Father (Mortis)/Legends

"I am neither Sith nor Jedi. I am much more."

- Father

The Father was a being who was part of The Ones, the head of a family of powerful Force wielders, known as The Ones. The Father maintained the balance between his Daughter and his Son who expressed affinity to the light and dark side of the Force, respectively, in order to keep the universe safe from unpredictable consequences. At some point, the Father was forced to withdraw from the temporal world with his children to a realm known as Mortis. During the time of the Clone Wars, the Father's days were counted, so when he received word that the Chosen One had been found, he decided to send an outdated Jedi Distress call, in order to draw the attention of the Jedi to himself. When the Jedi Kenobi, Skywalker, and the padawan Tano visited the planet Mortis, Anakin Skywalker encountered the Father on his monastery who tasked Anakin Skywalker him to pass one test, in order to find out whether he really was the chosen one. After successfully passing the test, the Father asked Anakin to take his place on Mortis in order to keep the balance of the Force.

Biography
"My children and I can manipulate the Force like no other, therefore it was necessary to withdraw from the temporal world and live here as anchorites.''" "As a sanctuary?" "''And a prison. You cannot imagine what pain it is to have such love for your children and realize they could tear the very fabric of our universe"

- The Father and Anakin Skywalker

The Father was the leader of The Ones, a powerful family of Force wielders, more powerful in the Force than any Jedi, capable of using the Force in ways no known mortals of the galaxy could. His Son and his Daughter expressed an affinity toward the Dark and Light side of the Force respectively, and it was his duty to keep them in balance. At some point of his life, he was forced to withdraw from the temporal world with his children to a world known as Mortis, located in the Chrelythiumn system in order to live there as anchorites. After that, few in the galaxy still knew about their existence.

The discovery of the Chosen One
"Cannot sleep? To strike an unarmed man is hardly the Jedi way.''" "You're a Sith Lord!" "You have a very simple view of the Universe. I am neither Sith nor Jedi. I am much more, and so are you." "I see through your spells and visions, old man. Tell me what is going on here!" "''Some call us, Force-wielders."

- The Father and Anakin Skywalker

In 21 BBY during the time of the Clone Wars the Father received news that the Chosen One had been found, and since he had longed for this moment so long, he decided to meet him in person, and send a 2000-years-old emergency distress call, which was intercepted by the Admiral Tenant, who was patrolling space beyond the Outer Rim. Upon receiving this message, the Jedi Order had a meeting in which they decided to dispatch Jedis Obi-Wan Kenobi, Anakin Skywalker and Ahsoka Tano. On their way to the coordinates indicated in the distress signal, the Jedi were to meet with a heavily armed cruiser, fearing it to be a Separatist trap, but the Father, separated the Jedi from their escort, and attracted them to a monolith, in which he landed their ship. Upon arrival, the three Jedis were received by the Daughter on behalf of the Father. During their way to meet him, the Jedis were separated by the Son, who had set a trap for them. After separation, the Daughter told Skywalker to stay where he was, and to wait for her return. Anakin refused and went to find a way off the planet, until he found a monastery, in which he thought, would be the answer for his escape. When Anakin entered the temple, the Father greeted him, and offered him a place to stay the night, but when Skywalker was sleeping, the Son appeared to him in the form of his mother, and he assumed it was the old man. After the experience, Anakin Skywalker accused the Father of being a Sith Lord, and held his lightsaber to him, but the Father merely grabbed the blade and forced it on its hilt, deactivating it, much to Skywalker's surprise. He then proceeded to explain Anakin the nature of his children, himself, the Force, and his beliefs on the Chosen One, to which he suggested a test, in order to find out if Skywalker was indeed the Chosen One. The morning of the next day, the Father had ordered his children to capture and kill Obi-Wan Kenobi and Ahsoka Tano, to begin with the test. Skywalker, terrified, tried to refuse to "play", but the Father told him that only he could make his children release his friends. Then Anakin embraced the Force within Mortis, and forced both the Son and the Daughter, light and dark, to free his friends, then he forced them both to kneel before him. Surprised, the Father asked Anakin to stay and take his place, and revealed that he was dying and that only the Chosen One could tame his children when he died. Skywalker refused and Father warned him that his selfishness would haunt him and the galaxy, but nonetheless, the Father respected Skywalker's decision and allowed for him to leave Mortis with his companions.

Losing control
However, the Son boarded their ship while they were in flight, kidnapped Ahsoka Tano, and forced the ship downward. After poisoning her to the dark side, Son returned to his father's side, who became concerned with his immersion into the dark side. Son blasted Father in back with Force lightning, nearly killing him, just as Kenobi arrived to seek the Father's help. Bringing him back inside his temple to recover, Kenobi convinced Daughter to help him stop Son before he could escape Mortis and wreck havoc on the galaxy. Reluctantly, Daughter showed Kenobi the altar of Mortis containing a dagger that could kill Son.

As the battle between light and dark raged, Father awakened and flew to stop the battle between his children, hurling them amongst the Jedi. Son turned his anger against his father, who was unable to prevail against him in his still-weakened state. Obi-Wan Kenobi threw the dagger to Skywalker, but it was snatched by Tano and given to the Son. Having no further use for her, Son killed Tano by snuffing out her life force and prepared to plunge the dagger into his father, but Daughter leapt between them, taking the blow instead. Screaming with sudden anguish, Son fled the scene.

With Daughter dying, the balance of the Force was upset, and the planet began to descend into darkness. Anakin Skywalker refused to leave his Padawan behind, however, and Daughter used Skywalker as a conduit to channel the last of her life force into Tano, bringing her back to life though leaving her with no memory of what had happened. Father implored the Jedi to leave before Son could take their ship to escape the planet, and warned them that with the balance disrupted, the Dark Side and the Sith will gain the upper hand in the galaxy. Unable to do anything else, the three Jedi left the mournful Father by the side of his daughter.

Father sealed Daughter into a mausoleum with the dagger resting upon her breast. As soon as he closed her tomb, he was approached by Anakin, who desired help in defeating Son. Father refuses him any aid, fearing that Son would use Skywalker to further tip the balance of the Force. He advised the young Jedi Knight to look inside himself for answers.

As Anakin Skywalker tracked Son to the Well of the Dark Side, he was given a glimpse of his dark future and joined Son to prevent it from happening. Father approached Skywalker while Son flew off to retrieve the Dagger of Mortis. After telling the Jedi that the future is not set in stone, Father erased the vision of Skywalker's future as Darth Vader from his mind and convinced him to help him kill the Son. Father fatally stabbed himself, and the Son showed some remorse, much to Father's relief, having always believed that there was good in him. In the confusion, Skywalker killed the Son with his lightsaber. With his dying breath, Father proclaimed Skywalker the Chosen One, for bringing balance to Mortis, but warned the Jedi that what he has seen (and forgotten) must happen for balance to be restored to the Force in the galaxy. As he died, his body disappeared. With Father's death, Mortis began to fall apart and the Jedi were returned to normal space as if nothing happened.

Personality and traits
"You cannot imagine what pain it is to have such love for your children... and realize that they could tear the very fabric of our universe"

- The Father, to Anakin Skywalker

The Father was a wise and powerful being who loved both of his children dearly. As a paragon of balance in the Force, the Father, while benevolent, was also quite practical, and was willing to do anything in order to maintain the Force's balance both on Mortis, and in the universe at large. Recognising that he was dying, and that only the legendary Chosen One could replace him as the balance keeper, the Father orchestrated a plan to bring Anakin Skywalker (under the correct assumption that Skywalker was the Chosen One) to Mortis so that he could replace the Father when he died. In order to ensure that Skywalker was the Chosen One, the Father arranged a test where the Jedi Knight would have to control both the Son and the Daughter in order to save his friends. Although it is unknown whether the Father would have allowed Tano's or Kenobi's deaths in the event that he was wrong, that he was willing to test Skywalker in such a way spoke to his wisdom: He had to be absolutely sure that Skywalker was the Chosen One before revealing the purpose of the test, and, indeed, the Father himself, to the Jedi.

The Father's love for his children, although great, did not blind him to the Son's growing corruption by the dark side, and he warned his child against further immersing himself in the dark side. It broke the Father's heart when his daughter was killed defending him from the Son, and it only worsened his grief to accept that in order to preserve the balance while it lasted, the Son had to die. Although the Son resented his father for keeping him trapped on Mortis, the Father always loved him, and wanted desperately to save his son from the dark side, even going as far as to commit suicide to show the Son the error of his ways. The Father's love for his children ultimately led to his death; In his final moments after stabbing himself, he had seemingly saved his beloved son, only to watch him die by Skywalker's hand a moment later.

Powers and abilities
"My children and I can manipulate the Force like no other."

- The Father

The Father, like his children, was an exceptionally powerful being. He was able to touch a lightsaber blade with his bare hand, showing no discomfort, pain, or injury from gripping the blade, and could deactivate the weapon by literally forcing the blade back into its hilt. He was also able to sense that Skywalker had approached him, and was pointing his lightsaber at the Father's face, all without so much as opening his eyes. Although both of the Father's children were extremely powerful Force-wielders in their own rights, the Father was, for many years, powerful enough to control them both. However, age weakened the Father, and by the time he brought the Jedi to Mortis, he could still muster enough telekinetic power to force apart his battling children, as well as absorb a lightning attack from the Son, but was overcome by a sustained onslaught. In their final confrontation, the Son claimed that the Father had no power to keep him on Mortis, and indeed, the Father did not even attempt to fight his son, instead committing suicide to weaken him.

Despite the Father's advanced age, he still had an impressive command of some esoteric Force powers. After being attacked by the Son, an assault where he had been electrocuted and fallen down a large flight of stairs, the Father was left unconscious for some time, but upon regaining consciousness, he showed no adverse effects from the assault, and was strong enough to fly to the Son's tower and break up the Son and the Daughter's battle. Impressively, the Father was also able to erase a considerable amount of Skywalker's memories, specifically his visions of the future and everything afterward, with a simple tap on the forehead.

Behind the scenes
The Father was voiced by Lloyd Sherr.

According to the episode guide for "Ghosts of Mortis," the fact that the Father was the only member of The Ones to fade into the Force upon his death, as did Obi-Wan Kenobi and Yoda, was intentional.