Tavion Axmis

Tavion Axmis was a female Human Dark Jedi at large during the early years of the New Republic. Apprenticed under the Dark Jedi Desann, Tavion traveled with him to find the lost Valley of the Jedi and served alongside him in Hethrir's Empire Reborn. After her defeat at the hands of Kyle Katarn and Desann's subsequent death, she became the leader of the Disciples of Ragnos cult. She took Alora as her apprentice, and set herself upon the task of resurrecting the ancient Sith Lord Marka Ragnos.

During Luke Skywalker's search for the cult, she turned Rosh Penin, one of Katarn's apprentices and a student at the Jedi Praxeum, to the dark side of the Force. Katarn and his apprentice Jaden Korr encountered and confronted her, Rosh, and Alora at Vjun, and subsequently, on Taspir III, where Alora was killed by Korr and Penin was returned to the light. Following this, Axmis journeyed to the Sith tomb world of Korriban to resurrect Ragnos; Korr was sent to stop her, and he defeated her after a fierce duel. In desperation, Axmis let the spirit of Ragnos fill her, and he guided her body in combat. She was killed after Korr defeated Ragnos, her body unable to withstand the ordeal.

Desann's apprentice
"Where's your master, apprentice?"

- Kyle Katarn, to Tavion Axmis

Originally an Empire Youth in Lord Hethrir's Empire Reborn movement, Tavion displayed signs of Force-sensitivity and was "purified" by the extra-dimensional being Waru. She received training in the use of her Force abilities under Desann, Hethrir's right hand and failed Jedi trainee; during this training, Tavion was selected by Desann to be his personal apprentice, and the two conceived of a scheme to discover the location of the lost Valley of the Jedi. During the Battle of Artus Prime, Desann and Tavion intercepted Jan Ors, the partner of former Jedi Kyle Katarn and one of the only two people to know the location of the Valley. Tavion managed to capture her and bring her aboard their shuttle. Katarn arrived to rescue his partner, only to be quickly defeated by Desann. On Desann's order Tavion, in the shuttle and out of Kyle's line of sight, activated her lightsaber and appeared to kill Jan. Desann spared Kyle and boarded his shuttle, leaving the planet with Tavion.

However, they did not leave the system. When Kyle left in the Raven's Claw, he immediately went to the Valley of the Jedi to regain his former Force-sensitivity, with the intention of using it to exact revenge on Jan's killers. Desann and Tavion followed him there; as Desann piloted their ship to the planet's surface, Tavion contacted Admiral Galak Fyyar to alert him of the Valley's location. Soon after, Tavion and Desann brought the presumed-dead Jan Ors to Admiral Fyyar's flagship, the Doomgiver. After building up a deadly new force known as the Reborn, Tavion left her master's side to oversee Imperial Remnant forces on Bespin who were smuggling cortosis for the shadowtroopers.

While on Bespin, Tavion confronted Kyle Katarn, whose search for Desann had led him to Cloud City. She taunted him, announcing that they had only killed Jan to trick him into leading them to the Valley, and congratulated him for beginning the "era of Desann." After an intense duel on one of Cloud City's landing platforms, Tavion was overcome by Kyle's superior skill with a lightsaber. Angry over Jan's death, Kyle held Tavion aloft with the Force over the platform's edge. Tavion begged for her life, saying that she wasn't brave enough to die, and revealed to Kyle that Jan was alive on board the Doomgiver, which was docked at a base in the Lenico Belt. Kyle spared her, commanding her to get away before Desann found her.

After obeying Kyle's order and escaping, Tavion lost her master, who was slain by Katarn in the underground of Yavin 4.

Cult leader
"You should have killed me when you had the chance, Katarn. Your pathetic Jedi mercy is a weakness that will cost you your life, and the life of your academy's students."

- Tavion Axmis, after revealing herself to Kyle Katarn

After Desann's death, Tavion took on an eager and sadistic apprentice: the red-skinned Twi'lek female Alora. She then acquired an ancient artifact known as the Scepter of Ragnos from a merchant on Commenor, who did not survive their meeting. With the Scepter, she drained areas of the galaxy strong with the Force, and empowered her new followers, creating the Disciples of Ragnos, who sought to resurrect the ancient Dark Lord of the Sith known as Marka Ragnos. She invited surviving Reborn to join her, which became her New Reborn.

Eventually Tavion made a bold move on Yavin 4, deploying Alora to infiltrate the Jedi Academy to access Luke Skywalker's private record of the locations of Force nexuses, while Tavion and the Kothos Twins drained the Force energy at a Massassi Temple. To avoid interference, the energy of the scepter was harnessed to shoot down an arriving shuttle carrying a load of new Padawans. However, Tavion's actions did not go unnoticed; Jaden Korr, a newly arrived Jedi Padawan, made his way to the Temple after being separated from the main group of Jedi on the arriving starship. He spotted Tavion's activity, forcing her to knock him out with the energy of the scepter. Despite Korr's intervention, Tavion and her forces escaped Yavin 4 safely with the valuable data.

Soon, Luke Skywalker dispatched the Jedi to areas of strong Force energy in an attempt to intercept the cult. One of these students, Rosh Penin, was captured by Tavion on his mission to Byss. She used his fear of being killed against him, and turned Rosh to the dark side.

Tavion and Rosh traveled to Vjun, the location of Darth Vader's Bast Castle, and were attempting to drain the castle's Force energy when Jaden Korr arrived. Tavion remained in the shadows as the two former friends dueled. Tavion revealed herself after Jaden defeated Rosh and Kyle Katarn arrived. She refused to give up her new apprentice, and told Katarn to save his pity because of the shame he caused her on Bespin. Tavion ripped Jaden's lightsaber from his grasp with the Force and threw it to weaken the ceiling, which she then brought down on the Jedi with the power of the Scepter of Ragnos. The ensuing chaos allowed her to escape with Rosh.

After neutralizing the cult's activities on Taspir III, Korr killed Alora and saved Rosh, who was redeemed from the darkness. Jaden and a team of Jedi then went to Korriban to stop Tavion from resurrecting Marka Ragnos, culminating in an epic battle between the Jedi and the Disciples of Ragnos.

Jaden made his way to Ragnos's tomb and confronted Tavion, eventually defeating her; but she refused to cower as she did before Katarn. She took the Scepter of Ragnos and released all of the Scepter's remaining energy into the ancient Sith Lord's remains. Ragnos's spirit rose, infusing Tavion's body with his strength, and dueled Jaden again using Ragnos's ancient Sith sword. Despite Tavion fighting with Ragnos's enhanced dark side abilities, Jaden was able to destroy the Scepter, forcing Ragnos's spirit to flee back into his tomb. His departure from Tavion's body killed her, and all the energy the New Reborn had stolen was returned to its proper place in the galaxy.

Personality and traits
"Silence, whelp. I will make Kyle Katarn's failure complete. My victory, Rosh's corruption, and now, your death will finally turn him to the dark side."

- Tavion Axmis, to Jaden Korr

Tavion was a powerful Dark Jedi skilled at lightsaber combat with occasional bouts of overconfidence masking an essential cowardice, exemplified by her begging for her life when she was defeated by Katarn. After the death of Desann, Tavion ably led the Disciples of Ragnos, training her apprentice Alora to exhibit her own ruthlessness. However, her overconfidence led to her death: in her duel with Jaden Korr, she tried to use Ragnos's spirit to kill the young Jedi, believing his death and Penin's fall to the dark side would make Katarn's efforts a failure, turning Katarn to the dark side. Instead, her overconfidence failed her, and she died when Ragnos's spirit withdrew from her body.

Tavion's lightsaber was named "Stinger."

Behind the scenes
Tavion was voiced by Kath Soucie in Jedi Outcast and Jedi Academy.

Although her last name is never stated in the games, Axmis is the surname written in the Holocron continuity database.

Tavion's homeworld
Although there is no clear evidence, it is possible that Tavion may have been one of the Nightsisters&mdash;dark side witches from Dathomir, some of whom escaped the remote world despite its Imperial blockade. Both Tavion's style of clothing and her facial tattoo could be marks of a possible Dathomiri ancestry. Additionally, Luke Skywalker heard rumors about her when on a recruitment mission to Dathomir.

Alternate end
If the player chooses to turn to the dark side then, instead of resurrecting Marka Ragnos, Tavion lets Jaden Korr kill her (seemingly unafraid of death anymore). After her death, Jaden duels his master, Kyle Katarn.

Appearances

 * N.R.I. Reports
 * Star Wars: Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast
 * Star Wars: Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy