Talzin

"Sidious is deceiving you&mdash;as he once deceived me." "Then you know to betray the Dark Lord is folly." "No, Count&mdash;to betray one's self is the ultimate defeat."

- Mother Talzin and Count Dooku

Talzin was a Dathomirian female who lived during the final decades of the Galactic Republic’s reign and became a formidable figure of power during the Clone Wars. On her homeworld of Dathomir, Talzin lived as a spiritual guide of the Nightsisters&mdash;a coven of Force-sensitive witches who used Magicks to manipulate the wilderness around them and rule their male counterparts, the Nightbrothers. Talzin’s expertise in Magicks was significant enough to attract the attention of the Dark Lord of the Sith Darth Sidious, who came to Dathomir ostensibly to trade dark side teachings with Talzin and take her as his own Sith apprentice. Instead, the Sith Lord abducted Talzin's son Maul and took him as an apprentice in her place.

Her son was presumed dead at the Battle of Naboo after sustaining ostensibly mortal injuries, but his strength in the dark side allowed him to remain just barely alive. Although Talzin was aware of Maul's incredible survival, she was unable to locate him and thus remained on Dathomir to plot her revenge against the Sith. By the time the Clone Wars between the Republic and the Confederacy of Independent Systems erupted ten years later, Talzin was leading her people as Clan Mother. During this period she gained galactic notoriety by selling the services of the Nightsisters as assassins and mercenaries. Her business dealings were both sides of the war were interrupted when a path to retribution against the Sith presented itself to Talzin in the form of Asajj Ventress, a Nightsister-turned-Sith apprentice to Count Dooku, who was himself the newest apprentice of Lord Sidious and leader of the Confederacy. Dooku had betrayed Ventress and left her for dead, allowing Talzin to induct the young assassin back into the Nightsisters and plot with her to kill the Count.

Their early attempts to assassinate Dooku failed, but Talzin had a long-term plan for the Sith Lord's demise: she would provide Dooku with a new apprentice from the Nightbrother clan who would secretly be bound to the will of herself and Ventress. Maul's brother Savage Opress was selected for the position so Talzin used her Magicks to transform him into an overwhelming and violent warrior. Ultimately, both Ventress and Opress proved unable to kill the Count and were forced to flee from the Sith; Ventress went into hiding while Opress sought sanctuary with Mother Talzin, who instead directed him on a mission to find and recover his brother. Sometime later, Talzin welcomed Ventress back to Dathomir but the reunion was short-lived, as Dooku's agents had followed her there. The world was invaded by the droid armies of the Confederacy and nearly all of the Nightsisters were wiped out by the Separatist General Grievous and his forces, with the exception of Ventress and Talzin herself. Weakened, the elder Nightsister fled into the Realm of the Spirits to survive. Shortly after the massacre, Opress returned to Dathomir having successfully located and recovered a crazed and crippled Maul. Using what Magicks she had left, Talzin reconstructed her son and restored his broken mind.

The act of resurrecting Maul forced Talzin to surrender her physical body to the Spirit Realm, but her son pledged to carry her torch of vengeance in a quest to draw out and kill Dooku and Sidious. Maul and Opress did succeed in forming the Shadow Collective as a power base but were quickly found and defeated by Darth Sidious himself. Maul was captured in the skirmish and Opress was killed, effectively halting Talzin's plans for revenge. In the interim, she undertook a scheme to absorb Force energy from the Dagoyan Masters of Bardotta. Her manipulation of Bardotta's heretic Frangrawl Cult resulted in the successful abduction and absorption of nearly all the Masters, but the plan was derailed when Jedi Master Mace Windu and Representative Jar Jar Binks were assigned to protect Bardotta's Queen Julia. Talzin's cultists abducted the Queen and transported her to Zardossa Stix, where the Nightsister could absorb the Force from Julia and the other Dagoyan Masters. To her ire, Windu and Binks disrupted the ceremony and Talzin was forced to flee.

Her final chance at rebirth came when Maul was freed from Sidious's internment and began plotting with his mother to capture and kill Dooku to draw out the Dark Lord. Although their Shadow Collective experienced severe losses as a result, Maul succeeded in capturing Dooku and managed to transport him back to Dathomir. There, Talzin possessed Dooku's body and nearly killed him, hoping that his spilled blood would satisfy the sacrifice required for her own return to the physical realm. Her ritual was again interrupted, this time by Grievous and Darth Sidious, who had come to end Talzin's threat once and for all. Despite a successful return to the material world during the skirmish, Talzin was unsuccessful in killing Dooku and was unable to withstand the might of two Sith Lords and their cyborg general. She sent Maul to safety before being slain by Grievous, a death which marked the fall of Dathomir and the end of Talzin's Nightsister coven.

Rise of the Nightsister
"Long ago, Sidious came to me on Dathomir. We exchanged secret wisdom&mdash;mingled dark side abilities with Nightsister Magicks. He promised to make me his right hand, but instead he stole what was most dear to me&hellip;my own flesh and blood."

- Mother Talzin

Talzin, Dathomirian female, lived during the final decades of the Old Republic prior to the rise of the Galactic Empire. She lived on her homeworld of Dathomir as the mother to her infant son Maul and as a member of the Nightsisters&mdash;a coven of witches who used their dark Magicks to rule the planet and subjugate their male counterparts, the Nightbrothers. Talzin was a particularly talented witch and was recognized as a spiritual guide for her people. Her prowess in Magicks was impressive enough to attract the attention of Darth Sidious, the Dark Lord of the Sith who was at the time plotting his rise to galactic supremacy. Sidious came to Dathomir to conference with Talzin and intermingle his knowledge of the dark side of the Force with her techniques in Dathomiri Magicks. Their relationship brought Sidious to proclaim that he would make Talzin his Sith apprentice and right hand, but that promise was ultimately unfulfilled. Instead, the Dark Lord discovered the young Maul and sensed the child's potential in the Force and so abducted him from Talzin and took the child away from Dathomir.

Furious at the betrayal, Talzin resolved to one day take revenge upon the Sith and retrieve her lost son. In the meantime, she continued to lead her coven and protect her people from off-world threats. Sometime before the Clone Wars between the Galactic Republic and Confederacy of Independent Systems, Talzin was forced by the Siniteen pirate Hal'Sted to gift a Nightsister infant to him in exchange for the survival of her tribe. Talzin reluctantly complied, taking the infant Asajj Ventress from her mother and surrendering her to Hal'Sted. The young Ventress was ferried to Rattatak, where she lost all connections to her people on Dathomir and was repeatedly orphaned.

Ten years before the Clone Wars began, Talzin's son&mdash;now known by the Sith moniker of Darth Maul&mdash;was defeated and presumably killed by the Jedi Obi-Wan Kenobi in the Battle of Naboo. Although Maul was bisected by a lightsaber, he survived the obviously lethal wound through his proficiency in the dark side of the Force. The young Sith was now a broken shell of his former self and went into hiding deep in the Outer Rim Territories while Talzin remained on Dathomir, fostering new hatred for Darth Sidious over his apparent abandonment of Maul as an apprentice. Although she was aware of his survival, Talzin did not know where her kin had disappeared to and his whereabouts remained a mystery to her.

It was also around the antebellum of the Clone Wars that Talzin became familiar with Dooku, a charismatic Jedi Master who would ultimately become the leader of the Confederacy and the new Sith apprentice of Darth Sidious. Dooku helped Talzin overcome some manner of predicament, though they parted ways thereafter and Talzin added the Serenno noble to her list of targets for revenge&mdash;particularly because of his association with Sidious. By this time Talzin had been elevated to the level of Clan Mother and was recognized as both the spiritual and political leader of the Nightsisters and Nightbrothers.

The returned sister
"Where one sees failure, others see opportunity."

- Talzin to Asajj Ventress

When the Clone Wars exploded across the galaxy after the Battle of Geonosis, Talzin largely kept her clan out of the conflict. Although she did gain notoriety for selling the services of the Nightsisters' warriors and assassins to wealthy clients, Talzin maintained strict loyalty to her clan and refused to ally with either of the warring factions. Several years into the conflict, the long lost Nightsister Asajj Ventress returned to Dathomir, wounded and in need. After being orphaned on Rattatak the young Dathomirian pledged herself to Count Dooku as an aspiring Sith apprentice and Confederate commander, and although she carried out her Master's will dutifully for many missions, Darth Sidious became wary of her growing strength and ordered that Dooku kill Ventress. The command was carried out at the Battle of Sullust, where Dooku ordered Ventress's own Confederate forces to fire on her. She survived but was heartbroken by her Master's betrayal and so travelled back to Dathomir to reconnect with her people and find revenge.

Ventress's return was initially met with hostility from the other Nightsisters who were uneasy around outsiders and unaware of the new arrival's true parentage. Their aggressions were stayed by Talzin, who recognized the lost sister as Ventress and had her carried into their village for care.

After she and her sisters healed Ventress with a spell, she promised to help her in her quest of vengeance against the Count. She provided her with two most highly skilled Nightsister warriors, Naa'leth and Karis, as well as invisibility and a special poison dart to dull the Count's senses. She also handed them each Jedi lightsabers to fool Dooku into believing the Jedi were behind the attack.

After the failed assassination attempt, Talzin reassured her that she had proved Dooku was vulnerable, and there were other ways of exacting revenge against him. She contacted the Count, and offered him a new assassin to replace Ventress. Dooku agreed. Shortly thereafter Dooku made a journey to Dathomir, with the ulterior motive of enlisting the Nightsisters in his Separatist movement, though Talzin rejected the prospect, opting to remain neutral in the galactic conflict&mdash;as well as insisting that she was only aiding Dooku because of his help earlier. She promised him a male Zabrak Nightbrother who was part of the late Darth Maul's bloodline. Ventress met with Talzin shortly afterward, and the clan mother asked Ventress to travel to the Nightbrother village to choose the most powerful male warrior she could find, under the pretense of selecting a mate.

Ventress returned with a Nightbrother in tow called Savage Opress, the brother of Talzin's own son Maul. Talzin then led her sisters in a magic incantation and enhanced Savage's abilities, amplifying his rage and his physical appearance, giving him a far more muscular bulk and lengthening his cranial horns&mdash;an additional spell, however, was set in place to ensure Savage would ultimately be loyal to Talzin. As a final test of Savage's strength and loyalty, the transformed Zabrak was ordered to murder his brother Feral, which he did without remorse. Satisfied, Talzin presented Savage with an enchanted blade and afterward Talzin delivered Opress to Dooku.

The loose monster
"You have an important destiny to fulfill, Savage Opress. You, and your brother."

- Talzin

Anakin Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi were brought into her village soon after, seeking information on Savage Opress (who had massacred two Jedi previously) from the Nightsisters. Talzin initially denied she had any knowledge of Savage's whereabouts, but relented after prodding by Kenobi, using her crystal ball to inform the Jedi he was on Toydaria. After they left in earnest, Talzin met with Ventress and told her that the time to put her plot in motion had come&mdash;she would have to confront the Count herself with Savage's aid. While Ventress believed Opress needed more training, Talzin assured her that he was indeed ready and they could not keep him secret for much longer. Later a battle-weary Savage returned, having broken away from his loyalty to Ventress and having escaped from both her and the Jedi. Talzin helped him to his feet and told him she would help him obtain the power he needed. She sent him on a quest to find his brother who was hiding in exile in the Outer Rim, with the aid of a special talisman.

The Nightsister massacre
"What&hellip; happened here? Where are the rest of the sisters?''" "Dooku sent his minions to destroy us, but we will survive. We always'' have."

- Savage Opress and Mother Talzin

When Ventress returned after Opress betrayed her, Talzin accepted her back and made her an official Nightsister, although she neglected to inform Ventress that Opress had returned. During their celebration, General Grievous, at the behest of Dooku, attacked Dathomir to destroy Talzin, Ventress, and the Nightsisters. During the battle, Talzin used her dark powers to destroy numerous battle droids, but retreated from the front lines early on, so as to ask Old Daka to raise the Army of the Dead, as well as inflict retribution upon Dooku for ordering the assault. Using a lock of Dooku's hair, Talzin fashioned a voodoo doll in the Count's likeness, and used it in conjunction with her magic to torture Dooku to the point of near-death. However, Grievous, ordered by Dooku to destroy Talzin, attacked the inner sanctum of the village, where Talzin and Daka were performing their spells, killing the few guards present and murdering Daka. Before she could also be executed, Talzin teleported to safety, but with Daka dead, the undead army also perished, and the Nightsisters were destroyed. In the wake of the massacre, Talzin appeared to Ventress, the only other survivor of Grievous' onslaught, telling her that, although the most recent chapter of Ventress' life had ended, and that she must seek a new path, her destiny would always be tied with that of the Nightsisters. With that, Talzin disappeared, leaving Ventress alone.

Reunited
"Come. Let us fix what has been broken. Come to me. Come to me. Follow us, son of Dathomir. Follow me, lost one. Come, child of Dathomir. Follow me."

- Mother Talzin finds her son

On his mission given to him by Talzin, Savage Opress found Maul living a seclusive life in a cave on Lotho Minor, and she awaited their return to Dathomir where Maul would receive treatment while tracking Savage's progress. When Savage and Maul returned to Dathomir, Talzin led them to her village, where she removed Maul's spider-like cybernetics and used magicks and some of her own life energy to restore Maul’s sanity and memories, while additionally providing him with a new pair of cybernetic legs. When her work was done, she vanished once again, leaving Maul and Savage to begin forming an army with which they could rival Talzin's enemy Sidious.

Scheming for survival
"As a Bardottan, you possess a strong connection to the Living Force, a connection that will now be mine. With the combined power of your spirit and my dark magic, I will become more powerful than any Sith or Jedi."

- Mother Talzin, to Queen Julia

At some point, Mother Talzin gained the allegiance of the Frangawl Clan on Bardotta, who came to worship her as the "Great Mother." Under her direction, they abducted Dagoyan Masters, draining the Force within them into a containment sphere. Talzin later rendezvoused with the cult, who had captured Queen Julia, on Zardossa Stix, she revealed her intention to use a ritual to drain the Living Force from the Queen and absorb it to supplement her magicks, making her more powerful than the Jedi and Sith. However, Jedi Master Mace Windu and Representative Jar Jar Binks were hot on their trail and arrived at the temple. Talzin engaged the Jedi Master with a blade conjured from magick but her distraction allowed Binks to free Julia, disrupting the ceremony. The Gungan also accidentally destroyed the containment sphere, causing a massive explosion. Her plan in ruins, Talzin screamed in pain as her physical body disintegrated into mist.

A final bid for revenge
"That witch never learned&mdash;there are those with power, and those who dream of power&hellip;and her existence was nothing but a dream."

- Darth Sidious

After being revived by Talzin and forming the Shadow Collective as per Talzin's wishes, Maul was captured by Darth Sidious and imprisoned, only to break out with the help of his Mandalorian allies. On the run after a defeat by General Grievous, Maul implored Talzin for help and her image materialized from his chest in the form of green mist. Maul explained what had happened and Talzin surmised that Maul's escape had been planned by Sidious in an attempt to draw her out, and told him to rendezvous with the Black Sun's forces on Ord Mantell while she sent him aid in the form of Brother Viscus and the Nightbrothers to deal with Dooku. Maul and his army won the battle, and he contacted Talzin afterward to inform her of Dooku and Grievous' capture.

In a secret outpost, Maul attempted to sway Count Dooku to his cause. Talzin again appeared from Maul's chest and told Dooku to forgive their previous disagreements on account of Dooku only following Sidious' will. She revealed that Sidious sought a new apprentice to replace Dooku and explained her history with the Sith Lord, also revealing Maul's relation to her. Shortly afterward Maul and Dooku were interrupted by an attack by Obi-Wan Kenobi and several other Jedi, and Dooku opted to join Maul, though the Nightbrother realized that this was a ploy.

Shortly afterward, Maul, Viscus, and the surviving Nightbrothers gathered on Dathomir, and brought Dooku to a stone column in a secret chamber near the Nightbrother village. Maul prayed to the column, imploring Talzin to reveal herself, and Talzin's spirit materialized from the stone and possessed Dooku, draining his energy. Darth Sidious and General Grievous arrived shortly after, and while Maul dueled Grievous, Talzin, in Dooku's body, was left to contend with her rival Darth Sidious. The Sith Lord bombarded Dooku with a barrage of Force lightning, causing Talzin to emerge from his body, fully rebuilt, to take on Sidious once again. Talzin used her magicks to block Sidious and Dooku's onslaught, but sacrificed herself to save Maul, throwing him to safety. The diversion cost Talzin her life, as Grievous approached her and impaled her through the chest with his lighsabers, turning her to stone.

Personality and traits
"No one remains. This is all my fault. Where do I go? What do I do?" "This chapter is over. Your destiny will always be linked with ours, but you have your own path to follow now."

- Mother Talzin tells Ventress to leave Dathomir and start a new life

Mother Talzin claimed that the Nightsisters were loyal to nobody except each other, and she taught the other Nightsisters to only focus on themselves and their sisters. Talzin was quite maternal towards Asajj Ventress, even giving her a hug when she returned to Dathomir, showing that she really did consider herself a mother to the rest of the Nightsisters. She was not afraid of war, and comforted Ventress when the younger Nightsister blamed herself for bringing the Separatists to Dathomir, and also defended her fellow Nightsisters with her magic. However when Talzin realized that the Nightsisters were going to lose the battle, she fled, and rather than continuing to give Ventress sanctuary she told her to leave and find her own path.

Although she cared about her fellow Nightsisters, Talzin was also rather sadistic and seemed to enjoy torturing Count Dooku. She was also quite sexist, knowing that females were the dominant gender on Dathomir. She saw Savage Opress as little more than a tool, though she did help Savage find his long lost brother, Darth Maul.

Mother Talzin cared deeply for Darth Maul, and deeply resented Darth Sidious for taking him from her. She even went so far as to provide some of her own life force to revive Maul, and even gave her life to help him escape from Sidious. While Maul and Savage were blood brothers according to Talzin herself, she only cared for Maul, referring to him as "my beloved son" and actively providing him guidance when he needed it. She also never expressed any regret for forcing Savage to kill Feral nor did she ever express any sadness when Savage died at the hands of Sidious.

Powers and abilities
"I am not a natural Force wielder like the Jedi or Sith. I use dark magic to achieve power."

- Talzin

Mother Talzin was an extremely powerful witch and a master of dark magicks, able to manipulate the spirit ichor that flowed from Dathomir's depths in a variety of ways. Unlike other members of her clan, she did not have a natural connection with the Force. She often led the rest of the Nightsisters through incantations, such as when she transformed Savage Opress, and when she made Asajj Ventress into an official Nightsister, as well as when she was able to disguise Asajj Ventress and two other Nightsisters from Count Dooku's detection, transforming them into Ghostly versions of their true forms. Talzin was capable of using her powers to torture Count Dooku using a lock of Dooku's own hair even though the Count was on a completely different planet at the time. She was even capable of appearing in more than one place at a time, as shown when a ghostly vision of her appeared from within Dooku's chest, although Talzin's physical body was still on Dathomir. She also displayed the ability to dematerialize her body, transforming into smoke and vanishing into the Realm of the Spirits when General Grievous had her cornered, as well as materializing and disappearing from wisps of green mist before Savage Opress after he returned to Dathomir. Using her magicks, she was also able to repair Darth Maul's damaged mind and build him an entire new set of legs using salvaged droid parts.

In combat, Talzin was capable of creating a green protection bubble capable of blocking blaster fire. She was also able to launch Force lightning at the opponent whilst maintaining the shield at the same time. Unlike many other Force Lightning users, Mother Talzin's Force lightning was green. It was also very powerful, able to destroy a B-1 battle droid in one hit. She was also able to create a lightsaber-like sword conjured from magic and survive in battle against Mace Windu, one of the most powerful Jedi in the Order.

Though she never used telekinesis in combat, Talzin was a powerful user of telekinesis, able to lift many types of objects with ease as well as levitate herself, though the full extent of the latter is unknown. She could also incinerate or form objects with her magic, as she was able to melt the silver orb that contained Count Dooku's lock of hair, as well as create a drinking cup for Dooku when he visited her. She could even set things on fire simply by using her magics, as shown with the large pot that contained Count Dooku's Voodoo doll. Although Talzin was extremely powerful, she asked one of the elder Nightsisters to use a resurrection spell, showing that she may not have mastered the ability to resurrect the dead.

Talzin's magicks were said to be strongest on Dathomir; her power was such that Darth Sidious himself believed that even an entire droid army would be unable to defeat her there. She could even survive without a body; a cavernous chamber with a single stone column near the Nightbrother village was said to be the heart of her power. It was from there her spirit was able to directly possess Dooku, drain his life energy, and even regain her lost physical form, though upon its destruction she died.

Behind the scenes
"Well I remember auditioning for her and they said they wanted a Romanian witch type of voice."

- Barbara Goodson, about voicing Talzin

Mother Talzin is voiced by Barbara Goodson. When Goodson auditioned for the part, she was told that the creative staff of The Clone Wars wanted a "Romanian witch" type of voice. Because of that, Goodson's ensuing vocal performance was inspired by the late Russian actress Maria Ouspenskaya, who notably took part in various classic-era horror movies.

Talzin's look was based on the "Nightsister Sith witch," an unused piece of concept art from Star Wars: Episode I The Phantom Menace for what would become Darth Maul.

Appearances

 * Star Wars: Darth Maul&mdash;Son of Dathomir 1
 * Star Wars: Darth Maul&mdash;Son of Dathomir 2
 * Star Wars: Darth Maul&mdash;Son of Dathomir 3
 * Star Wars: Darth Maul&mdash;Son of Dathomir 4
 * Star Wars: Darth Maul&mdash;Son of Dathomir 1
 * Star Wars: Darth Maul&mdash;Son of Dathomir 2
 * Star Wars: Darth Maul&mdash;Son of Dathomir 3
 * Star Wars: Darth Maul&mdash;Son of Dathomir 4
 * Star Wars: Darth Maul&mdash;Son of Dathomir 1
 * Star Wars: Darth Maul&mdash;Son of Dathomir 2
 * Star Wars: Darth Maul&mdash;Son of Dathomir 3
 * Star Wars: Darth Maul&mdash;Son of Dathomir 4
 * Star Wars: Darth Maul&mdash;Son of Dathomir 4