt as the ship was attacked. Starkiller and Kota quickly drew their lightsabers and made their way to the bridge on foot, attacked by Imperial Terror Soldiers along the way. Reaching the bridge, they found it in shambles, most of the personnel dead and Juno missing. Starkiller foundPROXY, the original Starkiller's training droid, who informed them that Juno had likely been taken to the Deck 7 docking bays. While Kota remained on the bridge to take command of the ship, Starkiller continued on alone, following the destructive trail left by Vader's bounty hunter and the Imperial forces.

Making it to the hangar, Starkiller arrived just in time to see Boba Fett and a very shocked Juno Eclipse board Fett's ship. Attempting to stop Fett's ship from fleeing by grasping it telekinetically, Starkiller was forced to break off when he was attacked by a Terror Walker. Pursuing the monstrous droid into the Salvation 's reactor chamber, Starkiller destroyed it. Contacting Kota, Starkiller demanded that Kota order the attack on Kamino, so he could go rescue Juno from Darth Vader. As he felt his rage build up at the thought of Juno's capture and his Master, Starkiller experienced another vision in the Force; he stood victorious over a defeated Darth Vader and raised his blade to finally end the Sith Lord's life. Before he could deliver the final blow, however, he was impaled from behind by a lightsaber through the chest. In the last moments of his short existence, Starkiller saw that his killer's face was exactly like his own; it was another clone of Galen Marek—a "reborn Starkiller," deeply absorbed in the dark side and much more powerful. The last thing that Starkiller saw before snapping out of the vision was water as Vader telekinetically pushed the imperfect clone's body into the vast ocean of Kamino.

Battle of Kamino
Starkiller returned to the hangar just in time to see the Rebel fleet arrive at Kamino. Engaging the Imperial forces that boarded the Salvation, Starkiller systematically eliminated them before returning to the bridge. Kota and PROXY informed him that the attack was going badly; as the Imperials had been waiting for them, and the deflector shield protecting Timira City prevented them from landing any of their forces. Starkiller advised Kota to order the ship abandoned so he could crash in through the planetary shield and destroy the planetside shield generator.

Slaving all ship systems to the bridge, Starkiller plotted a course straight at the planetside shield generators and set the ship on autopilot. As the ship plummeted towards Timira City, Starkiller cleared debris from the battle out of the ship's path, allowing it to smash through the shield. As the Salvation continued falling, it broke in half, with the rear half plowing into the shield generator, while his flew at the spire where Darth Vader was holed up. Too late realizing that Juno was also being held in the spire, Starkiller used the Force to destroy the entire forward section of the Salvation. Managing to survive the fall onto the facility, Starkiller briefly lost consciousness.

While unconscious, Starkiller remembered Galen Marek's mother, and how she sacrificed herself to protect her family from Trandoshan slavers before Galen's abduction by Vader. When he awoke on the Kaminoan battlefield, he tried to shrug it off and focus on the task at hand. As he was on the cloning facilities interior, he needed to find an entrance to allow the Rebel forces in. Making his way towards one of the Imperial hangar bays, he fought his way through dozens of Imperial troops, as well as clearing out a group of snipers harrying Rahm Kota and his squad. Rendezvousing with Kota, they broke into one of the Imperial command centers, hoping to use it to open the hangar doors, but the controls were destroyed by an Imperial bombing run. While Kota and his men looked for a security hub to prevent any more lock downs, Starkiller made his way to an alternate command center only to find the controls locked. Instead, he used telekinesis to wrench the doors open.

Needing a shortcut across the facilities interior towards the base of the cloning spires, Starkiller climbed on top of the hangar doors and leapt onto a passing Y-wing. The pilot, Wedge Antilles, obliged to Starkiller's request for a ride, flying him across the dome. Leaping off and entering the spire, Starkiller began ascending. Within, he engaged Imperial Saber Guards and Sith Acolytes, and finding to his horror that most of the cloning tanks within the spire contained more clones of Galen Marek. As he ascended higher and higher, he attempted to do so stealthily and with as little bloodshed as possible, but was given away by an unnoticed Terror Trooper, forcing him to kill them all.

Around this time in the battle, he approached the cloning tank of Subject 1157 and hit it with a Force push, killing the other Galen Marek clone.

Confrontation with Vader

 * "I knew it was only a matter of time before you returned. Now you will surrender to me, or you will die here where you were created."
 * ―Darth Vader

Exiting an elevator in the cloning labs near the top of the spire, Starkiller continued on, despite Kota's protests via comlink. As he wandered through the smoke-shrouded corridors, he was attacked by Vader. Starkiller managed to fend off the Sith Lord, but was struck by a sudden and violent Force vision before he could counter, allowing Vader to slip away. Tortured by his own mind as he wandered the corridors, Starkiller was attacked twice more by Vader before reentering the larger interior spaces of the spire.

Darth Vader made himself visible on one of the tank platforms, declaring that Starkiller would either surrender to him or die. Starkiller leapt up to engage Vader, but the Dark Lord relied on more evasive tactics, fending off Starkiller's attacks while sending Sith Training Droids in the guise of various figures from Galen Marek's past to fight him. Starkiller easily held them off and turned on Vader. However, the Vader he fought turned out to be just another Holodroid, and Starkiller leapt further upwards in search of the real Sith Lord.

As he prepared to face the true Darth Vader, Starkiller also found himself confronted by a veritable army of aberrant clones of Galen Marek, thus proving that Vader had not lied about creating other clones of Marek, as Starkiller had originally believed. As he fought his "brothers," Starkiller could sense that all of the clones were virtually the same as him—not only because they possessed the same skills as him, albeit in varying degrees, but also because they had inherited the same Force potential and identity crisis as Starkiller. Faced with what were essentially alternate versions of himself and his template, Starkiller was forced to truly accept his identity as a clone in the face of this overwhelming proof. His aggressive counters against the clones were reluctant, as he felt they had just as much right to live as he. He killed them all with a powerful Force repulse, then quietly questioned Darth Vader; Why me?

After a momentary dialogue, Starkiller rushed Vader in a rage. Vader casually parried the attack, and blocked the follow-up with his lightsaber and telekinesis, throwing Starkiller off his feet as the platform bucked. Starkiller regained his feet and came on swinging. Even as they fought across the top level of the tower, Starkiller sensed that Vader was still testing him, and attempted to keep a handle on his emotions. When an opening came, Starkiller moved to take it, only to be hit by a vision of a dead Juno Eclipse in his arms. Starkiller's momentary confusion allowed Vader to knock him down and quietly retreat. Starkiller pursued him, and reached the very top of the spire.

When Starkiller demanded Juno's location, Vader sidestepped and revealed her standing behind him. Vader took her up in a telekinetic chokehold, demanding that Starkiller surrender to him in exchange for her life. Starkiller agreed, casting aside his lightsabers and dropping to his knees. With the clone in submission, Vader commanded Starkiller to locate and kill Rahm Kota, embrace the Dark side of the Force, and to hunt down and execute the Rebel leaders upon the completion of his training; failure to meet any of the Sith Lord's demands would result in Juno's death. However, while Vader spoke, Juno retrieved one of Starkiller's lightsabers and attacked Vader. Vader managed to dodge, blasting her back with a powerful Force push, seemingly killing her. Starkiller fell on Darth Vader in blind rage, only to be thrown out of the spire as well. He landed on a nearby roof, situated above what appeared to be a power generator that harnessed Kamino's constant lightning strikes as an energy source. Starkiller immediately attempted to reach Juno, wanting desperately to save her, but found his path blocked by Vader.

Starkiller attacked Vader yet again. At first, he could not understand why Vader was deliberately keeping him from getting to Juno, as she was the one tool that could be used to control him. However, as they fought across the rain-slicked generator roof, Starkiller realized that his former master was using both the duel and Juno's death in an attempt to cause him to fall back into darkness. Without Juno, both Vader and Starkiller knew that he would no longer be motivated to resist the lure of the dark side. With this sudden comprehension, Starkiller attempted to reason with Vader, even as their fight increased in intensity. He even went so far as to suggest that his Master join the Alliance in order to destroy the Emperor. But Vader simply redoubled his own attack in response, making it clear that he wanted nothing to do with the Rebellion. As they continued to fight, Vader tried to encourage Starkiller to rise above his artificial feelings for Juno Eclipse, stating that she meant nothing and was only holding him back. Starkiller continued to press his attacks in order to get to Juno, but Vader stayed firmly between the two and reminded the clone that Juno had loved Marek, but as Starkiller was not truly Marek, he could never have her love.

Starkiller was eventually forced onto his back foot and disarmed. Vader then gave Starkiller one last chance to surrender, telling him that if he did not, he would die. Starkiller appeared to surrender, which caused Vader to drop his guard. Then Starkiller absorbed a lightning bolt from one of the lightning rods surrounding the platform upon which they were fighting and used the energy of the lightning in conjunction with his own powers to launch an incredibly powerful blast of Force lightning at Vader. Having dropped his guard, Vader was struck head-on by the blast, and was severely damaged by the bolt.

Starkiller prepared to execute Darth Vader, even as the Sith Lord continued to try turning him. However, he was halted at the last second by Rahm Kota and his squad. Kota called for taking Vader prisoner to interrogate and formally execute him, reasoning to Starkiller that Vader was the only one who knew for sure whether or not he was truly a clone. Unknown to Starkiller, he had both Boba Fett and the Dark Apprentice—a fellow surviving clone of Galen Marek—preparing to intervene if Starkiller attempted to kill Vader. Ultimately, Starkiller chose to spare Darth Vader, thus heeding Kota's advice rather than succumbing to Vader's insistence that the clone fulfill his destiny.

Vader captured
With Darth Vader overcome, Starkiller rushed to Juno, whom PROXY was attempting to revive. Unsuccessful, PROXY apologized for his failure, though Starkiller was quick to forgive him, stating that the fault was his own, for seeking out Juno in the first place. Holding her body in his arms, Starkiller began grieving when Juno inexplicably awoke. Unknown to Starkiller, Boba Fett had been preparing to kill him with a sniper rifle, but relented out of sympathy when Juno awoke.

With the battle won and Vader captured, the Rebel attention was turned to cleanup the Timira City facilities. Vader would be transported on board the Rogue Shadow to keep his whereabouts secret, with Starkiller supervising his transport. Kota saw to Vader's "accommodations" aboard the Shadow, telling Starkiller that he hadn't said a word during this process. Starkiller was skeptical that Vader would give in to interrogation, believing that the Sith Lord's own experiences had already pushed him past his breaking point. Starkiller then saw PROXY enter the ship, with scavenged parts from the numerous Sith Training Droids Starkiller had destroyed clutched in his arms. Starkiller followed him into the crew quarters, where PROXY was experimentally swapping out components from the scavenged droids with his own, revealing that he was attempting to find himself a new primary programming to replace his long since erased original. Starkiller advised PROXY to instead figure out a common factor between all the various individuals he had encountered; a set of principles.

Starkiller then went into the onboard meditation chamber, where Vader was detained. While he attempted to project a bold front, Starkiller was inwardly confused and uncertain. He declared to Vader that by letting him live, he had broken the Sith Lord's hold over him. As Starkiller turned to leave, Vader countered that as long as Juno lived, he would always control Starkiller. Starkiller refused to give Vader the satisfaction of an answer, and left the room.

Taking his place in the copilot seat in the Rogue Shadow cockpit, Starkiller left the piloting duties to Juno. The Shadow met up with a formation of Rebel cruisers above Kamino, all arrayed in different directions to throw off pursuit, and was the last to leave. However, they were being tracked by Slave I, which had been hiding in the wreckage from the battle.

Aftermath
Darth Vader's tenure in Rebel Alliance captivity wouldn't last long, as he would be free and active again by 0 BBY. Starkiller's re-emergence would likely prove to be a boon to the Alliance, though both Kota and Juno encouraged him to keep a low profile, wanting to keep it under wraps for the time being, unsure about what the Alliance leadership would think of him.

If you chose to kill Vader (The Force Unleashed)
Should the player choose to attack Darth Vader instead of Sidious at the end of The Force Unleashed, then the player will begin a second boss fight that results in the death of Darth Vader. When Starkiller rejoins the Emperor, he is told that in order to achieve his rank as Sith Lord, he must sever his ties to the Jedi and kill Rahm Kota. Starkiller ignites his lightsaber, but instead attacks Sidious, who intercepts the attack. Stating that he knew that Starkiller would betray him as well as Vader and the rebels, the Emperor attacked Starkiller with Sith Lightning just as The Rogue Shadow appeared to extract the rebels. Using The Force, the Emperor hurled the ship at Starkiller, killing the rebels in the ensuing explosion. Starkiller regained consciousness in a laboratory similar to the EmPal Surgical Center on Coruscant where Vader had been reconstructed. Like Vader, he had been encased in a cybernetic life-support suit. However, this suit was far less aesthetically designed, instead clearly showing where the metal had been grafted to Starkiller's flesh. The Emperor mocked Starkiller, telling him that he would do the Emperor's bidding until he found a suitable apprentice. Then, he would cast Starkiller aside as he had done to Vader. He then left Starkiller to the painful process of being rebuilt.

The Force Unleashed: Ultimate Sith Edition
This DLC for the game follows a story arc based on the Dark Side ending in which Starkiller kills Darth Vader. This pack includes alternate versions of A New Hope and The Empire Strikes Back in which Starkiller has become Sidious' new apprentice and fights famous characters like Ben Kenobi, Luke Skywalker, and Boba Fett.

Alternate Choice (The Force Unleashed II)

 * Darth Vader: "You have faced your final test."
 * Dark Apprentice: "What is thy bidding, my Master?"
 * Darth Vader: "Take his starfighter. Scour the far reaches of the galaxy. Find the last of the Rebels and destroy them."
 * Dark Apprentice: "As you wish."
 * ―Darth Vader and the Dark Apprentice

Ignoring Kota's pleas to take Darth Vader alive as a prisoner for the Rebellion, Starkiller gave into his anger and hatred. As he moved to strike down his former Master, a red-bladed lightsaber emerged from the center of his torso. Shocked and overcome by agonizing pain, Starkiller dropped his lightsabers and fell to the ground in front of Vader. With Starkiller down and mortally wounded, his attacker de-cloaked, thus revealing that he had been secretly watching the duel the entire time. Rahm Kota activated his lightsaber and tried to kill Vader's savior, but his attempts were in vain. The dark assassin skillfully blocked all of Kota's attacks and slashed the general across the chest with one swift strike. While the Terror Troopers dispatched several Rebel soldiers and PROXY, the assassin grabbed Kota with the Force and threw him into the remaining Rebels. With a powerful Force push, he sent Kota and his men into the vast ocean of Kamino.

As Starkiller struggled to move despite his fatal wound, Darth Vader slowly walked over to the dying clone and revealed that he had lied about failing to perfect the accelerated cloning process. At that moment, the mysterious assassin made his way over to Vader's side and lowered his hood to reveal his identity. As Starkiller looked at the face of the man who killed him, he saw that it was his face, only pale and visibly corrupted by the dark side. The assassin revealed himself to be a fellow clone of Darth Vader's fallen apprentice, the only perfect clone amongst many failures, including Starkiller. After gazing at the fallen form of Juno Eclipse for the last time, the imperfect clone despaired and died.

As the dark clone awaited his new orders, Vader commended him for completing his final test and then commanded him to take the Rogue Shadow in order to search the galaxy for the last of the Rebel leaders—and to kill them. As the Dark Apprentice turned to leave, he took a moment to stare at the dead body of the woman who loved his genetic template. Having rid himself of the original Starkiller's emotions, the dark clone walked past Juno's body. With a small TIE fighter escort, the Rogue Shadow moved through the debris left behind in the space battle above Kamino and entered hyperspace.

Trivia

 * Despite spending the majority of his life under the tutelage of Darth Vader, Starkiller never became a true Sith Lord. Rather, he is considered to be a Dark Jedi, one of numerous Dark Side acolytes trained by the Empire.


 * Starkiller was cloned by Darth Vader following his demise on the Death Star. The clone is the main protagonist for Star Wars: The Force Unleashed II. However, this character is not considered a "villian" due to his alleigance to Juno Eclipse and, later, the Rebel Alliance.


 * Starkiller's story has yet to be completed. The ending to The Force Unleashed II left much unanswered, and a third game is widely desired to tie up the loose ends of Starkiller's life. However, not much has been said on the game's development and release.


 * Actor Sam Witwer provided both the voice and motion capture of Starkiller. The character is based on his likeness.


 * Witwer, a loyal Star Wars fan, also voiced Emperor Palpatine in the game. Later, he would lend his voice talents to The Son and Darth Maul in The Clone Wars TV series on Cartoon Network.


 * Starkiller was meant to appear in a live action TV series called Star Wars: Underground. The show was meant to take place between Revenge of the Sith and A New Hope, and would focus on pivotal characters such as Boba Fett and Han Solo. The show, however, was bookshelved indefinitely.
 * Galen's alias of Starkiller originated from the Star Wars' working title The Adventures of the Starkiller.

Videos
Gameplay of Star Wars: The Force Unleashed