Shaela Nuur

A female Human, Shaela Nuur lived during the era of the Old Sith Wars. As a Force-sensitive, Nuur was taken into the Jedi Order and eventually apprenticed to the ancient Neti Jedi Master Ood Bnar. Over the course of her training on the Order's library world of Ossus, Nuur earned Bnar's faith and confidence, and he believed her to be his most promising student. She eventually constructed her first lightsaber under his guidance, prompting the Neti to bestow upon her the Solari crystal, one of the oldest and most powerful lightsaber crystals possessed by the Jedi Order.

Despite her protests, Bnar insisted that Nuur accept the gift but reminded her that the crystal was incorruptible—it could only be used by those who were pure in the light side of the Force. Nuur committed Bnar's words to memory and took the crystal, installing it within her yellow-bladed saber. Nuur eventually lost both Ossus and Master Bnar during the Great Sith War in 3996 BBY, when allies of the Dark Lord of the Sith Exar Kun caused the Cron Cluster to supernova. The energy blast from the supernova devastated Ossus, killing all life on the surface. Ood Bnar was believed to have been among the dead.

The Great Sith War eventually came to a conclusion, and the Jedi Order began to plan the rehabilitation of the galaxy. Foremost among the concerns of the Jedi Council were the terentateks, fearsome creations of the ancient Sith that fed on the blood of Force-sensitives while remaining unaffected by many powers utilized by Jedi. Their presence across the galaxy led to the death of many members of the Order after being reawakened during the war. In an attempt to purge the monsters from the galaxy, the Council organized the Great Hunt in 3995 BBY to systematically exterminate them from the worlds that they inhabited.

Shaela Nuur was among the Jedi selected to participate in the Great Hunt, alongside the Human Duron Qel-Droma and the Twi'lek Guun Han Saresh. Through their successful hunts on Onderon, Yavin IV, Tython, and Ossus, the three gained a reputation as the most efficient and talented terentatek hunters within the Order. The bond forged between the three encouraged the Council to send them on increasingly dangerous missions without fear of losing them to the dark side of the Force. Unbeknownst to the Council, contention brewed between the three as Nuur and Qel-Droma nurtured a growing romance, much to the chagrin of an increasingly jealous Saresh.

In the final year of the Great Hunt, Nuur was dispatched to the Outer Rim world of Tatooine alongside Qel-Droma and Saresh, as well as Cale Berkona and a Cathar Jedi. In an effort to rid the planet of several terentateks, the five tracked the beasts to a cave in Tatooine's desert wastes and engaged them. The Cathar Jedi was killed during the melee; however, the remaining Jedi were successful in killing all but one of the terentateks. Although Berkona was nearly killed by the beast, Qel-Droma was able to touch its mind through the Force and confuse it long enough for Saresh and Nuur to kill it. In the aftermath of the conflict, Nuur organized the cremation of the terentateks before departing Tatooine alongside her fellow survivors.

Nuur and her comrades spent the following week at the Jedi Enclave on Dantooine to recoup from the battle. When word of Tatooine's cleansing reached the Jedi Council, the Great Hunt was declared officially over, with the terentateks wiped from the galaxy. Despite this, several days later, Nuur, Qel-Droma, and Saresh were summoned to meet with the Jedi Council of Dantooine to discuss a new mission. After being congratulated for their successes, the three were informed that there was still one world left to cleanse: the ancient Sith homeworld of Korriban. The Jedi High Council had decided that the three young Jedi would be the only ones assigned to the hunt in an effort to maintain discretion. Although the members of the Dantooine Council doubted the High Council's decision, they agreed that together, Nuur, Qel-Droma, and Saresh would be able to defeat the monsters and resist the strong call of the dark side that emanated from Korriban.

The evening before their departure from Dantooine, Nuur and Qel-Droma relaxed together on the rolling hills outside the Enclave. As they watched the sunset, Nuur was reminded of Ossus and her time with Master Bnar. Duron took her hand and assured her that Bnar was somewhere in the Force, remembering her as fondly as she remembered him.

The three Jedi arrived on Korriban the following day, touching down in Dreshdae, one of the few inhabited regions on the planet. Their first objective was to acquire information on the possible whereabouts of a terentatek, to which end the three split up to work several different approaches. Nuur accompanied Qel-Droma to an erotic entertainment cantina to meet with several underworld operatives who claimed to be able to direct them to the beast. The operatives, a Quarren and an Ithorian, agreed to set up a meeting between the Jedi and a half-breed member of Korriban's native Massassi species who could lead them to the terentatek, on the condition that Nuur and Qel-Droma provided the two with a kilogram of illegal spice. The Jedi agreed; however, Nuur also began to plan her infiltration of Korriban's Sith Academy in order to ascertain information on the terentatek's location.

After a week on the planet, Qel-Droma began to feel Korriban's dark side effects. In their room in Dreshdae, he confided in Nuur his doubts on the progress of the mission and explained the pain he felt when killing terentateks. Nuur comforted him as he was interrupted by a strong and painful vision through the Force of the return of the Sith and a new galactic war. When Qel-Droma regained consciousness of the present, Nuur embraced the young Jedi and kissed him, just as Saresh entered the room.

An indignant Saresh began lecturing the two on what he considered to be their shameful behavior, infuriating Nuur, who in turn claimed that the Twi'lek was being self-righteous and arrogant. The two argued over their actions in relation to the Jedi Code and accused one another of walking the path toward the dark side. In an emotional outburst, Qel-Droma silenced the two by smashing the room's windows with the Force. Saresh explained to Qel-Droma and Nuur that he could not stay with the two if they were unable to control their passion for one another, as it put them all in danger. The two Humans refused to renounce their love, prompting Saresh to leave them to hunt the terentatek alone. Before departing, the Twi'lek left them a pass key that would grant them access to the Valley of the Dark Lords—an ancient burial ground for the Dark of the Sith—where, he had learned, a terentatek was living, but pleaded with them to leave Korriban before it was too late.

Nuur and Qel-Droma ignored Saresh's pleas, deciding to remain on the planet until their mission was complete. While journeying into the Valley of the Dark Lords, the two sensed the death of Saresh, who had traveled to Kashyyyk after abandoning them to find a terentatek there. They continued on into a deep cave toward the end of the valley where they fought and killed several of Korriban's native Tuk'ata and wraid beasts before being confronted by a terentatek. Nuur aggressively attacked and severely wounded the beast but was batted aside when Qel-Droma was unable to touch its mind to confuse it. In response, Qel-Droma rushed the terentatek but was quickly seized by the beast, which proceeded to dig a large claw into his chest before dropping him and running off.

Nuur recovered and rushed to Qel-Droma's side as he experienced yet another vision in the Force. This time, however, he was calmed by the future he saw but was unable to explain it to Nuur. Duron Qel-Droma succumbed to his wounds and died in her arms after begging Nuur to flee Korriban. Nuur yet again ignored the advice of her comrade and fell to the dark side in anger. Seeking vengeance for the death of her lover, she followed the trail of blood left by the wounded terentatek to the tomb of the ancient Sith Naga Sadow. Despite noticing a second set of terentatek tracks near the entrance of the tomb, Nuur entered the labyrinth, using her lightsaber to light her way. She eventually came upon the beast that had killed Qel-Droma as well as a second, unwounded terentatek. Before she could engage either creature, however, her lightsaber flickered and deactivated as the Solari crystal within reacted to her betrayal of the light side of the Force. Alone and defenseless in the tomb, Nuur was killed by the monsters while remembering Master Bnar's warning to always stay in the light.

The Jedi Council felt Nuur and her companions become one with the Force but refused to send anyone to investigate or recover their remains, for fear of losing the rescuers as well. Thus, the trio's final fates remained a mystery to the Order for decades after their deaths and served as a warning to other Jedi of the threat of the terentateks. Although the monsters were hunted to near-extinction in the Great Hunt, the beasts survived on Korriban and Kashyyyk due to the failure of Nuur, Saresh, and Qel-Droma.

Nuur's body was discovered forty years after her death by the reformed Dark of the Sith, Revan, at the height of the Jedi Civil War that Duron Qel-Droma had foreseen. Revan discovered her remains while trekking through Naga Sadow's tomb during his search for the Rakatan Star Maps. After slaying two terentateks inhabiting the tomb, Revan inspected Nuur's body, finding the Solari crystal and the dead Jedi's datapad. The final entry on the datapad was an explanation from Nuur for the reason behind her actions and an apology to her Master for her behavior.

Nuur was fair-skinned, and had blonde, curly hair that she wore in paired braids clasped behind her head. During the Great Hunt, she sported a long scar that ran vertically from her temple to her jaw on the right side of her face. Although otherwise commonly garbed in normal Jedi attire, Nuur donned a red-and-black combat jumpsuit while on Tatooine and Korriban.

As a leading participant in the Great Hunt, Nuur developed a strong passion for her work, despite the fact that passion was forbidden by the tenets of the Jedi Code. Unafraid of the dangers of the dark side and the crimes she would have to commit to find a terentatek, Nuur volunteered to infiltrate the Sith Academy on Korriban to ascertain the beast's location. She also developed a powerful bond with both Qel-Droma and Saresh—a bond that was strained by differing interpretations of the Jedi Code and Saresh's own jealousy. That strain reached the breaking point during the hunt on Korriban, with Nuur engaging in a shouting match with Saresh. After falling to the dark side, Nuur recognized the error in her actions but still continued on her course, apologizing to her old Master shortly before her death.

During her training, Shaela Nuur developed a close relationship with Ood Bnar that consisted of mutual admiration and appreciation. Throughout their time together, Bnar was able to see the strength of the light side in her and believed that she was pure enough in that light to be worthy of the Solari crystal. Nuur doubted her own worth but was reassured by her Master's praise. Nuur missed Bnar greatly in the wake of the Sith War and reminisced on her time with him while on Dantooine, as the sunset there brought back memories of the sunsets on Ossus.

While working alongside him during the Great Hunt, Nuur developed a strong romantic relationship with Duron Qel-Droma. Nuur recounted her memories of Ossus to him and confided in him her sorrow for the loss of her Master. Qel-Droma supported Nuur and comforted her when she longed to have her Master back, reassuring her that he was somewhere in the Force listening to her. Despite their friendship and attraction to one another, Qel-Droma was highly critical of Nuur's methods on Korriban, condemning her plan to infiltrate the Sith Academy.

Just as Qel-Droma comforted Nuur during her recollections of the past, Nuur comforted Qel-Droma after his apocalyptic visions of the future. Following his premonition of the Jedi Civil War, Nuur reminded Qel-Droma that it was nothing more than a vision before embracing him in a kiss. She later angrily defended her feelings for Qel-Droma to Saresh and refused to renounce her love for him, just as he refused to do the same for her. When her lover was mortally wounded by a terentatek, Nuur was overcome with grief and was lost to the dark side. She blamed Saresh for Qel-Droma's death but claimed that her hatred of the Twi'lek was nothing compared to her desire for revenge against the animal that killed Qel-Droma. Before dying, she accepted her abandonment of the Jedi ways, claiming that nothing mattered after the death of her love.

Although they worked closely during the Great Hunt, Nuur and Saresh had an antagonistic relationship during the final stages of the quest to vanquish the terentateks. This antagonism was the result of Saresh's jealousy of Nuur and Qel-Droma's relationship, as well as differing interpretations of the Jedi Code. Saresh repeatedly warned the two humans that their passion for one another would lead to the dark side but was unsurprised when he found the two of them kissing. The Twi'lek's discovery led to an argument between the three Jedi, with Nuur accusing him of dark-sided behavior and arrogance. Unlike Qel-Droma, Nuur embraced the conflict with her Twi'lek companion and refused to hold back during their confrontation. She later regretted Saresh's death, but felt that he was to blame for his own demise, as well as the demise of Qel-Droma.

As a student, Nuur gained the trust and confidence of Ood Bnar, who believed her to be the most promising student that he had trained throughout his centuries-long life. Under his tutelage, Nuur constructed a yellow-bladed lightsaber which, according to the Neti Jedi Master, was well-balanced and clearly defined—exemplary of excellent lightsaber construction. Nuur's abilities later inspired confidence in the Jedi Council, which counted her among the Order's greatest hunters. During the Great Hunt, she contributed to the near-extinction of the terentatek species and killed a number of them personally despite the lethality of the beasts, particularly to Jedi. Shaela Nuur was also a member of a three-way bond between herself, Duron Qel-Droma, and Guun Han Saresh. The bond aided the three in battle and in their devotion to the light side. Ultimately, however, this bond proved too weak to stand up to the dark aura of Korriban.

Shaela Nuur was first introduced in the 2003 Xbox and PC video game Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, although there are several incorrect instances of Nuur's name spelled as "Nur" within the game. In the game, Nuur was presented as skeletal remains discovered by the player in the tomb of Naga Sadow. The datapad found on her remains, along with datapads found on the remains of Duron Qel-Droma and Guun Han Saresh, later served as the basis for the comic "Shadows and Light," written by Joshua Ortega and illustrated by Dustin Weaver. Additionally, Nuur received an entry in the 2008 The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia.

• Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic: Prima's Official Strategy Guide
• Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords: Prima Official Game Guide
• The New Essential Chronology
• The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia