Bela Kiwiiks was a Jedi Master of the Togruta species, a female who gave her allegiance to both the Jedi Order and the Galactic Republic during the times of the Great Galactic War, the Cold War, and the Galactic War against the Sith Empire that had risen again. She was an apprentice under Ngani Zho, and she participated in the Battle of Rhen Var as a Jedi Knight, fighting alongside Satele Shan, Jaric Kaedan, and Syo Bakarn. Following the Sacking of Coruscant and the conclusion of the Great Galactic War, Zho's four former students were all elevated to the Jedi High Council with the rank of Jedi Masters. In the decade after the Treaty of Coruscant, Kiwiiks discovered a young Human woman named Kira Carsen on the moon of Nar Shaddaa and took her on as her apprentice.
In the year 3643 BBY, the Council began to detect a dark presence emanating from the Republic capital, Coruscant. Kiwiiks, accompanied by her Padawan, was dispatched to the planet to investigate. She was soon joined by Orgus Din, another Council member, and his former apprentice. Together, they uncovered a threat to the Republic's secret superweapon projects, which were in danger of being exposed to the Empire. At the request of Republic general Var Suthra, she journeyed to the desert world of Tatooine to secure the Shock Drum weapon.
Bela Kiwiiks, a Force-sensitive Togruta, was found by the Jedi Order and underwent training to become a Jedi under the tutelage of Ngani Zho, a Human Jedi Master, alongside Satele Shan, Syo Bakarn, and Jaric Kaedan. By the year 3663 BBY, Kiwiiks had risen to the rank of Jedi Master, and she participated in the Great Galactic War alongside other Jedi and the forces of the Republic Military in their fight against the Sith Empire that had resurfaced. During this conflict, she formed friendships with fellow Jedi Masters Orgus Din and Tol Braga, relationships that would endure throughout their lives.
As the war neared its end, she took part in the Battle of Rhen Var with Zho's other former students—Satele Shan, Syo Bakarn, and Jaric Kaedan—where the four of them assisted the Forty-fifth Battalion in their struggle against the Imperial military. Having fought together on the ash plains of Lenico IV and against Gelpog the Tyrant in his asteroid-based hives, they were all formidable warriors. Under Shan's command, the Republic and Jedi forces successfully drove the Empire off the icy planet, with Shan personally defeating Darth Mekhis, a member of the Dark Councilor, in a duel.
In 3653 BBY, the Empire launched an assault on Coruscant, the Republic's capital, an event that became known as the Sacking of Coruscant. They used the captured world as leverage to force the Republic to sign the Treaty of Coruscant, bringing the war to an end. During the Sacking, six members of the Jedi High Council perished, including Grand Master Zym. However, after Shan discovered the Order's ancient homeworld of Tython in 3651 BBY and was subsequently elevated to the position of Grand Master, the remaining Masters decided to appoint Kaedan, Kiwiiks, Bakarn, and Shan as the newest members of the Council.
The Jedi Order made the decision to relocate to Tython one year after its rediscovery, as the Senate had indefinitely postponed the reconstruction of the Jedi Temple. Over the next three years, the Council oversaw the construction of a new Temple. As the Order began to rebuild its ranks, the galaxy entered a period of tense Cold War where neither the Empire nor the Republic openly engaged in conflict with each other. In 3645 BBY, Kiwiiks traveled to the neutral moon of Nar Shaddaa on a mission for the Order. Upon returning to the spaceport, she was surprised to find a young Human female attempting to steal her ship's hyperdrive.
Sensing the power of the Force within the eighteen-year-old girl, Kira Carsen, Kiwiiks decided to take her as her Padawan and returned to Tython. The headstrong young woman sometimes clashed with her master's more traditional and restrained teachings, but a strong bond soon developed between the two. They journeyed to numerous planets together, including the agriworld of Uphrades, but always returned to the Order's homeworld of Tython.
Around 3643 BBY, Kiwiiks and her Padawan were on Tython when a Flesh Raider uprising occurred. At the time, a talented Padawan, whom Orgus Din chose as his apprentice, had defeated Callef, a Dark Jedi apprentice found carrying a Jedi lightsaber. Further investigation revealed that the Flesh Raiders had been taught to use the Force, which Kiwiiks believed they had learned from a holocron discovered by the Padawan. However, Din realized that the mastermind behind the attacks was his former Padawan, Bengel Morr, who had been presumed dead during the Sacking of Coruscant. While Din and his Padawan remained on Tython to stop Morr, Kiwiiks and Carsen traveled to Coruscant to investigate a dark presence in the Republic capital.
Din and his Padawan, now a Jedi Knight, also went to Coruscant and met with Kiwiiks and Carsen during a meeting with General Var Suthra and Doctor Eli Tarnis, concerning the controversial Planet Prison, a superweapon capable of ionizing a planet's atmosphere, preventing ships from leaving and safely blockading the planet without casualties. Kiwiiks expressed concerns about the stolen design files, but Tarnis seemed unconcerned, claiming the files were too encrypted to be understood. However, Var Suthra informed the Jedi that his agents were tirelessly searching for the files.
While Din, Kiwiiks, and Suthra met with Supreme Chancellor Dorian Janarus aboard the Chancellor's cruiser Founder, Din instructed his former apprentice to assist Republic agents in recovering the files. Kiwiiks also left her Padawan with the Knight and Tarnis, suggesting Carsen's security expertise might be valuable.
Later, after the Knight recovered the stolen files, an SIS agent decrypted them and discovered they contained information on all of the Republic's superweapon projects. Kiwiiks immediately departed for Tatooine to secure the Shock Drum. However, shortly after arriving at the Shock Drum facility, she was attacked and defeated by Lord Praven, Darth Angral's apprentice. He captured her and acquired the Shock Drum, but left the facility staff unharmed. Kiwiiks and the superweapon were taken to a cave in the Dune Sea, where Angral ordered the weapon activated and Kiwiiks left near it. Kiwiiks entered a deep trance to protect herself from the intense vibrations. Fortunately, the Knight and Carsen, now the Knight's Padawan, arrived in time to save her, deactivating the Shock Drum with Praven's transmitter. As the Knight ordered the Shock Drum destroyed, Carsen confessed her past as a Child of the Emperor to Kiwiiks. Kiwiiks assured her former student that her past didn't matter, and that she was proud of her.
Kiwiiks was then returned to Tython to recover. Her recovery was nearly cut short when Angral combined all the superweapon projects into the Desolator in an attempt to destroy the Jedi Order. Thankfully, the Knight and Carsen defeated Angral and saved Tython. When they appeared before the Jedi Council, Kiwiiks lamented the death of Din, who was killed by Angral before his confrontation with the Knight. Master Shan added that while they lost one of their greatest masters, the Knight, a Jedi without equal, stood in his place. She then turned to Carsen, expressing her gladness that she had rejected the Sith Emperor during their confrontation with Angral. On the Knight and Kiwiiks' recommendation, the Council granted Carsen the rank of Jedi Knight.
However, Var Suthra informed the Council that they were receiving reports of hostilities across the galaxy. Kiwiiks remarked that even in death, Angral had finally inspired the Sith to violence. Shan added that the Knight, whom she christened the Hero of Tython, was their most valuable asset against the rising darkness, and the Force had shown her that the weight of the galaxy rested on their shoulders.
About a year later, the Hero and Carsen joined a strike team formed by Tol Braga in a daring plan to capture the Emperor, bring him to Tython, and redeem him to the light side. But before they departed, Masters Shan, Kiwiiks, and Kaedan requested a moment of their time. Jomar Chul, a former member of Braga's team, had received a Force vision revealing that if the Hero joined the mission, it would fail and the Jedi Knight would fall to the dark side and join the Sith. Braga dismissed his concerns, stating that the future was always in motion and that the Council didn't base judgments solely on visions. Nonetheless, the Hero chose to defer to the Council's decision. Kiwiiks expressed confidence in the Hero's loyalty, and Shan agreed. As Chul stormed out of the Council chamber, frustrated that they wouldn't heed his warning, Kaedan pleaded with Braga to reconsider, but the Kel Dor was certain his plan would work.
When Braga's team never returned from their mission, the Council feared they had failed. After many months, the Hero and their companions returned, accompanied by Lord Scourge, the Emperor's Wrath, who had suddenly switched sides. Scourge explained to the Council that centuries ago, he had a vision that the Emperor would destroy the galaxy, but the Hero would be the one to stop him. The renewed war was only a diversion to conceal the Emperor's true plan, which threatened the death of all living things. He explained that a thousand years ago, the Emperor had used a life-sapping ritual on his home planet of Nathema, consuming all life on the planet to become immortal. Now, he planned to recreate the ritual on a galactic scale to become virtually unstoppable. But the ritual required billions of simultaneous deaths, which he planned to initiate on Belsavis. Kiwiiks worried that the Emperor had finally discovered the location of the Republic prison planet, which the Jedi had hidden for decades. Scourge stated that once the sacrifice occurred, the ritual couldn't be stopped and insisted they save Belsavis. Kaedan didn't trust the Sith, even holding his lightsaber to his throat. However, the Hero vouched for Scourge's relative trustworthiness, and the Sith insisted that he was better off working against the Emperor than imprisoned. Shan consented to an alliance but warned the Hero not to become too reliant on Scourge.
Kiwiiks was later stationed on Corellia during a significant battle, where she was cornered by two Sith assassins. The Sith showed her a holo of Master Braga, corrupted to the dark side by the Emperor, who ordered them to kill her. Thankfully, the Hero of Tython arrived to her rescue once again. When the Hero explained their intent to rally the Jedi to stop Braga from committing mass genocide, Kiwiiks admitted that she had never fully recovered from her ordeal on Tatooine. Instead, she felt that she should help evacuate the wounded, an idea the Hero agreed with.
Master Kiwiiks was a skilled warrior who could effectively fight Sith and Imperial troopers during the Great Galactic War, but as she aged, the years began to take their toll. Kiwiiks wielded her green-bladed lightsaber with considerable skill in combat. During her assignment to Tatooine, she easily defeated the Imperial troopers and war droids sent to seize control of the Shock Drum Facility, but Praven's superior strength and size allowed him to defeat the Jedi Master.
When Kiwiiks was left to die before the Shock Drum, she survived only by entering a healing trance and shielding herself from most of the damaging vibrations. However, the trance consumed much of her power.
Bela Kiwiiks made her first appearance in The Old Republic—The Lost Suns 1, the first issue of the The Lost Suns arc of the Star Wars: The Old Republic comic series. She appeared alongside Jaric Kaedan, Syo Bakarn, and Satele Shan in a flashback to the Battle of Rhen Var, but did not appear again in the series. Her next appearance was in Star Wars: The Old Republic, a massively multiplayer online role-playing game released by LucasArts and BioWare on December 20, 2011. She is a recurring character in the Jedi Knight class storyline, first appearing in the Tython mission "Enemy Force".
During the flashpoint "The Nathema Conspiracy", if the Outlander is a Jedi Knight of the dark side alignment, Bela Kiwiiks will attempt to stop them and join the Order of Zildrog led by Vinn Atrius, only to be sacrificed as fuel to awaken Zildrog by GEMINI 16 on Nathema. If the Jedi Knight remained on the Light Side they will encounter Servant One instead, while the other classes face antagonists from their own class stories.