Kyp Durron stands out as one strong character against a backdrop of galactic chaos. Kyp fought against all defeating odds while haunted by a lifetime of tragedy. This student of Luke Skywalker's Jedi Academy fell into the study of Sith magic, and deftly managed to slip ino the darksides' seduction. Kyp Durron, composed basely of anger and hatred and coming across the power to weald a great amount of force in the way of the darkside *and* a terrifying super weapon, Durron still managed to set aside corruptive rages and wrest himself from the clutches of the darkside... to bring himself back to the light. Notably, Kyp Durron, was one of the five lightside jedi to turn to the side of the dark (Gantoris, Ulic Quel Droma, Darth Vader, Exar Kun). But he was also the very youngest. And one of the few to come back to the light.

Corran Horn, "Of course, my best was nothing compared to Kyp Durron's best. Kyp's growth in the Force was nothing shy of incredible. In just over a week he surpassed anything the rest of us where doing by light-years. Master Skywalker didn't know what to do with him, he was so good. Kyp gave us hope that reestablishing the Jedi Order could be and would be done."

One week later. Corran, "Kyp's previous Force blows were like light breezes compared with a full-out gale. Kyp's attack jammed me back against the wall and I watched stone crumble down from behind me. The are had begun to shink and my chest became tight as it copmpressed my ribs. I looked Kyp straight in the eyes and tried to shoot into his brain the image of the mask of hate he wore, but the world around me went black before I could tell if I'd had any success at all."

         Kyp Durrons' life was halted by the Empire's power hungry sweep across all planets showing disobedience in the early civil unrest that lead to the rebellion and the inevitable fall of the Imperial age. Kyp was born on the Deyer Colony of the Anoat system. The Deyer colonists lived on raft cities anchored in a complex of terraformed lakes. Kyp's parents had been the earliest forms of rebellion, outspoken politicians, who raised up to try and convince Emperor Palpatine that there was a need for moderate actions instead of the drastic ones he'd employed against the early Rebels and their sympathizers. Kyp's parents had protested during the anniversary of the Ghorman Massacre, and even again when the Death Star destroyed the peaceful planet of Alderaan.

On one fated night, stormtroopers were sent to burst into the Durron home and take the family into captivity. Kyp's fourteen-year-old brother, Zeth, was sent to the Imperial Academy on Carida, one of the most grueling training grounds for military service. Shackled with stun cuffs, Kyp was led off with his parents. Eight-year-old Kyp and his parents were sent to one of Kessel's gigantic prison complexes, the Imperial Correctional Facility, where the Empire used prison slaves to mine glitterstim spice, a powerful drug that sold for high amounts in an unrefined form. During the years of the Rebellion's battle against the Empire, Kyp worked, forgotten. He slaved in the dark glitterstim mines even through a time when a Rybet administrator, Moruth Doole, took over the Kessel facilities, Kyp's parents were executed. Alone, he continued to mine, endlessly passing his days in the blackness.

Several years passed until an old woman named Vima-Da-Boda was sent to the correctional facility. Vima, who had been a Jedi Knight in the days of the Old Republic, was drawn to Kyp Durron. She could feel his incredibly strong aptitude for the Force, and trained Kyp to use some lesser Force skills. But one day, the Imperials came and took her away; Kyp Durron never saw her again.

Seven years after the Battle of Endor, Han Solo and Chewbacca came to Kessel and were shot down by Moruth Doole's ships. The Rybet administrator had Han and Chewbacca sent into the deepest spice mines, to slave away until their deaths. There, when Kyp used a strange luck and cunning to come in contact with Han on seperate occasions, and they became friends. Kyp helped Han with advice on how to better survive in the spice mines. And through being around the kid, Han soon discovered that the eighteen-year-old Kyp's was greatly partial to the ways of the mysterious force, a force which isolated Kyp Durron had never identified as a real ability but as a coincidence of luck. Something useful only that it had kept him alive this long. These were the abilities that eventually helped them escape the black prison.

Escaping the prison at a time of battle unrest amongst the faculty, Han, Kyp and Chewie stole an Imperial cargo shuttle. They managed to flee Kessel and its defense fleet, only to be pulled into the Maw, a secret Imperial weapons-creation site presided over by Admiral Daala. Daala's men captured the shuttle and brutally interrogated Solo, Chewbacca, and Durron. But Durron, his young life having formed only in the empty blackness of spicemines could give Daala none of the information she desired. Whether he would have talked or not, he found he couldn't... he new NOTHING. He was deemed worthless and slated for execution. Solo came in contact with Qui Xux, an alien humanoid possessed of great intelligence but forced by the Empire to create weapons of great effect. It was Qui Xux who was responsible for the Death Star's creation and the birth of a new weapon: The Sun Crusher with the ability to fire off a missle into the heart of a sun, causing that sun to go unstable and eventually supernova, taking out whole starsystems with it's titanic collapse. But Han Solo appealed to the willowy scientist Qwi Xux's conscience, and she decided to help them escape and she would escape as well. Kyp, Han, Chewbacca, and Qwi commandeered her ultimate weapon-ship creation, the Sun Crusher. Using his Force powers, Kyp piloted the Crusher through the Maw and out to freedom.

Upon reaching the New Republic territory, council determined that the deathbringing Sun Crusher would have to be destroyed rather than deposited into the hands of ANY government, even theirs. It was determined that since the Sun Crusher's armour was invincible, the ship would be lifted (by aid of Kyp Durron) into the heart of Yavin, the gas planet. Where it would remain untouched, dead, and a threat to no-one.

Back at the Rebel base on Coruscant, Luke Skywalker tested Kyp's Jedi power potential. What he discovered was the strongest Force presence he had known since his Masters, Obi-Wan Kenobi and Yoda. Luke invited Kyp to join him as a Jedi trainee on the moon of Yavin Four. Although his skills were great, Kyp felt they were not enough. In Daala's dungeon at the Maw, he had come to terms with the details of his own existance and promised himself that he would never again be weak. What he also discovered, was that in the presense of the force, anger and hate and ambition seemed to make him... stronger. Between his impatience and desire for revenge against the Empire, he was ripe pickings for a servant of the dark side: Exar Kun, the long-dead Dark Lord of the Sith, whose spirit had been trapped in the Massassi temple, now the home of Luke Skywalker's Jedi Academy. Durron began secretly training with Kun. As he trained with both Luke Skywalker and Exar Kun, Kyp became ever more annoyed at Luke's peaceful, patient ways. He confronted Luke several times, barely holding his rage in check. When Mara Jade arrived on the planet, Kyp heard for the first time how much destruction Admiral Daala was wreaking on the outside. He stole Mara's Z-95 Headhunter spaceship and headed for the moon of Endor.

On Endor, Kyp sought out the funeral pyre of Darth Vader. Luke had told the students that Vader, a Dark Lord of the Sith, had reformed from the dark side to the light side... in the end. Kyp thought this meant that Sith Lords could still use the light side of the Force, and he grasped that thought as a way to ward off the intrusive influence of Exar Kun, who pulled the student toward the dark side. Kyp was aware of the fact that Kun was trying to control him and the young Jedi, clever, would not be daunted. Kyp was determined that he would be the new Dark Lord of the Sith, filled with righteous vengeance.

That vengeance first manifested itself on Ithor, where Kyp broke into Qwi Xux's quarters and waited for her in the dark. When she returned from a day trip with Wedge Antilles, Kyp used the Force to fillet her memories, removing anything that could be remotely connected to the Sun Crusher or the other havoc-wreackng weaponery she had created at the Maw Installation. He returned to Yavin Four in the darkness of night, landing atop the Massassi temple where he and the other Jedi had trained. As dawn broke, he felt Exar Kun's power join his. Together, they used the Force to raise the Sun Crusher from its gassy crypt of Yavin's heart, gleaming and new, came to rest on the temple top. When Luke Skywalker rushed to confront him, Kyp challenged the Jedi. Durron decided to use the Sun Crusher to destroy the Empire himself, and as Luke ignited his lightsaber to stop him, Kyp called forth dark-side lightning, striking his Master. Exar Kun's spirit joined in, and together they split Luke's essence apart from his body, setting it adrift in the same netherspace that Kun himself inhabited.

In the Cauldron Nebula, Kyp found his most hated enemy, Admiral Daala, with her Star Destroyers Gorgon and the Basilisk. As Daala prepared to lead her ships in an attack on Coruscant, Kyp launched sun-destroying resonance torpedoes to blow up the cluster of blue-giant stars at the heart of the nebula, all the while taunting Daala over the communications systems. Although the admiral realized the peril and ordered an immediate withdrawal, the cataclysmic explosion of the nebula caught the Basilisk full on, destroying it completely. As the nebula died behind him, Kyp took off to find his next target.

That target was the Imperial Academy on Carida, where Kyp hoped to learn the whereabouts of his brother, Zeth, before he destroyed the Imperial system. The Imperial ambassador Furgan attempted to bluff Kyp with faked news of Zeth's death, even as his fighters scrambled and attacked. Kyp easily fought off the fighters and launched a resonance torpedo into Carida's sun. While he waited to witness the Academy's destruction, Kyp was surprised to hear another hail from the Imperials. They had found his brother--alive---and would have him soon. As the chronometer counted off the fleeting minutes, Kyp flew the Sun Crusher to the Academy, where he would meet lieutenant Dauron and his brother on a roof. Dauron battered Zeth while Kyp moved in, and Zeth blasted the Imperial. As Kyp attempted to draw the staggering Zeth up to the ship with its tractor beam, Carida's sun exploded, destroying everything in the system. Zeth was immediately incinerated along with all the Imperials still left at the Academy. Kyp's Force powers locked in, helping him steer the ship and ride the waves of the explosion.

Back on Yavin (I, Jedi), Corran Horn exerpt, The fleeting image of someone who looked like Kyp surfaced in my brain. Through his eyes I saw the slender craft, I felt his joy at seeing his brother again, pain from betrayal that stretched into untold agony as his body melted. "Kyp had a brother? He's gone. So is Carida."

Back at the Rebel base on Coruscant, Han Solo departed aboard the Millennium Falcon, hoping to appeal to Kyp as his friend, and seeking to stop the carnage that lay in the Sun Crusher's wake. He and Lando Calrissian soon found that Durron had destroyed a red-dwarf star, the site of several orbiting starship-construction yards and weapons depots. Aboard the Falcon, Han and Lando received the signal for the Sun Crusher and, surprisingly, they caught the ship in their tractor beam. Angered, Kyp planned to launch one of the torpedoes into the Falcon. Han tried to talk to him while Lando used override codes to shut down the Crusher's power. Even more angry, Kyp used the Force to reactivate the ship. In his mind, he could hear the spirit of Exar Kun, telling him to avenge himself at any cost. Suddenly, Kun's spirit screamed and disappeared. Luke's students had destroyed the spirit back on Yavin Four.

Free from Kun's influence, Kyp depowered the ship and surrendered to Han. Having been seduced by the dark side himself, Luke was more than willing to give Kyp a second chance. If he could be regained and trained, Kyp Durron had the potential to become one of the greatest of the New Order of Jedi Knights. Kyp took action, an endevour that destroyed the suncrusher forever. In doing so, he was doomed to die with the ship. In a ditch effort to save his life, he compressed into a small message pod, crushing bones and cartiledge. He descended into a death like Jedi state of calm and the pod was fired into cold space. Han Solo retrieved the pod. Han, Lando and Mara were more than a little suprised when the found what/who was hiddin inside, Kyp was tended to and rescued from death's door.


Soon after, at dawn on Yavin, Luke Skywalker led his students to the height of the Grand Temple. Beside him, walked young Kyp Durron, still limping slightly from his newly healed injuries, but moving with enormous inner strength. His entire attitude had changed in such a short time. But while Kyp had been through the greatest ordeal of the new Jedi, Luke's other students had also proved themselves to be greater than he had forseen, greater than he had hoped. Luke Skywalker then announced them to be the first of the new Jedi Knights, champions of the Force.

Simple Tricks by Chris Cassidy and Tish Pahl
         I'm not quite certain when this story took place. I assume it's *after* Champions of the Force is concluded, because it's most certainly after Dark Apprentice.. Kyp hasn't quite hit the enthusiasm high seen in Leviathan, infact, he's still wallowing in the dark of all that's happened. It's a very good bridge story. My favorite Kyp Durron story in print, and one that was almost absolutely necessary to tie somethings up and cool down the Jedi Academy Trilogy afterburn. Simple Tricks (this re-hash includes a story review I got from somewhere, but can't remember now *embarrased*) is part two to a story, for the most part, revolving around a woman named Fenig Nabon. A Corellian woman who was a smuggler and con artist operating in the Outer Rim during the early years of the New Republic.

Fenig was an orphan, living on the streets of Coronet City when Jett Nabon took her in and adopted her. Jett taught Fenig everything she knew about starships and smuggling. Jett was known in certain circles for his compassion in helping the Mistryl, bringing trade to them when no one else cared or bothered to. Unfortunately, Jett was killed in a senseless barroom brawl on Ord Mantell.

Fenig had learned a great deal from Jett Nabon before his fall. Fenig and her partner, Ghitsa Dogder, met about two years after the Battle of Endor while on Socorro, and they were often at odds with each other. Despite this, they maintained an excellent working relationship. Fen as she was known to her friends, was also the owner and pilot of the Star Lady, the ship she used in her daily business.

They once contracted the Mistryl to carry a group of Twi'leki dancers to Durga the Hutt, then pestered their Mistryl crew into forcefully ejected them from the ship in an escape pod. This was all part of Ghitsa's plan to have the dabcers be set free, rather than be sold into slavery. She reprogrammed the Mistryl ship's IFF codes to resemble the Indenture as a parting shot, so that Ghitsa could provide the Hutts with the Indenture's codes and claim the Karazaks stole the Twi'leks. Shortly afterward, the Star Lady was sabotaged, and Fen had to put down on Prishardia. As soon as givin the opportunity to scam, Ghitsa was on it. She put on a Jedi robe, clipped on a disengaged lightsaber and paraded around the town as a Jedi councelor. People started donating her food and money for her help and show of 'simple tricks'. Ghitsa quickly grew in reputation.

Fenig was working on her ship when she was approached by Kyp Durron (no less) who was traveling under the name Zeth Fost. 'Zeth' claimed to be from the Jedi Academy, looking for recruits and he'd heard about a Jedi doing good work here on the planet (Ghitsa, hee hee).

Soon, Ghitsa gained a little *too* much publicity and was kidnapped. Fen and Zeth put forth effort to work together to find Ghitsa. Fen, looking for her partner. Zeth, looking for a fresh Jedi.

She wanted to hold on to the anger, as she would a blaster or a lover. But, instead, with Zeth's unsolicited and compassionate sincerity, she felt the hurt drain away without the energy to maintain it. "Thanks," she said and sarcasm was the best she could muster, "That's mighty Jedi of you."

Fen and Zeth got along better than most. Until Fen figured out who he was, of course. The idea of Kyp's murderous acts made Fen, literally, sick in the stomach.

"I used my power as a Jedi... for revenge.
In my arrogance, I thought the ends justified
the means. My brother and many others paid the
price for my fall to the darkside."

Fen wanted to execute him for the destruction of billions of innocent lives in the Carida System. However, she realized that this was what Kyp wanted her to do. He wanted her to kill him. And she refused to let him off so easily. Together, they rescued Ghitsa from the crew of the Rook. In the end, Fen and Ghitsa found themselves strangely on the fringe of some moral path. Fen had taken in Kyp's account, had hated him and come to some uneasy term that even she couldn't understand. Her animosity towards Jedi weakened a little as she resolved that there is nothing simple to a Jedi's tricks. Nothing simple at all. (read this awesome story in Tales From The New Republic). Some random quotes...

Fen's words died in her throat and Ghitsa's sharp gasp was abruptly drowned out by the low hum of the bright violet blade in Kyp's hand.A Jedi Knight and a lightsaber. It was almost holy, harkening back to an era long gone in her lifetime. Impossibly it lived again in the cramped cabin of a Hutt freighter. . . .

They both pivoted about on hearing the hum as Kyp again ignited his lightsaber. He swung the blade over his head and began slicing through half a meter of metal like a boot through mud.
     "You know, Fen." Ghitsa commented, staring at the young Jedi now deliberately sawing through ship hull. "I don't want to see a lightsaber on the black market. Ever."

. . .

Kyp, the kid of a Jedi, was standing alone in the middle of a docking bay. Laserfire poured from the Rook's forward guns. And like some weird children's toy, Kyp caught the green killing bolts on his lighsaber and tossed them away.

Kyp, "Those who do good things often have many enemies"
Kyp, "Those with untrained Force powers can be manipulated."
Fen to Kyp, "Stay out of my head, spoonbender."
Kyp, "Jedi have a responsibilty to Force-sensitives, especially those who have a real gift others woul exploit."
Fen thought, "Why was a hermetic Force zealot barely out of his teens so gloomy?"
Kyp, "No one would ever blame you, Fen, for killing the murderer of billions of sentients."
Kyp, "Be true to yourself, Ghitsa Dodger. That's the only pointer you'll ever need."
Kyp, "The force is with you, too, Fen."

         Welcome to an era where Empire and New Republic are allies and the new threat is an alien species, literally out of the galaxy, called the Yuuzhan Vong. The Yuuzhan Vong cannot be sensed through the force.

Kyp is first introduced as the leader of a non-aligned squadron known as The Dozen-and-Two Avengers. Consisting of two Jedi: Kyp Durron and his Jedi apprentice (ha-ha), Miko Regalia. What they do, basically, is hop around the galaxy righting wrongs and thwarting petty crooks. This activity is outside New Republic jurisdiction and it whips up poor sentiment between the attacked smugglers and the government and let's just say Kyp is really getting on a lot of people's nerves. And he comes off pretty slimy, as well. The end to the chapter of Kyp's first appearance in Vector Prime by Salvator shows Kyp walking off in a dramatic way, cape billowing behind. His squadron shoots off into the sky, orchestral crescendo blasting from speakers in the background.

Quite humorous. Quite scary. Where did everything go wrong? Read Mike Stackpole's I, Jedi and you get an anti view of Kyp through the eyes of ex-Corsec agent, Corran Horn. You might begin to understand then. Corran looks at Kyp through the eyes of the common person, yet unscrupulous eye, seeing Kyp as the mass murderer portrayed in Coruscant media. While, from behind the scenes (via Kevin J. Anderson) we know all the story and can sympathise for Kyp. Most of us, atleast.

The story is this. After years and years of being pelted by the media, Kyp is going extremely out of his way to prove to everyone that he can do good. That he's worth something. He's earning the mercy the New Republic bestowed upon him when he wasn't executed for murder. One of them 'life goal redemption' things. Kyp takes his job pretty darn seriously. He's broadminded enough to think beyond himself and to the welfare of other people. But he tends to not think clearly enough. This is a repeating (and very human) trait of Kyp's. I mean, how clearly was he thinking when he decided way back in the Jedi Academy Series: Suncrushers are a great way to destroy the Empire!

Kyp's squadron is decimated by the Yuuzhan Vong and his apprentice, Miko, dies shortly thereafter. Miko is the first Jedi to die at the hands of the Yuuzhan Vong.

Kyp Durron's independent action is inspiring other Jedi to act just as rashly. The Jedi are defenceless against the Vong (whom cannot be sensed through the force). Strong anti-Jedi feelings are stirred within the New Republic, when the Jedi (protectors) cannot fight the Vong, and also rogue Jedi are going about stirring diplomatic issues by doing whatever they please. If Kyp Durron doesn't settle down and take a look around he could very well be the herald of a new Sith era, which I'm sure isn't his true intention. Though Kyp is mighty cool evil. These being the roots he might just cling on to. Remember: once you travel down the dark path, forever will it dominate your destiny!

The budding Jedi Council is divided into Luke's defensive sect and Kyp's pro-active sect. Battles between people like Luke Skywalker, Corran Horn and Mara Jade (sissy good side) vs. Kyp Durron and Co. threaten to tear the Jedi irreparably.

So this is how it goes about for sometime. But then *insert scary music* Kyp finds out about a Yuzzhan Vong Worldship that would harbour millions of Yuzzhan Vong and literally make it easier for the aliens to take over the galaxy. Kyp wants to blow the thing to bits, but he knows that from his past track record, no one is likely to help him. So he does what he does best. Lies and tricks. He uses Jaina Solo's military connections and influences to convince the New Republic that the WOrld ship is a Yuzzhan Vong super weapon (kinda like what the Death Star was). And while he does all this, he also offers Jaina to become his new Jedi apprentice. Talk about a shocker! So anyway, Kyp tricks and lies his way through to blowing up the Worldship. Except that after it's blown up, Jaina figures out that it was exactly that, a Worldship, and not a super weapon like Kyp said it was. She gets ticked off at him and stops talking to him. He ruffles a lot of peoples' feathers this time. Cause not only is Jaina mad at him, but so is Jaina's family (which includes the Skywalkers and the Solos) and the New Republic military. Not a good thing! But what does Kyp care? He's a survivor, he can outlast them. He did what he thought was right.

Anywho, so everyone's mad at him, but grudgingly so...after all, his method was wrong, especially for a Jedi, but a huge threat of the galaxy was eliminated. So Jaina's brother dies and she starts turning to the dark side. Kyp turns her back, and they become friends.

Meanwhile, Luke Skywalker finds out some new information that proves that Kyp had been right all along in his activity with the Yuzzhan Vong. Luke establishes a New Jedi Council and asks Kyp to be one of the members. He accepts and things go pretty smoothly for him.

He no longer has his jerkiness that he seemed to have before (and all Kyp's fans say "YEA!").

The last time Kyp was seen in a book was the NJO's book "Refugee". He was sent to take Jaina Solo to a meeting. Then he just vanished off the scene. HmmmmmMMMmmmm...now what is he up to? It's been a full almost two books and we haven't heard from him. Is he concocting a new plan? Or is he just flipping burgers at the local McD's? But since the New Jedi Order series is coming to an end (there's only a few more books to go!) we know that he must be doing SOMETHING.

More on this later, as the NJO books are still being written at a great pace. Kyp stars in almost everyone of them, and while we might not all agree with the portrayal, at least he comes into the light. Which is a great change from previous years of Kyp-lessness. As long as the Star Wars author's don't totally and completely decide to mutilate Kyp's character, a good (well-explained, achem) story of Kyp should come from this.