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The story of the Nightsister matriarch Mother Talzin, from the Star Wars franchise.
Canon[]
Early life[]
Talzin, a Dathomirian female, became a shaman of the Nightsisters, a coven of Force-sensitive witches who used magicks connected to the dark side, during the waning years of the Galactic Republic and eventually united the various Nightsister covens following the death of Mother Zalem in 31 BBY on her homeworld of Dathomir.
Whereas previously, competing Nightsister covens had been ruled by a clan mother and a shaman, Talzin, holding both titles, was able to unite her warring people into a single coven, which thrived into the time of the Clone Wars. Talzin's coven also had a close relationship with a clan of Nightbrothers, who they subjugated as their male counterparts.
Talzin later gave birth to her sons Darth Maul, Savage Opress. At one point, Mother Talzin met the Dark Lord of the Sith Darth Sidious on Dathomir where the two planned to combine dark side of the Force abilities and Dathomir magicks together. Talzin thought she would be his apprentice. However, Sidious sensed her son, Maul, had a stronger connection to the Force and took him away from Dathomir with Talzin swearing vengeance against the Dark Lord and Sith.
Mother Talzin taking the infant Asajj away.
Sometime prior to the Clone Wars, Mother Talzin was forced by the Siniteen criminal Hal'Sted to take a Nightsister infant, Asajj Ventress, away from her mother and gifted to him as payment in order to protect her clan.
A decade later, Talzin sensed her son's, now called Darth Maul, presumed death on Naboo and was unable to locate him due to his whereabouts being unknown to her and she remained on Dathomir with her hatred of the Sith increasing against Sidious over his callous abandonment of Maul. Near the Clone Wars, Dooku met the Nightsister matriarch providing aid to Talzin when she was in some manner of predicament. Talzin began to sell the services of the Nightsisters' warriors and assassins to wealthy clients but still remained only loyal to herself and her coven.
The Clone Wars[]
Reuniting with Ventress[]
Talzin hugging an injured Asajj.
During the Clone Wars, Asajj Ventress was betrayed by her Sith Master, Count Dooku under the orders of Darth Sidious, and Ventress returned to her homeworld of Dathomir. Talzin prevented the uncertain Nightsisters from killing her, recognizing and revealing Ventress as one of them and ordered the Sisters to take her to the village. Later, Talzin led her coven in a healing ritual using magicks on Ventress recounting her earlier life of how her clan had been forced to give her up. After she and her sisters healed Ventress with a spell, Talzin promised to help Ventress in her quest for vengeance upon Dooku for his betrayal.
Attempt on Dooku's Life[]
Talzin prepares the invisibility potion.
Talzin encouraged Asajj to strike Dooku at his home on Serenno and selected two of the coven's strongest warriors to accompany her. Using her magicks, Talzin and the Sisters performed a spell that conjured magical ichor mist that gave the three assassins the ability to be invisible to most, as well as gave a special poisoned dart to Ventress to dull the Count's senses. She also gave them each Jedi Lightsabers to make Dooku believe that the Jedi were attacking him and not suspect the Nightsisters.
Their plan eventually failed, but Talzin reassured her that she had proved Dooku was vulnerable, and there were other ways of exacting revenge against him. She contacted the Count though hologram, and offered him a new assassin to replace Ventress. Aware of Dathomir warriors' extraordinary caliber, Dooku accepted the witch's offer, although was somewhat suspicious at first.
Mother Talzin and Dooku meet on Dathomir.
Dooku himself made a journey to Dathomir, with the ulterior motive of enlisting the Nightsisters in his Separatist movement, though Talzin quickly rejected the prospect, opting to remain neutral in the galactic conflict — as well as insisting that she was only aiding Dooku because of his help earlier. Inside her lair, Talzin asked Dooku if he has heard of Darth Maul and acknowledged he was slain on Naboo. She promised him a male Zabrak Nightbrother (while enticing him with the revelation that the new assassin would be linked by blood to the late Sith warrior Darth Maul), a prospect Dooku welcomed as securing a new personal assassin was essential to him and the Sith Lord left the planet. Ventress met with Talzin shortly afterward, and the clan mother instructed Ventress to travel to the Nightbrother village on the far side of the planet to choose the most powerful male warrior she could find, under the pretense of merely selecting a mate, one that the Nightsisters would control and unleash when the time was right.
Mother Talzin leading the ceremony.
Ventress returned from the Selection with a Nightbrother named Savage Opress, unaware that he was Talzin's other son. Impressed with Savage's physique, Talzin rendered him unconscious in an enchanted sleep. Talzin then led her sisters in a magic incantation ceremony using dark magicks to enhance the abilities of Savage Opress, amplifying his rage, and his physical appearance, giving him a far more muscular bulk, lengthening his cranial horns and erasing his freewill. Savage was a mere puppet now and would ultimately be loyal to Talzin alone. As a final test of Savage's strength and loyalty, the now-monstrous Zabrak was ordered to murder his younger brother, Feral, which he did without remorse.
Mother Talzin presents Savage Opress.
Satisfied, Talzin presented Savage with an enchanted blade, summoned from the spirit realm, and afterward, she and fellow Nightsisters Karis and Talia escorted Opress aboard a Separatist shuttle to Dooku's homeworld of Serenno. The Count gladly accepted his new assassin, training him in the ways of dark side of the Force, and Talzin returned to Dathomir.
Talzin seeks Savage with her crystal ball.
Savage led an onslaught against a Republic squadron and killed two Jedi with surveillance reaching the Jedi Order. Recognizing the assassin as a Nightbrother, Jedi Generals Anakin Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi traveled to Dathomir seeking information on Savage due to an attack on a Jedi outpost caused by him. The investigation brought them to the Nightsister village where they met Talzin in her chambers. Though Talzin denied any knowledge at first, claiming her clan lived in exile, Obi-Wan saw through the ruse and demanded answers. The Clan Mother was eventually persuaded to tell the Jedi using her divining crystal ball to reveal Savage's location on Toydaria and the Jedi left in search of him.
After the Jedi had left, Talzin convinced Ventress the time had come and to put her plan into action, while Ventress considered that Savage was not yet ready. Talzin insisted before the deception was discovered and could wait no longer in their attack on the Count. Ventress gave in and left to join her servant while Talzin wished her luck.
Talzin shows Savage his brother.
After the assassination attempt failed, Ventress went into hiding elsewhere in the galaxy, and Savage returned to his mother on Dathomir wounded and exhausted, collapsing in her chamber. Opress told her of his escape from both Dooku and the Jedi and that he and Ventress had betrayed each other. He stated that he was not yet strong enough to survive being hunted. The Clan Mother helped Opress to his feet and told him of another way to become more powerful. Talzin revealed to him that his brother, her other son, Darth Maul, had survived and was living in exile in the Outer Rim. She gave Savage a magick talisman imbued with the power of the Nightsisters to use as a compass, tasking him with finding his brother and learning the path to power in the ways of the Sith. With the promise to return yet more powerful, Opress departed for the Outer Rim.
Annihilation of Talzin's Coven[]
Mother Talzin welcomes Asajj back.
Ventress later returned after Opress betrayed her and seeked refuge with the Nightsisters. Talzin welcomed her, insisting that she needed to abandon the Sith ways in totality and rejoin her sisters as a member of the coven, although she neglected to inform Ventress that Opress had briefly returned. The witch coven gathered in the village for a ritual baptism led by Talzin and her spellcasters. After Asajj repeated a pledge to honor her sisters with loyalty above all else, she was bathed in the dark ichor-infused Waters of Life while her sisters performed the magick ritual to rebirth her. Talzin proclaimed she was reborn a Sister of the Night and called for a feast to celebrate the formal return of their long-lost Sister.
During their celebration, General Grievous, at the behest of Count Dooku, attacked Dathomir to destroy Talzin, Ventress and the Nightsisters. Striking the village by droid bombers—the first wave of an extermination assault making their first wave attack runs on the fortress. Recognizing the war had come to her home, Talzin rallied the Sisters for defense of their lives and home. Talzin encouraged Asajj to push past her regret and use her knowledge of Grievous and the Separatist battle droids to lead their people to victory.
Mother Talzin using her magicks to fight.
Joining her sisters on the front lines, Talzin used her dark powers to conjure a protective green bubble and unleashed a blast of destructive magic lightning to destroy numerous battle droids. Realizing the witches were outnumbered, she retreated from the front lines early on, into the inner chambers of her lair as to ask the elder witch Daka for assistance. She joined Daka in the hidden cave deep within the Nightsister fortress where she asked her to raise their Army of the Dead, reanimated corpses of deceased Nightsisters, as well as inflict retribution upon Dooku for ordering the assault.
Talzin casting a charm.
While Daka performed her spellcraft, Talzin had two witches retrieve a silver orb from her chambers that contained a piece of the Count's hair. Using the lock of Dooku's hair, Talzin tossed it into her cauldron, causing green mist fashioning a Voodoo doll from totem magick in Dooku's likeness, and used it in conjunction with her magic to torture Dooku to the point of near-death. Talzin began her voodoo attack simply by holding the doll over a boiling cauldron, causing blisters and painful burns to appear on Dooku's face. The witch then dropped the doll in the cauldron, causing extreme pain to the Count.
Talzin tortures Dooku.
Talzin later used magick to communicate with Dooku as a ghostly specter of herself appearing out of his chest. She ordered him to call off the attack and leave Dathomir, but the Sith Lord refused. Grievous was then ordered by Dooku to abandon the hunt for Ventress and instead find and kill the Clan Mother. Having forced Ventress into a retreat, Grievous pushed past the remaining defenders and followed the green mist trail of magick to the inner sanctum of the village. He destroyed the enchanted barrier that concealed the hidden cave where Talzin and Daka were performing their spells.
Grievous killed the few witch guards present and murdered Old Daka. Before she too could be executed, Talzin teleported to safety in green smoke, dissolving her physical form and fleeing into the spirit world to seek refuge. With Daka dead, the enchantment over the undead army also perished, and the Nightsisters were virtually destroyed. The remainder of the Nightsisters were exterminated by Grievous' battle droids, the only survivor being a wounded Ventress who retreated into the Dathomiri forest for seclusion.
Mother Talzin's disembodiment spirit.
In the wake of the massacre, Talzin appeared to Ventress as a spiritual specter projecting her presence from the spirit world, telling the only other survivor of the onslaught that she must move on from this chapter of her life and seek a new path, stating her destiny would always be tied with that of the Nightsisters. With that, Talzin disappeared, leaving Ventress alone. The battle had decimated the Dathomir Witches and destroyed the lair and most of Talzin's power, the Clan Mother remained in the ruins of her village consolidating what remained of her power and focused on her most pivotal objective; the retrieval and rebirth of her son.
Living in Ruins[]
Talzin watching Savage's quest.
After the massacre destroyed most of her sources, Talzin remained in contact with Savage Opress as he searched the Outer Rim for his brother. Savage's talisman had lead him to the planet Stobar, where he found some dust that caused the talisman to glow, reporting the find to the witch. Mother Talzin conjured an image of the planet Lothor Minor, monitoring his journey by using her magicks from afar on Dathomir. She commented that Savage was getting close and foresaw that he and his brother will be reunited. Talzin then began making the necessary preparations for their arrival by bringing Maul back to health without the aid and support she traditionally received from her coven of spell-casters.
The Rebirth and Return of Darth Maul[]
Mother Talzin healing Darth Maul.
After finding Maul broken and driven to insanity by his injuries and isolation, Savage returned with him to Dathomir, where Mother Talzin materialized from wisps of green mist. Talzin explained the carnage to Savage and that Dooku had ordered the massacre, but assured him that the Nightsisters will survive as they always have. The Clan Mother lured Maul out of the ship by transfixing his attention on a glowing magical orb made from magicks, leading the Nightbrothers into the caverns of her village. Talzin placed Maul on the Font by placing him in an enchanted sleep with a touch of her finger, removing the spider-like cybernetics and used magicks and some of her own life energy to create a brand-new pair of cybernetic legs from the destroyed bodies of super battle droids. She restored Maul’s sanity and memories by plucking dark clouds of madness from his damaged mind.
Talzin vanishes as Maul awakens.
When her work was done, she disappeared once again in green smoke before Maul regained full consciousness. She succeeded in restoring Maul's mind and body, but with the amount of life magick used to heal him, it took a great toll on the Mother. By sacrificing a portion of her life energies, she could not maintain a full physical body and retreated into the spirit realm watching the Nightbrothers' journey, now relying on her sons and their rapidly growing criminal army, known as the Shadow Collective, to execute her revenge against Sidious.
The Disappearance and Defeat of Talzin[]
At some point, Mother Talzin gained the allegiance of the Frangawl Cult on Bardotta, who worshiped her as the Great Mother. Under her direction, they abducted Dagoyan Masters one by one, draining the Living Force within them into a containment sphere. The cult leader had been driven by visions of Talzin warning him that the Jedi knew of the sphere and were on their way.
Talzin holding the Living Sphere.
Talzin later rendezvoused with the cult, who had captured Queen Julia, on Zardossa Stix. The Frangawl Cult leader presented her with the Living Sphere, and Talzin could sense the power of the pure spirits, but also sensed the approaching Jedi, stating the ritual must begin. Talzin explained to the Queen that she intended to use the planetary alignment in a ritual with a device built onto a spire that stretched out from the zigurrat, that would harness the power of the eclipsing sun. The energy would then rip the Living Force from the Queen, combining her spirit with Talzin's own dark magick and the collected Force energy from the sphere to give her more power than any Jedi or Sith combined, as well as rejuvenating her fading physical form.
Mother Talzin dueling Mace Windu.
However, the Jedi Master Mace Windu and Senate Representative Jar Jar Binks were hot on their trail and arrived at the temple, leaping onto the ritual platform to confront Mother Talzin. Talzin engaged the Jedi by first unleashing a torrent of deadly green lightning from her fingertips, then summoned a flaming blade that she conjured from the ether with magick that she used to cross blades with Windu. The sword, engulfed in an otherwordly green flame, was powerful enough to deflect blows from a lightsaber but her distraction allowed Binks to free Julia, disrupting the ceremony.
Talzin dissipates into the wind defeated.
The Gungan also accidentally destroyed the containment sphere, causing it to fall from its pedestal, shattering and releasing the Force energy, which unleashed its fury in a massive explosion that killed all the cultists. Mace stood with his lightsaber readied to continue his fight with the Nightsister as she held what remained of the shattered sphere. However, with her plans destroyed, Talzin shrieked in pain as her physical body disintegrated into green mist and vanished.
Episode Appearances[]
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Season Three[]
Season Four[]
Season Six[]
Legacy[]
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Son of Dathomir[]
After being reborn by his mother's magicks and forming the Shadow Collective, Maul was captured and incarcerated on Stygeon Prime, by his former master Darth Sidious. Sidious revealed to Maul that Count Dooku had replaced him as his apprentice, later revealing to Dooku that he kept Maul alive to lure Mother Talzin out into the open seeing her as a threat to his future Empire. As Maul was Talzin's son, whom Sidious took in a reluctant deal many years earlier, he reasoned that Maul would be the right bait to lure Talzin to her end. Maul was later rescued by his Mandalorian allies from his Shadow Collective and launched an assault against General Grievous on the swamp moon of Zanbar.
Talzin appears to Maul to guide him.
Maul fled Zanbar after a terrible defeat from Grievous imploring Mother Talzin for help and her image materialized from his chest in the form of green mist, speaking to him from across space using Nightsister magick, just as Sidious and Dooku were hoping. Maul explained what had happened and Talzin anticipated that the Sith Lords were laying a trap for her and told him to rendezvous with the Black Sun's forces on Ord Mantell telling Maul to gather his forces for another battle with the Confederacy of Independent Systems, so they can capture Dooku and Grievous, though she herself did not intend to be on Ord Mantell. Upon arrival on Ord Mantell, Maul battled the CIS forces and ultimately captured both Dooku and Grievous, paralyzing their armies without a commander.
As they continued to prepare for battle, a team of Nightbrother warriors, led by Brother Viscus, arrived after having been sent by Mother Talzin to reinforce Maul's army. They fought Dooku and were defeated, but Viscus was spared when members of the Pyke Syndicate and Black Sun intervened, allowing their capture of the Sith Lord, while Maul left the surface and made his way to the Separatist fleet up in space. He and his Mandalorian warships attacked the command ship, as Grievous realized the Separatists had been lured into a trap. Maul and his forces boarded the ship and made their way to the bridge capturing Grievous aboard his command ship. From the Separatist command ship, Maul contacted Mother Talzin of their success. She promised her son that with the two captured, Sidious would soon follow and they will finally have revenge against him.
Mother Talzin appears to communicate with Dooku.
Following the success of the assault on Ord Mantell, Maul retreated to a hidden base on a meteor and attempted to sway Count Dooku to his cause as they were both betrayed by Sidious. Mother Talzin again appeared in a cloud of magick smoke from Maul's chest and told Dooku to forgive their previous disagreements on account of Dooku only following Sidious's will. The Nightsister revealed that she too was once betrayed by Darth Sidious—and that Darth Maul is her son. Talzin explained, Sidious always betrays his allies, and even now was working to find a new apprentice replacing Dooku in the process. She then offered Dooku a chance to join them, destroy Sidious, and rule the galaxy together before being interrupted by an assault by the Republic on the outpost.
As the Republic ships made their way through Gauntlet fighter fire towards the base, Grievous used the chaos to make it to an escape pod, while Dooku agreed to join Maul and fight against Kenobi's boarding party, though this was a ploy by the command of Sidious. After a fight with the Jedi Obi-Wan Kenobi, Mace Windu, Tiplee and Aayla Secura, it soon came to an end when Dooku killed Tiplee and a Mandalorian fired a small missile into the lightsaber duel to incapacitate the Jedi. With the Jedi knocked out, Maul and Dooku retreated in a shuttle, where they traveled to Dathomir to meet with Mother Talzin. In the aftermath of the battle, the Jedi were led to believe that Dooku was the Sith Lord, which Palpatine (the true Sith Lord) allowed them to believe, now knowing where to find the Nightsister.
Nightsister Reborn[]
Mother Talzin regains her bodily form.
In the aftermath of the Republic and Jedi assault against the Shadow Collective on the asteroid post, Darth Maul traveled to Dathomir with his Death Watch allies, as well as Count Dooku, who had claimed to join Maul's vendetta against Darth Sidious. Once arriving, Maul spoke to Brother Viscus, who survived his encounter with Count Dooku during the battle on Ord Mantell, and Viscus told Maul that the preparations had been made for the next phase of their plan. The Nightbrothers escorted Dooku to a chamber in a monastery on Dathomir near the Nightbrother village so he could be sacrificed, in a ritual that would allow Mother Talzin's return to a true body from the spirit world. Maul prayed to a monolith, imploring Talzin to reveal herself, and her essence manifested from the stone and possessed Dooku.
Talzin battling Sidious with her magicks.
Meanwhile, a Sith Infiltrator arrived in orbit, carrying both General Grievous and Darth Sidious, after tracking Dooku's location to Dathomir. Sidious ordered Grievous to jam the Dathomirian communications and cloak the ship, allowing them to arrive on Dathomir undetected. They landed and the pair approached a chamber said to hold a stone column that was the heart of Mother Talzin's power. The chamber was located very near the Nightbrother village where Maul was born. Maul and the Nightbrothers did not see the ship coming and continued with their plan, as Mother Talzin's spirit appeared in a cloud of smoke out of a carved block of stone and began to unleash a magick attack against the Sith Lord, entering his body. She then began draining his life energy, the Force from within him allowing the Nightsister to become corporal once more. As Maul explained, Talzin's physical return required a great sacrifice, and they had chosen Dooku to make that sacrifice.
Mother Talzin shielding Maul with magick.
As the ritual continued with Talzin trying to gain control over his body, an explosion occurred ripping through the area, and General Grievous and Darth Sidious appeared before Maul undetected on Dathomir and blasted their way through the wall of the monastery to confront him. Sidious reminded his former apprentice that there was only one plan that mattered stating only the Dark Lord's plan shall rule the galaxy. With the ritual incomplete, Talzin, in Dooku's body, was left to contend with her rival Sidious dueling the Dark Lord of the Sith in the possessed Count's body, while her son fought Grievous with the darksaber. Darth Sidious quickly gained the upper-hand against Talzin, demanding that she release his apprentice. Sidious bombarded Dooku's body with Force lightning forcing her to relinquish him and a fully rejuvenated Talzin emerged from Dooku's body to take on Sidious once again. The Nightsister matriarch, however, drained enough from Dooku to become corporal again.
Final Confrontation and Demise[]
Talzin brought to her knees weakened.
Mother Talzin appeared before Sidious embodied once again from the spirit world using her Nightsister magick to attack the Sith Lord, who retaliated with his own lightning attack. Sidious once again unleashed lightning against Talzin, while she herself sent a torrent of magical energy towards the Dark Lord. Maul took advantage of this distraction continuing his fight against Grievous overwhelming the Kaleesh warlord using the Force to shove Grievous through the opening the explosion had created and away from the battle. Although Maul begged for Talzin to take his strength in order to overcome his former master, the tide began to turn against them when Dooku recovered from his possession, retrieved his lightsaber, and joined his Master's onslaught adding his own lethal lightning to that of his Master. Talzin fended off both Sith by pulling up a magical barrier shield made from magick around herself and Maul as her son implored her to fight on.
Grievous slays Mother Talzin with dual lightsabers.
Rook Kast, a female Mandalorian warrior, meanwhile, continued speaking with Black Sun and the Pykes, who informed her that they were pulling out of the Shadow Collective, leaving Maul on his own as a Separatist fleet emerged from hyperspace over Dathomir. Maul again urged Talzin to escape with him, but she stated he will be killed if she let down her defenses knowing that escape was impossible. Talzin told her son to retreat without her, even if it meant her own doom. Maul protested, but Talzin used telekinesis to force him away from the fight, throwing him far from the fray where he was pulled away by Mandalorian supper commandos dragging Maul onto a shuttle leaving Dathomir. Talzin fell to her knees, weakened by rebuffing Sidious and Dooku's lightning attacks. Grievous reentered the chamber calmly striding towards the now beaten Talzin returning to the fight. Grievous bypassed her magic defenses and ignited two lightsabres while walking towards her.
Talzin turns to stone as her magicks fade.
Maul screamed in horror and despair as the Kaleesh warlord then ignited his dual lightsabers proceeding to fatally stab and impaled Mother Talzin through the chest, causing her magick to fade and her body turned to stone when her magicks left her body. With his Shadow Collective in tatters, Maul escaped after witnessing his mother's death, as more Confederate troopers arrived to take complete control of Dathomir. Dooku apologized to Sidious, while overlooking Talzin's stoned body, for allowing Maul to escape again, but Sidious assured his apprentice that with Mother Talzin's death Maul's destiny had been destroyed and neither he nor the Nightsisters coven remained a threat to his plans.
Legends[]
Uniting the Covens[]
A Dathomirian female, Talzin was a member of the Nightsisters prior to the Clone Wars. While birthing her first daughter, Talzin was struck with a fatal affliction, but was enlightened by the spirits of her culture and survived the incident. Talzin rarely traveled off-world, but when she learned that one of her witches, Kycina, had given up her infant, whom she dubbed Maul, Talzin took a small group of witches and headed for Orsis to find the Nightbrother. She was told by Meltch Krakko, a Mandalorian instructor from the Orsis Academy where to find him.
After subduing Maul, she attempted to convince him to return to his home and face the Nightbrother challenges. Maul refused and said that he only answered to one Master, which Talzin thought was the Falleen headmaster, Trezza. After a brief firefight on an orbital station, Talzin was shot in the thigh, and her witches, along with Maul helped heal her until the Zabrak found Darth Sidious. Sidious told Talzin that the body of a fallen Nightsister was on board and that Maul belonged to him. Talzin and her witches boarded the ship and set off for Dathomir where Talzin was able to heal herself.
At some point during the Clone Wars, Talzin wrote a short chapter, entitled Wild Power, which explained the role of the Nightsisters and their usage of the Dark Side of the Force in the galaxy.