If you’re big into the Star Wars franchise then you’ll know at least something about Galen Marek, aka Starkiller. He was initially the son of a Jedi on the run from the Empire, who had holed up on the Wookie homeworld of Kashyyyk. Darth Vader is still hunting down Jedi at this point and kills Galen’s father shortly before discovering that Galen has an exceptionally strong connection to the Force. Vader then takes Galen as his apprentice and trains him in the ways of the Dark side, sending him out do his bidding and supposedly grooming him to become another Sith lord.
However, he betrays his apprentice when Galen is instructed to bring all the heads of the Rebel Alliance together for a meeting. Darth Vader then attempts to kill everyone, but Marek rescued his new allies at the cost of his own life. He would return as a clone in the The Force Unleashed II, but would be plagued by the realization that he was not the real Galen Marek.
Now that you know this, here are a few other things you didn’t know.
5. He was featured as a character in Soulcalibur IV.
The popular fighting game from NAMCO isn’t a stranger to hosting characters from other universes and timelines. Starkiller was sent by Darth Vader to retrieve either Soulcalibur or Soul Edge, as his master had detected their power through the Force. When he decides to destroy them rather than retrieve them however this sparks a fight between Starkiller and Vader.
4. His family crest was used by the Rebel Alliance.
In honor of his sacrifice and service to a greater cause the Rebel Alliance adopted his family’s crest and kept his name alive as Galen Marek rather than Starkiller. He was almost the instrument of their downfall but became the only reason they survived.
3. He wasn’t so much trained as tortured.
Look at who his master was. Darth Vader was never known as a patient or overly kind mentor, and put Galen through innumerable tortures that forced him to react or die. There was almost no attempt made at actually training the boy as Vader wanted him strong and filled with the type of hatred that would fuel the darker nature of his apprentice. He wanted to create a monster in other words.
2. There were hundreds of clones in The Force Unleashed II.
In the game you get to see a very large number of Galen clones that will attack throughout the final battle with Vader, but in truth the dark lord of the Sith created hundreds of clones in an attempt to finally create a worthy successor to Galen Marek. Only the rogue clone that escaped and the perfect dark clone that would challenge him later on were considered to be successes.
1. He was ordered to kill Imperial citizens as well as Rebel traitors.
Vader wanted no witnesses when he sent his apprentice to assassinate his selected targets. That mean that anyone in Starkiller’s path had to die, which made him very uneasy. He had been raised to be an Imperialist and had no desire to cut down those that were loyal to the Empire.
It’s kind of exciting to think that Starkiller might eventually join the Star Wars universe as canon finally, but it’s also easy to believe that he won’t last long, or he’ll fade into obscurity out of necessity again.
Follow Us
