Dace Diath was a Jedi Knight in service around 4000 years before the Galactic Civil War, and he fought in both the Freedon Nadd Uprising and the Sith War. Dace came from a family strong in the Jedi tradition, for his father, Sidrona Diath, was a Jedi Master. Dace spent the entire first part of his life training as a Jedi under the instruction of his father, on the planet Tatooine. Dace studied and concentrated on the lessons his father taught, but sometimes found it difficult to advance his learning. Sometimes he questioned if this was the right path for him, and wondered if he could continue his training, not because of the amount of work and dedication it took, but because he did not want to disappoint his father. Dace's father did all he could to renew Dace's faith in himself; he told him tales of Jedi who also had a difficult time connecting to the Force, but because they worked so hard to attain that connection, those Jedi eventually became some of the best teachers.

One particular day in the Jundland Wastes of Tatooine, after Dace had had a great deal of difficulty, he went to his father for comfort. However, this time, his father told him that he could not help, and that Dace would have to rely on introspection and meditation. Surprised and upset at this, Dace left to focus on his problem. Concentrating inward, Dace wandered for hours and eventually ended up near the Dune Sea. Looking across the sea, Dace remembered a time when he was just a small child in which he visited the Jedi planet of Ossus. He remembered that there he inspected a Jedi Holocron, and the words of the gatekeeper were brought to mind:

'A Jedi who tries with all of his being never fails. It is the Jedi who gives up that fails--fails not only himself, but the Force as well.'