Wookieepedia:Featured article queue/January 16, 2009

Merili was Human female from the planet Dathomir who served as a dark side Prophetess during the time of the Galactic Empire. Initially found among the Nightsisters by the Supreme Prophet Kadann, Merili was presented to Emperor Palpatine and inducted into the ancient cult of the Prophets of the Dark Side. Due to a number of factors, she was known by Kadann and Palpatine to have been completely insane, and both manipulated Merili throughout her life to serve their various desires. Eventually, she became one of only two Emperor's Eyes and was later trained in the Dark Force religion by the Dark Jedi Sariss.

Following her induction into the Prophets of the Dark Side, Palpatine took advantage of Merili's insanity and used her to control the Wookiee homeworld of Kashyyyk. Under her command, Kashyyyk was virtually pacified, and the Wookiees kept in line through her use of the Force and dark side beasts. During her time on the jungle planet, Merili came to think of the world as her own "kingdom," thus further demonstrating her insanity to her masters. As guardian of Kashyyyk, Merili assisted the scientists Nycolai Kinesworthy and the mad Treun Lorn in the development of the N-K Project. Merili would eventually lead the two men to a secret storehouse on the planet Utapau where they obtained the body of the late General Grievous to act as the host for the N-K Project.