Star Wars Atris

Star Wars Atris

"I am Atris, Jedi Master… the last historian of the Jedi… the last of the Jedi."
"Those are titles, words you cling to as the darkness falls around you."

―Atris, and Darth Traya[src]

Atris was a Human female who served as a Jedi historian, and later as a Jedi Master and Jedi Council member during the Mandalorian Wars and the Jedi Civil War. She was deeply committed to the Order and was a fierce adherent of the Jedi Code. But Atris' faith in the righteousness of the Jedi wavered when her personal hero, Meetra Surik, turned her back on the Council to join rogue Knights Revan and Malak and their faction of Jedi during the Mandalorian Wars. Atris chose not to go to war, but this decision left her bitter and conflicted.

When Surik returned to face the Council's judgment after the devastating events of the Battle of Malachor V, Atris was the first to condemn her, suggesting that she had fallen to the dark side just as Revan had. Over time, Atris grew to hate Surik for complicating her black-and-white view of the Jedi, the Sith, and the Force. During the Dark Wars, Atris called a secret Jedi convocation on the Miraluka world of Katarr in an attempt to find the threat that was stalking the Jedi. She then leaked knowledge of the conclave's existence in the hopes of drawing out the Sith. She succeeded, but with dire consequences; Darth Nihilus devastated the surface of the planet, wiping out all life on Katarr, including the Jedi gathered there.

Atris remained in seclusion, surrounding herself with Echani Handmaidens who could not feel the Force. She planned to rebuild the Jedi Order, and established a Jedi Academy in the old irrigation system on Telos IV. However, she was heavily influenced by the many Sith holocrons she had collected in her efforts to find and understand the Sith. The holocrons fed her bitterness, and she slowly and quietly fell to the dark side. After a final confrontation on Telos, Meetra Surik convinced Atris to turn away from the dark side. Atris then remained in the Jedi Academy, waiting to be judged for her actions by the new Jedi Council.

Contents

Biography

Early life

After the end of the Great Sith War that was started by the Sith Lords Exar Kun and Ulic Qel-Droma, the Jedi historian Atris attempted to revise the broken system of Jedi apprenticeship. She argued that there was little wonder why Kun and Qel-Droma fell to the dark side of the Force, when the Jedi had liberal instruction practices in place, such as dozens of Padawans training under a single Master, the radical bonds of reciprocal apprenticeship, and Jedi beginning their training in their teens and later. She invoked thousand-year old recommendations first suggested by the Jedi Master Simikarty, lobbying for the restriction of Padawans that a Master could have at one time, and also limiting the age of Jedi candidates.[1]

Atris also advocated prohibiting romantic involvement for Jedi, citing that the First Great Schism had been started by two lovers. She even endorsed adoption of a more austere interpretation of the Jedi Code which was favored by the Draethos Jedi Master Odan-Urr, in memory of his death at the hands of Exar Kun at the Jedi Academy on Ossus. Her arguments found powerful purchase amongst the Jedi, and she was appointed to High Council.[1]

The Mandalorian Wars

"We all have our heroes. And when we watch them fall, we die inside. She made a choice once… and I did not."

―Atris, to Brianna[src]

When the Mandalorian Wars erupted in the year 3964 BBY, the Galactic Republic came to the Jedi for assistance. However, Atris resisted the call to protect the inhabitants of the Outer Rim Territories, instead staunchly defending the council's decision to meditate and reflect before taking action.[3]

Atris, sitting on the Jedi High Council in 3963 BBY.

Many Jedi did not understand how the Council could sit idly while innocents died, and the order was split when two Jedi Knights named Revan and Malak chose to go to war. Many followed them, including the Jedi Meetra Surik. Atris had held a strong admiration for Surik, viewing her as something of a hero as well as a close friend. When she and Revan left the Order to join the war, rejecting everything that Atris believed in, Atris felt personally betrayed.[3] Atris condemned Revan, his followers, and the "freethinking" teachings of his former Jedi Master, fellow historian Kreia. Revan's eventual turn to the dark side came as little surprise to Atris.[1] Indeed, when Revan met Atris years later asking what happened to Surik, Atris made little effort to conceal her contempt.[4]

After the war's end, only one of the Jedi who had followed Revan to war returned to face the council: Meetra Surik.[2] She stood before them as an echo in the Force, having cut herself off from it after the final battle at Malachor V. Surik was so defiant, so certain of the rightness of her actions that she caused Atris to doubt herself. Atris wanted to punish Surik for this, and became convinced that she had fallen to the dark side along with all of the others who had followed Revan. She felt that exile was too lenient of a punishment for Surik's betrayal, and believed that she would only join Revan again if she was free. The other Masters warned her to be mindful of her feelings, but Atris insisted that Surik ought to have died at Malachor V, because when she stood before them, it was if she was already dead. The Council decided not to tell Surik that she had become a wound in the Force, which was the result of her actions at Malachor.[3]

Atris kept Surik's lightsaber after the trial, carrying it with her always. Even many years later, she insisted that the Council was right to be cautious. But deep down, she continued to question the actions of the Council, Surik, and herself.[3]

Search for the Exile

"Still trying to recapture your lost memories?"

―Atris to Revan[src]

In 3954 BBY Revan came to the Temple Archives to find out what happened to his trusted General Meetra Surik. He accessed the file on Surik and found it lacking in information about her whereabouts. Behind him, Atris spoke out, during their conversation she revealed that Surik had disconnected herself from the Force because of the guilt she carried over her actions during the Mandalorian Wars. Although Revan felt responsible for Surik's fate, he refused to give her the satisfaction of seeing his guilt and grief. She stormed out of the room.[4]

The Dark Wars

"It is such a quiet thing, to fall. But far more terrible is to admit it."

―Kreia — Listen (file info)[src]

Atris, Mistress of the Archives.

After the death of Darth Malak at the hands of a redeemed Revan[5], the Jedi Order's infrastructure was decimated. To make matters worse, some thing was systematically hunting and killing what Jedi there were left. Atris rallied a secret Jedi convocation on Katarr, a colony world of the Miraluka, where the threat could be assessed and the future of the Order discussed.[2] However, Atris leaked knowledge of the session in hopes of drawing out this threat so that it could be fought. Unfortunately, she greatly underestimated its strength. The Sith arrived in the form of Darth Nihilus, who proved to be too powerful for the Jedi. Through the Force, he devoured all life on the planet, including the Jedi and Miraluka (with the single exception of Visas Marr, whom he later took as his apprentice). Atris, having not attended the Conclave, survived, along with a handful of other Masters who went into hiding.[6]

Atris took refuge under a polar ice cap on the planet Telos IV, where she began to build a secret Jedi academy in an old irrigation system. Here she hid most of the Jedi's most valuable artifacts and resources, including many Sith holocrons.[2]

She sought to remedy what she saw as a fundamental flaw of the Jedi Order: the lack of any mechanism to prevent Jedi from falling to the dark side, and repeatedly wreaking havoc on the galaxy. To that end, she trained a group of half-sisters, specially equipped and trained to resist Force powers and, if necessary, use their Echani combat skills to subdue wayward Jedi. Atris planned to eventually rebuild the Jedi Order, but she greatly overestimated her own ability to resist the dark side, becoming corrupted by delving into the forbidden knowledge of her collection of Sith holocrons.[2]

Reunion with Meetra Surik

"I did not expect to see you again after the day of your sentencing. I thought you had taken the exile's path, wandering the galaxy. Yet you have returned - why?"

―Atris, to Meetra Surik[src]

In 3951 BBY, Meetra Surik and her companions landed on Telos IV, having narrowly escaped the destruction of the Peragus Mining Facility at Peragus II. Upon hearing that the Telos Security Force held an individual called the Jedi Exile and her party under house arrest for their suspected involvement in the explosion of the mining facility, Atris desired to uncover the cause of the explosion, knowing that the consequences of its loss would be tremendous. Therefore, she sent one of her Handmaidens by the name of Brianna, to steal their ship, the Ebon Hawk, as well as T3-M4 who, fortunately for her, was on board. The ship and droid were dissected for information, though little of value was actually found.[2]

A holorecord of Atris at the Jedi Exile's trial.

Upon discovering the loss of her ship, Surik managed to trace the Ebon Hawk to the polar plateau where Atris's academy was hidden. Once she found her way inside, Atris had Surik's companions placed in force cages while the Handmaidens brought Meetra Surik before her to be questioned. Not long before this, Atris had discovered Surik's identity, and was surprised at the revelation—she had not expected to see her again after the Council sentenced her to Exile.[2]

At first she hoped that Surik had returned to admit that the Council had been right and to face up to her crimes, but that was not the case. Surik's presence stirred unpleasant feelings which Atris had all but forgotten, and hoped lost. These feelings showed themselves when she accused Meetra Surik of walking the dark path, when Atris' words were the ones that sounded bitter and resentful. In fact, she was so angry about what Surik did that she refused to believe that Surik had meant to help others in the Mandalorian Wars, and said she simply went off for the adventure and the excitement of battle. Atris continued to berate Surik by blaming her for the destruction of Peragus II. She was shocked to learn the Sith were behind it, and even more shocked when she learned the Sith were hunting Meetra Surik. She reluctantly accepted Surik's offer of help in defeating them, and instructed her to gather other Jedi on Dantooine so that action could be taken and a Council could be had.[2]

After departing Telos IV, Surik discovered that T3-M4 had downloaded Atris's archives. It seemed that Atris had kept a holo record of her trial, as well as a list of the remaining Jedi Masters—despite her claim that she was the "last of the Jedi" because T3 had been able to slice into the historian's files and copy them, locating the Jedi Masters for Atris's proposed meeting proved easier.[2]

Fall and Redemption

As Atris sought desperately to understand Surik's motives, which was part of the reason for her keeping of the holocrons, she clung even more desperately to her perfect view of the Jedi. However, in light of Surik's choices, she knew that either she or the Council was wrong. Though she placed Surik in the wrong, it only made her more unsettled, as, inwardly, she respected her choice. It built up a pressure that finally exploded when Kreia, who had now revealed her true identity as Darth Traya after she had killed the three Council members Zez-Kai Ell, Kavar, and Vrook Lamar when they reconvened on Dantooine, coerced Atris into ceasing her self-denials and accepting her new dark persona.[7]

After being informed by an Onderonian colonel named Tobin of the Jedi academy on Telos, who had been in turn informed by Kreia, Darth Nihilus attacked Telos, believing that he could feed on what Jedi were there. Kreia concluded that since he would find only Atris on the planet, he would destroy her and then die of starvation. Traya was especially proud of this plan because it would eliminate two major threats to the galaxy in one stroke. However, things did not go as planned.[2]

When Surik, who was searching for Darth Traya after having been betrayed by the Sith, returned to the Academy, Atris clashed with her in a lightsaber duel, and was defeated. Surik, however, spared her life. This action was something Atris believed Meetra Surik would never have done. However, it eventually led her down the path to redemption; but she also chose exile for her crimes.[2] She was held captive in her sanctum until judged by Mical and the new Jedi Council.[1]

Personality and traits

Atris, Jedi Master and Historian.

Atris was extremely dedicated to the Jedi Order, and believed in their righteousness to the point of arrogance and fanaticism. She was impatient with dissenters, and took accusations against the Jedi very personally. When many Jedi left the order to follow Revan to war, Atris was eager to write them all off as traitors and Sith, even Meetra Surik after she returned to face the Council.[2]

During the Dark Wars, Atris became reclusive, and obsessed with preserving what she could of the Jedi legacy, including the Sith relics which would ultimately lead her down the path to the dark side. She was bitter and untrusting, surrounding herself with Echani warriors trained to resist the Force. Though she claimed to be building a Jedi Academy, she made no efforts to bring Force-sensitives to train. In fact, despite knowing the locations of the Jedi Masters Zez-Kai Ell, Vrook Lamar, Kavar, and Lonna Vash, she made no attempt to contact them, and none of them knew that she was still alive.[2]

It was ironic that despite the fact that Atris championed various causes, such as the limitation of the amount of Padawans a single Master could have,[1] or the fact that she attempted to preserve Jedi knowledge,[2] she herself never took a Padawan.[8]

Atris wore an all-white variation of the traditional robes of a Jedi historian.[2]

Powers and abilities

"All this collected knowledge, all these teachings of combat and the Force - they are mine to command."

―Atris to the Jedi Exile[src]

Atris was a very powerful Jedi Master, using powers such as Force suppression, Droid Disable, and Force stun. After her fall to the dark side, she proved to be as proficient with dark-sided Force powers as well, including Force choke, Force drain, Force horror, Force lightning, and Force affliction.[2] She was also a masterful lightsaber practitioner, using the deadly lightsaber form Juyo.[1]

Having been a Jedi Watchman, Atris spoke and comprehended several languages, including Basic, Sith, Old Galactic Standard, and the Echani language. She was also an adept negotiator.[1]

Behind the scenes

Concept artwork of Atris battling Darth Nihilus.