Seven Star Wars Villains You Don’t Know

We all know the big guys; Darth Vader, the Emperor, Jabba the Hutt, Exar Kun, Grand Admiral Thrawn, and so on. But what about the others, the ones who might have only been in one book, the ones few know or think about? I’d like to take a moment of your time to discuss just a few lesser known (yet just as devastating) evil, low-down, no good bad guys.

Gethzerion

(first appeared in The Courtship of Princess Leia by Dave Wolverton)

Gethzerion was a leader of the Nightsisters on Dathomir during the events of The Courtship of Princess Leia. The first line of The Essential Guide To Characters is “If the term ‘witch’ ever truly applied to anyone, it certainly applied to Gethzerion”. The Nightsisters are a race of women who use the Force as magic, i.e. casting spells, chanting, and the like. Gethzerion possessed the knowledge that there was no need for these rituals, and decided to withhold this information so as to intimidate and control others. Han Solo had a bounty placed on his head by the Hapans (refer to #2 on this list), and when he crashed the Falcon on Dathomir, Gethzerion was contacted by Imperial Commander Zsinj, requesting a trade: Han Solo for a ship so that the witch could leave Dathomir. Gethzerion agreed, and even offered the service of the Nightsisters in her clan and Princess Leia. She was of course defeated by Luke Skywalker, but not before wreaking havoc on our heroes, other Nightsister clans, and even the planet itself. Gethzerion used the Dark Side of the Force to conjure up Force storms to attack the Nightsisters of the Light Side, Luke Skywalker, and his companions. When she sensed her defeat, Gethzerion tried to escape on one of the carriers leaving for Zsinj’s ship. But Han Solo followed her in the Falcon, and blew up the carrier carrying Gethzerion and the other evil Nightsisters.

Ta’a Chume

(first appeared in The Courtship of Princess Leia by Dave Wolverton)

Queen Mother Ta’a Chume was the ruler of the Hapes Cluster, a cluster of planets ruled by women. So you can imagine how she felt about both her children being male! The first, she had assassinated! The second, Prince Isolder, was expected to find a wife that could bare him many daughters. The first woman Prince Isolder loved was “mysteriously” killed. The second was Princess Leia, who Ta’a Chume saw as a weak pacifist, and was convinced that if she were to be queen the Hapan dynasty would collapse within a year. Even so, they traveled to Coruscant to shower Princess Leia with gifts. While the Prince tried to snatch Leia away from Han, the queen hired assassins to take care of Leia. But Isolder himself foiled his mother’s assassins! Eventually Luke got involved and he and Isolder found Ta’a Chume out and confronted her. Eventually, Isolder chose another bride: Tenenial Djo, a Dathomir witch! Ta’a Chume was furious, but Isolder and Tenenial went and got married anyway. Eventually they had a daughter, and Grandmother Ta’a Chume doted on the child as much as she could.

Kueller

(first appeared in The New Rebellion by Kristine Kathryn Rusch)

Formally known as Dolph, Kueller was one of Luke Skywalker’s students at the Jedi Praxeum. After the government, known as the Je’har, on his home planet of Almania killed Kueller’s parents (along with anyone else who opposed them), he fell to the Dark Side. He then formed a resistance, massacred the Je’har and their sympathizers, took another of Luke’s failed students as an apprentice, and wiped out the populace of one of Almania’s moons. His next task was to get revenge on Luke and the New Republic for not aiding the Almanian people against the Je’har.  He sent his new apprentice, Brakiss, to a droid factory to start manufacturing explosive-rigged droids which were then sold to the New Republic. Some of those droids ended up in the Senate Hall, and then were activated, sending a series of explosions throughout the senate. Many were injured, including Princess Leia. After that Luke, Leia, and a New Republic fleet went to Almania to stop Kueller once and for all. A battle commenced which almost ended in the death of Luke Skywalker, but Mara Jade and Han Solo came to his rescue carrying Force-restricting ysalamir. Realizing he had lost the upper hand, he prepared to activate another set of explosive-droids, but C3P0 and R2D2 had already deactivated the bombs. Kueller was shot dead by Princess Leia.

Hethrir

(first appeared in The Crystal Star by Vonda McIntyre)

Hethrir could have been considered a “mad scientist” of sorts. After the fall of the Empire (which he had been loyal to), Hethrir set up a mobile research center called Crseih Station to test the limits of realspace, hyperspace, and otherspace. At one point Crseih Station relocated to the Crseih system, where it orbited a black hole and a crystallizing white dwarf star. The combination of the disturbances in the Force caused by the crystallization of a star and Hethrir’s torturing of his prisoners, Waru was brought in to the galaxy. Waru was a strange, hideous, and mystifying alien from another dimension. It was a Force-sensitive mass of flesh that claimed to be a healer. Waru also claimed that it needed to feed on Force-sensitive victims in order to use their Force essence to open up a new black hole back to it’s own dimension. Hethrir agreed in exchange for power over the Force. Hethrir was also one of many to attempt to rebuild the Empire. After gathering an army of well-armed gangsters, former Imperial lords, Force-sensitive youths that were “purified” by Waru, and Deep Core warlords, funded by slave trade, the Empire Reborn had become a force to be reckoned with. But neither him nor Waru was satisfied. Waru needed a person exceptionally strong in the Force, and Hethrir wanted Waru’s knowledge and power. Hethrir kidnapped Anakin Solo and brought him to Waru with plans to sacrifice him to the horrific alien. Waru had great respect for Darth Vader and knew the Skywalker heritage, and believed that this sacrifice would finally get it home. Luke attempted to save infant Anakin by diving in to Waru’s mass, and Leia and Han followed to retrieve him. After losing both sacrifices, Waru became infuriated that Hethrir had not fulfilled his end of the bargain, and then consumed Hethrir himself. Using Hethrir’s Force power the being returned to it’s own dimension.

Waru

(first appeared in The Crystal Star by Vonda McIntyre)

See “Hethrir”.

Joruus C’Baoth

(first appeared in Heir To The Empire by Timothy Zahn)

This one may be more well known than some of the others on this list, but he’s definitely a doozy. Joruus C’Baoth was a clone of Jedi Master Jorus C’Baoth that was created by the Emperor. He was used as a guardian of an Imperial storehouse at Mount Tantiss on Wayland. When he was discovered by Grand Admiral Thrawn, he joined forces with him to fight against the New Republic after being promised a few new Jedi Apprentices; Luke Skywalker, Princess Leia, and her unborn twins. C’Baoth’s plan was to create an army of Dark Jedi to take over the galaxy. As you can tell by his plans, Joruus was…well, insane. He sent a message to Luke to come to him on Wayland. Luke was skeptical about finding a Jedi that hadn’t been hunted down, but he went to meet C’Baoth anyway. There he was trained by Joruus under the guise of a Jedi Master. Luke soon realized that C’Baoth was an insane Dark Side wielder. The lessons he had been teaching Luke were contrary to what Yoda had taught. C’Baoth believed that non-Force users were inferior to them, and that they should be controlled by superior beings such as themselves. But Luke decided to try to turn him to the Light Side in order to gain a powerful ally. Eventually, Joruus sensed Mara Jade on the planet, who had been imprisoned by her boss, Talon Karde. While C’Baoth tried to kill her, Luke (with the help of R2) helped her escape. After Joruus was injured by R2, he went to Thrawn, whom he blamed for Luke’s escape, and demanded that “his” Jedi be given to him as promised. Finally Thrawn decided that the Jedi clone was too powerful, and too insane, and locked him inside Mount Tantiss. There, after a long, grueling showdown, he was killed by Mara Jade’s lightsaber.

Darth Traya

(first appeared in Knights of the Old Republic II)

Darth Traya was a pre-Mandalorian Wars historian who turned to the Dark Side after being exiled from the Jedi Council. She was eventually (and inevitably) betrayed by her Sith apprentices, which in turn caused her abhorrence of both the Jedi and the Sith. She then sought to rid the galaxy of both Orders. A Jedi Exile she had tried to take under her wing defeated her in her own academy of evil. Thus, she is known as the Lord of Betrayal.

There are, of course, many others. Far too many for this list I’m sure. Perhaps a part II is in the future? But for now, the Jedi have plenty to do!