Mermeia

"I know you're searching for me. Searching, searching. I am here. My voice is for you alone. I am found in your eyes only. I exist for you. I am in your mind as you create me. Oh, yes... I can feel my creation." [giggles] "I'm getting your message. Are you getting mine?"

- Mermeia

Mermeia was a

Biography
A holographic woman named Mermeia existed within virtual reality as a private entertainer. Interactions with and performances by her were accessible to users of devices called mind evaporators. When a user interfaced with a mind evaporator for erotic purposes, a fantasy of theirs would be conjured from their deepest desires and appear before them. Mermeia was one such fantasy, and she could be accessed by inserting a cassette into the machine. She was also accessible to users of holoprojectors, and at some point during the Galactic Civil War, she appeared as a hologram to a Twi'lek who sat using a portable holoprojector in a public cantina. Mermeia danced for the Twi'lek, who watched intently.

Also during the war, in 1 ABY, Mermeia appeared before a colorful kaleidoscopic background to the Wookiee Attichitcuk, who inserted her cassette into a mind evaporator while in the living room of his home on the Wookiee holiday Life Day. Mermeia flirted with Attichitcuk, who viewed her through the mind evaporator's helmet, and she told him that she was a creation of his desires, which heavily excited the Wookiee. She then sang the song "This Minute," which spoke of a longing for her time with Attichitcuk to last forever. After the song concluded, the satisfied Wookiee removed the helmet and returned to his family's Life Day preparations.

Personality and traits
Mermeia was the representation of mind evaporator users' desires, and she existed solely as their fantasy within the realm of virtual reality. She appeared to them as their mind created her; to Attichitcuk, she had purplish-white hair, gray eyes, and dark skin. Both Attichitcuk and the holoprojector-using Twi'lek saw her as a slim humanoid figure with long hair who wore a gown. In the Wookiee's fantasy, multiple incarnations of Mermeia appeared simultaneously.

In Attichitcuk's fantasy, Mermeia stood before a kaleidoscopic background of shifting colors. Her appearance was heralded first by dancing water creatures, and subsequently by her voice, which teased the eager Wookiee. She became giddy when Attitchitcuk's desires gave her holographic form. Mermeia could sense the Wookiee's emotions, and his excitement at seeing her gave her considerable pleasure. She flirted with Attichitcuk by calling him adorable, telling him to enjoy her, and promising that they would have a good time together. A song that she sang espoused her desire for that time to be eternal. Attichitcuk thoroughly enjoyed the erotic experience.

Behind the scenes
The character of Mermeia was created for 1978's The Star Wars Holiday Special, a television variety show spin-off of the original Star Wars film. She was played by Diahann Carroll. Carroll was originally cast in the program by producers Ken and Mitzie Welch, who were seeking high-profile celebrities to perform the Holiday Special various song-and-dance numbers. Carroll was additionally cast because the CBS network wanted black people in the program, as there was some controversy surrounding the original film's lack of dark-skinned characters. After Carroll was cast, director David Acomba puzzled over a role for her, but the Welches eventually wrote her the song "This Minute."

Mermeia's skit was intended by its writers to be softcore pornography that would pass CBS's censors. In The Holiday Special script, when Attichitcuk is given the cassette by the trader Saun Dann, Dann is written "as if he is giving (Attichitcuk) the most X-rated piece of literature in the galaxy." It further compares Dann to a dirty old man, and later states that Attichitcuk is "groggy with satisfaction" following his mind evaporator experience. The perceived bizarre sexual nature of Mermeia's skit has been noted by critics of the Holiday Special&mdash; Scott Stinson of the National Post has poked fun at Attichitcuk's not-appropriate-for-the-Holidays "eroticized dream;" Adam Feldman of the Time Out publishing company has noted the outlandishness of Attichitcuk's interaction with a "virtual reality sex tape;" and Frank DiGiacomo of Vanity Fair magazine has described one of Mermeia's moans of excitement as an "orgasmic shudder." Additionally, Star Wars author Jon Bradley Snyder has referred to Mermeia's scene as "kinky space love." Despite the suggestive nature of Mermeia's scene, Star Wars author Alex Newborn has opined that Carroll is the most talented soloist of the program, and Holiday Special writer Bruce Vilanch has referred to her on-set presence as "sexy and gorgeous."

Although Mermeia is not named in the Holiday Special, she is identified in its script and in I Have a Bad Feeling About This!, a 2008 article published in the 106th issue of Star Wars Insider magazine. The script suggests that her scene could potentially take place beneath the surface of a large lake. Mermeia also appears on "Thought as Action," a trading card released with the 2010 Threat of the Conqueror set of the Star Wars Galaxies Trading Card Game. The card misspells her name as "Mermia," an error that also appears once in the script. Author Kevin J. Anderson used Mermeia as visual inspiration when designing Qwi Xux, a birdlike Omwati character who first appeared in his 1994 novel Jedi Search. When discussing Xux's creation in an interview, Anderson referred to Mermeia as a "Diana Ross glittery-feathery alien."

In the Holiday Special, when discussing the cassette tape containing Mermeia, Saun Dann tells Attichitcuk "It's hard to describe. It's&hellip; wow!" Although the name does not appear in Star Wars canon, Mermeia is called a "Holographic Wow" on Diahann Carroll's website, Starwarsholidayspecial.com, and the Internet Movie Database.

Appearances

 * The Star Wars Holiday Special