Ashka Boda, a Jedi Master of advanced age and wisdom, lived during the era of the Clone Wars. He was a respected member of the Librarian's Assembly within the Jedi Order and was responsible for overseeing the extensive collection of holocrons and other Jedi artifacts housed in the Jedi Temple's Archives. Not long before the Clone Wars began, Boda and fellow Jedi Master Jabidus Inspra headed a Jedi team to the remote Gree Enclave to investigate reports of Separatist leader Count Dooku's presence there. Following the establishment of the Galactic Empire after the Clone Wars, Boda acquired the Tedryn Holocron, a significant repository of Jedi knowledge previously held by the Krevaaki Jedi Master Bodo Baas, who had recently perished during Galactic Emperor Palpatine's Jedi Purge.
Boda allied himself with Jedi Knight Halagad Ventor to create a network of Jedi who had survived the destruction of the Almas Academy; however, many of these Jedi were soon eliminated after Ventor revealed their location under Imperial interrogation. Boda was subsequently apprehended by Imperial forces and, under the watch of Palpatine's prestigious Imperial Sentinels, was taken back to Coruscant, where he was subjected to torture and ultimately met his end. Palpatine, also known as the Sith Lord Darth Sidious, discovered the Tedryn Holocron among Boda's possessions and utilized its extensive knowledge to master the technique of transferring his consciousness into a clone body. Although Sidious later claimed that Boda had given him the holocron, Jedi Master Tionne Solusar uncovered the truth about Ashka Boda's fate long after Sidious's ultimate demise.
Ashka Boda was a male Jedi Master who lived a long life, existing around the era of the Clone Wars. Boda, a highly regarded member of the Jedi Order's Librarian's Assembly, collaborated with Jedi High Council member Yaddle in the maintenance of the Jedi Temple's vast collection of holocrons, scrolls, and tomes. As a close friend of Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jinn, Boda shared with Jinn a deep interest in the study of immortality. In the weeks preceding the Clone Wars in 22 BBY, Count Dooku, the former Jedi Master and leader of the Confederacy of Independent Systems, journeyed to the isolated Gree Enclave to acquire a unique pre-Republic era solar sail for his personal solar sailer. Reports of Dooku's presence in the Enclave reached the Galactic Republic and the Jedi, but only after he had left the Gree worlds. Ashka Boda and fellow Jedi Master Jabidus Inspra led an investigative task force of five Jedi from the Jedi Temple into the Enclave to ascertain the reason for Dooku's visit.
Shortly after the formation of the Galactic Empire in 19 BBY, Emperor Palpatine, also known as Darth Sidious, initiated the Great Jedi Purge and captured the ancient Krevaaki Jedi Master Bodo Baas, who possessed the renowned Tedryn Holocron containing the teachings and experiences of Jedi Masters from the distant past. Baas was killed by Sidious early in the Purge; however, the Tedryn Holocron eventually came into the hands of Ashka Boda, along with a belt that Baas had once owned.
Boda worked with Jedi Knight Halagad Ventor to establish a network of Jedi from the Cularin system who had survived the destruction of the Almas Academy. Boda informed Jedi Master Denia about the creation of this network; however, nearly all of these Jedi were hunted down and killed in the Purge after Ventor was forced to reveal their location during an interrogation by Darth Vader.
Boda was also captured, along with several other Jedi, at the site of another battle. A group of Imperial Sentinels—towering, mutated warriors created by Sidious's Dark Side Adepts—possessed cryptic yet authentic datachips that gave them authority over Boda. The Sentinels formed a praetorian guard around Boda as he was escorted back to their dungeon ship and promptly transported to the Imperial Center. Once there, Sidious tortured and murdered the Jedi Master, discovering the Tedryn Holocron among his belongings.
Sidious used the knowledge he acquired from the Tedryn Holocron to learn the secret of spirit transference, which enabled him to transfer his consciousness into clone bodies. He also used some of the information in the creation of The Book of Anger, the first volume of his Dark Side Compendium. Six years after the Empire's devastating defeat at the Battle of Endor, a resurrected Sidious launched a military campaign to reclaim the galaxy. Amidst the chaos, New Republic Princess Leia Organa Solo was captured by Sidious's forces. The Sith Lord, suffering from the effects of the dark side on his deteriorating clone body, showed the Princess the Tedryn Holocron, claiming that Ashka Boda had given it to him before the Jedi Master's disappearance. The holocron soon fell into the hands of the New Republic, but the truth about Ashka Boda's fate remained hidden until a report on the history of the holocron was recorded in 40 ABY by Jedi Master Tionne Solusar of the New Jedi Order.
During the Clone Wars, Ashka Boda was a Jedi Master known for his wisdom and advanced age. Many considered him to be a figure of great renown, and he held a position of high esteem as a scholar within the Librarian's Assembly of the Jedi Order. Darth Sidious regarded Boda and the knowledge he possessed as important enough to warrant being escorted to Coruscant by his personal bodyguards.
Ashka Boda, as a Jedi mystic, possessed the knowledge and skills necessary to achieve the rank of Jedi Master and to become a member of the Librarian's Assembly of the Jedi Order, as well as one of the Jedi Temple's curators. He had learned and mastered the technique of essence transfer, which Darth Sidious would later find valuable.
Ashka Boda was initially mentioned in the endnotes written by Tom Veitch at the conclusion of the second issue of Star Wars: Dark Empire. He received his first in-universe mention in the fifth issue of Dark Empire, along with further elaboration in the endnotes at the end of the issue. Since then, he has been mentioned and expanded upon in various sources.