You Know Nothing About The Tusken Raider Who Became A Jedi

Many Star Wars fans are already familiar with the formidable race of nomadic tribes known as the Tusken Raiders, who inhabit Tatooine and live in different areas across the sand of Dune Sea. They had appeared a handful of times in the movies within the Skywalker saga, and recently they had their time to shine in The Mandalorian. The Tusken Raiders’ history has been somewhat sidelined by the mainstream canon. But are you aware of the Tusken in Legends who became a Jedi and joined the dark side as a Sith Lord in Dark Horse’s Star Wars comics? This was the prequel era of Star Wars films, long before the Expanded Universe stories were eliminated from canon.

In the Dark Horse’s Star Wars comics, Sharad Hett, the former Jedi, became disillusioned with his life as a Jedi after the death of his family, exiling himself on Tatooine and embracing the culture of the Tusken Raiders, even becoming one of their leaders. He later had a son named A’Sharad, who was trained to be a Jedi and grew up in the Tusken culture after his father was killed by Aurra Sing. He entered the Jedi Order to train and became a Knight, wearing his traditional head wrapping of the Tusken Raiders culture. A’Sharad Hett also served alongside Anakin Skywalker at one time. This was during the height of the Clone Wars. Anakin Skywalker slaughtered the Tusken tribe that abducted his mother in Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones, but A’Sharad chose not to reveal Anakin’s dark acts to the Order. As a Tusken, he wanted revenge, but as a Jedi, he knew that Anakin’s secret was his burden to bear and that he had to seek redemption and accept that his actions were so steeped in the dark side. After a while, he took off his wrapping and revealed that he was human underneath it.

A’Sharad managed to survived the Clone Wars after taking part in the key conflicts during the war, such as the Battle of Boz Pity and the Siege of Saleucami. He was one of the few Jedi that escaped the Great Jedi Purge in 19 BBY. A’Sharad Hett eventually made his way back to Tatooine, where he waged a private war against the new Galactic Empire, but was exiled from Tatooine after the confrontation with Obi-Wan Kenobi. Later, he found out that Anakin Skywalker was the Sith Lord Darth Vader, who had aided in the annihilation of the Jedi Order. Hett blamed himself for the annihilation and became a bounty hunter. A’Sharad came across the Sith planet Korriban, where he trained as a Sith Lord under the tutelage of the Dark Lord XoXaan, where he finally fell deep into the dark side after being captured and got tortured by the Yuuzhan Vong. After this, he proclaimed himself Dread Lord and Dark Lord of the Sith, taking on the name of Darth Krayt, named after the fearsome dragons hunted by the Sand People. Darth Krayt tried to rebuild the Sith Empire and ultimately went toe-to-toe with Cade Skywalker, Luke's descendent in the Legacy comics from the Legends timeline, which took place over a century after the original six saga films.

Needless to say, Disney and Lucasfilm went with a different storyline. But it is nice to remember that the legend that was A’Sharad Hett, the Tusken Raider Jedi turned into Sith Lord Darth Krayt. This may be wishful thinking, but some may be hoping we can see a version of him at some point in The Mandalorian, which could lead to his own canonical storyline.

Written By Pat Kusnadi

Syndicated From Culture Slate