Seha Dorvald

"Trust isn't anything when it's built on lies. Maybe I'm the stupidest girl you've ever met, but even I can figure that out."

- Seha Dorvald, to Corran Horn, after coming forward of her involvement with Jacen Solo

Seha Dorvald was a Jedi candidate during the Second Galactic Civil War. Born on Coruscant around 22 ABY, most of Dorvald's family was killed following the Yuuzhan Vong's invasion of the galactic capital, and she was orphaned after the subsequent death of her father by a Yuuzhan Vong insect. After the Yuuzhan Vong War had ended, Dorvald met Jacen Solo, a powerful Jedi and hero of the war, during one of his trips to visit the World Brain, near which which Dorvald had lived. He found her to be strong in the Force, and introduced her into the New Jedi Order, though she was too old to become an apprentice.

She would complete tasks at Solo's orders, including smuggling Ben Skywalker out of the Jedi Temple to let him find the Amulet of Kalara. However, following Solo's conversion to a Sith Lord, Darth Caedus, and his invasion of Ossus, Dorvald came forward to the Jedi Masters and confessed to helping Solo. She volunteered to help Kyle Katarn, Valin Horn, and Thann Mithric on a mission to either place a homing device on the Sith Lord, capture him, or kill him. The result of the mission was a near failure, with the death of Mithric and the near-fatal wounding of Katarn, but Dorvald was able to complete the mission by rescuing Katarn and placing the homing device on Caedus before escaping.

Early life
Born circa 22 ABY before the onset of the Yuuzhan Vong War, Seha Dorvald lived on Coruscant during her early childhood. She did not remember her family during her childhood; they were killed following the Yuuzhan Vong's invasion of Coruscant. Dorvald and her father survived the attack, and he took her to the Undercity, on Coruscant's main surface, to hide for the remainder of the war before his death. He was killed by a Yuuzhan Vong insect, leaving Dorvald orphaned. She would survive the rest of the war with several refugees she knew in the Undercity.

Although she knew the war was over, Dorvald decided to stay in the Undercity with refugees after her father's death, because they were the only people she knew. For a while, Dorvald lived near the World Brain, a dhuryam, a Yuuzhan Vong creature who was responsible for the transformation of Coruscant from a planetwide city into a hostile jungle. Dorvald was frightened of the creature because of its appearance; the dhuryam was a larger, more powerful form of a yammosk, a brainlike creature with many tentacles and a single, large tooth that coordinated attacks during the Yuuzhan Vong War. Dorvald then met the Jedi hero, Jacen Solo, when he took a journey into the Undercity to meet the World Brain. Noticing her dislike of the World Brain, whom Dorvald described as a horrible creature, he told her that what it looked like had nothing to do with its nature. Solo also noticed Dorvald's Force potential and sponsored her admittance into the Jedi Order, even though she was considered too old to become an apprentice. Because of Solo, Dorvald felt indebted to him and would often aid him by secreting items to and from the Jedi Temple for him.

Second Galactic Civil War
By the time the Second Galactic Civil War had started in 40 ABY, Dorvald had grown into a capable Jedi candidate. She continued to complete various tasks for Solo, though she did not know he had apprenticed himself to the Sith Lady Lumiya. Solo, who had wanted to test Luke Skywalker's son, Ben, to see if he was ready to become a Sith apprentice, had Lumiya disguise herself as him to give Dorvald a message that she was to deliver to the younger Skywalker. Dorvald was also tasked to aid Skywalker's escape from the Jedi Temple to find the Amulet of Kalara, a Sith artifact. Dorvald delivered the message to young Skywalker, who found her attractive, and helped Skywalker escape without detection by opening up an secret passage, unknown to most of the Jedi, out of the Temple. Dorvald never knew she had been tricked by a Sith, though she would not unwittingly serve Lumiya much longer.

When Solo, who secretly became the Sith Lord Darth Caedus after he killed Jedi Master Mara Jade Skywalker, ordered his troops to seize the Jedi Temple, Dorvald destroyed the Temple's computers so that Caedus and the Galactic Alliance Guard, a secret police organization, would not be able to capture valuable information from the Jedi. Dorvald also carried out a complete set of records and saved two Jedi Knights from death by leading them to safety through Coruscant's Undercity, using her knowledge of the pathways there.

When Grand Master Luke Skywalker, husband of the slain Mara Jade Skywalker, gave Jedi Master Kyp Durron the responsibility of planning a mission to kill or capture Caedus, Durron was forced to search for a Jedi with knowledge of the Coruscant Undercity. His initial choice had been Zekk, who had grown up there, but he changed his mind after realizing the team would need knowledge of Coruscant after its Vongforming, and finally settled on Dorvald. When she was called upon to meet Skywalker, she confessed to him that she was a traitor to the Order. She told Skywalker about her past and how she helped Caedus; that she kept him updated on things going around in the Temple, smuggled things in and out for him, and that she helped Ben escape the Temple on Caedus's orders. Dorvald told Skywalker that she felt indebted to Caedus for sponsoring her to be in the New Jedi Order, and that it was the reason for her betrayal.

After hearing her confession, Skywalker was hesitant in allowing Dorvald, who was only a Jedi candidate, to go on the mission, and he only conceded after he agreed that someone who knew the new Undercity was needed most for the mission. Dorvald was joined in her task by Jedi Master Kyle Katarn and Jedi Knights Valin Horn, Thann Mithric, and Kolir Hu'lya. Dorvald successfully led the team underneath the Senate Building, where they stayed for a few hours. Katarn tasked her with placing a tracking device onto Caedus, and to leave the fight afterward regardless of whether the mission to eliminate Caedus succeeded.

Intimidated by the task she was given, Dorvald was forced to watch the four Jedi confront Caedus in a lightsaber duel. She lifted the tracking device into the air toward the Sith Lord, waiting for the moment when the fight was at its most chaotic. Dorvald was initially impressed by the skill of the combatants as they dueled, but her excitement turned into horror when she saw Caedus impale Katarn in the chest with his lightsaber. Dorvald decided that it was the moment to place the tracking device onto Caedus, which she performed successfully, planting it on his cloak. While the remaining Jedi continued to fight against their adversary, Dorvald used the Force to pull Katarn, who was still alive, out of the fight. When the Jedi's previously planned airborne escape seemed impossible, Dorvald created an escape route by blowing up a hatch that was a few stories below from where they hid with explosives, and lowered herself and Katarn through the newfound path. While she escaped, Caedus killed Thann Mithric by decapitating him, finishing their duel. After Mithric's death, Horn, Katarn, Hu'lya, and Dorvald escaped using the pathway Dorvald had created, and she led them through the Undercity to a safehouse, which they used until they escaped from Coruscant.

Personality and traits
Dorvald was a shy girl by nature&mdash;she had lost her family at an early age, and showed nervousness around Ben Skywalker and the Jedi Masters. However, she showed a keen willingness to get the job done, shown by paying a debt to Solo even after he had betrayed the Jedi, and also by rescuing Katarn from the duel after he had been given a near-fatal wound. Her emotions were periodically wild, and she had a tendency to cry, which caused Corran Horn, a Jedi Master, to doubt her ability to become a Jedi. Dorvald, however, made it known to him and the rest of the Jedi that she was able to learn from her mistakes, and proved her capability as a Jedi further when she was able to complete her mission concerning Darth Caedus.

Powers and abilties
Dorvald showed latent Force powers, though they were not fully developed because she had been inducted into the New Jedi Order late. She knew basic Force applications such as Force pushes and pulls, elements of telekinesis.

Behind the scenes
The character of Seha Dorvald was created by Aaron Allston for the fourth novel of the Legacy of the Force series, Exile. However, she only made a brief appearance in Exile, and did not appear or receive mention in another book until Fury, the seventh book of the series, which was also written by Allston. He expanded on her character during Fury, though it would be her last appearance in Legacy of the Force.

Appearances

 * Exile
 * Fury

Notes and references
Seha Dorvald