The Talisman of the Raven, a ring employed by the Nightsisters from Dathomir, served as a Talisman of Transformation, bestowing upon its user the capability to morph into a raven. Mother Talzin, the leader of the united Nightsister clans during the Clone Wars, stated that the Talisman accessed the core raven spirit within the spirit world, granting its abilities to the wielder. Initially under the care of a Nightsisters Shaman, it was pilfered by Sister Charal, a witch of Dathomir. She escaped to the moon of Endor and never returned the Talisman to the coven.
Charal skillfully utilized it while serving the Sanyassan Marauders, a group of Sanyassan pirates. However, King Terak, the Marauders' leader, later seized the Talisman, wearing it as a necklace. Ultimately, the ring met its end during an encounter with the native Ewoks of the moon. The ring's immense power was unleashed upon Terak, resulting in his death by incineration. As Charal was flying around in raven form during the fight, the destruction of the Talisman trapped her in this shape with no hope of escape.
This Talisman of the Raven allowed the person using it to change their physical form into that of a raven. These mystical artifacts were created by the Witches of Dathomir, an all-female society of Force-sensitive individuals. The workings of these artifacts remained a mystery, defying complete explanation and replication attempts by both Sith alchemists and Jedi scholars. The Talisman of the Raven, a Talisman of Transformation, featured a red gem embedded in a gold ring.
On the world of Dathomir, the Nightsisters, a dark side witch clan, crafted such items by imbueing various objects with power derived from what they termed "spirits"—their interpretation of the workings of the Force. According to Talzin, the Clan Mother and Shaman who led the united Nightsister covens during the period of the Clone Wars, the spirit realm was inhabited by the life-energies of beings that corresponded to real animals in the mundane realm, and was ruled by the universal manifestations of male and female energy. She believed every existing species to have a correspondent representative ur-spirit in the spirit realm—for example, all the ssurians of the material plane would have a single corresponding "ur-ssurian" spirit in the immaterial realm. Talismans of Transformation were believed to allow the wearer to turn into a specific creature by tapping into its ur-spirit's energy.
The Talisman of the Raven had been imbued with the raven's ur-spirit energy, granting its wearer the ability to transform into the black avian creature. To harness the ur-raven's power, the wearer needed to twist the stone. This effect could also be triggered accidentally by an impact to the ring. If the Talisman was lost or destroyed while the user was still in raven form, they would be permanently trapped in that shape.
As with other mystical artifacts, the Talisman of the Raven belonged to the Sisterhood community. Talzin stated that Nightsister Shamans—elder witches responsible for interpreting the spirits' will—were entrusted with safeguarding the talismans. Any Sister wishing to use the ring had to borrow it from the Shaman and was expected to return it to the coven afterward. In her primary treatise on Nightsister philosophy, practice, and role in the galaxy, Wild Power, Talzin lamented Charal's failure to return the Talisman of the Raven.
The earliest known possessor of the Talisman was the Nightsisters' Shaman during the century before the Galactic Civil War. Before 96 BBY, Sister Charal, a clan member, managed to flee Dathomir with the Talisman, which she had borrowed from the Shaman. Pursued by her fellow witches, Charal traveled from star system to star system with the stolen ring. She allied with the Sanyassan Marauders, a band of space pirates from Sanyassa, led by King Terak. They eventually became stranded on Endor, a remote moon untouched by galactic civilization, where many intergalactic travelers had been marooned due to stellar anomalies like the Endor Gate black hole. Unlike other castaways, the Sanyassans were aggressive and desperate to escape the forested moon, salvaging any technology they could. Charal used the ring effectively, intimidating the Marauders with its power and becoming Terak's partner.
In 3 ABY, Charal fell victim to her own magical ring during a confrontation with Logray, the shaman of a tribe of Ewoks residing in Bright Tree Village, and his apprentice Paploo. During the fight, Paploo's slingshot struck Charal's talisman, activating its powers. The witch strategically retreated, planning revenge later. Later, in 3.5 ABY, a Human child named Cindel Towani crashed on Endor with her family. Charal and the Marauders saw a chance to escape their exile in the family's starship. The Sanyassans believed the ship's crystal oscillator held the "power" for their return home. Cindel's parents and older brother were killed by Terak and Charal, and the girl was captured. When Charal failed to "conjure" the crystal's power, she was jailed with Towani and had her ring confiscated. Wicket W. Warrick, a young Ewok warrior, and his companions rescued Towani from Terak's Keep, escaping with the crystal oscillator to their crashed ship.
Seeking revenge, King Terak launched a punitive expedition, ordering his minions to recapture the crystal oscillator. He allowed Charal to use the ring but reclaimed it after her transformation, wanting to keep her in bird form to track the group without betrayal. When the Marauders found their targets, a major conflict erupted. Terak wore the Talisman of the Raven as a pendant. During the battle, a rock from Wicket's slingshot struck the ring, shattering it and releasing its power. The ring broke, and pieces of the magic stone pierced Terak's chest. He clutched his heart and burned to death from the ring's "spirit" energy. Dathomiri shamanistic beliefs held that the raven ur-spirit trapped in the ring returned to the spirit realm. Because the transformation spell was active when the ring was destroyed, Charal was doomed to remain a raven forever. The transformed witch was last seen dropping down to the ground in the hope of reclaiming her broken ring; then she flew off into the woods.
The Talisman of the Raven debuted in the 1985 TV movie Ewoks: The Battle for Endor. Although frequently seen, it was never mentioned in the dialogue.
While early sources suggested Charal's ring could transform its wearer into almost anything, Daniel Wallace's Book of Sith: Secrets from the Dark Side clarified that Nightsister Talismans of Transformation had limited powers, transforming people into only one specific creature. Wallace revealed in his endnotes that the Talismans of Transformations were specifically conceived with Charal and her magic ring in mind.
Conflicting accounts exist regarding King Terak's death. His Databank entry on StarWars.com stated he was burned by the ring's power, while the children's book The Ring, the Witch, and the Crystal: An Ewok Adventure claimed he turned to stone. This article follows the Databank's version, as it was once the most official Star Wars database.