Darth Cognus

Darth Cognus, also known as The Huntress, was an Iktotchi female assassin, then a Dark Lady of the Sith and a member of Darth Bane's Sith Order.

Early life
From 985 BBY to 980 BBY, Cognus was working as an assassin and was known only by the name "the Huntress". She was well known as one who always caught their prey, and this was due of her talent in to the Force that allows her to focus on a certain person and find them through memories and visions in the Force.

Missions for the Princess of Doan
In the year 980 BBY, the Huntress took a job from Lucia, the bodyguard of Doan princess Serra, to assassinate the leader of a militant mining organization that was responsible for the death of Serra's husband, Crown Prince Gerran. Lucia had hired her secretly and without the approval of the Doan royal family, as she was tired of seeing the princess moping around doing nothing to avenge her late husband. In the ensuing assassination, the Huntress also accidentally killed a Jedi who was on Doan to negotiate with the miners. After the King of Doan accused Serra of having some responsibility in the deaths, Lucia later privately admitted responsibility to the princess. In order to further bury Lucia's involvement, the Princess undertook a trip to Coruscant to inform the Jedi that their comrade's death was not the fault of the Doan Royal family. While there, Jedi Master Obba inadvertently revealed to Serra that her father Caleb was killed by a Sith ten years ago. After parting company with the Jedi, Serra implored Lucia to locate the Huntress on her behalf and have her meet her on Ambria.

Having located the Huntress on Paradise, Lucia laid out Serra's offer to her, and handed her a datapad with coordinates on it. Lucia told a skeptical Huntress that her mistress required her services and that she was paying triple her normal rate if she would meet with Serra at the location and accept the job. While contemplating the offer, the Huntress fell into what appeared to be a trance. After her trance was over, the Huntress accepted the offer and traveled to Ambria to rendezvous with Serra.

Arriving on Ambria, The Huntress met with Serra at Caleb's camp. Serra explained that she wanted to hire the Huntress to find a man who at that location many years ago. The Huntress sensed through the Force while trying to find the man that Serra grew up at that spot, and identified Caleb as a wise and strong healer. Serra said that her father was not the man she was looking for, and instructed the Huntress to find another man: "tall and muscular....bald...evil". After viewing the faces of those Caleb had healed, she found the face of Darth Bane. The Huntress informed Serra that there were two others with Bane when Caleb was killed: a young woman and a young man. She was then assaulted with images of Caleb's death and the young man that was forced into insanity. The Sith Lord and the young woman were hidden in her visions by a veil of Sith sorcery. The Huntress tried to pierce the veil, but was forced out of her vision. Serra demanded to know what the Huntress saw, and she admitted to Serra that Bane was powerful and that she couldn't kill him alone. Serra said she wanted Bane alive, at which point the Huntress said she was not a bounty hunter. Serra replied that she would pay the Huntress ten times her normal rate and provide her with as many mercenaries as she needed to capture Bane, and provided the Huntress with some senflax with which to paralyze Bane. Intrigued more by the challenge of capturing a Sith Lord than by the money, the Huntress accepted the job.

Using the Force, the Huntress tracked Bane to Ciutric IV. Armed with twenty mercenaries and a member of the Doan Royal Guard, the Huntress managed to subdue Bane, who had just returned from a trip to Prakith to recover Darth Andeddu's holocron, with the senflax at his residence on Ciutric IV, confiscating his lightsaber and his own holocron. As ordered, the Huntress brought Bane to the Stone Prison on Doan, and the Doan Royal Guard confiscated Darth Andeddu's holocron. While on Doan, the Huntress watched as Serra tortured Bane using several drugs, and seemed to take delight in Serra's anger and pain.

Darth Bane's escape
With the help of Lucia, who remembered and idolized Bane from their days together in the Gloom Walkers, Bane escaped from his bonds. The Huntress did nothing to stop Bane from escaping, and followed Serra to see how she would "react to her failure" in regards to not killing Bane when she had the chance. When Serra assured the Huntress she would be ready for Bane next time, the Huntress told her there would be no "next time", and that Serra was powerless once again. Serra ordered the Huntress to leave, but the Huntress refused, stating that the future was sitting on the edge of a knife, and she wanted to see what would happen when Bane escaped. Serra insisted that Bane would not escape, but the Huntress informed her of Lucia's betrayal. When Serra demanded why the Huntress did not warn her, the Huntress replied that she was not bound to do so, as her job here was finished. The Huntress had foreseen these events, and had stayed just so she could see Serra in pain. Knowing that the Huntress was correct, Serra ran off in the direction of the room with the self-destruct mechanism.

A short time later, the Huntress came across Lucia. The Huntress told her that Serra knew about her betrayal, and informed Lucia of which way Serra ran. After Lucia left, the Huntress headed toward the hangar bay, pondering on her future while staring at Bane's lightsaber and holocron. She reached the hangar a short time later, but didn't board her ship as she felt that her destiny hinged on something that was about to occur at the prison. While walking around, she encountered Set Harth, Zannah's Sith apprentice. Set had just stolen Darth Andeddu's holocron from the Doan Royal Guard and was making his way offplanet to escape Zannah. The ship he wanted to steal belonged to the Huntress, and Set attacked her. The Huntress responded by using a Force power to cripple his ability to use the Force against her. Set fled from the Huntress and hid behind another ship, knowing he could not defeat her. The Huntress eventually found him, and the pair engaged in a verbal fight, with her calling him a coward for fleeing. Set explained that if they fought, he would die; if he trapped them on the planet, he would die; but if he destroyed the shuttles, he would be taking her with him. Grudgingly, the Huntress let him leave the planet on one of the remaining shuttles.

Bane had escaped the prison, and the Huntress was standing next to the remaining shuttle, waiting for him. Recognizing her as the same assassin who captured him on Ciutric IV, Bane attacked her. The Huntress, instead of fighting back, dropped to one knee and bowed down, presenting him with his lightsaber. The Huntress explained to a wary Bane that their destinies were intertwined, and asked to study under him, learning the ways of the Sith. Bane wanted to know what she could offer him, and she said that she would offer loyalty, devotion, a way to escape the prison, and the location of Caleb's daughter. Bane accepted, and they fled the planet.

Looking to find Serra, the Huntress explained to Bane that Serra would return to Ambria, not because visions in the Force told her so, but because that was where they met to discuss Bane's capture. The pair landed their ship on Ambria at the edge of Caleb's camp. Serra emerged from the shack and confronted Bane and the Huntress. Serra told Bane that, like her father, she would not help him if she had a choice in the matter, and she told the Huntress that Bane and the dark side would destroy her. Citing her recent life as an example, Serra told the Huntress that the dark side cost her everything, and Bane replied that the dark side devours those who are weak and unworthy, but rewards those who are strong. Serra again stated that she would never serve Bane. Bane, sensing that she would never change her mind on the issue, let the Huntress kill Serra and ordered her to bury Serra's body.

Birth of Darth Cognus
On the night of Serra's death, Bane and the Huntress built a fire and discussed the Huntress's apprenticeship to Bane. Bane told her she must cast off her old life, so she could not to return home, must sever all ties with family and friends, and leave behind all her possessions. The Huntress replied that she had no family and friends, and that compared to power and purpose, wealth and material goods meant nothing to her. Bane the asked her to choose a new name for herself, to signify her new life. After a moment's deliberation, the Huntress chose the name "Cognus" for herself. Bane was impressed at the choice of her name, as Cognus understood that her power was in her intelligence and her ability to see the future, not in her fighting skills. Bane then pronounced her Darth Cognus of the Sith, and demanded to know what visions Cognus has had of Bane and his old apprentice Darth Zannah. Cognus stated that the details always changed, and that sometimes Bane won, and that sometimes Zannah won. Bane took the visions to mean that he and Zannah were too evenly matched to see the outcome, and arranged for Zannah's shuttle to receive a distress signal from his ship to lure Zannah to Ambria. While waiting for Zannah to arrive, Bane explained to Cognus the basic tenets of the Rule of Two; how there was always a Master and an apprentice, and that one day, the apprentice must kill the Master. If the apprentice is unworthy, they die by the Master's hand. If the apprentice is worthy, they take over as Master. Cognus understood the significance of the rule, and promised not to interfere when Zannah arrived.

Zannah arrived a few moments later, and Cognus stayed near the hut while Bane met with her. Bane assured Zannah that Cognus would not interfere in their duel, and introduced Cognus as a new apprentice. Cognus called out to Zannah that she would serve under whoever won, so if Zannah won, she would serve under her. Zannah agreed, and Bane and Zannah dueled as Cognus watched. During the duel, Bane's body was destroyed as he used the life essence transference spell he had learned from Darth Andeddu's holocron in an attempt to possess Zannah's body. Zannah collapsed to the ground, and when she awoke Cognus thought that Bane had taken over Zannah's body and knelt before Zannah, addressing her as "Bane". Zannah corrected her, introducing herself to Cognus as Darth Zannah, Dark Lady of the Sith and therefore her new Master. Cognus introduced herself to her new master, and told Zannah that her lessons with Bane were too brief to learn anything. Zannah handed Cognus Bane's lightsaber and told her that she would teach her everything in time, including how to build her own lightsaber. Zannah also explained that they were Bane's legacy, and that one day Cognus would face her just as Zannah had faced Bane. Cognus took note of her Master's lessons, but also took note of the tremor in Zannah's left hand; a trait that Darth Bane used to possess.

Dark Lady of the Sith
At some point later in Cognus' life, she took on an apprentice of her own, the three-eyed mutant human Darth Millennial. Cognus, however, was angered by the beliefs of her apprentice, which ran contradictory to Darth Bane's teachings, and drove him away. Millennial, who considered the Rule of Two far too restrictive, fled to the world of Dromund Kaas, where he established the Dark Force religion, while Cognus stayed on the path set forth by Bane and took on a new apprentice to continue her line.

Personality and traits
As an assassin, Cognus was ruthless and cared little for concepts of "good" and "evil". When she was on Paradise, Cognus also enjoyed watching animals fight to the death, often ripping each other apart. She also took great pleasure in watching Bane's torture at the hands of Serra, and also from Serra's reaction when the Huntress told her about Lucia's betrayal.

Cognus was a hired killer, not a bounty hunter, and she balked when Serra offered her large amounts of money to capture, but not kill, a Sith Lord. The job did pique her interest, as she had never fought a Sith Lord before, so she made an exception to take on the job not for the massive amounts of money, but because she considered it a challenge.

Her Sith Master Darth Bane noted that Cognus had ambition, and was impressed that she had chosen as her Sith name one that fit her personality and abilities. By choosing that name, she emphasized her knowledge of the future and her intelligence over her fighting skills. For her part, Cognus herself stated that she craved only power and purpose.

Powers and abilities
If she concentrated, Cognus could use the Force to see visions through the Force of the past and the future of a person or area she was searching for. This particular force talent served her well as an assassin, as she concentrated on her target and the Force would lead her to her target's current location. In her career as an assassin, she always found her target, and only one person she wanted to kill got away: Set Harth.

Cognus also had an ability to disrupt the use of the Force in others, making their Force-based attacks weak.

As an assassin, she carried around two blades, which she wielded with great expertise.

Behind the scenes
Abel G. Peña, the creator of Darth Cognus, stated he personally considered her to be a female. Cognus's gender was later canonized in the book Jedi vs. Sith: Essential Guide to the Force. However, The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia mistakenly identified Cognus as male.

Darth Cognus is set to appear in the third book in the Darth Bane trilogy, which has led to some fan speculation that she is Darth Zannah's apprentice,, which has now been confirmed.

Appearances

 * Darth Bane: Dynasty of Evil

Notes and references
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