Olana Chion

"She will grow wise in the ways of the Force, and her life will be one of service."

―Adi Gallia on Olana Chion^[src]

Olana Chion was a Human female Jedi Knight during the waning years of the Galactic Republic. Born on Kegan in 45 BBY as O-Lana, she became a point of contention between the Jedi Order and Kegan's Benevolent Guides. The Order sought to train her as a Jedi, whereas the Guides foresaw that fraternization with the Jedi and the Republic would lead to devastation in the years to come. The Guides kidnapped O-Lana but had their efforts thwarted by the Jedi Qui-Gon Jinn, Adi Gallia, Obi-Wan Kenobi, and Siri Tachi. O-Lana was then accepted as a Jedi Initiate and taken to the galactic capital of Coruscant.

O-Lana took the name of "Olana Chion" while growing up in the Jedi Temple in order to more suitably fit in with her peers. She fervently hoped to become the Padawan of Kenobi, but when he took on the young Human boy Anakin Skywalker instead, she developed an ire towards Skywalker that lasted for over a decade. Chion eventually apprenticed to Avan Post when she came of age, and he trained her for ten years before being killed at the onset of the galaxy-spanning Clone Wars in 22 BBY. The Jedi Council soon after promoted Chion to the rank of Jedi Knight, hoping that she could lead clone troopers of the Grand Army of the Republic in the war.

Chion instead chose a more pacifist approach to wartime service and devoted her attention to the refugees of ravaged worlds. When General Grievous of the Confederacy of Independent Systems launched an attack on Coruscant three years into the war, she was tasked with evacuating and coordinating millions of the capital's residents. The attack was repelled, and the war itself ended shortly thereafter with the betrayal of the Jedi Order by the Republic's Supreme Chancellor. Skywalker, now a Sith apprentice to the Chancellor, led an attack on the Jedi Temple, and Chion was among the first of his victims.

Biography[edit | edit source]

Early life and kidnapping[edit | edit source]

"Tell us how we can help you. What do you think happened to O-Lana?"
"We are worried about her safety. There are whispers and rumors about children who vanish."

―Adi Gallia and V-Nen^[src]

O-Lana was a Human female born in 45 BBY to V-Nen and O-Melie on the oppressive and isolated world of Kegan. Her parents realized very early that their child was special, and despite Kegan's taboo against contacting the Galactic Republic, they requested that the Jedi Council test their child for sensitivity to the Force. Understanding the fragile diplomatic situation on Kegan, the Council dispatched four Jedi: Masters Adi Gallia and Qui-Gon Jinn and their respective Padawans, Siri Tachi and Obi-Wan Kenobi.^[2]

However, the Benevolent Guides that ruled the planet saw a grave future should the Jedi take the child. They had visions of white-armored soldiers raining destruction down upon their planet, and they decided to avert this crisis before it could become a reality. They spirited O-Lana away to the Re-Learning Circle, a prison-like compound to which certain youths were banished and fed anti-Republic propaganda. However, the two Jedi Padawans Tachi and Kenobi found their way into the Re-Learning Circle. They saved O-Lana with the help of Jinn and Gallia and in the process shut down the Circle and overthrew the Guides. The foursome then took O-Lana away from her parents to be trained as a Jedi Knight.^[2]

Training[edit | edit source]

"If O-Lana is strong in the Force, her powers will become more apparent as she grows. These powers should be nurtured and directed. When they are not, the child can become confused and frightened."

―Qui-Gon Jinn^[src]

Seeking to break all ties from her conflicted and isolationist homeworld, O-Lana abandoned the gender-defined structure of her name and dubbed herself "Olana Chion". She spent her entire childhood in the temple, learning the Jedi arts, though never being accepted by a Master. She greatly admired Kenobi, her rescuer from Kegan, and aspired to become his Padawan learner upon his promotion to the rank of Jedi Knight. Her chances for acceptance, though, grew less and less likely as she neared her thirteenth birthday, at which point she would likely be sent to the Agricultural Corps or some other subdivision of the Order. Kenobi returned from his latest mission on Naboo a Jedi Knight, but much to Chion's disappointment, he had already found his apprentice: Anakin Skywalker, a nine-year-old boy purported to be the Chosen One of Jedi legend.^[1]

Chion disliked Skywalker purely for the reason that he was Kenobi's Padawan, as opposed to her. She had banked thirteen years of training on being apprenticed to Kenobi, but her hopes had been dashed, due to the dying wish of Qui-Gon Jinn, another of her saviors from Kegan. But even as her situation looked dire, Chion was accepted by Avan Post, a Chandrilan Jedi Master, and began her life as a Padawan learner.^[1]

Apprenticeship under Avan Post[edit | edit source]

In 32 BBY, Chion began her apprenticeship to Post in earnest. For over a decade, she was instructed in the proper manner, and was successfully fitted to the Jedi Knight mold.^[1] Unfortunately for Chion, Skywalker, along with Kenobi and Senator Padmé Amidala, instigated the Clone Wars on Geonosis, sending the galaxy into turmoil.^[3] But while Skywalker embraced the war fully and become a decorated hero, tragedy struck Chion early on. In 22 BBY, the first year of the war, Post perished in a dogfight over the ocean world of Ando, after destroying seven Hardcell-class interstellar transports.^[4]

Clone Wars[edit | edit source]

Despite the loss of Post, Chion had completed the bulk of her training under her former master, and was promoted to the rank of Jedi Knight with very little pomp and circumstance. Her promotion was out of necessity, as the Republic needed all the Jedi they could get in order to give the newly minted clone troopers suitable battlefield commanders. But Chion was uneasy with war, feeling that it strongly conflicted with the Jedi teachings that she had been raised on. Though she was not opposed to using her skills to keep the peace, she chose to help coordinate the war effort behind the scenes.^[1]

Chion's dislike of Skywalker was enhanced by his barnstorming and dashing exploits across the galaxy. He made himself the darling and hero of many worlds, but nothing he could do could shake Chion's doubt of his intentions, as she kept track of his progress and actions throughout the war. She distrusted him, seemingly more and more as he rose throughout the ranks of public and Jedi acclaim.^[1]

Away from the capital, Chion was placed in charge of the evacuation of endangered worlds, as the battlefronts continuously expanded and swept across the galaxy. As the war dragged on into 19 BBY, the Confederacy of Independent Systems launched what it hoped to be a final strike, when General Grievous swept into Coruscant at the head of a massive droid army. Though the attack had the sole purpose of kidnapping Supreme Chancellor Palpatine, the diversion of Grievous's army was no illusion. Many sectors of the city world were extensively damaged, forcing families out of their homes, and out of shelter. Chion was tasked with evacuating and coordinating the millions of homeless sentients, and keeping them safe until Grievous could be driven away.^[1]

Chion walks past Anakin Skywalker, just outside one of the Jedi Temple's many briefing rooms.

With Coruscant successfully defended, the Clone Wars looked set to wind down and finally end, following the death of Confederate leader Count Dooku, at the hands of Skywalker, no less. The Republic's Outer Rim Sieges persisted, though, and Chion attended a briefing by Kenobi as to the situation on worlds such as Boz Pity and Saleucami. By pure coincidence, Chion's leaving of the briefing room coincided with the entrance of the object of her derision, "The Hero With No Fear", Anakin Skywalker. But still, Chion's concerns were not echoed by the upper echelons of the galactic community, and Skywalker was promoted to the Jedi Council as a liaison to Palpatine.^[5]

Operation: Knightfall[edit | edit source]

When Palpatine, who was secretly the Sith Lord Darth Sidious, let Order 66—an order which called for the execution of all Jedi— issue forth across the galaxy,^[5] Chion was staying at the Temple with Masters Shaak Ti and Cin Drallig. Skywalker, now the Sith apprentice Darth Vader, led a battalion of clones from the 501^st Legion, with the intent to massacre all the Jedi within. Hundreds of Jedi fell to either Vader's blade or the troopers' blasters, and Chion's suspicions about Skywalker came full circle, as did the Kegan Guide's vision of white-clad troopers. She attempted to save as many younglings as possible. It was presumed that she eventually fell prey to the onslaught, even though her body was never conclusively identified.^[1] Even so, her image was posted, though marked as dead, and a fictional bounty placed on her head, as a propaganda tool in far-flung worlds of the galaxy.^[6]

Personality and traits[edit | edit source]

Chion was both fearful of new things and jealous of the more privileged. She had set her hopes on becoming Obi-Wan Kenobi's apprentice, only to have her goal achieved by Anakin Skywalker. From then on, she had an intense disdain for Skywalker, purely on the principle that he took the role that she had been vying for. Skywalker could do no good in her eyes, with every step he took lowering his standing with her. She even took lengths to avoid the choices he made, averting herself from war and dedicating herself to more directly aiding the less fortunate. Chion had black hair, brown eyes, fair skin, and stood at a height of 1.62 meters.^[1]

Behind the scenes[edit | edit source]

"Actually, although it wasn't my original intention, I'm quite pleased that one of Jude Watson's characters is now featured in one of the prequels. Let's face it, no one else has written nearly as many books set in the Prequel Era (37, unless I've miscounted), so she really deserves the recognition."

―Ian Tapley^[src]

The character of O-Lana was created by Jude Watson as a MacGuffin in her young reader novel, Jedi Apprentice: The Fight for Truth. The character would not appear again for half a decade, until Ian Tapley retconned her into George Lucas's Star Wars: Episode III Revenge of the Sith, through the Hyperspace feature What's The Story? on StarWars.com. In Revenge of the Sith, the character was originally just a Jedi extra played by Dominique Chionchio. Tapley's What's The Story? entry equated her with O-Lana and renamed her Olana Chion, deriving the character's surname from Chionchio's own. His Databank entry was also elaborated on by Billy Buehler and "Master Starkeiller," but it was Tapley's retconning that made Chion one of the few C-canon elements to be elevated to the status of G-canon.^[7]

Tapley's original draft of Chion's Databank entry had her sent off on a mission prior to Operation: Knightfall, as he hoped for her to survive Order 66, but he ended up enjoying the final draft that saw her perish by Vader's blade. The final draft made Chion one of the few film characters to be "killed off" in the Expanded Universe. In addition to The Fight for Truth, Tapley referenced several other Expanded Universe works while writing the entry, including X-Wing: The Krytos Trap and Star Wars: Clone Wars Volume Two. In a rarity for What's the Story? winners, the entry was run by Jude Watson, in the event that she had any plans for the character. There were no issues, and the entry was passed.^[7]