| abstract | - Starkiller, born as Galen Marek, was a Human male who was unusually strong in the Force. Kidnapped as a child by Darth Vader, Marek became his secret apprentice as well as his assassin, dealing with Vader's enemies and being trained by the Dark Lord in both lightsaber combat and Force powers. After a series of events that culminated in Darth Vader's death aboard the first Death Star, Marek replaced the cyborg as the apprentice of the Emperor. For the first few months of his apprenticeship under Sidious, Starkiller spent most of his time retraining, becoming accustomed to his new cybernetics and securing his place within the Imperial hierarchy. After a failed attempt on his life, lef by Grand Moff Trachta, Starkiller conducted a purge of the Empire's Grand Moffs and Moffs, as well as of the Grand Admirals, killing hundreds of the Empire's most senior men across the galaxy. He then turned his attention to combating the Alliance to Republic, which ironically he himself had helped to create. At around this time, Starkiller also attempted to create a clone of his former master to serve as his Sith apprentice. Although all initial attempts ended in failure, Starkiller eventually succeeded in creating a perfect clone of Vader with all of the Force potential that the late Dark Lord had possessed before his crippling. Starkiller secretly took this clone, which he code named "Vader's Shadow", as his apprentice, hiding its existence from Darth Sidious. Two years after the death of Darth Vader, the Alliance succeeded in destroying the Death Star, though neither Starkiller nor the Emperor was aboard. After this Starkiller redoubled his efforts to destroy the Alliance. He also removed many of the Empire's more powerful and skillful Dark Side Adepts, ensuring that none of them would challenge him in future for his position as Sidious' apprentice. Secretly dealing with the Zann Consortium Starkiller purchased for the Imperial Navy several of the Consortium's ships, as well as its support for the Imperial cause. Three years after the Death Star's destruction Starkiller led the Imperial attack on the Alliance's base on Hoth. The battle was a resounding victory for the Empire, and in the process of the engagement he succeeded in turning Luke Skywalker, the son of Darth Vader, to the Dark Side of the Force and took him as his Sith apprentice. Over the following year Starkiller trained Skywalker in the ways of the Sith, with the full knowledge of Darth Sidious, and eventually allowed him to test himself against the forces of the Alliance at the Battle of Belderone. Although the Empire was defeated Skywalker succeeded in proving himself in both Starkiller's and the Emperor's eyes, and was tasked with protecting the shield generator defending the Death Star II. During the battle, the Emperor revealed his knowledge of Starkiller's other apprentice and, blasting Starkiller with Force lightning, initiated a battle between the two. The duel ended when Vader's Shadow interceded, killing both Sidious and Starkiller.
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