Vergere

"Everything I tell you is a lie."

- Vergere

Vergere was a Jedi Knight and Sith apprentice in the waning years of the Galactic Republic. She was the former apprentice of Thracia Cho-Leem and was instrumental in helping the New Jedi Order defeat the Yuuzhan Vong.

Jedi career
Not much is known of her early life except for an adventure in 33 BBY, when Vergere was part of a Jedi task force sent to Asmeru by Supreme Chancellor Finis Valorum to capture the leaders of the Nebula Front.

According to an account given by Lumiya to Jacen Solo in 40 ABY, Vergere was a rogue student, secretly studying sources outside of approved Jedi doctrine. Lumiya claimed that Vergere's studies of other rogue Jedi, including Count Dooku, had led her to Darth Sidious, and at some point between 32 BBY and 29 BBY, Vergere became a student of the Sith Lord. According to Lumiya, Vergere subsequently attempted to kill Sidious when she discovered the extent of his megalomania, but her murder attempt failed, and she was forced to flee from his assassins, accepting a mission from the Jedi Council to Zonama Sekot, where she was captured by the Yuuzhan Vong. It is unknown how much of this account is true, and even if it is broadly accurate in outline, Lumiya may not have told the whole story.

In 29 BBY, the Jedi Council received reports of an attack on beautiful and mysterious Zonama Sekot, which was known for making incredibly fast spaceships. Vergere was sent to investigate by the Jedi Council, and when she arrived, she discovered that the alien invaders, the Yuuzhan Vong, who were intent on gaining the secrets of the planet's organic technology, were far stranger than she had expected. The Yuuzhan Vong could not be felt through the Force and like the Ferroan colonists on Zonama Sekot, they used biological technology for ships. On top of that Vergere learned that they were actually from another galaxy.

Vergere learned that the Yuuzhan Vong desired to rule more than just Zonama Sekot: they hoped to control the galaxy. When the Ferroans did not comply with their wishes, the Yuuzhan Vong opened fire on the planet. Realizing that the Galactic Republic and the Jedi were not prepared to fight such powerful creatures, Vergere agreed to go with them into their galaxy if they would break off their attack. Amazed by her Jedi talents, which she told them came from Zonama Sekot, they eagerly agreed.

The Jedi Council dispatched Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker to Zonama Sekot in an attempt to discover what had happened to her, to no avail. Several years later, the prospect of discovering her whereabouts was part of the impetus that led to the launching of Outbound Flight.

The Yuuzhan Vong
Over the next fifty years, Vergere lived with the Yuuzhan Vong, teaching them about the Republic and the Jedi while secretly building up a collection of information about the extragalactic aliens themselves. Vergere was able to avoid having her Jedi powers detected by the Force sensing Yuuzhan Vong war coordinators, the yammosks, by learning to "make herself small". Vergere would shrink her presence in the Force to a microscopic size, where she was almost undetectable. In this state she could also modify tiny things like molecules. Vergere became a familiar of Yuuzhan Vong priestess Falung, and later of the Priestess Elan. She also destroyed her lightsaber, hiding her affiliation with the Jedi order.

Somehow, during this time, Vergere was able to help train Lumiya in her views of the Sith.

The invasion
When the Yuuzhan Vong decided to begin their invasion of the Galaxy, Vergere traveled with Elan on several missions and continued to aid the Yuuzhan Vong. Vergere was accompanying her mistress on a covert operation wherein Elan allowed herself to be captured by the Republic, claiming that she was defecting from the Yuuzhan Vong ranks, but in reality was preparing to spring a trap on the Jedi. Elan’s fellow Yuuzhan Vong were not informed of her plan and attempted to rescue the priestess.

With her options running out Elan sprang her trap, unleashing a cloud of Bo'tous spores, and adding insult to injury was killed by them. Vergere was able to escape, leaving behind a vial of her tears in the process, which turned out to be successful in slowing the deadly Coomb Spore disease that was affecting Mara Jade Skywalker. One of Vergere’s gifts was the ability to control the molecular structure of her tears, giving her the ability to produce poisons as well as antidotes from her tear ducts.

Jacen Solo
"Vergere sacrificed herself so you could assume the Sith mantle she wanted for you."

- Lumiya

After returning to the Yuuzhan Vong, she rose through their ranks, becoming an advisor to Warmaster Tsavong Lah and an important rival to Nom Anor, whom she was partnered with on a mission to Myrkr to capture the Solo twins. The mission turned out to be only a partial success, as only one of the twins: Jedi Knight Jacen Solo was captured. Vergere took a great interest in the young Jedi, torturing Jacen using the methods of pain that the Yuuzhan Vong had perfected. Through this torture Jacen came to understand the ways and motives of the Yuuzhan Vong. Jacen became Vergere's apprentice, and she passed on to him her unique philosophies and theories about the Force who could return true order and stability to the galaxy. Vergere stressed to Jacen the concept that there was no dark side and that the Force itself is neutral. All bad and dark motions comes through the Force user himself who uses his abilities with wrong and selfish motives. To become a true Jedi one must ever ask what serves the Force and not what serves the user to reach his/her goal.

The unlikely pair hatched a plan to sabotage the Yuuzhan Vong terraforming of Coruscant. The former city-covered world had been captured by the Yuuzhan Vong and was slowly being transformed into a jungle planet reminiscent of Yuuzhan'tar, the extra-galactic world that the Yuuzhan Vong had originated from. Jacen had established a psychic connection with the World Brain, the controller of the terraforming process, when it had been a seedling. Using this connection the two were able to wreak havoc on the Yuuzhan Vong-held planet and eventually escape Coruscant.

Vergere and Jacen returned to what was left of the New Republic. Suspicious of her motives, the New Republic imprisoned her for a time while they determined whether she was a defector or a spy. During her internment Vergere had several discussions with Jedi Master Luke Skywalker about the nature of the Force and the Yuuzhan Vong. Skywalker wondered why they were seemingly outside of the Force, and whether they deserved the same rights as others. She convinced him that they did, changing some of his opinions concerning the Jedi Order's part in the war. Soon after Vergere was released, she learned of the deadly Alpha Red bio-weapon and destroyed it using the chemical properties of her tears, which led the New Republic to label her as an enemy and force her into hiding.

But Vergere was drawn to Ebaq 9, where Jacen was participating in a hazardous mission against the Yuuzhan Vong. During the Battle of Ebaq 9, Vergere tricked the Yuuzhan Vong into allowing her to get close to their base. Sensing Jacen was in mortal danger she acquired an A-wing starfighter and crashed it on the surface of the asteroid, in the heart of the Yuuzhan Vong’s forces, killing herself along with all of the Yuuzhan Vong, except Warmaster Tsavong Lah, who was defeated in close combat soon after by Jedi Knight Jaina Solo. She appeared to Jacen Solo after her death to comfort him. Vergere and Luke Skywalker believed that he had a special destiny, and that she must aid him in finding it.

Legacy
"The dark side corrupts, the Sith are inevitably drawn to evil." "I can prove one who isn't."

- Jacen Solo and Lumiya

In 40 ABY, Lumiya lured Jacen Solo, his cousin Ben Skywalker, and Jedi Nelani Dinn to the alleged ancient home of Darth Vectivus. She convinced Jacen of Vergere's association with the Sith. Following this, Jacen agreed to learn about the Sith philosophy from Lumiya and, murdering Dinn to prevent Lumiya's arrest and wiping Ben's memory to assure no knowledge of the events would spread, left to make time for his instruction and to search for a Sith apprentice.

Behind the scenes

 * Vergere was created for the New Jedi order series, but first appeared in Rogue Planet as a way of linking the Prequel era with the New Jedi Order era.


 * Vergere has become a serious source of criticism over the NJO. Many fans were appalled that a Jedi Knight of the Old Republic would willfully torture anyone, including a fellow Jedi. She has also been criticized over her denial of the dark side, despite what many fans believe is "ample" evidence during the Original and Prequel trilogies. However, Vergere was intentionally created as an unorthodox teacher. Also, many fans point out that she never really encountered an enemy who was truly dark, and that the Yuuzhan Vong, while barbaric, were, at the core, not evil. Vergere herself did regret torturing Jacen Solo, but felt that it was the only way to "teach" Jacen the truth about the Force. Some reasons for her harshness are discussed in the Legacy of the Force series. It is possible either that her cruelty was due to the NJO planners' knowledge of her Sith allegiance or that fan outrage inspired a retcon that reinvented her as a Sith.

All these clues offer support for the speculation that the Lucasfilm Ltd. authorities had planned at least some of these factors beforehand. Even then, it remains to be seen whether Vergere was fully corrupted during her failed attempt to be a Sith apprentice, or her stay with the Yuuzhan Vong made her unstable, and venture into corruption as a result.
 * There have been several clues pointing towards Vergere's corruption and connetion with the Sith throughout the NJO series, as well as information from certain out of universe sources.
 * The most important source that shows Vergere has been corrupting Jacen with her teachings, is none other than the creator of Star Wars, George Lucas himself. While many fans argue that the mentioning of the "dark side of the Force" in the movies could be taken as purely the belief of Yoda and Obi-Wan Kenobi, George Lucas himself has explicitly stated numerous times, in various interviews as well as commentaries for the movies, that the Force indeed has a light and a dark side, much like how in the Taoist beliefs, the Tao is formed by Yin and Yang, opposites of each other. It is interesting to note that George Lucas's statements, along with the movies, are regarded as G-level canon by Lucasfilm Ltd., and according to their policy, no Star Wars source can contradict G-level canon. All Star Wars material other than the movies, and anything that has no direct connection to George Lucas, are considered to be C-level canon, and in some cases, non-canon, such as the Infinities comics. Thus, the dubious nature of Vergere and her teachings were hinted the very moment she came up with the theory that contradicted all the G-level canon sources.
 * During the events of Traitor, Vergere deliberately lies to Jacen about the Jedi, claiming that the Jedi knew about the force having no dark side, and pointed out to Jacen the force well buried underneath the Jedi Temple, which at the time was filled with dark side energy, and told him that the Jedi would not have built a temple there if it was really dark side energy. Meanwhile, it has been shown that the force well has always been pure force energy with no corruption, until Luke Skywalker, Mara Jade and Tahiri Veila encountered and killed Lord Nyax, who died at that very spot, unleashing dark energy into the well and corrupting it.
 * In Traitor, Vergere explains to Jacen has that the Force has no dark side, and that what the Jedi call the dark side is actually the true, unleashed nature of the Force. This is in fact, the most important Sith teaching, and Darth Vader hinted to Luke the same thing when he was trying to convert Luke to the dark side. He said "The Emperor will show you the true nature of the Force." Also, this belief of the Sith is shown in more detail in the Emperor's own thoughts, in the novelization of Episode I: The Phantom Menace.
 * Power of the Jedi Sourcebook, an out of universe Star Wars EU source, which was released right after the book Traitor, explains that the belief that the Force has no dark side, which is also called the Potentium Heresy, is in fact a corrupted teaching that leads to the dark side, with the followers believing they are right and the others are wrong, and rarely perceiving their mistake, without help from the Jedi who tried to guide them back to the light.
 * In her RPG statistics, Vergere is shown to have the ability to speak Sith. This is a feat that applies to Sith Lords and Sith apprentices alone, and the only person ever to have the same feat other than the Sith, is the ancient Jedi Master Odan-Urr, who studied Sith Holocrons, and is also the person who wrote the Jedi code. This in itself was one hint, that showed that Vergere had some connection to the Sith. While the previous clues hinted the dark nature of Vergere, this particular clue could be seen as the most important piece. When combined with Lumiya's revelation of Vergere's Sith connections, the "Mystery of Vergere" becomes revealed, as the authors stated about one of the events that would happen in Legacy of the Force.

Appearances

 * Cloak of Deception
 * Rogue Planet
 * Outbound Flight
 * Agents of Chaos I: Hero's Trial
 * Edge of Victory II: Rebirth
 * Star by Star
 * Traitor
 * Destiny's Way
 * Betrayal