(Taken from my now-defunct "Power of Darth Revan" blog from 2015 - so sorry for any cringe wording)
During the war, Revan and his Jedi Crusaders continued to fall down the dark path as they sacrificed their morals for victory. Eventually, Revan and Malak discovered an ancient ruin of the Rakata species on Dantooine, where they found a Star Map - a relic of the Rakata that showed part of the location of the Rakatan space station known as the Star Forge. After much consideration, Revan consciously opened the door to the map in pursuit of the immense dark power it was radiating, despite knowing the consequence that the Jedi Order would surely banish them if they knew the truth. This was Revan's first major leap to become a full-fledged dark-sider. The map directed them to Tatooine, Manaan, and Korriban in order to find their ultimate prize - the mythical Star Forge.
During this time, Revan stumbled across Malachor V while searching for potential strongholds to withstand the Mandalorian attacks. Malachor V was a place of cultural taboo for the Mandalorians, and it was forbidden to any to step foot on it. The reason became clear when the immensely powerful dark side energies of the planet went to corrupt Revan. While the planet would later take even the likes of Darth Traya and thousands of Jedi as its own, Revan's Force and telepathic resistance were impenetrable. He allowed himself to feed on, but not be consumed by, the power of the dark side. Experiencing the true power of the planet for himself, he searched the surface for more treasure.
He found the Trayus Academy and discovered numerous Sith artifacts and holocrons, all stored in great tomb-like cities buried beneath Malachor V's surface. As Revan plundered these tombs and relics, he fell deeper into the dark side. He learned of the true nature of Korriban, he learned of the location of other Sith artifacts, and he learned how those strong in the light side of the Force could be seduced and made to see the strength inherent in the Sith teachings. Using his newfound knowledge, Revan developed a brilliant, yet evil, plan: he will push back the Mandalorian fleet to Malachor V alongside his Jedi Crusaders so he can simultaneously turn the planet's power against the Mandalorian army in battle and seduce his army of Jed to be completely loyal to him alone. Even as the Republic hailed him as a hero, every action he took during the war was to make this plan a reality. The corruption of Revan was complete.
Revan lead the charge against the Mandalorians, pushing them back and reclaiming countless worlds in the battles of the Vorzyd, Stenos, Elom, Taris, and Lianna sectors. He did more than simply bully the Mandalorian fleet into submission with raw firepower however. Canderous Ordo accounts Revan's mastery at feints, counterattacks, and mass deceptions. It is said only Revan could have done what he did, and if he hadn't intervened the galaxy would have fell to Mandalore. The actions in those battles have been long lost from the pages of history. Their only relevance for most is that it demonstrates Revan's peerless tactical prowess. It was more than that though... far more. Revan used these battles to slowly break his own forces. He didn't break them physically however, but mentally. By the time of the heart of the Mandalorian crusade that was the Battle of Dxun, Revan's forces had a deep, intense devotion and commitment to his cause. This was the plan of course - they were all unknowing pawns. Dxun served as the pinnacle of Revan's ingenious plan, and set the scene for the massacre of Malachor V.
The Battle of Dxun was arguably the bloodiest battle of the Mandalorian Wars. It was said that for every Mandalorian who died, ten Republic soldiers shared the same fate. Little does history, or the fan-base, know that this was indeed intentional. HK-47 and Meetra Surik note that the battle could have easily been won without the amount of casualties they suffered. Under the command of Meetra Surik, Revan forced her forces through "a hundred feints" during the battle, dwindling her numbers down to a quarter of their full strength. The majority of her remaining soldiers were lost during a desperate charge across a minefield as they attempted to strike at the Mandalorian emplacements, as Revan ordered. This entire charge however was completely unnecessary for victory, and there were far easier choices for a more decisive victory.
HK-47 accounts that Revan saw Dxun as a way to break Jedi psychologically in the heat of conflict. Like I mentioned a while back, Revan will use this tactic many times. Take note that the forces of Dxun were under Meetra Surik's command. Revan eliminated a large bulk of her forces and defeated the Mandalorians together in a glorious victory for himself. It is no coincidence that after this battle, the remnants of Meetra Surik's forces saw Revan single-handily annihilate a huge number of Mandalorian ground forces on Althir with casual ease. And it makes perfect sense too: Revan wanted the soldiers not loyal to the Republic or to the Jedi Exile, but rather to him. He secretly orchestrated the entire battle in order to gain the loyalty of Surik's forces. Who would they be more loyal to: the general who, in their mind, lead thousands of them to their death in an unavailingly futile ground incursion on Dxun, or the one who expeditiously obliterated Mandalorian forces on Althir and showed superior leadership abilities? The answer is obvious.
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The Battle of Malachor V was one of the deadliest and influential battles in galactic history. It marked the end of the Mandalorians as a galactic threat for the rest of time, and set the scene for the Jedi Civil Wars and First Jedi Purge. The entire battle was manipulated by Revan alone to...
1.) Eradicate the Mandalorian armada from the face of the galaxy for history.
2.) Gain an army of Jedi and Republic followers with unyielding loyalty to him.
The plan itself was highly complex and was planned by Revan since his first encounter with Malachor V.
As the game canonically says, "It is no coincidence that the Republic fleet at Malachor was composed of soldiers and Jedi whose loyalties to Revan were in doubt." Before the Battle of Malachor V, Revan split his fleet in two. He gave Meetra Surik the "tattered remains" of a portion of his armada, whose soldiers' loyalties were in doubt through the horrors of war and loss. The soldiers that remained with him were the ones he had molded into unwavering loyalty. Upon seeing the "damaged, weakened and vulnerable" armada led by Meetra Surik, the Mandalorians quickly followed them. As Revan planned, she lured them to Malachor V. Malachor V was a forbidden world to the Mandalorians - a cultural taboo that Revan used against them. If you recall, Malachor V was also a planet that contained immense dark side energies Revan planned to use against both fleets.
The battle began with Revan's fleet conveniently delayed by a mere Mandalorian scouting party. This setback was however Revan's intentions. He needed to join the battle with the Republic on the losing end of the spectrum for the next phase of the plan to effectively work. Bao-Dur, the creator of the Mass Shadow Generator, describes that, before Revan arrived, the Mandalorian forces "tore into us like beasts, shredding our ships to scrap as we fought back."
When Revan arrived with the bulk of the Republic fleet at his back, the Mandalorians realized they have been tricked. Revan used the Force to call upon the dark side energies of Malachor V and the Trayus Academy, and then released the energies against both fleets. The dark side power turned the side of the conflict while also corrupting hundreds of Jedi into his Sith minions. I will highlight the full scale of this feat later on, but please take note of its badassery. While doing this, Revan single-handily challenged Mandalore the Ultimate to a duel in single-combat. Mandalore was the greatest and deadliest Mandalorian of his time. His greatest combat feat was perhaps on the Arkanian Legacy where he defeated Malak in a single-stroke with his "infused cortosis" battle-axe, which had an installed energy cell that enabled the axe to deliver a strong electric charge "to achieve double the damage." He was ultimately insignificant to Revan's power, being deemed as "no match."
What Revan did next though was the biggest insult ever directed at the Mandalorians. Denying Mandalore his honor, he stripped him of his mask. In Mandalorian tradition, the wearer of Mandalore's mask was therefore the Mandalore. Revan however, denied them of the mask and took it with him when he left. He went and hid the mask in an isolated, long-forgotten planet in the Outer Rim (as you will later learn). This gross humiliation of their most sacred possession spoke volumes of Revan's disgust for them. As he would later say, "Honor is a fool's prize. Glory is of no use to the dead."
As the tide of the battle turned, Revan positioned his fleet outside the range of the Mass Shadow Generator, and then ordered Meetra Surik to activate the secret weapon. Moments later, a significant portion of both fleets were suddenly drawn from orbit into a vast gravity vortex that was powerful enough to crush the countless ships into the planet's crust and fracture Malachor V to its very core. During the event, Malachor V was turned into a broken cluster of planetoids that were only tenuously fused together by the gravitational anomalies present in the system. Orbiting the broken remains of the planet was the wreckage of countless Mandalorian and Republic warships. All that remained on the surface of the planet was a desolate graveyard echoing with the deaths of thousands of Jedi, Republic soldiers, and Mandalorians.
(Continued below)