Ommin

Ommin was a Human male Sith sorcerer and also a direct descendant of the ancient Dark Lord of the Sith Freedon Nadd. As a youth, Ommin was instructed in Sith teachings by his father, the previous King of Onderon. He became king after his father's death, as well as the Sith apprentice of Freedon Nadd, the ghost of whom accelerated the new monarch's Sith indoctrination. Early during his reign as King, Ommin married the noblewoman Amanoa, and eventually the couple birthed a daughter named Galia, whom they intended to also be trained in the ways of the Sith. When his relentless studies into the dark side began to have adverse effects on his physical body, Ommin curtailed them, retired from Onderonian politics and faded from visibility, leaving the rule of the planet in the hands of his wife.

The general populace of Onderon believed Ommin to be dead, and rumors of him actually being alive were unfounded until the death of Amanoa in 4,000 BBY at the hands of the Jedi. Ommin then returned to the forefront of Onderonian events, having survived through use of a special life-support system and in command of a dark side army. Supported by the power of Freedon Nadd, the army waged war on the invading forces of the Jedi Order and Galactic Republic. In 3,998 BBY, Jedi Master Arca Jeth and his apprentices defeated Ommin and ultimately triumphed over Nadd's influence, finally bringing peace to the war-torn planet. The sorcerer-King of Onderon joined both his wife and Sith Master in death, with all three being interred in a mausoleum on his home planet's fourth moon of Dxun.

Early life
"You should know the darkness has been with us for centuries. My father, his father&hellip;"

- King Ommin, speaking of his dark side heritage

Ommin was a member of the Onderon Royal Family. He was a direct descendant of Freedon Nadd, a Dark Lord of the Sith who ruled Onderon more than four centuries before. The Royal Family was the heir to the legacies of Nadd: the Tomb of Freedon Nadd, which was a focal point of dark side energy, and a collection of Sith artifacts, including at least two Sith swords and a Sith amulet.

In the tradition of his predecessors, Ommin was indoctrinated in the ways of the ancient Sith and learned to harness the power of the dark side. As a youth, Ommin was apprenticed to his father who began his rudimentary instruction into the ways of the ancient Sith. Ommin originally felt as though Sith lore was merely part of his royal tutoring, believing his father was only teaching him lessons in the use of power; however, he soon realized that the dark side offered many other possibilities. Thus, Ommin devoted himself to learning Sith sorcery. After his father's death, when Ommin assumed Kingship of the walled city of Iziz, he had also grown enough in skill to summon Nadd's spirit from Chaos.

Sith training
"Yes. My mummified flesh sleeps in stone, but this old man called my spirit back from Chaos. I have given him&hellip;my knowledge."

- Freedon Nadd

Freedon Nadd taught Ommin much more than his father had, imparting not only dark side knowledge but ancient Sith traditions as well. Ommin ruled Iziz in the same manner as his forefathers, dominating the citizens through the power of the dark side. Sometime during his tutelage under Nadd, Ommin married Amanoa, the daughter of an Onderonian nobleman, thereby taking her as his Queen. Over the years the couple had a daughter named Galia.

Ommin eventually lost interest in the mundane daily activities of life and secretly focused his attention on his training under Nadd. Ommin learned more and more of the dark side and its nature from the Sith Lord, and soon he was completely given over to it. Amanoa did not suspect Ommin's dark side allegiance for many years, and when she did, she attempted to break the bond between him and his Sith ancestor. Her attempts were futile ones however, as Ommin had become too strong. Eventually, with the help of Nadd, Ommin corrupted his wife to the dark side, and the couple became powerful Sith sorcerers. Someday, Ommin decided, he would turn his daughter Galia to the dark side as well.

The love between Ommin and Amanoa faded during their quest for dark side power. Mistrust, loathing, and outright hatred filled the empty space. Little did the couple know that they were both being manipulated by Nadd. Nadd's ultimate goal was to physically resurrect himself and wield the dark side once more as ruler of Onderon. By teaching his descendants well, Nadd hoped to find a candidate powerful enough to master Sith alchemy, and help recreate a body to house his spirit. To ensure Ommin or Amanoa would be powerful enough, Nadd made them compete with each other.

Pall of the dark side
"The dark side does not come without its price, you have the power over the Force, but in exchange you have lost power over your own body."

- Freedon Nadd's spirit, to King Ommin

However, forbidden teachings were not absolved of consequence. Ommin's bones and flesh slowly decayed under the weight of the dark side, until he became an invalid, decrepit and helpless. To compensate for this, his personal doctors constructed a special iron exoskeleton to support his physical body and flesh. The trappings of a metal support frame severely restricted Ommin's mobility, and as a result, personally attending to matters of state became difficult. Ommin therefore charged his personal aide, a young Onderonian politician named Tolo Kad, with the business of the King's affairs. On one such occasion, Kad failed him utterly in the arrangement of a state dinner. In the midst of the engagement, Ommin lashed out with the dark side and killed Kad for his embarrassing blunder. In reality, Kad's failure had been the secret design of Kad's own aide Novar, who often completed the tasks Kad took credit for. The young Novar was then appointed Minister of State and also selected as the King's new aide. The failure of Kad happened just as Novar knew it would, having engineered the event himself to further his own political machinations.

After a decade of Novar's maneuvering, Ommin took him as his Sith apprentice. However, two years into Novar's teaching, Ommin's body had become too ravaged to continue any further. The King retired from the public eye, handing both Iziz and Novar's dark side study to his wife. Thus, Amanoa assumed the daily responsibilities as ruler of Onderon. It was then that Nadd realized the King and Queen had failed him: Ommin himself would never be strong enough to fulfill Nadd's dream, while Amanoa would not further her own study once her husband failed to maintain competition with her.

The Freedon Nadd Uprising
After years of isolation, pieces of major news began to reach Ommin in his lair. He learned that his wife, Queen Amanoa, had come into conflict with Onderon's Beast Riders, and that she had requested the assistance of the Onderon system's Jedi watchmen to help her defeat them. He also learned that the Beast Riders staged an assault during which Galia was kidnapped by the Beast-Lord Oron Kira, and that Amanoa ordered the Jedi Ulic Qel-Droma to rescue her daughter. Qel-Droma then brought Galia and her Beast-Lord husband before the Queen with hopes of peacefully settling their differences, but the Jedi discovered that Amanoa was given over to the dark side, and that under her, the citizens of Iziz were worshiping the spirit of Freedon Nadd. Peace talks utterly failed between the Queen and the Beast-Lord, and the meeting quickly degenerated into more aggressive negotiations. The Jedi/Beast Rider war effort was successful, though Amanoa perished with the arrival of Jedi Master Arca Jeth, and Ommin's daughter Galia was newly wed to the Beast-Lord Oron Kira. Galia filled her mother's vacancy and became Queen, with the Beast-Lord as her consort. Ommin in turn plotted to take the planet back from his daughter and the Beast-Lord, and reclaim the throne as rightful King of Onderon. In a surprise assault, he dispatched his minions to launch attacks throughout the fortified city of Iziz.

Sensing the presence of the dark side haunting the planet, the Jedi Knights, led by Master Jeth decided to move the coffins of Amanoa and Freedon Nadd to Onderon's fourth moon, Dxun. Before the tombs could be relocated, however, one of Ommin's minions, the armor-clad Dark Jedi Warb Null, ambushed the Knights with a massive groundborer and the King's Naddist army in tow. Ommin meanwhile sensed Jeth's presence above ground, and incapacitated him through the Force with a dark side backlash. Jeth was down, and the Jedi Knights were held at bay by the armored darksider and his war machine while his Naddist army successfully recovered both sarcophagi.

As Jeth recovered, the Jedi deduced that if the King was indeed alive and behind the attack, the groundborer's departure tunnel would take them to his hideout. Queen Galia then led Jeth and his apprentice Ulic Qel-Droma through the catacombs. Soon, Galia discovered that she was unfamiliar with the tunnels, as they ran deeper than any she had previously encountered. Jeth, though, was following the strong pull of the dark side in the tunnels, until the trio came upon none other than Ommin himself.

Galia gasped in horror at the sight of her father, who was connected to a complex life support system. The most intriguing sight to them was Ommin's mechanical exoskeleton, which, as he described to the Jedi and his daughter, was a necessity; the King's prolonged exposure to the dark side had detrimental effects on his body, and over time he grew dependent on this iron support contraption to replace his natural mobility.

Appearing weak and virtually helpless to his guests, Ommin was confronted by Jeth, who demanded the return of the physical remains of Freedon Nadd. When the Jedi Master approached the King, however, Ommin blasted him with a torrent of Force lightning, which knocked Jeth back. As Qel-Droma rushed to his Master's side, the spirit of Nadd himself suddenly appeared behind the King. Only then did the Jedi realize that Ommin was far from being as helpless as he pretended, and in fact had been empowered by Nadd's spirit. As Jeth was distracted by the ancient Dark Lord, Ommin rose and seized him by the throat, then incapacitated Jeth by smothering him with waves of dark side energy. Ommin attempted to seduce Galia with the dark side as well, but was quickly rebuked by the Princess. Nadd then ordered his foremost servant, Warb Null, to deal with Qel-Droma, and he obliged by engaging the Jedi in a lightsaber duel. Qel-Droma swiftly triumphed over the armored warrior, but at Nadd's order, Ommin kidnapped Jeth and fled deeper into his subterranean stronghold.

The battle for Onderon
Qel-Droma and Galia escaped the tunnels without Jeth, pursued by Ommin's army of darksiders. When they reached the surface, Galia was ferried away to safety while Qel-Droma sent a distress signal to Coruscant, the seat of the Galactic Republic. Coruscant in turn dispatched the Republic war-fleet in defense of Onderon, while on the Jedi stronghold-planet of Ossus, five Jedi Knights were dispatched in response to the call for aid.

The battle was going well for the Naddists. Ommin's dark side army had successfully driven back Oron Kira and his Beast Riders, and Kira's Jedi companions were suffering from diminished ability in the Force due to Ommin's dark side thrall over the planet. For two days, the Naddists had the Beast Riders and Jedi pinned down in Kira's forest stronghold, before the arrival of the Republic-Jedi relief force. One of the Jedi, the newly-knighted Nomi Sunrider, managed to turn the tide of the conflict with her Jedi battle meditation, which provided empowerment for her allies while demoralizing the resolve of the darksiders.

Ommin received report of the surface battle from Novar, who informed him that at first the battle had been in their favor, but things were changing with the arrival of the Jedi and Republic. Novar told the King that one of the newly arrived Jedi held great power, and that she was the cause for the diminished influence of the dark side. He also mentioned that in the midst of battle, two travelers in possession of dark side artifacts had arrived in Iziz, requesting an audience with the King. Concerned by this, Ommin ordered Novar to bring the guests while he dealt with the Jedi woman.

Reaching out through the Force, Ommin searched for young Nomi Sunrider on the battlefield. When he located her, the King withdrew his dark influence from the planet's atmosphere and instead focused it in one concentrated attack directed at Sunrider. Unable to withstand the backlash, Sunrider was incapacitated. Back in his lair, Ommin sat in the company of his dark side warriors, satisfied with his victory over the novice Jedi. Novar then arrived with two visitors, Satal and Aleema Keto of the Empress Teta system.

Treachery of a Sith Lord
"I'm sorry, Ommin&hellip;they don't belong to the dark side but you do!"

- Freedon Nadd, to Ommin

After stealing a Sith spellbook from the Museum of Dark Side Antiquities on Coruscant, the Ketos then journeyed to Onderon in search of assistance with deciphering the text. Apprehensive at first, Satal inquired if the King was knowledgeable enough to provide the assistance they sought. Ommin obliged them, and while rendering Satal temporarily uneasy with his power, gave the young man a Sith amulet, which granted its wielder the ability to read ancient Sith text. Ommin allowed Satal to keep the talisman as a gift, in return for being allowed to make a copy of the book for himself.

While Ommin ordered Novar to handle the transcription, the King showed the Ketos his most prized possession: Jedi Master Arca Jeth, tortured and imprisoned by the dark side of the Force. Ommin's plan was to destroy his body until it forced Jeth to call on the power of the dark side, at which time Ommin would restore him as a Dark Jedi. However, Jeth's knowledge that other Jedi were coming for him gave him strength enough to resist the darkness. He called the King close to him, and told him that his Knights had arrived to free him.

At that very moment, the reinforced Jedi task force consisting of Nomi Sunrider, Ulic and Cay Qel-Droma, the Vultan Oss Wilum, Dace Diath, Tott Doneeta, and the Miraluka Jedi Shoaneb Culu, broke into Ommin's lair. Fighting erupted immediately as Ommin and his darksider army were caught by surprise. Cay Qel-Droma lost his droid arm to a Sith warbot during the skirmish, but succeeded in destroying his attacker. Meanwhile, unwilling to be caught in the midst of the commotion, Satal and Aleema scurried away deeper into the tunnels under the palace. As the other Jedi made short work of Ommin's lackeys, the King joined the fight personally, determined to show the Jedi the true nature of the dark side. He immediately unleashed a barrage of Sith lightning, taunting the Jedi as they suffered the full brunt of his attack. The Jedi recovered, but Ommin attacked them again, this time catching both Sunrider and Ulic Qel-Droma with a potent blast of dark side energy. Before the King could mount another attack, however, Ulic Qel-Droma sliced apart his exoskeleton. Ommin's body collapsed, and he lay squirming on the floor, moments away from death. Freedon Nadd, after guiding the Ketos into the subterranean chambers of the palace, arrived by Ommin's side. The King begged for Nadd's assistance, but the Sith Lord refused him. Seeing the potential in the Ketos, Nadd decided to abandon the King, and restore his legacy through Satal and Aleema. Nadd then submitted Ommin to the dark side in front of the Jedi&mdash;the life of King Ommin of Onderon was forfeited by his own ancestor. After the revolt was settled, Ommin's sarcophagus, together with his wife's, was moved to Dxun and interred within the new tomb of Freedon Nadd.

Personality and traits
"Dead? Ha! No no. That was simply a necessary diversion, so I could continue my&hellip;studies."

- King Ommin to Galia

As a young man, Ommin was an avid learner and received lessons in etiquette and politics, and was also brought up in the dark side traditions of his royal forefathers. He became very knowledgeable in Sith lore, and was fluent in Onderonian, Galactic Basic, and ancient Sith. Himself a noble, it was only fitting that he be betrothed to a noblewoman, and thus wed Amanoa. Also in line with tradition, the King's wife was indoctrinated in the ways of the Sith.

King Ommin was an intelligent man who was dedicated to the Sith and their traditions. He did not suffer incompetence from his subordinates, such as when he eliminated the former Minister of State, Tolo Kad, for his failure. Ommin was competitive by nature and a sound military commander, though he was restricted to delegating orders from his underground lair due to his support skeleton. Also because of his restriction, he found it necessary to trick individuals into coming near him, and then attack them with dark side energy. Occasionally Ommin sacrificed those whom he deemed expendable, as evidenced when he did nothing to stop the impending death of Warb Null at the hands of Ulic Qel-Droma. He was fully devoted to his dark side Master Freedon Nadd, carrying on Nadd's legacy just as his fathers before him had done. His devotion to Freedon Nadd and his dark side teachings sometimes led Ommin into torturing individuals, as he did with Jedi Master Arca Jeth with dark side energy, hoping to extinguish his light and restore him as a Dark Jedi.

Collector
"They say you have found Sith treasures. What gift have you brought me?"

- King Ommin, to Aleema and Satal Keto

Ommin was very well versed in Sith lore, and was always eager to acquire more "Sith treasures," as he called them. He was an eccentric man, despite his appearance; his lineage granted him the inheritance of a plethora of these treasures, and he kept them readily available and on display. When the Ketos visited with the King, he brought the youths to a glass showcase, where he removed one of his many Sith amulets. Ommin himself also wore an amulet around his neck. When the Ketos presented their Sith spellbook to the King, he was anxious to transcribe a copy for himself immediately.

Among his collection of artifacts were at least two Sith swords, a number of Sith amulets and talismans, and Sith tomes. After the death of Amanoa, Ommin came into possession of Freedon Nadd's sarcophagus, an object of great dark side power. His most "prized possession," however, was the Jedi Master Arca Jeth, whom Ommin had captured and imprisoned, hanging him on a wall as though he were a work of art. Ommin eventually lost all of his Sith treasures, including the imprisoned Jedi Master, when he died. Freedon Nadd gifted Aleema and Satal Keto with the majority of Ommin's artifacts, and the remainder of them were sealed in Nadd's tomb with the sarcophagi of Ommin, Amanoa, and Freedon Nadd, by Ommin's former "most prized possession," Arca Jeth himself.

Powers and abilities
"Foolish Jedi! Arca has been humbled by the might of the dark side! And so shall you!"

- King Ommin, as he blasts the Jedi with dark side energy

The apprentice of the Dark Lord Freedon Nadd, King Ommin studied the dark side alongside his wife, Queen Amanoa. For a time the King and Queen competed with each other in their studies, and both became stronger for it. When the debilitating effects of the dark side began to take its toll on Ommin, he withdrew from his studies, the competition with his wife, and leadership of Onderon overall. Though he never resumed his apprenticeship, he still maintained the power that was granted him through his ancestor Nadd.

As a Sith sorcerer, Ommin displayed a considerable mastery of Sith magic and of the dark side in general. According to Jedi Master Arca Jeth, Ommin's dark side energy was the strongest he had ever encountered. On several occasions, the King was able to lash out through the dark side of the Force and attack Jedi that were great distances away from him. His attack was so powerful that it was able to incapacitate even a Jedi Master, as done with Jeth.

Ommin was able to channel the dark side in such a manner that it permeated the very atmosphere of Onderon so that the Jedi Knights present felt their strength in the Force diminished. He was also able to project blasts of what was described as "infinite hatred." When channeling the dark side in this way, Ommin's body and eyes radiated with a fluorescent green aura.

Ommin was also proficient with Sith lightning, using it against the Jedi. With his lightning Ommin subdued Jeth and also humbled Jeth's apprentices when they tried to rescue him. Afterwards, Ommin used a lightning-based torture-restraint to confine Jeth and hold him fast on the wall of his lair.

Ommin was able to summon dark side spirits from Chaos, as he did with the spirit of Freedon Nadd, and he also claimed ability to create these spirits as well. According to Ommin, he could subject individuals to the power of the dark side so heavily that they would be forced to call on its power to save themselves. After the victim succumbed to the darkness, Ommin would destroy the body and then resurrect them as a dark side spirit.

Equipment
In his youth, Ommin had all the faculties of a normal man, being to move about freely and as he chose. However, as he engrossed himself more and more in the Sith arts, the dark side power began to twist him and corrupt his flesh. Ommin's body had become decayed and brittle. His bones softened and weakened, and before long he was unable to sustain movement of his limbs and flesh. As a result, Ommin had constructed for himself a durasteel harness to support his physical body. This "metal exoskeleton" was attached to the King from his head to toe, to the tips of each finger. Because the girth of the machinery rendered it virtually stationary, Ommin was restricted to confinement in his underground lair. From here he would receive reports of the state of affairs above ground, and through his servant Novar, direct the course of battle.

He was not entirely immobile, however. The exoskeleton offered him some movement, such as being able to fully operate his arms and legs, albeit still within the confines of his lair. The exoskeleton also provided the King with amplified measure of strength. He was able to lift Arca Jeth off the ground while holding the Jedi Master by his neck, and then retreated deeper into the caverns with Jeth's body. While the metal frame augmented his strength, Ommin was further empowered by the spirit of Freedon Nadd. When the exoskeleton was destroyed by Ulic Qel-Droma, Ommin collapsed to the ground like an Arkanian jellyfish, and Nadd withdrew his power from him as well.

Behind the scenes
The character of Ommin first appeared as the main antagonist in the story arc The Freedon Nadd Uprising of the comic series Tales of the Jedi, created by writer Tom Veitch, which is his only comic appearance. He was first mentioned, however, in the Tales of the Jedi: Knights of the Old Republic story arc, laying the foundation for his character to be further expounded in the following Freedon Nadd Uprising storyarc.

For the Tales of the Jedi audio drama, an new spin to the already established character of Ommin was displayed by voice actor Larry Keith. The audio drama also made use of Ommin's proficiency with Force lightning, something he is not shown using at all in his comic appearances.

Ommin's backstory was further explored in 1996's Tales of the Jedi Companion, a supplementary guide to the Star Wars Roleplaying Game. More backstory details were provided for Ommin in 2001's Dark Side Sourcebook. The sourcebook further delves into Ommin's Sith heritage, and includes his relation to Freedon Nadd, his marriage to Amanoa, and his Sith instruction of the character Novar.

Appearances

 * Tales of the Jedi: Knights of the Old Republic
 * Tales of the Jedi (audio)
 * Tales of the Jedi: The Freedon Nadd Uprising
 * Tales of the Jedi: Dark Lords of the Sith 1: Masters and Students of the Force
 * Tales of the Jedi: Dark Lords of the Sith 2: The Quest for the Sith
 * Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords
 * Star Wars: The Old Republic
 * Bane of the Sith
 * Star Wars: Darth Plagueis