Kyle Katarn

General

Kyle Katarn is the protagonist of several Star Wars games including:  Star Wars: Dark Forces, Star Wars: Jedi Knight - Dark Forces II, Star Wars: Jedi Knight - Mysteries of the Sith, and Star Wars:  Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast.  He also appears as a NPC in many other games such as Star Wars: Lethal Alliance, and Star Wars: Jedi Knight - Jedi Academy.  Katarn is a former Imperial officer who defects to the Rebel Alliance after learning from Jan Ors that his father was tortured and killed by the Galactic Empire for treason.  He then works as a mercenary for the Alliance and later becomes a Jedi Knight.

Games

Star Wars: Dark Forces

In Star Wars: Dark Forces, Kyle is a mercenary working for the Rebel Alliance and is secretly sent on dangerous and highly sensitive missions by Rebel leader Mon Mothma.  Dark Forces takes place in the same time line as the original Star Wars trilogy movie and has many non-canon tie-ins to those movies, such as Kyle retrieving the plan for the Death Star that eventually allow the Rebel alliance to destroy it in A New Hope.

Star Wars: Jedi Knight: Dark Forces II & Jedi Knight: Mysteries of the Sith

Unlike Dark Forces, Star Wars Jedi Knight: Dark Forces II takes place shortly after the event of the movies and tells the story of Kyle discovering the Valley of the Jedi, becoming a Jedi, and his battle against both the Sith and the lure of the Dark Side.  The game gave the player a choice between the Light and Dark sides pf the Force, though later games assume that the Light Side was chosen.

In the expansion, Mysteries of the Sith, Kyle becomes tutor to Mara Jade, a former imperial assassin.  At the end of the game Kyle gives up his lightsaber and renounced his studies of the Force for fear of falling to the Dark Side.

Star Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast

Three years after the first Jedi Knight game, Kyle is once again a mercenary for the Rebel Alliance in Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast.  During the events of the game, Kyle travels back to the Valley of the Jedi and re-establishes his connection with the Force in order stop the Dark Jedi Desann.  After Desann’s defeat, Kyle continues his training at Luke Skywalker’s Jedi Academy on Yavin 4 and eventually becomes a Jedi Master.

Other Games

Kyle is a Jedi Master during the events of Star Wars: Jedi Knight – Jedi Academy.  He serves as instructor to the main character, Jaden Korr, and fights alongside the player for several missions.  He also provides information and tips throughout each mission.  If the player chooses the Dark Side at the end of the game, Kyle also serves as the game’s final boss.
 
Katarn makes an appearance in Star Wars: Lethal Alliance, hiring the player on a key mission.  In Empire at War, Kyle is a hero character for the Rebel Alliance.