Aayla Secura/Legends

"This girl&mdash;Aayla&mdash;she called me through the Force. She helped calm me in battle with the wampa. Could she be&hellip;''" "''A Jedi? Perhaps."

- Quinlan Vos and Tholme

Aayla Secura, born Aaylas'ecura, was a Rutian Twi'lek Jedi Master in the later days of the Republic, who served with distinction as a General during the Clone Wars. She served as a Padawan under the tutelage of Quinlan Vos, and later, Vos's own master Tholme. Both Aayla and Vos survived a brush with the dark side early in her Jedi training, though she later proved herself worthy of knighthood.

After Aayla was promoted to the level of Jedi Knight, the Clone Wars broke out, and she was one of many Jedi to participate in the Battle of Geonosis. She served in various campaigns, surviving such infamous battles as those on Hypori and Kamino. Indeed, such were her achievements that Aayla was promoted to the level of Jedi Master near to the beginning of the conflict.

As a Jedi Master, Aayla Secura led the Republic war efforts at Quell and was instrumental in the defense of Maridun. However, despite her undoubted prowess, Secura met her end during the instigation of Order 66 on Felucia, though because she was so respected by her troops, she was granted a quick death. Master Secura was remembered for generations by the people of the worlds she had helped during her life, and stories of her were known to have become part of the culture of many such people.

Early life
Aayla was always strong with the Force, and at a young age was discovered by the Jedi during a mission on Ryloth undertaken by the young Quinlan Vos, the Kiffar Padawan of Jedi Master Tholme. The very young Aayla was kept with the Twi'lek slaves of the local Hutt to be safe from any possible threat. She was still Lon Secura's niece, but the wampa guard of the Hutt went on a rampage, and the little Secura was in peril. Fortunately she was sensed and saved by Quinlan. He and Aayla had a strong connection with each other through the Force. Quinlan persuaded master Tholme to test Aayla on Coruscant for Jedi training where she passed the tests.

She was a skilled swordsman; she studied and used Form IV of lightsaber combat. She also studied the Jar'Kai form, using a green and a blue lightsaber. She would also occasionally use a violet lightsaber. She had a good relationship with a young Twi'lek Padawan named Xiaan Amersu, to whom Aayla gave a Heart of Fire as a gift. She also had a very close relationship with Kit Fisto, one which pushed the limits of the Jedi Code at times.

Aayla once learned a very valuable lesson when her dear pet T'da died. Her master comforted her by relating how her beloved was now part of the Force, and would also live on in her heart. Ironically enough, it was on Felucia that she buried T'da&mdash;a planet which she would return to toward the end of her life.

Padawan Aayla and her Master, Quinlan, undertook many successive missions together. They rescued a little princess from the Skyboat Pirates of Xoman Free, faced the Terbeasts of Ogden Minor, solved the Mystery of the Lodi on Solibus IV, and even witnessed Sebulba, a Dug, threatening a Gungan on Tatooine. But when Quinlan and Aayla were assigned on a mission to Ryloth to investigate the sources of glitteryll, all went wrong. The two were captured and drugged. Aayla and her master suffered heavy amnesia. She was taken by her uncle Pol Secura, who had to feed her more glitteryll every day because her spirit kept reasserting itself. She forgot that she was a Jedi; she forgot she had a master and Force powers.

One day a strange man came to Pol Secura's quarters, looking for his "Padawan" Aayla. He showed Aayla her lightsaber, but she still couldn't remember anything. After a while, when the man figured out that Pol Secura was behind the drugging he came back for him. When Aayla tried to rescue her uncle, she accidentally Force pushed him off the balcony. She blamed the stranger, Quinlan Vos.

Brush with the dark side
Aayla wanted revenge on the man who killed her uncle. She hid herself on a pirate ship en route to Kiffex. On that planet she discovered and released Dark Jedi Volfe Karkko from his stasis field. She gave in to the dark side of the Force and was willing to help the Anzati Dark Jedi. He gave her command of his Anzati minions and let her hunt down the Jedi on Kiffex. Karkko needed them alive to regain his strength; he needed to suck their "Jedi-soup." But first he needed to feed himself and his Anzati. Aayla took the Anzati and stormed a local stronghold. There she faced off against Quinlan Vos, Tholme, and Zao and got away with their captured people. Quinlan followed her and reached the prison of Karkko. Again she fought against her former master, but then she at last realized her true identity. At that moment Karkko used Force lightning to knock her out. When she woke up, she found Karkko dead and later on she was assigned to Master Tholme, Quinlan's former master. Quinlan pictured himself as "a leaf blown forth by the wind" and left Kiffex, going where the Force told him to go.

Ascension to Knighthood
Aayla and Tholme returned to Coruscant and, like Quinlan, she was re-trained in the Jedi Temple. Master Plo Koon agreed to use his telepathy to guide Aayla as she arranged her newly-recovered memories. She also learned of the Stark Hyperspace War and met the veteran Jace Dallin.

In 29 BBY, Aayla went undercover in the Twi'lek clan Fenn. She discovered that the clan's leader, Ro Fenn, was planning an attack on the Secura clan's heir Nat Secura. She informed Tholme and hurried to her master, ready to help him. He faced off against two Nikto Morgukai, was defeated but still managed to slip on their ship. Unfortunately he was discovered and imprisoned. Aayla followed Vilmarh Grahrk, who was in league with the Nikto, and his ship Inferno, but lost them.

The Force led her to a junkyard on Ord Mantell. There she found her former master, Quinlan and helped him fight against bounty hunters. She explained everything to Quinlan, and the two decided to rescue Nat Secura and Master Tholme. They traced Vilmarh and made him tell where the two Morgukai went. Quickly they set course to Kintan, the home planet of the Nikto, and faced off against the two Morgukai Bok and his father, Tsyr.

The Nikto escaped Ord Mantell and went to the fortress of the Twi'lek Kh'aris Fenn, who was behind all this misery all the time, and waited for the Jedi to arrive. The two Jedi broke in the fortress and inside they confronted the Nikto again. Aayla was to rescue Nat Secura and Tholme, Quinlan would fight the Nikto.

Aayla reached the dungeon, defeated the torture droid AX/RX, freed Tholme and Nat and went to Quinlan to help him. Quinlan had already beheaded Tsyr but he was smacked to the ground by Bok. Aayla saved Quinlan's life by fighting Bok before he could deliver the final blow. She wounded the Nikto, taking his right hand, but did not kill him. Bok let himself fall hundreds of meters in order to keep his honor. The three Jedi and Nat survived. They returned the young Twi'lek boy to his father, but, unfortunately, Kh'aris escaped from Ryloth to Dooku's hidden stronghold. Ro Fenn was sent into the Bright Lands, the side of Ryloth that was baked in eternal sunlight.

Back on Coruscant, Aayla and Quinlan were both promoted by the Jedi Council. Aayla was granted the rank of Jedi Knight and Quinlan a Jedi Master.

Clone Wars (22 BBY–19 BBY)
"Aayla Secura wanted to see us off personally. She had called us the bravest soldiers she had ever met. It's a good thing we were wearing helmets, because none of us could bear to look her in the eye."

- Diary of the 501st, before Order 66

Battle of Geonosis
Aayla was in the Jedi Temple at the time of the Battle of Geonosis and thus was a member of the 200 Jedi task force sent to Geonosis to rescue two Jedi and the Senator Padmé Amidala held captive. She was one of the few survivors of the battle between the Confederacy of Independent Systems and the Jedi that ensued in the Petranaki arena and then led her own squad of clone troopers into battle. Thus was sparked the conflict known as the Clone Wars.

Mission to Corellia
Like almost every other fully trained Jedi in the Order, Aayla became a Jedi General. Eight standard days after the Battle of Geonosis, she was sent on a mission to intercept Techno Union scientist Ratri Tane, who had fled to Corellia with the files and prototype of new droid circuitry, along with fellow Caamasi Jedi Ylenic It'kla.

Infiltrating the Wheel
Less than a standard month later, she infiltrated the Wheel, posing as a down-on-her-luck mechanic named Jayzaa, in order to locate Quinlan Vos, who hadn't reported from his undercover mission since the Battle of Geonosis. Together, they secured a copy of the plans of the impending Confederacy attack on Kamino. With the help of Khaleen Hentz and Chadra-Fan (aka Tookarti) they kept crime boss Zenex from stealing back the plans. After killing Zenex and his henchmen, Quinlan told Aayla that he was going to set up spy networks for the republic. Using the intelligence they had collected, the Galactic Republic was able to fend off the attack on the rainy planet. In the Battle of Kamino, Aayla defended the cloning facilities in her Jedi starfighter.

Battle of Kamino
She would remain on the planet, alongside Kit Fisto, and save the facilities once again, this time from sabotage from within&mdash;a Kaminoan nano-virus meant to wipe out the clone troopers. During the last minutes of the battle against super battle droids (under the control of a double-crossing Kaminoan), Secura fell into the waters of Kamino and nearly drowned before being saved by Fisto. As an amphibian, the Nautolan was able to absorb oxygen from the water and breathe it into Aayla to help her breathe. When they were up on the surface again, they killed the double-crossing Kaminoan using the virus by tricking him into injecting it into himself. When Fisto saved Aayla, it marked a significant point in the lives of both Jedi. The event started a relationship between the two that pushed the limits of the Jedi Code. It was similar to the relationship of Obi-Wan Kenobi and Siri Tachi. It was more than "breathing for both of them" to Aayla and Fisto, especially by the manner in which it was done.



Battle of Hypori
Later into the war, Secura ascended to the rank of Jedi Master. Four months after Geonosis, the Twi'lek Jedi participated in the Battle of Hypori, where she was one of the Jedi who survived their first encounter with General Grievous. However, she suffered grave wounds in the attack, and only survived due to the intervention of a squad of ARC troopers. It was after this mission that she was assigned to the 327th Star Corps, and later forged a close relationship with Commander Bly.

Battle of Quell
After capturing an important Separatist tactical droid, Secura and Commander Bly were dispatched to lead an assault over the planet Quell.

As her ships were assaulted by Rocket droids, Jedi Skywalker and his apprentice Ahsoka Tano, arrived and helped Bly and Aayla evacuate the decimated Republic Cruiser.

The Jedi and the Clones destroyed most of the droids on her ship, but were ambushed by a large number of Super Battle droids and were forced to flee toward Anakin's ship. But then, an explosion started behind the pursuing droids. Anakin noticed this early and Force pushed Aayla, Ahsoka, and some more clones into the ship's doorway and tried to use the Force to stop the explosion, but it didn't work and seriously injured him, but fortunately, Ahsoka and Aayla rescued him. Before the Jedi could dock aboard the Resolute to give Anakin medical attention, fire from droid fighters knocked out one of the pilots, accidentally activating the hyperdrive. Aayla told Admiral Wulf Yularen to take the Resolute up above, before they took the destroyer with them.

Battle of Maridun
After a treacherous trip through hyperspace, the Jedi and the few clones in their company crash landed on the planet Maridun. After they landed, Aayla and Ahsoka took Bly and the three remaining troopers (except for Rex, who guarded Anakin during the night) to look for help. They found a drawing of a tree, so they looked for it, but some giant pods fell down, and they are dragged away by, as Aayla said, "someone or something intelligent enough to find a use for the pods". They followed the tracks and were attacked by a pair of mastiff phalones and only Bly, Ahsoka and Aayla came out alive. The next morning, they found a village of Lurmen who had settled on the planet, far away from the war. The village elder, Tee Watt Kaa refused to aid them, fearing that destruction would break the peace they already had. However, at Ahsoka's request, he did give them medical supplies and had his son, Wag Too help deliver them. But he requested that only one Jedi take the supplies and that Bly should follow. The Jedi agreed to this, Ahsoka and Bly went to bring back Anakin, and the injured Jedi was healed.

Later, an army of droids, led by General Lok Durd, landed on Maridun and upon meeting Tee Watt Kaa, claimed the planet for the Separatists. The Jedi and the clones decided to leave the village, or else the droids would have killed the Lurmen. They left, but decided to steal a Separatist ship to get off of Maridun. They were followed by a spy droid, but they destroyed it before it could send news of their plans to the Separatists. The team climbed a tree and saw a Separatist fort and Durd testing a new weapon that destroyed life forms, but not machines. After the successful test, the Separatist army headed for the Lurmen village. The Jedi and the clones mounted a raid on the fort that night and stole a ship and two shield generators. They then headed back to the village. They offered their help, which Tee Watt Kaa turned down, but they then barricaded the village anyway. The Separatists reached the village and tried using their new weapon, but the shield generators stopped the effects of it. They then sent the droids out. Aayla and the others obliterated the first wave, but the second group got past them and destroyed the shield generators. Aayla and Ahsoka took care of them while Anakin destroyed the new weapon. After the battle, Wag Too thanked the Jedi for saving the village, and Kaa admitted that the Lurmen owe the Jedi their lives. Finally, three Jedi cruisers appeared and picked up Aayla, Ahsoka, Anakin, Rex, and Bly.

Mission to Alzoc III
Aayla Secura and Luminara Unduli had arrived at Alzoc, dispatching several All Terrain Tactical Enforcers to the planet's surface. However, by that time the crash site was already visited by a Confederate assassin Asajj Ventress, the Dark Acolyte of Count Dooku. In order to keep the new gravitic weapon a secret, Dooku ordered his agent to destroy any evidence of the incident and allow no witness to be left alive. When the Republic forces arrived at the crash cite, the jedi masters and the clone troopers were stunned by the view of huge masses of ice and numerous starship parts floating freely in the air and decided to investigate the vessel. They were engaged by many battle droids dispatched by Ventress to keep the Jedi occupied, while she had set the remainings of the ship for self-destruct. After finding the ship's data recorder, the Republic forces were able to uncover the record of the ship's last moments, learning about the existence of the gravitic weapon. Preparing to abandon the doomed vessel, master Secura and master Unduli were ambushed by the Rattataki assassin. After a brief duel, two Jedi Masters have overpowered the Dark Acolyte, trapping her under the bulk of ice and preparing to report the results of their mission to the Jedi Council.

Mission to Devaron
Twenty-seven standard weeks into the war, Aayla investigated Separatist raids on Republic supply lines along the Corellian Trade Spine as part of a Jedi task force of masters Tholme, T'ra Saa, Kit Fisto, and An'ya Kuro. When the headquarters of the raiders were pinpointed to the planet Devaron, Aayla went undercover as Tuulaa Doneeta, the spoiled daughter of a Twi'lek shipping baron. This way, she managed to infiltrate Senator Vien'sai'Malloc's apartments as her guest, with Masters Tholme ("Miles Croft"), and An'ya Kuro ("Saba") as her servants. The Senator was the one who backed the raiders, hoping to play both sides in the war. She had hired bounty hunter Aurra Sing, an ex-Jedi, to make sure nobody learned of her plans.

The Jedi on Devaron were Sing's next targets, and after caving in her former Master and Tholme, she ambushed Aayla. The Twi'lek survived and attacked Aurra. The two fought, and Aayla was able to win by hitting the bounty hunter where it hurt: her feelings of abandonment. Aurra reacted by unleashing her rage, but thus became disorientated, and Aayla cut off the antenna implant&mdash;installed by the hunter's Anzati mentors&mdash;that allowed Sing to feed off the fear of her prey. As Aurra was enveloped in anger, Aayla was at peace, and turned the former Jedi over to local authorities. She eventually ended up on the penal colony of Oovo IV. Then, Secura rescued Tholme and Kuro and provided intelligence she had gathered about the raider headquarters to Kit Fisto and T'ra Saa and the raiders were dissolved in a battle between them and Republic forces.

Mission to Endor
"Do you have any Jedi skills whatsoever?"

- A sarcastic battle droid, to Aayla Secura

During the war, Master Secura and Commander Bly investigated a deserted Separatist outpost in the Endor system. After discovering the base to be empty, (and finding remains of countless clone troopers and battle droids) Secura went out scouting, during which she encountered a lone battle droid. While removing its appendages, Secura was caught unaware by the native Ewok people and was shot with a tranquilizer dart.

Secura awoke within an Ewok treehouse, and using the battle droid as a translator, learnt that the natives believed her to be a forest spirit. As a spirit, it was her duty to vanquish the Beast in the Mouth of the Mountain. Secura, taking the droid along, complied. Reaching the cave, the Jedi Master tripped on a pile of bones, alerting the Beast to her presence. The Beast quickly impaled the battle droid with its claw, leaving Secura free to use the Force on collapsing parts of the ceiling, forcing them down upon the monster. Having fulfilled her duty as the Ewok's spirit, Secura returned to her Republic gunship, where Bly was waiting. Dismissing her commander's worries, the pair, along with their squadron, headed to Felucia.

Order 66
"When her death came, I hope it was quick. She deserved that much."

- Unknown 501st clone trooper

Aayla was often partnered with Clone Commander Bly, who developed a close friendship with her, and served on worlds as diverse as Honoghr and Saleucami. Following the siege of Saleucami, Aayla and her troops were sent to Felucia to help Knight Barriss Offee uncover a plot to poison Felucia's water supply. There, Aayla had also gained the respect of the 501st Legion in the time they served with her. After freeing Offee and her new Padawan Zonder, Secura and the Padawans Ekria and Drake Lo'gaan were able to discover that Presidente Shu Mai of the Commerce Guild had arranged the poisoning of Felucia's water supply.

While Offee took a squad to Har Gau, Secura and Commander Bly went to Niango. While preparing to engage an oncoming onslaught of droids, Secura glanced to the skies as a Felucian bird flew overhead. Standing behind his friend and commanding officer, the ever-loyal Commander Bly received word from Supreme Chancellor ordering him to carry out Order 66. Before the Twi'lek could ignite her lightsaber she was struck by blasterfire from behind; her troops continued to fire at her body repeatedly after she had fallen to the ground. Soon after, the AT-TE walker that was closest to her fired at Barriss Offee, making her the next victim of the Great Jedi Purge.

Legacy
"They believe you are a forest spirit&hellip;"

- Anonymous B1 battle droid

When the Galactic Empire emerged, official records compiled by Sate Pestage stated that Aayla Secura and Barriss were both executed because they were plotting to poison Felucia's water supply, although it was really the Separatists.

However, despite the attempts of the Empire, Aayla Secura was remembered by the peoples of the worlds she aided, in some cases merging with pre-existing goddess myths or historical figures. Even as late as 40 ABY, the descendants of such worlds were still writing fictitious accounts of her life.

Powers and abilities
"The force has made us strong."

- Aayla Secura

Aayla Secura was trained as a Jedi Guardian, leading her to focus more on the physical aspect of the Force, becoming an impressively skilled fighter. She mastered the fourth form of lightsaber combat, Ataru, and had some skill in Form V, as well as being a user of Jar'Kai. She was an empathic and highly intelligent Jedi, but was impulsive and somewhat mischievous. Thanks to the training of Vos and Tholme, Aayla was very skilled in stealth and infiltration. Aayla also had some skill with Force Cloak. She was also known to use her beauty and Force powers to seduce people into giving information.

Behind the scenes
Aayla Secura was originally created for the Expanded Universe by artist Jan Duursema and writer John Ostrander. After seeing a piece of cover art of the character, Lucas decided to place her in Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith, making Secura one of the few C-canon characters that made it into the films. In the films, she is portrayed by actress Amy Allen. However, the character's appearances in the films are brief, and she sees most of her action in Expanded Universe material.

She is voiced by Jennifer Hale in the Clone Wars TV series. It is noted that Jennifer gives Aayla a slight French-type accent in Star Wars: The Clone Wars. Director Dave Filoni wanted Aayla Secura to have something slightly different for her voice, resembling a post World War II veteran dialogue.

Her surname came from Nat Secura, originally introduced in the short story Of the Day's Annoyances: Bib Fortuna's Tale from Tales from Jabba's Palace. The two eventually appeared together in Rite of Passage. Writer John Ostrander originally wanted to kill Aayla in Twilight, but was convinced by Jan Duursema's daughter to let her live.

Aayla is also depicted in the game Star Wars: Battlefront II (PS2, Xbox, and PC) as having two lightsabers (on Tatooine, Kashyyyk, Cloud City, Yavin 4, both Rhen Var levels, Felucia, and Jabba's Palace)&mdash;a green one and a blue one (although she has blue and purple sabers in the cutscenes and the PSP version), despite the fact that in Attack of the Clones she can be seen fighting with a single blue lightsaber during the Battle of Geonosis, and in Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith, she can be seen carrying one lightsaber in her hand and another on her belt.

Secura is one of the few Jedi that does not wear traditional robes, most likely due to her conceptual origins in the Expanded Universe. It is possible that this is due to the fact that she is a Twi'lek, as Twi'lek females traditionally wore less clothing. She is seen wearing a Jedi robe as a child though.

The packaging of her Sideshow Collectibles 1/6th scale figure (a San Diego Comic Con Exclusive) describes Aayla as a Jedi Master. All other sources state she was a Knight only.

Even though she was shot several times in the back and head in Revenge of the Sith (the scene is revisited in one of the comics in the Hyperspace section of StarWars.com), and a clear statement in the StarWars.com Databank leaves little doubt that she did die, the popularity of the character has led some fans to come up with scenarios which would allow her survival. Any such claims are, of course, fanon. There was speculation that Secura would be making an appearance in Star Wars: The Force Unleashed, battling alongside the surviving Shaak Ti against Vader's secret apprentice, Starkiller. Kari Wahlgren's personal website listed her as voicing Secura, causing more speculation. This appearance was indeed confirmed in the April 2008 when GamePro reported that she would appear in the Wii and PSP-exclusive duel mode. Also in The Force Unleashed, if AAYLA is entered as a cheat code, the Aayla Secura skin is available for use.