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Star Wars: The Dark Side of the Mirror
Or “What if the Jedi and Sith roles swapped?”
A Star Wars: “What if” fan-fic by J.W. Appel
Disclaimer: I own nothing. All familiar things from both “canon” and “Legends” belong to Disney and Lucasfilm. If I did, this would be an animated special in the style of Clone Wars and Rebels. Please picture it as such. I would also use that style for a Darth Vader animated series that adapts enemies from all his comic runs and depicts him as an anti-hero.
Prologue:
I am the Bendu. A long time ago in a galaxy far, far, away, the Jedi and Sith wielded the Ashla and the Bogun, the light and dark sides of the Force. I was somewhere in the middle and I still am. It is this unique vantage point that has allowed me to see how complex and intertwined Ashla and Bogun truly are.
Equally complex are those that follow each path. Are their journeys defined by their own wills or that of the force? Was Yoda always meant to be the Jedi Grandmaster? Was Anikin Skywalker destined to become the fearsome armored Sith Lord, Darth Vader? What of Ahsoka Tano, his gifted padawan who was a valiant hero of the Clone Wars before choosing her own path? What of his noble wife, Padme Amidala, who fought for peace both off and on the battlefield? What of bounty hunters like Bobba and Jango Fett? What of brave rebels against the Empire like Hera Syndulla, Garazeb Orrelios, and Sabine Wren of Mandalore? What of Darth Maul? What of Ezra Bridger and my old friend, Kanan Jarrus? What of Obi-wan Kenobi? What of Luke Skywalker and Darth Sideous ? Were these and countless other destinies truly set in stone? The answer may surprise you.
Since my ascension, I have learned to stand in the middle of time and space as well. I can now what lies between the past, present, and future. I can glimpse the paths that may yet be taken or never were. I have seen the dark Side of the mirror and now, so will you as we discover… what if the Jedi and Sith roles swapped?
Episode 1: The Phantom Savior Part 1
Exergol ,32 bby,
An alternate Galaxy far, far away…
“Peace is a lie, there is only passion. Through passion, I gain strength. Through strength, I gain power. Through power, I gain victory. Through victory, my chains are broken. The Force shall free me.”
Reciting the Sith code was meant to help young acolytes during meditation, to better aid in focusing on the dark emotions meant to reinvigorate them. Starkiller had done it ten times already and found it wasn’t helping. Neither was meditation for that matter since every time he closed his eyes, he saw the red-skinned Zabrak with the double bladed blue lightsaber . They were fighting pirates today and a blaster shot from behind had singed their strange brown robes Starkiller knew this man would win because he always did and then he would free any prisoners or slaves he could find before disturbing the pirates’ stolen treasure to the poor.
He had not always dreamed this way. Until last month, he had dreamed of demons that lurked within the Force and the torture he’d endured during his early years at the temple. He’d dreamed of the armies he slaughtered like animals and the devastating Force Storms he’d been able to conjure since he was three, the kind that could blacken the very stars into nothingness. That was how he got his name after all and why he was the first acolyte in history to earn a Sith name before even achieving the rank of Marauder.

Such dreams were how acolytes prospered and grew in the dark side. The fear and anger they produced stayed with them during their waking hours and gave them something to draw power from during training. The more sadistic masters even provided these dreams to their students personally through the use of Sith Alchemy, worsening them with each passing night.
Starkiller had never needed such things to make full use of his nightmares. He himself had always conjured up exactly what he needed to grow strong. It had been that way for all of his nine year old life. But now he dreamed of the Zabrak who aided the weaker beings in the galaxy and he could feel his connection to the dark side slowly starting to suffer for it. The important thing was making sure that his master, Darth Jinn, didn’t realize this. The old Sith was always looking for a way to convince the rest of the Dark Council to do away with him. He was the only one who refused to believe that the boy prodigy could be the prophesized Sith’ari, destined to one day lead the Sith before destroying and remaking them stronger than ever. The events of the past month would surely please him if they ever got out.
With a frustrated sigh, Starkiller exited his meditation sphere and left his room to explore the greater Sith temple. He had no real need to at the moment but he liked to let his supposed peers see him roam the halls every now and again. Sensing their fear as well as the rage and envy his power invoked had always been what truly invigorated him.
He passed by the alchemy chamber and caught a glimpse of other acolytes making the synthetic red kyber crystals that powered their lightsabers. Those same lightsabers could heard clashing in the nearby training hall, alongside the familiar incantations of Sith Magic. His personal favorite spell, Mechu-deru, could warp and twist machines to his will. Since his new dreams began, he’d been unable to learn the advanced form called Mechu-deru vitae, which turned organic beings into technobeasts. It was the first time he’d struggled at anything since his Sith training began. Wasn’t the Sith’ari supposed to be free of limits?
Thinking of this turned Starkiller’s melancholy into anger. Stepping into the training hall, he drew his lightsaber and began searching for a victim. His yellow Sith eyes glowed brighter than those of the other acolytes and his facial tattoos, crimson instead of black like Sith robes, never failed to intimidate. But the fear and envy of his fellow students felt much weaker than usual and didn’t fuel his power the way it usually did Even his own anger felt much weaker than he was used to.
“I’m in the mood to test my skills. Which of you will face me like a true Sith?” It was important to keep his usual arrogant bravado in his voice, to act as if nothing was amiss. A long moment passed and no one stepped forward. This was good, yet he still felt a need to prove himself somehow. Perhaps he could challenge the instructor? It would hardly be the first one he’d almost killed.
“I accept your challenge, Starkiller.” Stepping forward was Acolyte Olin. The two had been something akin to friends in the early days, but Starkiller’s constantly growing power quickly made them into typical Sith rivals. His only real strength was the resilience which allowed him to survive far longer than anyone else who dared challenge Starkiller. This had earned him a begrudging respect from the latter, but now it was time to end the streak permanently.
The two stepped into the dueling ring and the instructor gave the signal to begin. Starkiller charged forward without hesitation, eager to end things swiftly and brutally. A quick kill was just the thing he needed to remind everyone who he was. More than that, it would remind him of who he was. But what should have been a killing strike suddenly transformed into a weak attack that Olin easily blocked. Starkiller could actually feel his power leave him during that crucial moment. He could also feel the shock of the surrounding crowd and even his rival at what occurred . The young Sith’ari quickly focused on turning his own shock into anger before attacking again.
For the next few minutes, the duel seemed more or less even. Starkiller’s attacks seemed to only possess half their usual savagery and allowed Olin to parry a good portion of them. The latter even managed to withstand those that connected and draw on the pain they caused to strengthen himself. Soon, his shock at this turn of events transformed into smug confidence.
“What’s wrong with you today, ‘Sith’ari’’? You used to duel Marauders and cripple them in minutes. Have you not been getting enough sleep?”
This taunt struck a chord in Starkiller’s mind: could it be? Treachery and rivalry were the ways of the Sith and always would be. Student and master alike would do anything for more power and that included turning on each other. Starkiller’s immense strength in the dark side had kept most too afraid to attempt such things with him. Even Olin had kept his distance for some time until now. But Darth Jinn was another matter. It was no secret that his master despised his revered status and envied his power the most out of anyone. Only rigid obedience to the will of the Dark Council made the old man take him on as an acolyte after Xanatos died. What if he’d finally reached his limit? What if he’d been teaching Olin how to conjure dreams and Hoth knows what else for this very moment?
A fire suddenly lit within the supposed Sith’ari and the dark side surged within him. Dodging a swing from his foe, he unleashed a barrage of Sith Lightning from his free hand with a roar of rage. Olin unleashed his own lightning at the last moment and the two became deadlocked. This only lasted a few moments before Starkiller’s strength suddenly left him once more and he was blown back into a statue of Darth Hoth.

Darkness of a different kind began to come over the nine year old prodigy as he struck the giant statue hard and crumpled to the temple floor. Most would have been dead already, but he forced himself to stay conscious by drawing on his hatred for his rival and himself for this sudden weakness. What was happening to him? The question stayed in his mind even as he rose to his feet and pulled his fallen lightsaber back to his hand with the Force. It had just about reached him when he noticed Olin using the Force the hurl another statue at him from the corner of his eye.
Allowing his weapon to drop to the floor, Starkiller turned to glare at the oncoming projectile and unleash the powerful Deadly Sight technique. The statue burst apart and showered the nine year old acolyte with debris. He cursed at this and was about to finish retrieving his saber when Olin suddenly pulled it into his own hand, rushing at him with Force Speed not a moment later. A now unarmed Starkiller was caught completely off guard as he was slashed hard across the chest and brought to his knees.
Olin grinned sadistically as he held both lightsabers to his longtime rival’s throat. His yellow Sith eyes glowed bright with menace. “I guess this means you’re no Sith’ari. Darth Jinn will probably make me his new acolyte just for proving it, but I think I’ll kill you just to be sure.”
Starkiller could not bring himself to say or do anything as fear, a dark emotion he was unaccustomed to, coursed through him in the moment. He could not even try to draw power from it because it felt as if the dark side had completely abandoned him. The yellow tint that accompanied his vision due to having Sith eyes was already starting to fade.

It was then that Olin was suddenly lifted high into the air, becoming Force Choked. His neck was snapped a moment later and he was tossed aside. A confused Starkiller slowly began moving towards one of the dropped lightsabers when he noticed someone else in Sith robes towering over him. He looked up into the burning yellow eyes of his brother acolyte, Kenobi. The latter looked at him with an unreadable expression before blasting him with Sith Lightning,
…
An army of battle droids charged an army of identical men on the orders of Darth Jinn. A young female Sith of the Togruta species, clad in a revealing dark outfit, ran into battle with two crimson lightsabers in hand. Starkiller suddenly found himself on his back in the snow with the Zabrak looking down at him. A strange looking necklace was in his hand.
“You are not yet ready, Anakin, but you will be.” Starkiller didn’t know that name, but he hated it. The Zabrak was gone before he could say so. In his place was a tall, helmeted figure in blue and white armor with a long flowing cape. A lightsaber was on his belt and he let out a mechanical cough before activating it’s bright purple blade.
The light blinded Starkiller and when he could see again, he was floating in a bacta tank. He’d sent countless rivals into these over the course of his young life but being on the inside was a new experience, one that made him angry. This anger made his eyes glow bright and immense power surge through his being. The dark side was once again fully at his disposal. This was good, but why had it deserted him before? More importantly, what had he seen mere moments ago? Those dreams had been his strangest yet.

It was then that he noticed Kenobi looking into the tank. The elder acolyte had a sneer on his face and was flanked by two temple guards. Starkiller matched the expression as best he could, remembering how his ‘brother’ had put him here after killing Olin. He came very close to using Deadly Sight again just as the medical droids lifted him out of the tank.
“You’ve weakened,” Kenobi growled bluntly as he handed over Starkiller’s robes, “and considerably so over the past month. I’ve pretended not to see it for the sake of our goals and my own faith, but now you test my patience! How dare you lose to Olin of all people!? you know what will happen if the Dark Council hears of this!?” Starkiller rolled his eyes at the mention of ‘goals.’ Kenobi had always been the most devout believer in his role as Sith’ari, but only because he also believed it could serve his own ends. It was no secret that the older acolyte wanted to use his power to overthrow the Dark Council and take control of both the order and the Galactic Empire. The Sith had served as the Empire’s enforcers for over a thousand generations. To Kenobi, this was a betrayal of their code and the very nature of the dark side. It mattered little to him that many Marauders and Darths were given their own sectors to rule alongside the Moffs and that the very best graduates from the Imperial military academies were sent directly to the Sith gloom walker corps. “Olin got lucky, that’s all. I suspect he used some new kind of Sith ritual or maybe a talisman from the archives. Besides, how do you know I actually lost? I had him right where I wanted until you butted in!” Kenobi scoffed. “You truly are a child, you know that? Could it be possible that Lord Jinn is right and I’m wasting my time on you? Even Xanatos knew better than to delude himself after a loss. There are times when I actually miss him, you know.” A now fully clothed Starkiller spun around to face the older acolyte. Sith lightning crackled at his fingertips as his newly restored power seemed to whisper to him, begging to be unleashed on someone. “You’re comparing me to that traitor? Do you remember what I did to him on Bandomeer?” Kenobi tried not to let fear show on his face as he stood his ground. Starkiller saw straight through this however and drew power from it, his eyes glowing brighter as his strength in the dark side surged. Then a voice commanded him to stop and he hesitated. Was that the Zabrak he was hearing? “Stop!” The voice sounded again, loud, angry, and unmistakable. Darth Jinn was suddenly stood between his two acolytes in a burst of Force Speed, eyes blazing as he held two lightsabers at their throats. It took Starkiller a moment to realize that one of them was his own. “I normally wouldn’t care if you two dolts destroyed each other and freed me from the bondage of mentorship, but Moff Palpatine has requested the Sith aid in culling the recent rebellion on Caito on behalf of Emperor Vallorum’ s ally, Queen Amidala. The Dark Council has chosen us and we leave within the hour, so I suggest that at least one of you is able to focus your anger properly in order to deal with someone slightly more powerful than Olin.” Jinn shot a glare at Starkiller even while he handed the boy his weapon. The latter tried to ignore how this look suddenly made him flinch and pretended to scowl as he strapped the saber to his belt. “Moff Palpatine? What could that stupid old fart need our help with?” Kenobi would’ve normally echoed this sentiment, if only due to his disdain for helping imperials, but his master’s words caught him off-guard. “You think a few rebellious merchants will be a challenge for us? You insult our order as never before, Lord Jinn. Are you that afraid of life outside your council chambers?” The elder Sith seemed to take his apprentice’s bait and turned on his heel. However, Lord Jinn faced Kenobi with a calm expression and he even sounded amused when he spoke. “Oh, we’re not being called upon because of the rebels alone, my acolyte. We’re going to Caito because the Jedi have finally resurfaced.” End Part 1 of Episode 1