- "I want to know them. More of them. Some of them. I want to show them what I am doing. I—I want their approval. I wish I did not. I wish I could carve that last wet chunk of heart out of my gut, the part that longs for someone to say, Yes, Marda, that is good. What you have done is good."
- ―Marda Ro, in her journal
Around a year after she left the Path of the Open Hand cult in the wake of its fall in 382 BBY, the Evereni Marda Ro began a hunt for other members of her species. She began the search in a public house in a settlement on the planet Dantooine, where she interrogated a human about Evereni he had seen. Ro then left the public house, planning to investigate the lead he gave her. Around 379 BBY, her's hunt was interrupted when she noticed a Jedi walking through the marketplace she was at. Ro assaulted the Jedi and took him back to her starship, the Gaze Electric, where she fed him to the Force-consuming creature called the Great Leveler.
Later, Ro visited the planet Ryloth, where she met an Evereni going by the alias "Isren." At Ro's request, Isren taught her more about Evereni but refused to join her group of raiders. Ro continued to seek out Evereni and eventually managed to catch up to the Evereni twins Vika and Velya Faer at a space dock orbiting the gas giant Siquay. She invited the Faers aboard the Gaze and the siblings taught her about Evereni, their customs, and more of the language. At a feast aboard the Gaze, Ro's assistant Alirya attempted to kill Vika, who survived the attack and killed Alirya in retaliation, but was herself shot by Ro for killing the human. Faer's brother was angered by her death, but Ro managed to calm him down and convince him to join her and replace Alirya.
Ro later chronicled the events of her quest in recordings she made for her descendants. By 252 BBY, Ro's great-great-grandson Marchion Ro had listened to her journal, including the entries about her search. In 228 BBY, Marchion remembered that the journal recounted his great-great-grandmother's hunt for Evereni while listening to the messages again.
Prelude[]
- "We tamed that storm for a long time, but finally the planet nearly destroyed itself to kick us off, and we took instead to the stars. We fought everyone we met, assuming they hated us as much as our homeworld did. We hunted. We spread out and learned to survive with tooth and claw."
- ―Marda Ro, in her journal
Evereni lived through centuries of war.
The Evereni species lived in harmony with their homeworld Everon until a natural disaster devastated their civilization, leading to centuries of conflict.[4] In 500 BBY,[5] the few survivors of the conflicts left Everon behind[4] in order to escape death.[1] The survivors then came across other sentient species and, despite initial fighting, integrated into the galactic society to survive.[4]
Over a century later, by 382 BBY,[6] the Evereni cousins Marda and Yana Ro were members of the Path of the Open Hand cult based on the planet Dalna.[7] That year,[8] the Path took part in a battle that resulted in the cult's end.[1] During the battle, Marda had an altercation with Yana in which she cut off Yana's hand. In the aftermath of the conflict, Marda took the Gaze Electric, a starship belonging to the Path, and left[9] She spent the next year using the Gaze's records to track down members of the Path who were not present on Dalna during the cult's end. Ro deceived several of them—including her human assistant Alirya—into joining her,[1] making them the foundation for a marauder group that would eventually become the Nihil.[10]
The hunt[]
The beginnings[]
Visit to Dantooine[]
- "It all began in a public house on the planet Dantooine"
- ―Marda Ro, in her journal
Marda Ro began her hunt on Dantooine (pictured).
Around 381 BBY,[3] Ro began the hunt by visiting the oldest settlement on[1] the Outer Rim Territories[11] planet Dantooine. There, she purchased a nail file made from the bone of the irisophant creature and visited a public house within the settlement. Inside, Ro ordered a cup of tea and a mug of local beer, which she left at the table as an invitation for others. The Evereni received stares from others and a Devaronian confronted her, so she retaliated by tossing the beer into his face. The Twi'lek Fori Nagor passed by Ro and stopped for a moment when she noticed the girl was an Evereni before quickly moving on.[1]
Eventually, Ro noticed a human on the other side of the room, who kept glancing at her during his conversation with a Rodian companion. Ro questioned him about where he would look for Evereni, as she recognized that he was someone familiar with her people. The human and Rodian agreed they would not look for Evereni, but the human reluctantly added that he saw two on a space station near[1] the moon[11] Pantora. Ro left the public house and started planning how she could use the lead to track the Evereni mentioned by the human. She was followed by Nagor, whom she confronted elsewhere in the settlement and recruited into her group of pirates in exchange for a kiss.[1]
A Jedi[]
- "The Jedi walked through an eclectic marketplace on—no, I won't say. I was there to hunt."
- ―Marda Ro, in her journal
The Great Leveler (pictured) killed the Jedi aboard the Gaze Electric.
Around 379 BBY,[3] Ro was looking for Evereni at a marketplace on an astronomical object. A Jedi was walking through the marketplace, and the Evereni approached him after she noticed him. After asking him whether he had a Padawan, Ro assaulted him when he answered that he did not. She left the Jedi alive and took him to the Gaze in a shuttle. On the Gaze, she was greeted by Alirya and two other subordinates—the Ozrelanso Rox and the human Milan Stor. While Alirya was concerned about Ro, who was covered in the Jedi's red blood, the Evereni ordered the trio to follow her.[1]
Ro led them to the ship's medical observation room, where the Force-consuming monster called the Great Leveler was kept. Rox dropped the Jedi and Ro turned off the containment shield keeping the Leveler in the room. The Jedi awoke and tried to escape, but slipped on his own blood and the Leveler turned him into a lifeless husk while Ro watched. Afterward, she went to the Gaze's throne hall, where she stored the Jedi's lightsaber in a hidden compartment in her throne and had a conversation with Alirya.[1]
Old uncle and desire for more[]
- "Now I believe you are a grandchild of ours. Riferi. A legacy. The future cut of a knife we forge now. That I trust. Go forth, pretty Marda Ro. Go make your visions true"
- ―Isren, to Marda Ro
Isren told Marda Ro of Everon (pictured).
Later, Ro visited[1] the Outer Rim Territories planet[11] Ryloth after spending a year chasing rumors and legends because she heard of an Evereni hunting lylek creatures in that world's equatorial forests twice in one month. She instinctively picked one of the hubs near the forests and booked a tourist multiplex there. After having no luck asking expedition groups and safari guides, Ro visited a bar and ordered fermented milk tea. Eventually she spotted an aged Evereni leaning against a wall and drinking hot liquor.[1]
When she approached him, he told the girl to sit and started speaking in the Evereni language before then swapping to Galactic Basic Standard due to Ro not speaking the language. The Evereni introduced himself under the alias "Isren," meaning "old uncle" in Evereni, and refused to tell her his name. Ro bought him meat and soup while he shared liquor with her and taught her about Evereni culture and origins. Isren felt that Ro was a legacy of the Evereni people and told her that was something he trusted, despite being distrustful otherwise, though still opted not to join Ro's group when she asked him.[1]
Marda Ro believed the one-handed Evereni to be her cousin Yana (pictured).
Following her encounter with Isren, Ro continued to seek other Evereni, desiring to meet them and receive their approval. At some point, she spent months chasing after rumors of an Evereni. However, when she learned they had only one hand, Ro broke off the search, having assumed the Evereni was her cousin Yana. Some time later, Ro and Alirya were together in the throne hall while her group was laying low following a disastrous fight between Nagor's team and a system security team. During the debate, the human asked Ro about her goals, and the Evereni reminded her that she was hunting for other members of her species.[1]
Meeting the Faers[]
Encounter over Siquay[]
- "Be my guests for a while. I've been looking for you."
- ―Marda Ro, to Vika and Velya Faer
Marda Ro met Vika and Velya Faer aboard the Gaze Electric (pictured).
Eventually, Ro tracked the Evereni twins Vika and Velya Faer to a space dock orbiting the gas giant Siquay, catching up to the Faers as they refueled. She sent three ships under her command to surround the ship belonging to the siblings and sent them an invitation. They did not answer for a while, and Ro considered the possibility of them attempting to run away, thinking that she would have them killed if they did. Outgunned, the Faers ultimately gave in and accepted Ro's offer.[1]
While Ro waited in the throne hall, Vika and Velya were escorted there by the Kessurian pirates Esstrop and Kortanio and introduced to the the former. During the subsequent conversation, Vika introduced herself and her brother, and Ro invited them for food. During their meal, they talked about Evereni, with Ro learning about the Faers' family and the meaning of her family name from the siblings. Though Alirya brought them liquor, none of them drank it. After they finished eating, Ro challenged the siblings to spar; Vika wanted to fight against Ro first, and Velya offered to mediate.[1]
Vika drew a knife and questioned Ro's choice to use staves as her weapon. Ro began to reply and attacked Faer before finishing speaking, but Faer disarmed the younger woman of one of her staves and slashed her arm open. As they continued to fight, Ro tossed Faer onto the ground onto her shoulder, getting on top of her to choke her with a stave. Faer dislodged Ro and escape the lock, however her brother stepped in and stopped the friendly match. The two Evereni women exchanged smiles and Alirya rushed to Ro to attend to the wound on her arm, while Vika asked the human to bring her the liquor from earlier. Alirya ignored the Faers until Ro convinced her to leave the injury alone and went to bring the drinks. While getting them, Ro defended Alirya from Vika's description as a sweet pet, claiming that Alirya was as important and valuable as she made herself.[1]
Unexpected deaths[]
- "I expected something like this. Not this, but—"
- ―Marda Ro, in her journal
Marda Ro (pictured) shot Vika Faer for killing Alirya.
The siblings stayed with Ro aboard the Gaze for several days, and while his sister explored the whole starship, Velya bounced back and forth between her and Ro. When Ro's pirates went out for a raid, they were accompanied by the two Evereni, who returned with plentiful bounty. They made offerings to Ro like her raiders did and teased both each other and the pirate leader about it, while she teased them back that it was the price for living on the Gaze. A feast was thrown in celebration of the fact that everyone returned from the raid safe and tables and benches were dragged into the throne hall for the occasion.[1]
Ro ate on her throne at a distance from everyone, but during the feast, Vika dragged a chear next to the throne and brought Ro a small plate of finger cakes that a member of Nagor team had baked. Faer told Ro that her brother thinks she was beautiful and Ro asked her if she does not. While the Evereni thought about her answer, Ro nibbled on one of the finger cakes. Unbeknownst to either of them, Alirya snuck up on Faer and stabbed her from the back with a dagger. The human backed up with the dagger covered in gray Evereni blood and Faer quickly grabbed her by her neck and wrist.[1]
She lifted Alirya off the floor by rising to her full height, then broke her wrist while Alirya kocked at her. Digging her claws into the human's throat, the Evereni dropped Alirya's dead body back onto the floor. During the chaos triggered by the altercation, Velya rushed to Vika's side to inspect her wound and Ro shot Vika with a blaster she took out of the hidden compartment in her throne.[1]
Together[]
- "Be with me for the rest of your life."
"That sounds like a threat."
"Death isn't what I want from you" - ―Marda Ro and Velya Faer
Velya immediately turned to Ro, who pointed the blaster at him in response, while remembering Isren's lesson and what she had said about Alirya to Vika. She explained to Velya that Alirya felt her position was threatened by his sister, which led her to the attack. Ro also offered Faer the position by her side that had become vacant with Alirya's death, which he reluctantly accepted after some convincing. She offered Faer her hand and he took it, grasping her wrist. They dug their claws into each other's wrists, letting their blood slowly drip on the floor.[1]
Later, the bodies were taken away and Ro was in the throne hall alone with Faer. Curious about how Evereni treat their dead, Ro asked Faer, who explained that the body has no value and they simply remember the name. The two drank tea and reminisced about other Evereni they had met. Ro remembered that Isren told her Evereni only meet in death and brought that fact up to Faer who informed her that they also meet in the Rystan system. Afterward, Ro finished her tea and shortly talked with Faer about how she surrounds herself by others and how she is building a legacy.[1]
Aftermath[]
- "You. This is for you. Riferi. My Legacy. Take care."
- ―Marda Ro, in her journal
The symbol of the Eye of the Nihil
Ro would go on to chronicle her hunt in a journal she recorded for her descendants.[1] By 252 BBY,[12] during his youth, Ro's great-great-grandson Marchion Ro had listened to her memoirs in their entirety.[2] Ro's descendants turned the pirate band she established into the Nihil and served the group as the Eye of the Nihil.[4]
Under Marchion's leadership, the Nihil engaged the Galactic Republic and the Jedi Order in a conflict that dealt massive blows to the Republic and the Jedi, such as establishing an area of space known as the Occlusion Zone, which was isolated from the rest of the galaxy by a barrier that blocked hyperspace travel to and from the region.[2] In 228 BBY,[3] Marchion listened to his great-great-grandmother's journal again while digging through his family's records stored in a storage room aboard the Gaze Electric. Listening to the chronicles, he remembered that the journal's contents chronicled his great-great-grandmother's hunt for Evereni.[2]
Behind the scenes[]
- "I knew that I needed an Evereni who rejects [Marda Ro], and I needed an Evereni that sort of embraces her, or at least, you know, agrees to hang out for a while."
- ―Tessa Gratton
Marda Ro's hunt first appeared in flashbacks in the short story "A Closed Fist Has No Claws," written by Tessa Gratton and published in the 2023 young-adult anthology The High Republic: Tales of Light and Life as a part of the Star Wars: The High Republic multimedia project.[1] In an interview, Gratton revealed that Ro's story was intentionally written to be the opposite of Yana's, with Ro losing her path.[13] In another interview,[10] she[14] discussed that he knew they needed to have two Evereni that Ro would meet during the hunt, one who rejects her and one who embraces her.[10] Those ended up being Isren and Velya Faer respectively, with Ro also meeting a third Evereni—Vika Faer.[1]
Appearances[]
- "A Closed Fist Has No Claws" — The High Republic: Tales of Light and Life (and audiobook) (First appearance) (In flashback(s))
- The High Republic: Temptation of the Force (and audiobook) (Mentioned only)
Notes and references[]
- ↑ 1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.10 1.11 1.12 1.13 1.14 1.15 1.16 1.17 1.18 1.19 1.20 1.21 1.22 1.23 1.24 1.25 1.26 1.27 1.28 1.29 1.30 1.31 1.32 1.33 1.34 1.35 1.36 1.37 1.38 1.39 1.40 1.41 1.42 1.43 1.44 1.45 1.46 1.47 1.48 1.49 1.50 1.51 1.52 1.53 1.54 "A Closed Fist Has No Claws" — The High Republic: Tales of Light and Life
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 The High Republic: Temptation of the Force
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 "A Closed Fist Has No Claws" establishes that Marda Ro visited Dantooine around a year after taking possession of the Gaze Electric, an event that Star Wars: The High Republic Character Encyclopedia dates to 382 BBY. Therefore, Ro's visit—which marked the beginning of her hunt—must have occurred around 381 BBY. A Jedi's death aboard the Gaze Electric takes place around 379 BBY per reasoning here. The High Republic: Temptation of the Force establishes that Ro died before its events. Star Wars: Timelines dates Starlight Beacon's destruction to 230 BBY. The implementation of the Guardian Protocols, which Star Wars: The High Republic Character Encyclopedia places in 229 BBY, took place one week after Starlight Beacon's fall according to The High Republic – Shadows of Starlight 1. As The High Republic: Temptation of the Force takes place one year and six weeks after the destruction of Starlight Beacon, it must be set in 228 BBY. Therefore, Ro must have died by that year and the hunt must have ended between around 379 BBY and before 228 BBY.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 The High Republic: Eye of the Storm 1
- ↑ Star Wars: The High Republic Character Encyclopedia establishes that the remaining Evereni left their homeworld in 500 BBY.
- ↑ Star Wars: The High Republic Character Encyclopedia dates the events of The High Republic: Path of Deceit to 382 BBY.
- ↑ The High Republic: Path of Deceit
- ↑ The High Republic: Quest for Planet X establishes that the Path of the Open Hand dissolved in the aftermath of the Night of Sorrow, which Star Wars: Timelines dates to 382 BBY.
- ↑ The High Republic: Path of Vengeance
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 10.3
Interview with Tessa Gratton: "A Closed Fist Has No Claws" (TALES OF LIGHT & LIFE) on the Friends of the Force: A Star Wars Podcast YouTube channel (October 6, 2023) (backup link)
- ↑ 11.0 11.1 11.2 Ultimate Star Wars, New Edition
- ↑ "The Lie" chapter in The High Republic: Eye of the Storm 1, which includes Shalla Ro's death, features Asgar Ro's ascension to Eye of the Nihil, an event dated to 252 BBY by Star Wars: The High Republic Character Encyclopedia. As The High Republic: Temptation of the Force establishes she introduced Marchion Ro to Marda Ro's journal, he must have listened to it by that year.
- ↑
Episode 41 – "Temptation of the Force" Review & Discussion with Tessa Gratton on Spotify (backup link)
- ↑
Tessa Gratton (@tessagratton) on Twitter: "she/he/they" (backup link)