The Dathomirians, also referred to as Dathomiri, the Witches of Dathomir, or the Daughters of Allya (a name given to them in honor of the Jedi Knight who went astray, Allya), were a society of warriors organized by clans. They were native to the planet of Dathomir.
These Witches of Dathomir trace their origins back to Allya, the Jedi who was exiled to their world circa 600 BBY, and whom they revere as their progenitor. By the time the Galactic Empire rose to power, Allya's progeny had splintered into clans dominated by women, each named after a significant feature of the local landscape. While each clan had its own unique guidelines for using the Force, all but the Nightsisters adhered to the principle of "never concede to evil" above all else.
Around the year 600 BBY, a Jedi Knight by the name of Allya found herself on the untamed world of Dathomir. She was apparently a rogue, banished by the Jedi Council to contemplate the Force in isolation. Upon her arrival, she encountered other Human exiles. Linguistic analysis suggests that portions of the planet's Human population had been largely cut off from the broader Galaxy since the era of the Paecian Empire, around 3000 BBY or earlier. Later Dathomiri legends claimed that the inhabitants Allya discovered had been exiled for creating illegal battle droids. However, it remains unclear whether the initial settlers arrived as a single group long before Allya's time, or if Dathomir had been used as a penal colony continuously over the millennia. What is known is that a few Human shamans already lived on Dathomir by the fortieth century before the Galactic Civil War, some of whom boarded a Tho Yor ship in 36,453 BBY and joined the founders of the Je'daii Order.
Another element of Dathomir's past, seemingly forgotten by later generations, is the existence of a Sith academy on the planet during the final years of the New Sith Wars, not long before 1000 BBY. This academy was among the most esteemed training centers of the Brotherhood of Darkness, ranking alongside the Iridonia Academy and second only to the newly established center on the ancient capital of Korriban. It trained Sith equivalents of Jedi Knights. However, the duration of its existence and its lasting impact on the planet remain unknown.
Regardless, by the time Allya arrived, the Human population had become prey for the dominant, apex predators of Dathomir's ecosystem: the rancors. But when Allya took the reins of leadership, she initiated a series of events that led to the development of a distinct Human culture on Dathomir. This culture was characterized by the enslavement of the male population by Force-sensitive female warriors, the transformation of rancors from predators into allies, and the creation of the Book of Law.
Some native accounts attribute the entirety of Dathomiri society's formation to Allya. They portray her as a solitary woman among a group of helpless men, easy targets for packs of hungry rancors until they became her willing servants. These stories suggest that Allya subjugated the population in a single lifetime, with those who refused to follow her becoming rancor fodder. Among her followers, favored slaves were given the opportunity to become mates, knowing that any sons they fathered would be fed to the rancors. Boys were raised by other slaves to become slaves themselves, while Allya raised her daughters and trained them in the ways of the Force.
This version of events asserts that Dathomiri society was established in a single generation, tracing the ancestry of every Human on the planet back to a single mother and her daughters. The eldest daughter was said to be only sixteen local years old (approximately twenty standard years) when her Jedi mother passed away. While the New Republic largely accepted this account as accurate, it is likely at least partially mythical. The presence of Paecian linguistic influence in the Dathomiri language indicates that the Human population had been established for well over two millennia when Allya arrived, suggesting a viable breeding population existed. Even under the New Republic, the Singing Mountain Clan remembered others who were not "daughters of Allya" and who gradually disappeared as distinct groups over subsequent generations.
Nevertheless, Allya's discovery of her ability to tame the rancors using the Force was likely a pivotal event in the formation of Dathomiri society. The resulting symbiosis between female rider and mount shaped subsequent social structures. The attribution of the Book of Law to Allya is also probably accurate. It served as a codification of the moral and ethical principles she wished her daughters to uphold, written shortly before her death. The Book of Law concludes with Allya's final words to her daughters: "Never concede to evil."
As time passed, the Dathomiri fragmented into numerous distinct clans. This process is sometimes portrayed as a power struggle between Allya's eldest daughters. These clans were named after landmarks in their territories. Although they shared a common heritage, each clan eventually developed its own set of rules regarding Force usage, built upon the core of inherited teachings. The text of the Book of Law diverged into several distinct clan versions. The clans engaged in raids against each other to acquire mates, with the warrior women cheerfully participating in these low-level conflicts.
The number of clans fluctuated over time. In 8 ABY, there were more than a dozen, but by 12 ABY, the number had decreased to nine. The Singing Mountain Clan was perhaps the most prominent, owing to its connections with the New Republic and the Hapes Consortium. Other clans were located at the Frenzied River, Misty Falls, Red Hills, Dreaming River and Great Canyon.
Each Dathomiri clan established itself in a fortified village near its namesake landmark. Women served as warriors and leaders, with leadership typically held by the eldest female in a clan. Matriarchs aged a century or more were not uncommon, and in exceptional cases (such as Rell) they could live close to 300 local years (four centuries standard). Men were relegated to breeding and slave labor, dressed only in leather aprons or sparse tunics. Neither men nor women seemed aware that they retained dormant Force potential. Warriors typically acquired mates by capturing runaways or slaves from other clans. However, the leading clan sisters could purchase men from each other. If a mate could not be persuaded to love his owner, a divorce could be arranged by selling him to another woman. The only way for a man to gain freedom was to save the life of a woman in his clan.
As a warrior society, the Dathomiri Witches engaged in daily combat training, utilizing both their physical strength and the Force. They wore elaborate braids in their hair (sometimes with helmets adorned with trophies) and armor made from lizard skin. Over time, the Force powers of the Witches became largely codified as "spells," where specific words were chanted to produce the desired effect.
Crimes were punished by exile, especially the use of the dark side. This was often associated with "night spells," but punishment was also administered when a sister used anger to fuel an otherwise permissible Force power. A warrior wishing to return to the clan had to undergo a period of exile for purification, often lasting several years, before being readmitted. However, some, known as Nightsisters, remained in exile. These exiles sometimes formed their own clans or took over existing ones, although only one Nightsister clan is known to have existed at any given time, and they were always opposed by the rest of Dathomir.
The Witches lacked spacefaring technology, but off-worlders would visit Dathomir to select individuals for use as assassins or enforcers. Even during the planet's time as a member of the New Republic, the Witches preferred to maintain their natural way of life.
In 340 BBY, the Jedi training vessel Chu'unthor crashed on Dathomir. The now-numerous warrior-women attacked the vessel, and three Jedi Masters, Gra'aton, Yoda and Vulatan, were sent to rescue the stranded passengers. The Jedi's rescue attempts were repelled, resulting in the deaths of fourteen Jedi. However, Yoda returned to negotiate a settlement with a young Witch named Rell. In exchange for releasing the passengers, Yoda gave Rell a box containing information on Jedi teaching methods, instructing her to safeguard it until a Jedi Knight and his apprentice arrived to save Dathomir from the dark side users within a Witch clan calling themselves the Nightsisters.
In 54 BBY, the Sith Lord Darth Sidious arrived on Dathomir and was approached by a Nightsister named Kycina, who pleaded with him to take her newborn son Maul away from the life of a Nightbrother. Sensing the child's power, Sidious agreed and took him as a tool to be used by himself and his master, Darth Plagueis. However, Mother Talzin had her own plans for the young Zabrak during the future Clone Wars.
A few years before the Clone Wars, a Nightsister clan gained access to off-world technology and attempted to activate the ancient Kwa construct known as the Infinity Gate. This attempt was thwarted by Jedi Knight Quinlan Vos. Dathomir remained isolated from wider civilization until the Galactic Empire discovered the planet during their war against the Drackmarians. In 0 ABY, Palpatine ordered the construction of a new penal colony on Dathomir. However, upon discovering the power of the new Nightsisters leader Gethzerion, he ordered the destruction of all the prison's starships, stranding the Imperial garrison and the convicts. The Nightsisters enslaved the stranded Imperials and plotted their escape, although a pair of Star Destroyers prevented any spaceships from arriving or departing.
After the Battle of Endor, the Dathomir system was seized by Warlord Zsinj, who established shipyards around its moon, Koratas. In 8 ABY, Luke Skywalker, Han Solo, Chewbacca, Leia Organa, and Prince Isolder of Hapes arrived on the planet and helped liberate the clans from the tyranny of the Nightsisters and the Warlord. Augwynne Djo of the Singing Mountain Clan was granted legal title to the planet as nominal Queen by Han Solo, who won a deed to the planet. This enabled her granddaughter Teneniel Djo to marry Isolder as an equal. Luke Skywalker also received the discs Yoda had left with Rell years earlier. Several Dathomiri later joined Skywalker's Jedi Praxeum to learn the ways of the Jedi.
Although Dathomir joined the New Republic, Imperial interests in the planet persisted. In 12 ABY, an expedition under General Vit and Sigit Ranth was dispatched by the Imperial Remnant to investigate the Infinity Gate, and forged an alliance with a new Nightsister group. However, they were foiled by the Jedi academy. Around 19 ABY, the Great Canyon Clan was infiltrated by an Imperial Intelligence operation led by Brakiss, designed to transform the clan into a recruiting pool for the Shadow Academy. Under Brakiss's manipulation, the women of the Great Canyon Clan declared themselves Nightsisters and, more radically, accepted their men as equals.
This latest threat was eventually neutralized with the defeat of the Second Imperium. Soon after, Dathomir was attacked by the invading Yuuzhan Vong. The planet resisted the attackers, and after the Battle of Yuuzhan'tar a permanent Jedi enclave was established under the leadership of Kirana Ti, Damaya, and Streen. Jacen Solo studied under the witches of Dathomir after the Yuuzhan Vong War. The Solos and Skywalkers had adventures among the Witches after tracking Sith apprentice Vestara Khai to Dathomir after the Second Galactic Civil War.