Star Wars: Deceived - The Brutal Darth Malgus
I just want to get it out there that the Old Republic era is my favorite era. We haven’t had a film or show centered around The Old Republic yet but there are several games and books dedicated to this Jedi vs. Sith war-time.
The Old Republic is about 3 to 4 thousand years before A New Hope and expertly lays the groundwork for the dawn of the High Republic to its eventual demise and overthrow by the Empire.
Around 2011 or so, novels based around BioWare’s MMORPG (massive multiplayer online role playing game),The Old Republic, were released as media tie-ins. Two of these titles were written by BioWare OG Drew Karpyshyn (Revan and Annihilation) but Deceived is authored by Paul S. Kemp. Kemp is known for his contribution to the Forgotten Realms books but is also a SW-novel veteran.
Like most of the books set in Star Wars, it’s beneficial to have experienced the visual medium first before reading any novel set in the universe. The novels framed as companions to The Old Republic MMO do little to explain or set the stage for a casual reader. With that said, Deceived is a ton of crazy fun. I haven’t played much of the MMO myself. I made an account around 2014 or so and found the MMO trappings to not be what I wanted from a SW game. I am a huge fan of the two Knights of the Old Republic games and really just wanted another one of those. But my experience with KOTOR is enough to enjoy these tie-in books.
Just a reminder I will be spoiling some aspects of Deceived!
Star Wars: Deceived focuses on Darth Malgus and his destruction of the Jedi Temple on Coruscant. This interrupts a peace treaty that is being discussed on Alderaan between the Jedi and the Sith. Malgus believes the Sith will be destroying temple as their first act to laying waste to the rest of the planet. After his brutal and murderous attack on the Jedi Temple, the Sith ships don’t start their assault on the rest of the Coruscant. Malgus is informed that the Temple-attack was used for leverage in the peace talks and that the Sith wanted to play politics more.
Deceived focuses on Malgus’ discontent with the Sith order and how weak their politics make them look. Malgus is one of the few ultra-sith villains in Star Wars history who acts out of pure evil. As a child, he murdered a servant in his home and his father sent him away to the Sith Order on Dromund Kaas. His father was pleased and thought his son would make a fine addition to the Imperial Order.
One of the more striking features of Malgus (he is quite striking and grotesque already) is the mask he has to wear. Malgus sustained injuries from fighting and can no longer breathe correctly without help. He can remove it for short periods of time.
While Malgus wrestles with the Sith Order and their lack of destruction, the story also follows a smuggler named Zeerid. Zeerid is given one last job to run spice (SW drugs) to Coruscant while the planet is in chaos from Malgus’ attack. On his way to the planet, he ends up picking up the Jedi, Ayrn. This Jedi left the peace talks in order to get back to the temple and get revenge because her master was killed by Malgus.
What follows is a cat and mouse game between Malgus and Ayrn as they sort through their feelings about what has happened. Ayrn wants revenge (which disobeys her Jedi teaching) and Malgus wants to defy his Sith Order by carrying out complete destruction of Coruscant.
The twist for Malgus is his love-interest/slave/battle companion. Her name is Eleena Daru and she is a Twi’lek who Malgus saved on Geonosis. He discovered her in one of the slave pens and he liberated her. Eleena became Malgus’ lover but also servant. Only she could call him by his birth name of Veradun. While Eleena becomes a lover of Malgus, she cannot become his wife due to the Empire’s anti-alien policies in marriage. Yeah, just so you know, the Empire has always been big racist.
During the siege of the Jedi Temple, Eleena is hurt and Malgus becomes preoccupied with her safety.
Malgus is routinely chided by his superior Lord Angral for his relationship. I mean, I think it’s wild that Malgus walked into the Jedi Temple, killed a ton of Jedi and set fire to the place and yet he is still seen as weak because of his relationship but that’s just me!
Malgus defeats the Jedi Aryn in battle towards the end of the book but lets her go before giving the death blow. He does this because Aryn spared Eleena’s life when she was about to kill her.
Malgus in this moment sees the true effect of having Eleena in his life - a roadblock to him unlocking the pure Sith within himself. Malgus kills Eleena after confessing his love for her (something he never did previously).
When Malgus finally is imprisoned towards the end of his life he says on of the most badass fucking things a Sith has ever said,
"I have revealed a truth long buried. A path to power, concealed by thrones and hidden by councils. Overshadowed by a war with no true victor. I have seen a vision of the future. A galaxy in flames. What I have begun will not end with me. This is only the beginning." Source
Like holy shit, dude.
Considering the nature of Sith culture and the war-time Malgus lived through, it’s quite amazing he ended up imprisoned and not dead. Given the information from the game, he is about 90 years old.
I loved Deceived even if it opens with the best part of the book. Malgus walking around Coruscant and taking in almost poetically what he is about to burn down is magnetic. He walks right into the temple, has a Sith transport barrel through the wall behind him and his warriors flood out lightsabers buzzing. It’s incredible to read and absolutely merciless on the part of Malgus.
The thing about Malgus is he is brutal but that soft spot for Eleena had to be snuffed out for fear of letting compassion govern his actions. In this way, Malgus is close to the Jedi in not letting attachments affect his position. While the Sith lean into emotions to fuel their power, compassion is a weakness and should be replaced with hatred and anger.
I would recommend this book for someone who is familiar with the game-side of the Star Wars universe. It’s fun and well-paced. If you are not familiar with the games, I hope you can read this and walk away with added Sith-knowledge to tell all your friends at parties this summer.
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