A battle took place on Rhen Var early in the Clone Wars. Although still a minor planet in terms of overall strategic importance to the Republic, Rhen Var held the ruins of the temple which held the tomb of fallen Jedi Ulic Qel-Droma and contained information that was vital to destroying the Dark Reaper.
After the Confederacy of Independent Systems' overwhelming victory that had secured their hold of Rhen Var in the days prior, Jedi General Obi-Wan Kenobi and his Padawan Anakin Skywalker launched an assault to recapture the planet with hopes of entering the Jedi monument to find any information left by Ulic Qel-Droma on stopping the ancient Sith superweapon called the Dark Reaper, which they feared Count Dooku may have been close to restoring.
Republic forces defending the downed Acclamator-class assault ship
During the initial landing, an Acclamator-class assault ship carrying experimental AT-XT walkers was shot down, crashing in a wide, snow-covered canyon that quickly came under attack from Separatist forces determined to ensure nothing could be salvaged. Kenobi ordered Skywalker to move with haste toward the crash site in TX-130 Saber-class fighter tanks, joining up with the already-operational AT-XT walkers in defending the downed transport, buying time for the surviving walkers to mobilize and escape the wreckage.
When the area around the transport was secured, Skywalker took command of a squadron of the bipedal walkers from the cockpit of an AT-XT himself and moved on the enemy's fuel depot. The walkers were equipped with powerful mortar cannons and after several volleys, the depot was destroyed and the Separatist's refueling capabilities crippled.
Meanwhile, far away at the Rhen Var Harbor, a clone task force infiltrated and captured a Separatist sensor station that had been set up there following the planet's earlier capture by the Separatists. Once the station was cleared out and secured, a small detachment was left on site for the remainder of the battle, while the majority of the clone task force began their several kilometer advance towards the Rhen Var Citadel. Communication logs discovered at the Harbor sensor station suggested that the Separatists had recently and preemptively set up a staging area at the remote Citadel to coordinate the deployment of reinforcements to the Jedi monument.
Anakin Skywalker on his way to the Jedi monument aboard a LAAT/i gunship
Having already dealt a serious blow to the Confederacy's ability to fight by destroying the Separatist's refueling depots, Skywalker took to the sky in an LAAT/i gunship to meet up with Kenobi's forces, accomplishing several objectives on the way. Skywalker destroyed an outpost laden with heavy gun turrets that was holding down a substantial number of the assault's clone forces―both infantry and several armored AT-TE walkers―with suppressive fire, along with supplying the main Separatist army with further reinforcements. He also pursued two Vehicle Armored Carriers through a narrow canyon while they were en route to drop more Separatist vehicles on the battlefield. Skywalker destroyed them both before either could unload its cargo.
As Skywalker approached the temple, weaving through a high-walled canyon of ice, he discovered a massive convoy of Separatist vehicles consisting of numerous large Multi-Utility Transports with Armored Assault Tanks moving at their flanks. Kenobi warned that should the convoy reach the Jedi monument, the Republic army would be vastly outnumbered. Skywalker quickly engaged the convoy, battling them from the air until every last tank was destroyed.
A SPHA-T walker firing on the Lucrehulk-class core ship
Their threat removed, Skywalker joined up with the main bulk of the Grand Army's ground forces at the monument, finding a Lucrehulk-class core ship and three Hardcell-class interstellar transports. Skywalker destroyed the transports while, at Kenobi's order, two squadrons of LAAT/c gunships swooped down to deploy two armored AT-TE platoons as defensive support for twin SPHA-T artillery walkers assaulting the core ship.
At the Rhen Var Citadel, the clone task force finally arrived and wiped out the Separatist staging area which was established during the battle to coordinate the deployment of droid reinforcements to the site of the Jedi monument. The battle left the Citadel in ruins, and the task force remained on site until the Republic later left the planet after the battle ended.
Inside the Jedi monument
Once the core ship was brought down under concentrated fire, Skywalker landed the gunship, and proceeded to enter the Jedi monument in a fighter tank. Before he could proceed any further, he had to defeat the spectral guardians protecting Ulic Qel-Droma's tomb. After defeating the guardians, Skywalker reached the ancient tomb of Qel-Droma within, where he alone learned how to withstand the effects of the Dark Reaper. With his new knowledge, Skywalker declared the battle over and departed from the planet, leaving the Confederacy in defeat.
- The Official Star Wars Fact File107
- The Official Star Wars Fact File118
- "Guide to the Grand Army of the Republic" — Star Wars Insider 84
- The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia, Vol. III
- The Essential Atlas