Daeshara'cor

On Ryloth, the homeworld of the Twi'lek people, a female Twi'lek named Daeshara'cor was born into poverty. After her father's early death, she spent much of her childhood alongside her mother, a traveling dancer. This upbringing exposed the young Force-sensitive to the diverse spaceports and docking bays of the galaxy, teaching her to navigate life on the fringe among spacers, drifters, and explorers. However, like many Twi'leks, Daeshara'cor's mother was forced into slavery and eventually perished. Orphaned and alone, Daeshara'cor developed a profound hatred for slavers and those like them.

Recognized for her Force sensitivity, Daeshara'cor was inducted into the New Jedi Order and sent to Jedi Master Luke Skywalker's Jedi Praxeum on Yavin Prime's fourth moon for training, becoming one of the first of her species to do so. Her entire formal Jedi training took place at the Praxeum. Observers noted her dedication, and she successfully achieved the rank of Jedi Knight. Her diligence earned her the respect of some younger Jedi. However, aware that strong emotions were considered a pathway to the dark side of the Force, she concealed her deep-seated anger.

She formed a close bond with Octa Ramis, a woman from Chandrila, and they collaborated on several missions. Motivated by her past, Daeshara'cor became an advocate for galactic freedom, hoping to eradicate slavery. After constructing her own lightsaber and achieving the rank of Jedi Knight, she occasionally returned to her homeworld of Ryloth.

In Kala'uun, a large underground city and spaceport, Daeshara'cor discovered two Force-sensitive Twi'lek sisters, Alema and Numa Rar, who were enslaved dancers struggling to survive in a notorious ryll drug den. Recognizing their innate Force talent, she purchased their freedom and arranged for their transport to the Jedi Praxeum on Yavin 4. Daeshara'cor informally mentored the Rar sisters, even giving Numa Rar her lightsaber before building a second one for herself with a scarlet blade.

In the aftermath of the New Republic's declaration of peace with the Imperial Remnant, the New Jedi Order experienced internal divisions. A faction of younger Jedi, led by Kyp Durron and including Ganner Rhysode, Wurth Skidder, and Durron's apprentice Miko Reglia, advocated for proactive intervention against illegal activities threatening the New Republic's citizens. Conversely, Luke Skywalker and a more traditional group, including Kam and Tionne Solusar, preferred using the Force defensively, avoiding aggressive actions.

Daeshara'cor, considered sensible by Skywalker, initially dismissed Durron's rhetoric. Despite her hidden anger towards slavers, she remained loyal to Skywalker. However, in 25 ABY, her perspective shifted dramatically. Kyp Durron and his anti-smuggler vigilante starfighter squadron were ambushed by the Yuuzhan Vong, a previously unknown alien species utilizing advanced biotechnology, hostile to artificial machines, and intent on galactic conquest.

Miko Reglia perished, and Durron returned to the New Jedi Order determined to confront the new enemy. The Wookiee Chewbacca, closely associated with the Order, also died due to the invaders, deeply affecting Luke Skywalker's nephew Anakin Solo, a young Jedi who considered Chewbacca a close friend. Following Reglia's death, Daeshara'cor became withdrawn, spending hours in the Jedi archives. Discovering that the Yuuzhan Vong were enslaving galactic inhabitants using surge coral, she transferred her hatred of slavers to the invaders, finding merit in Durron's aggressive stance over Skywalker's. She concluded that against such a powerful foe, the Jedi needed to embrace their martial heritage, as Skywalker had done during the Galactic Civil War against the Galactic Empire.

Convinced that a proactive strike, honoring the Jedi Order's martial tradition, would impede the Yuuzhan Vong's advance, Daeshara'cor joined over sixty other Jedi at the Jedi Temple on Coruscant for what Kyp Durron termed a council of war. Abandoning her usual skepticism of Durron's pronouncements, she silently observed the proceedings among his supporters. Luke Skywalker soon arrived and announced his decision: rather than launching an attack against the Yuuzhan Vong, who had yet to focus on a specific target, the Jedi would disperse among refugees, offering aid and protection.

Daeshara'cor expressed her concerns, but Durron was the primary critic of Skywalker's approach, prompting Skywalker to remind the Jedi that they were not warriors. The Twi'lek Jedi Knight challenged this statement, asserting that the Order's martial tradition was clear and should be employed against the Yuuzhan Vong. Kam Solusar, a prominent Jedi Master and Skywalker's supporter, countered that the martial tradition Daeshara'cor cited was merely a response to Skywalker's necessary battles against the Galactic Empire. While Skywalker swayed Durron's faction, Daeshara'cor remained unconvinced and was further dismayed when the Jedi Master revealed the New Republic government's refusal to endorse or support Jedi missions.

As Skywalker distributed pre-arranged assignments, Daeshara'cor openly criticized him, accusing him of disregarding the Order's collective opinion and making decisions unilaterally. She deemed his methods flawed and predicted that Coruscant would fall if the Jedi Order did not take offensive action. Skywalker cautioned Daeshara'cor against this line of thinking, warning that an aggressive Jedi Order would be vulnerable to the dark side of the Force. However, the Twi'lek was resolute. Believing that the Yuuzhan Vong threat had to be stopped, she accessed the Jedi archives, seeking data on superweapons that could be used against the invaders. Aware that successfully locating and using such a weapon would likely lead to a confrontation with Skywalker, Daeshara'cor prepared for that eventuality.

The Twi'lek investigated the Death Star, a moon-sized battle station with a superlaser capable of destroying planets; the Sun Crusher, an Imperial weapon capable of destroying entire star systems by inducing supernovas; the Eye of Palpatine, a dreadnaught capable of devastating planets; the Darksaber, a Hutt superweapon utilizing superlaser technology; and other similar devices. Daeshara'cor also researched the construction sites of these superweapons, hoping to find a stored, unused weapon. The Death Star prototype and the single Eye of Palpatine led her to believe that a second Death Star or Eye of Palpatine might exist, as Emperor Palpatine rarely built only one of each superweapon.

After gathering a large amount of data, Daeshara'cor covered her tracks. She enlisted her friend Octa Ramis, who possessed the necessary computer skills, to erase her search history from the Jedi archive databanks. Although Luke Skywalker had assigned Daeshara'cor to travel to Bimmisaari aboard the starship Durastar, she had no intention of going to the Bimm homeworld. Instead of visiting the Maw, where Imperial Admiral Natasi Daala had been based at the Maw Installation, the center of Imperial superweapon research, Daeshara'cor chose to visit Vortex, where former Imperial scientist Qwi Xux, an Omwati genius who had worked on the Death Star and the Sun Crusher, resided. She went to Docking Bay 9372 on Coruscant to board the Durastar, where she sabotaged its hyperdrive to create an alibi for her absence on Bimmisaari.

She then boarded the tramp freighter Lucky Star II, bound for Ord Mantell, a planet near Vortex, and used a mind trick on the ship's mate to erase her presence from his memory. Upon arriving at Vortex, Daeshara'cor located Qwi Xux and inquired about the superweapons she had designed. She revealed her knowledge of the Death Star prototype and the Sun Crusher, asking if more superweapons had been built. Xux informed her that she knew of no such devices, as her memories of designing the superweapons had been forcibly removed by Kyp Durron in 11 ABY. Disappointed, the Twi'lek departed to seek information elsewhere. Her next lead took her to the library world of Garos IV, a planet that had survived Imperial rule and retained a wealth of information about the Galactic Empire in its university.

Upon arriving in Ariana, the capital city of Garos IV and home to the University of Garos, Daeshara'cor resumed her search for information. Due to the university's bustling environment, she opted not to search its records directly. Instead, she leveraged her experience on the fringes of galactic society to find illegal means of obtaining the information. In Ariana's backstreets, the Jedi Knight located a curio shop where a man directed her to someone who could acquire the data files she needed. Daeshara'cor erased the man's memory of her visit before heading to a nearby cantina known as the Violet Viska.

Daeshara'cor entered the cantina to meet the information vendor but quickly realized she was being tracked. Concealed in her Jedi apparel, she navigated the crowded cantina until she spotted a young Human male in a booth, whom she recognized as Anakin Solo. Using her mind trick abilities, she projected an image of herself fleeing out the front entrance. Solo fell for the ruse and pursued the illusion, running into a wall and briefly knocking himself unconscious. The Twi'lek then revealed herself to the dazed young Jedi and decided to abduct him to use as leverage against Luke Skywalker, whom she knew would soon arrive.

Daeshara'cor took Solo to an apartment, bound his hands, and warned him that she would kill him if she sensed him using the Force. She then used Solo's comlink to contact Luke Skywalker, who was at the University of Garos. Daeshara'cor kept the conversation brief to avoid being tracked, offering to trade information on the Eye of Palpatine and other superweapons for Solo's safe return. After delivering her ultimatum to Skywalker, Daeshara'cor spoke with Solo, explaining her motives without revealing her hatred of slavery.

During their conversation, an old spacer named Chalco, who had been helping Solo track Daeshara'cor, burst into the apartment with a blaster and fired a stun bolt at her. The Jedi Knight reacted swiftly, deflecting the bolt back at Chalco with her lightsaber, incapacitating him. She then attempted to explain herself to Solo, asking if he would kill countless Yuuzhan Vong to bring back Chewbacca, his deceased Wookiee protector. Daeshara'cor recognized Solo's emotional turmoil but decided to end the standoff by contacting Skywalker. However, Solo used telekinesis to hurl Chalco's blaster at her head, knocking her unconscious.

Luke Skywalker arrived shortly after, and Daeshara'cor followed the Jedi Master to the planet Ithor, where he had gathered the adult members of the Jedi Order. The Jedi remained on the Tafanda Bay, an Ithorian herdship orbiting Ithor, which was the next target of the Yuuzhan Vong. As a New Republic task force and its Imperial allies prepared to defend the world, Daeshara'cor remained in seclusion at her request, visited only by Skywalker, who discussed her actions and motivations at length. However, the Jedi Knight remained confused, unsure why she had resorted to such drastic measures or allowed her emotions to control her so strongly.

Shortly before the battle, Ithor's high priest, Relal Tawron, invited the Jedi to a ceremony where they would renounce a part of their personality to become closer to the Mother Jungle, sacred to the Ithorians, whom they were protecting. Daeshara'cor's appearance at the ceremony alongside her peers marked her first meeting with the other Jedi in weeks. Standing beside her friend Octa Ramis, she watched as individual Jedi stepped forward to renounce aspects of themselves. Daeshara'cor chose to abandon hatred, acknowledging that it was a personal motive that had led her astray. After the ceremony, she briefly spoke with Skywalker, thanking him for helping her return to the Jedi and re-evaluate her motives. In the following days, the Jedi prepared to defend the Tafanda Bay against the Yuuzhan Vong.

The Jedi Knights made the decision to split up into pairs as they defended the herdship. For the impending battle, Daeshara'cor was partnered with Anakin Solo, and together, the two Jedi assumed their defensive positions. Before the arrival of the yorik-trema landing craft, there was a brief fight in space, after which the crafts unloaded Chazrach reptilian soldiers and Yuuzhan Vong warriors into the herdship. When a large contingent of the warriors had boarded and started to destroy the holocams that were monitoring their movement, Daeshara'cor informed Solo that it was time to protect the herdship, and they both departed. Instead of attempting a stealthy approach through Tafanda Bay to surprise the Yuuzhan Vong, Daeshara'cor chose to directly confront the invading warriors with a daring advance down the herdship's corridors.

Solo followed her as she took her place in the herdship's central plaza, and she signaled her readiness to the other teams. Before the fighting started, the Twi'lek expressed her gratitude to Solo for helping her return from the verge of succumbing to the dark side of the Force. Their conversation was cut short by the appearance of six Chazrach, whom the two Jedi quickly defeated. Daeshara'cor jumped to the walkway below, and Solo warned her about a Yuuzhan Vong warrior who was present. The Twi'lek instructed Solo to follow her into another corridor, but a Chazrach delayed the younger Jedi, giving the Yuuzhan Vong warrior time to notice him and charge in for an attack.

Because Solo's leg had been injured, the warrior was about to kill the young Jedi, but Daeshara'cor used the Force to pull Solo to safety and then rushed to engage the warrior herself. While the young Jedi recovered, Daeshara'cor successfully pushed the warrior away from Solo, using her lightsaber to defend against the Yuuzhan Vong. However, as the warrior retreated, he reversed his amphistaff—a living Yuuzhan Vong serpent used as a weapon—allowing it to bite the Twi'lek on her left arm and inject a powerful venom into Daeshara'cor's bloodstream. As Solo hurried to continue the fight, the Twi'lek Jedi Knight collapsed.

Before turning to Daeshara'cor and lifting her onto his shoulders, Solo quickly defeated the warrior. While Solo was carrying her to safety, he was stopped by numerous Chazrach along the way and used both Daeshara'cor's and his own lightsabers against the reptilian soldiers. Luke and Mara Jade Skywalker came to Solo's aid, and Jade Skywalker carried the Twi'lek on her shoulders while Solo scouted ahead. The Yuuzhan Vong were driven off the herdship, and Jedi Master Corran Horn was able to negotiate a truce with the Yuuzhan Vong commander, which resulted in a week-long suspension of hostilities. However, Daeshara'cor was in the process of dying. While Humans could survive amphistaff venom if they used bacta, Twi'lek physiology was so different that Daeshara'cor could not be healed.

The mortally wounded Jedi Knight was placed in a medical bay and prepared herself to pass on to the Force, accepting the inevitability of her death with calmness. The Twi'lek requested that Anakin Solo visit her because she wanted to reassure the young Jedi about her passing and Chewbacca's. Daeshara'cor was resting when Solo got there. She woke up to tell Solo, to his great sadness, that she was about to die and to implore him to have faith that she and Chewbacca before her had died saving Anakin so that he could carry on serving life and the Force. The young Jedi was calmed by Daeshara'cor's words, and with her final breaths, the Twi'lek told Solo how proud she was of him. As she passed away, the Twi'lek Jedi Knight surrendered to the Force, becoming non-corporeal.

Despite the fact that Daeshara'cor had come back from the verge of the dark side of the Force to fight the Yuuzhan Vong in order to protect others rather than to serve her hatred of their culture of slavery, those who were close to her continued to fight the invaders aggressively. Octa Ramis, who had come to terms with Reglia's death, had her grief reignited by Daeshara'cor's passing and became an outspoken supporter of Kyp Durron. Daeshara'cor's passing also had repercussions for Alema and Numa Rar. The two Twi'leks rose to prominence as leaders of a resistance movement on the occupied planet New Plympto and started a partisan war against the Yuuzhan Vong.

The Rar sisters frequently invoked Daeshara'cor's memory as they fought their war, grieving over the loss of their protector. Alema developed an angry focus that did not lessen over time following Daeshara'cor's death, while Numa Rar was able to restrain her sister's strong emotions to some extent. After Numa Rar also died in combat against the Yuuzhan Vong, her sister lost control of her emotions and eventually fell to the dark side of the Force. Anakin Solo later gave his life to protect his friends while fighting the Yuuzhan Vong during a desperate mission. The Yuuzhan Vong did, in fact, conquer Coruscant in 27 ABY, as Daeshara'cor had believed they would, though the rift between Durron and Skywalker was later healed.

Daeshara'cor spent the majority of her life being driven by anger, and she kept this a secret from the other Jedi. As a result, some people saw her as reserved, composed, and sensible, and they respected her for her diligence and hard work. The Twi'lek did, in fact, possess these latter traits, and they were by no means a false persona; however, once the Jedi Knight gave in to her anger, they were overshadowed. Daeshara'cor was willing to consider genocide against the invading species in order to prevent the Yuuzhan Vong from inflicting suffering on the galaxy's inhabitants, as she thought it was preferable to the deaths of loved ones. Daeshara'cor was frequently anxious and fearful during her search for superweapons, and she startled those who knew her by being outspoken and critical.

She only started to understand that hatred was obscuring traditional Jedi beliefs after a period of introspection and conversation with Luke Skywalker. Daeshara'cor showed her bravery and commitment to the preservation of life upon this epiphany by directly confronting the Yuuzhan Vong rather than using stealth tactics and by giving up her life to save Anakin Solo. Daeshara'cor consequently started fighting in the service of the Force rather than in the service of her emotions and desires after abandoning hatred. Daeshara'cor was thus willing to die and did not fear for her life, instead accepting death and upholding her Jedi principles.

The Twi'lek Jedi Knight refused to accept that those who had not lived what she considered to be a difficult life on the fringes could comprehend her situation. She believed that those who had not directly witnessed or experienced the pain and suffering brought on by slavery could not possibly comprehend it, and this feeling of isolation made Daeshara'cor's situation worse. Daeshara'cor, while willing to steal and use Jedi powers to achieve her goals, refrained from harming Anakin Solo and Chalco after initially capturing the two Humans, but she did issue threats to persuade Luke Skywalker to hand over the data from the University of Garos.

Daeshara'cor was resourceful and cunning in her quest to obtain a superweapon before she was apprehended, despite knowing that she would eventually have to answer for her actions once she had obtained and used one against the Yuuzhan Vong. She arranged for data to be appropriated and an alibi for herself, which were only discovered as a result of a hidden computer program that was monitoring the Jedi archives. Daeshara'cor was accustomed to living on the fringes of society and knew how to live on the wrong side of the law. She preferred not to draw attention to herself and remained concealed in her cowl and robes. She was wary of Kyp Durron's ostentatiousness and rhetoric, and she only sided with his faction when she lost faith in Skywalker's strategy for dealing with the Yuuzhan Vong.

Daeshara'cor was adept at using mind tricks, using her powers to both erase the memories of those she came into contact with and to project images into the perceptions of others. Daeshara'cor was able to trick Anakin Solo into running into a wall on Garos IV using the latter manifestation of the power, despite his strong Force-sensitivity. She was also able to easily use telekinesis, swiftly whisking Solo to safety during the Battle of Ithor and levitating his body on Garos IV. Daeshara'cor used her Force powers to try to hide both her presence and Anakin Solo's from Luke Skywalker, cloaking herself in the Force to avoid detection. Despite these abilities, Skywalker was able to sense her. The Twi'lek possessed the ability of precognition and had strong premonitions that the Yuuzhan Vong would one day conquer Coruscant if action was not taken; while the Jedi Order did oppose the invaders with coordinated military efforts, the galactic capital did, in fact, fall to the Yuuzhan Vong two years after Daeshara'cor's death.

Daeshara'cor also started the informal training of Alema and Numa Rar in addition to recognizing their potential. She also created her own lightsaber with a scarlet blade, which she used in the war against the Yuuzhan Vong. Daeshara'cor had previously owned another lightsaber, which she gave to Numa Rar. Despite her proficiency with the weapon, the Twi'lek was quickly wounded by the Yuuzhan Vong warrior she encountered on the Tafanda Bay. Daeshara'cor was able to surrender herself to the Force upon her death, which resulted in her body becoming discorporeal and vanishing. Daeshara'cor was fluent in Huttese and Twi'leki in addition to Galactic Basic Standard. She had grown accustomed to living on the fringes of society and had developed a knack for hiding and evading capture.

Daeshara'cor only made one appearance in the novel The New Jedi Order: Dark Tide II: Ruin, which is the second book in Michael A. Stackpole's Dark Tide Duology and the third overall entry in The New Jedi Order series. Daeshara'cor's search for superweapons in Dark Tide II: Ruin is one of the novel's many subplots, and it serves as a vehicle for developing Anakin Solo's character and exploring the use of superweapons, which were prominent in the Bantam Spectra era of Star Wars publishing, against the Yuuzhan Vong. The Twi'lek's character arc took place throughout the novel. Stackpole stated in an interview about the Dark Tide duology that the release of Star Wars: Episode I The Phantom Menace, in which George Lucas introduced the idea of divergent views on the Force through Qui-Gon Jinn, a maverick Jedi Master of the Jedi Order during the time of the Galactic Republic, made the concept of differences in Jedi philosophy more plausible.

Troy Denning, another Star Wars author, expanded on Daeshara'cor's backstory in 2001 by revealing that she had been the informal Jedi Master of Alema and Numa Rar, the former of whom became a long-running character in the New Jedi Order series, the Dark Nest Trilogy, and the Star Wars: Legacy of the Force series. Daeshara'cor was subsequently included in a number of reference works, including The New Jedi Order Sourcebook and Who's Who in the New Jedi Order, which elaborated on her background and featured two illustrations of her. Daeshara'cor is described as a green-skinned Twi'lek in Dark Tide II: Ruin, but she is depicted as having light pink skin in The New Jedi Order Sourcebook. Although Solo does notice that her skin takes on a "milky hue" after she is injured at the Battle of Ithor, it is likely that her coloring in the image was simply an oversight.

Daeshara'cor was indirectly mentioned in The New Essential Chronology as one of "two rogue Jedi" looking for superweapons; Octa Ramis was likely the other rogue Jedi. Daeshara'cor also had an entry in The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia in 2008. The New Jedi Order Sourcebook states that Daeshara'cor began her superweapon research immediately after Miko Reglia's death, which contradicts Dark Tide II: Ruin, which states that Daeshara'cor's research began after her arguments with Luke Skywalker on Coruscant. This article assumes that while Daeshara'cor began research in the Jedi archives after Reglia's death, she did not pull information on superweapons until later.