Chamma

Four centuries prior to the Freedon Nadd Uprising, Chamma was a youthful and enthusiastic Jedi who had recently completed the Trials of Knighthood. During this period, a trade ship associated with the Republic seemingly encountered difficulties while in orbit around Athiss, the second planet within the Loro Babis system. The Jedi received an urgent communication from the ship's distress beacon and decided to deploy a team of Jedi Knights, including Chamma, to investigate the situation. Accompanied by two other Jedi, Chamma journeyed to Athiss aboard the Bastion, arriving at the system only to find no trace of a ship in distress. However, Chamma noticed scattered ionized debris orbiting the planet in a swirling pattern. Nevertheless, Chamma utilized the Bastion's scanners to detect signs of life in a specific area on the planet. Resolving to investigate these life readings, the three Jedi landed the Bastion in an open field covered in wild grass. Employing the Force to pinpoint the location of the life-forms they had detected from space, Chamma and his companions followed the Force to the edge of a shadowy forest and agreed that the life signs originated from within.

As the team ventured deeper into the forest in pursuit of their objective, Chamma and the others suddenly sensed the life signs dividing into three distinct entities. After deliberation, the three Jedi concluded that it would be most effective to separate and each pursue one of the life-forms.

While following his quarry, Chamma noticed the sun setting on Athiss, finding himself deep within the forest surrounded by dense vegetation that significantly restricted natural light from above; he also took note of the air's quality, which felt heavy and stagnant. Sensing the oppressive atmosphere of the forest weighing on his Force awareness, and realizing he was no closer to the life-form than when he began, Chamma contemplated returning to the Bastion. However, he slipped on the damp ground and fell into a nearby pond. Scolding himself for his lack of focus, he started to pull himself out of the water when he suddenly felt a surge of warning. Reacting swiftly, Chamma activated his lightsaber and immediately assumed a defensive stance against his unknown assailant, whose lightsaber clashed with Chamma's. Determined to identify his attacker, Chamma attempted to peer past the intense light of the colliding lightsabers. Despite his efforts, Chamma could only discern an ink-black silhouette of impressive stature, radiating dark side energy. By this point, the initial shock of the attack had subsided, and Chamma regained his focus, turning to the Force. However, as he attempted to concentrate his strength, he felt an overwhelming wave of darkness wash over him, throwing him back from his attacker. Struggling to regain his composure and catch his breath, Chamma realized he could no longer sense the light side of the Force or draw strength from it. Chamma observed a shadowy figure appear at his feet, wielding an ignited lightsaber and trailing wisps of an unknown substance—unable to fully comprehend what he was fighting, Chamma concluded that his adversary could only be a spawn of the dark side.

As the creature raised its lightsaber to strike, Chamma began to question everything he had been taught about his relationship with the Force. An avalanche of thoughts flooded his mind, and he realized that his anger was providing him the strength needed to win the fight—he decided that if the light side had abandoned him, he had no choice but to defeat his enemy without its aid.

Harnessing his anger to draw strength from the dark side, Chamma gathered his energy and evaded his attacker's downward strike. Focusing on his newfound power, Chamma leaped to his feet and began attacking the shadowy being. However, his adversary easily countered his attacks, and Chamma realized it was anticipating his movements through the Force—the being, Chamma believed, was far more powerful in the Force than he could ever be. As his attacks were parried and defended against, he began to think that the only reason he was losing ground to the dark sider was because the light side had abandoned him in his struggle—he reasoned that if the power of the light had still been with him, then he would have at least had a chance against his superiorly gifted foe. Believing that all his training and trials had been misguided, he slowly began to yield ground to his enemy. However, his enemy ceased its attack and held its blade at its side, as if taunting Chamma to attack; at that moment, Chamma's emotions erupted, and he felt his anger enhance his abilities with an unknown strength. Rushing forward at the dark sider, Chamma swung his lightsaber horizontally at his opponent's chest, and the creature moved to deflect the blow. Chamma, however, deactivated his lightsaber just as the two blades were about to meet, causing the dark sider to overextend its defense. He reignited his lightsaber, holding the hilt only inches from the creature's exposed front. Chamma watched as the violet glow of his blade burst out the back of the dark side creature, and listened as it emitted a beastly cry that echoed off the surrounding trees.

At that moment, Chamma realized that the dark side creature was gone, and he wondered if he had imagined the entire fight. However, he soon found the creature's lightsaber several meters away, confirming that he had indeed defeated it. Chamma, however, felt immense guilt and confusion over the events that had transpired and caused him to call upon the dark side for help. Realizing what he had done, and not fully understanding why the light side had abandoned him in his time of need, Chamma decided not to return to the Order with his two companions. Instead, he decided to enter self-imposed exile in the barren deserts of H'ratth. There, he turned his thoughts inward and meditated on the events in the forests of Athiss, continuously struggling with what he had been taught.

Slowly, over the next one hundred years, Chamma faded into obscurity while living in the hills of H'ratth, content that the Jedi Order had seemingly forgotten about him and his actions on Athiss.

One day, Chamma entered his living area to find a stranger patiently waiting. The near-human's eyes were milky white and pupil-less, seeming to stare through Chamma and into his heart. The stranger—whom Chamma recognized as a Miralukan—advised the exiled Jedi that it was time to return to the light. Expecting a fight, Chamma warned the Miralukan not to tell him what to do and advised him to leave; which he did. However, he returned the following day, and the day after that, until Chamma agreed to listen to what he had to say. The Jedi identified himself as Master Noab Hulis, and proceeded to tell Chamma about a time long ago, when a young and enthusiastic Jedi had encountered a Sith devotee who had mastered the ways of the Sith and the dark side.

The Sith also had two companions, and the three had escaped to a remote world during the collapse of the Sith Empire; over time, they grew stronger in their Sith knowledge and devised a plan to lure young Jedi to them in hopes of creating a new order of Sith followers. In response to their trap, which revolved around a ship's distress signal, a team of three young Jedi arrived to investigate but soon found themselves lacking the experience required to confront such powerful beings.

Chamma continued to listen to Master Hulis's story, but the facts began to resonate with his antiquated memories—Chamma realized the story described him and his fellow Jedi during their mission to Athiss a hundred years earlier. Realizing that while he had masked his exile behind meditation, he had actually spent the last century trying to forget that night, Chamma listened as Hulis described how the three Sith had separated the Jedi trio and assaulted each with strong waves of dark side energy. These attacks had momentarily cut the Jedi off from the Force and allowed fear, hatred, and anger to overcome their minds. However, as the three Sith prepared to break the Jedi and transform them into something dark, the youngest Jedi managed to defeat his attacker. The loss of their comrade caused the remaining two Sith to retreat, fearing they had misinterpreted the power of the Jedi.

Chamma was dumbfounded by the revelation that it had not been the Force that had betrayed him, but simply the use of the Sith arts against him. Finally understanding that his own fear and anger had kept him from reconnecting to the light side that night, Chamma broke down into tears of vindication and realization. Following this revelation, Chamma agreed to accompany Master Hulis back to Ossus, where he committed to continuing his training in the Jedi ways for several more decades.

Eventually, Chamma was granted the rank of Jedi Master and left Ossus to once again reside on H'ratth, where he wanted to be constantly reminded of his past failings. However, this time Chamma chose to found an academy where he could train young Jedi in the ways of the Force and prepare them for the trials they would one day face. One of his brightest apprentices would be a young Jedi named Andur, grandson of Jev Sunrider, a longtime friend of Chamma's.

In 4001 BBY, Chamma invited the young Jedi Andur Sunrider to train as his apprentice at his academy on H'ratth. When Andur was a young boy, his grandfather, Jedi Master Jev Sunrider, had traveled to Krayiss Two to confront a growing darkness—however, he did not survive the mission. After this, Andur harbored a deep desire to one day fight the dark powers that had killed his grandfather. As a result, Andur delved deeper, and with more dedication, into expanding his understanding of the Jedi Way. It was this dedication that initially attracted Chamma's attention, and Andur eagerly accepted the invitation to train. Along with his wife Nomi and their protocol droid A-3DO, Andur traveled to Chamma's academy to further his Jedi training.

Feeling that Andur had neglected certain aspects of his Jedi training, Chamma chose to instruct him in the nature of the Force, teaching him meditation techniques and advanced Force concentration methods. Likewise, Chamma realized that Andur lacked the basic understanding of the power he wished to possess. As a result, Chamma focused on strengthening the foundation in history that Andur already possessed by using examples from the Jedi Order's past to illustrate points to his young apprentice. Andur understood the reasoning behind Chamma's lessons, and he worked hard to excel at everything his master taught him. Chamma's knowledge of the Force, combined with Andur's dedication to his master's teachings, allowed Andur to quickly succeed in his studies. Chamma, realizing that Andur would eventually require a master with a deeper knowledge of the Force, gave Andur several Adegan crystals to give to Master Thon, who had agreed to take the young man as his apprentice. At first, Andur was not happy with Chamma's decision for him to continue his training under Thon. Andur argued that he had learned everything he needed to become a Jedi and was now ready to join the ranks of the Jedi Knights. Chamma, however, recognized that Andur still held a deeply rooted desire to hunt down and destroy the dark powers that had murdered his grandfather; his apprentice's selfish argument only confirmed his belief that Andur required more training. Andur, though, believed his master was mistaken.

The evening before Andur was to leave for Ambria, Chamma requested that the two meet for mediation at The Crag, a ridged pinnacle of rock overlooking the extensive landscape of H'ratth. Chamma stood at the top of the pinnacle and sensed Andur approaching from behind. As Chamma and Andur stood looking over the forests below, Andur suddenly had a powerful vision in which he foresaw his eventual death and the eventual rise of his wife and daughter to greatness. Waking from the vision, Andur saw that Chamma was no longer beside him and that the sun had long set below the horizon. Finally comprehending the wisdom Chamma had been trying to impart on him, Andur understood that he was still far from understanding the Force and accepted his master's decision for him to train with Thon.

Chamma's consciousness was one of three added to the Noetikon of Secrets, a Jedi artifact containing dangerous knowledge that could lead one to the dark side. Chamma and two other Jedi who had touched the dark side, Jesper Altax and Bastila Shan, served as the gatekeepers of the Noetikon. During the Cold War, the Noetikon was found and used by a Jedi Consular who sought to heal Jedi Master Yuon Par of a strange illness, and the gatekeepers recognized her illness as the one created by the Sith Terrak Morrhage many years before. Chamma and the others sent the Consular to the Jedi Temple where, along with the gatekeepers of the other two Noetikons, they taught the Consular the shielding technique used to block Morrhage's plague.

In his younger years, Chamma was extremely eager, allowing his enthusiasm to overwhelm him during his first mission as a Jedi Knight. While investigating a ship's distress call on Athiss, Chamma and his fellow Jedi were confronted by powerful Sith followers. Upon being attacked, Chamma's enthusiasm was replaced by fear as his connection with the light side was severed by the Sith. His eagerness caused him to miss subtle signs of the situation—instead of realizing that his own emotions were preventing him from reconnecting with the light side, he refused to gain perspective and allowed himself to believe that the Force had forsaken him. It was not until over a century later, during his exile, that he learned of the Sith magic used against him, allowing him to gain closure.

Due to the events on Athiss, Chamma felt immense guilt over his loss of control and what he perceived as abandonment by the light side. Even though he believed the light side had betrayed him, his personality did not allow him to fully embrace his anger, which had caused him to give in to the dark side—deep within himself, two sides warred over what had happened, and he went into exile on H'ratth to meditate on the situation. Eventually becoming complacent in his exile, Chamma neglected his mediation and pursuit of answers, instead attempting to forget his fall and the accompanying feelings. However, with the help and wisdom of a fellow Jedi, Chamma was able to eventually understand what had transpired.

Returning to the Jedi Order, and with his new understanding of the Force, Chamma resumed his Jedi training and pursued a greater depth of knowledge. With his enhanced wisdom and maturity, Chamma allowed the Force to guide him into establishing a Jedi academy to help future generations of Jedi.

As a young Jedi, Chamma demonstrated natural skill with the lightsaber. His battle with a Sith devotee in the forests of Athiss allowed him to put his skills into action; even though the Sith creature was more knowledgeable in Force techniques, Chamma was able to defeat his adversary by employing Tràkata, a deceptive lightsaber technique.

Although Chamma initially lacked understanding of the finer points of the Force, he remedied that by returning to Ossus from his exile and continuing his Jedi training for decades. Those decades of study allowed Chamma to grow into a deeper understanding of the Force, and his studies continuously showed him the errors of his past ways. As his wisdom and experiences grew, Chamma decided his knowledge and abilities would best be used in teaching others.

Author Tom Veitch first introduced Chamma in The Saga of Nomi Sunrider of the comic series Tales of the Jedi. Although Chamma was only mentioned briefly in the first two comics of The Saga of Nomi Sunrider, author George R. Strayton expanded upon the character for the West End Games source book Tales of the Jedi Companion, in which he explained Chamma's backstory and his tutelage of Andur Sunrider.

In the Tales of the Jedi Companion, it is incorrectly stated that Chamma's life-changing battle with the Sith took place on H'ratth, when it actually took place on Athiss in the Loro Babis system. At the beginning of his entry it says, "…had emitted an emergency message asking for assistance on Athiss, the second planet of the Loro Babis system, and the Jedi had accepted the charge of providing help to the endangered vessel."—meaning that Chamma and his companions encountered the Sith on Athiss, not on H'ratth.

In Knights of the Old Republic 33 flashbacks show Jedi Master Arca Jeth along with a Miralukan Jedi who is later identified as Noab Hulis. Following the release of Vindication, Part 2 Knights of the Old Republic author John Jackson Miller mentioned Chamma on his personal website in his production notes for Vindication, Part 2 explaining that Chamma's master, Noab Hulis, was depicted thus creating another link between the characters of Tales of the Jedi and those of Knights of the Old Republic.