Tahiri Veila

"I know something about pain you don't. Pain drowns other people. I just swim in it."

- Tahiri Veila to Lord Nyax, 27.5 ABY

Tahiri Veila was a Human Jedi Knight of the New Jedi Order.

Born on Tatooine to a pair of moisture farmers and adopted by the leader of a Tusken Raider tribe, Tahiri was raised as a Tusken Raider and showed skill in the Force. Around 22 ABY, Tahiri was discovered by Jedi Master Tionne Solusar and was brought to the Jedi Praxeum on Yavin 4. It was at the Praxeum that she met Anakin Solo, with whom she became fast friends and shared many adventures.

During the Yuuzhan Vong War, Tahiri was captured by the invaders during the attack on the Jedi Praxeum and was "shaped" by Mezhan Kwaad and Nen Yim to be a Jedi/Yuuzhan Vong hybrid. After being rescued, Tahiri became an asset to the Jedi as the procedure gave her the ability to speak and understand the Yuuzhan Vong language.

In 27 ABY, she would witness the death of Anakin Solo, whom she had recently begun to think of as more than a friend. Due to the emotional pain she suffered caused by his death, her Yuuzhan Vong implanted personality tried to take over her mind. After successfully unifying both personalities, Tahiri would aid the Galactic Alliance in ending the war.

Later on, she would be banished to Dagobah for revealing Jedi secrets, but she was again an active member of the order by 40 ABY.

Early life (12 ABY–22 ABY)
Tahiri was born on the planet Tatooine. Like many of the planet's other settlers, her parents Cassa and Tryst Veila had a moisture farm where she spent her early years. She was orphaned at the age of three during a Tusken Raider raid though she was adopted by the tribe's leader Sliven in return for the kindness shown to him by her parents. Tahiri was raised as a Tusken Raider and had a pet bantha named Bangor. She was skilled in the Force and was later found by Jedi Master Tionne and brought to Luke Skywalker's Jedi Praxeum on Yavin 4 at about nine standard years old in 22 ABY.

Jedi training (22 ABY–25 ABY)


"Shoes were invented by the Sith to keep our delicate toes in anguish and misery, I'm sure of it."

- Tahiri to Anakin Solo, 26 ABY

There she met the youngest of the Solo children, Anakin, and they quickly became close friends. Around the Academy, Tahiri refused to wear shoes and would go everywhere barefoot because she liked the coolness of the floors, which contrasted pleasantly with Tatooine's hot sands.

On one adventure with Anakin, they came across the crumbling Palace of the Woolamander and discovered the Golden Globe and the ancient Kushiban Jedi Master Ikrit. Later, Ikrit also informed the pair that the Golden Globe contained countless trapped souls and that he had tried to break it before and failed. "Together you're stronger than the sum of your parts."

- Ikrit to Tahiri and Anakin

Following that, Tahiri and Anakin accompanied the Melodie Lyric to her homeworld of Yavin 8 where she was to undergo an important form-changing ritual known as the Changing Ceremony. Shortly after the trio's arrival, they fell under attack by several native predators including an avril, a reel, several raiths and a purella. However, Anakin fought and killed them all. During the journey, the pair also discovered ancient carvings deep within a cave on the moon which matched those found at the Palace of the Woolamander. From these carvings, they learned that Golden Globe contained the souls of the children of the Massassi that had been imprisoned by the Dark Lord Exar Kun in 3,997 BBY. They also learned that it was held together by Sith magic that could only be broken by Force-sensitive children.

However, before Tahiri and Anakin could do so, Sliven demanded that she return to Tatooine. Tahiri was accompanied by Anakin to Tatooine where she rejoined her people and discovered that her real parents were Tryst and Cassa Veila, also Force-sensitive like their daughter though they had been accidentally killed in a Sandpeople raid. The two young Jedi also had to use their Force abilities as never before including surviving the harshest deserts of the Dune Sea, evading a sarlacc, befriending a Jawa clan and defeating a krayt dragon. Following this ordeal, they returned to Yavin 4 and freed the trapped souls within the Golden Globe.

Despite this, her friend Anakin remained troubled by visions of himself as a Dark Jedi, by his heritage as the grandson of Anakin Skywalker, who had become the infamous Darth Vader. Also, the reborn Emperor Palpatine had once attempted to enter him as an infant. To ensure he had no potential for evil, the young Jedi asked if he could go to the very same cave on Dagobah that Luke Skywalker had gone years earlier, and face himself.

However, before arrangements for the trip could be made, a youth named Uldir Lochett was found stowed away on one of the supply ships to the Praxeum Lightning Rod. In spite of his optimism, he lacked obvious Force sensitivity&mdash;in his own later, rueful opinion, all he had were good hunches, a whisper-like ability to sense when the Force was being used, and a habit of causing trouble. Later, Tahiri, Ikrit and R2-D2 accompanied Anakin to Dagobah. There, they discovered that Uldir had stowed away on their transport and encountered several swamp creatures before finally reaching the cave where Skywalker had faced his own dark side years earlier. There, Anakin faced the manifestations of his own doubts though he emerged victorious in the end.

Later that year, the Jedi historian Tionne Solusar discovered that Darth Vader had saved Obi-Wan Kenobi's lightsaber after their duel on the Death Star I in 0 BBY and kept the captured artifact at Bast Castle on Vjun. Since an information broker had sold this information to them, she feared that others may have gotten to it first and quickly informed Master Luke Skywalker who administrated the Jedi Praxeum. Thinking it was just a simple trip and time for training, Tionne allowed Uldir, Anakin, Tahiri Veila and Ikrit to accompany her to Vjun on her personal transport Lore Seeker.

Having arrived on Vjun, they discovered another vessel and feared another group had reached it first. Having survived Bast Castle's automated defense systems and booby traps, they discovered the lightsaber in display in a protected alcove. Unfortunately, a group of mercenaries and pirates under a cloaked man named Orloc arrived. Orloc claimed to be a mage who possessed great powers and his henchmen also stole Kenobi's lightsaber.

In response, the Jedi pursued Orloc and his henchmen on a chase through Bast Castle. During a confrontation, Orloc easily defeated Ikrit in lightsaber combat since the Kushiban had no lightsaber at all. He also deceived Uldir by claiming to train him all the Force skills he desired. However, the other Jedi managed to rescue Uldir and escape Bast Castle, along with Kenobi's lightsaber and the holocron of the ancient Jedi Master Asli Krimsan.

Despite having escaped Orloc, Uldir was now obsessed with what the Mage had told him and still believed that the Mage would be able to awaken the Force powers within him, which nobody at the Jedi Praxeum on Yavin 4 had been able to do so. Uldir then stole Ikrit's ship Sunrider (named after Nomi Sunrider) and the two Jedi artifacts recovered during the previous adventure at Bast Castle.

Uldir eventually found Orloc at an abandoned space station called Exis Station, where Tionne had met Luke years earlier in her search for relics. Having arrived at the derelict space city, Uldir found Orloc whom took the youth as his student. The Mage had already set up his base on the moon and planned to create his own Jedi Order. In reality, Orloc had no Force powers but had actually used high-tech gimmicks to deceive others with demonstrations of so called "Force power". Uldir did not realize it.

Tionne, Ikrit, Anakin and Tahiri set out to find Uldir on their transport Lore Seeker and eventually found Exis Station. Having arrived, they tried to tell Uldir that Orloc was a fraud and that he had been deceived. The Mage attacked the four Jedi with his high-tech gimmicks, who fought back by using the Force.

During the duel, Tionne was wounded and Ikrit—who had sworn not to wield a lightsaber until he had found worthy students—made his decision and join Anakin and Tahiri in their fight. Uldir then saw that Orloc was little more than a charlatan who used technology to deceive others with demonstrations of power. Together, the Jedi defeated Orloc, thus removing a threat to the growing New Jedi Order. Tahiri and her companions would return to the Jedi Praxeum. Whenever Tionne was not teaching classes, Tahiri had her full attention.

Yuuzhan Vong War (25 ABY–30 ABY)
"I've been stuck on this mud ball while you've been out fighting the Yuuzhan Vong. I'm sick of it; I'm ready to do something!"

- Tahiri

"They will not break your Jedi; they will reshape her."

- Vua Rapuung to Anakin Solo

During the Yuuzhan Vong War, the Jedi Praxeum was targeted for destruction by the extragalactic Yuuzhan Vong. When the Yuuzhan Vong attacked in 26 ABY, Tahiri had just turned fourteen standard years. Shortly after the Battle of Duro, Anakin came to Yavin IV to warn of an attack, only to find the Peace Brigade had started an invasion. During the Yuuzhan Vong assault, she stayed at the Academy to fight alongside Anakin and Ikrit, while the other children went to hide. However, Tahiri was captured. Once the Vong had taken over the planet, they began to shape the area, which included Tahiri. Master Shaper Mezhan Kwaad and her assistant Nen Yim performed heretical acts and shaped Tahiri to be closer to Yuuzhan Vong, creating a new personality called Riina Kwaad. She became fluent in the language and desired to fight for their side. Her shaping was almost complete when Anakin interfered. Tahiri ended up killing Mezhan Kwaad and the two escaped to Coruscant.

Tahiri became an asset in the war and the Jedi's understanding of the Vong because of her shaping, she was also one of the few fluent in their tongue.

On Tahiri's next adventure, she, Anakin and Corran Horn traveled to Eriadu. She and Anakin came to the aid of the Rodian Jedi Kelbis Nu who was being attacked by a group of Peace Brigade agents. Kelbis told them that the Yuuzhan Vong would target Yag'Dhul next since it was located on where the Corellian Trade Spine and the Rimma Trade Route met.

Unfortunately for them, they were arrested by the Eriaduan judicials under a Human male named Lieutenant Themion. During their incarceration, he had them kept in separate cells and then interrogated each one of them. When interrogating Anakin, he assaulted the young Jedi after Anakin refused to cooperate with him. This angered Tahiri whom sensed this through the Force. She then used her Force powers to break out of her cell before proceeding to storm Anakin's cell.

With a blaster in one hand and under the influence of the Riina Kwaad personality, Tahiri shouted Do-ro'ik vong pratte before hurling Themion against the wall. Tahiri then handcuffed him with his own stun cuffs. Another guard entered the cell though Anakin threw him against the corridor wall as well, knocking him out and giving the two Jedi enough time to escape and reclaim their lightsabers.

This involved fighting through more judicials outside the prison and hijacking a police speeder though the two Jedi eventually reached the spaceport and escaped off-world with Corran Horn on their transport Lucre. During the journey to Yag'Dhul, the three Jedi swapped the Lucre for a stolen Yuuzhan Vong Yorik Stronha (spy ship-analogue) which was christened Stalking Moon. Having arrived at Yag'Dhul, they succeeded in warning the native mathematical Givin of the impeding invasion of their planet. Because of the threat, the Givin decompressed the space station to kill the Vong, which forced Tahiri and Anakin into a storage locker. Feeling the end was near, the two shared their first kiss, completing the development of their friendship into something more. They were later rescued by Corran while the combined Givin/New Republic fleet drove back the extragalactic invaders.

"Sometimes I don't know who I am anymore." "I do. You aren't the same as you were before the Yuuzhan Vong captured you. Neither am I. But you're still Tahiri."

- Tahiri and Anakin Solo One of the most important of Tahiri's mission is the one she went on with other Jedi Knights to Myrkr to destroy the Voxyn queen. Here she was faced with seeing her love, Anakin killed. She was devastated and fell into a deep depression.

Despite this, Tahiri went with masters Luke and Mara Jade Skywalker to a Yuuzhan Vong-occupied Coruscant, and played a crucial role in taking down the dark side being going by the moniker Lord Nyax.

Tahiri was deemed a Jedi Knight in a ceremony on Mon Calamari before the Battle of Ebaq 9. She was also the leader of her own X-wing squadron, the Barefoot Squadron.

Yet her greatest trial with the Yuuzhan Vong was not to be on the outside, but from within. When Han and Leia Organa Solo took her and Jaina Solo with them to reestablish communications with regions of the Galaxy the Galactic Alliance had lost contact with, the Riina personality began to resurface. The mental turmoil caused Tahiri to enter a catatonic state, where the two personalities battled for control. Eventually, both personalities realized that the only way for both to survive was to merge together, essentially creating a new person. However, her loyalty was still to the Galactic Alliance.

Following this, Tahiri teamed up with Corran Horn in extracting Nen Yim, the priest Harrar and the prophet Yu'Shaa from Coruscant and bringing them to Zonama Sekot. She also participated in the recapture of Coruscant at the end of the war, having mastered the Vongsense and using it to the benefit of the Galactic Alliance.

Dark Nest Crisis (35 ABY–36 ABY)
"I'm half Yuuzhan Vong inside. The only thing pain would cause me is a religious experience."

- Tahiri

After reclaiming Coruscant and once the Yuuzhan Vong had been relocated to the living world Zonama Sekot, Tahiri decided on staying on the planet, along with Tekli and Danni Quee to help the Vong adjust to their new home. However, while attempting to meditate a conflict between the Extolled and Warriors in La'oiko, she received a strange Force-call from to the Unknown Regions.

Along with other survivors of the Jedi mission to Myrkr, Tahiri set out to discover the source of the call, and found that it was the creature which had once been their fellow Jedi Raynar Thul, believed slain at Myrkr, but now transformed into the Prime Unu of the hive-minded Killik species. Along with Tekli, Alema Rar, Jaina Solo, Zekk, Lowbacca and Tesar Sebatyne, she was coerced into joining the Killiks by the Prime Unu's exploitation of the Myrkr battle meld, and she became a "Joiner"&mdash;someone who was influenced and was subject to the control of the Colony, subjected to Force and pheromonal manipulation so profound as to physically affect brain-structure.

Just as Jaina and Zekk came to form a dyad within the Joiner meld, Tahiri seems to have grown particularly close to Tesar Sebatyne and Lowbacca. During the closing months of the Killik conflict, the three of them conspired to reveal Raynar's survival to Aryn Dro Thul, his powerful mother. In spite of Jacen Solo's insistence that he trusted Tahiri, Luke Skywalker viewed this as a betrayal of the Jedi Order, undermining his attempts to impose unity on the knights as Grand Master, and he exiled the three of them to Dagobah in order to meditate on what it meant to be a Jedi. Luke told them that he would call them once he felt they were ready to rejoin the order, and that they were not to leave until they felt that call.

Second Corellian Crisis (40 ABY–)
"There was nothing to accomplish here."

- Tahiri to Jaina Solo

She would return by 40 ABY to lead a Jedi strike team in the kidnapping of Thrackan Sal-Solo during the Corellian insurrection. Under Tahiri's leadership, Team Tauntaun, which consisted of Tiu Zax and Doran Tainer, were tasked with removing a Corellian head of state, Thrackan Sal-Solo. However, the Jedi walked into a trap. Tauntaun was able to turn this major defeat into a minor victory when Tiu was able to remain behind hidden in Sal-Solo's mansion to provide intelligence.

Etymology
The name Táhirih, used in Persia and currently in Iran, is a variant of the Arabic Tahira meaning "virtuous, pure, chaste." It is used to refer to Táhirih, "The Pure One," an influential female poet and theologian in nineteenth century Persia who campaigned for women's rights. It is not known if the author Nancy Richardson, who created Tahiri Veila, knew this.

Interestingly, the name of Tahiri's Yuuzhan Vong persona, Riina Kwaad, seems to be connected with purity as well. Riina is a short form of Katariina, a variant of the Greek name Katherine (or Aikaterine) used in Finland and Estonia. The Romans associated the name with the Greek word katharos, "pure." Katherine could also derive from the name Hekateros, meaning "each of the two," or the Greek word aikia, "torture." These two meanings could be seen to reflect Tahiri's relationship with Riina and her suffering in the hands of the Yuuzhan Vong.

Appearances



 * The Golden Globe
 * Lyric's World
 * Promises
 * Anakin's Quest
 * Vader's Fortress
 * Kenobi's Blade
 * Crisis at Crystal Reef
 * Agents of Chaos II: Jedi Eclipse
 * Edge of Victory I: Conquest
 * Edge of Victory II: Rebirth
 * Star by Star
 * Dark Journey
 * Enemy Lines I: Rebel Dream
 * Enemy Lines II: Rebel Stand
 * Destiny's Way
 * Ylesia
 * Force Heretic I: Remnant
 * Force Heretic II: Refugee
 * Or Die Trying
 * Force Heretic III: Reunion
 * The Final Prophecy
 * The Unifying Force
 * Dark Nest I: The Joiner King
 * Dark Nest II: The Unseen Queen
 * Dark Nest III: The Swarm War
 * Betrayal