Darth Zannah

"I'm a killer, too."

- Zannah to Darth Bane

Zannah, also known as Rain, was a young Human girl from Somov Rit, and cousin to Root, Tomcat (Darovit) and Bug (Hardin). As a young girl, she was recruited to fight for Lord Hoth in the Army of Light during the fight on Ruusan. Upon her arrival on Ruusan, Rain was presumed killed when she fell out of the ship that was carrying her&mdash;unbeknownst to the Jedi, however, she was saved, and befriended, by the Bouncer Laa. She was present at the Sixth Battle of Ruusan, when it was first prophesied that she would become a great Dark Jedi. After Laa and another Bouncer were killed by two Jedi, Rain was overcome with grief and lashed out in anger, killing the Jedi, and feeling the touch of the dark side. Shortly after this display of rage, she was found by Darth Bane, who decided to make the young girl his apprentice.

She later became Darth Zannah, Dark Lord of the Sith.

Early life
Zannah was one of the many children recruited to the Army of Light to fight the Sith. She lived on Somov Rit with her cousins Darovit, Hardin, and Root, and per the custom of the people of Somov Rit, was known by her nickname Rain. Unlike Darovit and Hardin, Rain had not shown any sign of the Force, and when the Jedi scout Torr Snapit arrived on planet looking for Force-sensitives to join the Army of Light on Ruusan, he was initially loath to take her. However, Rain did not want to be left behind while her cousins went off to war, and when she demonstrated her abilities with a display of the Force (though this may have been a deception perpetrated by Darovit), Snapit agreed, and took her, Darovit, and Hardin to fight on Ruusan.

Upon arriving on Ruusan, their ship was attacked by Buzzards from the Brotherhood of Darkness. When a hole was blown in the ship, Rain was blown out to fall to the forests below. She was believed dead by her cousins, but was in fact saved by the Bouncer Laa who was flying below. Cushioned on Laa's soft back, Rain spent the next few days with the Bouncers, recovering.

During the Sixth Battle of Ruusan, the Dark Lords of the Sith used the Force to generate a wave of destruction that obliterated the forests and plains for miles. Rain and Laa were caught in the blast zone, but Rain's unconscious use of the Force saved her, Laa, and the small patch of greenery on which they were resting. Rain realized that she was strong in the Force, and hoped she would become a Jedi, but it was during this period that Laa had a prophetic dream of her as a Dark Jedi. Rain attempted to kill herself by jumping off a cliff, but decided that her destiny was not controlled by a dream, and rescued herself with the Force.

Fall to the dark side
With the widespread destruction on Ruusan, many Bouncers had been driven mad and were sending images of pain and death into the minds of soldiers. The Jedi Petja and a companion were two who elected to kill the Bouncers to prevent a panic in their army, but while they were doing this, Petja shot and killed Laa. The two Jedi saw Rain, who had fallen off Laa, and ran up to her. In her rage, Rain used the dark side of the Force to break the necks of both men, then, crying, returned to the body of Laa.

It was at this time that the Sith Lord Darth Bane, who had been seeking an apprentice, arrived. Bane sensed her power and spoke with her. Rain acknowledged that she was a killer and that it had seemed right, and chose to join Bane. She would henceforth go by her real name of Zannah.

After the battle, she and Bane visited the caves where Kaan had unleashed the thought bomb, where she stumbled across her cousin Darovit, who tried to stop Bane. Zannah caused Darovit's hand to explode, and Bane questioned her on why she allowed him to live; she replied that there would neither be joy nor use in his death. Musing on the deaths of the Sith at their own hands, Bane told her that the new Sith order would have only two members: a master and an apprentice.

Zannah did not travel with Bane from Ruusan to Dxun; instead she met him later on the world of Onderon, after Bane had fully realized his plans for the new Sith Order. Bane took Zannah as his new Sith apprentice, bestowing upon her the title of 'Darth', to be henceforth passed down from Master to apprentice in Bane's new Sith Order. Darth Zannah returned to Ruusan several years after the battle, and engaged her wandering cousin in a final duel, the outcome of which is unknown.



As a Sith Lord, Zannah wielded a unique, red, double-bladed lightsaber powered by a crystal given to her by her master Bane. Long after Zannah's death, this lightsaber came into the possession of General Grievous and then later N-K Necrosis.

Behind the scenes
The character of Darth Bane and his first apprentice was first established by George Lucas in his backstory for Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace, and given to author Terry Brooks to detail in his novelization of the film. As the Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace novelization was written before the identity of Zannah was established, it incorrectly refers to Darth Bane's apprentice as "him".

Zannah's first actual appearance as a character was in Jedi vs. Sith, but she is curiously absent in the short story Bane of the Sith. The New Essential Chronology explained this discrepancy by describing Zannah finding her own way to Onderon. She subsequently appeared in a cameo role in Darth Bane: Path of Destruction and is expected to be featured fully in its sequel, Darth Bane: Rule of Two.

Appearances

 * Jedi vs. Sith
 * Darth Bane: Path of Destruction
 * Bane of the Sith
 * Darth Bane: Rule of Two
 * Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace novelization

Notes and references
Darth Zannah Darth Zannah