Rook Kast, a Mandalorian warrior of the human female persuasion, spearheaded the Shadow Collective's super commandos during the era of the Clone Wars. Following the imprisonment of the Shadow Collective's leader, Maul, by the Sith on Stygeon Prime, Kast, alongside commando Gar Saxon, orchestrated Maul's escape and transported him to a Shadow Collective base situated on Zanbar. Subsequently, they were located by the forces of the Confederacy of Independent Systems, leading to the battle of Zanbar, which forced them to seek refuge on Ord Mantell. There, they successfully defended against a Separatist attack. In a coordinated effort, Kast and Maul captured General Grievous of the Droid Army in orbit, while Maul's ground troops apprehended Count Dooku, the leader of the Separatists.
The prisoners were then taken by the Shadow Collective to a Mandalorian asteroid base. This base was later attacked by the Galactic Republic and the Jedi Order who sought to capture Dooku. Kast, Maul, Dooku, and a contingent of Maul's forces then fled, heading towards Dathomir. They were pursued by Darth Sidious, the Dark Lord of the Sith, who, in conjunction with Dooku and Grievous, decimated the Shadow Collective's forces. Kast then rescued Maul from the battle and they escaped the planet.
Later on, Kast was involved in the Siege of Mandalore, where she played a role in drawing Ahsoka Tano into the undercity of Sundari. There, she and other super commandos surrounded the former Jedi Padawan for Maul, but Ahsoka managed to get away. Soon after, the super commandos captured ARC Trooper Jesse and interrogated him. Following this interrogation, Maul rallied the Mandalorians for a final push, which resulted in defeat and Kast's capture by Bo-Katan Kryze.
Rook Kast, a human female born on the Outer Rim planet of Mandalore, commanded the Mandalorian super commandos. These soldiers served the Sith Lord Maul and formed a crucial part of his criminal organization, the Shadow Collective, throughout the Clone Wars.
In 19 BBY, following Maul's defeat in combat at the hands of his former master, Darth Sidious, he was imprisoned within the Spire, a Confederacy of Independent Systems prison on Stygeon Prime. Kast and Commander Gar Saxon tracked Sidious and Maul to Stygeon. They were then charged by Almec, the Mandalorian Prime Minister selected by Maul to publicly lead Mandalore after his takeover, with the mission of infiltrating the Spire and rescuing Maul.
Kast and Saxon deployed two commando droids on the third level balcony of the prison before updating the Prime Minister on their progress. After planting explosives on the balcony entrance, the pair entered the prison and advanced to level seven, where Maul was being held. Approaching his cell, they encountered four droidekas and several B2-series super battle droids. However, they managed to deactivate the super battle droids and launch a missile at the droidekas, clearing the path to Maul's cell. Once Maul was liberated, the two Mandalorians blasted a hole in the prison wall and fired a zipline towards their Gauntlet fighter, allowing the three to escape the planet and return to a Shadow Collective base on the moon of Zanbar. Unbeknownst to them, the Separatists had followed them back to their base.
Upon spotting several incoming C-9979 landing crafts in Zanbar's atmosphere, Kast informed Maul of the arrival of Separatist forces. The Zabrak ordered his troops to engage the Separatist Droid Army, resulting in a battle that inflicted significant casualties on both sides. As the battle drew to a close, Maul engaged General Grievous, the leader of the Droid Army, in a lightsaber duel. Kast, piloting Maul's Gauntlet fighter, the Nightbrother, instructed the pilot to bring the ship closer to Maul, enabling him to jump aboard. Maul then ordered Kast to leave the moon, and the remaining troops at Zanbar regrouped with the larger Shadow Collective force and relocated to a Black Sun base on Ord Mantell.
In Ord Mantell City, Kast attended a meeting alongside Maul, Saxon, Ziton Moj (the leader of Black Sun), and Fife (the majordomo of the Pyke Syndicate). Aware that Count Dooku, leader of the Separatists, Grievous, and the Droid Army were approaching, Maul outlined a strategy for the others on how to confront the incoming Confederate forces. After being informed that a shuttle carrying Nightbrothers from Dathomir had arrived to support the Shadow Collective, Maul and Saxon departed to greet the shuttle, while Maul instructed Kast to relay his plan to the others.
The Separatist forces soon arrived, initiating an orbital bombardment of the city before deploying their troops. As the Mandalorians, Black Sun, and Pykes engaged the Separatists on the planet's surface, Maul and Kast piloted the Nightbrother into Ord Mantell's orbit and boarded Grievous's command ship. Maul stormed the bridge of the ship and threatened to kill Grievous unless he deactivated the Separatist droids. Grievous complied, leading to a swift victory for the Shadow Collective, resulting in the capture of both Grievous and Dooku, who had been battling the Nightbrothers on Ord Mantell's surface.
The Shadow Collective transported their captives to Vizsla Keep 09, a Mandalorian supply base concealed within the rings of Phelbos. Maul then contacted his former master, Sidious, to inform him of the capture. Maul instructed Kast to imprison Grievous in the outpost's brig while he conversed with Dooku. A Galactic Republic task force, led by Jedi Generals Mace Windu, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Tiplee, and Aayla Secura, soon arrived at the Keep, initiating a battle with the Mandalorian forces.
Kast informed Maul of the arrival of the Jedi in the third hangar, prompting Dooku to temporarily align himself with Maul. The two Sith engaged the Jedi in a duel, which quickly led to the death of Master Tiplee. Kast then launched a missile at the Jedi, incapacitating both Secura and Windu. Maul, Dooku, Kast, and Saxon retreated from the outpost aboard the Nightbrother and traveled to Dathomir.
As they were entering Dathomir's atmosphere, Maul, revealing to Dooku that he knew the count remained loyal to Sidious and had no intention of allying with Maul, instructed Kast to hold her blaster to Dooku's head and monitor his every move as their ship landed at the Nightbrother village, where they disembarked. Kast handed Dooku over to the Nightbrothers, who escorted him and Maul to a chamber in the village believed to be the heart of the power of Mother Talzin, a Dathomirian witch who had once led the Nightsisters and was Maul's mother.
As Talzin drained Dooku's life force to regain physical form, Sidious and Grievous arrived on Dathomir aboard a cloaked ship and entered the chamber. The cyborg general and Dark Lord engaged Maul and the Talzin-possessed Dooku in lightsaber combat. Meanwhile, Kast, aboard the Nightbrother, communicated with Ziton Moj and Fife as their forces were bombarded by a Separatist assault. Kast ordered the two to follow their orders and fight, however they threatened to withdraw from the Shadow Collective if they did not receive support. After losing many of their own ships and not receiving assistance, Black Sun and the Pykes informed Kast that they would no longer support the Collective. Kast protested, threatening to track them down and kill them herself, however Moj and Fife remained unfazed, and ended their transmission.
A commando then informed Kast that a Separatist invasion fleet was approaching the planet. The two flew to Maul's location and told him they needed to evacuate immediately. Talzin, who had managed to regain her physical form, fended off a barrage of Force lightning from Sidious and Dooku, who had regained control of his body, and urged her son to leave without her. Maul refused, but the witch threw him back towards the Nightbrother so that he may escape. Despite Maul's protests, Kast and the other commando grabbed hold of Maul and pulled him up the ship's ramp. Maul cried out in anguish as he watched Grievous step forward and stab Talzin with his lightsabers, killing her. Maul, Kast, and the commando boarded the Nightbrother and fled the planet just as the Separatists landed their forces on Dathomir, ravaging the Nightbrother village.
Eventually, Kast and the other super commandos regrouped on Mandalore within the domed city of Sundari. During the final days of the Clone Wars, the Mandalore resistance and the Galactic Republic launched a joint invasion of Mandalore. After ending a transmission with the invaders, Almec tasked Kast with contacting the rest of the Collective, which had been reformed, and informing them about the invasion.
Later, she entered the undercity of Sundari as part of a trap to lure out the former Jedi Padawan Ahsoka Tano. Gar Saxon and several other super commandos lured Republic forces down into the sewage ports. As they explored, Kast contacted Almec to inform him of the plan's continued success before they were cutoff by an invasion of the royal palace. As the Republic forces ventured deeper into the undercity, Kast waited with her forces to ambush them. Eventually, Kast emerged from hiding and fired an explosive at the Republic forces, disorienting them and luring them out to be killed by her and the rest of the super commandos. After effortlessly eliminating the clone troopers in the undercity, the super commandos surrounded Tano as Maul emerged from hiding to confront her.
As Kast and the other Mandalorians continued to train their weapons on Tano, Maul walked out and spoke with the former Jedi. As they talked, Tano clicked a button on her wrist comm, calling her forces to her position. As they arrived, the Mandalorians entered a firefight with the clones as Maul and Tano crossed sabers. Knowing it wasn't time for a confrontation, Maul left along with Kast and the surviving Mandalorians. Tano and the clones continued to chase them through the undercity but the Mandalorians managed to throw the clones off their trail, disappearing deeper into the tunnels.
In a counterattack, the Mandalorians ambushed the clones on their way to fortify C-deck, leading to the capture of ARC Trooper Jesse. Jesse was then brought before Maul, kept in stuncuffs, and held in place by Kast. As Jesse told Maul that he would not tell him anything, Maul made sure he knew the contrary was true as Kast began to smile. As Jesse continued to squirm, Maul probed his mind using the Force, searching for information on who Ahsoka Tano was. Kast held him in place as Jesse began to scream in agony.
After Jesse's interrogation, Maul contacted the leaders of the syndicates within the Shadow Collective, telling them to go into hiding. As Saxon returned from his mission to assassinate Almec (who had been in Republic custody after he was captured during an attack on the throne room), Kast informed him of this fact. As Maul reminded Kast and Saxon of their help in liberating him from the Spire on Stygeon Prime, he turned towards them and informed them of him and Dooku's purpose in Sidious' grand plan. Kast then asked Maul what this meant, to which Maul informed all of the Mandalorians present that the galaxy would soon be controlled by another power and that they would thrive in the chaos. He promised them that they would die on the battlefield, as warriors, rallying the Mandalorians for one last attack against the Mandalorian resistance and Republic.
In one last counterattack, Kast and Saxon led a charge against the joint Mandalorian resistance and Republic forces while they attempted to move civilians to safe zones. As the two sides charged towards one another, Kast fired her blasters into the crowd of troopers, eventually coming face to face with several and killing each of them with ease. However, reinforcements from the Mandalorian resistance eventually arrived. With them arrived Bo-Katan Kryze, their leader, who entered into hand-to-hand combat with Kast before the Mandalorians were forced to surrender due to the overwhelming numbers of the Mandalorian resistance and Republic together. Maul then abandoned the Mandalorians as he attempted to escape but was captured by Republic forces after losing his duel with Tano.
A picture of Kast as part of the Shadow Collective was in "Index of Organizations," a survival compendium sent out by Carson Teva during the New Republic Era.
Rook Kast exhibited unwavering loyalty to both the Shadow Collective's cause and to Maul himself. This loyalty manifested in her becoming one of the first Super Commandos to pledge allegiance to the former Sith, adorning her armor with his colors to embrace her warrior heritage. She personally undertook multiple missions to evacuate Maul, demonstrating concern for his well-being when he faced Grievous on Zanbar. She even forcibly attempted to bring Maul onto his ship on Dathomir before the Separatists landed their troops and laid waste to the world. When Black Sun and the Pykes declared their withdrawal of aid to the Collective, Kast promptly threatened to pursue and eliminate them herself should they desert. While some Mandalorians, such as Bo-Katan Kryze and many of her Nite Owls, refused to accept Maul as the leader of Mandalore due to him being an outsider—despite besting the previous leader, Pre Vizsla, in combat—Maul's non-Mandalorian heritage did not present an issue for Kast, and she faithfully served him regardless.
Kast, a female member of the human species, stood at a height of 1.7 meters (5 feet, 7 inches). She possessed brown [hair](/article/hair], blue [eyes](/article/eye], and fair skin. By the time of the Siege of Mandalore, Kast had purple hair.
Kast was a formidable warrior on the battlefield. She demonstrated exceptional proficiency in operating blasters and a jetpack, surpassing that of her fellow soldiers. She was also known for her strategic awareness. Kast was proficient in hand-to-hand combat as well, holding off clones and a few of members of Mandalore resistance in a fistfight, before Bo-Katan Kryze overpowered her and forced her to surrender to the Republic's forces.
Like all Mandalorian soldiers, Kast wore Mandalorian armor over a black body glove, as well as a jetpack, which could be used to launch missiles. Around each of her forearms was a Mandalorian vambrace, which contained a zipline. Kast's armor, like most Mandalorian super commandos, was painted red and black, meant to resemble Maul's appearance, and featured the Shadow Collective's black hand symbol on her right shoulder pad. Kast's helmet was different from most traditional Mandalorian helmets however, featuring two pointed slopes atop it. During the Siege of Mandalore, Kast utilized two WESTAR-35 blaster pistols.
Rook Kast's initial appearance was in Star Wars: Darth Maul—Son of Dathomir, a four-part comic miniseries penned by Jeremy Barlow with artwork by Juan Frigeri. It was published from May to August in 2014 and adapted from unfinished episodes of Star Wars: The Clone Wars. Before Son of Dathomir was released, Kast was first mentioned in the "Blaster" section of Star Wars Insider 149, released on April 22, 2014, as one of the new things fans could expect to see in Son of Dathomir. Pablo Hidalgo, creative executive for the Lucasfilm Story Group, stated on Twitter that Rook Kast was one of a few elements that inspired the design of the Star Wars Rebels character Sabine Wren. Kast later appeared in the seventh season of Star Wars: The Clone Wars, released in 2020, voiced by Vanessa Marshall.
Rook Kast shares her name with Clan Rook and House Kast, but no connection has been made.