Sora Bulq

Sora Bulq was a male Weequay of the wealthy Bulk family who served as a Jedi Master within the Jedi Order. Renowned among the peers for his skills as lightsaber duelist, he had mastered every form of lightsaber combat known among the Jedi, becoming one of their greatest instructors and Weapon Masters. Bulq was therefore recruited by his colleague, Mace Windu, to assist in the refinement of Vaapad, the latter's new combat form. However, the Form VII required that the user dance along the edge of the Dark Side of the Force, and Bulq himself became secretly fascinated by it.

His extensive studies of the Dark Side and the loss of many of his former lightsaber apprentices during the First Battle of Geonosis, led to his disillusion with the Jedi Order, who had become the Galactic Republic's watchdog. Nonetheless Bulq accompanied Jedi Master Tholme on a mission to hunt down Darth Tyranus, only to be captured and swayed towards the Sith Lord's side.

Bulq reemerged later as a secret agent of Tyranus', calling together several Jedi who were unwilling to fight for the Galactic Republic, in a devious attemptt create a schism in the Jedi Order. Instead of setting up Mace Windu to look like an assassin, the meeting saw the latter expose the Weequay's scheme, learning that he had fallen to the dark side and convincing those Jedi dissidents who survived to rejoin the Order. Bulq then returned to his master's side, commanding the Dark Acolytes - former Jedi Knights in the service of both Tyranus and Darth Sidious - who had pledged their support to the Confederacy of Independent Systems.

Bulq was one of the highest-profile Jedi traitors in all the war, having had the Confederacy-aligned senator Viento hire Sajé Tasha to assassinate former Supreme Chancellor Valorum at the orders of Darth Sidious, the Dark Lord of the Sith and Tyranus' master. Later, he was placed at the head of the Morgukai Shadow Army on Saleucami, having recruited the Nikto Bok to provide the genetic material needed to make warrior clones. When the army was besieged in the closing months of the Clone Wars, the Confederacy could not hold out against the Republic. Though Bulq managed to kill Jedi Master Oppo Rancisis of the High Council, he was no match for Knight Quinlan Vos, who had served as a double agent for Tyranus before rejecting the Dark Side and killing Sora Bulq in a final duel.

Jedi Master of the lightsaber
Sora Bulq was born into the Bulq family, a wealthy Weequay merchant clan which owned most of Ruul, a moon of the Weequay homeworld, Sriluur, and on which they had their estate. He spent time on both Sriluur and Ruul before being taken in by the Jedi Order as an infant after having been identified as Force-sensitive. Bulq was contemplative and philosophically inclined, preferring long meditation before deciding on any course of action. Grand Master Yoda recalled Bulq as always having been emotionally balanced and strong in the Force, even from a young age. Bulq lacked a great connection to his Weequay heritage, rejecting his species's use of Quay totems to interpret the will of the god Quay. He saw the spheres, which returned answers after being shaken, as no more than toys. He believed many of his species held Jedi potential, but were limited by such cultural dependencies. Due to his rejection of the Quay religion, Bulq was not well-loved on Sriluur and his people took no pride in his accomplishments. Bulq rose through the ranks of the Jedi Order, becoming a Jedi Master and recording some of his own thoughts in the holocrons Jedi used to preserve wisdom. He was exceptionally skilled with a lightsaber, developing talents that put him among the most skilled in Jedi history and caused him to be considered among the very few on the level of Mace Windu. Bulq developed total mastery over all known lightsaber forms, even the experimental and obscure. Bulq's preferred dueling style, involved the use of a lightsaber and shoto—a short lightsaber held in the off hand—in a utilization of the Jar'Kai dual-saber style modified to accommodate the techniques of Vaapad. Bulq became an instructor in lightsaber combat at the Jedi Temple on Coruscant, where he trained a great many students over the years. Among them was one of his succession of Padawans, Mira. However, Mira was not a lightsaber virtuoso, preferring a more passive approach. It was thus that Bulq had gained the position of Jedi Weapon Master.

Bulq's skills caused Mace Windu to choose him as his partner in developing and refining Vaapad, Windu's dangerous yet deadly perfection of the unfinished Juyo form. Bulq frequently sparred with Windu, testing and finessing Windu's new form; Bulq was one of a very few to truly know the form. What Windu did not realize was that Vaapad's dependence on enjoying battle and walking on the edge of darkness was having a profound effect on Bulq, who had even before that time harbored a secret fascination with the Dark Side of the Force. Bulq began his own private explorations of Vaapad, growing even more attracted to the portential power of the darkness. One considered among the greatest of the Jedi undertook a secret exploration of the Dark Side, falling ever more under its influence.

This may have affected Bulq's teaching methods, perverting them subtly. Bulq was entrusted with the retraining of Jedi Knight Quinlan Vos in lightsaber techniques after he lost his memory. Bulq introduced Vos to some elements of Vaapad despite the form's darkness-skirting nature and Vos's own struggle with the Dark Side—which he was being retrained to overcome. Bulq did not tell Vos of the elements' origin. He later explained this, upon Windu's discovery of that fact, as being a test of Vos's darkness which the Knight had passed and after which Bulq proceeded no further. It was unclear if the Weequay was telling the truth, if he had done so under the unconscious influence of the Dark Side, or if it had been a deliberate ploy by Bulq to lead Vos down the path of darkness.

First Battle of Geonosis and its aftermath
"Many, many Jedi has he trained. Great his influence is."

- Yoda, on Sora Bulq In 22 BBY, Jedi Knight Obi-Wan Kenobi was captured by Confedeate Head of State Dooku, a former Jedi and another of the Order's most renowned duelists before turning to the Dark Side and becoming the Sith Lord Darth Tyranus, while on an investigative mission which led him to Geonosis. There he discovered that Tyranus was building a confederation in preparation of attacking the Galactic Republic. Kenobi transmitted this information to the Jedi Council before being captured. Being among the Jedi available at the temple, Bulq was tapped to serve in Windu's team of two-hundred-some Jedi dispatched to rescue Kenobi. Bulq and his Padawan at the time, Galdos Stouff, were among those who infiltrated the execution arena. When Tyranus deployed a battle droid ambush, Bulq fought his way through the assault and was one of the survivors who formed a defensive circle in the center of the arena, but his apprentice Stouff perished.

Though the Jedi in it were among the Order's most elite, the overwhelming numbers of the Trade Federation's battle droids caused the situation to appear hopeless enough that Darth Tyranus offered the Jedi a chance to surrender, which Mace Windu rejected. At that moment, the Grand Army of the Republic appeared under Grand Master Yoda. The new clone army swept into the arena aboard LAAT/i transports and laid waste to the surrounding battle droids. The Jedi were loaded aboard and evacuated. Bulq boarded with Tarados Gon and Council member Eeth Koth. The battle was not over, and the Jedi turned to engage the Confederacy's droid forces outside the arena. Bulq never joined the battle, though, as his evacuation gunship was shot down, nearly killing him and causing the Order to assume him dead. In fact, Bulq survived and was recruited by fellow Jedi Master Tholme, with whom Bulq was friendly, into a hasty pursuit of Darth Tyranus to Bakura, where the Confederacy maintained a base of operations. There Bulq and Tholme dueled the Sith Lord, though the Weequay duelist used two green lightsabers instead of his customary blue saber and shoto. Bulq did not prove to be the match for Tyranus that Tholme had hoped for, though, falling to a blast of Force lightning unleashed by the Sith Lord. Rendered unconscious, Bulq was levitated away from the battle by the Count of Serenno after the latter had defeated Tholme, trapping him under a pile of rubble.

Bulq, despondent at the deaths at Geonosis—having trained most of those who died there, including Stouff—and having lost faith in the Galactic Republic over years of watching it fall into corruption and self-interest, was persuaded by Tyranus that the galaxy could only be ruled properly by the Jedi. Only they had the strength and moral purity to govern, and the Jedi Council erred by not recognizing that. The Sith Lord also taught Bulq to see his anger as a source of strength and as a fundamental part of him, turning him fully to the Dark Side and making him a servant of the Sith. Tyranus then allowed Bulq to return to Tholme, who had just escaped his living burial. Bulq rescued Tholme, bringing him back to Coruscant. Bulq claimed that he had narrowly escaped from Confederate custody, and the assistance provided built Bulq's credibility, which would be useful in his new assignment. Bulq did not stay any longer than needed to return Tholme, and disappeared from the Order's ranks, vanishing into seclusion with the Jedi considering him effectively missing since Geonosis.

Failed schism of the Jedi Order
"They died to preserve the Republic, and I am not sure the Republic worth that. Until I am sure, I thought it best to absent myself."

- Sora Bulq to Mace Windu, on the Jedi deaths on Geonosis and his secession from the Order Bulq resurfaced three months after the Battle of Geonosis, calling together several dissident Jedi to his old family estate on Ruul—his family was by now apparently deceased, as the estate had fallen into disuse and was overgrown. Bulq unified four Jedi dissidents—Sian Jeisel, K'Kruhk, Rhad Tarn, and Bulq's own former Padawan Mira—themselves leaders of different anti-war schools of thought, into a group which claimed to speak for all dissident Jedi. Bulq asserted that he wished to discuss the issue of the Clone Wars with those Jedi who had opted to refuse the Council's call to service, and the group invited the Council to send a representative to argue their side, asking for Bulq's old sparring partner, Mace Windu. Bulq's sudden reappearance as a dissident leader was unsettling to the Council, who worried that Bulq's prestige and influence could sway even more away from the war effort. Moreover, the factions Bulq had united were themselves sufficient to cause a potential schism in the Jedi Order.

After discussion, Windu was sent to the Bulq estate on Ruul. What he did not know was that the entire series of developments was a plot by the Sith. Dark Jedi assassin Asajj Ventress was waiting there for the summit's dissident Jedi; it was Darth Tyranus and Bulq's intention for Ventress to assassinate one or more of the dissident Jedi and escape, and to then lay the blame for the incident on Windu. They hoped to capitalize on Windu's reputation as a hardliner to make the attack credible, as well as establishing that the assassin must have come aboard Windu's ship. With that accomplished, the Jedi's credibility would plummet and a great many more might defect to Bulq's splinter faction and potentially join the Confederacy of Independent Systems.

Windu arrived and spoke with Bulq, who greeted him and told him, in answer to Windu's questions, that he had disappeared after Geonosis because of his grief at that battle's slaughter and his questioning as to whether the corrupt Republic was worthy of that sacrifice. Bulq also told him that he had not yet decided on what side he would ultimately come down. Bulq left to gather the other negotiators, though K'Kruhk and Jeisel found their way to Windu before Bulq could find them. When they had all gathered, Bulq convened the summit. After the others discussed, his opinion was asked, and Bulq came out against the Republic, though uncertain of his final decision. He swiftly adjourned the meeting, as it was growing late, and sent the others to sleep or meditate.

On a supposed meditative walk around the estate, Bulq was victim to a staged ambush by Ventress, receiving a minor wound for the purposes of authenticity. Perhaps because Bulq was not in true danger, his former Padawan Mira was the only one to sense something wrong and set out to investigate. She came upon Bulq and Ventress dueling and entered the fray to aid her Master, though Bulq - hesitant to sacrifice his own former apprentice - warned her that she was no match for the Dark Jedi. Indeed, Ventress overcame and slew Mira; by that time the other Jedi had been attracted to the fight. When Windu arrived, the assassin acted as if she were his subordinate and disappeared. This engendered controversy, but Windu left in pursuit of Ventress. Bulq ordered the three remaining dissidents to follow and support Windu in combat, dismissing his wound as insignificant. He took Mira's body back to the estate's buildings to tend to it, feeling ashamed for having brought upon his former Padawan's death. Bulq laid her body out on a bier and expressed over it his remorse at her death, as it had not been his intention. He was interrupted, by Windu, who had found Ventress's ship on the grounds and had connected it with Tarn's statement that no ship could land on the estate without Bulq's knowledge. Stepping back and looking at his old friend free from preconceptions, Windu deduced that Bulq must have been working with the assassin. Windu confronted Bulq, who freely admitted his fall to the dark side, revealing his Vaapad-fueled fascination with it and Darth Tyranus' approach to him. Bulq intended to kill Windu and the others and return himself to claim Windu's treachery; a change in plans, but necessary. The pair dueled, with Bulq confident he could defeat Windu. However, Ventress attacked the other three Jedi, goading the headstrong young Tarn to the Dark Side, causing him to attack Jeisel. Jeisel was forced to kill him. When Bulq and Windu sensed this in the Force, Bulq taunted Windu that, with their deaths, he could not possibly win. Windu agreed, blasting Bulq into a pile of rubble and rendering him unconscious, then rushing to the other Jedi, where he forced Ventress to flee.

Bulq awakened and sought out Windu, but he and the other Jedi had fled under attack from Bulq's service droids. His plan had been foiled. Jeisel and K'Kruhk survived and returned to the Jedi fold, completely nullifying any chance of a schism. Bulq's fall to the Dark Side and defection to Tyranus were also revealed to no gain. With his potential as a prestigious double agent foiled, Bulq was returned to more overt service for the Sith.

Dark Acolyte
"Darth Tyranus to Quinlan Vos"

Bulq returned to Darth Tyranus' side, becoming one of the Sith Lord's most trusted subordinates. As his top lieutenant, Bulq commanded the Dark Acolytes—Tyranus' personal Dark Jedi followers,such as Asajj Ventress Ventress, Tol Skorr and Kadrian Sey, who acted as tolerated military "commanders" for the Confederacy of Independent Systems. His position was largely unquestioned, with none of the infighting that consumed the lower ranks, each striving to gain higher position, touching him. Bulq could frequently be found at Tyranus' side, relaying the Sith Lord's orders and learning from his master.[9] Over time, Bulq gained Tyranus' near-complete confidence, deputized by the latter to oversee the Dark Acolytes and other projects with the full authority of Tyranus's own Sith Master, Darth Sidious, himself. Even as a Dark Sider, Bulq continued to wear Jedi-style robes in dark brown, though he swapped the blue crystals out of his lightsaber and shoto in favor of red ones to signal his affiliation with the Confederacy and the Sith.

As one of the most prominent Jedi defectors, both within Tyranus' circle and within the Order, Bulq's name, once honored within the Jedi Order, became synonymous with betrayal. Bulq was among those Dark Jedi most frequently cited as examples of corruption striking the Jedi, even their best. He was a particularly sore subject for Windu, who felt some amount of guilt for exposing Bulq to Vaapad, but laid blame for his fall firmly on Bulq himself.

Some four and a half months after the Ruul ploy, Bulq participated in the boarding of the Acclamator-class assault ship VCD987. There, he and Tyranus took captive several Jedi, including Jeisel. Also present were Tsui Choi and Kai Justiss, but the Sith Lord spared their lives, sending them back to the Republic. Tyranus maintained that his fight was with the Republic, not the Jedi, He hoped to sow doubt in the Order about their cause and his nature, much as he had earlier at Ruul; he pointed out as much to Bulq, who questioned why would they let an enemy go free. With Tyranus' answer, Bulq learned that even mercy could be a weapon in the hands of a Sith Lord. Bulq continued serving his master as second-in-command inside and outside the circle of the Dark Acolytes, rivalled only by Confederate Supreme Commander Grievous, Tyranus' terryfying cyborg enforcer. When Quinlan Vos joined the ranks of the Dark Acolytes at around the same time as the VCD987 incident, Bulq attested to the fact that Vos had a significant darkness within him, as he had discovered in his Vaapad-fueled test of him. Vos was in fact a Jedi plant, spying for the Order, but Tyrannus was aware of this and planned to use it to his advantage, genuinely corrupting him. Vos was accepted and trained in the Dark Side by both Bulq and his master. When it came time, Tyranus took Vos, along with Bulq, Tol Skorr, and Kadrian Sey, to the Republic-allied Tibrin. There, the Sith Lord took possession of the world for the Confederacy, executing its former strongman leader, Suribran Tu, and placing Bulq in full command of the interim government.the Weequay systematically rounded up and exterminated all Tu's associates on his master's orders.

One year and four months into the war, Bulq was put to serve under Darth Sidious himself - the Dark Lord of the Sith and Tyranus' own master, who had him contract the Anzti Saljé Tasha, through the Confederacy-aligned Senator Viento, to carry out the assassination of former Supreme Chancellor Finis Valorum, who was fomenting dissent against Supreme Chancellor Palpatine, Sidious's public alter-ego. The attack resulted in the the deaths of all aboard the Star of Iskin, its wreckage killing thousands more on the ground below, much to the pleasure of Lord Sidious himself.

The Shadow Army
In the final year of the war, Bulq was placed in command of a scheme to raise and train a clone army of Morgukai warriors. An elite Nikto warrior cult, the Morgukai were extinct but for Bok, whom the Jedi had thought slain years ago by Aayla Secura. Bulq and Tyranus recruited Bok and gained his cooperation by guaranteeing him the return of the Morgukai, under his command, if he would provide the genetic material for the army and teach them combat styles. Bulq also recruited almost all of the Anzati master assassins to train the clones, dubbed the Shadow Army, in assassination and stealth techniques. The project was highly secret, with individuals like Quinlan Vos knowing only that something big was in the works. Bulq traveled frequently to direct this operation, traveling mostly between Anzat to recruit teachers in the ways of assassination and Saleucami, where the cloning facility was located growing in the caverns beneath the planet's main city. When Vos returned to the Republic, thirty months into the war, he revealed to the Jedi Council that Bulq had a major, mysterious project under his command which involved frequent visits to Anzat. At a private landing pad, while discussing details with the Anzati master assassin Rath Kelkko, Bulq felt something, but only briefly. Even odder, the Bok clone charged to guard the Dark Jedi's Sheathipede-class shuttle wasn't responding. Not willing to idle here, Bulq and Kelkko boarded the shuttle and departed to Seleucami.

Upon arriving at the cloning facility, Bulq, Bok, and Kelkko reported to the holographic images of Lord Tyranus and General Grievous, Supreme Commander of the Droid Armies and the former's top lieutenant. They were preparing to move the army offworld and into action when Bulq sensed another presence in the facility. He sent two Bok clones to find and attack this infiltrator; it turned to be Tholme, who had transmitted the information about the facility to Aayla Secura before dispatching his assailants. Drawing his lightsaber, Bulq revealed himself to Tholme and went for the kill. Tholme attempted to talk his companion at Bakura back to the Light Side, but Bulq revealed to the Jedi Master his corruption and deception on Bakura. Bulq attacked furiously, claiming that Tholme could not resist his skill. Tholme agreed and forced Bulq to dodge an assault of glass shards for just long enough to disappear. Having vanished into the vast cave system, Tholme began sabotaging the facilities. As a master of stealth, he was impossible to track down. Frustrated, Bulq accepted that the sabotage would keep the army from being deployed and that Tholme could not be removed in time. Instead, he ordered that the equipment be moved deeper into the caverns to be shielded from orbital bombardment and prepared for a Republic ground assault.

When the Republic's strike force arrived under the renowned Jedi Master tactician Oppo Rancisis, they found Bulq entrenched in the caldera city with water and supplies, protected by a geothermal-powered theater shield and planetary ion cannon. The shield prevented the Republic from striking the city, while the ion cannon held off the small fleet in orbit under Captain Sagoro Autem. With the Republic unable to swiftly overcome the Separatist defenses and Bulq unwilling to press the attack and risk his secure position, the situation grew to a stalemate. The siege stretched for five months before a chance explosion in battle revealed one of the underground tunnels, which Vos—Rancisis's second-in-command—used to destroy one of the perimeter shield generators and gain the Republic access into the caldera city. Meanwhile, Tholme had continued sabotaging Bulq's operations for those five months, escaping every attempt to capture or kill him and infuriating the Dark Jedi. Throughout the conflict, Bulq maintained Vos as a double agent, hoping to find Rancisis's battle plans from the Jedi spy. Rancisis was dependent upon his battle meditation, and shared his plans with no one. With the Republic incursion into the caldera, Bulq summoned Vos for a face-to-face meeting, their first during the siege. Vos was a triple agent, hiding his spying for the Confederacy from the Jedi but still intending to find and slay the second Sith Lord Darth Sidious, whom he had become convinced was Bulq. Tyranus and Bulq were aware of this, and still felt that they could manipulate Vos to their advantage. Vos met with Bulq and the Weequay's top lieutenants—Skorr, Bok, and Kelkko; more importantly, Tyranus was present via hologram. Vos was charged with hunting down and eliminating Tholme, his old Jedi Master.

Meanwhile, Bulq undertook a plan of attack meant to remove the Republic's greatest asset on the planet. His troops initiated a diversionary attack, causing Rancisis to go into battle meditation. While he was so occupied, Bulq had the Anzati assassins sneak into the Jedi Council member's chambers and attempt to assassinate him. Rancisis was not so easily distracted, and vanquished the Anzati. The assassins, were no more than diversions themselves; during the battle Bulq himself was able to move behind the distracted and tired Rancisis and plunge his lightsaber into the Thisspiasian Jedi Master's back, becoming one of the few able to claim the notoriety of slaying a Jedi Councilor.

Vos also succeeded in his mission, or so he thought. He returned to the Republic's camp, where he devised a new plan of attack, claiming it had been Rancisis's. A diversionary battle covered him and Secura as they slipped inside the tunnel network to plant charges on the main shield generator. Vos abandoned Secura, to come before Bulq. He sold out Secura to Bulq, who sent Bok to investigate Vos's report of her position. Though Vos seemed as if he had handed victory to the Weequay duelist, Bulq and Tyranus—again present by hologram—arranged a final test: Vos must kill Khaleen Hentz, his go-between to the Confederacy and his lover. Vos refused, claiming himself as a Jedi. Bulq prepared for a showdown, intent on driving Vos to the dark side for good. He could detect the anger within his former student and encouraged him to admit it. At that moment, Bok reported that the reported position of Secura was false. Then Tholme revealed himself once more, having faked death. He intervened on Vos's side, engaging Bulq, who lost his shoto when he hurled it to activate the room's lockdown sequence. Bulq furiously battled Tholme, whose continued sabotage had become a powerful irritant—especially considering that Bulq had once saved him from death—and caused him to attempt to draw out the duel with Tholme and prolong the Jedi spymaster's death for his own catharsis. Bulq beat Tholme in the head, slashed him lightly across the chest and destroyed his prosthetic kneecap, leaving him vulnerable on the floor, but Vos pierced through his opponent, Skorr, in time to block Bulq's killing strike. Bulq turned to dueling Vos, still attempting to drive him to the Dark Side and against Tholme with Lord Tyranus' aid. As Vos struggled with the dark side and turned inside to confront his own darkness with Secura and Tholme's mental support, Bulq easily gained the advantage over Vos; in fact, the Dark Jedi may have used the Force to don the mental guise of Vos' worst fear: his inner darker side. As Vos knelt, Bulq rushed in behind him, lightsaber upraised for the killing strike. At that moment, Vos conquered his inner darkness and turned, rising and striking the Dark Acolyte across the chest. Bulq collapsed as Tyranus watched one of his most-trusted lieutenants (save only for General Grievous) die.

Meanwhile, Secura successfully sabotaged the main shield before attacking and slaying Bok, causing the containment systems for the magma which powered the base's geothermal systems to fail. As the orbital bombardment began and Bulq's enterprise fell in ruins, magma slowly consumed his body.

Appearances

 * Star Wars: Episode II Attack of the Clones  (First appearance)
 * Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones comic
 * Jedi: Mace Windu
 * Shatterpoint  (mentioned only)
 * Jedi: Count Dooku
 * The Clone Wars: No Prisoners  (mentioned only)
 * Republic 63: Striking from the Shadows  (mentioned only)
 * Yoda: Dark Rendezvous  (Mentioned only)
 * Republic 71: Dreadnaughts of Rendili, Part 3  (mentioned only)
 * Star Wars: Republic: Trackdown
 * Labyrinth of Evil  (mentioned only)
 * Star Wars: Republic: Siege of Saleucami
 * Star Wars: Episode III Revenge of the Sith novelization  (mentioned only)