Shaak Ti/Legends

"...and Shaak Ti's the most cunning Jedi I've met. She's even taught me a few tricks."

- Obi-Wan Kenobi

Shaak Ti was a female Togruta Jedi Master hailing from the planet Shili. Shaak Ti replaced Yaddle as a member of the Jedi High Council in the years leading up to and during the Clone Wars, in which she served as a High General.

Biography
Mace Windu once described Shaak Ti "as beautiful as a flower, yet as deadly as a viper." The hollow spaces in her decorated montrals allowed her to ultrasonically perceive her surroundings, especially in bustling crowds. Unlike most members of her communal species, she was solitary by nature. She was also a cunning warrior. Windu felt that she was one of the greatest lightsaber duelists and one of the Order's most powerful members. Shaak Ti's lightsaber skills were almost unparalleled and she had great domain in the Force. Her skills rivaled those of Dooku.

Her Jedi sense of detachment allowed her to hide her pain of the deaths of her two Padawans, who were murdered by vicious killers just after passing the trials. One of those students was Fe Sun, who met an untimely end at the hands of the Zeltron criminal Lyshaa.

Clone Wars


She was among the Jedi sent to rescue Obi-Wan Kenobi on Geonosis which led to the Battle of Geonosis and the start of the Clone Wars. Shaak Ti survived the onslaught of Separatist battle droids and went on to command Republic forces in the war.

Shaak Ti became, like many other Jedi, a General in the Grand Army of the Republic, leading clone troopers on the battlefield. She fought at the First Battle of Kamino, and worked with Lama Su to protect the adolescent and fetal clones of Jango Fett. Lama Su sought General Ti's permission in order to activate the Advanced Recon Commandos, who at the time were still in stasis and not yet cleared for combat. General Ti was the first Jedi to have ARC troopers under her direct control and command and was among the first to fight alongside them in combat. Master Mace Windu thought of her as one of the best jedi in the order, and was glad to have her in many battles.

Master Ti was one of the Jedi to confront General Grievous on the planet Hypori, alongside Ki-Adi-Mundi, Aayla Secura, K'Kruhk, Daakman Barrek, Tarr Seirr and Sha'a Gi. Though critically wounded, she managed to survive the deadly attack of the General.

Five months into the war, Shaak Ti and Master Shon Kon Ray led a strike force on Brentaal IV. Shaak commanded the ground forces and helped to free the prisoners of Shogar Tok, one of whom was Lyshaa, her former Padawan's slaughterer. Shaak attempted to work together with Lyshaa to take out Tok, but this only led to Lyshaa's siding with the Separatist leader and her ultimate suicide. With the battle ended, Brentaal IV was freed from the control of the Confederacy of Independent Systems.

Later on in the Clone Wars, Shaak Ti participated in countless other battles. After a successful mission on Ando, she was given recognition by Supreme Chancellor Palpatine and Masters Mace Windu and Plo Koon. She also became one of the eighty-two Jedi with bounties put on their heads by Dooku's apprentice, Asajj Ventress. Nine months after the start of the war, she defeated the Dark Acolyte Artel Darc on the prison world of Dagu.



In the final days of the war, the Jedi were receiving more and more information regarding the supposed "second Sith", Darth Sidious. They traced information to the abandoned industrial sector of Coruscant known as The Works. Along with Master Windu and a group of highly trained clones they arrived at the reported lair of the Sith lord. Though they found no trace of Sidious' presence, they discovered a network of tunnels leading straight to 500 Republica, confirming Dooku's claims of ties between the Sith and the Galactic Senate.

However, before being able to investigate further, the unthinkable happened. Out of nowhere, Separatist forces led by both Count Dooku and General Grievous attacked Coruscant.



Along with Stass Allie, Ti helped evacuate the Senate Rotunda before heading with Jedi Masters Foul Moudama, Roron Corobb, Roth-Del Masona, and B'ink Utrila to ensure Supreme Chancellor Palpatine's safety. Upon their arrival in his office, however, Grievous broke in. Barely managing to save the Chancellor, the surviving Jedi led Grievous and his MagnaGuards on a chase through Galactic City.

Arriving at the underground pod that would lead to Palpatine's hidden bunker, Shaak Ti remained behind to fight off more MagnaGuards. During the battle she showed an unparallel skill with the MagnaGuard electrostaff as well as her lightsaber. When the MagnaGuards ceased their attack and retreated into the darkness of the pod tunnel, Ti realized that Grievous had already made his way to the bunker. When she arrived Shaak Ti found her remaining Jedi comrades had been killed in combat.

Tired from battle and racing on foot to the bunker, Ti was quickly subdued by Grievous. He took her lightsaber as a trophy, bound her with a force-field rope and escaped with Palpatine as his "prisoner". Mace Windu, fortunately found her in time to save her from near death.

Great Jedi Purge
Moments before the Great Jedi Purge, Ti encountered Anakin Skywalker, whom she believed was on his way to the Chancellor's office to help Mace Windu, Kit Fisto, Agen Kolar, and Saesee Tiin arrest the Chancellor, who was revealed as Darth Sidious. She tried to stop him from leaving, but failed. Had she succeeded, Skywalker might never have become Darth Vader.

Shaak Ti was present during the fall of the Jedi Temple, during which Darth Vader himself set out to kill the Jedi Master. She escaped and went into self-imposed exile on Felucia, allying herself to a group of Force-wielding rancor riders. There she made a stand against a secret apprentice of Vader's. She, Obi-Wan, Anakin, and Yoda were the last four known surviving members of the Jedi Council.

Portrayal


Shaak Ti was played by Orli Shoshan in Attack of the Clones and voiced by Grey DeLisle in the Star Wars: Clone Wars animated television series. Though Shoshan returned twice to film the two death scenes for Revenge of the Sith, in the final cut Shaak Ti is seen only when the Jedi Council appears in hologram form, played by Maria Brill.

Name origin
It is possible that Shaak Ti's name is based on the similarly spelled Shakti, the female Hindu deity of strength. The Sanskrit word Shakti also means "strength", or "energy."

In-story, she shares her name with shaak, a species of grazing beasts native to Naboo.

Death(s)
"A tragic ending of a gallant warrior, no doubt."

- Grievous



Shaak Ti had two different death scenes at various stages of Revenge of the Sith's development, but they were both deleted. Even though two death scenes were filmed, Star Wars Insider 87 confirms that neither scene is canonical, and that she was still alive at the end of Revenge of the Sith. This was later backed up by her appearance in Star Wars: The Force Unleashed.

The first version was leaked to many Star Wars fan sites and described in the Hyperspace article "Into The Fuel Chamber" and the book The Making of Star Wars Revenge of the Sith. In various forms of this scene, General Grievous ignites a lightsaber through her heart on the Invisible Hand with Anakin Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi looking on. This was Lucasfilm's original idea, and appeared in storyboards and early drafts of the screenplay. When it was planned for her to die onboard the Invisible Hand, her seat on the Council was going to be given to Tsui Choi, an Expanded Universe Jedi. In an earlier version Grievous reportedly decapitated her, but this death, like Kit Fisto's original fate, was deemed too graphic. This scene is not canon, as Shaak Ti is later seen alive in hologram form during a Jedi Council meeting.



Another version, which was scripted, and shown in LEGO Star Wars: The Video Game, moved Shaak Ti's death to the Jedi Temple. Here, Darth Vader walks in her room, finds her meditating, and stabs her in the back. This scene was deleted, possibly because it seemed illogical that she would be meditating and not feeling the resonation of the carnage in the Temple through the Force. It was also the way Shaak Ti appears to have died in the novelization of the film. Though not described first-hand, Vader asks the Gate Guard Jurokk where Shaak Ti is. According to her article at the Databank, she is officially "believed to be killed" during the temple assault, but her fate has not yet been canonically established.

Originally the Revenge of the Sith Shaak Ti action figure had a hole in its chest all the way through its back, but in the final released version it was filled in.

A picture added to Secrets of Star Wars 07 on July 12, 2006 depicts a Togruta Jedi commanding several Jedi mounted on mutated rancors to attack a red saber-wielding being. The March 2007 issue of Game Informer does identify a Togruta as Shaak Ti, though the one in the given image wields two green lightsabers rather than one blue one; IGN backs up this Jedi's identity. Finally, Star Wars Insider 93 established outright Shaak Ti's survival and presence in the Force Unleashed game, along with some other details.

Escape from Dagu
Shaak Ti was originally slated to be the star of a novel called Escape from Dagu which was cancelled. The novel, which was completed but never released, was written by William C. Dietz.

Hand-to-hand combat
Shaak Ti was known to be a skilled hand-to-hand combatant and excelled in multiple weapons practices. This is believed to be a tribute of sorts to the actress who played her, Orli Shoshan, who served in the Israeli military as part of the Israeli defense force and is a well versed hand-to-hand and melee weapons fighter.

Togruta capabilities
As a species, the togruta had a herd mentality. Even their striped patterns were a genetic trait made to make it possible for multiple Togruta to blend together more seamlessly. This made it difficult for a person to know where one ends and another begins. In addition to this, their montrals were hollow and resonate, which allowed them to recognize any movement down to something as small as a bug to up to a ten meters circumference around their body. This made it virtually impossible to sneak up on a togrutian who was alert and paying attention.

This ability made Shaak Ti an extremely dangerous Jedi to engage in close combat. Her natural ability to sense others' movements was drastically increased by her force abilities. This made her one of the most dangerous saber duelists in the order. It was this ability to sense movement that was attributed to how she kept up with so many of General Grievous' guards in one fight of the Star Wars: Clone Wars animated television series.

Form II: Makashi


In the novelization of Revenge of the Sith, it is said that "Soresu lacks the grace of a Shaak Ti or Count Dooku," leading to some speculation that she is a Makashi user.

In Attack of the Clones, Shaak Ti participated in and survived the Geonosis arena battle, where Jedi were faced with an overwhelming force of blaster-wielding battle droids. Makashi as a lightsaber combat style was known to provide inadequate defense against incoming blaster bolts. However, the fact that she survived the battle does belie her preferred form being Form II.

Form IV: Ataru
In the Clone Wars animated series, Shaak Ti was performing large amounts of acrobatics, leading some fans to believe that she was a Form IV: Ataru practitioner, a form that was known to heavily utilize acrobatics. Unlike in the case of Form II: Makashi, Shaak Ti using Form IV has not even been implied in any canonical source.

Considering no source has even directly stated that she was a practitioner of either forms, Shaak Ti's canonical lightsaber combat form remains unknown.

Art
In the book The Art of Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones, the character is drawn with long lekku that wrap around her neck. In the same book, she is drawn with bare breasts.

Appearances





 * Jedi Quest: The False Peace
 * Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones
 * Star Wars Republic 50: The Battle of Kamino
 * Star Wars Republic 53: Blast Radius
 * Escape from Dagu
 * Republic HoloNet News Core Edition 14:3:22
 * Star Wars: Clone Wars
 * "Chapter 1"
 * "Chapter 20"
 * "Chapter 21"
 * "Chapter 23"
 * "Chapter 24"
 * "Chapter 25"
 * Jedi: Shaak Ti
 * CIS Shadowfeed Dispatch 15:01:15 Edition
 * Bailed Out
 * Evasive Action: Reversal of Fortune
 * Labyrinth of Evil
 * Sithisis
 * Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith
 * LEGO Star Wars: The Video Game
 * Evasive Action: End Game
 * The Force Unleashed webstrip
 * Star Wars: The Force Unleashed
 * Star Wars Empire: "General" Skywalker
 * Star Wars Empire: "General" Skywalker