Kirana Ti

Born on the planet of Dathomir, Kirana Ti belonged to the Singing Mountain Clan. Because she was Force-sensitive, she underwent training as one of the Witches of Dathomir, learning to control the Force and internalize the teachings of Allya, who founded the witches' practices. Eventually, she married a husband and had a daughter around 7 ABY. By 8 ABY, Kirana Ti was working alongside another Dathomiri witch, Ferra, to safeguard the Clan mother, Augwynne Djo. At that time, the Singing Mountain Clan was in conflict with the Nightsisters, a rival group of witches devoted to the Dark side of the Force. The Nightsisters, seeking a way to leave Dathomir, had formed an alliance with the Warlord Zsinj, a former officer of the Galactic Empire who had established his own Empire following the death of the Galactic Emperor Palpatine. In exchange for helping Zsinj capture New Republic General Han Solo, who was on Dathomir, Zsinj promised to provide them with transportation off-world. Simultaneously, Solo had encountered the Singing Mountain Clan after his ship, the Millennium Falcon, crashed close to their territory. Solo's sweetheart, Leia Organa, persuaded the Singing Mountain Clan to protect Solo and not hand him over to the Nightsisters.

Because the Singing Mountain Clan refused to cooperate, Gethzerion launched an overwhelming attack on the Singing Mountain, sending her forces. The Clan Mother instructed Kirana Ti and Ferra to defend the entrance to their territory, fighting alongside the local Rancors. As they rushed to confront the Nightsisters, they were joined by Teneniel Djo, the Clan Mother's granddaughter. Upon arriving at the battle, Ferra was suddenly killed by a telekinetic attack, with a Nightsister snapping her neck. Ti drew her blaster pistol, but Teneniel used the Force to kill the nearby Nightsisters, tapping into the dark side, preventing her from attacking. The vengeful attack caused a blood vessel to rupture on Teneniel's face, a telltale sign of the Nightsisters. Seeing her fellow clan sister bearing the mark of the enemy, Ti burst into tears, frightened of Teneniel. When she revealed the change to Teneniel, her clan sister stopped her attack, realizing that she had killed in anger and violated her oaths to the clan. The battle ended with the Nightsisters defeated when the Millennium Falcon fired its engines, incinerating the Nightsisters attempting to capture it. Many sisters of the Singing Mountain Clan died in the attack, but Kirana Ti survived.

After the battle, Jedi Master Luke Skywalker, who had fought on Dathomir to defend the Millennium Falcon, approached the clan. He asked to examine the wreckage of an ancient Jedi vessel, the Chu'unthor, which had crashed on Dathomir long ago, hoping to find information about Jedi training. Kirana Ti and the other witches helped Skywalker enter the ship and recover old Jedi datatapes. Three years later, in 11 ABY, Ti was approached by Skywalker, who had established a Jedi Praxeum on the moon of Yavin 4 and was seeking candidates to train as the next generation of Jedi Knights. Kirana Ti agreed to become one of twelve students in the first class of Jedi trainees, wanting to gain better control of her abilities. Leaving behind her husband and daughter, she traveled to Yavin 4, settling in the Great Temple. Using information he had gathered during his travels, including data recovered from the wreckage of the Chu'unthor, Skywalker designed lessons to help his students improve their control over the Force. Ti was eager to learn and approached all of Skywalker's lessons with an open mind. One of their initial lessons involved creating Force illusions. A fellow student, Corran Horn, was skilled in this technique and showed Ti how to alter the color of Nebula orchids.

A later lesson focused on using the Force to protect oneself from harm, using a hot spring for practice. Despite being afraid of potential burns from the heat, Ti was able to use the Force to create a barrier against the hot water. The training continued with telekinesis, and Ti combined her powers with another student, Tionne, to lift Skywalker's droid, R2-D2. However, during this lesson, another student, Gantoris, revealed that he had built a lightsaber and challenged his teacher to a duel. Shocked, Ti and Tionne lost control and dropped R2. The other students stepped back to watch the fight, which Skywalker won by telekinetically pulling Gantoris' lightsaber from his grasp. Unbeknownst to the other students, Gantoris had been corrupted by the spirit of the dead Dark Lord of the Sith, Exar Kun. After the duel, Gantoris fully succumbed to the power of the dark side, which consumed him from within, charring his body with dark side energies and killing him. The remaining students and Skywalker discovered Gantoris' corpse and were deeply affected, frightened by what had killed him.

Despite Gantoris' death, the remaining students continued their training, eventually joined by three new students: Mara Jade, Kyp Durron, and the Mon Calamari Cilghal. However, Kun was still present and latched onto Kyp Durron, who showed great promise as a Jedi student. Durron was seduced and corrupted by Kun with promises of helping to destroy the Galactic Empire. Skywalker began teaching the students about Jedi history, allowing them to listen to tales of ancient Jedi through a recovered holocron, but Durron, armed with knowledge from Exar Kun, loudly disagreed with the stories, offering a sympathetic version of the Sith to the other students. Skywalker was disturbed by the knowledge Durron had acquired, and when Durron left Yavin 4 in a Z-95 Headhunter stolen from Mara Jade, the students were concerned by the loss of another member. Despite the turmoil, Ti remained committed to her training, working closely with another student, Streen, listening to Jedi ballads about their history, and exploring and training in the moon's jungles.

While the students were asleep in their quarters, Kyp Durron returned to Yavin 4 on a mission to recover the Sun Crusher, a superweapon hidden on the planet Yavin Prime. Skywalker awoke and confronted Durron, but with the power of Exar Kun, Durron defeated Skywalker, striking him with Force lightning and putting him into a coma. The next morning, Tionne discovered Skywalker's body and informed the students who were eating in the dining hall. They rushed to his fallen body and tried to revive him, but found him unresponsive, unable to sense his presence within his body. With their teacher incapacitated, the students united to protect Skywalker from whatever had attacked him. Ti suggested having an honor guard to protect Skywalker at all times. The Minister of State and Skywalker's sister, Leia Organa Solo, arrived with her children, Jacen and Jaina, to care for her brother. In a meeting with Organa Solo, Streen revealed that the "Dark Man" had been speaking with him in his dreams and invading his thoughts. The students, frightened of Exar Kun's powers, began to discuss abandoning the Jedi path, but Organa Solo reprimanded them, reinvigorating their devotion to the Jedi path. The students agreed to continue training together and protect Skywalker from Kun's presence.

Exar Kun continued to try to destroy Skywalker, influencing Streen and convincing the Jedi student that Skywalker was the "Dark Man" and needed to be destroyed. Streen used his Force powers to manipulate the weather, creating a Force storm to kill what he believed was a threat. Ti, coming up a turbolift into the chamber where Skywalker's body was being held, saw Streen controlling a wind storm to destroy Skywalker. Corran Horn, who was with her, projected an image of the room being empty into Streen's mind, delaying his attack and allowing Ti to get inside Streen's defenses. She threw herself at Streen, tackling him to the ground and pinning his arms behind his back. Streen came out of his trance, distraught over being manipulated by Kun and almost killing his master. Although the other students were frustrated with Streen, Ti supported her friend, believing he was innocent of consciously attacking Skywalker. Following Streen's attack, the students found that they could communicate with Skywalker's spirit, which had been separated from his body. Now confident that their master was still alive, the students gathered in the war room to plan an attack against Exar Kun. Although many students were not confident in their ability to defeat Kun, Ti believed they had a chance, as the Dark Lord of the Sith had been defeated by Jedi before. Horn gave the students a plan of attack, telling them to counteract Kun's darkness with light.

The students planned an ambush of Exar Kun's spirit, and although the other students were worried about Kun manipulating Streen again, Ti vouched for him to be included. Streen was given Skywalker's lightsaber and posted next to Skywalker's comatose form. As planned, Kun appeared to Streen, trying to convince him to attack his master. When Streen refused, Ti and the other students appeared to attack Kun. Ti wielded Gantoris' lightsaber and prevented Kun's spirit from escaping. The Jedi students joined their powers to build a wall of light, trapping their enemy. They were joined by the spirits of Skywalker and Exar Kun's former master, Vodo-Siosk Baas. As Kun tried to lash out, Ti and Streen crossed their lightsabers across Kun's form, shattering his spirit. As the damaged fragments of Kun tried to infect the Jedi, Streen used the Force to manipulate the wind, scattering the remnants of Kun out of the temple and into space. With the "Dark Man" destroyed, Skywalker returned to his body, proud of his students for defeating their enemy. Ti continued to train on Yavin 4, seeking to develop her skills further.

In 12 ABY, Kyp Durron, Dorsk 81, and Cilghal were promoted to Jedi Knight, and Ti attended the ceremony where Skywalker presented the new Jedi Knights to the rest of the Jedi Academy. Shortly after, the Empire attacked the moon to eliminate the Jedi Academy. At the time, Ti and the other Jedi students were repairing the Temple of the Blueleaf Cluster, as the Jedi trainees had run out of space in the Great Temple. As they used the Force to remove rubble and broken slabs, they were interrupted by Dorsk 81 and Kyp Durron. The two Jedi Knights informed their fellow Jedi about the imminent Imperial attack. The Jedi prepared to fight, but before they could formulate a plan, TIE fighters, TIE bombers, TIE landers, and Ground Assault Vehicles began to attack.

During the Empire's first airstrike, Ti used the Force to push other trainees to cover and throw blocks of stone at the TIE fighters. The other trainees followed Ti's lead and defended themselves with a hail of thrown boulders. As a second wave approached, the Jedi retreated to the Great Temple. Tionne tried to contact the New Republic, but their communications were jammed by the Empire. With no other choice, the Jedi prepared to defend their home. In the war room, Dorsk 81 suggested pooling their energies through him to push the seventeen Imperial-class Star Destroyers that were deploying Imperial troops onto the moon out of the system. Dorsk 81 went to the top of the temple, and augmented by the powers of the temples on Yavin 4, the Jedi channeled their powers through the Jedi Knight. In the same way that they had joined their energy to defeat Exar Kun, Dorsk 81 was empowered enough to telekinetically push the Star Destroyers out of the system. All of the Jedi were physically drained by the attempt, and the concentrated energy overwhelmed Dorsk 81's body, killing him.

Master Skywalker and his lover Callista Ming arrived shortly after to organize the Jedi defense and inform the Jedi of the appearance of the Executor-class Star Dreadnought Knight Hammer, which had come to finish the attack. The Jedi agreed to spread out and attack the Imperials while waiting for New Republic military reinforcements. Ti and Streen hid in a thicket as Imperial troops advanced on the Great Temple. Streen used his abilities to topple All Terrain Scout Transports, and Ti attacked with her lightsaber. The two Jedi worked together to eliminate as many Imperials as they could, using the terrain to their advantage. The battle ended when Callista, who had hijacked a TIE bomber from Imperial forces, infiltrated Knight Hammer and destroyed the ship's engines. The Knight Hammer plunged into the heart of Yavin Prime, destroying it and securing victory for the New Republic and the Jedi.

After this attack, Kirana Ti was promoted to Jedi Knight and assigned to missions to aid the galaxy. When Skywalker learned of a disturbance on Corbos, he sent Kyp Durron and another Jedi trainee, Dorsk 82, to investigate, while Ti and the other new Jedi Knights trained and waited for their own missions. However, while they trained at the academy, they received word from Durron and Dorsk 82, requesting help on Corbos. Ti and Streen boarded a starship and left Yavin 4 to help. Upon arrival, they found Dorsk 82, who told them that they had discovered a dangerous beast that had wiped out Corbos Mining City. Durron was fighting the creature, and Ti, Streen, and Dorsk 82 boarded an overlander and raced to their friend's aid.

When they arrived at the site where Durron had last been seen, the group descended into the mines where the creature had appeared. During their exploration, they discovered a large group of Leviathan larvae, the precursors to the beast that had wiped out the colony. The larvae attacked the group, but they fended them off, using the Force and their lightsabers. The group continued to search for Durron, sensing him on the other side of the mine, and after climbing their way out, they found Durron next to a Leviathan, having killed it. However, the Leviathan he had defeated was only a juvenile version, and a full-grown Leviathan appeared. The Jedi worked together to drive the beast back, but it was unaffected, and they were forced to attack it with their lightsabers. In the struggle, the Leviathan fell into the mines, plunging into a lake of magma below. However, the creature was still alive and continued the attack, throwing lava blindly. Dorsk 82 came up with a plan to defeat the Leviathan, using a generator in the mines. As Ti and the other Jedi distracted the creature, Dorsk 82 activated the generator, electrocuting the creature when it bit into the metal cables attached to it. Successful in their mission, the Jedi returned to Yavin 4. Their victory on Corbos was celebrated as a great achievement, remembered for many years.

In 25 ABY, the Yuuzhan Vong initiated a war, compelling the Jedi to step up and defend the galaxy. Kirana Ti employed her abilities in the conflict against the invaders. By this time, Ti had achieved the rank of Jedi Master. After the war concluded, Kirana Ti attended the Conclave on Zonama Sekot, where she, along with other Jedi, listened to Master Skywalker's speech concerning the state of the Jedi Order after the heavy losses suffered during the war. Ti informed Skywalker that she, Damaya, and Streen would travel to Dathomir to assist in its reconstruction. Teaming up with her fellow Jedi, Ti established a Jedi Praxeum on Dathomir with the purpose of instructing the native witches in the Jedi ways.

By 36 ABY, the Jedi found themselves embroiled in both the Dark Nest Crisis and the subsequent Swarm War. After Saba Sebatyne and Leia Organa Solo were captured by the Galactic Alliance, the New Republic's successor, a debate arose among the Jedi regarding whether to attempt a rescue. Such an action would violate their alliance with the galactic government. Kyp Durron argued strongly for a rescue mission, with the support of Ti, Tam Azur-Jamin, and six Barabel Jedi Knights from Sebatyne's Wild Knights. Conversely, Corran Horn, along with Tresina Lobi and Kenth Hamner, two other members of the Master's Council, opposed the mission. As a result of their disagreement, the rescue mission was ultimately canceled, though Organa Solo and Sebatyne were eventually released from Alliance custody.

As of 40 ABY, Kirana Ti remained a member of the Jedi Order. Her niece, Sanola Ti, had also become a Jedi, participating in the Second Galactic Civil War. Around this period, Tionne Solusar interviewed Ti about the teachings of Allya and the witches of Dathomir, intending to incorporate the information into her book, Jedi vs. Sith: The Essential Guide to the Force.

Ti possessed Force-sensitivity, which led to her recruitment as one of the initial students at Luke Skywalker's Jedi Praxeum. During her time on Dathomir, she received instruction from the resident Witches, which helped her develop her abilities. However, she felt her skills were still lacking. This drive for greater mastery prompted her to accept Skywalker's offer of further training. Under Skywalker's guidance, Ti excelled in telekinesis and in sensing her surroundings. During the conflict with Exar Kun, she was able to draw upon the strength of her fellow students, amplifying her own power and solidifying her connection to the light. These same skills proved useful during the attack on Yavin 4, where Ti channeled her energy into Dorsk 81, enabling him to repel the attacking Star Destroyers from the system.

Following Gantoris's passing, Ti acquired his lightsaber and wielded it in the battle against Exar Kun. Her use of this weapon, combined with Streen's use of Luke Skywalker's lightsaber, led to Exar Kun's final defeat. Ti continued to use this white and amethyst blade even after Kun's defeat, employing it in the defense against the Imperial assault on Yavin 4. However, she later used a yellow lightsaber during the mission to Corbos. Ti was a skilled pilot, a talent that her niece, Sanola, inherited. She used her piloting skills to fly a shuttle to Corbos to assist Durron and Dorsk 82, and later agreed to pilot a starship alongside Kyp Durron to rescue Saba Sebatyne and Leia Organa Solo, although the mission was ultimately aborted.

Kirana Ti was a woman of impressive height and athleticism, surpassing her fellow students in physical conditioning. Her long, muscular legs were a result of her time as a warrior on her native world. She often trained barefoot, but she wore boots during her mission to Corbos. While training to become a Jedi, Ti initially attempted to adopt Jedi robes. However, when Exar Kun endangered the academy, she reverted to wearing the lightweight reptilian armor from her homeworld, feeling vulnerable without it. She wore this armor to remain prepared for battle at any moment, and she continued to wear it even after becoming a Jedi Knight. The armor allowed Ti freedom of movement and accentuated her figure and muscular build.

Ti had a daughter on Dathomir and displayed a fondness for children, particularly Jacen and Jaina Solo. To pursue her ambition of becoming a Jedi Knight, Ti made the difficult decision to leave her child behind on Dathomir in the care of her fellow witches. Despite being a fierce warrior, Ti possessed a compassionate side, defending Streen from criticism and ostracism after his manipulation by Exar Kun. Ti and Streen developed a strong friendship, working closely together and being promoted to Jedi Knight at the same time. She fought alongside him on multiple occasions, defending the Jedi Praxeum from the Empire and later against the Leviathan of Corbos.

Dave Wolverton conceived Kirana Ti for his 1994 novel, The Courtship of Princess Leia. Later, Kevin J. Anderson incorporated Kirana Ti into The Jedi Academy Trilogy, portraying her as one of the original members of Luke Skywalker's Jedi Praxeum. She made appearances in the second book of the series, Dark Apprentice, and in the conclusion, Champions of the Force. Her role in the trilogy was mentioned in the later novel, I, Jedi, which recapped the trilogy's events. Anderson featured Ti again in his novel, Darksaber, depicting her continued training on Yavin 4. The comic series, Jedi Academy: Leviathan, also written by Anderson, provided the first illustration of the character. Subsequently, later authors used the character sparingly, with brief mentions in Young Jedi Knights: Return to Ord Mantell, The New Jedi Order: The Unifying Force, Dark Nest II: The Unseen Queen, and Legacy of the Force: Fury.

An article in Star Wars Insider 122, titled Everything You Always Wanted to Know about the Nightsisters but Were Afraid to Ask, referenced Kirana Ti as one of the earliest Witches of Dathomir. However, the article mistakenly included a picture of Tenel Ka Djo instead of Kirana Ti.