Callista Ming

Biography

Early life and Jedi training

Callista Masana, a Force-sensitive female Human, was born on the water-covered world of Chad. She resided on a deep-water ranch located on an ark with her father, stepmother, and an uncle named Claine, in addition to another uncle named Dro. The ranch moved along with the planet's Algic current, spanning from the equator to the arctic circle. While Masana's family wasn't wealthy, they lived a fulfilling life, primarily residing on the deep oceans as herders and farmers. From a young age, Masana assisted on the ranch, tending to tsaelke cetaceans and wander-kelp. When the ranch entered the territory of the predatory wystoh, necessitating a departure from their floating home, the family deployed a foo-twitter, a floating device intended to divert the marine predators. Masana also rode cy'een, fish indigenous to the world. Masana's initial use of the Force involved moving ice that had trapped her with several sea cows. Following this experience, she felt compelled to join the Jedi, but struggled to convey her reasoning to her perplexed father.

Instead of undergoing the standard process of leaving her parents and training at the Jedi Temple on the capital planet of Coruscant, she was recruited into the Jedi Order by the unconventional Jedi Master Djinn Altis in 25 BBY, who led a group known as the Altisian Jedi. She spent five years training under Altis on his praxeum ship, the second Chu'unthor. Masana constructed a lightsaber featuring a ring of stylized tsaelke sea-creatures around the hilt as a symbol of her heritage. During a stopover on Bespin, she sensed Geith Eris' potential in the Force and invited him to join her. He accepted, primarily to be with her, and they fell in love.

The Clone Wars

During the Clone Wars, Masana and Eris traveled with Master Djinn Altis and several other Jedi from their community. They journeyed across the galaxy in a freighter, the Wookiee Gunner, providing humanitarian assistance to various planets affected by the war. While en route to Yarille for another relief mission, Masana advocated for more direct support to the Galactic Republic, arguing that the presence of Altis' Jedi could make a difference. However, Altis was hesitant to agree, and Eris opposed the idea entirely. Before reaching Yarille, the Wookiee Gunner received a distress signal from Hallena Devis, an undercover Republic Intelligence agent on JanFathal. Altis contacted Captain Gilad Pellaeon, a local Republic commander whose ship, the Leveler, was the closest Republic warship, and offered the services of his Jedi to extract Devis. Pellaeon, who had romantic feelings for Devis, accepted the Jedi's offer.

Soon after, Altis, Masana, Eris, and their fellow Jedi met with and boarded the Leveler. Aboard the Republic ship, Masana was fascinated by the complexity of its machinery and electrical systems. She encountered Ahsoka Tano, a Togruta Jedi Padawan, and made Eris—who strongly disliked the orthodox Jedi Order's rules—promise not to provoke the Padawan. Masana also met Captain Pellaeon, who openly acknowledged his personal interest in rescuing Devis but requested that his officers and the Jedi hold him accountable to his duty. She admired him for his honesty and his hands-on leadership style.

As the Leveler approached JanFathal, Masana felt uneasy about allowing CT-7567, a clone trooper Captain nicknamed "Rex," to accompany them to the surface, fearing that he and his small squad of clone troopers would likely be killed. However, Rex was persistent, and it was eventually agreed that he and his troops would join Altis' Jedi and Tano on the mission to the planet. Masana resolved to do her best to keep them all alive. Just before embarking, Masana asked Pellaeon for an item Devis had handled to help the Jedi track her. They were able to trace the Republic agent in the Force and departed the Leveler shortly after confirming she was still alive. During the shuttle trip to the surface, Masana kept Tano close to her, wanting to keep the Padawan away from Eris.

Upon landing in the city of Athar on JanFathal, the Jedi and clone troopers began their search. To pass the time, Masana briefly explained the differences between Altis' Jedi and the orthodox Order to Rex. Using her skill with computers, she managed to bypass Separatist communication encryption, but in doing so, she opened up all the audio channels at once. She then attempted to filter out relevant communications by ear amidst hundreds of simultaneous transmissions. Shortly afterward, Tano questioned Masana's relationship with Eris—by this point, they were engaged to be married. The Padawan also tried to convince Masana to abandon what she considered Altis' heretical teachings. Amused, Masana did not argue with the Padawan, but pointed out that even within the Jedi Order, a high-ranking Jedi Master, Ki-Adi-Mundi, had not fallen to the dark side despite having multiple wives. She also asked Tano to consider that it was possible to serve the light side of the Force without being part of the orthodox Jedi Order.

The clones and Jedi soon located Devis, but the agent was being held in a district heavily guarded by battle droids. Masana and Tano fought off the droids while Altis and the clone troopers apprehended Devis' captors and rescued the Republic agent. Once Devis was safe, Altis joined Tano and Masana in battling the droids. However, the droids overwhelmed the Republic party, killing one clone trooper and injuring another. The Jedi eventually covered their retreat by collapsing a building on the droids and then rushing back to their shuttle. They took off, intending to rendezvous with the Leveler, but the Republic vessel had been detected by Separatist warships and had jumped to hyperspace to avoid destruction. Consequently, the shuttle returned to JanFathal, accompanied by Tano's master, Anakin Skywalker, in a starfighter.

As their spacecraft was not capable of hyperspace travel, Skywalker suggested seizing a Separatist CR-20 troop carrier, which could jump to lightspeed. With Altis and Tano creating a diversion for the droids, the clones, Devis, and other Jedi seized a grounded CR-20 and took off. As they fled, Masana and Eris provided first aid to an injured clone, Ince, attempting to slow his bleeding, although he ultimately died. The CR-20 departed JanFathal, pursued by the Separatists, but managed to rendezvous with the newly returned Leveler. Once back aboard the Republic warship, Masana learned that its advanced concussion missile launchers were inoperable—the weapons functioned, but the targeting computers were offline. After obtaining Pellaeon's permission, Masana was taken to the main targeting array, where she melded with the computer to control the missile launchers. While mentally connected to the machine, she was able to aim and fire enough missiles to destroy seven Separatist warships, allowing the Leveler to escape the system.

The Leveler returned to the orbital yards at Kemla to reunite with the Wookiee Gunner. Masana parted on good terms with Tano and Rex, and Altis' Jedi soon departed, heading for Yarille to complete their original humanitarian mission. For her part, Masana was intrigued by the experience of merging her mind with a machine, but resolved not to explore it further, as she felt it could be dangerous.

Later in the Clone Wars, Masana, along with Eris and other members of Altis' community, decided to support the Republic's war effort and met with the Republic Fleet Auxiliary Support Vessel Redeemer over Thyferra. Eris and Masana openly kissed in the ship's hangar bay, surprising Ordo, a Null ARC trooper Captain, as this conflicted with the orthodox Order's views on relationships. She met with Ordo and Etain Tur-Mukan, a Jedi General, who gave Masana and her friends command of some clone troopers. About two months later, Tur-Mukan asked Masana to meet her again on Nerrif, a large Republic supply station in the Mid Rim. Before they spoke, Masana used the Force to try to uplift the spirits of some wounded clones. While there, Tur-Mukan confided in Masana that she had secretly taken a lover and had a child, which violated standard Jedi doctrine, and wondered if she could join Master Altis and his renegade Jedi. Masana said she couldn't imagine Master Altis turning them away and expressed sadness that Tur-Mukan was being made so miserable simply for not being a conventional Jedi. At some point during the conflict, Masana also encountered Jedi General Obi-Wan Kenobi.

The Eye of Palpatine

As the war concluded, the Republic was replaced by the Galactic Empire and the Jedi were exterminated. Masana, Altis, and Eris survived the initial purge and maintained contact with other survivors like Master Plett, who sheltered a group of Jedi children on the remote world of Belsavis. For a time, Masana, Altis, and some of the other Altisian Jedi lived in hiding on Meserian. They were discovered by Bardan Jusik and Fi Skirata, Mandalorians, who introduced themselves and explained their desire to arrange for three fugitive Jedi to live with their sect. Masana asked Jusik if one of the Jedi was Etain Tur-Mukan, and he informed her that Tur-Mukan had died. Although saddened by the news, Masana quickly regained her composure.

In 18 BBY, the refuge on Belsavis was threatened when the Jedi discovered that the newly formed Galactic Empire had constructed the massive dreadnaught Eye of Palpatine—a prototype Death Star equipped with powerful experimental turbolasers—to attack the Belsavis refuge. Masana and Eris attempted to sabotage or destroy the colossal ship but disagreed on their approach. Eris, a pilot, wanted to escape the ship to warn the others, claiming to have predicted the guns' firing pattern. Masana wanted to disable the ship's main computer, hoping to use the Force to cause the enclision grid protecting the center to malfunction and then disable the ship's computer. Ultimately, Eris left without her and was killed when the guns destroyed his ship. Heartbroken, Masana continued with her plan. She knew that the grid would eventually strike her as she approached the ship's core and that each subsequent hit would increase her chances of being hit again. Her prediction was correct, and her physical body was destroyed, charred by the grid's energy. However, Masana used her Force abilities to transfer her spirit into the Eye of Palpatine's gunnery computer.

Reawakening and a new life

She remained there for three decades, until Jedi Master Luke Skywalker and several other New Republic Jedi were captured by the Eye of Palpatine's automated systems, brainwashed, and brought aboard. Other crew members taken by the ship included Sand People, Jawas, and Gamorreans, which created numerous problems for the Jedi. One of the Jawas gave Masana's lightsaber to Skywalker during his initial investigations of the ship. Masana first revealed herself to Skywalker while he was fleeing from Sand People, helping him by opening doors and providing him with a safe hiding place in a quartermaster's office, sealing the door behind him. While he was inside the office, she revealed herself by appearing on a monitor screen as he looked at his reflection. She had been observing him for some time, and after he decided to destroy the weapon, she assisted him against the ship's controlling central computer. Because the entire ship was wired, Skywalker could communicate with her spirit through the Force, and she could communicate with him using the ship's computers and screens, as well as the Force.

However, Skywalker had his own concerns. One of his students, Cray Mingla, had been brought aboard the Eye of Palpatine at the same time as Skywalker, but Mingla had since been captured by a group of Gamorreans. The ship's computer had determined that Mingla was to be executed, so Masana aided Skywalker in his efforts to free his student. She helped him rig up a foo-twitter to scare off the Gamorreans, and while he worked, they exchanged life stories, partly through words and partly by sharing Force visions of their pasts. After being attacked by several of the ship's droids, Skywalker even saw a vision of her final heroic act of heading toward the gun room thirty years prior. When he awoke, Masana helped distract the Gamorreans by impersonating the ship's computer to compel the Gamorreans, who were programmed to follow the computer's orders, to attack a rival Gamorrean tribe so Skywalker could free Mingla. She also helped him get the diverse members of the ship's brainwashed crew—even the Gamorreans—onto landers to evacuate the dreadnaught.

During Skywalker's time on the Eye of Palpatine, they fell in love. Skywalker wanted Mingla—who was also a skilled artificial intelligence programmer—to create a human replica droid for Masana in an attempt to preserve her spirit, as had been done for Mingla's own lover, Nichos Marr, who was also present on the Eye of Palpatine. However, Masana insisted that they destroy the automated craft, even at the cost of her own existence. As Mingla and Masana feared that Skywalker would be unable to destroy the Eye of Palpatine, Mingla stunned Skywalker and transferred him to one of the landers. However, with guidance from Masana, Mingla—who wished to die and be reunited with her deceased lover—used the Force to misfire the enclision grid while Marr journeyed to the control room and detonated the station. Just before the station's destruction, Masana transferred her spirit into Mingla's body.

Search for the Force

Unfortunately for Masana, who then adopted the surname Ming, it seemed that the act of transferring between bodies had severed her connection to the Force. Although she could elucidate aspects of the Jedi Order, such as the artifacts and toys located on Belsavis, and she also provided Skywalker with the Order's history, which later proved invaluable in the rediscovery of the Shard Iron Knights, she was personally unable to wield the Force. Despite this, Skywalker remained steadfast in his loyalty to Ming and, after their return to the Jedi Praxeum on the moon Yavin 4, resolved to assist her in re-establishing her Force connection.

Following their joint journey to Coruscant, where they delivered a warning about Hutt machinations to Skywalker's sister, Leia Organa Solo, Skywalker and Ming embarked on a quest aimed at restoring her connection to the Force. To achieve this, he escorted her to various locations, hoping to ignite her Force abilities while simultaneously nurturing their relationship. Their initial destination was the Mulako Corporation Primordial Water Quarry, a place that evoked memories of her water-rich homeworld. Despite Ming's appreciation for its romantic and personal ambiance, it failed to rekindle her Force connection. Consequently, she requested that Skywalker take her to the planet Dagobah, the very place where Skywalker had undergone his Jedi training. Their arrival on the planet was uneventful, but shortly after landing, they were ambushed by nightbats. During the ensuing combat, Ming unleashed her anger upon the creatures, revealing her continued ability to tap into the dark side of the Force. While Skywalker was inclined to view this as progress, Ming vehemently declared that she would rather forgo using the Force altogether if the dark side was her only avenue.

After departing Dagobah, they traveled to Hoth, where the spirit of Obi-Wan Kenobi had once appeared to Skywalker. However, as they approached the ruins of Echo Base, they were attacked by a pair of automated turrets. Skywalker and Ming swiftly dispatched the turrets and entered the base, where they discovered a group of hunters who had become trapped due to a large pack of ferocious wampas. The hunters implored Skywalker and Ming to evacuate them from the planet, but the ice creatures disabled their ship. Although they retreated to Echo Base, the wampas continued their assault both during and after the withdrawal, eventually killing all of the hunters. Ming joined Skywalker in fighting their way back to the ship, successfully resisting the temptation to succumb to the dark side and unleash her anger. Despite the damage to their vessel, they managed to take off, but with a non-functional hyperdrive and failing life support, Ming was placed in the sole life support suit while Skywalker entered hibernation trance and used the Force to summon his sister. The two nearly succumbed to the cold before Organa Solo, responding to Skywalker's call, arrived in the freighter Millennium Falcon to rescue them.

Leaving Skywalker

The Millennium Falcon transported Ming and Skywalker back to the Jedi Praxeum for recuperation, only to find it under attack by the Knight Hammer, the flagship of Admiral Natasi Daala's United Warlord Fleets. Ming joined the other Jedi in defending the Praxeum, but she realized that her lack of Force abilities made her less effective than her comrades in battling Daala's ground forces. Determined to contribute as much as the other trainees and not be left behind, Ming seized a damaged Imperial TIE bomber after eliminating the pilot, who had been attempting to repair the grounded craft. She then infiltrated the Knight Hammer, landing in a hangar bay after falsely reporting a radiation leak. Finding the deserted hangar filled with armed TIE bombers, she set a large number of them to detonate on a timer, causing severe damage to the Knight Hammer's engines and condemning it to crash into the planet Yavin. Ming then confronted Admiral Daala, prepared to sacrifice herself to stop the rogue admiral. Resigned to her fate, Ming used the Force to guide her lightsaber, disregarding the dangers of the dark side, and deflected blaster bolts fired by the admiral. Daala eventually used a stun setting to incapacitate Ming and left her to perish on the doomed ship. Ming was presumed dead, although she later revealed her survival to Skywalker. Nevertheless, she resolved to leave him, understanding that she needed to venture out on her own to rediscover her connection to the Force. She felt that remaining with Skywalker placed too much pressure on her and caused her too much pain. She hoped to return to him one day, but only if she could regain her Force powers without resorting to the dark side.

In 13 ABY, she found employment on the Gamorrean trading vessel Zicreex. Stranded on the planet Gamorr during slushtime, she became embroiled in the murder of the Gamorrean warlord Vrokk, who had allegedly been killed by Guth, a member of the Zicreex's crew. Vrokk's wife, Kufbrug, had sealed off the room where Vrokk had been murdered, and Guth had once been romantically involved with her. Ming persuaded Kufbrug to allow her to investigate the murder, even though the Gamorrean held the other crew members of the Zicreex as prisoners. Ming contacted Sebastin Onyx, a poet, and obtained an enzymer from a local Bith. Constructing a reflective panel in the room where Vrokk had been slain, she and Kufbrug waited until evening, when the murderer revealed itself to be a kheilwar insect from the planet Af'El. Ming and Kufbrug fought off the creature until, cornered, it changed its shape to resemble those it had seen. This particular kheilwar transformed into images of Rog and Gundruk—Vrokk's brother and Kufbrug's daughter, who had been attempting to murder Vrokk, Guth, and eventually Kufbrug in order to seize their considerable holdings. Ming—refusing to yield to the temptation to use the dark side—and Kufbrug fought off the kheilwar until morning, when it was destroyed by the sunlight. Having solved the murder, Ming and the others were finally exonerated and released.

On the Planet of Twilight

By 13 ABY, Ming had journeyed to Nam Chorios, the "Planet of Twilight," hoping to find her connection to the Force since the planet itself was a Force nexus. Ming briefly associated with two local Force-sensitives, Taselda and Beldorion, but she later left them after witnessing their pettiness—she believed that Taselda was an old crone plotting against Beldorion and Beldorion was content to do little but eat and sit in his palace, nearly enslaved to the exiled Seti Ashgad. Callista quickly discovered that the planet was infested with droch insects that carried the Death Seed plague, which had once killed billions across the galaxy in years past. Venturing into the arid wasteland, she joined the Force-sensitive Theran cultists and meditated in search of the Force. Additionally, she helped operate the gun stations that prevented ships from landing and potentially becoming infected with the Death Seed plague.

After Ashgad requested a meeting with the Chief of State, Leia Organa Solo, Ming warned her not to meet with him due to the danger of the Death Seed; however, Organa Solo chose to disregard her advice. Meanwhile, Skywalker attempted to fly to Nam Chorios to find Ming—unbeknownst to him or Ming, Organa Solo had been drugged and captured by Seti Ashgad and was being held in his estate. Eventually, Organa Solo managed to escape into the desert, where Ming, who had been preventing Ashgad's people from attacking the gun stations that kept large ships from escaping, encountered her. There, she assisted Organa Solo in defeating the Hutt Dark Jedi Beldorion, providing instruction in lightsaber combat and the Force to Organa Solo. Skywalker, meanwhile, was drawn into the plot to unleash the Death Seed after his own encounters with Taselda and the Newcomers—one of Nam Chorios' social groups—even spotting Ming from a distance during an attack on a gun station. After being tricked into entering Ashgad's estate, he was able to defeat the plague's sentient manifestation, Dzym, and stop Ashgad by recruiting the native Force-strong crystalline tsils. The tsils, who were aware of the Death Seed plague, helped Skywalker stop Ashgad and cure the Death Seed spreading through the sector in exchange for the return of all the tsils that had been stolen by the Loronar Corporation as part of Ashgad's plan. After the conflict was resolved, Skywalker and Ming met. Although painful, their brief meeting—consisting of one look—brought closure to their relationship, and they realized that going their separate ways was for the best. Luke Skywalker eventually went on to marry the former Emperor's Hand, Mara Jade. There was a rumor among the students at the Jedi Praxeum that Jade had arranged for Ming's permanent disappearance.

Into the Maw

At some point on her journey, by 43.5 ABY, Ming ventured into the Maw and discovered a planet teeming with carnivorous flora. There, Ming encountered Abeloth, a dark side destroyer of civilizations and the last surviving member of the family of the Ones, powerful Force deities, who had been imprisoned on the world. Abeloth consumed Ming, stealing her life energy and assuming her physical form, resulting in her death. Abeloth was able take on both Ming's original appearance and that of Mingla's.

When Skywalker, his son Ben, and their tenuous Sith allies arrived on the planet to confront Abeloth in 44 ABY, Skywalker was shocked to discover Ming's Force presence within the entity. Abeloth had previously exploited Skywalker's feelings for Ming to reach out to both him and his son aboard their ship, the Jade Shadow, leading them to believe that the presence was that of the deceased Mara Jade Skywalker. Although Abeloth attempted to deceive Luke Skywalker into believing that she was actually Callista Ming, the Jedi soon realized that it was a lie, and that Abeloth had killed Ming. Skywalker was able to resist Abeloth's influence, and despite a betrayal by his Sith allies, he was able to defeat her. Soon afterward, the Skywalkers and the Sith confronted Abeloth once again on the moon Pydyr, during which Abeloth once again used Ming's appearance after Luke Skywalker killed another of the entity's bodies—that of Akanah Norand Goss Pell, another former love of his. As Skywalker had already been injured in the engagement, he was unable to pursue the incarnation of Abeloth in Ming's body, which escaped.

Abeloth next went to Nam Chorios, the very site where Ming and Skywalker had last seen one another. Abeloth quickly subverted the local Force-using Theran Listeners, just as she had done to the Fallanassi on Pydyr. She also summoned the Jedi Valin and Jysella Horn, using her mental influence over them. However, Abeloth was still pursued by the Skywalkers and the Sith apprentice Vestara Khai, as well as the Sith Tribe. Skywalker confronted Abeloth in a water processing facility, and Abeloth took Ming's form once more. Ming retained enough of her own individuality and influence over Abeloth to converse with Skywalker in that manner. She implored him to join with her and Abeloth, telling him that his influence could lead Abeloth toward the light side. She also revealed that it was her imprint upon Abeloth that led the entity to seek out Jedi, such as the two Horns. Skywalker agreed to temporarily link with her mentally and via the Force; after briefly reliving memories of the past, he sensed her love for him, as well as her pain and loneliness after being consumed by Abeloth. Skywalker then used a modified mnemotherapy technique he had learned from the Therans before they were subverted to pull all that remained of Ming's presence from Abeloth. The act freed the remnants of Ming's spirit from Abeloth, weakening the entity and setting the deceased Jedi free from Abeloth, allowing her to merge with the light side of the Force. Ming's spirit gave Skywalker one last look of gratitude before disappearing into the light side with a smile. Although Abeloth still escaped Nam Chorios, the Jedi ultimately succeeded in destroying the entity.

Legacy

Ming bore witness to both the Jedi Order during the final years of the Galactic Republic and the survival of the Order's fragments after the Purge, and she was able to impart valuable information regarding the old Jedi Order to the New Jedi Order in the form of knowledge, techniques, and abilities she had acquired from Master Altis. Some of the children from Plett's refuge on Belsavis, whom she had saved from destruction through her sacrifice on the Eye of Palpatine, became Imperial agents or trainees at Luke Skywalker's Praxeum. However, the ultimate fates of Masters Plett and Djinn Altis remained unknown to New Republic historians as of the Yuuzhan Vong War.

Personality and traits

As a Jedi under Djinn Altis, Masana, like her Master, held the belief that attachments and relationships were not inherently detrimental. While she and her fiancé Geith Eris occasionally had disagreements, the love they shared brought Masana joy, and she adamantly asserted that her relationship would not lead her to the dark side. Gilad Pellaeon found her to be sincere and sensible. Masana also felt the need to be more tolerant than the mainstream Jedi Order and refrained from arguing with Jedi Padawan Ahsoka Tano over philosophical matters, or even from informing Tano of the flaws Masana perceived in the orthodox tenets. One of Masana's guiding principles was to avoid interfering with others unless they were actively causing harm; this influenced her decision not to promote a schism within the regular Jedi Order. Her Master, Djinn Altis, later reproached her for being excessively self-sacrificial.

While in spirit form, Masana possessed a wry sense of humor and a relaxed demeanor. Even in seemingly hopeless situations, she could make jokes and perform impressions of others, such as the band Pekkie Blu and the Starboys. She was pragmatic, determined, headstrong, and impulsive, formulating a plan and executing it with little need or desire for consultation. She was also deeply devoted to the Jedi way—albeit the unorthodox version practiced by Djinn Altis—and was willing to sacrifice her life to save others of the Order, which she did on the Eye of Palpatine. She also demonstrated a strong commitment to causes she believed were just, maintaining her spirit within the battlemoon's computer for thirty years to prevent it from completing its mission. She could also be stubborn once her mind had been made up.

Masana, due to her upbringing on Chad, had a fondness for water and watery environments. She adhered to the orthodox Jedi beliefs in the light and dark sides of the Force, and upon realizing that she could only access the dark side, she resolved to forgo using the Force altogether rather than succumb to the dark side. Displaying an independent streak, she left Skywalker permanently in her own quest to regain her connection to the Force, recognizing that she did not want to hinder him or allow his power to overshadow her efforts to reclaim her abilities. Undeterred by the challenges she faced in her original body, in corporeal form, and in Cray's body, Ming remained true to the Jedi way, despite her lack of connection to the Force.

Powers and abilities

Masana possessed a range of powers unfamiliar to most of the Jedi Order of the Old Republic. Jedi Master Djinn Altis was a maverick, permitting Jedi trainees to form romantic attachments, and he taught techniques—such as the ability to preserve one's consciousness after death by transferring it to an inanimate object—that were either lost to or condemned by the mainstream Jedi Order. Masana was proficient in the use of a lightsaber and could wield the Jedi weapon effectively in combat even without the aid of the Force. She was also capable of using mind influence to alleviate the psychological distress of injured clone soldiers during the Clone Wars, which she did with their permission. Masana could also use the Force to constrict blood flow to prevent bleeding; she used this technique on JanFathal to try and stem the bleeding from a ruptured femoral artery of an injured clone trooper. Working with other Jedi who had received similar training, Masana was able to use a form of psychometry to track a person's location after touching an object handled by the person. Among all of Djinn Altis' Jedi, Masana was considered the most skilled with computers and machines. She easily bypassed Separatist communications encryption and was able to successfully merge her mind with a computer temporarily in order to manipulate the weapons systems aboard a Republic warship. Masana later refined this skill to the point where she could transfer her consciousness to and from a machine at will.

Masana demonstrated considerable skill as a gunner, effectively utilizing weapon emplacements on both the Eye of Palpatine and Nam Chorios. Even after severing her connection to the Force's light side by killing Cray Mingla and transferring her consciousness into Mingla's body, Masana retained the ability to comprehend and elucidate training methods and aids previously employed by Jedi, despite yearning to personally explore the Force. She had wielded numerous Force powers in her previous existence, but upon inhabiting Cray Mingla's form, she found herself seemingly unable to access the Force, despite maintaining physical fitness. On Dagobah and aboard the Knight Hammer, she briefly tapped into the Force, but only in its dark side manifestation. This power enabled her to unleash a Force Whirlwind to repel predatory nightbats and to guide her lightsaber in deflecting blaster fire.

Relationships

Geith Eris

Despite the Jedi Order's traditional prohibition against romantic involvement and marriage, Djinn Altis permitted his students to cultivate meaningful relationships. Masana engaged in such a relationship with Geith Eris, a fellow trainee and accomplished pilot. By the time the Clone Wars erupted, they were betrothed. Both survived the Great Jedi Purge, but in 18 BBY, they boarded the automated Eye of Palpatine dreadnaught in an attempt to disable it. Masana's plan involved accessing the gunnery control room to trigger a catastrophic misfire within the enclision grid, effectively shutting down the weapon systems. Eris, however, disagreed with this approach and departed in a Skipray blastboat to seek assistance, despite Masana's objections. Tragically, the dreadnaught's gunnery systems eliminated Eris, and Masana subsequently relinquished her physical form to neutralize the war machine.

Luke Skywalker

In her new corporeal form, Masana encountered Luke Skywalker when he was brought aboard the dreadnaught three decades after her consciousness transfer. A mutual attraction swiftly developed between them, and another Jedi, Cray Mingla, sacrificed her own body to halt the dreadnaught, allowing Masana to inhabit it. Skywalker and Ming's bond deepened and intensified, yet it was complicated by her realization that she could no longer access the Force. They embarked on a journey together, hoping to reignite her connection. Despite Skywalker's devoted efforts, Masana, now adopting the surname Ming, ultimately concluded that she would remain unfulfilled without the Force and that Skywalker's immense power was both overshadowing and hindering her progress. Upon discovering that she could only access the dark side, Ming departed from Skywalker to pursue her own path in search of the Force, openly admitting her love for him. She expressed hope of reuniting with him once she had regained her powers, but that opportunity never materialized. In 13 ABY, a single glance exchanged between them on Nam Chorios conveyed the mutual understanding that their time together had concluded. After Abeloth murdered Ming and assumed her appearance, she exploited her form to contact Luke Skywalker. While he discerned that Callista's appearance was an illusion crafted by Abeloth, Skywalker was deeply affected and saddened to realize that, three decades after their last encounter, he still harbored love for her. The relationship between the two concluded with a glimmer of hope, as Skywalker ultimately managed to sever his past love from the entity that had held her captive for so long, prompting Callista to express her gratitude to Skywalker in her final gaze before dissolving into the Force.

Behind the scenes

Callista Ming was initially conceived by Barbara Hambly as a romantic interest for Luke Skywalker in the 1995 novel Children of the Jedi. Hambly collaborated closely with Kevin J. Anderson in developing the storyline that became known as the Callista trilogy: Children of the Jedi, Anderson's Darksaber, and Hambly's Planet of Twilight. In numerous aspects, Ming's personality mirrored Skywalker's, except for her frustration throughout much of the series stemming from her inability to utilize the Force, which served as a dramatic contrast to Skywalker's mastery of the Force. Ming subsequently appeared in various supplementary materials that discussed the events of the trilogy. According to Kevin J. Anderson, Ming was originally envisioned as "the great love of Luke Skywalker's life," as part of an assignment from Lucasfilm to Barbara Hambly, who created Ming. However, by the time Anderson commenced writing Darksaber, the overwhelming fan response to the character Mara Jade from the Thrawn Trilogy had prompted Lucasfilm to decide that Skywalker and Jade would ultimately become a couple. Consequently, Anderson collaborated with Hambly to devise a method of gradually writing Ming out of the story over the course of Darksaber, without eliminating the character altogether.

Callista Ming's surname remained undisclosed until "Murder in Slushtime", a short story penned by Hambly and set after Hambly and Anderson's trilogy. Her name bears a resemblance to that of the person whose body she occupied, Cray Mingla. The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia refers to her as Callista "Ming", with the surname enclosed in quotation marks. In 2008, she made a brief appearance in the novel Order 66: A Republic Commando Novel, wherein her original name was revealed as Callista Masana. The same author who wrote Order 66, Karen Traviss, later incorporated Callista into another novel of hers, The Clone Wars: No Prisoners, which assigned the character a more significant role in a battle during the Clone Wars.

Barbara Hambly derived the name "Callista" from Callisto, one of the four largest moons of Jupiter and also a figure in Greek mythology. In creating the character, Hambly sought to develop a "spiritual partner for Luke." Hambly believed that Ming could connect with Luke Skywalker on the spiritual dimensions of the Force and shared a similar background. Ming's personality was intended to be "basicly (sic) sweet-natured" and prioritize wisdom over power. Hambly also stated that she envisioned a young Uma Thurman or potentially Winona Ryder portraying Ming's character, emphasizing that it would have to be someone "tough and sweet." In conceiving Ming, Hambly also aimed to create a character that would present challenges that "the Force can't help you with." Hambly felt that incorporating elements that Skywalker was powerless to alter would contribute to his growth as a character. Hambly also stated that she hadn't kept abreast of subsequent novels featuring Ming, and while she had offered to write another novel featuring Ming at one point, she was declined by Lucasfilm.