Merili

Merili, a female Human from Dathomir, a planet, held the position of a dark side Prophetess during the Galactic Empire's reign. Kadann, the Supreme Prophet, discovered her amongst the Nightsisters. Merili was then presented to Palpatine, the Emperor, and brought into the Prophets of the Dark Side's ancient cult. Cronal's training of her had some complications, and Kadann and Palpatine were aware of her complete insanity. They both used Merili throughout her life to achieve their goals. She eventually became one of only two Emperor's Eyes and was later instructed in the Dark Force religion by Sariss, a Dark Jedi.

After becoming a Prophet of the Dark Side, Palpatine exploited Merili's insanity to control Kashyyyk, the Wookiee home world. Kashyyyk was essentially subdued under her rule, and the Wookiees were kept in check through her use of the Force and dark side creatures. Merili began to see the jungle planet as her "kingdom" during her stay, further demonstrating her madness to her superiors. Merili, as Kashyyyk's guardian, helped scientists Nycolai Kinesworthy and the deranged Treun Lorn in developing the N-K Project. Merili eventually guided the two to a hidden storage on Utapau, where they found the corpse of the late General Grievous to serve as the N-K Project's host.

Biography

Early life

Merili was born on Dathomir and was trained from birth by the Witches of Dathomir, as was the custom for all Force-sensitive females on the planet. However, unlike the majority, she became a member of the Nightsisters. The Supreme Prophet Kadann visited the planet at some point and was struck by Merili's deep connection to the dark side of the Force. Nevertheless, he was troubled by the unbridled madness he sensed within her. Regardless, when she inquired about becoming a Prophet, he accepted her for training and took her back to the Empire with him. Merili was taught by another Prophet, Cronal, during her training, and she became his best student. He showed Merili how to use Darksight, a technique for seeing and influencing the future. She was thrilled by this new ability and began to change and add to Cronal's lessons. Merili explored Aing-Tii flow-walking, Dathomirian Heartshadow, and began her own experiments in manipulating the space-time continuum through the dark side in order to increase her powers over the future. While her efforts resulted in a greater mastery of the future than her teacher, she was driven supertemporally insane.

Joining the Empire

Merili and Kadaan eventually journeyed back to the heart of Imperial territory. Once there, Kadann presented her to the Emperor, who was won over by her raw power and intensely dark nature, which they shared. Palpatine, like Kadann, only wanted to use her considerable power, though he too recognized her madness. To that end, he assigned her to oversee the Imperial occupation of Kashyyyk, the Wookiee homeworld, where he hoped her insanity would not interfere with his own plans for galactic domination.

However, it was during this time that Palpatine discovered a unique talent that Merili possessed. While she could see the future like any other Prophet, her mind also existed there somehow, allowing her to not only see the future but also, on occasion, manipulate it. Palpatine recognized the dangers that this power posed to Merili's sanity, but he nevertheless chose her to become one of his two Emperor's Eyes.

Rule of Kashyyyk

She was given five Star Destroyers and nine Imperial garrisons under her direct command, and she maintained an iron grip on Kashyyyk and its star system. Merili used her Force powers and the formidable Force Wraiths she summoned from the dark side to keep the native Wookiees in line. She also threatened the weak and young, which she had frequently carried out in her madness, to let the Wookiees know she would not tolerate resistance. In addition, she had three adult rancors from her home planet who served as her guards and constant companions.

Despite the fact that her powers did not match those of fellow Prophets Jedgar or Kadann, many people who knew her believed she was the most dangerous of the Prophets because of her unrestrained insanity. Her speech and mannerisms reflected this: she would be perfectly calm one moment, speaking in a measured tone, and then shrieking, animated, and acting very wild the next. Merili was able to keep the Wookiees of Kashyyyk in line because of these characteristics, and she was known to use her insanity to further this goal. During her time on the planet, she is known to have watched over Nycolai Kinesworthy as he developed advanced combat droid technologies in the Myyydril Caverns. Merili led Kinesworthy and Treun Lorn to the Emperor's secret storage on Utapau. They recovered the dead body of General Grievous there and used it to build N-K Necrosis as part of the N-K Project.

Church of the Dark Side

Merili was further trained in the ways of the Dark Force religion by fellow Prophetess Sariss sometime before the Battle of Endor, which would see the fall of the Empire. Merili joined the secretive Church of the Dark Side, led by former Prophet Cronal, under Sariss's guidance. The Church's ultimate goal was to sow discord among the various rival Imperial Remnant warlords, preventing any one ruler from sitting on the Imperial throne.

Merili eventually became the spiritual advisor to Grand Admiral Peccati Syn, who had grown up as a follower of the Sacred Way, a religion that the Empire had outlawed. Syn, who had strong religious roots, was a fanatical devotee of the Church of the Dark Side, and Merili was able to manipulate the Grand Admiral as a result. Merili was able to achieve the Church's secretive goals and neutralize Syn as a threat to the throne thanks to her manipulation of Syn. However, Merili also died aboard Syn's flagship in combat with Admiral Ackbar over Kashyyyk.

Personality and traits

Merili had become completely insane as a result of her seduction by the dark side and the use of her special powers. Her insanity enabled her to brutally subjugate Kashyyyk, the Wookiee homeworld, and keep its fierce inhabitants in line. Nonetheless, it was her special ability to influence future events that caused Merili's mind to unravel under the stresses of temporal ambiguity, making her hold on reality tenuous at best.

While she was not as powerful in the Force as other Prophets of the Dark Side, many believed Merili to be the most dangerous of the Force-users in the group. Nonetheless, Merili had limited ambitions and was content with her control over Kashyyyk, which she referred to as "her kingdom." This decision spared the rest of the galaxy from witnessing her insanity at large, which could have easily spiraled out of control due to her ambition.

Merili had long, wild black hair and striking amber eyes. Rather than wearing the star robes of the Prophets of the Dark Side, Merili chose to wear the traditional reptile-scale armor of the Witches of Dathomir, covered entirely in an ordinary robe, making her appear unarmored and weaponless. Her weapons included a poison-coated dagger hidden in a sheath on her upper right arm, as well as her walking staff, which was a disguised power weapon activated by pressing a stud with her thumb.

Powers and abilities

Merili was raised among the Nightsisters of Dathomir and was known to have a strong connection to the dark side of the Force. Many believed she was purely evil, sharing this trait with Palpatine, who was delighted to have her powers at his disposal. She preferred to rely on her Force Wraiths and mind-controlled Wookiees for physical combat, but she would fight on her own if she was in immediate danger. Merili was one of only two female Prophets of the Dark Side, sometimes referred to as Prophetesses, but she did not openly associate with them, wearing neither their star robes nor visiting the first Church of the Dark Side on Coruscant or the headquarters station Scardia.

Merili was adept at gazing into the future, a power shared by her fellow Prophets of the Dark Side, among her many dark side abilities. However, Merili differed in that she could project a part of her mind into the future and exist there while observing its events. These abilities stemmed from her study of Darksight with Lord Cronal, as well as her additions to his teachings through studies of Aing-Tii flow-walking and Dathomirian Heartshadow. As a result of this uncanny ability, she was not only able to perceive future events, but she was also able to influence them on occasion, similar to what a Jedi Master could accomplish with battle meditation. Merili was chosen to serve as one of the Emperor's Eyes, a special level of Dark Side Adept loyal only to Palpatine, due to her special power.

Behind the scenes

Merili was originally created for an article in Polyhedron 103, where she was named Merili. Abel G. Peña later reused the character and seemingly misspelled her name as Merilli for the "Who's Who: Imperial Grand Admirals" article in Star Wars Insider 66, though he later corrected it in both The Dark Forces Saga and The Story of General Grievous: Lord of War where she was once again named Merili. The character was again referenced by Peña in an article on the Star Wars Blog, The Imperial Warlords: Despoilers of an Empire.

When asked on the StarWars.com message boards whether or not the backstory in the early Polyhedron should be considered canon, Peña stated that it should be so unless a future source contradicts it.

Sources

Notes and references

External links

  • "Endnotes for The Story of General Grievous, Part 4: Lord of Worlds and War" — Only Sith Deal In Absolutes! — Abel G. Peña's StarWars.com Blog (content now obsolete; backup link)

Appearances