"You cannot imagine the depths I would go to to stay alive, fueled by my singular hatred for you!" Top to bottom
Darth Sidious: I have waited a long time for this moment, my little green friend. At last, the Jedi are no more.
Yoda: Not if anything to say about it, I have. At an end your rule is, and not short enough it was.
Yoda: Not if anything to say about it, I have. At an end your rule is, and not short enough it was.
Examples of Arch-Enemy in Star Wars.
Canon:
Live-Action Films:
- The Jedi Order to the Sith Order for the entire franchise. Both are factions that each other seeks to destroy, with the Sith Order, especially under Sheev Palpatine / Darth Sidious, causing a lot of the Jedi Order's suffering.
- In the Prequel Trilogy, the Confederacy of Independent Systems/Separatist Alliance serves as this to the Galactic Republic. Although in actuality, Sheev Palpatine controls both, the Separatists' violent efforts are what cause a lot of strife for the Republic via the Clone Wars, which further aid his transformation into the Emperor.
- During the Battle of Naboo, which allowed then-Senator Palpatine to be elected chancellor, his apprentice Darth Maul was an archenemy for Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jinn and his padawan Obi-Wan Kenobi. Maul was sent to deal with both of them during the battle, killing Qui-Gon, but being bisected by Obi-Wan in retribution. Letting his burning hatred for Obi-Wan prolong his life until Maul's brother Savage Opress could save him, once Maul was restored, he struck back with vengeance (even if no longer working for his old master), even killing Obi-Wan's love interest Duchess Satine in front of him. This feud only ended with Maul arriving on Tatooine during Obi-Wan's exile and being finally struck down by the now aged Jedi.
- Count Dooku, Palpatine's next apprentice, was the public face of the Separatist Alliance, but became a personal adversary for Anakin Skywalker, Obi-Wan's padawan, after cutting off one of his arms on Geonosis. They fought many times throughout the Clone Wars, but ultimately, their conflict came to an end when Palpatine goaded Anakin into killing Dooku, paving the way for the eventual downfall of the Separatists and the rise of the Empire.
- After turning to the dark side, Anakin Skywalker, now Darth Vader, became a personal adversary for his former mentor Obi-Wan Kenobi. Kenobi confronted Vader on Mustafar, leaving his former apprentice injured to the point that he needed to be put on permanent life support. Vader becomes obsessed with hunting down Kenobi, who suffers a Heroic BSoD when he learns Vader is still alive. During their second confrontation, Vader burns a demoralized Kenobi alive in retaliation for what Kenobi did to Vader. Nevertheless, Kenobi would soon regain his power and confidence, and defeat Vader in combat once again, while simultaneously buying time for members of the Path, an undergound network protecting force-sensitives from the Empire, to escape from Vader. During their final confrontation aboard the Death Star, Obi-Wan willingly allows Vader to stike him down so Luke, Leia, Han, Chewbacca, R2-D2, and C-3PO can escape.
- Yoda has Darth Sidious, who is responsible for corrupting Yoda's former apprentice Dooku, attempting to break Yoda's will in a Sith ritual, and who wiped out the majority of the Jedi Order, which was under Yoda's leadership at the time. Yoda confronted Sidious in the Galactic Senate building, with neither one of them managing to finish off the other. After failing to kill Sidious, Yoda goes into hiding on Dagobah, where he spends the remainder of his life. Shortly before his death, Yoda trains Luke Skywalker, guiding him on the path to becoming a Jedi who can stop Sidious.
- Obi-Wan also had General Grievous, who Dooku had trained to take him on in the Jedi arts. The two fought on multiple occasions throughout the Clone Wars, with Obi-Wan finally killing Grievous on Utapau.
- Padmé Amidala has Nute Gunray, a Corrupt Corporate Executive who invaded her homeworld, only to be thwarted by her followers and allies, and personally captured by Amidala herself. Years later, Nute Gunray sought to have her assassinated, having Jango Fett hired to go after her, then later chuckling in delight when she is clawed by the nexu in the arena on Geonosis.
- Once Palpatine had won, converting the Republic into the Galactic Empire, it became this for the Rebel Alliance, led by Mon Mothma, that emerged to combat it in the Original Trilogy. After all the hard work in erecting the Empire, the Rebels were the only obstacle left that could challenge it in power.
- Now that Anakin Skywalker himself was now a Sith, having become Darth Vader, he served as the primary opponent and Archnemesis Dad of his own long lost son and new Jedi, Luke Skywalker, with Anakin having become obsessed with corrupting him throughout The Empire Strikes Back. This lasted until Return of the Jedi where Luke bested him in battle, and refocused his attention toward Darth Sidious, who now took up this role as Luke refused to be corrupted as his father had before him.
- Leia Organa also has Darth Vader (who he was the father of as well, although he never fully realized it as he did with Luke), who attacks her personal starship, the Tantive IV, captures Leia, tortures her, and forces her to watch the destruction of her homeworld (with her adoptive father Senator Bail Organa on the planet at the time of its destruction). Three years later, Vader captures her again, and has her Love Interest Han frozen in carbonite and handed over to Boba Fett.
- During A New Hope, Leia also has Grand Moff Tarkin. Even though they only have a single meeting during the entire film, Leia spends a large portion of the film as his prisoner. During their encounter onboard the first Death Star, Leia expresses her contempt for the man, while Tarkin gloats that he authorized her execution. Shortly afterwards, Tarkin orders the destruction of her homeworld of Alderaan, although she manages to undermine him by giving him the location of an empty Rebel base. An angry Tarkin was about to have Leia executed immediately, but Vader convinced him to allow her escape with the plans so they could track her to the Rebel base. The plans works, but Tarkin and his space station are destroyed thanks to the Death Star plans he allowed her to escape with.Princess Leia Organa: Governor Tarkin! I should have expected to find you holding Vader's leash. I recognized your foul stench when I was brought on board.Grand Moff Tarkin: Charming to the last. You don't know how hard I found it, signing the order to terminate your life.Princess Leia Organa: I'm surprised that you had the courage to take the responsibility yourself.
- Han Solo has Jabba the Hutt and Boba Fett. Jabba put a large bounty on Han's head for dumping valuable cargo that belonged to Jabba, and Han lived in fear of Jabba's wrath for many years. Boba Fett turned Solo's friends over to the Empire and personally delivered Solo to Jabba as a prisoner, with the crime boss even enslaving Han's love interest Leia when she tried to free him (which culminated in her killing him).
- The Sequel Trilogy has the rivalry between the First Order, the resurgent remains of the Empire, and the Resistance, an offshoot of the New Republic founded by Leia to oppose the First Order in response to the rest of the Republic's Head-in-the-Sand Management and decision to basically ignore the threat.
- Luke's own nephew, Ben Solo/Kylo Ren, was turned to the Dark Side of the Force by Snoke, and would become the main adversary of Rey, the Force-sensitive scavenger girl thrust into the ongoing story. They had a complicated dynamic, each other trying to turn the other to the opposing side of the Force, with Rey finally managing to get Ben turned around by under The Rise of Skywalker. By then, Emperor Palpatine once again fulfills this role to Rey, with her turning out to be his own long lost granddaughter he tries to goad into killing her so he can possess her, and delights in trying to kill the now-treacherous Ben.
- Kylo also considers Luke his arch-enemy as he believes Luke once tried to murder him when he was his padawan, which is part of the reason for his turn to the dark side. However, this is a one-sided feeling as Luke feels nothing but sorrow and regret for his failure to train Ben.
- In addition, Kylo had a rivalry with General Hux that eventually grows so intense that Hux turns to spying on him for the Resistance, willfully sabotaging his own cause just to eliminate Ren.
- Upon Finn's defection from the First Order, Captain Phasma, his former superior officer, becomes his nemesis, with their conflict culminating in Finn defeating her on Snoke's ship.
- Rogue One:
- Director Orson Krennic to Galen Erso in because Galen used to think they were friends back when both were working for the Empire as scientists, before Galen realised that the Empire was evil and that his research was being used to build the Death Star; Krennic ultimately was indirectly responsible for Galen's wife dying after he forced Galen to come back, and held the life of his missing daughter Jyn Erso over his head to keep him in line, culminating in Galen sabotaging the Death Star by making it easier to blow up. Evidence of his treachery also leads to Krennic ordering all of Galen's scientist colleagues executed and accidentally leads to Galen's death by a Rebel fighter squad bombing the area, though not before Krennic rubs it in his face that the Death Star has been used on a city. Ultimately, Jyn Erso avenges her parents by getting the Death Star plans to the Rebellion, but otherwise the two barely interact and Krennic doesn't even recognise her, so Galen is a better fit as arch-enemy since It's Personal between the two and Jyn was following Galen's direction anyway.
- Tarkin and Krennic are also this, having a rivalry that eventually ends with Tarkin obliterating Krennic with the rest of Scarif via the Death Star. Krennic absolutely despises Tarkin for stealing credit for and control of the Death Star project he has spent half of his life on. Although Tarkin certainly doesn't like Krennic, he also doesn't see him as much more than a mildly irritating pest.
Literature:
- Thrawn: As Thrawn rises through the Imperial ranks, he develops an archenemy in the form of the insurgent Nightswan, a proto-Rebel criminal mastermind. Like Thrawn, he prioritizes brains over brawn, preferring to oppose the Empire as a thief, spy, and saboteur rather than in a direct fight, and works hard to minimize waste and collateral damage. The two are also professionals dedicated to their cause and to their people, a rarity in a galaxy filled with corrupt officials and violent criminals, and they're not above helping each other out against a third party on occasion. Their ideological differences, however, are too great for them to be on the same side.
- Thrawn has another archenemy in the Ascendancy trilogy. In these novels, Thrawn is still an officer of his native people, the Chiss, and hasn't left the Unknown Regions or linked up with the Empire yet. His archenemy in this trilogy turns out to be Jixtus, a master manipulator and member of another Unknown Region faction, the Grysks, who are trying to expand their territory and tear apart the Chiss Ascendancy. Unlike Nightswan, there's nothing respectful or admiring in their relationship with each other.
- Star Wars: Aftermath: Norra Wexley has Rae Sloane (who has Norra's son thrown off the roof of a palace, and who Norra later hunted under the mistaken belief she was the mastermind behind the attack on Chandrilla, in which several brainwashed ex-prisoners, including her husband Norrin, tried to assassinate Mon Mothma and other New Republic officials), and Gallius Rax (who was the actual mastermind behind her husband's brainwashing and the attack on Chandrilla).
Live-Action TV
- The Mandalorian: Din Djarin and Bo-Katan Kryze have Moff Gideon. In addition for his general role in the genocide of their people, Gideon is a personal enemy for Djarin because of his attempts to capture Grogu, and a personal adversary for Bo-Katan because he took the Darksaber from her.
Western Animation:
- Star Wars: The Clone Wars:
- Mace Windu to Boba Fett, considering that Mace killed Boba's father Jango in Attack of the Clones, for which Boba attempts to assassinate him in response. However, Mace has no real animosity towards Boba and considers killing Jango Nothing Personal.
- Had the series not been prematurely cancelled, Boba's Evil Mentor Cad Bane would have eventually become his new arch-enemy. This is still hinted at in their meeting in The Book of Boba Fett, where Boba finally finished Cad off.
- Count Dooku to Asajj Ventress, for training her as his personal assassin before casting her aside on Palpatine's orders, attempting to have her killed and later ordering the elimination of her entire people, the Nightsisters. This is further expanded on in Dark Disciple, where Ventress teams up with Quinlan Vos in an attempt to kill Dooku.
- Ventress also has Savage Opress, her former apprentice who she brainwashed into killing his own brother Feral. Opress rebels against Ventress after being fed up with her abuse. When Savage later teams up with his other brother Maul, Ventress has to work with Obi-Wan to take on both brothers.
- Star Wars: The Bad Batch: Clone Force 99 have Tarkin and Rampart. Tarkin has Clone Force 99 (with the exception of Crosshair) branded as traitors for refusing to kill civilians, and later order an orbital bombardment of their homeworld of Kamino, which Rampart carries out.
- Star Wars Rebels:
- The Grand Inquisitor to Kanan Jarrus, as the lead agent of the Empire hunting down the Jedi, with whom Kanan has a climactic duel in the Season 1 finale.
- In Season 2, Kanan gains a new arch-enemy in Maul, who blinds him and seeks to corrupt Kanan's padawan, Ezra, to the dark side, while still dead set on trying to kill Obi-Wan, Maul often attempted to kill Kanan due to seeing him as an obstacle to corrupting Ezra.
- Aleksandr Kallus to Garazeb Orrelios, as Kallus seemingly led the genocide of Zeb's people, the Lasat. However, it's later revealed that Kallus did not give the order to use a WMD on the Lasat, and was in fact horrified by the decision. He and Zeb eventually reach an understanding and even become close friends after Kallus makes a Heel–Face Turn.
- Darth Vader to Ahsoka Tano, his former Padawan who is opposing the Empire.
- Grand Admiral Thrawn to Hera Syndulla. Hera is the Captain of the Ghost, while Thrawn is the leader of the Imperial cell dedicated to hunting her and her crew. Though Thrawn respects Hera as a Worthy Opponent, Hera takes great offence to Thrawn invading her homeworld of Ryloth and stealing one of her most sentimental family heirlooms.
- Thrawn also becomes the arch-enemy of Ezra Bridger, leading the Imperial Garrison on Ezra's homeworld of Lothal and being perfectly willing to harm innocents for the sake of the Empire, while Ezra is a Jedi who prioritises innocent lives over his own goals. While Ezra has to face off against the Emperor near the end of the series finale, Thrawn is ultimately the Final Boss of the series for him.
- Governor Pryce to Kallus after his Heel–Face Turn. Pryce is one of the most sadistic Imperials, and hates Kallus for being a traitor, while Kallus hates Pryce for reminding him of his former Imperial status and cruelty.
- Pryce is also the arch-enemy of Ryder Azadi, having had him arrested so she could steal his job as Governor of Lothal.
- Star Wars Resistance:
- Kazuda Xiono has Commander Pyre, a First Order stormtropper officer who he has multiple encounters with. In Descent, Pyre attempts to arrest Team Fireball, which results in Kaz's aquaintance Tam being taking into custody and joining the First Order. Kaz also has Jace Rucklin, who blames Kaz for the destruction of his ship.
- Tam Ryvora has Agent Tierney, who spends the entirety of her time on Resistance manipulating and trying to corrupt the former.
Video Games:
- Star Wars Battlefront II (2017): Iden Versio has Gideon Hask, her former subordinate. While Iden deserted from the Empire during the destruction of her homeworld, Gideon remained loyal to the Empire. During the Battle of Jakku, Iden defeated Gideon in ship-to-ship combat. Decades later, Gideon killed Iden's husband, Del Meeko. Shortly after that, Iden and Gideon kill each other.
- In Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order: Cal Kestis and Cere Junda have the Second Sister/Trilla Suduri, who killed Cal's friend Prauf, and is the former apprentice of Cere, who betrayed Trilla to the Empire under torture. The two later get through to Trilla and attempt to redeem her, but Vader kills her before she can complete her redemption.
Legends:
Comic Books:
- Star Wars (Marvel 1977): Luke Skywalker has Lumiya, formerly the Imperial spy Shira Brie, who had a relationship with Luke while posing as a Rebel. Lumiya has a vendetta against Luke for disfiguring her, and in response, she turned Jacen Solo to the Dark Side as Darth Caedus (with him later killing Luke's wife Mara Jade). Luke would ultimately kill Lumiya at last, following his wife's death.
- Star Wars: Legacy: Cade Skywalker has Darth Krayt (who orchestrated the Ossus massacre that claimed his father's life, and who sought to use Cade's healing abilities), Darth Talon (who was Cade's master and lover during his brief stint as a Sith apprentice), and Darth Nihl (who directly killed Cade's father).
- Jango Fett: Open Seasons: The True Mandalorians and the Death Watch are this to each other during the Mandalorian Civil War. Jango Fett has his personal arch-enemy in Tor Vizsla, the founder of the Death Watch who's responsible for the death of Jango's biological parents and of his mentor and surrogate father Jaster Mereel, the massacre of his comrades at the hands of the Jedi by slaughtering innocent civilians and framing it on the True Mandalorians to have the Jedi attack them, and Jango's following enslavement. Jango eventually escaped and managed to hunt down Vizsla to Corellia where they had a duel to the death which ended with Vizsla being eaten by dire-cats after Jango gutted him. Vizsla was also this to Jaster Mereel as they fought over leadership over the Mandalorians.
Literature:
- Jedi Apprentice: Qui-Gon Jinn has this relationship with Xanatos for the first eight novels. Xanatos is a former apprentice of Qui-Gon's who fell to the dark side, left the Order, and built a corporate/criminal empire that relies heavily on slave labor. He also counts as an evil counterpart to Obi-Wan Kenobi, an apprentice of Qui-Gon's who unlike him remains on the light side of the Force.
- The Last of the Jedi: Ferus Olin has Darth Vader, his Rival Turned Evil.
- The Han Solo Trilogy: This is where Han Solo is originally seen developing the archenemy relationship with Boba Fett that we saw in the movies and would endure for a decade or two after them. It's a more professional relationship than most, however, as Fett considers himself bound by the bounty hunters' code of conduct, which leads him to pass on a couple of opportunities to kill Solo.
- The Corellian Trilogy: Han Solo has another one in his own cousin Thrackan Sal-Solo. Other than having been a vicious bully to Han when they were young and of Thrackan having accused Han of driving his mother insane, Thrackan's grudge against his cousin grew as Han's desertion of the Empire and career in the Rebel Alliance ruined his own career in the Imperial Military. Years later after finally reuniting Thrackan has Han imprisoned as a hostage and fight another prisoner for his sadistic amusement, before trying to murder Han's children after they bested and escaped him, an action made even more despicable as family is considered to be sacred in corellian culture. Years later Thrackan would continue to be a thorn in Han and his family's side, trying to have them eliminated, until Legacy of the Force where Thracken put a bounty on Han and his family's head, causing Han to have finally enough of his cousin and to help Boba Fett and Mirta Gev kill Thrackan.
- Choices of One: Imperial Grand Admiral Thrawn gets an archenemy in this book, alien warlord Nuso Esva, a conqueror from the Unknown Regions that Thrawn is in charge of pacifying and colonizing. Thrawn defeats him in this book but that doesn't end the conflict; it takes most of another decade before Nuso Esva's threat is finally eliminated in the short story Crisis of Faith (with the intervening conflict never being shown, as the Legends continuity was canceled before any more stories could be written about it).
- Shadows of the Empire: Prince Xizor, the underworld kingpin and third most powerful man in the Empire, has this relationship with Darth Vader, the second most powerful man in the Empire. Vader knows they're competing for Emperor Palpatine's favor, but doesn't discover until very late that Xizor has a personal motivation, as his entire family was killed by Vader. He has Xizor eliminated with extreme prejudice shortly thereafter.
- In the Wraith Squadron trilogy (part of the X-Wing Series), Han Solo develops this relationship with the Big Bad, Warlord Zsinj. It's a professional enmity in that Han is the New Republic task force commander charged with bringing down Zsinj, but the long conflict turns them into an obsession for each other. They also make revealing foils for each other - Han is an underworld smuggler who learned to rise above his own selfishness and become part of something greater than himself when he joined the Rebellion, while Zsinj is an Imperial officer who betrayed his oath and became a self-serving warlord as soon as he felt powerful enough to do it.
- From the same series, there are several people who consider Imperial spymaster Ysanne Isard their archenemy, especially Wedge Antilles, who's led Rogue Squadron against her for years and ultimately masterminded her fall, and Corran Horn and Tycho Celchu, each of whom she captured, imprisoned, and tortured for weeks. Her ultimate archenemy, however, ends up being Iella Wessiri, the New Republic Intelligence agent who participated in the same campaigns against her as the Rogues, whose husband Isard tortured, brainwashed, and ultimately forced her to kill, and who's the one that ultimately gets the satisfaction of tracking down and killing Isard.note
- The Thrawn Trilogy: Luke and Leia have Grand Admiral Thrawn and Joruus C'baoth. Thrawn sought to capture Luke, Leia, and Leia's children so he could hand them over to C'baoth, who sought to use them as his pawns.
- Jedi Academy Trilogy: Luke Skywalker has Exar Kun, a Sith spirit who kills Gantoris, one of Luke's apprentices, converts another, Kyp Durron, to his side, and tries to condemn Luke to a Fate Worse than Death.
- The entire Shadow Academy becomes this to Luke Skywalker's Jedi academy during the Young Jedi Knights series - two schools teaching young people the ways of the Force, one training them in the dark side and affiliated with an Imperial revanchist faction, the other training them in the light side and affiliated with the New Republic. On a more personal level the Dathomiri warriors in each camp - Shadow Academy instructor Tamith Kai and Jedi Academy instructor Tenel Ka - take an instant dislike to each other and become archenemies until Tenel Ka defeats Tamith Kai and blows up her entire assault platform with her on it. Brakiss, meanwhile, thinks he's this to Luke Skywalker, but it's largely averted from the point of view of Luke, who's had to deal with much more impressive enemies in his time.
- New Jedi Order:
- Mara Jade has this relationship with Nom Anor, the Yuuzhan Vong agent who poisoned her and therefore not only nearly killed her, but also the child she was carrying.
- Jacen and Jaina Solo have Tsavong Lah, who has a vendetta against Jacen for taking his foot, and who seeks to sacrifice Jacen and Jaina because they're twins.
- Legacy of the Force: Luke Skywalker and Jaina Solo have Darth Caedus, who is their Evil Nephew and Evil Twin, respectively, as well as the killer of Luke's wife, Mara Jade Skywalker.
- Fate of the Jedi: Luke Skywalker has Abeloth, an Eldritch Abomination who consumed his old flame Callista Ming, trapping her soul.
Video Games:
- Knights of the Old Republic:
- In the original game, Revan had Darth Malak, his Evil Former Friend who kidnaps Bastila Shan (Revan's canonical Love Interest) and tortures her until she falls to the Dark Side. In Star Wars: The Old Republic, Revan has the Sith Emperor, who subjected him to a Fate Worse than Death for 300 years.
- Bastila Shan also has Darth Malak. Her Battle Meditation is one of the biggest obstacles to Malak winning the war, and Malak devotes a lot of effort into either killing Bastila or forcing her to join his cause. He eventually succeeds in converting her to his side late in the game, only for Revan to canonically convert her back shortly afterwards.
- Carth Onasi has Admiral Saul Karath, his former mentor who defected to the Sith, and later destroyed his homeworld on Malak's orders.
- Zaalbar has his brother, Chuundar.
- Juhani has Xor, who killed her father.
- In the second game, Meetra Surik a.k.a. the Exile has three: each of the Sith Lords which reflect an aspect of herself.
- The most prominent is Darth Traya, her Big Bad Friend whose fate is bound up with the Exile whether they like it or not.
- Another is Darth Nihilus, who became Humanoid Abomination after being exposed to a superweapon Meetra ordered the activation of.
- Another is Darth Sion, who seeks to kill her because he is attracted to her, which he sees as a weakness to be purged.
- Darth Nihilus is also this to Visas Marr, his former apprentice whose homeworld he destroyed.
- In Star Wars: The Old Republic, Satale Shan has Darth Malgus, who kills her mentor Kao Cen Darach. Satale later injures Malgus to the point where he must wear a respirator.
