Darth Thanaton

Darth Thanaton is a Dark Lord of the Sith active during the Great Galactic War and a villain from Star Wars: The Old Republic.

Past
Darth Thanaton was born under the name, Teneb Kel, and became a slave. He was found by the Sith Lord Calypho, who decided to train him as his apprentice. Kel was brought to the Korriban Sith Academy, where he eagerly read any book he could and worked hard to master his ability to use the Force. But before Kel’s training was completed, Calypho was captured by other Sith Lords for committing crimes against the Sith Empire. Despite this, Kel rose to prominence in the Sith order and took part in the invasion of Bergeren, a former Sith planet that had been turned into a mining station by the Republic. During the invasion, Kel provided air support for the Sith Troopers and climbed into the Sith palace. Inside he confronted the Republic governor of Bergeren, killing his guards and impaling him when he tried to flee. Having retaken the palace, Kel reported his success back to his command then went to check on his slave, Maggot, who’d help him keep in contact with their main forces. Kel found the Abyssian unconscious and surrounded by dead Republic soldiers, waking him up and congratulating him for being a good soldier. As they left, Kel was approached by a Sith major who thanked them on behalf of himself and the Dark Council. However he then put the two under arrest for the crime’s of Calypho with Kel reluctantly surrendering, before he was brought to the Sith Empire’s capital, Dromund Kaas, for trial. As he headed to the Kaas Citadel, meeting place of the Dark Council, Kel saw the people celebrate the Sith Empire’s victories, particularly Lord Nankrang for defeating the Jedi in the Mid Rim. He entered the Citadel, despite Maggot warning him not to, and found Calypho, weakened and defenseless. The Dark Council asked Kel if he cared about his master and he said that Calypho was like a father to him. The Council ordered Kel to slay his master for his crimes against the Sith Empire and he did as they asked. He engaged Calypho in a brief fight, successfully incapacitating his master, but the Council stopped Kel from killing him, carrying off the almost dead Calypho. After this, Kel no longer considered Calypho his master and the Council saw potential in him, choosing him to perform a special mission.

Mission for the Dark Council
Kel was ordered to find and kill the Sith Emperor’s traitorous apprentice, Exal Kressh, so as to redeem his master’s crimes. He was brought before the Emperor by Darth Marr and told to find Kressh in the Lenico system. The Empeor then placed Kel in a deep sleep, where he saw visions of his past and future, including that the Dark Council was sending him to die. After being awakened by Maggot the next day, Kel headed to the Lenico system searching for Kressh, first arriving at Lencio Colony Blue, where he went to see Ybann the Hutt. Kel learned from the Hutt that Kressh had come to the colony weeks ago and continued searching. He finally found the traitorous apprentice in stasis in Lenico Colony Blue and when she awoke, they fought each other. But Kel was easily defeated and forced to retreat, prompting Kressh to destroy the colony’s orbiting system, causing it to crash into Lenico IV. Kel was able to escape and rescued by Maggot, who had to land on the planet due to damages to the ship. Despite being badly injured, Kel left the ship to salvage parts from the crashed colony so as to repair his ship. He was attacked by a vicious creature and managed to defeat it, but started to feel weak due to his wounds. Kel made camp so as rest and meditated, having a vision of Kressh with a masked Sith, Darth Thanaton, who acted as his guide. They led Kel through a colony as Kressh told him about her past with the Sith Emperor, as well as hinting at the Emperor’s plans. Kressh disappeared and Thanaton attacked and destroyed Kel. When he awoke from his vision, he was faced by Jedi Master Jerbhen Hulis and the two fought for a short time. Hulis revealed to Kel that he was also after Kreesh and got the Sith to help him rescue the survivors from Lencio Colony Blue. After doing so, Kel headed back to his ship, where he found Hulis’ Padawan talking with Maggot and killed him. The Sith then headed for Korriban, having figured out that Kressh was heading there. Kel arrived to find the planet being attack by the Republic and managed to get through the fight, heading into the Sith Academy. Inside Kel found Kressh, in the Sith Tomb who was trying to destroy the Academy and revealed that the Emperor was planning to make a number of initiates into extensions of his will. The two fought again and Kressh again took the advantage, but Maggot showed up. He shot the traitor apprentice, who blasted him with Force lightning, then turned it on Kel, destroying his lightsaber. Kressh then began telekinetically choking him, but before she could finish him, Kel telekinetically grabbed a dead Sith’s lightsaber, using it to impale Kressh. Afterwards, he found that Maggot had survived, but when he found out the slave had heard Kressh talking about the Emperor’s plans, he killed Maggot. Kel then went back to the Dark Council, demanding to be named Dark Lord of the Sith. In exchange he offered to tell them about the Emperor’s plan, which no doubt the members of the Dark Council were meant for. Kel demanded that he be named Darth Thanaton, showing he was the Sith he’d seen in his vision, and the Dark Council did as he asked.

Defeat
Thanaton had become a Sith Lord, but only used his skills for himself, having contempt for lower-ranking Sith. After his minion, Darth Skotia was murdered, he accused LordZash, not realizing that it was Zash’s apprentice. Zash denied any responsibility, since she’d been at a party at the time. After she became a Sith Lord, Thanaton kept her on Dromund Kaas. When Zash’s apprentice, a descendant of Aloysius Kallig, began seeking out artifacts that had belonged to Tulak Hord, Thanaton contacted him and warned him not to be dragged down with his master. After Zash was killed by her apprentice, Thanaton asked Kallig to come to the tomb of Darth Andru to talk. The Sith Lord sent him to collect some of Andru’s writings, expecting him to meet his end at the hands of the Sith Lord’s ghost. However Aloysius Kallig intervened and showed his descendant how to use the Force Walk, letting him bind the ghost and take their power. Kallig returned to kill Thanaton in revenge, but the Sith Lord was able to overpower him and left him to die. However Kallig survived, thanks to the ghosts bound to him, and when Thanaton found out, he started destroying Kallig’s power base, including Zash’s other apprentices. Finally, after being bonded to four ghosts, Kallig confronted Thanaton, but the four spirits’ power proved too much for him. He retreated and went to find a cure on Belsavis and Voss, giving Thanaton the opportunity to take a place on Dark Council by taking down his superior. The Sith Lord watched the fight between Darth Baras and his former apprentice, which revealed Baras as the fake Voice of the Emperor. Thanaton then began working on how to deal with Kallig, who’d gained allies in the Sith Empire’s military after testing the new Silencer superweapon and wiped out an entire Republic fleet. Kallig had amassed a power base able to rival Thanaton, who challenged him to a Kaggath, an ancient all out battle ritual between Sith and their forces. As the Kaggath began on Corellia, the Sith Lord unleashed everything he had on Kallig’s forces, finally leading to a fight in the government plaza. Thanaton planned to slay his enemy in front of the entire Sith Empire, but Kallig managed to take down all of his minions before fighting the Sith Lord himself. Thanaton found himself losing and fled to Korriban to ask the Dark Council to help him slay Kallig. Despite his leaving Darth Enraj outside the Council’s meeting chamber to stop Kallig, his enemy interrupted Thanaton’s audience with the council. However the Dark Council refused to help the Sith Lord fight a mere lord that seemed beyond Thanaton’s ability to slay. Realizing that his position was threatened, the Sith Lord unleashed his full power to bring down Kallig. But with the power of the dark side and the spirits of dead Sith Lords, Kallig defeated Thanaton, leaving him to die. He crawled towards the Dark Council, only to have his neck snapped by Darth Mortis, since he had lost the Kaggath.

Personality
When he was just Teneb Kel, Thanaton was loyal to the Sith Empire and proud to be a Sith. He knew much of Sith history and politics and despised the wealthy and greedy, especially if they tried to profit from the Empire. Despite being a Sith, Kel was close to Maggot, even apologizing when he decided he had to kill his loyal slave. As Darth Thanaton, he is determined to keep lower ranked Sith in their place and greatly favored traditions. Those that didn’t follow those traditions are only worthy of death in his opinion. Thanaton uses tradition as a means of maintaining his power and fears anyone who may become strong enough to oppose him. He relies primarily on his minions to do things for him and only gets directly involved if he absolutely has to.

Abilities
Thanaton is proficient in wielding a lightsaber, wielding a double-bladed one before he became a Sith Lord. He uses his cunning rather than aggression in his fighting style and can throw his lightsaber a great distance. Thanaton has great skill in the Force, able to use his telekinesis in a number of ways, and his other Force abilities to empower his jumps, see intense Force visions, unleash powerful Force lighting, form a lightning shield around himself, and levitate and move through the air.

Trivia

 * Thanaton’s name most likely come from Thanatos, the Greek god of death.