Illusion



"That's it&mdash;It's all some kind of magic trick! Don't panic, men, the&hellipuh&hellipSNAKES AREN'T REAL!!"

- Lord Keto

Illusions, or mindforms were dark side Force manifestations, that when conjured through Sith magic, created visible, lifelike astral projections of whatever the conjurer desired. The illusions touched all of an individual's sensory perceptions, and only through concentration on the Force was an individual able to perceive them as being false.

Description
By simply gesturing with one's hands, a magician could create whatever manifestations she desired. As an application of the dark side, sorcerers tended to create hideous forms of serpents and other creatures to torment victims. Playing on all the victim's senses, the illusion could seemingly attack individuals, should they actually believe the apparition to be real. However, the illusion could be undone should the victim cease to belive it exists. The illusions could also be undone if the conjuring sorcerer is interrupted by a powerful light side attack.

History
The ancient Dark Lord of the Sith Naga Sadow was a master of illusion casting. His natural ability was already considerable, but to augment his abilities, Sadow would often employ the use of Sith talismans or technology. During the Great Hyperspace War, he would sit in his meditation sphere and project magnificent illusions of war beasts on the battlefields of Koros Major, Coruscant and Kirrek. His concentration was broken however when one of his own capital ships fired upon his meditation sphere, causing his magical illusions to fade, eventually leading to Sith defeats on all three planets. When the spacer Gav Daragon was being initiated as a Sith apprentice by Sadow, he received from Sadow rudimentary instruction in creating illusions. Daragon's strength was minimal, for every illusion he conjured turned from something pleasing into a hideous spectral form.

Sith sorceress Aleema Keto was also rather proficient with this ability. By simply gesturing with her hands, Aleema could create whatever manifestations she desired. Among her more popular creations were hideous forms of serpents and other creatures she used to torment victims, like the Adegan eel she replaced her former tutor Korus' tongue with. During the First Battle of Empress Teta, Aleema envisioned Space grazers and massive warships against the Galactic Republic fleet. She could also form more obscure illusions, like turning swords into living animals, technology into monsters, or phantoms of severed heads.

Behind the scenes
In the comic version of Dark Lords of the Sith, Aleema's cousin Satal Keto never displays a proficiency with illusion casting. However, in the Dark Lords of the Sith audio rendition, Satal creates illusions and uses them to confound his father and aunt, Lord Keto and Lady Magda Keto.

Appearances

 * Tales of the Jedi: The Fall of the Sith Empire
 * Tales of the Jedi: Dark Lords of the Sith
 * Tales of the Jedi: The Sith War