Seha Dorvald

Seha Dorvald was born around 22 ABY, prior to the start of the Yuuzhan Vong War, and spent her early years on Coruscant. She had little memory of her family from her childhood, as they were killed following the Yuuzhan Vong's invasion of Coruscant in 27 ABY. Dorvald and her father survived the initial attack, and he brought her to the Undercity, located on Coruscant's main surface, to seek refuge for the remainder of the war before his death. He was killed by a Yuuzhan Vong insect, leaving Dorvald orphaned. She managed to survive the rest of the war with several refugees she met in the Undercity. Despite knowing that the war had ended, Dorvald chose to remain in the Undercity with the refugees after her father's death, as they were the only people she knew. For a period, Dorvald resided near the World Brain, a dhuryam, which was a Yuuzhan Vong creature responsible for the transformation of Coruscant from a planetwide city into a hostile jungle. Dorvald was afraid of the creature because of its appearance; the dhuryam was a larger, more powerful version of a yammosk, a brain-like creature with numerous tentacles and a single, large tooth that had coordinated attacks during the Yuuzhan Vong War. Dorvald then encountered the Jedi hero, Jacen Solo, when he ventured into the Undercity to meet the World Brain. Noticing her dislike of the World Brain, which Dorvald described as a horrible creature, he told her that its appearance had no bearing on its true nature. Solo also recognized Dorvald's Force potential and sponsored her entry into the Jedi Order, even though she was considered too old to become an apprentice. As a result, Dorvald felt indebted to Solo, whom she already found attractive, and would often assist him by keeping him informed of events within the Jedi Temple.

By 40 ABY, an armed conflict had broken out between the Galactic Federation of Free Alliances, which the Jedi Order was aligned with, and a secessionist movement known as the Confederation. During the war, Dorvald served as a sentry at the entrance of the Jedi Temple on Coruscant at one point and had to deal with a visitor who claimed to be "Twinsins Thlee" and asked to speak with Grand Master Luke Skywalker. After contacting Skywalker via comlink, the Jedi Master informed Dorvald that he would come to see Thlee—who was actually the former Imperial pilot [Jagged Fel](/article/jagged_fel]—and dismissed Dorvald after arriving at the entrance. Throughout the war, Dorvald continued to provide information and perform other tasks for Solo, who rose to become the head of the Galactic Alliance Guard. Unbeknownst to Dorvald, her former sponsor had become an apprentice to Dark Lady of the Sith Lumiya, who was assisting him in his plan to take control of the galaxy. Solo needed a Sith apprentice of his own and sought to test Ben Skywalker, a young Jedi who was several years younger than Dorvald. Dorvald's sponsor delegated the testing to Lumiya, who disguised herself as Solo and gave Dorvald a message to deliver to Ben Skywalker. Furthermore, the young Jedi girl was then instructed to enable Skywalker to escape the Jedi Temple so that he could carry out his mission—to retrieve the Amulet of Kalara from Drewwa. While Ben Skywalker—the only son of Grand Master of the Jedi Order Luke Skywalker—was training in the Temple, Dorvald approached him and delivered the message. Once the first part of her assignment had been completed, the war orphan helped Skywalker escape without detection by opening up an secret passage, unknown to most of the Jedi, out of the Temple. Dorvald never knew she had been tricked by a Sith, though she would not unwittingly serve Lumiya much longer. When Solo, who secretly became the Sith Lord Darth Caedus after he killed Jedi Master Mara Jade Skywalker, ordered his troops to seize the Jedi Temple on Ossus, Dorvald learned of the consequences of the occupation. Several Jedi were killed and tortured, leading Dorvald to realize that she had allied herself to a man who had no qualms attacking the Order and its members. When Caedus' troops moved against the Temple on Coruscant, Dorvald was ready. So as to prevent the Galactic Alliance Guard from capturing vital records, Dorvald destroyed the Temple's computers, while preserving a complete set of records and secreting them on her person. During the evacuation, the young Jedi girl saved two Jedi Knights from death by leading them to safety through Coruscant's Underworld, using her knowledge of the pathways there. She then escaped to the forest moon of Endor, where the Jedi Order had convened following their schism with Caedus and the Galactic Alliance he now headed.

When Grand Master Luke Skywalker, husband of the slain Mara Jade Skywalker, gave Jedi Master Kyp Durron the responsibility of planning a mission to kill or capture Caedus, Durron was forced to search for a Jedi with knowledge of the Coruscant Undercity. His initial choice had been Zekk, a former orphan who had, like Dorvald, grown up there. Durron later changed his mind when he realized that the team would need updated knowledge of Coruscant's underlevels, which had been drastically altered during the Yuuzhan Vong occupation. Dorvald was the prime candidate, and was called upon to meet with Grand Master Skywalker. Unwilling to live a lie, Dorvald confessed to him that she was a traitor to the Order. She told Skywalker about her past and how she helped Caedus; that she kept him updated on things going around in the Temple, smuggled things in and out for him, and that she helped Ben escape the Temple on Caedus's orders. Dorvald told Skywalker that she felt indebted to Caedus for sponsoring her to be in the New Jedi Order, and that it was the reason for her betrayal. After hearing her confession, Skywalker was hesitant in allowing Dorvald, who was only a Jedi candidate, to go on the mission, and he only conceded after he agreed that someone who knew the new Undercity was needed most for the mission. Dorvald was joined in her task by Jedi Master Kyle Katarn and Jedi Knights [Valin Horn](/article/valin_horn]—on whom Dorvald had an adolescent crush— Thann Mithric, and Kolir Hu'lya. The team traveled to Coruscant and infiltrated the galactic capital, whereupon Dorvald successfully led her companions underneath the Senate Building. There, the team stayed for several hours; Dorvald led them through their entrance and exit routes over and over again, drilling the senior Jedi until they were confident of their chances of success. Once the impromptu training was complete, Dorvald took up position alongside Master Katarn, who tasked her with placing a tracking device on Caedus during the chaos of the impending skirmish. Once this had been carried out, however, Katarn instructed Dorvald that she was to leave the fight immediately, regardless of whether the mission to eliminate the Sith Lord succeeded. A little before dawn, the four Jedi sprung their trap while Dorvald stayed on position to observe the fierce lightsaber duel that ensued. During the duel, Dorvald telekinetically lifted the tracking device into the air toward the Sith Lord, waiting for the moment when the fight was at its most chaotic. Dorvald was initially impressed by the skill of the combatants as they dueled, but her excitement turned into horror when she saw Caedus impale Katarn in the chest with his lightsaber. Dorvald decided that it was the moment to place the tracking device onto Caedus, which she performed successfully, planting it on his cloak. The remaining Jedi continued to fight against their adversary while Dorvald used the Force to pull Katarn, who was still alive, out of harm's way. When the Jedi's previously planned airborne escape seemed impossible, Dorvald created an escape route by blowing up a hatch that was a few stories below from where they hid with explosives, and lowered herself and Katarn through the newfound path. The Jedi Master urged Dorvald to leave him to detonate the explosives while she fled, but the young girl refused. While Dorvald escaped with Katarn, however, Caedus killed Thann Mithric by decapitating the Falleen, finishing their duel. After Mithric's death, Horn, Katarn, Hu'lya, and Dorvald escaped using the pathway Dorvald had created, and she led them through the undercity to a safehouse, which they used until they escaped from Coruscant. Although Katarn's condition worsened during the escape, the team returned safely to Endor. The mission, despite the injuries sustained and the loss of Mithric, had been successful. The Order was able to track Caedus as he moved around the galaxy, leading to further successful operations. In 41 ABY, the Second Galactic War was brought to a close with the death of Caedus during the Battle of Shedu Maad.

Seha Dorvald remained with the Jedi Order and by 43.5 ABY had been assigned as a Jedi apprentice to Octa Ramis, a Chandrilan woman. Although still undertrained and lacking in confidence, Dorvald's skills had advanced in the years since her mission to Coruscant. Dorvald was stationed on the galactic capital when the Order received word that Valin Horn had undergone a psychotic break which led him to believe that he was surrounded by imposters who were conspiring against the galaxy. Horn became violent and embarked on a rampage as he attempted to escape Coruscant. The news saddened Dorvald, who realized that she had now had crushes on two Jedi who had acted against the traditions of the Order—first Jacen Solo, and now Valin Horn. Drawing on her prior experience with Horn, Dorvald convinced her master that they should lie in wait for the rogue Jedi Knight at the Senate Building. There, she expected Horn to revisit the hidden passages beneath the plaza through which she had led him several years before. Focusing on a tracking device, Dorvald grew increasingly frustrated as Horn failed to arrive at the plaza. Following a discussion with Ramis, during which she revealed her frustration with herself for falling for Jedi such as Solo and Horn, Dorvald was counseled by her master against withdrawing from her emotions. Moments later, the tracking device alerted the two Jedi to the presence of Valin Horn. Tracking the rogue Jedi Knight into the Senate Building, Dorvald and Ramis were obstructed by a security guard who proved resistant to a mind trick. The younger Jedi was able to sense Horn's elation as the Jedi Knight searched the Senate Building; combining her Force powers with Ramis she enabled her Chandrilan master to locate the rogue Jedi exactly. Ramis revealed that Horn was about to steal two vehicles; the first, a Kuati shuttle, Horn used to shatter the wall of Senate Building, granting him egress to fly out in an X-wing starfighter. As Horn piloted the starfighter out of the Senate Building, Dorvald used telekinesis to boost Ramis onto the small craft. She watched as her Jedi Master stabbed a hole through the X-wing's canopy before being thrown off the starfighter into the air. Dorvald reached out with telekinesis and slowed Ramis' descent. The Chandrilan woman hit the ground hard, but survived the impact. Master and apprentice halted their pursuit, with Ramis confident that Horn was no longer able to enter atmosphere in his damaged craft. Indeed, Grand Master Skywalker was able to incapacitate Horn personally and return the Jedi Knight to the Mon Mothma Memorial Medical Center for study. Horn's inexplicable madness and subsequent rampage resulted in restrictions being placed on the Jedi Order by Galactic Alliance Chief of State Natasi Daala, an approach which developed further in subsequent weeks.

Following Valin Horn's descent into mental psychosis, several other Jedi succumbed to the same illness, forcing Chief of State Daala to demand their uncontested surrender to Coruscant authorities. When surrogate Jedi Grand Master Kenth Hamner refused to oblige, Daala contracted Mandalorian commandos to lay siege to the Jedi Temple. All known exits, secret or otherwise, were blocked by Mandalorians, effectively trapping all of the Temple's occupants within. Seha Dorvald was present at the subsequent Council meeting that was called in response to Daala's action, where Master Ramis volunteered her services as well as those of Dorvald's in light of the latter's experience with working underground. The meeting also saw the selection of Master Hamner's assistant, Jedi apprentice Kani Asari, to liaise with the leader of the Mandalorian siege force, Belok Rhal. Because Asari was neither Sothais Saar nor [Turi Altamik](/article/turi_altamik]—the two Jedi for whom Daala appealed—Rhal killed her with a close-range blaster shot. The Jedi were horrified by the unwarranted murder of one of their own. Dorvald and Ramis attempted to rouse Kenth Hamner into eating, but eventually left him to begin their task after the grief-stricken Master refused. Seven hours of tedious exploration yielded nothing save the discovery of numerous openings that were suited to accommodate neither Dorvald nor any of the six other apprentices assigned to assist her. As an exhausted, famished, and filthy Seha crawled back through a tunnel to report to her Master, she absentmindedly happened upon a dead rodent whose odor nearly caused Dorvald to vomit. Dorvald received a call via comlink from Master Ramis at that moment, inquiring as to whether or not she had taken notice of anything unusual. When she replied that she had not, Ramis told Dorvald to expedite her return, as the Jedi Master had made a discovery. She arrived to find Ramis beside shelves lined with numerous and different sized boxes, and over a trio of rodents of the same species as the corpse Dorvald had just encountered, each with something affixed to their backs. Ramis explained that there were many more of the creatures, and that they had suddenly appeared through every opening through which they could squeeze their bodies. Dorvald realized upon closer inspection that the vials being carried by the rodents contained the medicines that the Mon Calamari Jedi healer Cilghal required to treat the psychotic Knights, and also learned from Ramis that Master Corran Horn determined that someone had used the Force to compel the vermin into service. An idea dawned on Dorvald that if the creatures could bring supplies in, they could also carry messages to the outside as well. Master Ramis advised Dorvald that such plans were already under way and, as they both began collecting the vials in preparation for delivery to Cilghal, suggested that the girl take a sanisteam. Not long afterward, however, the afflicted all abruptly recovered from their psychosis, resultant of the efforts of exiled Grand Master Skywalker to defeat Abeloth, the dark side entity responsible for their hysteria.

As part of the progression of Plan Delta, the C-class VoxPop advocate droid named Dorvald, a companion during her surrender at the Senate Building, secretly carried cameras. These devices meticulously documented everything, notably the building's internal structure and its detention area. While incarcerated, Lieutenant Thewles visited her, himself detained on suspicion of aiding Dorvald's alleged offenses. Despite his persistent inquiries, she denied any involvement, accusing him of being a tool of his superiors to extract a confession. Her actions nearly cost the lieutenant his job, but he assured the Jedi that he was acting independently, having resigned from Alliance Security. Shortly after, a Klatooinian terrorist known as Grunel Ovin was apprehended and brought to Coruscant, where he destroyed the CC-7700 frigate Fireborn in orbit. Consequently, the Chief of State ordered the Mandalorians to eliminate the freedom fighter gathering on Klatooine, prompting the Jedi to initiate Plan Delta to avert the Daala-authorized genocide. Apprentice Bandy Geffer rescued Dorvald and guided her to the building's armory as the Jedi launched a precise attack on the Office of the Chief of State and secured the Senate Building. She deflected blaster fire from Coruscant Security Force members as Geffer breached the armory entrance. Donning gas masks, they launched grenades down the corridor at their attackers. The Jedi successfully eliminated Daala, preventing the potential massacre on Klatooine. During this period, a Triumvirate was established to govern as the executive branch, amidst investigations into the Chief of State's misconduct. Among the resulting concessions was Seha Dorvald's exoneration. Despite regaining her freedom, she felt a sense of responsibility for Lieutenant Thewles's downfall. She recommended him to Jedi Organa Solo, who hired Thewles as elite security for their adopted daughter, Amelia. #### Hunting Abeloth Daala's disgrace also led to the overturning of Grand Master Skywalker's conviction. He returned to Coruscant and resumed leadership of the Jedi Order after failing to eliminate the Lost Tribe of Sith and Abeloth. Seha Dorvald was part of the security detail during the ceremony where Skywalker announced the Jedi Order's formal separation from the Galactic Alliance and withdrawal from the Triumvirate. Coinciding with this declaration of autonomy, the Grand Master also announced the Jedi's immediate departure from Coruscant. Dorvald was among the Jedi who resumed the pursuit of Abeloth across the galaxy. The search led them to the ancient Sith world of Upekzar, where Abeloth had set a trap. This trap resulted in a massive explosion of dark side energy, killing several Jedi who could not escape the blast. Dorvald survived the incident. Dorvald also participated in the team assigned to assassinate Sith High Lord Ivaar Workan, alongside Luke and Ben Skywalker, Vestara Khai, and Doran Tainer. Upon arriving and seeing Ben and Vestara standing over the bodies of several Sith, Tainer and Dorvald were amazed by the pair's accomplishment without using any weapons. Throughout the Liberation of Courascant, Dorvald served alongside the other Jedi, proving to be a valuable asset. ## Personality and traits Seha Dorvald, a naturally shy, red-haired woman, struggled with self-assurance early in life. Orphaned at a young age, she was taken in by Solo and sponsored for admission into the Jedi Order. Despite her age, Dorvald lagged behind her peers and lacked confidence in her early twenties. Intimidated by senior figures, particularly Jedi Masters to whom she had to confess her secret work for Jacen Solo, Dorvald suffered from low self-esteem. She felt frustrated when Jacen Solo and later Valin Horn, both Jedi she found attractive, turned away from the Jedi path. She felt more at ease in familiar settings, such as leading senior Jedi through training in the undercity, and had less trouble flirting with the younger Ben Skywalker in the Jedi Temple. She matured into an exquisitely beautiful woman and readily used her beauty to advance her goals. She disliked feigning friendliness, finding it unnatural. Nevertheless, she felt compassion for the disgraced Lieutenant Thewles, whose career was ruined by her seductive deception. While her childhood experiences and Solo's perceived betrayal instilled in Dorvald a tendency to cry and display volatile emotions, the young Jedi could also be driven and focused. Similarly, her frustration when things went wrong contrasted with her ability to remain calm and analytical in dangerous situations. Dorvald was also loyal, initially to Solo and later to the Jedi Order. She risked her life during the evacuation of the Coruscant Jedi Temple and again during the ambush outside the Senate Building when she saved Master Katarn. After her break with Solo, Dorvald decided to be honest about her past efforts to help her sponsor, rather than remain an anonymous informant. She desired the trust of her fellow Jedi and was willing to go to great lengths to earn it. ## Powers and abilities Dorvald possessed latent Force abilities, though they were underdeveloped due to her late induction into the New Jedi Order. She knew basic Force applications like Force pushes and pulls, both common telekinetic abilities. However, Dorvald's skill was imperfect, as demonstrated when she accidentally dropped Katarn from two meters during their escape from Coruscant. By 43.5 ABY, Dorvald remained undertrained and behind many of her peers. Nevertheless, her telekinetic skill had improved to the point where she could assist her Master, Octa Ramis, in pursuing Valin Horn, and later save Ramis's life. Dorvald could also sense Valin Horn's emotions from afar, and using a Force meld, combined this sense with Ramis's abilities, allowing Ramis to pinpoint the Jedi Knight's location. Dorvald was also skilled in close-quarters combat and underground exploration, as evidenced by her participation in the mission through the Coruscant Undercity to apprehend Jacen Solo, and later in the depths of the Jedi Temple during the Mandalorian siege. ## Behind the scenes Aaron Allston created Seha Dorvald for the fourth novel in the Star Wars: Legacy of the Force series, Legacy of the Force: Exile. Since its publication in February 2007, Dorvald has primarily appeared in Allston's novels. Her character was expanded and utilized more extensively in Legacy of the Force: Fury, the seventh installment in the Legacy of the Force series, and she had a brief role in Allston's Fate of the Jedi: Outcast, the first novel in the Fate of the Jedi series, which began publication in 2009. Before the Fate of the Jedi series, Dorvald also had her own entry in The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia.