Mercia Holt, an archaeologist of the Human species, was a female character in the Legends continuity, born during the tumultuous New Sith Wars period. She resided on the planet known as Aquilaris Minor with her spouse, Aron Holt, and their daughter, Kerra Holt.
In the year 1042 BBY, whilst anticipating the arrival of their second offspring, Mercia and Aron were taken captive during a devastating attack launched on their home planet by the forces commanded by the Sith Lord named Odion. Subsequently, the couple found themselves transferred to Odion's clandestine Project Pandemonium, a dedicated endeavor aimed at uncovering the location of the Helm of Ieldis. Their last documented whereabouts placed them on Sarrassia, where they engaged in collaborative efforts with the Grumani Hierophants to obscure the truth that the Helm was actually concealed on Skarpos, a desolate and barren desert world situated within the Menagerie. In this location, both she and her husband made the ultimate sacrifice, giving their lives in a desperate attempt to prevent the Sith from gaining access to the Helm, achieving this by utilizing explosives to obliterate the chamber within the Morbollon Mesa where it was stored.
Despite their demise, their act of self-sacrifice served as a powerful catalyst, fueling Kerra's resolve to thwart Odion's ambitions of galactic domination.
During the era of the Republic Dark Age, Mercia Holt, an archaeologist and field researcher affiliated with the University of Sanbra, made her home on Aquilaris Minor. She entered into matrimony with Aron Holt and became the mother of Kerra Holt, who would later become a Jedi Knight. Their family resided in a dwelling situated in the city of Capital Cay. Prior to the Sith invasion of Aquilaris, both she and Aron were deeply engaged in an archaeological research initiative sponsored by Sanbra University, with the objective of locating the Helm of Ieldis, a Sith artifact crafted by Lord Ieldis. This Helm possessed the ominous capability to transform sentient beings into mindless killers by channeling the energies of the dark side. During a research expedition to Sarrassia, she was accompanied by both her husband and her young daughter, Kerra. It was during this time that they established contact with the Grumani Hierophants, a prominent religious sect on the planet. They formed a close bond with the Grumani priestess Aunt Zoojoo, who became a cherished family friend. An incident occurred when Kerra climbed onto the roof of the Great Hall, inadvertently causing the abbot to suffer a stroke. Kerra received a stern reprimand from her parents for her mischievous actions.
In the year 1042 BBY, Sanbra itself fell victim to an invasion by the Sith forces of the Chagras Hegemony, compelling the researchers to disperse and seek refuge. The Holts, along with ten other researchers, sought sanctuary on Aquilaris Minor, where they intended to convene with Jedi representatives to discuss their significant findings. However, Sith Lord Odion obtained critical intelligence regarding the planned meeting and launched a strategic assault on Aquilaris Minor with the objective of capturing the researchers, all under the guise of apprehending the Jedi Knight Vannar Treece, a long-standing adversary of the Sith. At this juncture, Mercia was carrying her second child.
Later in that same year, Aquilaris was subjected to a full-scale invasion by Odion's formidable forces, who swiftly overwhelmed the Republic's meager defenses, resulting in the widespread slaughter and enslavement of the planet's populace. During the invasion of Capital Cay, she diligently concealed her valuable research materials, while her husband was observed brandishing a blaster pistol, prepared to defend their home against any potential incursion by Sith troops. Their strategy involved fleeing to the harbor and escaping aboard a submersible operated by the skilled members of the Seacroppers' Guild.
As their residence came under siege by Sith troopers, Mercia instructed her daughter, Kerra, to make her way to the harbor without delay. Her parents would subsequently rendezvous with her, and together, they would embark on a perilous journey into the open seas alongside Joad Kreel and his father. Mercia implored her daughter not to return in search of them, assuring her that they would eventually join her. Following Kerra's departure, the house was stormed by a contingent of Sith troopers who successfully subdued and captured the couple. Odion had issued explicit orders to his troops to capture the researchers alive, with the intention of securing the Helm of Ieldis before his Sith rivals could lay claim to it.
Her daughter, Kerra, would initially flee to the harbor but would ultimately return when her parents failed to appear alongside her and Joad. Subsequently, Kerra was discovered by the Jedi Knight Vannar Treece, who orchestrated her evacuation from the besieged planet aboard a starfighter. She would later rise to become a Jedi Knight in her own right and would eventually return to aid her homeworld during the critical Aquilaris campaign.
In light of their specialized expertise, Mercia and her husband were forcibly conscripted into Odion's top-secret Project Pandemonium, with the primary objective of locating the elusive Helm of Ieldis. These researchers were integrated into Odion's core research team, tasked with the capture of the Helm. During their period of incarceration, Mercia gave birth to a second child, but tragically, mother and child were forcibly separated. The child was subsequently sent to an Odionate cloister, a network of orphanages affiliated with the Odionate cult, where children were subjected to rigorous indoctrination, transforming them into slaves and warriors for Odion's sinister death cult.
In the year 1039 BBY, Mercia and Aron made a return to Sarrassia as part of their ongoing research project. This visit transpired just days before the conquest of Sarrassia by Lord Ayanos Bactra. While they disclosed to Aunt Zoojoo that they had been dispatched by Odion to locate the artifact, she sensed that they had not yet succumbed to his nihilistic 'sickness.' Together, the pair conspired with the Grumani Hierophants to conceal the Helm of Ieldis from Odion's grasp. Through the meticulous translation of ancient Hierophant markings, Mercia determined that the Helm was concealed within the Grumani temple chamber at the Morbollon Mesa on Skarpos, a desolate desert world situated in [the Menagerie](/article/the_menagerie], a region under the dominion of the Sith Lord Malakite.
Mercia and Aron made a solemn pact to deny Odion access to the Helm at all costs. In exchange, the Hierophants pledged to safeguard the temple beneath Mount Diligence with unwavering resolve. Upon reaching Skarpos, the Holts located the Helm. Lacking the means to destroy the Helm themselves or to escape the planet due to the besieging Sith army, the Holts detonated strategically placed explosives within the chamber, causing its catastrophic collapse. The Holts were buried beneath the resulting rubble, but they succeeded in preventing Odion from acquiring further information about the Helm. Prior to their tragic demise, they entrusted their daughter with a holorecording, elucidating the rationale behind their ultimate sacrifice.
Given their failure to return from that fateful trip, Zoojoo could only surmise that they had achieved their objective. Following their expedition to Sarrassia, there were no subsequent written accounts detailing their actions. Prior to their Sarrassian journey, Kerra deduced that Mercia had given birth to another child while held captive by the Sith, but further details remained shrouded in mystery. In the year 1032 BBY, Kerra Holt infiltrated the ranks of the Odionate, disguising herself as a Novitiate recruit following the Battle of Darkknell, with the clandestine assistance of the rival Sith Lord Daiman, the estranged younger brother of Odion. At Jubalene, she uncovered the truth that her parents had been captured by Odion and subsequently conscripted into the ranks of Project Pandemonium.
Kerra later journeyed to Sarrassia during the Sith invasion and promptly gleaned details of their Sarrassian trip from Aunt Zoojoo before her untimely passing. After discovering that the Helm was located on Skarpos, Kerra followed her Sith companions in her quest to ascertain the fate of her parents and her younger sibling. During the Second Battle of Skarpos, Kerra managed to gain entry into the Grumani temple chamber, only to find a mound of earth, signifying that Odion had already claimed the Helm for himself.
Subsequently, Kerra was taken captive by Odion and transported to the summit of the mesa. General Beld Yulan's troops conducted an excavation of the collapsed temple chamber, unearthing the skeletal remains of Aron Holt and his wife. The devastating realization of her parents' demise plunged Kerra into profound grief, which inadvertently activated the Helm of Ieldis. The Helm possessed the ability to amplify negative emotions such as grief and despair, thereby augmenting the user's dark side powers. Odion then harnessed the power of the Helm to obliterate three entire armies on Skarpos, compelling his two rivals, Lords Daiman and Malakite, to flee in disarray.
In the aftermath of the battle, Beld Yulan presented Kerra with the holorecording left by her parents, in which they articulated their decision to entomb themselves with the Helm to prevent it from falling into the hands of the Sith. During the recording, Mercia lamented the loss of their second child to Sith captivity and extended a heartfelt message to Kerra, expressing her hopes that she had somehow survived the events on Aquilaris and found someone to provide her with care. She also reiterated that they had never given up on her and that their sacrifice would safeguard future generations from the destructive forces of the Sith. While Yulan struggled to comprehend their choice to die for the sake of others, Kerra fully grasped the profound significance that if death could possess meaning, then life must also possess meaning. This realization deepened Kerra's appreciation for her parents' sacrifices and fortified her resolve to prevent Odion from testing the Helm on more subjects: the children incarcerated within the Odionate cloister at Vanahame.