Son




The Son, alternatively referred to as the Brother, was a male Force-sensitive individual who dwelt within the spectral dimension of Mortis, alongside his family: the Father and the Daughter. As a member of a group exhibiting an extraordinary affinity for the Force, the Son manifested the essence of the dark side, while his sister resonated with the light. To maintain harmony between his offspring, their progenitor upheld a precarious equilibrium, until his declining health prompted him to beckon Jedi Knight Anakin Skywalker to Mortis, with the aspiration that the Chosen One would succeed him. The Son, harboring resentment towards the Father's dominance, aspired to break free into the wider galaxy, an ambition that both the Father and the Daughter were resolved to thwart. Captivated by the potential residing within the Chosen One, the Son perceived Skywalker as the linchpin to his liberation from Mortis, thus endeavoring to sway the young Jedi toward the dark side. By corrupting Skywalker's apprentice, Ahsoka Tano, the Son instigated a clash between the apprentice and her Jedi mentor while, simultaneously, engaging his sister in combat. By this point, the Son's abilities in the Force had been amplified by the dark side, enabling him to overpower the Father. However, he inadvertently triggered the demise of his sister when she intervened as the Son attempted to slay the Father using the Dagger of Mortis.

Subsequently, the Son's endeavors to sway Skywalker bore fruit; because of the Son's influence, Skywalker glimpsed his eventual transformation into the Sith Lord Darth Vader—a destiny shaped by the destruction of the Jedi Order and Darth Sidious' ascension to power; the massacre of Jedi initiates and the passing of his spouse, Padmé Amidala; and his climactic confrontation on Mustafar against Obi-Wan Kenobi, culminating in Vader's reconstruction as a Sith who was more construct than organic. Overwhelmed by the revelation of his predetermined path, Skywalker accepted the Son's proposition of an alliance, hoping to alter the future and bring an end to the Clone Wars. However, the Father intervened in his son's machinations by erasing Skywalker's recollection of the prophecies. Shortly thereafter, the Father ended his own existence utilizing the Dagger, rendering the Son susceptible to Skywalker's lightsaber, which ultimately led to his demise.

Biography

Origins

The Daughter and the Son represented the light and dark sides of the Force respectively.

The Son was a male member of the enigmatic Force-sensitive race known as the Ones. He was the offspring of the family's leader, the Father, and the sibling of the Daughter. The Son was an ambitious practitioner of the Force, and, like all Force users, possessed significant Force abilities. Unlike his sister, however, the Son embraced the dark aspect of the Force, serving as the embodiment of selfishness.

Recognizing that his children possessed the capability to tear apart the very fabric of the cosmos, the Father sought to preserve equilibrium in the Force. Together, the Ones retreated to the uncharted planet of Mortis. There, by rejecting the material world, the Father gained the ability to control both the Son and the Daughter, maintaining harmony between the siblings. After the Son and his family adopted the Mortis realm as their new home, knowledge of their existence gradually faded.

Although Mortis served as both a refuge and a prison for the family, the realm was believed to be the origin of the Force itself, functioning as a conduit for all things connected through it. This allowed the Father to monitor the balance in the Force throughout the galaxy. During this time, the Son grew impatient waiting to succeed his father and continued to succumb to the allure of the dark side. Upon learning that the Chosen One, a prophesied Jedi legend, had been discovered, he acted to bring the Chosen One to Mortis, piquing the interest of both the Son and the Daughter.

The Clone Wars

Seeking the Chosen One

The Son, after posing as Shmi Skywalker Lars, revealed himself to Anakin Skywalker in the Father's monastery.

To entice the Jedi Knight believed to be the Chosen One, Anakin Skywalker, to Mortis, the Father dispatched a 2,000 year-old distress signal during the Clone Wars. This signal was intercepted by Galactic Republic Admiral Nils Tenant, who relayed it to Skywalker and two other Jedi, his apprentice Ahsoka Tano and the Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi. When Skywalker attempted to reach the source of the distress signal, he and his Jedi companions instead encountered the Mortis monolith, which disrupted their communications and transported them to the realm of Mortis. There, the Daughter approached the trio and offered to guide them to the Father. However, the Son intervened, triggering a rockslide and separating Skywalker from Kenobi and Tano as they traversed a mountainous path. The Daughter instructed the group to await her return, cautioning them that her brother's actions endangered them all and that they required shelter before nightfall.

Skywalker, however, insisted that Kenobi and Tano return to their starship and attempt to transmit a distress signal, while he would follow the Daughter. The Son, in accordance with his father's plan to assess whether Skywalker was truly the Chosen One, concealed the Jedi's shuttle and confronted Kenobi and Tano upon their arrival in search of it. The Force wielder, with curiosity, inquired whether Skywalker was indeed the Chosen One, prompting the two Jedi to draw their lightsabers against him in suspicion. The Son urged the group to wait and informed them that they could not yet depart Mortis, employing the Force to effortlessly deactivate their lightsabers. When Kenobi accused the Son of being a Sith, the Son responded that he both was and was not, and that the Chosen One's test was imminent regardless of their attempts to prevent it, as a thunderstorm commenced. Before departing the duo, the Son cautioned Kenobi and Tano that the storms on Mortis were lethal, compelling them to seek refuge in a nearby cavern as he transformed into his gargoyle form and flew away.

The Son and the Daughter are both tamed by the Chosen One, Anakin Skywalker.

By nightfall, Skywalker had already arrived at the Father's monastery and had reluctantly remained as his guest, given the storm outside and his lack of alternatives. While Skywalker slept, the Son disguised himself as the Jedi's deceased mother, Shmi Skywalker Lars, and awakened Skywalker with the promise of a secret. Despite being wary of the Son's form, Skywalker confided in the Force wielder, admitting that he believed he had failed both Shmi and the Jedi Order when he succumbed to vengeance the night his mother died. The Son assured Skywalker that he was destined to become more than a Jedi but that he could only realize his destiny if he renounced his affection for Padmé Amidala, his wife, whom the Son labeled the "poisoner." Skywalker, seeing through the Son's disguise, confronted the Father about seeing his deceased mother, accusing him of being a Sith Lord. The Father indulged Skywalker with his family's history and explained that they had revealed themselves to him to ascertain whether he was truly the Chosen One, as part of an effort to maintain balance in the Force.

Unbeknownst to Skywalker, the Father intended to subject the Jedi to a test to determine if he was indeed the prophesied one. Under the Father's instructions, the Son and the Daughter transformed into their gargoyle and griffin forms, respectively, and pursued Kenobi and Tano the following morning, seizing them as they exited the cave where they had sought shelter the previous night. The siblings transported the two Jedi to the monastery arena, where the Father and Skywalker were already present. The Father then revealed that Skywalker was to choose which of the two Jedi to save, as the Son and the Daughter had been instructed to kill them both, implying he could only save one. Skywalker refused the ultimatum, instead using the Force to overpower both the Son and the Daughter, demonstrating that he was, in fact, the Chosen One. After the Son and Daughter were compelled to kneel before Skywalker, they both reverted to their humanoid forms. Following this, the Father informed Skywalker that the Chosen One's destiny was to remain on Mortis to maintain balance between his children, but Skywalker rejected the Father's warning of dooming the galaxy and chose to depart Mortis instead.

Embracing the Darkness

The Son poisons Ahsoka Tano with the dark side of the Force.

Later that morning, the Son materialized in Skywalker's dream as a mirror image of the young Jedi Knight. During the dream, the Son attempted to entice Skywalker into embracing the dark side and restoring balance to the Force. When Skywalker refused and turned away, the Son morphed into the form of a monster and attacked the Jedi, jolting Skywalker awake. Shortly later, before Skywalker and his companions could leave Mortis, the Son entered their ship and kidnapped Ahsoka Tano. He then jumped out of the shuttle and morphed into his gargoyle form, while taking the captive Tano with him. Skywalker and Kenobi pursued the Son in their ship into a canyon of mist-shrouded spires. However, the Son managed to outrun his Jedi pursuers and disappeared into the mist.

The Son then took his captive Tano to his cathedral, a towering structure in the wilderness. There, he morphed into the form of a small alien creature that taunted the chained Padawan by claiming her master would never come back. When Tano insisted that Skywalker would come back for her, the creature released her from her chains. After unsuccessfully trying to convince Tano to forget her master, the Son bit her on the arm, infecting Tano with the dark side of the Force. As Tano collapsed on the floor, the Son changed back to his humanoid form. Meanwhile, his Jedi pursuers split up. While Kenobi traveled back to the monastery to get help from the other Force-wielders, Skywalker decided to scale the tower and rescue Tano.

The Son duels the Daughter using the dark side of the Force.

Later, the Son rejoined the Father and the Daughter at their monastery. When the Father implored the Son to let go of the dark side, the enraged Son struck him with Force lightning just as Kenobi and the Daughter entered the chamber. The Son then left the scene while the Daughter tended to her Father's wounds. When Kenobi implored the Daughter to assist him in stopping the Son from escaping offworld, the Daughter sprung to his defense saying that it was not his fault since it was his nature. She also refused to lay a hand against her brother. Instead, the Daughter showed Kenobi a powerful Force weapon known as the Dagger of Mortis, which was the only thing capable of harming a Force-wielder.

Back at the tower, Ahsoka Tano, under the influence of the dark side, attacked her master Skywalker in a lightsaber duel. Meanwhile, Kenobi and the Daughter confronted the Son in his inner sanctum. During the fight, Kenobi was separated from the Daughter and forced to help Skywalker parry against Tano, whom they were unwilling to harm. The Son and his sister parried against each other with their Force powers before morphing into their gargoyle and griffin forms respectively. However, their fight was interrupted by the arrival of the Father, who used his Force powers to forcibly separate his children and hurled them among the Jedi.

As the Son leaps to murder his Father, the Daughter (the Son's sister) sacrifices her own life to save the Father's.

The Son attacked his weakened Father with Force lightning, causing the older Force-wielder to fall to the ground. Kenobi then attempted to pass the Dagger of Mortis to Skywalker, but Tano intercepted it. After handing the Dagger to the Son, the Force-wielder thanked Tano and told her that she had outlived her usefulness. Touching her forehead, the Son drained her off her life force, causing her to die. Enraged, Skywalker attempted to attack him, but the Son easily repelled him with the Force. The Son then attempted to stab the Father but was blocked by the Daughter, who took the brunt of the blade and was mortally wounded as a result. Horrified that he had killed his sister, the Son fled from the scene. Despite the Daughter's mortal wounds, she used her last life force to resurrect Ahsoka Tano from the dead.

Downfall and reconciliation

The Son seduces Anakin to the dark side.

As a result of the Daughter's death, Mortis was plunged into darkness. The Son then turned his attention to corrupting Anakin Skywalker, the Chosen One, by showing his future as a Sith lord so that the Son could escape the planet and return to the galaxy. The Son later met Skywalker in the Well of the Dark Side, a volcanic place in the bowels of Mortis that was strong in the dark side. There, the Son sought to bring the young Jedi to his side by revealing glimpses of Anakin's future including the death of his secret wife Padmé Amidala, the Great Jedi Purge, the rise of Darth Sidious' Galactic Empire, the destruction of Alderaan and his transformation into Darth Vader. With Anakin overcome by fear and anguish, the Son offered to help him change the future. When Skywalker asked whether they would bring peace, the Son claimed this was so. As a result, Skywalker decided to join forces with the Son, who also deceived Skywalker into believing that the Jedi were a threat to peace.

The Son dies alongside his Father.

When Kenobi and Tano learned that the Son had succeeded in winning over Skywalker, Tano sabotaged the Jedi starship in order to prevent the Son and Skywalker from leaving Mortis. Worried that the two Jedi would join forces with the Father, the Son traveled to the Daughter's crypt where he stole the Dagger of Mortis. Meanwhile, the Father succeeded in erasing Skywalker's memories to break the hold of the dark side on him. The Son then made his way to the monastery where he was confronted by the Father and the three Jedi. The Son proved too powerful for the three Jedi and his weakened Father to overcome. In order to strip the Son of his Force powers, the Father sacrificed his own life by stabbing himself. Shaken by remorse, the Son reconciled with the Father just before he was impaled by Skywalker's lightsaber. Through the deaths of the Son and the Father, Skywalker succeeded in fulfilling his role as the Chosen One by restoring balance to the Force on Mortis. The monastery and the temple vanished in a bright flash of light and the three Jedi found themselves back in their shuttle.

Legacy

The Son in a painting at Lothal's Jedi Temple.

The Son's prophecy that Anakin would fall to the dark side came true at the end of the Clone Wars, as Anakin became Darth Vader and Darth Sidious' Sith Apprentice. However, the Father's prophecy that Anakin would bring balance to the force would also be true, when Vader sacrificed himself to save his son Luke Skywalker in the battle of Endor.

The Son, along with his sister and Father was depicted on a painting inside Lothal's Jedi Temple. The painting served as access point to create a portal to the World Between Worlds. The painting was discovered by the Empire during its excavation of the Jedi Temple. In 0 BBY, Spectre-6, Ezra Bridger was able to open the portal and enter the world between worlds. After leaving the world between worlds, Bridger was then able to use the force to close the portal. As he closed it, Bridger heard the Son's voice saying that the future could be changed by its own nature. Despite this, Bridger was able to close the portal and the painting, as well as the temple, sunk into the ground.

Personality and traits

The Son was a male Force wielder who stood at 2.2 meters in humanoid form, and 4.79 meters as a gargoyle. He had red with black sclera, and white skin with red markings.

The Son was a selfish and manipulative Force wielder who embodied the dark side of the Force. According to the Daughter, it was in his nature to be selfish, manipulative, and deceptive. The Son chafed under the Father's authority and sought to break free of Mortis and dominate the galaxy. While he fought with his sister, who embodied the light side of the Force, he still loved her and felt greatly distraught and burdened by the guilt of his role in her death. Unlike his relatives, the Son preferred to dwell in places strong in the dark side like his cathedral and the Well of the Dark Side. Despite his great evil, he self-deceptively defines himself as an entity that wants the best for the galaxy and will bring peace. However, he respects the different points of view between whether what he does is good or bad.

Like the Father and Daughter, the Son believed that Anakin Skywalker was the Chosen One who would bring balance to the Force. However, he wanted to corrupt and bring Skywalker over to the dark side; a goal that put him at odds with both the Daughter and the Father. While he succeeded in corrupting Skywalker by showing him a vision of his future as Darth Vader, he was thwarted by the Father, who erased Skywalker's memories of the vision. The Son came to his senses and abandoned his ambitions after witnessing the Father stab himself with the Dagger of Mortis. At that point, the Son realized that he loved his Father.

Powers and abilities

As a Force-wielder, the Son had the power to change into different forms including that of a gargoyle, Shmi Skywalker Lars, and even a small alien creature that bit Ahsoka Tano. He was also capable of infecting sentient beings with the dark side by biting them and could also harness a red-colored Force lightning. While the Son was extremely powerful in his own right, he ultimately was no match for the powers of the Chosen One Anakin Skywalker until he fully succumbed to the Dark Side and was therefore able to easily best Skywalker in terms of power. The Son was also capable of conjuring up powerful Force visions, and appearing within Skywalker's dreams. He was also capable of entering physically secure structures, like buildings and starships, unhindered by appearing and disappearing at will without alerting others to his presence. The Son was also able to use telekinesis as well as a powerful Force push. He was also able to use Force speed and can also fly without being in his Gargoyle form. The Son also had the power of Tutaminis, as he was able to turn off the lightsabers of Obi-Wan Kenobi and Ahsoka Tano. One known weapon capable of harming him was the Dagger of Mortis. The Son could float and shoot lightning (but not kill Obi-Wan with it) and float up and down, also lost his immortality when the Father stabbed himself with the Dagger; allowing Skywalker to kill him. The Son also very persuasive and was known for his trickery and foreknowledge.

Behind the scenes

Concept artwork of the Son by Randy Bantog, from Star Wars: The Clone Wars, featuring both his humanoid and gargoyle forms.

The Son first appeared in the 2011 Mortis trilogy, which was part of the third season of the Star Wars: The Clone Wars animated series. His presence was felt throughout the three-episode arc consisting of "Overlords," Altar of Mortis," and "Ghosts of Mortis." Sam Witwer, who had previously lent his voice to Star Wars Legends projects, provided the voice for the Son. When the Son took on the guise of other characters, their respective voice actors from The Clone Wars performed the Son's lines, with the inclusion of Pernilla August as Shmi Skywalker, reprising her role from the 1999 film Star Wars: Episode I The Phantom Menace.

George Lucas, the originator of Star Wars, conceived the Son and the Mortis trilogy's storyline. The initial plan involved the Sith Lords Darth Bane and Darth Revan, both characters from the Legends continuity, as the driving force behind the Son's corruption and descent into darkness. However, this idea was ultimately removed from the Mortis arc because Lucas and Dave Filoni, the supervising director of The Clone Wars, felt that the existence of Sith Lords beyond death or outside the Force conflicted with the established nature and meaning of the Force within Star Wars canon.

Randy Bantog contributed to the initial concept art for the Son and his gargoyle form. In Star Wars Rebels, a sequel series to The Clone Wars, Filoni and Kilian Plunkett, the lead character designer, created the Grand Inquisitor, a Pau'an antagonist who bore an unexpected resemblance to the Son. Filoni rationalized this similarity by suggesting that the Son's story in The Clone Wars was symbolically designed to represent both the history and the future of the Star Wars universe.

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