Hoth was a Jedi Knight about a millennium before the rise of the Galactic Empire. With a huge stature and a commanding presence, Hoth joined the Jedi Knights with a dream. In his vision as a young Jedi Knight, Hoth saw himself single-handedly defeating the Dark Side, and making a difference in the galaxy. However, due to the realities and responsibilities of real life, Hoth never saw that dream come to fruition. However, he did come close. Rising through the ranks of the Jedi Knights, and showing much skill with the Force, Hoth eventually attained the rank of Jedi Master, and came to be known as Lord Hoth.

During Hoth's elder years, an opportunity presented itself that might have allowed Hoth to fulfill his dream of ridding the galaxy of the Dark Side. A Sith Lord, having survived the civil war that took place in the Sith Order, Lord Kaan had assembled an army of Sith Lords and 20,000 Sith devotees. Kaan called his army, the Brotherhood of Darkness and subsequently declared war on the Jedi. The Jedi formed their own army of Jedi Knights and soldiers, led by none other than Lord Hoth. Hoth called his army the Army of Light and met Kaan's military measure for measure. The war raged on and was characterized in seven titanic battles, the last of which took place on the backwater planet of Ruusan. By the time of this seventh battle, both Hoth's and Kaan's armies were beaten down, and many prominent Jedi had died in the battles.

Lord Hoth sent Jedi Knights out on recruiting missions to nearby planets to search for anyone with any aptitude in the Force. As those planets were drained of their eligible fighters, the Jedi began to recruit younger and younger fighters. Hoth began to become more and more concerned about the extreme youthfulness of the soldiers they were sending against the Sith. However, Hoth's aide, and Jedi Knight himself, Pernicar constantly reminded Hoth that if they did not send the recruits against the Sith, the Sith would send them against the Jedi. Soon, word came to Lord Hoth that Jedi Knight Valenthyne Farfalla would be arriving soon with a hundred knights to fill the Jedi's ranks.