Presence

Presence
Descriptive information
Gender	Female
Chronological and political information
Affiliation(s)	Sith

"The power to destroy life is at your command!"

―The Presence to Ezra Bridger

The Presence was a female Sith who once commanded the weapon on the Sith temple on the planet Malachor. In 3 BBY, her voice was heard by Ezra Bridger when he used a Sith holocron to inadvertently activate the superweapon. Bridger was led by the former Sith Lord once known as Darth Maul to believe that using the holocron would grant him the knowledge he needed to destroy the Sith. Once he activated the temple however, the Presence told him that the knowledge contained within the holocron was the power of the temple's battle station and that it had the power to destroy life.

Biography

The Presence was a female Sith who prior to 3 BBY, once commanded the weapon on the Sith temple on the desolate planet Malachor. Eventually her voice became confined to a Sith holocron.

In 3 BBY, Padawan Ezra Bridger and his master, Jedi Knight Kanan Jarrus, traveled with former Jedi Ahsoka Tano to Malachor to find ancient Sith knowledge, which they hoped to use to defeat the Dark Lord of the Sith Darth Vader and his Inquisitors. On Malachor, Bridger encountered the former Sith Lord once known as Darth Maul, who also sought the secrets of the Sith temple. The two worked together to enter the temple and ultimately retrieved a Sith holocron, which Maul said would unlock the temple's secret knowledge. Bridger was sent to the top of the temple alone, where Maul told him to activate the temple.

Bridger reached the top of the temple, where the holocron levitated out of his hand and entered an obelisk. Its activation set off currents of electricity, and the female voice of the Presence asked Bridger who he was. Bridger explained that he sought the knowledge of the temple to defeat his enemies, and the Presence told him that knowledge is power. The temple, which in truth was an ancient battle station, activated its superweapon and the Presence told Bridger that the power to destroy life was at his command. Bridger said he did not want that power, so the Presence said the other who had arrived at the temple might—Darth Vader. As Vader dueled Tano, Bridger and Jarrus worked together to remove the holocron from the obelisk and deactivate the weapon. With the holocron in hand, the two Jedi were forced to flee Malachor without Tano, as she and Vader were sealed within the temple dueling one another as the temple collapsed.

Over the next six months, Bridger regularly made use of the knowledge within the holocron and speak to the Presence, as she seduced him closer and closer to the dark side of the Force. After undertaking a mission to rescue the pirate Hondo Ohnaka from Imperial custody, Bridger returned to his quarters, expressing frustration at being blamed for failing to acquire all the details of the mission. Bridger opened the holocron once more and spoke with the Presence, who told him that his anger would make him more powerful and more focused. Jarrus, however, soon discovered the holocron in Bridger's quarters and took it from him, later giving it to Bendu as a gift after their meeting.

Behind the scenes

The Presence appeared as a voice in "Twilight of the Apprentice," the second season finale of the animated television series Star Wars Rebels. She was voiced by Nika Futterman.

In an interview with IGN that was posted after the episode aired, series executive producer Dave Filoni provided some insight into what he saw as the backstory of the Presence. In his mind, the voice of the Presence is the voice of the ancient Sith Lord who built the Malachor temple. Filoni said that he liked the idea of an ancient and powerful woman, who had domination that the audience has not yet heard of, who was creating the weapon when it was attacked by the Jedi Order and everyone was turned to stone. Filoni further said that he has a name for the character, but he could not yet reveal it. She is identified solely as "Presence" in the episode's credits.

The 2018 sourcebook Dawn of Rebellion mentions a Sith witch who led Sith military forces during the Great Scourge of Malachor, the battle in which the superweapon was activated and misfired. The 2019 reference book Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker: The Visual Dictionary identifies the Sith Lord who constructed the Malachor superweapon as Darth Tanis. Any potential correlation between the three characters has not been confirmed by any canon source.

Appearances

• Star Wars Rebels — "Twilight of the Apprentice" (First appearance) (Voice only)
• Star Wars Rebels: Steps Into Shadow (Voice only)

Sources

• "Twilight of the Apprentice" Episode Guide | Star Wars Rebels on StarWars.com (backup link)
• Ezra and the Sith Holocron - Steps Into Shadow Preview | Star Wars Rebels on the official Star Wars YouTube channel (backup link)  (Posted on StarWars.com)
• "Steps Into Shadow" Episode Guide | Star Wars Rebels on StarWars.com (backup link)
• Star Wars: Build the Millennium Falcon 96 (Guide to the Galaxy: Malachor – Sith Temple World)
• Star Wars: The Visual Encyclopedia
• Star Wars: Timelines

Notes and references

In other languages

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