Shelish was a female Dathomirian and a member of the Nightsister coven of Dathomiri witches. She left her homeworld of Dathomir when she was young and thus consequently, she survived the slaughter of her sisters by the Separatist Droid Army leader General Grievous during the Clone Wars. By the time of the Iron Blockade, Shelish lived in a hut, on the swamps of Jhas Krill, the eleventh moon of the Anoat sector's Jhas. She was accompanied by a Wookiee named Owacchi, a former pirate who had been betrayed by his associates. The witch was also the mother of Deathstick, an assassin who was the leader of the Kouhun secret society and was also affiliated with the Crimson Dawn crime syndicate. At several points, Shelish returned to visit Dathomir, searching for clues about the fate of her sisters. Shelish and Owacchi encountered a of pirates, whose greedy intentions she briefly entertained, before scaring them away and placing a curse on them. Sometime later, she would encounter a smuggler who sought to learn dark-side powers, and she would teach the smuggler about the Nightsisters and about magick.
Shelish was a member of the Nightsister clan of Dathomirian witches. A Dathomirian Zabrak, she had pale skin, black hair, and yellow eyes. As a Nightsister, Shelish was taught and trained in the use of magick, a distinct use of the Force by the Witches of Dathomir which was connected to the light and dark sides of the Force. In her youth, she left her homeworld of Dathomir. Years after she left, in 20 BBY, the Nightsisters were wiped out by General Grievous and the Separatist Droid Army of the Confederacy of Independent Systems as the result of leader Count Dooku's abandonment of his Dathomirian Sith apprentice Asajj Ventress. Ventress had rejoined her long lost family of the Nightsisters and the group had plotted several attempts to kill Dooku. After the battle only several Nightsisters remained, including Shelish.
Shelish, Owacchi, and the three pirates
Shelish settled on the swamp moon Jhas Krill, the eleventh moon of Jhas in the Hoth system. Shelish had returned to Dathomir several times in order to discover her people's fate. After discovering what had happened to them, Shelish had made the decision to never return to Dathomir again. However, she decided to continue to honor her sisters every day. She bore a child who would become known as Deathstick. Shelish had diverged with Deathstick, who would instead go on to grow up in the Anoat sector. Deathstick became an assassin who worked under Lady Qi'ra's Crimson Dawn before going on to create her own crime syndicate of the Kouhun.
Shelish had become acquainted with the Wookiee pirate Owacchi who had been betrayed by his group, the Starhowl Pirates. Sometime between 2 BBY and 4 ABY, a of pirates consisting of the thieves Houliet, Marath, and Kalab, found themselves in orbit of Jhas on the run from another group of pirates which they had betrayed. The group landed on Jhas Krill to find a hiding place. The group eventually found themselves at the hut of Shelish. Noticing the pirates through the window of her home, Shelish invited them in, asking them why they had come to her house. After the pirates explained their story, Shelish in turn explained how she was a survivor of persecution, and that the three had been her first visitors in years. As Shelish went to her cauldron to prepare the pirates warm broth, the pirates plotted to betray her and steal all her collected treasures, as well as take over her house. As the pirates ate a meal of broth, wine, and fruit, Shelish sipped water, knowing the true intentions of the pirates. As Marath walked towards Shelish with a dagger in hand, Shelish conjured together shadows to reveal Owacchi who stopped Marath. Shelish forced the pirates leave and placed a curse on them, turning all their treasure into dust and teleporting it to her.
Sometime between 4 ABY and 5 ABY, in search of the origin of the Kouhun, a a young smuggler acquired holodiscs which caused him to travel to Jhas Krill in order to meet Shelish. Sensing power in the smuggler, she offered to teach him magick. With the traveler skeptical on the existence of magick, Shelish placed him in a complex illusion on the planet Hoth in a fight against Deathstick and her Kouhun. After defeating the illusion of Deathstick, the voice of Shelish returned the smuggler to the real world, who was now intrigued to learn the secrets of magick. She gave him a talisman and sent him to the planet Mataou to defeat powerful beasts in order for the mist inside of him to energize. Upon return, Shelish briefly explained that her family of the Nightsisters. Noting that the smuggler had already drank the Waters of Truth with the Kouhun, she sent him to the planet Anoat to drink the Waters of Change, which had once belonged to the Nightsisters but had instead come in the possession of a Festering Shaman. Once he returned, Shelish asked him one last favor, to kill the pirates whom Owacchi had been betrayed by, as they sought to kill Shelish and Owacchi. The smuggler found and killed them on the Cloud City in the planet Bespin, returning to Jhas Krill where Shelish asked him if he was worthy of the Nightsisters' gifts. Placing him in one final illusion similar to his first one, he fought his way through the wildlife of Hoth until he finally came face-to-face with Shelish who had entered the illusion. Angered at the smugglers incompetence, Shelish fought the smuggler within the illusion. After defeating Shelish, Shelish again revealed it all to be a dream. With the illusion dissipated, Shelish awakened the magick within the smuggler, warning him to use it wisely.
Shelish did not realize when people used humor to stave off fear. Sometimes she was eager slipping to share small pieces of information about her past life and relationships once someone had shown their worth and earned her trust enough. Shelish was knowledgeable about the fate that had befallen her homeworld and seemed to care and repent that she would not see her world and the Nightsisters of Dathomir in their original prosperity ever again. She was ready to teach magick to gifted individuals in return that they would serve her and her intentions that she claimed would outlive even her, but would question those who insisted taking her powers lightly.
Shelish showed a level of affection to specific individuals like her daughter Deathstick, calling her special; and Owacchi, her rescued Wookiee companion, as she wanted to help him take care of the Starhowl Pirates that were after him to end his life. Shelish was disgusted and vengeful at the pirate crew's murderous and vile crimes, and wanted to incapacitate them. When the Smuggler took care of the pirates for her and Owacchi, she abruptly claimed they were not her concern, implying some levels of manipulative personality.
Using magick, over her lifetime Shelish took use of several Force-based abilities. She was able to create rings to protect her from attack, hide the forms of beings within shadows, teleport items through the use of curses, sense the Force within beings, create realistic illusions in the minds of others, create force lightning, and conjure a whirlwhind. She was also skilled in hand-to-hand combat and the use of a blade.
Shelish wore red, black, and yellow robes, as well as a yellow headpiece. She also wielded a long blade.
Shelish first appeared in the 2015 mobile game Star Wars: Uprising, by Kabam, in which she was voiced by . She was designed by Kate Burgess and modelled by Jay Doherty. Burgess liked working on Shelish, because she saw it as a rare opportunity to design an older female in a game and a character who "falls outside the traditional mold of heroes/villains [sic]." The witch's distinctive hairstyle was inspired by fiddlehead greens.
In the comic Crimson Reign 2, when explaining to her associates Margo and Trinia, Lady Qi'ra of Crimson Dawn states that Deathstick escaped the Battle of Dathomir with her mother as the event was occuring. However, several other sources state that Shelish left Dathomir long before the event happened. This article assumes that the other sources hold precedence and are correct.
- The Art of Star Wars: Uprising
- Dawn of Rebellion