Nom Anor

"Nom Anor is a consumate infidel. He thinks only of his own ambition."

- Harrar

Nom Anor was a Yuuzhan Vong of the Intendant caste responsible for most of the Yuuzhan Vong invasion of the Galaxy. By Yuuzhan Vong standards, he was plain and average looking. He was sent ahead of the invasion to gather intelligence and to weaken various local and galactic governments from within to make conquest easier. It was unknown exactly for how long he had been spying on the Galaxy, but some estimates put it at around 20 years.

Pre-Invasion
Nom Anor was born in an intendant caste, and was groomed to live his life as a politician. He rose rapidly though the ranks, and when he reached the rank of Executor, he gouged out his left eye with a burning stick and had it replaced with a plaeryin bol. His goal was then to attain the title of High Prefect.

However, Nom Anor might have done well as a shaper, as he was a taleneted bioengineer. He invented the coomb spore, the gablith masquer, and naotebe wingling, to name a few, disregarding the Yuuzhan Vong religious protocols that restrict the creation of new weapons in the process. Nom Anor had no use for ancient protocols and traditions in general, and only used them to suit his own ends.

Shortly after the death of Emperor Palpatine, Nom Anor was sent on a mission to scout out the Galaxy and destabilize any governments that may pose a threat to make conquest easier. It is not known exactly when Nom Anor arrived in the Galaxy, but he was present by 11 ABY, when he manipulated Xandel Carivus, a key member of the Imperial Interim Council. Either before or after his involvement with the Interim Council, he was involved with foiling the plans of the moffs (presumably either the Central Committee of Grand Moffs or the Moff Council). Nom Anor had correctly considered the Empire to be a greater military threat than the New Republic, and his manipulations helped lead to its downfall.

Thirteen years after Carivus' death, Nom Anor placed his coomb spores in the breath masks of one hundred New Republic diplomats on Monor II, including Mara Jade Skywalker. All of them became infected, and all except Jade Skywalker died from the disease.

After a dormant period, Nom Anor was again stirring up trouble, this time as the leader of the Red Knights of Life extremist group on Rhommamool. He caused friction between Rhommamool and her sister planet Osarian by making several anti-droid, anti-Jedi and anti-technology speeches. As the friction between the two planets escalated to war in 25 ABY, Nom Anor was informed via villip that the Yuuzhan Vong invasion had begun, and faked his own death.

Early Invasion
In 25 ABY, the Yuuzhan Vong invasion began in full force. Led by the Praetorite Vong, the invasion was almost stopped dead in its tracks by their repeated failures, forcing Warmaster Tsavong Lah and the warrior caste to invade much sooner than anticipated. The actions of the Praetorite Vong tainted Nom Anor's reputation by association, so he plotted ways to redeem himself. In a plot to wipe out the Jedi, Nom Anor and the deception sect priest Harrar then schemed to use the priestess Elan in a plot calling for her "defection" to the New Republic. She was wielding deadly spores in her body to infect the Jedi, but the plan to unleash them failed, and Elan was killed by the backfired spores.

Now back to square one, Nom Anor (under the name Pedric Cuf) then forged an alliance with the Hutts, and knowing that Hutts could not be trusted, he fed them false information that was passed onto New Republic Intelligence. As a result of this, the Yuuzhan Vong then took over Hutt Space.

To atone for his past failures, Nom Anor was sent to capture the planet of Duro. Posing as a Duros scientist named Dassid Cree'Ar, he released naotebe winglings that destroyed New Republic refugee encampments, and the planet was captured by Yuuzhan Vong forces. He had redeemed himself in Warmaster Tsavong Lah's eyes, but unfortunately, the Warmaster did not promote him, and the Intendant then found himself competing with Vergere, Tsavong Lah's alien advisor and pet.

To further prove himself, Nom Anor inflitrated the Givin species (who suspected his true nature but did nothing about it) and planned to take Yag'Dhul for the Yuuzhan Vong, but was foiled by Corran Horn, Anakin Solo, and Tahiri Veila. During the mission, Corran challenged him to a duel, but Nom Anor backed down. In order to prevent himself from punishment he killed all the warriors with him with a blaster.

In 27 ABY, Nom Anor went to Coruscant to address the New Republic Senate, in an attempt to persuade it to officially turn over the Jedi to the Yuuzhan Vong. In front of the entire Senate, Chief of State Borsk Fey'lya lashed out at Nom Anor, stating that the Jedi had his full support, denounced him, and had him kicked off Coruscant. Shortly after, Nom Anor and Vergere &mdash; who disliked each other greatly &mdash; were assigned to capture the Solo twins, as twins were sacred in Yuuzhan Vong society. When the Myrkr strike team invaded the voxyn cloning facility on Myrkr, Jacen Solo was captured by Vergere, but Jaina Solo had escaped. After a long breaking session involving the Embrace of Pain, Jacen had pretended to embrace the Yuuzhan Vong way. However, with the help of the traitorous Vergere, he escaped to the Well of the World Brain, and Nom Anor led the forces to recapture him. However, he did not count on Ganner Rhysode, in an amazing display of the Force, slaying warrior after warrior. Nom Anor, along with all the other warriors and Ganner, was buried under a pile of rubble after Ganner brought the ceiling down with the Force, allowing Jacen and Vergere to escape.

After Supreme Overlord Shimrra arrived on Yuuzhan'tar, he donned an ooglith masquer and infiltrated a Shamed Ones Heresy group. While on his way back to the Damutek of the Intendants, he spotted Onimi, Shimrra's familiar, and followed him to a damutek housing Nen Yim's team tasked with making the eight cortex. After learning that the cortex was supposed to have come from the Gods, Anor realized that Shimrra had no connection to the Gods. He quickly decided to put all his efforts into ending the war quickly. When he learned of the Final Redoubt, he brought the information to Shimrra. However, the Battle of Ebaq 9 was in truth a trap, and resulted in Tsavong Lah's death. Knowing that he would be sacrificed, Anor was forced to kill High Prefect Yoog Skell to escape into the Coruscant Underworld.

The Prophet
On the run from a wrathful Shimrra, came unto a group of Shamed Ones lead by Niirit Esh who worshipped the Jedi. The group was eventually massacred by Warriors, but Anor was able to escape. With the help of Kunra, a Shamed Warrior, and Shoon-mi Esh, Niirit's brother, he claimed that he was Yu'shaa, a Yuuzhan Vong prophet, and preached salvation by following the Jeedai heresy and the living planet Zonama Sekot to the oppressed Yuuzhan Vong underclass. Always looking out for himself, he planned to use this planned insurrection of Shamed Ones as an excuse to overthrow Shimrra. His fame as Yu'Shaa had reached the ears of the Supreme Overlord and members of his heresy group had even infiltrated Shimrra's court. He even gained a spy in the form of Ngaaluh, a priestess of Yun-Harla, who accused multiple Intendants of allowing the heresy to spread. Shimrra's reaction caused a wave of terror that Nom Anor could use to his advantage. However, after an assassination attempt by Shoon-mi, and Shimrra's discovery of Ngaaluh's actions, Anor began to have doubts about his plan.

As Yu'Shaa, he then accompanied the Jedi Corran Horn and Tahiri Veila, the Yuuzhan Vong priest Harrar and Master Shaper Nen Yim to Zonama Sekot. While there, he contacted Shimrra and told of his intent to destroy the living planet, then killed the heretic shaper Nen Yim and pushed Harrar off of a cliff. When his attempt to destroy the living planet failed, he fled back to Yuuzhan'tar, where he was promoted to the position of Prefect of Yuuzhan'tar.

Escalation and End
After his escalation&mdash;a surprising action that infuriated many other Intendants&mdash;Shimrra began to develop a renewed interest in Nom Anor, something that High Prefect Drathul particularly resented. Drathul learned that the heretics were planning to disrupt a major sacrifice, and ordered Nom Anor to try and stop it. Nom Anor tried to dissuade the heretics from rebelling, but he could not stop them, as Kunra twisted his words. The movement he had helped create had taken a life of its own.

During the Galactic Alliance's assault on Yuuzhan'tar in 30 ABY, Shimrra placed him in charge of warriors tasked to destroy the heretics. Nom Anor once again took up the guise of Yu'Shaa and led the Shamed Ones in battle against the warriors, but only because he believed that Shimmra had gone insane, as well as to save himself from the wrath of Mara Jade Skywalker. After she caught up to him and defeated him, he informed her of a plan to infect Zonama Sekot with Alpha Red and assisted the Jedi and the Solos in locating Shimrra's Citadel, where Luke Skywalker, Jaina Solo and Jacen Solo were located.

After Shimrra and Onimi were defeated, he tried to kill all present by redirecting them into a waste disposal system. Jacen recognized what he was doing, and Nom Anor spit poison at him with the plaeryin bol, which Jacen turned into water with the Force. He then attempted to board the escape pod, but Leia Organa Solo severed his left hand before he could. Stating that he had no place with either the Yuuzhan Vong or the Galactic Alliance, Nom Anor remained onboard Onimi's dying escape vessel above the planet, where he seemingly died.

Character
While it would be easy&mdash;a quite possibly accurate&mdash;to describe Nom Anor as evil, as closer analysis reveals a very complex being. True, Nom Anor was ambitious, decietful, and murderous, but these things were encouraged in Yuuzhan Vong society, and backstabbing&mdash;literally&mdash;was not only acceptable but praised if successful.

But even by Yuuzhan Vong standards, Nom Anor was hardly ideal. While he denied being a coward, evidence consistently pointed out that Nom Anor greatly valued his own survival&mdash;a deplorable trait among the Yuuzhan Vong. He actions taken to further his ambitions were also extreme even by Yuuzhan Vong standards. Nom Anor also consistenly blamed others for his failures instead of taking responsibility for them, a very un-Yuuzhan Vong trait.

But perhaps the most disturbing thing about Nom Anor&mdash;by Yuuzhan Vong standards&mdash;was his secular nature, one which bordered on atheism. The Yuuzhan Vong had committed atrocities for the glory of their gods, Nom Anor did his actions for himself.

Behind the scenes

 * Nom Anor first appeared as a shadowy figure of an unknown species in Crimson Empire II, and author Mike Richardson planned for exposition of his character to lead into a planned Dark Horse invasion storyline. One aspect of the "original" Nom was that he would not have been a humanoid creature. However, when Del Rey took over what would become the New Jedi Order, Nom's backstory was changed to fit in with the new planned invasion arc.
 * After his "off-screen" death, many fans on the OS believed that Anor survived, with rumors that he would make a "sweeping return" in the Dark Nest Trilogy. While this has been proven untrue, many fans still believe that Anor survived.

Appearances

 * Crimson Empire II: Council of Blood
 * Vector Prime
 * Agents of Chaos I: Hero's Trial
 * Agents of Chaos II: Jedi Eclipse
 * Balance Point
 * Edge of Victory II: Rebirth
 * Star by Star
 * Traitor
 * Destiny's Way
 * Ylesia
 * Force Heretic I: Remnant
 * Force Heretic II: Refugee
 * Force Heretic III: Reunion
 * The Final Prophecy
 * The Unifying Force