Tholme/Legends

"Your own death you do not fear, but the death of others is hard for you. It has never been easy for you to let others close; feelings can mean pain. Instead, you take refuge in your intellect. That has always gotten you in trouble."

- Zao

Tholme was a Jedi Master during the waning years of the Galactic Republic, who served in both the Stark Hyperspace War and the Clone Wars. After completing his Jedi training, Tholme served as Jedi Watchman of the Azurbani system, where he came across the young Jedi hopeful Quinlan Vos. Sending him to the Jedi Temple on Coruscant, Tholme relinquished his Jedi Watchman status in favour of training Vos. Several years later, when Vos' training had been completed, an unfortunate incident occured when Vos lost his memory. When he had partially regained it, Tholme took it upon himself to help the wayward Jedi, and even took up Vos' former Padawan, Aayla Secura, as his own.

During the Separatist Crisis and subsequent Clone Wars, Tholme set up a spy network with Vos, hoping to glean information from the upper echelons of the Confederacy of Independent Systems. After sustaining grievous injuries from Count Dooku himself on Bakura, Tholme masterminded the plan to have Vos infiltrate Dooku's inner circle of Dark Acolytes. Unfortunately for Tholme, Vos turned to the dark side in earnest, and begain participating in highly damaging Separatist activities against the Republic. In the meantime, Tholme participated in several Republic engagements, on worlds such as Devaron, where he was injured by Aurra Sing, and Saleucami where, coincidentally, he would turn Vos back to the light and the Republic. He was able to evade Order 66 and the subsequent Great Jedi Purge along with his lover, the Neti Jedi T'ra Saa, and took refuge on Kashyyyk, hidden from the new Imperial occupation.

Early life and career
Tholme hailed from an unknown planet, and at an unknown time, was trained by an unknown Jedi. He was able to successfully complete his training, but instead of immediately pursuing standard Jedi activites, Tholme indulged in the alternate. On Anzat, he sought out the highly acclaimed Anzati master Akku Seii, who proceded to teach him the Anzati arts. Tholme excelled in his training, picking up the skill to mask his prescence entirely in the Force, which allowed him to feign death. In addition to those talents, he became proficient at espionage and stealth, traits that would be put to use many a time during his Jedi career.

At some time after his Anzati training was complete, Tholme enlisted Seii again, this time in his hunt for the Anzati Katichak, presumably in the service of the Galactic Republic. He was eventually able to hunt down Katichack, and successfully complete his mission.

Jedi Watchman of Azurbani
Tholme was appointed by the Jedi Council to serve as Jedi Watchman of the sector that included the Azurbani system, where he would oversee the goings on of the populace, and be on the lookout for potential Jedi. During his time there, he became good friends with the Kiffar Sheyf Kurlin Vos, and maintained a cordial relationship with the Guardians of the sector.

Kurlin's distant cousins, Pethros and Quian Vos, had a Force-sensitive son, Quinlan. For some reason, knowledge of Vos' high midi-chlorian had evaded Tholme, and by the time he had deemed Vos suitable for Jedi training, he was older than the average candidate. To complicate matters further, Tinté, Kurlin's brother, demanded that he stay of Kiffu and be trained as a Guardian. As a compromise, Kurlin requested that Quinlan stay on Kiffu, but be trained by Tholme. Tholme allowed this, and began to train the boy in the basic Jedi arts.

For several years, Tholme persisted with his instruction of Vos, all the while retaining his Jedi Watchman duties. Tinté, however, was displeased with the compromise, and sought to claim Quinlan for her own purposes. She made a deal with the Anzati who had come to Kiffex in search of the legendary Dark Jedi Volfe Karkko. She encouraged their destructive ways, and allowed their murder of the prisoners stored on the planet. Eventually, they demanded more of Tinté, namely in the form of a blood relative. She had them murder Pethros and Quian, in the hopes that their deaths would force Tholme and the Jedi to hand over custody of Quinlan to her.

The training of Quinlan Vos
Tholme took the young Quinlan Vos to the Jedi Temple for training in 55 BBY, he handed his Watchman duties over to the Neti Jedi T'ra Saa.

The Stark Hyperspace War
During their long partnership, Tholme and Quinlan undertook many duties for the Republic, and fought in the Stark Hyperspace War in 44 BBY.

The Discovery of Aayla Secura
On Ryloth they found a young Twi'lek named Aayla Secura, who would eventually become the Padawan of Vos, and later of Tholme himself.

The Anzati of Kiffex
A few years after the Invasion of Naboo, both Quinlan and Aayla were captured by criminals. They were investigated, drugged, and left on separate worlds, bereft of their memories. Their amnesia left both of them skirting dangerously close to the dark side &mdash; Quinlan Vos nearly murdered a senator before submitting to Mace Windu for retraining.

Tholme was assigned to watch over Quinlan by the Jedi High Council, and the pair went to the planet Kiffex, where Aayla was believed to be hiding. With Tholme's guidance, Quinlan was able to help Aayla escape the control of the Dark Jedi Volfe Karkko. To complete her training as a Jedi, Aayla was reassigned to Tholme, as having her continue as Quinlan's Padawan was seen as too risky, in light of both nearly falling to the dark side.

The training of Aayla Secura
Tholme and Aayla were sent to mediate the troubles on Ryloth that were brought about by the death of Pol Secura, Aayla's uncle. When the Morgukai Tsyr and Bok attempted to kidnap Nat Secura, the heir of the Clan Secura, Tholme tried to take both Niktos on at once. However, a combination of skill and cortosis staffs left Tholme defeated and injured, with Nat Secura taken.

Tholme hid himself on the Inferno, which was taking the Morgukai back to Kintan, but he was discovered and captured while communicating with Secura. He was repeatedly tortured on Kintan by Kh'aris Fenn before being placed in a cell with Nat Secura.

As Quinlan Vos and Aayla Secura tried to rescue Tholme, the AX/RX torture droid entered their cell and attempted to execute both prisoners. Tholme was electrocuted, but used a Jedi technique to fool the droid into thinking he was dead. Tholme used this as a distraction to damage the droid, but would have been killed had Aayla not appeared and destroyed the droid.

Vos and Secura helped Tholme escape the planet with Nat Secura, and he was present at the ceremony that made his former Padawans a Jedi Knight and Jedi Master respectively.

Clone Wars
"He's still alive and causing them grief. It's his way."

- Quinlan Vos

In the years leading up to the outbreak of the Clone Wars, Tholme helped Vos to set up a number of spy networks throughout the Galaxy, though they were unable to predict the upcoming Battle of Geonosis.

Confronting Dooku
Immediately following that battle, Tholme took Sora Bulq to Bakura, where he believed Count Dooku would return. He was right, but the two Jedi Masters were quickly outmatched by the Sith Lord. Tholme was stabbed through his right shoulder, had his right leg crushed by rocks and lost his left eye to a strike that left a long scar down his face. It took many months for Tholme to recover from these injuries. Sora Bulq was turned to the dark side while Tholme was incapacitated, and "rescued" Tholme to further Dooku's plots.

Infiltration of the Dark Acolytes
Tholme was also the mastermind behind the plot to have Quinlan infiltrate Count Dooku's inner circle. To this end he had Quinlan battle with Master Agen Kolar before escaping, in the hopes of creating a believable defection story. However, Tholme constantly suffered with guilt when it seemed that Vos actually had turned to the dark side and joined Dooku.

The Devaron Incident
Tholme was one of the Jedi sent to stop the pirate raids coming from Devaron, along with the Dark Woman, Kit Fisto, Aayla and Tr'a Saa. Tholme was once again injured, this time in a trap set by Aurra Sing. Tholme was forced to recover in a bacta tank, and found himself unable to conduct missions for much of the Clone Wars.

Tholme was in love with T'ra Saa, though he believed their love was above the bitterness and foolishness that attachment brought. He was troubled when Saa was grievously injured by bounty hunters, causing him to regret the plans he had devised and the costs they had brought with them.



Siege of Saleucami
With information from his former teacher Akku Seii, Tholme discovered Sora Bulq's plans to clone an army of Anzati-trained Morgukai warriors on Saleucami to fight the Republic. He clashed with Sora briefly, but Tholme chose to retreat into the surrounding caverns. From there, he spent months sabotaging the operation while evading Bulq and his minions.

Not long before the Clone Wars came to an end, Bulq sent Quinlan Vos to find and destroy the saboteur, as a means of proving his loyalty to Dooku's cause. Sure enough, Quinlan confronted Tholme deep underground, and the two engaged in a fierce battle. Sensing how far his former apprentice had fallen due to his plot to locate the second Sith, Tholme faked his own demise, plunging off a precipice toward a river of lava. He blocked himself off entirely from the Force, allowing him to hide his presence until Quinlan's ultimate battle with Bulq, where he revealed himself. Together with Aayla Secura, Tholme gave Quinlan enough strength to defeat Bulq once and for all, and to remain in the light while doing so.

The hunt for Darth Sidious
Tholme helped to identify the LiMerge Power building as the one being used as the Sith headquarters on Coruscant.

Order 66
In the final days of the Clone Wars, Tholme went with T'ra Saa to Nar Shaddaa where they met up with Khaleen Hentz and stayed with her for a while. They survived Order 66 and reunited with Quinlan Vos on Kashyyyk.

Behind the scenes

 * Tholme was created by John Ostrander and Jan Duursema and debuted in the Star Wars: Republic story arc Darkness.
 * Tholme's name is a reference to Sherlock Holmes. (With the "s" in Holmes transposed to the front, and advanced a letter). His alias of Miles Croft also is a Sherlock Holmes reference: Mycroft ("Mi. Croft") Holmes was Sherlock's brother.
 * Tholme is a possible character that may be explored in the Star Wars live-action TV series, as he survived Order 66 and traveled to Kashyyyk to be reunited with his former Padawan Quinlan Vos.

Appearances



 * Star Wars Republic: Darkness
 * Star Wars Republic: The Stark Hyperspace War
 * Star Wars Republic: Rite of Passage
 * Star Wars Republic 49: Sacrifice
 * Star Wars Republic 54: Double Blind
 * Jedi: Mace Windu
 * Jedi: Aayla Secura
 * Jedi: Count Dooku
 * Star Wars Republic 63: Striking from the Shadows
 * Star Wars Republic 65: Show of Force, Part 1
 * Star Wars Republic 66: Show of Force, Part 2
 * Star Wars Republic: The Dreadnaughts of Rendili
 * Star Wars Republic: Trackdown
 * Star Wars Republic: The Siege of Saleucami
 * Labyrinth of Evil
 * Star Wars Republic: The Hidden Enemy