Darth Zash existed as a Human female Sith sorcerer during the times of the Great Galactic War along with the subsequent Cold War. Being a Force-strong individual within the Sith Order, her instruction occurred within the Sith Inquisitors' tradition, all under the guidance of the restored Sith Empire. Following years dedicated to the study of the dark side's arts, Zash ascended to a position of influence within the upper levels of Sith politics and achieved the title of Sith Lord. Known as Lord Zash, her focus shifted to researching old Sith magic and its associated rituals, with her expertise leading to her role as a supervisor for acolyte training at the Sith Academy located on the sacred world of Korriban. Despite her keen pursuit of both knowledge and power, the dark side exerted a significant negative impact on her physical form, causing skin deterioration and the loss of her youth. She maintained a Force illusion to conceal her aged appearance, but the physical consequences of such intense dark side usage proved detrimental to her overall health. Consequently, she undertook a desperate search for a remedy to her terminal condition while also contending with opposition from her superiors, Darth Skotia and Darth Thanaton, who both harbored resentment towards Zash due to her perceived disrespect for the traditions and historical figures of the Sith Order.
Ultimately, Zash's investigations convinced her that a ritual crafted by the ancient Dark Lord Tulak Hord could preserve her consciousness by enabling its transfer into a fresh, younger host. However, before this could be accomplished, she needed to acquire artifacts from Hord's time and identify an appropriate host to receive her essence. She aimed to achieve both objectives by acting on a prophetic dream where an apprentice of humble origins confronted and overcame the raging spirit of the ancient Lord Aloysius Kallig within the Dark Temple on Dromund Kaas. By succeeding, the apprentice would appease the spirit and gain access to Tulak Hord's knowledge. To ensure she could capitalize on this vision, Zash instructed the Sith Academy's Overseer Harkun to assemble a group of aspiring Sith, all from low social strata. After a series of trials, one acolyte was successful in retrieving a map previously owned by Hord and liberating the sleeping Dashade assassin of the ancient Sith Lord, Khem Val. Zash welcomed the acolyte as her apprentice in the Inquisitor's arts and brought them to the Imperial capital city located on Dromund Kaas. In that location, Zash manipulated her apprentice to orchestrate the murder of Darth Skotia—a move that infuriated Darth Thanaton but ultimately resulted in Zash being promoted to the rank of Dark Lord and receiving the title of Darth.
Within the Dark Temple, the apprentice eventually fulfilled Darth Zash's prophecy, thereby demonstrating to the Sith Lord that her choice of host body was wise. Zash then tasked the young Sith with locating the remaining artifacts of Hord scattered throughout the galaxy, all while maintaining that she was preparing a ritual intended to empower her student. Once the apprentice had completed their mission, Zash summoned them back to the Dark Temple, where she revealed her true, decaying form and attempted to possess her student's body. This plan, which had been meticulously crafted over years, was thwarted by the apprentice's companion, Khem Val, who attacked Zash during the transfer. Val successfully killed Zash's physical body, but the Dark Lord's spirit was able to enter the Dashade, using it as a new vessel. While Zash did manage to survive, she was greatly displeased to find that she did not have complete control over her new body and was instead forced to share it with Val's consciousness. Due to the fact that the Dashade was bound to her apprentice, Darth Zash was also forced to serve the young Sith. During the times when she had intermittent control of the Dashade body, she aided her apprentice in defeating Darth Thanaton, who was attempting to destroy the remnants of Zash's power base. The Dark Lord, now trapped within her new body, advised her apprentice—now known as the new Lord Kallig—in the acquisition and control of the spirits of long-dead Sith Lords. Her efforts and guidance were instrumental in helping Kallig to kill Thanaton and ascend to become the newly-ordained Darth Nox. During her travels with Nox, Zash researched methods to eliminate Khem Val's consciousness so that she could gain total control over the Dashade body.
Zash, a Human Female, existed during the Great Galactic War between the Sith Empire and the Galactic Republic. Originating from the Empire's dominion, she joined the Sith Order due to her remarkable Force-sensitivity. As an acolyte Inquisitor, Zash underwent training on the Sith holy world of Korriban, where she explored its tombs and learned the secrets of the dark side of the Force. She encountered and was assessed by the aged Sith Lord Spindrall, whom many considered a crazed hermit but Zash saw as a prophet. Eventually, she earned the rank of apprentice and acquired a red-bladed lightsaber for her training. Her training led her to Dromund Kaas, the capital planet of the Sith Empire. There, she encountered the cyborg Sith Darth Skotia, who found her deceitful and overly ambitious. Their rivalry resulted in Skotia's repeated attempts to hinder Zash's progress.
Zash completed her apprenticeship and became a Sith Lord, serving under Darth Skotia, who reported to Darth Thanaton. Thanaton, like Skotia, disliked Zash and her perceived disrespect for Sith history and traditions. Together, the two Dark Lords and their servants tried to thwart Zash's plans, but she stayed ahead by gaining favor with the Empire's governing Dark Council. Her skills earned her chambers in the Sith Sanctum of the Imperial Citadel, an honor typically reserved for Dark Lords. She also oversaw acolyte training at the Sith Academy on Korriban, with chambers in the academy's pyramid and authority over its overseers. Her ambition angered superiors like Lord Khreusis, who also held power on Korriban. Zash's schemes brought her into contact with The Circle, skilled Nikto computer slicers, whom she hired for a project, agreeing to a favor in return with their leader Bolan. Her Sith studies also connected her with the Imperial Reclamation Service, a branch of the Imperial Military focused on recovering and studying ancient artifacts.
As a Sith Lord, Zash continued studying ancient Force rituals and Sith magic, becoming known for her interest in the arcane and gaining significant Force power. She compiled a large library of Sith teachings, including Naga Sadow's writings from Yavin 4. She also attempted to retrieve the holocron of Marka Ragnos by sacrificing seven tuk'ata hounds and consuming their hearts, but failed. As Zash gained Force power, her body was corrupted by the dark side, causing rapid aging and health decline. She hid her decaying skin, yellow eyes, and frail body with a Force mask, but her health continued to worsen. Discovering the dark side had made her terminally ill, she sought a way to prevent her impending death.
Around five years after the end of the Great Galactic War with the signing of the Treaty of Coruscant and the beginning of the galactic Cold War, Zash began researching the works of the ancient Sith Lord Tulak Hord. Hord, a former ruler of the ancient Sith Empire, had developed a powerful ritual that would allow a Sith sorcerer to transfer their spirit into a new body. Zash's research revealed that the ritual required artifacts that had belonged to Hord, scattered across the galaxy, hidden or in the hands of thieves. To avoid suspicion from Darth Skotia, she chose not to hunt them down herself, though she tried to access one artifact within the Dark Temple on Dromund Kaas, but Skotia, who had the key, denied her entry.
Despite Skotia's obstruction, a solution presented itself. Sith Lords, seeking power due to the Sith Emperor's seclusion, defied his orders and breached the Dark Temple, hoping to access its hidden power. Although they evaded the Emperor's notice, they fell victim to the ancient spirits within the Temple's crypts. The most powerful spirit, Aloysius Kallig, Tulak Hord's old enemy, was unaware of his own death and used the Force to possess and destroy the minds of the invading Sith. This made entering the Temple impossible for Zash, but she received a vision in a dream. In the dream, a young Sith apprentice humbled themselves before Kallig's spirit, appeasing it and allowing access to Hord's relic. Zash couldn't identify the apprentice's sex, species, or identity, but knew they were of low birth.
Trusting the vision, Zash sought an apprentice to fulfill the prophecy in the Dark Temple and serve as a new host. She went to Korriban and tasked Harkun with gathering and testing a group of Sith Acolytes. Believing she would find her prophesied student from the lowest classes, she demanded Harkun only select potential apprentices from the Empire's slave pens. Harkun initially complied by gathering six former slaves, but his prejudice against aliens and the low-born led him to recruit a seventh apprentice, the high-born Sith Pureblood Ffon Althe, hiding this from Zash. Zash, wanting the most qualified student, asked Harkun to put the prospects through trials testing their strength, talent, dedication, and understanding of the Force in relation to the Code of the Sith. She ordered their first trial to be a visit to Lord Spindrall, followed by treasure-hunting missions into the tombs of Marka Ragnos and Tulak Hord. Like many Sith, Zash used her hopeful apprentices to complete tasks and collect relics she was unable or too busy to complete. One such task, retrieving Marka Ragnos's holocron, was completed by an acolyte whom Harkun disliked. The acolyte's success in a challenge Zash had failed years before caught her attention, further piqued when they collected a hidden text from Tulak Hord's tomb.
Zash introduced herself to the former slave, intercepting them outside Harkun's chambers after their return from Hord's tomb. She praised their successes and reassured them that she, not Harkun, made the final decision regarding her future apprentice. Zash allowed Harkun to create some of the remaining trials, but commanded the acolytes' final task be to journey into the Tomb of Naga Sadow, where Tulak Hord had left a map sealed in an inner chamber. For centuries, the map had rested undisturbed, guarded by an ancient Dashade shadow Killer locked in a stasis field. As no Sith in thousands of years had been able to breach the chamber holding the Dashade and the map, the task appeared impossible, but the text gathered by the young acolyte from Tulak Hord's tomb indicated otherwise.
Upon the Inquisitor's arrival on Dromund Kaas, they informed Zash of Darth Skotia's message that he knew her plans. Zash revealed that they could not proceed unless Skotia was dead, and she could not kill him without attracting the Dark Council's attention. Zash tasked the Inquisitor with securing a prototype cyborg disruptor and a Trandoshan tablet to turn Skotia's Trandoshan bodyguards against him. After her apprentice succeeded in retrieving the objects, she instructed them to kill Skotia in his quarters while she established an alibi at a local cantina. The Inquisitor defeated Skotia, but his dying words foreshadowed Zash's future actions, warning that she had plotted his death for years and the Inquisitor would face the same fate.
At the cantina, the Inquisitor informed Zash of Skotia's death, prompting a holocall from Darth Thanaton, Skotia's former superior. Thanaton, aware of Zash's involvement in Skotia's death, requested a meeting. Following the meeting, Zash was promoted to the title of Darth, becoming Darth Zash. While the Inquisitor was away, Zash took on other apprentices, such as Corrin and Kaal, without the Inquisitor's initial knowledge.
After securing all of Tulak Hord's artifacts, Zash requested a meeting with her apprentice in the Dark Temple to commence the ritual, withholding details other than that her apprentice "will be more powerful than (her apprentice) can possibly imagine." Upon the Inquisitor's arrival, Zash bestowed the title of Lord and revealed her true condition, confirming their suspicions and those of Aloysius Kallig. She continued to speak sweetly while attempting the ritual, but Khem Val, loyal to the Inquisitor, intervened, causing Zash's spirit to transfer to his body instead, much to her dismay. She expressed her anger at the ruined plans and her servitude to her former apprentice due to being in the body of their Dashade servant. However, she and Khem shared the body, with neither having full control.
After the ritual and being bound in Khem Val's body, Zash's personality would sometimes emerge to speak to the Inquisitor, now known as Lord Kallig. After hearing that Darth Thanaton wanted to speak to them, Zash warned them to be wary of Thanaton, giving her own experiences as an example. Bound by a Dashade's oath and her desire to learn, Zash researched ancient Sith rituals to help Kallig control the powers of Sith Lord ghosts. Zash expressed jealousy at Kallig becoming a Dark Councilor, "Darth Nox," before she did.
Zash extended her control over the body by sending Khem and Kallig on a wild goose chase for Tulak Hord's remains, which were actually Hord's artifacts that drained Khem's willpower, allowing Zash to take control more often. She dismissed concerns of foul play by saying she was simply behind on her reading.
Zash developed a solution: an empty Rakata mind prison could contain Khem Val's mind, leaving her in control of the Dashade's body. She devised a ritual but needed to borrow power from Lord Kallig. Learning that one such box was in Republic custody on Taris, Zash convinced Kallig to take her there for the final showdown.
Her plan backfired when Kallig decided to banish Zash's mind from Khem's body. Zash reminded her former apprentice of their deal, but Khem told her she had underestimated his master for the last time. Afterwards Khem and Kallig threw the artifact out of an airlock and left Taris.
Some time later, a female human resembling her found the mind prison and was tricked by Zash into opening it. Zash seized the opportunity and swapped her mind with her liberator.
Darth Zash was known for her secretive nature and cunning schemes. Her patience was also notable, exemplified by her years-long wait for the opportune moment to eliminate Skotia and the five years she spent searching for the ideal apprentice to use in her ritual. However, like all Sith, she possessed a willingness to betray her fellow Sith. Ironically, this characteristic would ultimately lead to her downfall.
Zash possessed an insatiable thirst for knowledge, regardless of the consequences, which greatly displeased her superior, Darth Thanaton, who deemed her excessively reckless. Her hunger for knowledge was so intense that she seemed unconcerned or unaware of the damage her research and rituals inflicted upon her physical form. Reading was one of Zash's cherished pastimes; upon gaining the upper hand and asserting control over Khem Val's body, she expressed delight at the prospect of catching up on her reading.
While Zash occasionally erupted in fits of rage, she typically adopted a calm and seemingly kind demeanor towards those she favored (or intended to manipulate). Even when confronted with individuals she disliked, she would address the situation with a smile and her sharp wit, and when she resorted to killing, she usually did so in a businesslike manner. Despite Harkun's warning to Kallig that Zash would kill them upon meeting, she was surprisingly pleasant and even encouraging during their initial encounter with her future apprentice.
It is suggested that Zash harbored ambitions of joining the Dark Council, as evidenced by her jealousy when Kallig was appointed as a Dark Councilor.
Throughout Kallig's apprenticeship, Zash displayed a friendly attitude toward them – significantly more amicable than most Sith would exhibit towards their apprentices. She expressed delight in Kallig's progress and, upon the completion of their training, presented them with the lightsaber she had used as an apprentice, a surprisingly sentimental gift.
Despite her betrayal within the Dark Temple, she confessed to genuinely liking Kallig and even considered abandoning the ritual, but ultimately proceeded due to her fear of impending death. Zash's behavior is supported by accounts from her other apprentices, as well as Ashara Zavros, who informed Kallig that Zash had consistently spoken highly of them.
When Zash's five-year scheme failed, her frustration reached a boiling point, and she frequently expressed her anger over the situation. However, as time passed, Zash began to appreciate the strengths of Khem Val's physical form and eventually seemed content to simply become its sole occupant. She soon reverted to her characteristic scheming yet polite personality.
Darth Zash became a master of numerous esoteric Sith rituals, which allowed her to maintain the illusion of youth and prolong her natural lifespan. Nevertheless, this came at a significant cost, as Zash's body deteriorated at an accelerated pace, resulting in a withered, mummified appearance. Zash possessed exceptional skill in the use of Force lightning, with her lightning being potent enough to instantly kill other Force-wielders, as demonstrated when she killed the powerful yet young acolyte Ffon Althe in a fit of rage for his betrayal. She was capable of generating powerful Force pushes and throws, as evidenced by the time she sent Kallig tumbling across the room into a pillar, shaking the ground beneath them, as well as the rare ability of Force whirlwind.
Darth Zash utilized a purple-bladed lightsaber in combat. She initially wielded a red-bladed lightsaber during her apprentice days but later exchanged it for a purple-bladed one. Upon accepting Darth Nox as her apprentice, she gifted the young Sith Inquisitor with her old red-bladed lightsaber.
Zash plays a significant role in the Sith Inquisitor storyline in Star Wars: The Old Republic. While her overall storyline remains consistent, her ultimate fate is determined by the player's choices. After Zash becomes trapped within Khem Val's body, the player can select dialogue options to support either her or Khem. It is important to note that Zash does not have her own approval rating, so supporting her typically results in disapproval from Khem.
During the final companion quest, "The Escape," when Khem and Zash struggle against the Rakata Mind prison's attempt to control Khem's body, the player is presented with three options: they can lend their power to either Zash or Khem, or they can refuse to assist either and allow the strongest to prevail. If Zash emerges victorious, she will thank the player and pledge allegiance to her former student; if Khem wins, he will express gratitude to his master and reaffirm his loyalty. Khem will win if Kallig refuses to take sides. Neither choice is aligned with the Light or Dark Side.
During the flashpoint "The Nathema Conspiracy", if the Outlander is a Sith Inquisitor who chose to allow Khem to banish Zash's spirit, it is revealed that she tricked a similar-looking woman into entering her mind prison, allowing Zash to switch places with her and escape with a new body. Seeking revenge on her former apprentice, Zash joins the Order of Zildrog led by Vinn Atrius and encounters her apprentice again on Nathema, where she confesses that she still desires to claim their body for herself, especially now that her former apprentice has become much more powerful since their initial battle. Zash will deploy a large mechanical creature to slow Kallig down, claiming that she doesn't believe it will defeat them, but will then be sacrificed as fuel to awaken Zildrog by GEMINI 16. If the player chose to banish Khem, he will reclaim his old body and appear instead of Zash, while the other classes face antagonists from their own class stories.