Amanoa

"You want darkness, Kira? I'll show you darkness!"

- Queen Amanoa to Beast Lord Oron Kira

Queen Amanoa of Onderon was the Queen of Onderon from 4,018 BBY until her death at the end of the Beast Wars. She was the wife of King Ommin and mother of Galia. Together with her husband, Amanoa was the apprentice of the long dead Dark Lord Freedon Nadd.

Early life
Amanoa was an Onderonian, the beautiful daughter of a wealthy noble. When Ommin's father became one with the Force, Ommin took his rightful place as the King of Onderon and ruler of Iziz. The new King Ommin married Lady Amanoa as his Queen and the couple had a daughter named Galia. As a direct descendent of Freedon Nadd, King Ommin rose to power like his ancestors: by dominating the citizens of Onderon with the power of the dark side.

Ommin and his ancestors hid their dark secrets well, thus Amanoa knew nothing about her husband's evil allegiance with the Sith for many years. Someday Ommin suddenly lost interest in the mundane daily activities, as his training under Nadd came to the earnest moment. Eventually Amanoa discovered the bond between her husband and the Sith. She tried to tear Ommin away from the evil teachings, a futile effort as the dark blood of Nadd ran in Ommin's very body. Failed to help her husband, the frustrated Amanoa's depression turned into anger and outright hatred at the King. At that very moment, King Ommin decided that his wife was ready to embrace the ways of the Sith and the teachings of darkness. Slowly fell to the dark side, once Amanoa crossed the path of no return, she opened herself completely to the dark power. King Ommin and the spirit of Freedon Nadd taught Amanoa the ways of the Force and the techniques of the Sith, and together King and Queen became powerful Sith sorcerers.

The love between Ommin and Amanoa faded during their quest of the dark side. Mistrust, loathing and outright hatred took the empty space, little did the couple know that they were both manipulated by Freedon Nadd. Nadd's ultimate goal was to physically resurrect himself. By teaching his descendents well, Nadd hoped to find a powerful candidate to study Sith Alchemy and create a body to hold his spirit. To ensure Ommin or Amanoa would be powerful enough, Nadd made them to compete with each other.

Soon after, Ommin lost control of his own body, a price he paid for the power of the dark side. A durasteel exoskeleton was built by the King's personal doctors to support his blood and flesh. As Ommin retreated from public to further his study in the dark ways, Queen Amanoa assumed the daily duties as the ruler of Onderon.

Nadd realized that the couple had failed him: Ommin himself would never be strong enough to fullfill Nadd's dream, while Amanoa would not further her study once her husband failed to compete with her anymore. Indeed, Queen Amanoa spent all the time in the ruling of Onderon, abandoning her dark side study.

The arrival of the Jedi
"But we were expecting a great Jedi Master - not untutored youths!"

- Queen Amanoa to Ulic Qel-Droma, Cay Qel-Droma and Tott Doneeta



Perhaps Amanoa learned from Nadd's example that one would be relatively powerless after death, so she sought to expand the rule of Iziz to include all of Onderon, concerned with temporal power while she still lived. The conflict between the ruler of Iziz and the Beast Lords of the wild had never ended. This long battle, known as the Beast Wars, intensified during the rule of Queen Amanoa with her iron grip. One day during a Sith ritual, the spirit of her mentor Freedon Nadd foretold her destruction: if Amanoa allowed the war to fully erupt, she would be destroyed. In a desperate measure of survival, Queen Amanoa called upon the help of the Jedi to settle the three centuries old conflict once and for all.

Amanoa never knew that Nadd's prophecy was not a Force vision, but merely a con of the Dark Lord. Freedon Nadd hoped to con Amanoa back to study the Sith ways instead of ruling Iziz, but the Queen completely misunderstood him.

Receiving the reply that the experienced Jedi Master Arca Jeth was assigned as the Jedi watchman of Onderon, Amanoa tried her very best to hide the presence of the dark side on the planet. Although right before the Jedi entered her palace, Queen Amanoa still called upon the dark side to execute a prisoner named Olis. She had mixed feeling when the coming Jedi were revealed to be the apprentices of Arca instead of the Master himself: it would be relatively much easier to hide the dark side from those young Jedi, while the youths might not be experienced enough to settle the conflict, which threatened her survival according to Nadd's prophecy.

During the negotiation, the Beast Lords breached the heavy defenses of Iziz and stormed the citadel. Convinced that such a breach could success only with the help of traitors, Amanoa demanded the Jedi to defend Iziz. During the battle in the citadel, Beast warrior commandos sneaked past the Jedi and kidnapped Princess Galia. Queen Amanoa tried to call upon the dark side, but was not fast enough to prevent the retreat of the commandos.

Heartbroken, Amanoa demanded the Jedi to rescue the Princess.

The Battle of Onderon
"I call upon the spirit of Freedon Nadd, a Jedi far greater than these impotent youths. May the dark power that he taught me and my husband and all our ancestors fill me now!"

- Queen Amanoa to the Jedi and the Kiras



The next news Amanoa heard was the massing of Beast armies, and the unification between her daughter and the Beast Lord Oron Kira. As the young couple and the Jedi came back to negotiate peace with Amanoa, the enraged Queen called upon the dark side and the teaching of Nadd to crush her enemies. The citadel was surrounded by physical darkness, and fear rose in the heart of everyone. Caught news that the negotiation failed, Oron's father Modon launched an attack on Iziz which was the Battle of Onderon.

In the confusion of the citadel, Cay Qel-Droma came face to face with Amanoa and ordered the Queen to cease her dark power. However Cay's sword-palm was shot by Amanoa's guardman, and the young Jedi eventually lost his left arm completely. Outside, as the battle raged against the very wall of the citadel, Amanoa retreated to the mausoleum of Freedon Nadd in order to launch her ultimate weapon: knowing that Iziz's military strength would not decide the outcome of the battle, Amanoa called upon the dark side upon the Beast warriors in the name of Ommin and Nadd.

For the first time in her life, Amanoa gave herself completely to the dark side, achieving near-battle meditation effect, Amanoa's dark power sapped the will of the Beast armies. The attack of the Beast Lords began to lose momentum, the war beasts listened to their riders no more, the soldiers got sick and confused: Queen Amanoa had successfully turned the tide of the battle.

However, victory was not destined for Amanoa. Jedi Master Arca Jeth arrived at that key moment and applied Jedi Battle Meditation to turn the tide once more, and after more than three centuries of war, Iziz finally fell.

Death and Legacy
"The light... the light... Nooooo!!"

- Queen Amanoa's last words

Reunited after the battle, Master Arca led his apprentices and Princess Galia to the deepest sub-levels of the palace: the tomb of Freedon Nadd. As Galia rushed to her mother, the dark power of the sarcophagus retreated as it sensed the approaching light of Arca Jeth. Without the support of the dark side, Queen Amanoa of Onderon died in the arms of her daughter.

After her death, Amanoa's husband Ommin deployed his subordinates to launch a series of attacks throughout Iziz. Sensing the pressence of the dark side haunted the planet, Master Arca determined to move the sarcophagi of Amanoa and Freedon Nadd to the moon Dxun. An armored dark side warrior named Warb Null led an taskforce to ambush the Jedi at the spaceport with a groundborer, and the Naddists successfully brought the sarcophagi to Ommin's stronghold.

After the Jedi settle the revolt of the Naddists, Amanoa's sarcophagus, together with Nadd's, were moved to Dxun, where she rested peacefully and was not disturbed since.

Appearances

 * Tales of the Jedi: Knights of the Old Republic
 * Tales of the Jedi: The Freedon Nadd Uprising (sarcophagus)