As one of the few selected to train as one of the Emperor’s Royal Imperial Guard, Kir Kanos was absolutely loyal. Trained on Yinchorri, he was highly trained in the Squall. He was paired with Lemmet Tauk and trained by Myn Kyneugh and Ved Kennede.
Education and Training
The training was brutal, and he witnessed the best of them cut down by Vader to show how far they still had to go. When two openings were available for the Royal Guard, Palpatine called in first Carnor Jax and his partner, then he and Tauk. Once there, they were ordered to fight for him. As the Emperor no doubt intended, the fight was to the death and Kanos to his own dismay, killed Tauk for the right.
Kir Kanos was almost as good as a Jedi in a fight, good at strategy and avoiding traps, and did serious damage to Imperial equipment and personnel even when outnumbered.
History
Since their were enough royal guardsmen to have them rotated in and out, he and several others were not on the Death Star, nor were they on Byss or the Galaxy Gun when even the clone of the Emperor died. But they did find out the hard way that the Emperor had been betrayed by one of their own, Carnor Jax and the physician was hired to create defective clones, thereby seeking Skywalker to look for a replacement body. This led to his death.
Carnor Jax attacked, killing all the remaining Royal Guard present including the one who had escaped and warned them. Only Kir Kanos survived, a threat to his plans.
Kanos went on the run, swearing to avenge the Emperor’s death. Along the way he encountered New Republic officer Mirith Sinn, and their relationship became a temporary on again, off again alliance. They both had vested interest in stopping Carnor Jax and the Ruling Council. But ultimately, Kanos knew he would be going against members of the New Republic that she served: Skywalker and Organa Solo.
Kir Kanos does gradually recognize that the Emperor wasn’t the paragon he’d been brainwashed to believe. The holo of the death of Mirith’s husband at the hands of Vader, claiming the Emperor didn’t care if people starved, was hard to ignore. As were his own triggered memories of training and watching how Darth Vader tested one of his fellow trainees. Still, he had his oaths of loyalty.
At long last though, Kir Kanos’s encounter with Devian, who tried to enlist him to join his scheme against both Republic and Empire, decided enough had been done. The conflict with Devian, left him near death. Mirith left him, not knowing if he’d live, to report to the New Republic and flat said he was dead. She then retired from her role as Leia’s chief of security. Kanos recovered in the care of Baron D’asta, a one time member of the Imperial ruling council. Dasta kept news of his survival secret from the Empire that would’ve arrested him for his earlier involvement in killing Xander Carivus.
While they weren’t together at the time, it was implied they might end up together.
Relationships:
Mirith Sinn was the closest thing he had to a romance. There was a genuine mutual attraction between them. But Kir Kanos’s fierce loyalty to the late Emperor and her own loyalty to the New Republic, based on the murder of her husband by the Empire, comes between them most of the time. However, in the end the possibility is there that they would ultimately be together, putting their difficult pasts behind them.
Kir Kanos often worked as a bounty hunter to earn credits and get into places where he could find the information needed to continue his quest. He often used the alias Kenix Kil.
Sources on Kir Kanos
- Crimson Empire
- Crimson Empire 2 Council of Blood
- Crimson Empire 3 Empire Lost
- Bounty Hunter: Kenix Kil
- Hard Currency – Dark Horse Extra 21-24
- The Third Time Pays for All – Dark Horse Presents #1 reprinted in Crimson Empire 3 Trade paperback
Merchandise: Kir Kanos had 3 action figures, one a 30ths anniversary figure, one part of a Crimson Empire 6 pack in yellow training gear, and one 6″ figure that was unfortunately mislabeled as Carnor Jax. Carnor Jax however had entirely different armor coloration, mostly black helmet for instance, as opposed to Kanos’s traditional red.
