Sora Bulq was a Weequay Jedi Master and later Dark Jedi Master and a recurring antagonist in the Star Wars series serving as a recurring antagonist in the Star Wars Republic comic series and one of the main antagonists of Star Wars Republic: Siege of Saleucami. He was a Jedi Instructor from the Bulq Family and was a renowned and famous lightsaber instructor who mastered all of the techniques, forms and arts that the Jedi Order taught to its pupils. Due to his skills, Mace Windu had Bulq refine Vappad, but this required tapping into the dark side of the force and Bulq was overrun by it.
During the early stages of the Clone Wars, Bulq was captured by the Sith Lord Count Dooku and later re-emerged as one of his agents, having abandoned the Jedi Order and become a Dark Jedi. He joined the Dark Acolytes, a group of Dark Jedi that fought for the Confederacy of Independent Systems, and convinced other Jedi to join the Dark Acolytes and abandon both the Galactic Republic and the Jedi Order as well.
Background[]
Master of the Lightsaber[]
“ | Many, many Jedi has he trained. Great his influence is. | „ |
~ Yoda speaking of Sora Bulq |
Sora Bulq was born during the waning years of the Galactic Republic to the Bulq Family, a family of wealthy Weequay merchants, and was raised on Ruul, a moon orbiting the Weequay planet of Sriluur. When he was an infant, he was discovered to be force-sensitive and was taken to the Jedi Temple on Coruscant by the Jedi Order to become a knight of the ancient monastic peacekeeping order.
During his time in training, Bulq was known for being contemplative and philosophically inclined and was known for spending time meditating and was emotionally balanced and strong with the force, something Jedi Grand Master Yoda commented on. While training, Bulq lacked connection with his Weequay heritage having rejected Quay Totems that his species used in religious traditions to interpret the will of the god Quay.
Bulq generally rejected the Weequay religious traditions of his homeworld and believed that they prevented his people from unlocking their Jedi potential. Because of his negative views towards his people's religious customs, he was generally unpopular back on his homeworld and his accomplishments ignored. Despite this, Bulq remained a committed member of the Jedi Order and quickly rose through the ranks becoming exceptionally skilled with a lightsaber and mastered all of the order's techniques. Bulq soon became an instructor and taught padawans lightsaber skills with one of his students being Mirai, who favored a more passive approach in comparison to her master.
Bulq's skills in lightsaber combat and force abilities caught the attention of Jedi Master and High Council Member Mace Windu, who convinced him to help refine Form VII, also known as Vaapad, a form of lightsaber combat. The technique was dangerously perfected by Windu and the two spared in order to master it. Bulq was one of the few people who knew how to master it and while he helped refine it, his ability to master it came from him tapping into the dark side of the force and his enjoyment of the battle. Bulq was fascinated by the dark side, and studied it in secret, as such studies were against the rules of the Jedi Order.
Bulq's teaching methods may have been affected by the influence of the dark side, perverting them subtly. Bulq was chosen to reteach the Jedi Knight Quinlan Vos in lightsaber combat after he had lost his memories. Bulq taught Vos the art of Vaapad despite it's inherit nature to the dark side and how Vos himself was struggling with it - something that Bulq was supposed to teach him to overcome. It was later discovered after Bulq defected to the Separatists that he had taught Vos and lured him into the dark side, though it was unknown if this was intentional or not.
Clone Wars[]
First Battle of Geonosis[]
In 22 BBY, Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi was conducting an investigation on the Outer Rim planet of Geonosis when he was captured by Count Dooku, a former Jedi Knight and Sith Lord, while on the planet. Kenobi revealed that Dooku was building an alliance of corporations, governments and other entities that were planning on leaving the Republic and were building vast droid armies on the planet. The information was given to the Jedi order before his capture and Bulq was selected to be part of Mace Windu's Jedi Strike Team where he helped save Kenobi, Anakin Skywalker and Padme Amidala from Geonosis from being executed.
Eventually Bulq and the other Jedi were surrounded and were given the chance to surrender by Dooku, but refused and were on the verge of being executed by the droids that surrounded them, but were saved by the arrival of the Grand Army of the Republic lead by Grand Master Yoda and flew in on LAAT/i transport gunships to rescue the Jedi and spare them from being killed. During the evacuation, Bulq boarded a gunship with Tarados Gon and Jedi Council member Eeth Koth and the gunship flew off to assist the Clone Army in combating the Separatist Droid Army, but his gunship was shot down and he was presumed dead before re-emerging alive and well.
Mission to Bakura and Capture[]
“ | Twisted my mind?! He opened it! After defeating me on Bakura, Dooku tended to my wounds and reasoned with me! He showed me the anger at the core of my being—and made me acknowledge its power!" | „ |
~ Bulq to Tholme on his defection |
After being stranded on Geonosis, Bulq was eventually found and recovered by the Jedi Order who later sent him on a mission to the planet Bakura in Wild Space. The mission was a pursuit of Count Dooku and it was to discover any potential base that Dooku had on the planet. When he arrived on the planet, both Bulq and Tholme confronted Dooku and fought the Dark Lord of the Sith in a lightsaber duel where Bulq fought with two green lightsabers instead of his more customary blue lightsaber and shoto. Despite being an exceptional combatant in the ranks of the Jedi Order, Bulq proved to be no match for Dooku and fell before a single blast of force lightning from the Sith Lord.