Eelysa

Shortly after the death of Emperor Palpatine, Eelysa, a female [Human](/article/human-legends], was born on Coruscant, the galactic capital. Although neither of her parents were Force-sensitive, she was discovered to possess a strong connection to the Force. Luke Skywalker eventually recognized her, and she was taken to the Jedi Academy on Yavin 4 as a child. There, she began to develop into a Jedi Knight under the personal guidance of Master Skywalker. In 17 ABY, Eelysa was a member of the youngest and most powerful class at the Praxeum. During a training session where Skywalker was demonstrating his telekinetic abilities to six members of this class, the Jedi Master sensed a significant disturbance in the Force. Distraught by the immense loss of life, Skywalker briefly lost control of the levitating boulders, trees, and droid, causing them to fall. Skywalker's students, including Eelysa, were concerned, as they had not felt the disturbance themselves. While three students retrieved the droid, R2-D2, Eelysa approached her Master, wanting to know the cause of his loss of control. Skywalker told the young girl that a million people had just suddenly died. Unbeknownst to them, this event was the initial sign of the Almanian Uprising, with the Dark Jedi Kueller having just eliminated the population of Pydyr. Concerned, Skywalker immediately ended the lessons for the time being and departed for Coruscant to address the threat.

After this crisis, Eelysa completed her training at the Academy. While still a young teenager, Skywalker selected her for several year-long intelligence missions. In this role, she went deep undercover, losing contact with many of the people she had known at the Academy, including Han Solo. By this point, Eelysa had developed her own views on the Force, which sometimes differed significantly from her Master's. Despite these professional disagreements, Skywalker trusted Eelysa and respected her judgment during her undercover work. These missions did not always have a specific objective, and Skywalker would only provide explicit instructions to Eelysa after she had arrived at her destination.

As a Jedi agent, Eelysa dedicated several years to completing tasks for the Jedi. While she was undercover, New Republic Intelligence monitored Eelysa, documenting her numerous missions. Based on their reports, they believed the young Jedi Knight had completed nearly five assignments. These included dismantling slaver rings in the Outer Rim Territories, establishing contact with the reclusive Chiss, and opposing the Diversity Alliance. During one of these missions, she arrived on the planet Barab I and discovered a Force-sensitive Barabel, Saba Sebatyne, whom she chose as her apprentice. Master Skywalker contested this decision, believing that Barabels lacked the appropriate temperament to become Jedi. However, Eelysa disagreed, arguing that if Wookiees like Lowbacca could become Jedi, then Barabels could as well. Unable to return the Barabel to the Jedi Praxeum due to her undercover mission and Skywalker's objections, she trained Saba Sebatyne on Barab I. Eelysa spent years training the Barabel, creating a strong bond between them. However, she was eventually driven off the planet by a hunting pack adhering to the anti-Human doctrines of the Diversity Alliance. Later, Eelysa encountered Izal Waz, a failed Jedi student who had abandoned his studies due to his debilitating salt addiction. She helped the Arcona overcome his addiction, guiding him back to the path of Knighthood. Sebatyne, whom Eelysa eventually promoted to Jedi Knight, subsequently took over Waz's training. Sebatyne went on to train her own pupils, including her son, Tesar Sebatyne, and his hatchmates, Bela Hara and Krasov Hara.

During the Yuuzhan Vong War, Eelysa and several of her apprentices, including Waz and Sebatyne, were stationed on Corellia. The group maintained a fighter squadron known as the Wild Knights, but Eelysa typically did not fly with the squadron. To maintain a low profile, the Jedi Knights established their base at the abandoned Cinnabar Moon Retreat. While on Corellia, Eelysa discovered a conspiracy involving CorDuro and CorSec, who were collaborating with the Yuuzhan Vong, an extra-galactic species of religious zealots who had invaded the galaxy. CorDuro was misusing resources intended for refugees and planned to provide samples of bacta to the Yuuzhan Vong so they could study its properties. Eelysa and her apprentices located the meeting point and planned to disrupt the exchange.

Three weeks after the Battle of Duro, Eelysa was discovered by several Yuuzhan Vong Warriors while working undercover and sustained thoracic lacerations in the ensuing combat. Although she survived the initial encounter, Eelysa required treatment in a bacta tank at a local medcenter. While there, she was at risk of being discovered by the Peace Brigade, Yuuzhan Vong sympathizers who were acting on Warmaster Tsavong Lah's decree that the Yuuzhan Vong would halt their invasion if the galaxy surrendered all Jedi. Consequently, Izal Waz admitted her anonymously, and Doctor Jasper Nimbi, a Jedi sympathizer, kept her hidden. Despite these precautions, three Peace Brigaders, Roxi Barl, Gad Sluggins, and Dex, who were searching for Leia Organa Solo, another Jedi, nearly found Eelysa. Han Solo intervened, noticing the Peace Brigaders searching the medcenter, and saved her. During the firefight, Eelysa assisted her rescuer by using the Force to distract the Jedi hunters and telekinetically using her lightsaber to eliminate Dex.

Solo expressed his gratitude, and when Dr. Nimbi suggested that the Solos take Eelysa with them upon their departure, Solo agreed. Hoping to extract Eelysa from the medcenter, Solo and his wife, with Izal Waz's help, claimed that the recovering Eelysa was their daughter, Jaina Solo. Although Thrackan Sal-Solo, the new Governor-General of Corellia, did not believe the deception, Solo's threats of publicly embarrassing Sal-Solo allowed them to leave with Eelysa. The Solos purchased the bacta tank from the medcenter, allowing Eelysa to recover inside as they fled the planet. However, before their departure with the portable bacta tank, Sal-Solo stipulated that it be filled only with generic bacta, not the premium strain from the capital of Coronet. The Solos, followed by Izal Waz and CorSec personnel, returned to the docking bay where they had parked their ship, the Millennium Falcon. The Solos accepted Waz as an additional pilot after he introduced himself, and the group departed Corellia with Eelysa. Unbeknownst to the Solos, Waz allowed several other Jedi onto the Falcon, the Hara sisters and Tesar Sebatyne, who were under orders from their Master to protect Eelysa.

As the Millennium Falcon left Corellia, Solo set a course for Commenor, but Peace Brigade starfighters attacked them. Eelysa's protectors revealed themselves to the Solos and convinced the group to change course to a rendezvous point near Corellia where Eelysa could receive proper care. Despite evading the Peace Brigade, Saba Sebatyne was not at the rendezvous point, and the group waited a full day for their contact to arrive. The generic bacta in Eelysa's bacta tank became contaminated, causing the bacta to cloud with fluids. As a result, she entered a healing trance to avoid fatal poisoning. The rendezvous point was actually the location where CorDuro planned to hand over the bacta samples to the Yuuzhan Vong, and the extended wait was due to a delay in the meeting time. Eventually, the CorDuro ship Star Roamer appeared alongside a Yuuzhan Vong corvette analog, and Saba Sebatyne's squadron, the Wild Knights, launched an attack. With the Millennium Falcon's assistance, the ship was captured, and the bacta was seized. Eelysa received treatment with a new supply of bacta from the captured ship and was able to recover.

After obtaining the bacta, Eelysa and her group returned to their Cinnabar Moon base, where both Eelysa and Leia Organa Solo, who had sustained severe injuries to her legs during the fall of Duro, recovered from their wounds. After emerging from the bacta tank, Eelysa spoke with the Solos several times, helping them understand Barabel customs and assisting Organa Solo in her recovery. Eventually, Eelysa noticed a mysterious task force investigating the system and, believing the base to be compromised, suggested that her group abandon the Cinnabar Moon Retreat and find a more secure location. While the Wild Knights prepared to relocate, Eelysa prepared to return to Corellia. Although her allies were concerned that she was returning to active duty too soon, Eelysa was determined to keep an eye on Thrackan Sal-Solo's Centerpoint Party and their objective of reactivating Centerpoint Station for use as a superweapon. Back on Corellia, Eelysa continued to monitor the situation and regularly reported back to Master Luke Skywalker.

While still undercover on Corellia, Eelysa was once again discovered by the Yuuzhan Vong. A voxyn, a bio-engineered creature designed to hunt Jedi, sensed Eelysa's Force-sensitivity and cornered her. During the struggle, Eelysa radiated her fear to her apprentice, and Saba Sebatyne communicated the feeling to Luke Skywalker at a secret rendezvous point. However, Eelysa was unable to defeat the beast and fell in combat. Her death was felt deeply by her apprentices. Although others in the Jedi Order, such as Danni Quee, believed that Eelysa's death might negatively affect Sebatyne, the Barabel continued to fight in the Yuuzhan Vong War, performing her duties alongside the other Jedi. Skywalker's initial belief that Barabels could not be effectively trained as Jedi changed over time due to the competence of Eelysa's Barabel apprentices, and he acknowledged that he had been mistaken. Eelysa's legacy was eventually honored in her apprentice, Saba Sebatyne, who became a Jedi Master and even served on the Jedi Council with Skywalker.

Eelysa was a skilled Jedi Knight known for her dark brown hair and slender physique. Although discovered when Master Skywalker was training adult apprentices, Eelysa was admitted to the Jedi Praxeum at a very young age. As an instructor, Eelysa emphasized the importance of patience and attentive listening, a trait instilled in her by her Master's long training exercises. However, she voiced her disagreements when she differed with her Master. Eelysa opposed Skywalker's belief that Barabels could not be trained as Jedi, proving him wrong by training a Barabel apprentice who eventually became a member of Skywalker's Jedi Council. Furthermore, Eelysa was a compassionate individual who radiated positive intentions and warm feelings. During the Yuuzhan Vong War, this trait comforted Leia Organa Solo, who was feeling despondent about her relationship with her husband. Her optimism led her to take Izal Waz as her apprentice, despite his salt addiction and previous withdrawal from the Jedi Order. Her faith was vindicated when Waz completed his training.

Eelysa occasionally flew a starfighter into combat, but while her apprentices and their Wild Knight squadron frequently engaged in battle, Eelysa typically did not join them. She was proficient in several languages, including Barabel, Mandaba, and Cheunh. During her missions, she also learned to read and write Selonian. As an undercover agent, Eelysa was known for her resilience and strength, returning to active duty almost immediately after recovering from a near-fatal Yuuzhan Vong attack. This trait was recognized by her apprentices and her Master, and when she radiated fear during her final battle with a voxyn, those who knew her immediately understood that she was in serious danger. Eelysa's close bond with her apprentice created an intimate connection, allowing Saba Sebatyne to easily perceive her Master's emotions. This bond was stronger than that between Eelysa and Master Skywalker, and Sebatyne experienced greater anguish over her passing than Skywalker.

Eelysa possessed great strength in the Force and, according to her Master, was uncorrupted by the galaxy's evil. She could project strong feelings of hope, encouraging others with her love and support. During the Yuuzhan Vong War, she could enter a healing trance, using the Force to sustain her body even after the bacta in her bacta tank became contaminated from prolonged use. She could use the Jedi mind trick and perform battlemind. She had some ability to predict the future and was skilled in telekinesis. Eelysa carried a lightsaber and could telekinetically control it, which she used against Peace Brigade soldiers. However, her skills were insufficient to overcome Yuuzhan Vong Warriors, resulting in severe injuries, and she was unable to defend herself against the Jedi-hunting voxyn, leading to her death.

Kristine Kathryn Rusch created Eelysa for the 1996 novel The New Rebellion. In the book, Eelysa was introduced as a young member of Luke Skywalker's Jedi Academy, identified as being born after the Battle of Endor. Her appearance in the novel was later referenced in the Star Wars Encyclopedia and A Guide to the Star Wars Universe, Third Edition, Revised and Expanded in 1998 and 2000, respectively. Eelysa reappeared in the novels when Troy Denning used the character in The New Jedi Order book series, first appearing in the eBook The New Jedi Order: Recovery. This story, a lead-in to the full-length novel The New Jedi Order: Star by Star, revealed that she had become a Jedi Knight and was now teaching apprentices. However, in Star by Star, the character was killed in an off-screen reference when her apprentice, Saba Sebatyne, sensed her Master's death. The character's death was referenced two more times in the book series, in The New Jedi Order: Enemy Lines I: Rebel Dream and The New Jedi Order: Destiny's Way.

Daniel Wallace later revealed further details about Eelysa's activities in two reference articles, "Making a Full Recovery," a companion to the eBook on the Wizards of the Coast website, and Who's Who in the New Jedi Order in Star Wars Insider 57. These articles clarified her activities between The New Rebellion and Recovery, explaining that she had been deep undercover during that period. The character was referenced several more times in later reference books, including The New Essential Chronology and The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia, which summarized her activities in the novels. In the 2010 card set, 2010 Topps Star Wars Galaxy Series 5, a sketch card by Kate Glasheen featured an image of Eelysa.

In the short reference article "Making a Full Recovery," Eelysa is mentioned to have undertaken undercover missions for the Jedi for approximately "a dozen or so years." However, this does not align with the timeline, as Eelysa is shown to be in training at the Jedi Praxeum in 17 ABY and dies in 27 ABY, leaving insufficient time for twelve years of missions. The author of the article, Daniel Wallace, clarified on the Jedi Council Forums that the "dozen or so years" reference is an error and should be considered a vague approximation.