Joruus C'baoth

"But I really don't think he's a Dark Jedi. He's erratic and moody, but he doesn't have the sort of evil aura about him that I could sense in Vader and the Emperor. I think it's more likely that Master C'baoth is insane."

- Luke Skywalker, to R2-D2

Joruus C'baoth was the sole known surviving unstable clone of the Galactic Republic Jedi Master Jorus C'baoth. He was cloned by Palpatine, and used as the guardian of the Imperial storehouse at Mount Tantiss on Wayland. In 9 ABY, Grand Admiral Thrawn discovered the existence of the storehouse and traveled to Wayland. He succeeded in recruiting the Dark Jedi to join him in his campaign to destroy the New Republic. His battle meditation powers were used by Thrawn's forces as part of a renewed offensive against the New Republic. C'baoth also attempted to lure Luke Skywalker and Leia Organa Solo to the dark side of the Force as part of a plan to seize the Empire for himself. After taking control of the Imperials left to guard him on Wayland, he was confronted by New Republic forces including Skywalker and Mara Jade. The two dueled him and Mara managed to kill the mad clone.

Creation
"Created from a tissue sample, probably sometime just before the real C'baoth's death."

- Thrawn, explaining C'baoth's background to Gilad Pellaeon

It is believed that a tissue sample was procured from Jorus C'baoth shortly before he departed aboard Outbound Flight in 27 BBY. Supreme Chancellor Palpatine requested, through his representative Kinman Doriana, that all personnel aboard the expedition&mdash;including Jedi&mdash;submit to the extraction of analysis-grade blood and tissue samples as part of their medical examinations. Doriana cited the possibility of hive viruses or potential epidemics as justification, and it is presumed that Doriana brought these samples back with him to Coruscant after Outbound Flight was destroyed.



During the Clone Wars, Palpatine took possession, again through Doriana, of several thousand Spaarti cloning cylinders from Cartao (20 BBY), and several clones were eventually grown from C'baoth's tissue sample using this method. Cloning techniques, especially techniques developed early in the war or techniques intended to rapidly grow clones, produced clones that were extremely mentally unstable; the Joruus C'baoth clones would prove to be no exception. (It should be noted that the clone troopers produced during the Clone Wars did not manifest these problems as they were grown slowly, over a number of years, and were cloned with different technology).

The clone was taken to Wayland, likely having been created by Palpatine to guard his treasures in the mountain. It is believed that some time during the Galactic Civil War Joruus C'baoth killed the Guardian of Mount Tantiss, becoming the new guardian. However, it is possible that he was the only guardian, and merely imagined the whole duel, as even at this time, C'baoth was totally insane. After a while, C'baoth left the mountain, and took control of Wayland's population, forcing the warring Humans, Psadans and Myneryrshi to all live together in a village he controlled. Whether or not C'baoth was always a Dark Jedi or if he turned to the dark side during his time on Wayland is unknown.

Service to Thrawn
"I killed them, of course. Just as I killed the Guardian. Just as I now kill you."

- C'baoth, to Thrawn, before unleashing a salvo of Force lightning

Several years after the Battle of Endor, Grand Admiral Thrawn finally tracked down the location of the Emperor's private storehouse on Wayland, intending to use the cloaking shield and the Spaarti cylinders there to pursue his war against the New Republic. However, he also believed that Palpatine had a Dark Jedi guardian there, and was aware that such a being would be useful to his campaign, knowing that a powerful Force-sensitive could use battle meditation to increase the efficiency of his forces. After Thrawn revealed himself to the Dark Jedi on Wayland, C'baoth told the Imperials that he had killed the guardian of the mountain years ago, and had taken control of the planet. He then unleashed a deadly blast of Force lightning in an attempt to kill Thrawn, Captain Gilad Pellaeon and the Admiral's Noghri bodyguard, Rukh. Only the Grand Admiral's precautionary use of ysalamiri saved him from the death that had found all previous offworlders to visit the warehouse since the death of the Emperor. Thrawn managed to enlist the insane dark Jedi Master to his cause by promising him Luke Skywalker and his sister Leia Organa Solo, as well as her yet-unborn twins, to be his to mold however he desired.



C'baoth would finally achieve one of his goals, the "capture" of Luke Skywalker, when the Jedi came to him on Jomark. At the Battle of Nkllon earlier in the campaign, C'baoth felt Skywalker's presence, and sent a message to the Jedi: Skywalker would come to him. At the same time, Imperial forces began spreading the rumor that a Jedi was on Jomark. C'baoth headed there and took up residence in High Castle, immediately establishing his dominance over the people there. Though Skywalker was skeptical that a Jedi had not only survived the Emperor's Jedi purge, but not aided the Rebellion, or even revealed himself after Palpatine's death, he eventually went to Jomark. There, he met C'baoth, who proclaimed himself to be a Jedi Master. He began training Skywalker, teaching him many things contrary to what Yoda had taught the young Jedi. He told Skywalker that Jedi were superior to others, and should use their power to govern inferiors. He also taught him that Jedi should use force and pain as teachers to keep non Force-sensitives under control.

After a time, he revealed to Skywalker that he had sensed another being skilled in the Force, someone who Luke had met: Mara Jade. Several days later, she landed on Jomark, begging for Luke's help to free Talon Karrde, who had been imprisoned by the Empire. C'baoth attempted to kill her by hurling boulders at her ship through the Force, but she managed to land nonetheless. On the surface, the Jedi Master confronted her, but the use of a ysalamir, as well as help from R2-D2, Skywalker's astromech droid, saved Mara's life. C'baoth was wounded when R2, in Luke's X-wing, fired on him, though he did not kill him on orders from Luke. Skywalker left with Mara, sensing the dark side in C'baoth.



C'baoth later left Jomark in a fury, taking control of the minds of those onboard a Lancer-class frigate and ordering them to take him to the Chimaera, Thrawn's flagship. Once there, he confronted Thrawn, asking why he had not yet been given his Jedi. Thrawn retorted by asking why Luke Skywalker had been allowed to leave. C'baoth, tired of what he perceived as empty promises from Thrawn, took control of the minds of everyone onboard the Chimaera save for those in the ysalamir Force-bubble, and threatened to make them to take the ship to Coruscant. However, powerful as he was, controlling the minds of thousands for days was beyond him, and he was forced to drop his control. Thrawn then promised the Jedi Master that he would soon have Leia Organa Solo and her newborn children, Jacen and Jaina, as he was already assembling a team to infiltrate the Imperial Palace and kidnap them. C'baoth relented, but was still unhappy. Later, he used his Force powers to control the mind of Gilad Pellaeon, and had him place an order for a very special clone, then ordered him to forget the incident.

Though Thrawn was losing his patience for C'baoth's "antics", he still relied on him, knowing his battle meditation ability was indispensable. The Dark Jedi was later used at the assault on Ukio, one of the most important battles of the Thrawn campaign. Several Imperial cruisers, invisible thanks to a cloaking device, sneaked under the planetary shield, and then prepared to fire. A group of Star Destroyers waited outside the shield. Onboard one of them was C'baoth. When Thrawn gave the order, C'baoth sent a mental command to the other ships under the shield, at which point they fired down on the planet. As the people on the surface could not see the ships that were actually firing, they believed Thrawn had developed a weapon fitted on a Star Destroyer that could penetrate planetary shields. Rumor of this swept throughout the galaxy, striking fear into the hearts of many loyal to the New Republic.

C'baoth later learned that Thrawn's team had failed to capture Organa Solo and her children. Unknown to any of the Imperials, however, was the fact that Mara Jade, upon learning of Thrawn's clone soldiers, revealed that he was likely using the facility on Wayland. She agreed to lead Han, Luke, Lando, and Chewbacca there.

Around this time, C'baoth's madness became even more evident, as he frequently exploded in anger at Thrawn (usually about "his" Jedi) but would quickly calm down. The Dark Jedi also had begun to believe himself to be head of the Empire, a belief Thrawn knew had to be changed soon.

Showdown on Wayland
"So at last you have come to me. I knew you would. Together we will teach the galaxy what it means to serve the Jedi"

- C'baoth, to Mara Jade and Luke Skywalker

Unknown to any of the five heading to the Wayland, C'baoth was in Mount Tantiss, imprisoned in the royal chambers by Thrawn due to his realization that the clone was too powerful, power-hungry, and unstable to be safely used any longer. However, C'baoth had out-thought even Thrawn. En route to Wayland, he corrupted the minds of the reinforcements for the garrison. Those reinforcements planted explosives on the ysalamiri within Mt. Tantiss, the very ysalamiri that were making it possible to grow clones in a score of days rather than months, and incidentally, blocking C'baoth's powers.

C'baoth had realized that if he could take over the minds of the soldiers and crew members used as cloning templates, he could mentally command every clone created from them. This would allow him to personally command a huge section of the Imperial forces. As there were only 20 templates, he believed he could easily shape their minds, and in turn, their clones.

He had first tried this on the way to Wayland, where he was in a shuttle along with the well-known Imperial General Covell. C'baoth took control of his mind, altering it. Covell became completely loyal to C'baoth, forgetting his earlier orders from Thrawn. However, when the shuttle entered the Force-free zone caused by the thousands of ysalamiri in the mountain, Covell was shaken by the loss of C'baoth's presence, and his mind was severely damaged. Without the Force, the Dark Jedi was unable to maintain control of Covell, and the General suffered, his brain critically damaged. Covell was changed, although C'baoth had not finished "shaping" his mind. He died a short while later, after having C'baoth placed in charge of the facility.

C'baoth then had "his" army place explosives on the thousands of ysalamir in the fortress. When they were detonated, the creatures were killed, restoring the presence of the Force to the mountain. Far below, Skywalker and Mara Jade realized that they could suddenly touch the Force again.

When Mara and Skywalker arrived in the throne room searching for a self-destruct switch, C'baoth revealed himself to them. He then attempted to turn them to the dark side, but when they refused, he showed them his secret weapon—the clone he had ordered Pellaeon to have made weeks ago. It was a clone of Luke Skywalker, created from tissue from Skywalker's right hand, which had been cut off by Darth Vader during the Duel at Bespin, and later recovered by Imperial forces. The clone, Luuke, was armed with Skywalker's old lightsaber, which in turn had been belonged to his father Anakin Skywalker. Lost at Bespin, it had been recovered along with Skywalker's hand.



The Skywalker clone dueled Luke. However, Luke's clone caused a strange buzzing in his head by simply being near him (a possible effect of clone madness). This effect distracted Luke during their duel. After a violent fight, Luke was forced back up against a large viewscreen. When the clone swung his lightsaber at the Jedi, he ducked, and it exploded in Luuke's face. Mara took advantage of this to attack the clone, killing him and finally fulfilling the Emperor's last command to her: kill Luke Skywalker.

At this time, Leia Organa Solo, Han, and Talon Karrde entered the throne room. Han fired his blaster, but C'baoth used the Force to pull objects into the path of the shot, blocking the blasts and then pulling the blaster away from Solo. He then unleashed a Force scream, stunning everyone in the room. In a rage, C'baoth began to bring the ceiling down on Mara Jade. However, Jade used Leia's lightsaber to cut holes in the floor, so the rocks fell through, leaving her a clear path to C'baoth. C'baoth demanded Jade follow him to the cloning room, where he would make a clone of her. Mara Jade defiantly refused, and then charged towards C'baoth, guided mentally by Organa Solo. When she reached the insane Jedi, she cut him down with the lightsaber. He exploded in a blast of dark side energy. In the cloning chambers, Lando Calrissian and Chewbacca set detonators to explode and destroy the mountain after the Rebels fled, now victorious. At the Battle of Bilbringi far away, Thrawn was killed by Rukh. The Imperials, with Gilad Pellaeon now in command, were forced to retreat, ending the Chiss Grand Admiral's attempt to restore the Empire.

Personality and traits
"You don't understand power, Grand Admiral Thrawn. Conquering worlds you'll never even visit isn't power. Neither is destroying ships and people and rebellions you haven't looked at face-to-face."

- Joruus C'baoth

Like the original, the clone of C'baoth was very arrogant, believing he was superior to everyone else, simply because he was a Jedi. He thought that his Force-sensitivity gave him the right to rule others and judge them, and that non-Force sensitives were weak and incapable of independent thought. His madness showed towards the end of the Thrawn campaign, when he shifted personalities quickly, going from being furious at Thrawn to quiet and apologetic. He was very stubborn, but Thrawn was able to convince him of many things through reasoning and promises that soon things would go C'baoth's way. C'baoth had a very firm belief that Thrawn was mistaken in his definition of power, believing that power was not ruling worlds, but rather individual people, and knowing those people, knowing you had control over them.

C'baoth's strong personality led to him ignoring Thrawn's orders, something Gilad Pellaeon feared when they first met him on Wayland. Thrawn was confident he could control C'baoth with the ysalamiri and carefully calculated orders until he no longer needed him. However, Thrawn underestimated C'baoth, who later rebelled against him, attempting to take control for himself.

Given that the Great Jedi Purge had destroyed most records relating to the Jedi and the planet Wayland itself was a carefully hidden secret, almost no one knew that Joruus C'baoth was a clone. In fact, Thrawn was only aware of this fact because he had been present at the destruction of Outbound Flight and the death of the real Jorus C'baoth. The irony of this concealed fact is that through years of isolation and deteriorating sanity, even Joruus C'baoth forgot his true origins and believed himself to be the original Master C'baoth.

Powers and abilities
"I serve no Emperor. My power is for myself alone."

- C'baoth



C'baoth was skilled in the art of battle meditation, using it to command Thrawn's forces and coordinate attacks. He could also send mental messages across great distances, such as he did at the Battle of Nkllon. He was also talented with Force Lightning, frequently using it to punish those who he felt had disobeyed him, such as the people he ruled on Jomark and Wayland. However, his preferred ability was that of controlling the minds of others, bending them to his will. He had the power to take control of other's minds, and literally reshape them in his own image, an extremely difficult feat. He once took control of the thousands of beings serving on the Chimaera. Later, he used his abilities to control the Imperials left at Mt. Tantiss to guard him. He also had the ability to use Force scream, a very powerful yell that could destroy buildings.

Behind the scenes
According to author Timothy Zahn, Joruus C'baoth was originally supposed to be a mad clone of Obi-Wan Kenobi that survived the Clone Wars, but Zahn was forced to change the character's origin when Lucasfilm objected. He then created a new character—Jorus C'baoth—and his clone.

Jorus C'baoth's background, along with that of the Outbound Flight project, was later expanded on in Survivor's Quest and Outbound Flight by Timothy Zahn.

"Sabaoth" is a Hebrew word meaning "armies" which may have served as an inspiration for C'baoth's name, given his role as a coordinator of forces in the Thrawn trilogy.

Appearances

 * Heir to the Empire
 * Heir to the Empire comic
 * Dark Force Rising
 * Dark Force Rising comic
 * The Last Command
 * The Last Command comic
 * X-wing: Isard's Revenge
 * Jedi Search
 * Dark Apprentice
 * Darksaber
 * Specter of the Past
 * Vision of the Future
 * Enemy Lines I: Rebel Dream
 * Destiny's Way

Notes and references
Joruus C'baoth Joruus C'Baoth