Ferus Olin

Ferus Olin was the Jedi apprentice of Siri Tachi. Somewhat mature for his age, Olin was well-respected by peers and Jedi Masters alike for his dedication to the Jedi Order. As he grew older, Olin would often clash with fellow Padawan learner Anakin Skywalker, mostly over adherence to Jedi rules and protocol.

Shortly before the onset of the Clone Wars, Olin would resign from the Jedi Order due to the guilt he felt over the inadvertent death of a colleague, only to retrain himself in the Jedi ways with the help of Obi-Wan Kenobi following the rise of the Galactic Empire and the beginning of the Great Jedi Purge.

Life as a Jedi
As a Padawan, Ferus was very mature for his age, something that impressed many Jedi Masters and most of his peers. Despite this popularity, he never had any true close friends. Many were surprised when he constructed a lightsaber with a red blade. During his times back at Temple, Ferus made it his top priority to focus on his training, which led to some students considering him boring and dull.

Ferus got to know Anakin Skywalker at about 27 BBY during their first mission together to evacuate the planet Radnor. They were sent with their masters, Siri Tachi and Obi-Wan Kenobi, as well as two other Master and Apprentice pairs, Ry-Gaul with Tru Veld, and Soara Antana with Darra Thel-Tanis. At one point in the mission, the masters and apprentices were forced to split up and soon trouble began between Anakin and Ferus. The two Padawans did not get along, with Ferus being the rule follower, and Anakin being the rule bender. They argued over who would be better fit to lead the group. At the end of the mission, they both swore to keep an eye on each other, not sure of what the other might do.

Over the next few years the two apprentices encountered each other again numerous times, such as at the Galactic Games on Euceron. Back at the Jedi Temple, Ferus and Anakin were assigned to a special lightsaber session with Master Soara Antana in the back alleys of Coruscant. Ferus easily outmatched Anakin, who let his anger get the best of him. This only fueled the tensions between the two Jedi.

Ferus and Anakin were sent on a mission to Andara posing as students at a senatorial school. Anakin infiltrated a secret society in the school. Ferus warned Anakin about the risks of joining them but Anakin scoffed at his warnings. Anakin started becoming involved with the society a little too much and started helping them, when he should have been focusing on the mission. This led to Anakin getting into a lot of trouble with Obi-Wan when the mission was over.

Once again Ferus and Siri were paired with Anakin and Obi-Wan, this time to locate the deranged scientist, Jenna Zan Arbor on the planet Romin. Anakin and Ferus were assigned by their masters to disguise as criminals to explore the capital city of Romin, Eliior. It was during this time that Anakin and Ferus started to forget their past rivalry and started to understand each other better, learning each other’s reasons for acting the way they do.

The two began to work as a team. Their pursuit of Jenna Zan Arbor, Granta Omega, and the dictator of Romin, Roy Teda led back to Coruscant. They averted an assassination attempt on Chancellor Palpatine’s life but later on they realized that Omega planned to use seeker droids to kill Palpatine and a number of other Senators inside the Galactic Senate building. Anakin, Obi-Wan, and Siri, went on to find Omega, while Ferus remained at the Senate to protect the Chancellor and the Senators. Ferus fought bravely to fight off the droids, but a few casualties were taken, including Roy Teda. For his actions, Ferus was chosen by the Jedi Council to participate in a program to advance Padawans to Knights earlier. He was to keep quiet about this, however this would lead to problems later on.

Siri and Ferus were again paired with Anakin, Obi-Wan, Soara, Darra, Ry-Gaul, and Tru to confront Omega and Zan Arbor on the ancient Sith world of Korriban. It was on this mission that the Padawans split up from the Masters again and Anakin found out about Ferus’ advanced training. Anakin became jealous of Ferus, feeling he should have been chosen to be trained. Ferus began to befriend Tru, who agreed that Anakin was being irrational and putting his own problems before the mission. When Tru’s lightsaber was damaged in a battle in the tombs of Korriban, Ferus offered to fix it. What the two did not know and Anakin did was that his repairs would lead to its energy to decelerate faster. Anakin didn't do anything about it to try and make Ferus look bad, but in a battle with Omega’s traps, Tru’s lightsaber shorted out and was unable to stop blaster fire from hitting Darra in the chest. Ferus was guilty about Darra’s death, feeling that it was his fault. When the Jedi defeated Omega and returned to Coruscant, Ferus announced that he would resign from the Jedi Order.

Life on Bellassa
Ferus went from world to world looking for a place to call home until he met a man around his age named Roan Lands on the world of Bellassa and the two started a business together, Olin and Lands. They essentially did what Ferus did as a Jedi, without aid of the Force however. Together they would protect people who would expose intentional wrongdoing going on in various companies. Ferus and Roan had also been officers in the Republic Army for sometime. Then the Galactic Empire was formed. Since he was no longer a Jedi, Ferus was saved from the Jedi massacre known as Order 66. But he still was not entirely safe, for the Empire was imprisoning all Force-sensitive beings now. Learning of the atrocities that occurred across the galaxy, Ferus, Roan, and nine other people of Bellassa, including Wil, Rilla, and Loran, started a resistance movement known as The Eleven. Over this time Ferus changed from the strict, "dull", Padawan he used to be. He became the charismatic leader of the Eleven and also a target for the Empire. Ferus and Roan made a pact that if one of them were captured, the other would not come to rescue them for the sake of the survival of the Eleven. Ferus and Roan were arrested by Imperials; however, Ferus managed to escape.

Reunion
A number of months following Order 66, Ferus was reunited with one of the only Jedi left alive in the galaxy, Obi-Wan Kenobi. Obi-Wan was astonished at how different Ferus had become. Ferus learned from Obi-Wan exactly what happened to Jedi Order and was equally astonished. Obi-Wan implied (with silence to questions on the matter) that Anakin had died, and made no mention of his transformation into Darth Vader. Obi-Wan also did not tell him of his plans with Yoda to wait for Anakin’s children Luke and Leia to be trained in the ways of the Force. Ferus wanted to bring the fight to the Empire, and couldn’t believe Obi-Wan wanted to wait until the time was right. They planned to rescue Roan and to escape from Bellassa, however they were both targets of Boba Fett and the cyborg D'harhan, who were hired by the Imperial Inquisitor, Malorum. Ferus, Obi-Wan, and Trever Flume were able to escape Bellassa and headed for the Red Twins Spaceport where they found Boba Fett and D'harhan waiting for them.

After a brief confrontation in the spaceport, which led to the arrest of D'harhan, the three of them escaped and tricked Boba Fett into crash landing on Deneter. They headed for the world of Acherin where the local resistance was fighting a doomed war with the Empire. They met a commander of the resistance, Raina Quill, who led them to their base in the city of Eluthan. There Raina introduced them to fellow commander Toma. While Obi-Wan discussed battle tactics with Toma, Ferus flew with Raina to hold off the invading Imperials. It was to no avail though, as the bombing of Eluthan began, under orders of Imperial Admiral Riwwel. After regrouping with Obi-Wan, Toma, and Trever, Raina and Ferus fled Acherin.

The group landed on an asteroid in a thick atmospheric storm, safe from Imperial detection. Leaving Toma and Raina behind for a few days, Ferus, Obi-Wan, and Trever headed for Ilum to rescue the Jedi Garen Muln, who was reported to have been hiding from the Imperials there.

Rescue on Ilum


On their way to Ilum, Ferus thought about how he left the Jedi Order, only to rejoin with a Jedi to save the others years later. Obi-Wan explained that Ferus must rescue Garen alone in Ilum's Crystal Caves, for he had to deal with some business on Polis Massa. Ferus was angered that Obi-Wan was leaving him to do this on his own, but Obi-Wan assured him that it would be a test to prove himself as a Jedi once more. Obi-Wan also informed him that no doubt, there would be an Imperial presence on the world, so he would have to enter the caves through a secret entrance. Kenobi also warned him that the secret entrance was the nest of beasts called gorgodons.

Arriving on Ilum, and with Trever standing guard outside the caves, Ferus narrowly evaded the gorgodons and found Garen Muln malnourished and weak. Using Garen's lightsaber (the first time he used a lightsaber in years), Ferus helped Muln escape the caves. Along with Trever, Ferus eliminated the Imperials camped near the caves and they waited for Obi-Wan's return. While waiting, Ferus contacted an old friend, Roan Lands.

After being picked up by Kenobi, Ferus explained that Garen told him there was another Jedi at the caves who went to Coruscant. Obi-Wan felt that Ferus would risk too much by going there, but Ferus felt determined to find her. He also told Obi-Wan that they could form the asteroid they found into a sanctuary for surviving Jedi. When Obi-Wan countered, saying that there are no supplies or shelters, Ferus told him to head for the Nixor Spaceport to meet with Roan.

After arriving at the spaceport, Roan reunited with Ferus, and gave him the necessary supplies and prefab shelters that he would need for this new safe haven. Returning to Raina and Toma, Ferus, Obi-Wan, and Trever, set up the shelters and created a clinic to help Garen recover. Ferus thanked Raina and Toma for their help and asked them to help him with this new sanctuary, to which they humbly agreed.

When Ferus asked Obi-Wan to come with him to Coruscant, Obi-Wan refused, asking him to return him to Tatooine. Obi-Wan could not tell him what secret he was hiding, for it would risk the lives of the Skywalker twins. Ferus, who had been disappointed, understood and took him to Mos Eisley. He bid him farewell and, accompanied with Trever, set Toma's ship for Coruscant.

Stop at Korriban
En route to the capital, however, Toma's ship needed refueling. As fate would have it, the nearest refueling station was on Korriban. Upon landing on the Sith burial world, Ferus and Trever noticed the Imperial presence that now held its grip on the planet, like thousands of other worlds across the galaxy. Ferus was also haunted by the voices of the Dark Side, tempting him to give in. Ferus managed to hold back the temptations and soon both he and Trever left Korriban, but not before Ferus spotted Jenna Zan Arbor in Dreshdae, who seemed to be interested in returning to the Valley of the Dark Lords.

Return to the Temple
Arriving at Coruscant for the first time in years, Ferus was shocked to see the Jedi Temple in its battle scarred form. He vowed to save as many Jedi he could, no matter what it took. Planning their infiltration, Ferus and Trever hired an air taxi, which stealthily arrived at one of the burned out towers of the Temple and dropped them off. Once inside, Ferus realized that he was in the garden that had formerly been tended to by Yoland Fee. Being in the Temple for the first time in six years brought back old memories of his former life as Siri’s apprentice.

Exploring the Temple, Ferus and Trever also came across the droid repair room, where Ferus had met Anakin Skywalker for the first time. Presuming Anakin to be dead, Ferus somberly remembered him. Searching even deeper for Fy-Tor-Ana, they encountered a group of Stormtroopers, but luckily their helmet sensors confused them into believing the intruders were only large meer rats. Escaping them and passing the ruins of such rooms as the Jedi Archives and the Room of a Thousand Fountains, Ferus and Trever eventually came upon the discovery that the Inquisitor Malorum himself was supervising the security of the Temple. And what offended Ferus the most was that his office was set up within the former quarters of Master Yoda. Eventually the two of them came across a storage room overflowing with thousands of lightsabers. Ferus began to wonder why could he not pick up the Force presences of anyone in the Temple, when there were supposed to be Jedi imprisoned somewhere within it. Then he realized that the Temple was not being used as a prison, but a trap.

Coming across even more Stormtroopers, Ferus and Trever made an attempt to get to Malorum’s office, to possibly recover more information on what he was researching on Polis Massa. However, they discovered that Malorum had already returned to the Temple and soon they found him talking face to face with Darth Vader.

Darth Vader ridiculed Malorum for having difficulty in capturing the reported intruders, much to the chagrin of the Inquisitor, who had plans of replacing Vader as the Emperor’s crony. Darth Vader even went as far as to suggest that Malorum blow up the Temple to ensure the intruders’ deaths, though he knew very well that the Inquisitor wouldn’t even attempt to. The two also quarreled about Malorum’s lack of dealing with the secret resistance group, The Erased. When Malorum mentioned to Vader his findings on Polis Massa, the Sith lord held him in a Force choke and his anger started to cave-in the walls of the room, exposing Ferus and Trever. Ferus looked upon the mask of the one who slaughtered hundreds of Jedi for the first time. Surprisingly, he and Trever were able to escape all too easily, and Ferus knew that Vader let them go, a way of either humiliating or testing Malorum.

Finding the Erased


Recalling the conversation the two Imperial leaders had, Ferus decided that the Erased could be potential allies, and also might have a clue as to the whereabouts of Fy-Tor-Ana. However, he needed to locate them first, and he knew just the person who could help him&mdash;Dexter Jettster, a good friend of Obi-Wan’s who Ferus had met as a Padawan. Upon arriving where the Besalisk’s diner was known to have been located, all that Ferus and Trever found was an empty lot. Thanks to information given to them by a local passerby, Ferus and Trever learned that Dexter was rumored to have joined the Erased, and also learned of where their hideout was located. The passerby also warned them to not enter the district near sunset. Unsure of what this meant, the two continued on.

Traveling deeper down the levels of Coruscant, Ferus and Trever entered the Orange District. Exploring the district, the two of them came across a dark alleyway, and discovered a particular clue&mdash;a sign that looked like a dying sun. Being that they found this "sun" while in the Orange District, they approached, only to be attacked by a group of thugs. Ferus chose not to use his lightsaber, for he didn’t want to expose himself. The two were greatly outnumbered, but then Dexter Jettster emerged from the building and told the thugs that they were friends.

Entering the hideout, Dexter told Ferus and Trever that these people were the Erased. Dexter was surprised to find Ferus alive, and informed him that he had seen Fy-Tor-Ana alive only weeks before. He explained that she did not go to the Temple after realizing it to be a trap and she told him that should he ever need to find her, to find Solace.

The Erased appointed Ferus to helping them find Solace, since they knew the Imperials would soon find them. Ferus, who was unsure of this new leadership, decided to contact Obi-Wan, to inform him of the recent events. He told him of their encounter at the Temple, Malorum and Vader’s tensions, and the Erased. Obi-Wan assured Ferus that he needed to make sure Malorum did not discover anything about the importance of Polis Massa.

With Dexter deciding to remain in the Orange District, Ferus, Trever, and the Erased headed down level by level of Coruscant, trying to reach the crust, where Solace was presumably located. Trever was starting to feel at home on Coruscant, with the city-planet reminding him of his life on Bellassa. As the group traveled, they heard numerous rumors of what Solace was and where it could be found, though they knew many were fictitious. They stayed at numerous guesthouses and hotels as the journeyed for days, until they were attacked by a local street gang. In the fight Ferus was forced to separate from Trever to fight off one of the attackers, while a creature living in a crack in the ground was dragging the boy in. Though some of the Erased saved Trever, Ferus felt guilty about not helping his friend. Ferus apologized, but Trever was clearly annoyed.

The group decided to call it a day and stayed at the Underworld Inn. That night Trever informed Ferus, that he had an idea of where Solace was. When he was being dragged in, the light of one of his alpha charges allowed him to see an underground tunnel, with a possibility of water. They were at the crust.

A Jedi is found
The next day, the group went to the fissure where the creature had attacked Trever, and managed to get in. What they found underground was an ancient railway system, primitive to modern technology. Pools of contaminated water filled the hall. They explored further until they came across a person, short, masked, and muscular. Unsure if this being was a friend or foe, Ferus asked who he or she was, but all the person wanted to be known as was "Guide". Guide explained to them that before Coruscant became a ecumenopolis, it was covered in large oceans. Once the civilizations became advanced enough, they drained the oceans and transferred the water into caverns below the crust, where Solace would be found. As they followed guide, the water slowly grew deeper and deeper, until they came across a gigantic cavern that contained a large body of water. And above the water was a small stilted city clearly inhabited by sentient life. The settlers of the city surrounded Ferus, Trever, and the Erased. Guide let the settlers after them. The beings claimed that Solace protected them, luring people down so that they could steal their food and valuables. Then Ferus realized that Solace was not a place, but a person, and Guide was that person. When he revealed his lightsaber, and warned them that he was a Jedi, Solace mocked him. Solace told Ferus that they were aware of his resignation from the Order years before, and then Ferus realized that only a Jedi would know that, and connected the dots. Solace was Fy-Tor-Ana.

Ferus told Fy-Tor about how he was looking for her, but she said that her new identity was that of Solace. She felt that her life as a Jedi was over, and that nothing could be done to stop the Empire. Solace also claimed that the underground city was all she would ever need anymore. Ferus told her of Malorum and Vader’s conversations, that there was a spy amongst those she protected, and how they guarded an entire cache of lightsabers at the Temple. Only then did Solace realize that the Empire needed to be stopped, she would not let the lightsabers, the only memory left of the fallen Jedi, sit in the Temple to collect dust until the Empire used them for themselves.

Solace and Ferus made a plan to infiltrate the Jedi Temple once again, to steal back the lightsabers, and find Malorum’s files, to discover the spy. They informed Trever and the Erased to stay, but Trever convinced them to let him come along. Using Solace’s custom ship, the three of them broke into the Temple, this time from underneath its structure. Once inside they headed first for Malorum’s office, only to find all holofiles gone. Trever also noticed that the Imperials were tapping into the Temple’s power supply, to generate enough energy for a bomb&mdash;Malorum was trying to blow up the Temple, in order to disgrace Vader by telling the Emperor that he gave him the order to do so. Not knowing how much time they had left, they needed to either escape or stop the bomb. Arriving at the bomb’s power core, Trever and Ferus permanently disabled it.

Captured by the Empire
They headed for the Temple entrance, but then saw Malorum and hundreds of Stormtroopers and AT-RT walkers making their way in. Knowing that it would be best for Solace and Trever to make their escape, he told them to leave without him. He also gave Solace his lightsaber. Then he turned to the Imperials and he was hit with a stun blaster, knocking him unconscious.

Ferus woke up in a Coruscant prison, and was met by Malorum. Malorum tried his best to interrogate Ferus, but the Jedi did nothing but mock and scoff at him. After a lengthy conversation that was going nowhere, Malorum informed Ferus that he was being taken to a prison world where no one else went, and left the room. Ferus would not let the Jedi Order’s chance of revival slip away now, even if it meant sitting in an Imperial jail cell for years on end.

Once Ferus and his friend, Clive Flax, met in the prison, Clive helped Ferus to escape. They left the prison and were quickly attacked by Imperial ships. However, Trever, Solace, Keets, Curran, and Oryon found the battle, helping them to escape to the planet of Naboo where Malorum was searching for evidence of Padmé's child.

Mission to Naboo


Ferus and the others tracked Malorum to the home of Ryoo Thule, grandmother of Padmé Amidala. They found her dead. Ferus and the group chased after Malorum, but he escaped, and the group was rescued by the Gungan pilot Yunabana. He took them to Boss Nass, who joined forces with Queen Apailana to destroy the Imperial presence on the island. Using the illegal explosive material stored in a hangar by the Empire, the "freedom fighters" destroyed the Imperial Force on Naboo and masked the incident with the explosives. They knew that the Empire would want to hide this development and dismiss it as an accident.

Ferus eventually met Malorum inside the Theed Royal Palace. He backed the Inquisitor into the Naboo Reactor Core where years before, Qui-Gon Jinn had lost his life and Obi-Wan had destroyed the Sith Darth Maul. Ferus thought the battle was evenly matched; the Jedi Padawan versus the Sith wannabe. Though he had previously felt Malorum's force sensitivity, Ferus never expected the darksider to unveil his crimson bladed lightsaber! Using the fear and hate within Malorum against him, Ferus fought gracefully to the finale.

In the end of the fight, Olin was too powerful for Malorum to hold back. The ex-Jedi knocked the Inquisitor down the power generator in which Obi-Wan Kenobi had almost died. It was assumed after that that Malorum was dead.

After departing Naboo, Ferus and the others planned to head back to the hidden asteroid where Toma, Raina, and Garen waited. Before they could get there, however, Ferus recieved a startling message. It came directly from Emperor Palpatine himself. He asked that Ferus meet with him on Coruscant and that if he agreed, he would be offered amnesty.

Agent of the Empire
Ferus went to Coruscant and listened to the Emperor's offer, which was to find the saboteur of the computer systems in the city of Sath on the planet Samaria. Ferus refused at first, but Palpatine delivered his catch. Two friends of Ferus, Roan Lands and Dona Telamark, had been arrested by the Bellassan government. The Emperor said that if Ferus did what he wanted, then Palpatine could request leniency, even clemency, from the government. Ferus was forced to accept the offer.

He then began his trip to Samaria, secretly telling his friends, the Erased, what he had to do. Solace told Ferus that she, Trever Flume, and Oryon would travel to Bellassa to try to rescue Roan and Dona so that Ferus wouldn't have to do Palpatine's work. Clive Flax would follow Ferus to Samaria, and Keets Freely and Curran Caladian would stay on Coruscant at the Erased's hideout with Dexter Jettster.

Ferus arrived on Samaria, where he met the Prime Minister of the planet, Aaren Larker, and the Imperial Advisor he would be working for, Bog Divinian. Ferus had known Bog from before, when he was a Senator who tried to overthrow Palpatine. Bog had married a friend of Obi-Wan's, Astri Oddo. Ferus told Bog that he did not need to work with him.

Ferus began tracking the saboteur through ship hangar records and other things, first alone, and later with Clive. They finally tracked the saboteur to an apartment, and the person they found was none other than Astri, who they found with her son, Lune. She told them that Aaren Larker himself had actually contracted her to do it, because he knew that the Emperor was simply using this as a stunt to gain complete control over Samaria. Ferus had thought this had been Palpatine's motive as well. Larker wanted to use it as an opportunity to help the resistance cells that were forming. Ferus suddenly stopped Astri from explaining. He sensed something on the roof, and checked it out. He found none other than Darth Vader on the roof. He saw him with squads of stormtroopers, searching door to door. He went back down into the apartment and told everyone that they had to escape. He then heard a knock on the door. Instead of panicking, however, he recognized the knock, and opened the door. It was Solace, Oryon, and Trever, along with the just-rescued Roan and Dona. They all escaped into Solace's ship, which she had recently stolen from an Imperial Senator by the name of Sano Sauro. Ferus, however, stayed on the planet and told his friends he'd catch up with them later. He went to the roof again to talk to Vader. Unbeknownst to Ferus, he was actually talking to his childhood rival. Vader didn't think Ferus was worth his time, and went to deal with the matter of the stolen ship that Solace had escaped with the others in. Ferus stayed on planet, knowing that Palpatine would have other offers to give him, and he waited for the next one.

Behind the scenes

 * Ferus Olin was created by author Jude Watson to be a dramatic foil for Anakin Skywalker in the Jedi Quest series, much the same role that Siri Tachi had fulfilled with Obi-Wan Kenobi in the Jedi Apprentice series.

Appearances

 * Jedi Quest: The Way of the Apprentice
 * Jedi Quest: The Dangerous Games
 * Jedi Quest: The Master of Disguise
 * Jedi Quest: The School of Fear
 * Jedi Quest: The Moment of Truth
 * Jedi Quest: The Changing of the Guard
 * Jedi Quest: The False Peace
 * Jedi Quest: The Final Showdown
 * The Last of the Jedi: The Desperate Mission
 * The Last of the Jedi: Dark Warning
 * Ghosts of the Sith
 * The Last of the Jedi: Underworld
 * The Last of the Jedi: Death on Naboo
 * The Last of the Jedi: A Tangled Web
 * The Last of the Jedi: Return of the Dark Side