Trios

"Queen Trios, this world is yours to rule&hellip; but do not forget whom you serve."

- Vader leaves Trios as ruler of Shu-torun

Trios was the youngest child of the king of the planet Shu-torun and sibling to Prince Monthan and Princess Hollian. When the Sith Lord Darth Vader visited Shu-torun as a representative of the Galactic Empire, Trios was selected as his guide by the king, who wished to kill the Imperial guest. She first led the Sith to the subterranean abyssal rooms of the royal palace, where a ball was being held to showcase the planet's culture. There, a group of the king's men pretending to be rebels ambushed Vader, but were easily defeated, forcing Trios to enact the suicidal backup plan to end Vader's life. Claiming that it was the only safe way to reach the king, she led Vader into a series of tunnels, which her father then sealed and began flooding with lava. The Sith then began carving a hole in the tunnel's wall and knocked Trios out, carrying her to safety. She awoke in front of the doors to the palace throne room, and still not willing to give up, tried to shoot Vader with a blaster pistol. Before she could pull the trigger, he sliced off her hand with the pistol in it using his lightsaber and then revealed that his assassin droids BT-1 and 0-0-0 had already killed her family and the other occupants of the throne room. Vader crowned Trios as the new queen of Shu-torun, and left her with a warning not to forget that her planet and its people served the Empire.

Trios continued to serve the Empire, but the ore-barons soon rebelled against her in a civil war. Vader returned with Imperial forces to support her in the battle and combat the barons, and to send a message to the dissidents, destroyed one of their delving citadels. The queen was shocked by the loss of the citadel, which the planet needed to keep up with Imperial quotas, and requested that Vader not destroy any more, but was ignored. After Vader and Trios sent a warning to the other barons that their citadels would also be destroyed if they did not surrender, Trios moved to the ancestral retreat of the Shu-torun royalty in order to plan. The rebellious Baron Rubix then sent the Lava Leviathan to kill her, blasphemously attacking the retreat, which was considered a sacred site. The Leviathan was quickly sunk by Vader and his Imperial colleagues Morit Astarte and Aiolin Astarte, and once safe, Trios requested that Rubix's delving citadel be the next to be destroyed.

Princess of Shu-torun
"Trios, my third child&hellip; your blood will serve in other ways."

- The king of Shu-torun addresses his daughter, planning to have her lead Darth Vader into a trap

Princess Trios was born as the third and youngest child of the king of the planet Shu-torun, a mining world in the Mid Rim. She had two elder siblings, her brother Prince Monthan, who as the eldest child stood to inherit their father's crown upon his death, and her sister Princess Hollian, who would inherit the role of celebrant warlord of the planet's War-Faith. During the reign of the Galactic Empire, the planet supplied the Imperials with ore for their many building projects, but when the ore-dukes of Shu-torun became resistant to the Empire's tithes, the king chose to turn against the Empire.

When the royal family learned that the Sith Lord Darth Vader was visiting Shu-torun in order to ensure that the planet's ore quotas were going to be met, the king devised a plan to kill the Imperial representative. Believing he had a surfeit of children, he decided Trios would be the one to greet Vader and lead him into a trap set in the royal palace, with a backup plan where she would lead him to die with her in the tunnels within the castle. Trios obeyed her father's commands, and was waiting for Vader with two guards when he landed on one of the palace's landing platforms in his TIE Advanced x1 starfighter. The Sith was displeased that the king himself was not present, but Trios blamed her father's absence on his age and began leading Vader toward the palace's abyssal rooms below the planet's surface, where a ball was being held to showcase Shu-torun's culture. Enroute, she offered to have servants take a small package that her guest was carrying, but he refused, stating that he must personally deliver the gift to the ruler of Shu-torun.

Vader's guide
"No, you can't! The King! My father!"

- Trios protests as Vader cuts open the doors to her father's throne room

Upon entering the subterranean hall where the ball was being held, Trios gave the command for those present to begin with the stately Shu-torun counter-bore waltz. When Vader complained that the dancing was unnecessary, she explained that such practices were an important part of Shu-torun's culture and were needed to keep the ore-dukes in line. As she and Vader moved across the room, they were stopped by Duke Rubix, who demanded that the Sith Lord dance with his daughter. Trios advised the duke against pushing the matter, but when he persisted in his demands, Vader used the Force to lift Rubix into the air and whirl him around before dropping him. As Vader questioned if anyone else wished for such a "dance", the king's plan moved into action as a tunneling vessel broke through the hall's ceiling, causing the guests to scatter.

Pretending to act as rebels opposing both the Empire and the royal family, a number of assassins working for the king exited the craft and attacked Vader. The Sith however, was able to dodge their attacks and then reflect them back at the troops using his lightsaber, killing all of his opponents. With the first part of the plan to kill Vader having failed, Trios dutifully began enacting the second phase, and claiming that the traitors would be watching the lifts, led Vader into the palace's tunnels. As the pair supposedly moved toward the king, Vader complimented Trios, and was still impressed with her when the doors of the tunnel they were in sealed and molten lava began pouring in from the ceiling. He then drew his lightsaber and began cutting a hole through the tunnel's wall, knocking Trios unconscious with the Force when she tried to convince him that there was no escape for either of them. Instead of leaving Trios to burn in her father's trap, Vader carried her prone form to the doors of her father's throne room, where he killed the guards. As she awoke, the princess realised that her father's plan had failed, and aimed to shoot Vader in the back with a blaster pistol. The Sith sensed the attack coming however, and was able to slice Trios' right hand off at the wrist before she could pull the trigger. He then turned and cut the doors to the throne room open as Trios protested, revealing that his assassin droids 0-0-0 and BT-1 had infiltrated the palace upon his arrival and killed everyone in the throne room while Trios was unconscious, including her father and siblings.

With her family dead, Trios was the hereditary queen of Shu-torun, and so as she grieved at her father's side, Vader handed her the package he had been carrying with him the whole time. Inside there was only a chunk of rock, which held no meaning to the queen until Vader explained that the gift was a piece of the planet Alderaan, which had also stood against the Empire, leading to its destruction by the Death Star superweapon. As Vader used the Force to crown Trios, she complained that the ore-dukes would still resist the Empire's tithes, to which he explained she would put down their rebellions with aid from the Empire. He then left her alone in the throne room with only the warning that she should not forget that she and her people served the Empire.

Civil war on Shu-torun
"So as queen and warlord, I say this: We must retreat. The ore-barons are too strong."

- Trio demands that the Imperials retreat in the face of the delving citadel

Despite her backing by the Empire, the ore barons quickly rebelled against Trios's rule, beginning a civil war on Shu-torun. Under orders from Galactic Emperor Palpatine, Vader personally returned to lead Imperial forces in putting down the insurrection with the aid of Grand General Cassio Tagge and Doctor Cylo-V. As she now held her sister's role of war-minister of her people, Trios chose to position herself on the frontlines alongside Vader as otherwise her people would lose respect for her. After they witnessed the toppling of an Imperial All Terrain Armored Transport in a battle against one of the ore-barons' delving citadels, she declared that their foe was too strong and demanded a retreat. Vader refused, as the attack had merely been a distraction, which had allowed Tulon Voidgazer&mdash;one of Cylo's agents&mdash;to position explosive drones on the ceiling of the cavern above the citadel. The drones then detonated, collapsing part of the ceiling and allowing molten magma to pour down on the citadel and destroy it.

Upset that such a valuable and ancient asset as the citadel had been destroyed, Trios returned with the others to the royal palace. There Vader informed her that they would continue to destroy citadels until the barons surrendered. Trios objected, as without the citadels her planet would never meet Imperial quotas after the war, but Vader ignored her objection and reminded her in front of her subjects and Cylo that her role was to obey the will of the Empire. The Sith then made to leave, but Trios followed him into an empty room and asked that he treat her with respect in front of her subordinates, as otherwise she would have little power after the Imperials left. Vader stated that he would be respectful in front of her subjects as long as she never questioned him in public, which she agreed to and left.



Attack on the ancestral retreat
"This is blasphemy! That's one of Rubix's vessels. He's opened fire on a sacred site."

- Trios is shocked by the Lava Leviathan's attack on the ancestral retreat

Trios and Vader then sent a holographic message to the ore-barons showing them the fate of the delving citadel the Imperials had destroyed and demanding their surrender before moving the ancestral retreat of the Shu-torun royalty to plan their next move. Morit Astarte, another agent of Cylo, questioned the choice to spent time such a militarily insignificant location, but Trios countered that she wanted to remind herself of what she was fighting for, as the retreat was considered a sacred site and one of the world's greatest wonders. Despite its status as a place of peace, the retreat was then attacked by the Lava Leviathan, a vessel owned by Rubix's family and sent to killed Trios.

Horrified at the blasphemous desecration of the retreat, Trios made to flee in a shuttle, but was surprised when Vader also boarded with Morit and his sister Aiolin Astarte. Instead of fleeing, the trio positioned the shuttle above the Leviathan and dropped down onto it, using their lightsabers to cut through the hull and enter the vessel. They then fought through Rubix's men onboard and cut holes in either end of the vessel, leaving it to sink into the magma from which it had emerged as Trios picked them up in the shuttle. Upon arriving back at the retreat, Trios was reprimanded by her Chamberlain Jooli, who claimed she should not be putting herself in such danger. Vader then threatened the chamberlain, but Trios apologised for Jooli and explained to her subject that she had the Imperials protecting her and so need not worry. She then requested that Rubix's delving citadel be the next that Vader destroyed, as punishment for the attack on the retreat.

Personality and traits
"You are an admirable youth. Your father must be proud.''" "You would be surprised Lord Vader." "''Hmm. Your father should be proud."

- Vader compliments Trios as her family's treachery is revealed

Trios was a human female with fair skin, brown hair, and blue eyes. She was completely loyal to her father and took part in his plan despite huge potential risk to herself, even sticking to it when she believed it would mean her certain death. Her father's willingness to sacrifice her in this way caused her to doubted that her father was proud of her. She also believed in the importance of Shu-torun's courtly culture and its use in keeping the ore-dukes in line, defending the practice when Vader questioned the dancing in the abyssal rooms.

After her family's deaths, she remained in line with the Empire for the sake of her people, but demanded that Vader show her respect while they were in front of her people, as otherwise she would never be taken seriously as a ruler. She understood that she needed to possess the illusion of power instead of real power for her rule to remain stable. She also traveled with Vader to the front lines of the civil war in order to keep her people's respect, feeling she must fulfill the role of Hollian as well as that of queen. Her place on the frontline scared some of her subjects, but she reassured them that her Imperial allies could keep her safe. Trios was horrified by Rubix's attack on the ancestral retreat of her family, which she considered blasphemy deserving of punishment by death.

Equipment
"We all do our duty."

- Trios aims her blaster at Vader

While with Vader, Trios wore a white gown with a golden trim and a blue cloak. She carried a concealed blaster pistol with her while escorting Vader, and later carried a blaster rifle during battle in the civil war. She kept her hair up with a piece of golden headwear. After losing her hand to Vader, she had a cybernetic replacement installed.

Behind the scenes
Trios first appeared in the comic book Star Wars: Darth Vader Annual 1, which was written by Kieron Gillen and illustrated by Leinil Francis Yu for publication in 2015. She is also a main character of the third arc of the Star Wars: Darth Vader, which is also written by Gillen, as Vader is sent back to Shu-torun to lead a full military intervention to support her rule against rebels.

Appearances

 * Star Wars: Darth Vader Annual 1
 * Star Wars: Darth Vader 16: The Shu-torun War, Part I
 * Star Wars: Darth Vader 17: The Shu-torun War, Part II
 * Star Wars: Darth Vader 18: The Shu-torun War, Part III