Star Wars is full of amazing tales and some of the best are found in the old Expanded Universe now known as Star Wars Legends. Many of these tales are now impossible because of the Sequel Trilogy, including The New Jedi Order. This 19-book series told the story of the Yuuzhan Vong War, as extragalactic invaders called the Yuuzhan Vong attack the New Republic twenty-five years after the Battle of Endor.
It was easily one of the darkest Legends stories of them all, as the anti-technology, pain worshiping Yuuzhan Vong cut a bloody swath through the galaxy. There were many terrible events throughout the story, some bloodier than others.
10 The Seeds Of Darth Caedus Were Planted By Vergere In Jacen Solo
Jacen Solo was Han and Leia's oldest son and he went through quite a journey during the Yuuzhan Vong War. Struggling with his role as a Jedi, he tried to embrace pacifism but was eventually resigned to using his powers and abilities to help win the war. Captured after the mission to Myrkr, Jacen was tortured and taught by Vergere, an Old Republic Jedi hiding among the Yuuzhan Vong.
Vergere was a secret Sith and her teachings opened up Jacen to the Sith ways that would dominate his destiny in the future, leading to untold suffering for the galaxy in the years after the war.
9 Mara Jade Was Infected By A Yuuzhan Vong Virus
Luke Skywalker in Legends was very different and one of those differences was that he was married to former Imperial assassin Mara Jade. Mara and Luke worked well together—he was the farmboy Jedi Master, idealistic and heroic, and she was the pragmatic former assassin, ready to do what needed to be done.
Before the war started, she contracted a terrible disease, one that saw her wasting away. It was eventually revealed that it was a Yuuzhan Vong disease, given to her by Nom Anor, an advance agent for the alien. She would struggle with it throughout the beginning of the war but beat it after giving birth to her son Ben.
8 The Death Of Anakin Solo Was A Turning Point For The Jedi
Anakin Solo was the youngest son of Han and Leia and was easily the greatest Jedi of his generation. A born warrior, Anakin worked to redeem the name of his grandfather and became clutch in many of the early battles of the war. He became a leader among the Jedi, even though he was only fifteen. He was chosen to lead the mission to Myrkr to destroy the mother Voxyn, progenitor of Vong created Jedi hunting monsters.
Anakin would lose his life on this mission, fighting to keep his team of young Jedi safe and give them a chance to find and kill the Voxyn mother. They would succeed but the mission was an all-around tragedy; many of them were dead, Jacen was captured, and the brightest Jedi of his generation was snuffed out.
7 Kyp Durron Fooled The New Republic Military Into Dooming Millions Of Innocent Yuuzhan Vong
Kyp Durron was a firebrand Jedi Master who skated perilously close to the dark side, especially during the early stages of the War. Leader of a fighter squadron with his apprentice, they were killed by the Yuuzhan Vong and he was out for revenge. Eventually, he was able to concoct a plan that would get him that vengeance.
He was able to talk Jaina Solo of Rogue Squadron into presenting a plan to the New Republic military about the location of a Yuuzhan Vong superweapon for them to destroy. However, it wasn't a weapon but a Yuuzhan Vong worldship that would house many of the race's civilians. It was destroyed but the truth was learned, a despicable act even in such a bloody war.
6 The Battle Of Fondor Saw Many Republic/Hapan Accidentally Destroyed By An Ally
The Battle of Fondor was meant to be a great victory for the protectors of the galaxy, as Leia was able to bring the Hapan fleet into the war and set a trap for the invaders. A key to the plan was Centerpoint Station, a gravity manipulating ancient superstructure in the Corellia system. Anakin and Jacen Solo were sent to use the weapon.
However, an ideological argument between the two resulted in Thracken Sal-Solo, Han's cousin, firing the weapon. While it wiped out the Yuuzhan Vong, it also wiped out the combined Republic/Hapan fleet, with only a quarter of the ships surviving.
5 The Conquest Of Duros Resulted In Millions Of Deaths
The Yuuzhan Vong destroyed planet after planet, resulting in an unprecedented refugee crisis. The Duros government opened up their planet to refugees, keeping them on the surface in massive environmental domes. However, this whole thing was part of a plot by Nom Anor, one of the most important Yuuzhan Vong in Legends.
Anor used Yuuzhan Vong biotech to terraform the surface, fixing the ecological blights caused by centuries of industrialization. The Yuuzhan Vong attacked and destroyed the Duros orbiting cities, killing millions.
4 The Destruction Of Sernpidal Resulted In The Death Of Chewbacca
In the early stages of the war, the Yuuzhan Vong didn't have all of their manpower in place yet, so they went with a sneakier strategy. One of those attacks saw them planting a Dovin Basal, a gravity manipulating creature, on the planet of Sernpidal. The Dovin Basal pulled the moon of Dobido closer to the planet with every revolution, promising destruction.
Han, Anakin, and Chewbacca did what they could to evacuate people but it wasn't enough and Chewbacca sacrificed himself so the Millennium Falcon could escape. This opening salvo in the war led to one of Legends' saddest tragedies.
3 The Vong Forming Of Coruscant Led To The Death & Displacement Of Billions
Coruscant was home to about a trillion people, easily one of the most populous worlds in the galaxy. After the Yuuzhan Vong were able to take the planet, they began a massive undertaking—remaking it into the spitting image of their ancestral homeworld, Yuuzhan'tar. This involved destroying much of the planet's space scraping buildings and technology.
This resulted in untold deaths and that wasn't the end. The Yuuzhan Vong rounded up civilians and placed them on massive refugee ships with little to no supplies, sending them through hyperspace to Republic worlds. The whole thing was barbaric to the extreme.
2 The Yuuzhan Vong Destroyed All Life On The Surface Of Ithor
The Battle of Ithor saw a massive Yuuzhan Vong fleet clash with the New Republic over the arboreal world. As Jedi fought off invaders in the floating herd cities, the Yuuzhan Vong fleet in orbit was pushed to its limits, but so was the Republic's. The battle would come to a duel between Jedi Corran Horn and Vong commander Shedao Shai.
Horn would win the duel but Shai's second in command, under secret orders from the Yuuzhan Vong central command, would unleash a bioweapon on the planet that devoured all life on the surface, destroying one of the most beautiful worlds in the galaxy.
1 The Battle Of Coruscant Was The New Republic's Greatest Defeat
Three years into the war, the New Republic was hurting but things were starting to look up, as new battle droids were introduced by Lando Calrissian's Tendandro Arms Company and the New Republic was able to decimate a Yuuzhan Vong fleet with little loss. However, the Vong would make their most audacious move yet and attack Coruscant itself.
Driving refugee ships into the planetary shield to bring it down, the battle would result in a massive loss of life on both sides but the Yuuzhan Vong would ultimately triumph, driving the New Republic from its capital on the war's darkest day.