Kento Marek

"His father, Kento, was a Jedi Knight who lived for ten years among the Wookiees."

- Bail Prestor Organa

Kento Marek was a Jedi Knight of the Jedi Order during the Clone Wars and later the Great Jedi Purge.

Early life
Like many Jedi Knights of the time, Kento Marek was discovered young by the Jedi Order, and taken to the Temple for training. It was evident from very early on that Kento was gifted, however a number of personality problems regarding maturity were also evident. When the Clone Wars began, Marek hurried to the front so as to take part in the action, fighting alongside Clone troopers. During the war, Marek met a young woman on Talus, named Mallie, and he began to see the galaxy in a different way, as a result. The couple secretly married.

Self-exile in Kashyyyk
He and his wife Mallie were married for ten years, during which they had a son named Galen. When Order 66 was enacted, the two lovers disguised themselves as medics, escaped to Kashyyyk and befriended the Wookiees there. Mallie was killed shortly afterwards, while protecting the Wookiees from the surviving Separatist-hired Trandoshan slavers and mercenaries.

During the Great Jedi Purge, Kento's mentor was slain by Darth Vader.

Vader's invasion
Years later, when Kento was discovered on Kashyyyk, Darth Vader launched a full-scale invasion on the planet. Kento organized the Wookiees and led them against the Galactic Empire.

As Vader disposed with many Wookiees that stood in his way and arrived outside the Marek hut, Kento, disguised as a hermit, approached him and said that he wouldn't find whatever he was looking for. However, Vader saw through Kento's disguise and the Jedi used his Force powers to knock off the Stormtroopers accompanying the Dark Lord of the Sith. Kento used all of his lightsaber skill and Force potential against his opponent, until Vader got the upper hand and smashed Kento through the doorway of his own hut. While using the Force to choke Kento, Vader sensed the presence of a much more powerful Force-user nearby. Vader assumed that it was Kento's master and demanded his whereabouts. Kento responded by saying, "The dark side has clouded your mind. You killed my master years ago." Vader replied that Kento would now share his Master's fate. But before Vader could strike, his lightsaber shot from his hand and into the arms of Kento's young son, Galen. Kento yelled at his son to run, but Vader casually crushed Kento's throat and stood staring down at the young child, Vader's ignited lightsaber still clutched in his hands.

Three Imperial Stormtroopers and their officer arrived at the hut. They saw Galen with Vader's ignited lightsaber and the officer motioned for the troopers to fire at the boy, thinking that he was attempting to kill the Sith Lord. Vader grabbed his saber from Galen and deflected the blasts, striking them down as Galen watched in horror. He then turned to Galen and told him to come with him, for more troops would be arriving at any moment. The child took one last look at the body of his father and followed Vader to his shuttle. Thus, Galen became Vader's secret apprentice and was given the code name Starkiller.

After death
Over a decade later, Galen was sent on a mission to kill Jedi General Rahm Kota, they dueled in the bridge of a TIE Fighter Construction Facility over Nar Shaddaa and engaged in a vicious saber lock. Galen pushed their lightsabers closer and closer to Kota's and just before he was about to strike him down, Kota changed into a vision of someone who had many of Galen's features. This incident disturbed Galen and he wanted nothing to do with it.

Later, Galen met the same vision on Kashyyyk after his false "betrayal" of Darth Vader, to rally his enemies and form the Alliance to Restore the Republic. It was in this hut, his home, that he went inside after sensing something that troubled him. Galen looked around, and there, he saw the ghost of his dead father: Kento. The ghost told him that being Vader's apprentice was not what he wanted for Galen and apologizes greatly for his failure to prevent that. Then, he disappeared, leaving Galen to reach out for was now nothing but thin air

Personality and traits
As a young man, and a young Jedi Knight, Kento Marek displayed a lack of maturity, treating missions and tasks as merely an opportunity for adventure, and an opportunity to prove himself with heroic actions. Rushing to the front line of the war, when the Clone Wars began, without heed for patience, Kento saw the Clone Wars as an opportunity to perform heroic actions and great deeds, relishing the opportunity, unlike other Jedi, who saw the war as a terrible thing, and were shocked and appalled by the crime and killings it gave rise to.



However, when Kento met his future wife, Mallie, a freedom fighter upon the world of Talus, he began to gain in maturity and realize the horrors the war around him was bringing. In disagreement with the policy of the Jedi regarding love and marriage, Kento married Mallie in secret, until she fell pregnant and the couple decided to leave the horrors of the war behind them, fleeing to Kashyyyk before Order 66 was initiated. Older now, Marek was discovered by Vader on the planet, after Mallie's death, and when asked to surrender Kento obstinately refused. When Vader discovered his son, Marek ordered him to flee in an act of defiance against Vader, however was unsuccessful.

Behind the scenes
During the planning stages of The Force Unleashed, the creators of the game gave the name "Jacob Nion" to the character that would become Starkiller. As the planning continued, the creators opted for the name of "Galen Marek" instead. Despite this change, Kento's name in The Force Unleashed video game still appears as "Kento Nion" when viewed in the Databank on the Rogue Shadow.

Apparently, his clothes were left untouched when he died; his costume can be found in the damaged hut by Galen Marek in The Force Unleashed video game.

In the Wii/PSP/PS2 versions of the game, the scene where Starkiller faces a vision of his father is not on Kashyyyk; instead, it is at the end of Starkiller's third mission to the Jedi Temple on Coruscant, after a lightsaber duel.

The face and voice of Kento Marek is played by Tom Kane, who also plays Ozzik Sturn, and Lobot in the video game Star Wars: The Force Unleashed video game.

Appearances

 * Star Wars: The Force Unleashed video game
 * Star Wars: The Force Unleashed comic
 * The Force Unleashed novel

Notes and references
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