Maris Brood

Maris Brood was found as an infant by the Jedi Order, and taken into training due to her connection with the Force. Trained by her Master on the starship Gray Pilgrim, she was distanced from the rest of the Order during the Clone Wars. Due to their isolation, Brood and her Master did not fall victim to the execution of Order 66. Still, the effects of the killings were felt even in seclusion; sensing the near-simultaneous deaths of so many Jedi, Brood's Master set out to recover evidence of their fate.

Her Master disappeared, never to be seen again, but not before he was able to warn Brood of the destruction of the Jedi and Darth Vader's role in the Great Jedi Purge. Bent on revenge, Brood set out to hunt down and destroy the Dark Lord of the Sith. Intercepted by surviving Jedi Master Shaak Ti, Brood was persuaded away from the dark side of the Force and went into hiding in the forests of Felucia with her new Master.

Shaak Ti befriended the native Felucian tribes and continued to train Maris Brood in the Jedi arts on Felucia for years while also hiding from the Sith Lords and their Galactic Empire. Despite Brood's loyalty to Ti, she continued to harbor much anger and resentment over the persecution of the Jedi, a trait which Ti tried and failed to eliminate. By the year 3 BBY, both the Jedi Master and her Felucian shamans sensed that the young Padawan was gradually falling to the dark side of the Force.

When Starkiller, Vader's secret apprentice, visited the planet for the first time, hunting Shaak Ti, Brood requested the chance to confront the assassin at her Master's side; a request that Shaak Ti denied due to her certainty that Brood would be killed by the Sith adept. Ti instead sent her to the rancor graveyard, despite Brood's protestations that she was strong enough to stand alongside her Master. After Ti was defeated and killed by Starkiller, Brood was left without a master once more, stranded and alone on Felucia. When Starkiller visited the planet for a second time, in a mission to rescue Senator Bail Organa, he discovered Brood waiting for him.

When Organa arrived on Felucia in search of Shaak Ti, unaware of her death, hoping she would rescue his adopted daughter, Brood had taken him captive. The loss of her mentor had plunged Brood deeper into darkness; an effect that spread throughout the planet, infecting the Felucians with the dark side. Brood captured the Senator and kept him as her prisoner, planning to offer him to Darth Vader, should he ever find her, in exchange for her life. When Starkiller arrived in search of Organa, the fallen Jedi confronted him with her pet bull rancor.

Starkiller killed the rancor and defeated Maris Brood, incapacitating Brood with Force lightning as she turned to flee. Begging for her life with the promise of redeeming herself of the dark side's influence, she convinced Starkiller to let her go. Organa protested, recalling Anakin Skywalker's fall to the dark side. Starkiller defended his mercy by saying that Maris Brood was not truly free; and that she would carry the memories of her actions with her forever.

As the Empire's rule spread across the galaxy, Maris Brood and her new Master lived a life of hiding on the distant, inhospitable Felucia. Brood herself was keen to bring the fight to the enemy, though this impulse was held back by Shaak Ti. She was more open to giving into her baser urges and primal emotions than heeding her Master's example of calmness and patience. Despite her inclinations toward the dark side, Ti believed that it was due more to Brood's fear than anger.

After Ti's death, Maris Brood's sense of abandonment and betrayal at having been left alone on Felucia resulted in her immersion in the dark side of the Force, though she would later claim that this was because of the dark nature of the planet itself. Her fear of death at Darth Vader's hands made her more than willing to place her own survival above all else, taking hostages and potentially trading them to the Empire in exchange for her life.

Such was her fear of death that Maris Brood resorted to begging for her life at the hands of Starkiller. The apprentice judged such behavior unworthy of the dark side, believing that Brood's failure to control her fear was a weakness that caused an aspiring Jedi Knight to become a coward who pleaded for mercy. Although Brood swore to renounce the dark side, Bail Organa and Starkiller both doubted her sincerity.

Maris Brood was born a Force-sensitive, who was helped towards realizing her potential first by her original Master and, later, Shaak Ti. Both undertook to train her in the use of the Force and the ways of the Jedi. Trained on both her first Master's ship, the Gray Pilgrim, and on the planet Felucia by Shaak Ti, Maris Brood was not considered strong enough by Ti to face Starkiller when he arrived on the planet to kill Ti.

By the time of her fall to the dark side, Brood utilized twin red guard shotos in combat. She was proficient in the use of telekinesis as well as fighting at close range using melee attacks. Brood also showed an affinity for Beast Control, befriending the mythical bull rancor, which was thought to be uncontrollable by the native Felucians. In an attempt to defeat the secret apprentice on Felucia, Maris Brood utilized the ability of Force cloak, hiding from Starkiller before launching withering attacks upon him.

Maris Brood derives from the more than hundred, male and female, concept sketches for the Jedi protagonist of the project. Artist Amy Beth Christenson designed that figure holding tonfa-shaped lightsabers, something that impressed art director Matt Omernick, and agreed with Hayden Blackman that the figure should enter the final product in some capacity.

In early drafts of the project, Maris Brood's backstory had her a Force-sensitive child that was raised by a rogue Jedi. Her master helped beings in the outer worlds of the Galaxy during the Clone Wars, even in unorthodox ways, and gave her unofficial Jedi training. Her master feels a disturbance during Order 66 and departs to investigate what happened to his brethren, but he never returns. Maris, left alone, eventually poses as a pirate and becomes the leader of a band, whom she also tried to keep their violent ways in check; in addition to setting up a shop in Cloud City. However her anger, fear and lack of guidance, brings her close to the dark side.

When the scenario of The Force Unleashed took a final form, Maris was seeking revenge against Darth Vader for the death of the Jedi, including her Master, but Shaak Ti stopped her before her arrival to Coruscant and persuaded the Zabrak to follow her as an apprentice, in an attempt to keep her rage and hatred in check. However she failed to dispel her terror of Vader.

Leaked Hasbro toy catalogues were the first sources to reveal Maris's name. Her name was later confirmed by the March 2008 issue of Game Informer.

Early images of the Force Unleashed figures in both the 2" and 3.75" scales showed Maris wielding twin green-bladed lightsabers with tonfa-shaped hilts. However, in later promotional artwork and in Hasbro's figure, Maris Brood is depicted with red-bladed sabers. The handles on the final production figure are in the wrong place, forcing Maris to hold them near the blade rather than at the far end.

Maris Brood was voiced and portrayed by actress Adrienne Wilkinson.

Maris can be selected as a playable skin in The Force Unleashed video game through the cheat code MARISBROOD. When selected, however, cutscenes are disabled. In the N-Gage/iPhone versions of the game, Brood holds Organa inside a downed Munificent-class star frigate. When Starkiller defeats her there, she does not beg for her life. Instead, the Sith apprentice decides to spare her by himself.

In 2010 Maris appeared as one of the eight playable duelists in the Wii version of Star Wars: The Force Unleashed II. Concept art was also included on the Wii version, with a noticeably different outfit, indicating that she was originally intended to make an appearance in the main game.

• The Art and Making of Star Wars: The Force Unleashed
• The Force Unleashed Campaign Guide
• Star Wars Fandex Deluxe Edition
• The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia
• Rebellion Era Campaign Guide
• Star Wars: The Force Unleashed II: Prima Official Game Guide
• "50 Great Reasons to Rewatch Star Wars: The Clone Wars Season Three" — Star Wars Insider 125
• Star Wars: The Ultimate Visual Guide: Updated and Expanded
• The Essential Reader's Companion
• Star Wars: The Ultimate Action Figure Collection
• Star Wars: Force Collection