The constant battle between the Dark Side and the Light in Star Wars leads the path for some dark storylines. Some of the darkest Star Wars storylines to exist within the franchise come from all over. Whether it’s the Star Wars movies, TV shows, books, comics, games, or otherwise; the galaxy far, far away has plenty of darkness that has been explored.
When one talks about the darkest Star Wars storylines, it’s impossible to deny the influence and prestigious legacy left behind by the EU Star Wars canon, Legends, which is regarded now as non-canon stories. Star Wars has some excellent and dark stories in both canon and Legends entries.
9 Obi-Wan Kenobi’s Trauma
One of the central themes surrounding the Obi-Wan Kenobi limited series on Disney Plus was the titular character and his trauma that led to his exile and watch of Luke Skywalker on Tatooine. For almost a decade, Obi-Wan Kenobi has been in hiding on the desert planet, with the last hope of the Jedi blissfully unaware of his future.
During the series, Obi-Wan Kenobi is faced with ghosts of the past, as he sees his apprentice and former brother everywhere. Obi-Wan has cut himself off from the Force, and he is a far cry from the Jedi Master audiences once knew. The series itself is about how Kenobi overcomes this great darkness, even if watching him in these moments is a dark storyline indeed.
8 Darth Maul’s Return
Many Star Wars fans never expected to see Darth Maul again. This terrifying double-bladed lightsaber-using Sith Lord was cut in half by Obi-Wan in The Phantom Menace, and it seemed that he was set to remain that way. That was, until Star WarsThe Clone Wars brought him back, fueled only by his anger and hatred for the Jedi that cut him down whilst he was in his prime.
Darth Maul’s return to the Star Wars franchise was darkness incarnate. He festered in salvage with his terrifying spider legs, until his brother, Savage Oppress saved him. When Maul’s cunning and bitter personality returned to him, he sought to not only kill Obi-Wan but to make him suffer before his end by taking everything.
7 Fives’ Conspiracy
Another one of the darkest storylines in Star Wars comes from The Clone Wars series, in which a fan-favorite clone trooper unfolds a conspiracy, a plot to destroy the Jedi order. Fives have to fight against his brothers and Jedi to try and make some sense of the plot that will end them all. It’s a tense storyline, filled with lingering darkness from the inevitability of Order 66.
The storyline has Fives betray his brothers in a desperate attempt to prove himself as innocent, and to unfold the conspiracy helmed by Chancellor Palpatine. However, Fives is killed before he can stop it, meaning fate is never altered, and because of Fives’ death, the Jedi and clones will all perish.
6 Twilight Of The Apprentice
Maturity beset Star Wars Rebels with the Twilight of the Apprentice episode. This episode was perhaps the most emotional and darkest set of Star Wars storytelling for Star WarsRebels, as it finally pits Ahsoka Tano against her former master, Anakin Skywalker.
The emotion boils into heartbreak with this fight between an adult Ahsoka Tano, and a vengeful, hatred-bound Darth Vader. Each clash of their lightsabers is done with mastery and pain that makes the audience remember the tragedy of Anakin Skywalker all too well.
5 Planet Eating Sith Lord
Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic 2 – The Sith Lords takes place centuries before the time of Anakin Skywalker. Considering there are thousands of years for Knights of the Old Republic to flesh out their own stories, means that there is plenty of room for darkness, and this story in particular features the army of the Sith on the cusp of wiping out the Jedi.
The story of KOTOR 2 is inherently dark by design. The story features choices and consequences of a lone Jedi, who may choose the Light or the Dark. Within this story, players have their choices judged by Kreia, and their physical feats challenged by the planet-eating Darth Nihilus, as well as the hateful immortal Darth Sion.
4 Death Troopers
As if Storm Troopers couldn’t get any worse, they go ahead and become zombies. Death Troopers is a novel in the Legends continuity that takes place on an Imperial prison barge known as the Purge. The Purge holds some of the galaxy’s most violent offenders and rebels, and the ship finds itself in orbit of an adrift and seemingly abandoned Star Destroyer, which was ravished by a horrific disease that quickly wiped out the Purge.
The dead speak, and they rise from what seems like their infinite slumber to consume. Those that rise from the disease come back as zombie-like creatures, hungering for flesh and bone alike. Death Troopers is a horror story in the Star Wars universe, making for a dark tale indeed.
3 Yuuzhan Vong War
No enemy has caused such turmoil and destruction as the Yuuzhan Vong. Star Wars canon fears the arrival of these beings from another galaxy, as the Yuuzhan Vong ravaged Star Wars Legends for years. The ambition of the Yuuzhan Vong was to eradicate civilization due to the belief that it is polluted with life, and only their warriors could cleanse it.
In the Yuuzhan War, the galaxy saw a near-apocalyptic calamity, where it took every soldier and civilian to hold them back. What made the Yuuzhan Vong so terrifying wasn’t just how many popular Star Wars Legends characters were killed, but their inherent nature and immunity to the Force, making for a disturbing and dark foe.
2 Anakin Turns To The Dark Side
One of the most famous Jedi Knights of all time, Anakin Skywalker was a promising member of the order. Anakin was supposed to be the best of them, the Chosen One. Anakin Skywalker was prophecised to destroy the Sith, but instead, he joined them, in a desperate effort to save his wife, Padme Amidala.
Anakin’s fall to the Dark Side and his rise as Darth Vader are one of the tragedies that make Star Wars a thrilling opera. It’s one of the darkest storylines in the franchise, and it saw the fallen Anakin Skywalker murder younglings and his friends. Anakin’s fall haunts him in his grief and anger as Darth Vader, and his scars remain in every moment of his prison behind Vader’s mask.
1 Order 66
Darkness is entwined within Star Wars stories, but perhaps no story can feature the darkness and sadness from Order 66. This grand scheme carried out by the Supreme Chancellor, the Dark Lord of the Sith, saw the death and eradication of the Jedi Order. With the commencing of Order 66 in Revenge of the Sith, every Jedi was hunted and wiped out across the galaxy, by their clone brothers-in-arms no less.
Order 66 is also known as the Great Jedi Purge, and the fact that thousands of Jedi were wiped out is a tragedy that befell the Republic. For thousands of generations, the Jedi were a beacon of hope and peace across the galaxy, and the Sith had received their revenge, leaving but a few wanted remnants scattered across the galaxy.