Grim Crew Presents: Dead Future

They’ve really infected everything haven’t they? Those creepers have just taken everything we have ever known and loved and tore it all to shreds. I mean I can deal with the Naboo and the atrocity of Jar Jar Binks, and even the pod racing, but this? Wait, you thought I was talking zombies again? Well sort of.

Now my knowledge of Star Wars has been well limited to say the least. I saw the movies and I was a fan, but it wasn’t until I started playing the Star Wars RPG that I really got into the universe. I walked among the people of Tatooine, and I invaded an Imperial Star Destroyer. I met strange races and even planned assassination of the super criminal Jabba the Hut, but in all my travels of the Star Wars Universe, I never came across this…

Meet the Korriban zombie, also known in the Star Wars RPG as Korriban Sith zombie. Never mentioned in the movies, and only briefly appears in the comic books, my only conclusion about these zombies is that Dark Horse Comics made the Star Wars universe jump the shark, yet again.

The Korriban zombies don’t even show up in the Star Wars universe until 1994 when Dark Horse introduced them as guardian spirits. From there they were only mentioned one time in a continuation of the series. From that point on there was no other mention of the short lived zombies in the comic books. Nine long years went by before the Korriban zombies were introduced into Wizards of the Coast RPG based on the Star Wars universe. Here the zombies were given their name and described in detail. This is also where the story of their history was told. There was an appearance of them in 2004 in the young reader’s novel series. In 2005, the Tales of the Jedi: Dark Lords of the Sith Audio drama was released as an adaptation to the original tales. Finally in 2008 that the Guardian spirits were mentioned in the Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia published by Del Ray but only under the entry for the Korriban planet.

The fact that the Korriban Sith zombies haven’t even been explained in Star Wars cannon, which can be defined as the books that Lucas Licensing editors consider the authentic official history, is partially disconcerting. However the expanded universe is considered by many a good representation of the complete story, as long as it doesn’t interfere with what is considered cannon. The way I see it we can sit here and debate the validity of the Korriban zombies, or we can accept them for what they are, another side story in the Star Wars mythos.

Sith Zombie? I don't know, someone who's played this game tell me.

So what are these zombies like? Well in many ways the Korriban zombies are a lot like the zombies we are used to, they are virtually unkillable except by damage to the brain or severing of the head. The intelligence of these zombies is slightly better than that of a normal zombie because the Korriban zombies can use weapons, which vary depending on the species the particular zombie. The zombie did gain superior strength and better vision in the dark; however their never ending hunger for living flesh was a major drawback. What sucks even more for them was that they were commanded by the spirits of dead Sith Lords to guard their tombs, so they couldn’t even search the galaxy for their dinner, not that they would have the intelligence to fly a ship anyway. What I do really like about these zombies is the organ. Evidently a combination of Dark Sith alchemy, magic, and mechanics were involved to raise the first army of undead. Later it was found that if the living were bit by these undead warriors, they too would become zombie, and thus the undead army was able to consist of many different races of beings.

If you like Star Wars, I suggest you check out the Tales of the Jedi: Dark Lords of the Sith comics by Dark Horse to learn more about this obscure race. Better yet, get that RPG, roll up some Jedi, and go fight them yourself, because it looks like once your past this series, you won’t be learning much more about them as they were wiped out by Ben Kenobi, Anakin, a handful of other Jedi, and their Padawans. You can also visit the wiki, where I got most of my information, but I always like to refer back to the source material so you can make your own decisions about the matter. As I have not played many Star Wars Video games, I don’t know if the zombies are featured in any of them, however I do know that some of the levels involve exploring some of the tombs of the ancient Sith Lords. There’s also the screenshot above of Darth Sion, who looks a lot like a zombie to me. There may also be hope in BioWare’s new RPG title Star Wars: The Old Republic as it does have a basis in Korriban. No word as of yet on the official website, however as this is an RPG they may come up with downloadable content. You never know. I guess we will find out more when it becomes released on December 20^th.

Like what you saw here? Tell me about it! I want your comments, and you can also email me your two sense at penguinprince25@grimcrew.com. You can also visit us at our Facebook page, or follow me on Twitter and Google+! You also only have approximately 1 week left to email me your entries for the Dead Future Anthology Giveaway, submissions must be in by November 1^st!

-Till Fate brings our Future

Penguin Prince