Abeloth

"Once you were with me, here in the Maw. Once you were all with me. Now you are apart, but one by one, you are all awakening. And once awake, you can hear my call, and come to me."

- Abeloth

Abeloth was a being who inhabited a planet in the Maw and was very powerful in the dark side of the Force. At some point in time, she was confined in Sinkhole Station, a space station in the Maw. From there, she used her powers to call out to Force-sensitives in the Maw, instilling in them a psychosis that caused paranoia within them, calling for them to return to Sinkhole Station. There, the Force-sensitives, known as Mind Walkers, traveled in a realm of the Force called beyond shadows while Abeloth fed off of their life energies. At some point, she met and consumed Callista Ming.

In 43 ABY, several Jedi Knights who had spent time in the Maw during the Yuuzhan Vong War began to feel the effects of her influence. Around this time, Abeloth also took control of the Sith Meditation Sphere Ship, which was pursued by a Sith strike team. The team tracked Ship to Abeloth's planet, and they found her there. She pretended to help them, but actually continually forced Ship to remain hidden from the Sith, meanwhile using her control over the world's carnivorous plants to kill many of the Sith. Meanwhile, however, Luke Skywalker and his son, Ben, had found the Mind Walkers and learned how to travel beyond shadows, where Abeloth saw them. She finally let Ship return to the Sith, so that the strike team could leave the planet and continue on to their second objective&mdash;killing the Skywalkers. Their attack failed, however, leaving just one Sith survivor, Vestara Khai.

Later, the Sith decided to try and force Abeloth to join them, and formed an alliance with the Skywalkers, lying that their apprentices, too, had begun to develop the psychosis. Abeloth, meanwhile, grew in power and destroyed Sinkhole Station, killing the Mind Walkers there and freeing herself from its confinement. The allied Sith and Jedi found her on her planet and attacked her, although she attempted to convince Luke that she was actually Callista. He saw through her pretense, however, and in the ensuing battle, he apparently killed her. However, the Skywalkers and three Sith remained behind to investigate more into Abeloth, and they eventually found that she was not actually dead.

Biography
Abeloth was a being extremely powerful in the dark side of the Force. She inhabited a planet in the Maw, and also existed beyond shadows&mdash;a realm that Force-sensitives entered when separating their minds from their bodies; although the locations within this realm existed in reality on Abeloth's planet. She was confined by the space station Sinkhole Station, which was inhabited by Mind Walkers, Force-sensitive beings whom she influenced with her powers, causing in them a paranoia and a desire to return to her; one which was only satisfied when they found her at Sinkhole Station, or on her homeworld. Abeloth fed off of the life energies of the Mind Walkers, giving her more strength. Sometime prior to 44 ABY, Callista Ming came across Abeloth, who consumed and killed her.

In 43.5 ABY, several Jedi Knights who had spent time at Shelter in the Maw during the Yuuzhan Vong War began to feel the affects of her influence, causing them to believe that everyone except for other such psychotic beings had been replaced by an impostor. This caused a rift between the Jedi Order and the Galactic Alliance government, as the two factions disagreed on how to deal with the issue. Abeloth also sent out a call through the Force, forcing Ship, a Sith Meditation Sphere, to travel to her planet in the Maw. Ship, however, had spent the past two years forming a Sith armada for the Lost Tribe of Sith on Kesh. The Tribe sent out a strike team to track down Ship and kill Jedi Grand Master Luke Skywalker&mdash;whose presence they had felt in the Force after he came into contact with the Codex.

Meanwhile, Skywalker and his son, Jedi Knight Ben Skywalker, were attempting to retrace the steps that Jedi Knight-turned-Sith Lord Jacen Solo had taken on his five-year journey after the Yuuzhan Vong War. The Skywalkers found the Mind Walkers, who taught them how to go beyond shadows, where Skywalker saw Abeloth in the Mists of Forgetfulness across the Lake of Apparitions. Referred to by the Mind Walkers as the "Lady in the mists," Abeloth beckoned Skywalker to try to talk to her, but he refused.

Ship, who was under complete control by Abeloth, led the strike team to the planet which Abeloth inhabited. Abeloth took the form of a humanoid female of indeterminate species and befriended the Sith strike team, claiming to be a refugee who had been stranded on the planet for the last thirty years, but all the while secretly sabotaging the Sith's efforts to escape. Abeloth had complete control over all of the planet's native flora, and used them to attack the Sith, including the team's leader, Lady Olaris Rhea, who managed to survive. After the attack on Rhea, however, the Sith Lady's apprentice, Vestara Khai, came to see Abeloth in her true form, just as the Skywalkers saw her beyond shadows&mdash;a woman with an overly large mouth, stubby arms, and hands with long, writhing tentacles instead of fingers. The rest of the strike team, however, still saw Abeloth as a normal humanoid female.

After Abeloth encountered Skywalker beyond shadows, she finally allowed Ship to return to the Sith and transport them to Sinkhole Station to ambush the Skywalkers. Abeloth ordered the Sith to capture them rather than kill them, but Rhea later changed the mission's objective back to kill. The mission, however, proved to be a failure, and Khai was the only Sith survivor. Later, the Skywalkers speculated that Abeloth was the one causing the mysterious illness which afflicted any Force-sensitives who had spent an extended amount of time in the Maw, causing them to develop a paranoia as well as to instill in them a belief that everyone they knew who was not affected by the psychosis was an impostor. Abeloth indeed did so, in the hopes of luring these victims back to the Maw so that she could consume their life energy. Around this time, Ben also suggested that the Celestials might have built the Maw and Centerpoint Station to contain Abeloth and her power, but once Centerpoint was destroyed, Abeloth was freed.

A short time later, Abeloth managed to free herself from Sinkhole Station, destroying the station and killing the Mind Walkers. The Skywalkers, meanwhile, allied with a group of Sith from the Lost Tribe and ventured into the Maw to eliminate Abeloth. After finding Sinkhole Station destroyed, they traveled to Abeloth's planet. There, the Skywalkers' Force-sensitive friend Dyon Stadd, who had fallen prey to her influence, was set free by Khai to find Abeloth. Stadd found her in her cave on the side of a volcano, and Abeloth entranced him before touching him and beginning to consume his life energy. However, she suddenly sensed the approach of the Jedi and Sith allies&mdash;who were tracking Stadd via a homing beacon placed on him by Khai&mdash;and left Stadd for dead, fleeing deeper into the cave. When her foes found her in a courtyard at the end of the cave, Abeloth used Ming's appearance in an attempt to make Skywalker believe that she was, in fact, Ming. Skywalker eventually saw through her charade, however, realizing that she had actually consumed and killed Ming; and attacked her. In the ensuing battle, the Sith betrayed the Jedi and created a control web in an attempt to capture Abeloth and force her to serve them, but she broke free after repulsing all of her assailants with a massive Force wave. She fled back up the cave and consumed and killed the Sith who had been left to stand guard with a recovered Stadd, before turning to Stadd to finish consuming his energy. However, her enemies had recovered from her attack and pursued her back up the cave, and Skywalker suddenly arrived on the scene. She took on the appearance of Stadd while projecting an image of Ming in an attempt to trick Skywalker, but he saw through it and stabbed his lightsaber into what appeared to be Stadd's chest. She morphed back into her true form, then, and prepared to unleash a large wave of dark side energy, but apparently died halfway through. All of the beings who had been affected by her influence were instantly freed. The Skywalkers and three Sith remained behind to investigate more into Abeloth, and they eventually discovered that she was not, in fact, dead.

Personality and traits
Abeloth had the ability to change her appearance at will, often taking on the appearance of Callista Ming, whom she had consumed. However, Abeloth's real form was that of a woman with a large full lipped mouth so broad that it reached from ear to ear, stubby arms that protruded no more than ten centimeters from her shoulders, and hands that had long, writhing tentacles for fingers.

Powers and abilities
While Abeloth appeared as a humanoid female of indeterminate species to most, Luke Skywalker saw her true form beyond shadows and Vestara Khai was able to see her true appearance after Khai discovered Abeloth's treachery against the Sith. Abeloth could command the native flora of her planet to do her bidding and also had the ability to influence the minds of Force-sensitive beings who had spent an extended period of time in the Maw, causing in them a psychosis which made them believe that everyone&mdash;except for other such psychotic beings&mdash;had been replaced by impostors and instilling in them a desire to find her. Once the influenced being found her, she consumed their life energy, killing them and making herself stronger. The strength of her influence was formidable&mdash;even when the Jedi learned what symptoms to look for, upon the onset of the psychosis they still believed that everyone they knew was an impostor. She was also able to control the Meditation Sphere Ship which was programmed to obey the strongest will; her powers overwhelming those of the Sith's and of the Jedi's attempts to control the Sphere.

Abeloth wielded exceptional telekinetic powers, using the Force to blast everyone away from her during her battle with the Sith and Jedi. She was able to resist the powers of a control web, and was also able to teleport herself from one place to another, a power which she also used during her battle with the Sith and Jedi. Abeloth was able to take on the physical appearances of beings that she had consumed, including Callista Ming and Dyon Stadd, and she was also able to project images of other beings, as she did when projecting an image of Callista while she herself took on the form of Stadd in an attempt to trick Luke Skywalker.

Behind the scenes
Abeloth was introduced in the nine-part Fate of the Jedi series, which began in 2009. She was first identified in Abyss, the third novel of the series.

Appearances

 * Outcast
 * Abyss
 * Allies
 * Vortex
 * Conviction

Notes and references
Abeloth