Ashara Zavros

"Passion, peace. Strength, knowledge. Power, serenity. Victory, harmony. Freedom, the Force."

- Ashara Zavros

Ashara Zavros was a female Togruta Jedi Padawan who served the Jedi Order until she joined Kallig and the Sith Empire during the Cold War. During her training, she aided the Sith Lord Kallig, the future Darth Nox, in the Dark Lord's plans to become stronger, which resulted in the deaths of her masters. Thus, she felt forced to join the Sith Lord, as she could not return to the Jedi Order after what she had done.

Biography
Born around 3662 BBY during the Great Galactic War, she was taken into the Jedi Order at the age of five. Ashara came from a family of powerful Force users, including her ancestor, Kalatosh Zavros, a former Jedi who had been part of Darth Revan's Sith Empire, and who had died in Darth Malak's bombardment of Taris three centuries before.

During the Galactic War between the Galactic Republic and the Sith Empire in 3642 BBY, Ashara had come to Taris to train under Jedi Masters Ryen and Ocera, whose philosophy was that Padawans best learn the travails of using the Force through firsthand experience of the galaxy. Learning the knowledge of the Jedi, Ashara managed to become an outstanding student to Master Ryen and applied the principles of the Code to her satisfaction. However, she was dissatisfied with the situation on Taris, and hoped for an attack against the Sith, because she despised the approach of the Empire.

In Ashara's case, the Masters brought her to Taris for two reasons: First, to teach her compassion amidst the destruction that had occurred there and warn against the dangers of pride and the dark side. Second, to complete her trials by helping to drive a dark ghost from the ruins of a Jedi enclave.

At the same time, Kallig, a recently promoted Lord of the Sith, reached Taris and went on the search of the Jedi, as the powerful Sith Lord learned from Elios Maliss that Ashara was descended from a powerful spirit. In order to defeat Darth Thanaton, Kallig decided to find Ashara, and bind the spirit of her ancestor. While Kallig was on the search, Zavros was assigned by Ryen to a team preparing an attack against the Sith. Kallig needed to get to Ashara, and learned of her traits through holocron records of her training sessions. Using this knowledge to bait her, Kallig told Ashara to clear the Jedi Enclave, and summon the ghost. However, Ashara couldn't bring herself to do it and alerted her Masters, who then attempted to stop the Sith Lord. However, Ashara's Masters easily fell before Kallig. Ashara was then forced to summon Kalatosh. Her ancestor was not happy being awakened and tried to kill her, only for Kallig to refuse to allow it. The Sith then bound him and took his power. With no way to return to the Jedi after what she had done, Ashara chose to follow Kallig.

As apprentice to Kallig, she still held to her ideals as a Jedi, but served her new master. Her goal was to create a lasting peace between the Jedi and the Sith, and by extension, the Republic and Empire. When her master grew ill from binding too many Force ghosts, she aided Darth Zash in finding a cure. She would see Kallig become Darth Nox and rise to the Dark Council along with the other members of the Sith Lord's personal crew.

At a later stage in the Galactic War, while meditating on the Force, Ashara had a vision of Nox being killed by roots and vines on a jungle planet, causing her pass out. When she came to, she informed her Master of what she seen. She then mentioned that a woman spoke to her through the Force, asking her to tell Nox to go to Rishi. Andronikos Revel then informed them that Rishi had been entered into the Fury's navicomputer. Nox identified it as a subtle message and set a course for Rishi. Ashara then informed Moff Valion Pyron, an ally of her Master's, of the Order of Revan infiltration of the Empire, prompting the Moff to perform a discreet search for infiltrators.

Personality and traits
While a capable fighter and knowledgeable of the Jedi Code, Ashara always believed that Jedi should be pro-active against the Sith and that she deserved better. These traits brought her close to the dark side, but even while traveling with Kallig, she tried her best to keep to the Jedi ways.

During her time spent with Kallig, Ashara found many contradictions within the Sith Order. They claimed to follow their passions but were always at each others throats with no thoughts of friendship. She even criticized the Empire's xenophobic outlook when the original Sith were not human. Despite this, through debate and discussion with Kallig, she came to the conclusion that the best hope for peace was not to destroy the Empire, but to reform it, feeling that an Empire that was strong but rational would do better than the Republic.

Powers and abilities
"I was the best duelist in my class."

- Ashara Zavros

Ashara was a powerful Padawan, claiming to be the best duelist in her class and even stated she had beaten Master Ocera in lightsaber combat. She was a practitioner of the Jar'Kai dual-saber fighting style, making her melee attacks quite fierce and ruthless. She was also known to be skilled with the Force, such as Force Burst, but used it less often than her physical strikes.

Behind the scenes
Ashara Zavros is voiced by Azura Skye in Star Wars: The Old Republic. Depending on the choices of the player, the Sith Inquisitor and Ashara may work together to find power bases on both sides of the Empire and Republic that would agree to a truce. If so, the following may happen:

Ashara first went to a Jedi Master who advised Padawans but was refused, making her angry and convinced of the Sith Code's sincerity concerning "Peace is a lie". She would eventually find hard line Jedi who broke off from the Order. Though they are hesitant to believe a Sith would work for peace, they believe in Ashara's sincerity.

Romance
Ashara can be romanced by the male Sith Inquisitor. She will only progress her courtship status with the player if the player chooses to make the more rational choices (usually light-sided), rather than choosing those of malice and cruelty (dark-sided). At some point, the player is given the option to flirt with her, which will begin their romance. If the relationship actually reaches its peak, she and the Inquisitor will decide to get married after the war is over.

Appearances

 * Star Wars: The Old Republic
 * Star Wars: The Old Republic: Rise of the Hutt Cartel
 * Star Wars: The Old Republic: Galactic Starfighter
 * Star Wars: The Old Republic: Galactic Strongholds
 * Star Wars: The Old Republic: Shadow of Revan