| “ | Brother, I am an unworthy apprentice. I'm not like you. I never was... | „ |
| ~ Savage Opress' final words |
Savage Opress was a major antagonist of Star Wars: The Clone Wars. He was Darth Maul's long-lost brother and apprentice born on the planet Dathomir. He is a Dathomiran Zabrak Nightbrother who became a Sith Acolyte along with his brother Maul. Originally a tribal leader on Dathomir, he was picked up by Asajj Ventress and the Nightsisters to assist in Ventress' goal of killing Count Dooku but, Savage had went rogue and instead traveled with his brother Maul all across the galaxy to get revenge on the Jedi and Obi-Wan Kenobi.
He was voiced by Clancy Brown, who also did the voice of Mr. Krabs and Lex Luthor.
Summary
Savage Opress was a Dathomirian Zabrak Nightbrother who was born on Dathomir to Mother Talzin alongside his brothere Darth Maul and Feral. Originally a tribal leader on Dathomir, Opress was handpicked by Asajj Ventress to become her mate and servant following her grueling tests of Selection, as part of her bid for revenge on her former Master, the Sith Lord Count Dooku. In accordance with their plot against Dooku, Mother Talzin and her Nightsister witches employed their dark magic to grant Opress fearsome abilities, placing him under their control.
After murdering his brother Feral in a display of loyalty to Ventress, Opress entered the Clone Wars as an enforcer in the Confederacy of Independent Systems. He executed missions against the Galactic Republic at Devaron's Temple of Eedit and on Affa, slaying his first Jedi, Halsey and Knox in the former campaign. Opress soon became a Sith apprentice to Dooku, who intended to use his new apprentice to overthrow his own Master, Darth Sidious, and claim control of the galaxy.
History
Savage Opress was from the tribal men of Dathomir, the Nightbrothers, who were subservient to the Nightsisters. He was an unpredictable warrior and a formidable opponent because of his reckless, impulsive nature and sheer brute force. Personally selected by Asajj Ventress in a grueling process that pitted nine of the mightiest warriors against each other to see who would survive three challenges and would help her in her plot of revenge against her former master, Count Dooku. Savage and his brother, Feral, survived the tests, and Savage was deemed worthy.
Opress was brought to Mother Talzin, who served as the leader and shaman of the coven of witches. After examining Opress and sensing the hate and power coursing through his veins, Talzin put him into an enchanted sleep and had him brought to the altar known as the Font. In an ancient ceremony heavily rooted in the dark side, Talzin and a full coven of her spellcasters bound together, channeling spirit ichor and the rawest hatred to make Opress an avatar of primal anger for Ventress's plot for vengeance. Subjected to the dark magicks of the Fanged God, Opress was granted greater height and size, a full crown of vestigial horns, and fearsome power: he gained even more brutality, an unmatched ferocity, and heightened physical potential and Force abilities. In addition, the Nightsisters placed him under their control so that Ventress could dictate his actions via a spell of loyalty. Talzin, being an expert shaman of Nightsister magic, secretly ensured that he would remain loyal only to her. As darkness enters his mind, he gives his life over to the Sisters. Their sorcery changes him in size, strength, and ferocity as he abandons his loyalty to his clan, loses all traces of compassion, and gains Force powers.
Bigger and stronger than before, he killed Feral, his own brother, as part of his final test, and later became Count Dooku's apprentice. But in reality, Opress was only pretending to serve him, as he still assists Asajj. He proved himself to be a worthy warrior by killing clones and two Jedi on Devaron. Later on, Dooku trained Savage in the ways of the dark side, making his connection with his hatred stronger. With Savage's first stages of his training completed, Dooku sends him to Toydaria to bring back King Katuunko alive, and to kill all who would intefere, Jedi included. The trainee arrived on Toydaria in Dooku's solar sailer, and murdered the Toydarian guards who got in his way. After rendering the Toydarian King unconscious, he turned to leave, but Anakin Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi entered the throne room and fought the mutated Zabrak.
As Katuunko woke up and tried to escape, Savage force choked him and crushed the King's throat, killing him. Opress managed to get away from the two Jedi with the dead king in his hands, destroyed their Jedi shuttle with the Force, and return to his master. However, the Count was furiously angry with Opress for not brining him back alive. The Count tortured his Sith apprentice with Lightning, but Asajj enters the scene, making Dooku give Savage an opportunity to make amends for his grave mistake: by killing Asajj. But Ventress reminded Savage of his true loyalties, and he sided with Ventress to kill Dooku. Savage and Asajj fought the Count with all their might, but as Savage kept on getting struck by Dooku's lightning attacks, Ventress rebuked him as she fought Dooku. Angered at his skills being rejected by both of his "masters," Savage betrayed both Tyranus and Ventress by force choking them into a brief submission, broken when the two fled through escape hatches in the floor to persist in their battle elsewhere.
Abruptly Savage was now confronted by Anakin and Obi-Wan once more, as the two had managed to follow him to the dreadnought. However, Tyranus, after defeating Ventress and forcing her retreat, commanded his battle droids to kill Savage Opress, deeming him a "traitor." However, Opress barely managed to escape the two Jedi and Dooku's battle droids, making his way to Dathomir in Dooku's stolen solar sailer. After Opress's attempt to kill Tyranus, he headed back to Mother Talzin wounded and exhausted, claiming that Ventress had betrayed him. Needing a new teacher, Mother Talzin claimed that Savage had a surviving brother, Darth Maul, in the Outer Rim who was capable of training Savage. Mother Talzin gave Opress an artifact before he left, allowing him to search for his brother, whom Talzin claimed was somewhere in the Outer Rim.
In the fourth season, Savage Opress eventually found Darth Maul striving to survive by any means on the junk planet Lotho Minor in the Outer Rim. Savage's presence causes Maul to remember his downfall and resolves to have his revenge. Returning to Dathomir in the aftermath of the Nightsisters' slaughter by Tyranus's forces, Savage takes Maul to have his sanity restored by Talzin's magic. Savage then helped Maul extract revenge on Kenobi by luring him into a trap by attacking a small village on outer rim planet Iridonia, knowing that the Jedi will come to assist. However, Ventress's unexpected appearance to collect a high bounty placed on Savage thwarts Maul's plan. Ventress and Kenobi duel Savage and Maul in the cargo bay of Savage's stolen ship but soon realize that they are outmatched and are forced to flee via the cockpit escape vessel.
Savage Opress and Darth Maul continue to appear in the fifth season. Savage is clarified by Maul that they're master and apprentice and they will kill anyone standing in their way as they attempt to set up their own criminal underworld. Needing followers, the Sith Lord brothers travel to Florrum where they manage to convince Weequay pirate Jiro and his crew to join him and in turn betray their leader Hondo Ohnaka. While Maul duels Kenobi, Savage fights Adi Gallia and eventually kills the female Jedi Master. After Savage's arm is sliced off by Kenobi, their ship gets damaged and the brothers escape in an escape pod.
Savage and Maul are later found by the Death Watch Mandalorians led by Pre Vizsla. After Vizsla gives Savage a new arm, the Sith Lord brothers see this as an opportunity to get revenge on Kenobi. When Maul offers Vizsla the chance to reclaim Mandalore by creating the criminal syndicate Shadow Collective, one of the unsavory methods to recruit the Black Sun with Savage kill off its previous chain of command. After Maul challenges Vizsla to a duel and eventually killed him with the Death Watch leader's own darksaber and then kills Satine Kryze, Savage watches this all impressed. Later Darth Sidious arrived and fights the two Zabraks brothers in a lightsaber duel, promptly killing Savage in the duel. When Maul immediately rushes to his brother's side, Savage's dying breath states he was not worthy of being his apprentice and never was.
Personality
Savage is fearsome, cruel, and cold, perfectly willing to murder others without even blinking, despite the fact that he was once a somewhat kind individual. Savage possess extreme determination and was quite loyal towards those he chose to give it to. His aggression and tendency towards anger make it so he often rampages without thinking things through. Maul managed to make it so he is somewhat more levelheaded, but Savage still butts head with him occasionally. Despite this, the two were extremely close and Savage does wish to be a worthy apprentice to Maul.
Abilities
Savage is extremely deadly, having learned to fight while he was a Nightbrother. His transformation through Nightsister magic grants him monstrous strength, speed, endurance, and agility. In particular, Savage can shrug off attacks with ease and at first, he wields a pike made of spirit ichor, though replaces this with a double-bladed lightsaber like his brother’s original one. Savage’s fighting style is less about technique and more about using pure aggressive ferocity to wear his opponent down. However, he was absolutely no match against Darth Sidious, as when their final clash led to a one-on-one duel, Sidious easily overwhelmed and destroyed him. He is an extremely fast learner, both with lightsaber combat and using the Force. The Nightsister transformation enhanced Savage’s force abilities and he is able to use telekinesis and unleash powerful waves of force to knock back his opponent. Savage’s armor is also quite durable, protecting him from numerous dangers.
Gallery
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