Darth Talon

The Lethan female Twi'lek Darth Talon was a third-generation Sith, raised and trained in the Sith Academy on Korriban, an ancient Sith burial world that served as the secret location of the One Sith. Under the tutelage of Darth Ruyn, Talon's inherent abilities as a Force-sensitive were honed in order to transform her into a Sith assassin. Psychologically, she was molded to be completely susceptible to the tenets of the One Sith. Her ultimate loyalty, however, belonged without question to her order's founder, Darth Krayt, Dark Lord of the Sith and emperor of a new Sith Empire.

On the verge of her training's completion, Talon was greatly immersed within the dark side of the Force. Her final test of loyalty was to slay Ruyn in cold blood. Obedient to the will of Darth Krayt without question, the apprentice did not hesitate when she killed her own Master. With her final rite of passage fulfilled, Talon was elevated to the rank of Hand, thus making her one of the Emperor's most trusted assassins.

Darth Talon's first mission as a Hand was to locate and capture Princess Marasiah Fel in order to lure out her father, the deposed emperor Roan Fel, from hiding. Talon traveled to the planet Socorro where she discovered Fel, who had been hiding in the Imperial Mission. Although the Princess eluded Talon, her bodyguard and mentor, Imperial Knight Elke Vetter was defeated in combat by the Sith Twi'lek.

After amputating Vetter's hand and stabbing her leg during the duel, Talon then tortured Vetter with the Force. Talon discovered that Fel escaped with an Imperial Missionary named Astraal Vao. With no further use for the fallen Knight, Talon killed Vetter using Force lightning and continued her pursuit of Fel. However, just before Talon was able to apprehend her target, Fel and Vao escaped from Socorro by boarding the Mynock, a starship piloted by the former Jedi-turned-bounty hunter Cade Skywalker.

Talon pursued Fel and her companions to the planet Vendaxa, where they were joined by two more Jedi, Wolf Sazen and Shado Vao. In order to prevent another escape attempt, Talon sabotaged the Mynock's flight systems and then rigged it with explosives. Through the dark side, she rallied a herd of vanx to her side. The creatures, under Talon's influence, attacked the group in a frenzy.

While Fel and her allies defended themselves against the beasts, Talon engaged in combat with Sazen and Vao and skillfully held her own against the two Jedi. After incapacitating Vao with a Force push, she turned her full attention to Sazen, whom she recognized as the Jedi Master who lost his arm in a duel with Darth Nihl during the Massacre of Ossus. The Sith Lady unleashed a barrage of Force lightning on Sazen, but was prevented from killing him by Marasiah Fel. The Princess, still enraged over the death of Elke Vetter, attacked Talon in the hopes of ensuring that no one else would have to die for her. Talon was further caught by surprise when Cade Skywalker used the Force to hurl a pile of wreckage at her. The impact of the attack sent the Sith soaring through the underbrush of the nearby jungle.

Despite the injuries Talon sustained from Skywalker's assault, she ultimately survived and awaited reinforcements from her Master. Soon after the Imperial Knights Antares Draco and Ganner Krieg arrived on Vendaxa in an unauthorized attempt to rescue the Princess, the fighting resumed as Talon and her fellow Sith, including Darth Nihl, launched an all-out attack on the combined group of Jedi, Imperials and bounty hunters. During the ensuing skirmish, Darth Talon dueled with Shado Vao. Although Marasiah Fel was severely wounded, Talon ultimately failed in her objective to acquire the Imperial Princess, once again due to the intervention of Cade Skywalker. As the Mynock departed from Vendaxa with the injured Fel and company, Talon attempted to board the ship as well, only to be Force pushed out of the vessel by Antares Draco.

After the debacle on Vendaxa, Darth Talon returned to Coruscant in defeat and expected to be executed for failure. But when she informed her Master about Cade Skywalker's involvement, Darth Krayt chose to spare his Hand's life. Instead, Talon was instructed to hunt down and acquire Skywalker, supposedly the last scion of the bloodline of Darth Vader.

Shortly after the incident on Vendaxa, Cade Skywalker journeyed to Coruscant where he intended to rescue Jedi Knight Hosk Trey'lis. Although Skywalker infiltrated the Temple of the Sith and released Trey'lis, the two Jedi were confronted by Darth Talon. Their escape route blocked, Skywalker and Trey'lis were forced to confront the Sith assassin. Talon incapacitated Trey'lis, but was unable to overcome Skywalker's defenses. The fight caused the renegade Jedi to channel the dark side of the Force, until he finally overpowered Talon in combat.

Darth Nihl, who had been observing the duel from a distance, Force choked Skywalker before he could kill Talon. Despite being delivered from her imminent death, Talon resented the intervention of her fellow Hand. Regardless, Skywalker was subdued and rendered a prisoner of the One Sith. While Darth Maladi subjected him to torture, Krayt prepared for the task of luring him over to the dark side and the cause of the Sith; a task that Talon had an instrumental role in.

Shortly after Skywalker's capture, he was given a private audience with Darth Krayt, with Talon and Darth Wyyrlok present. The Dark Lord revealed his former identity as A'Sharad Hett, a Knight of the original Jedi Order and a veteran of the Clone Wars. He then recounted the events that influenced his fall to the dark side of the Force; the betrayal and near extermination of the Jedi, the rise of the first Galactic Empire, and Hett's self-imposed exile on Tatooine.

The revelation of Krayt's past, however, did not affect Skywalker in the least. When the former Jedi mocked the Dark Lord, Talon angrily attacked him; only to be Force pushed against a wall. Skywalker used the opportunity to display another feature of his unique healing ability: the power to reverse the effects of healing. As a result, he re-opened all of Talon's recently mended wounds, an act which nearly killed her. At Krayt's request, Skywalker repaired the damage that he inflicted on Talon.

Krayt wasted no time in his bid to lure Cade Skywalker over to the dark side. He decided to pair Talon and Skywalker together as master and apprentice. Although she was unconvinced that her new acolyte had any intention of becoming a Sith, Talon nevertheless complied with her own Master's will. During their time together, she recalled the history of the One Sith, as well as how its philosophy was inspired by the teachings of XoXaan. She also tried to convince Skywalker that his destiny was inevitably tied to the dark side and the Sith. The two gradually became closer as their time together progressed, a result of the bond that developed between them due to a side effect of Skywalker's healing power. They presumably slept together, but Talon remained convinced that her apprentice was only feigning interest in the Sith. But Krayt ignored Talon's suspicions because of his belief that Skywalker would ultimately come to embrace the dark side, regardless of any kind of initial resistance.

Darth Talon and Darth Nihl were present when Darth Krayt issued Cade Skywalker with an ultimatum: kill Hosk Trey'lis or die. Skywalker, well aware of the fact that Krayt could not afford to kill his only hope for survival, refused to execute his fellow Jedi. Enraged, Krayt struck down Trey'lis with his own blade. The act of murder succeeded in causing a reaction in Skywalker, but the spirit of Master Kol Skywalker prevented his full submission to the dark side.

After witnessing the apparition of the long dead Jedi Master, Cade Skywalker took up his father's lightsaber, which had been kept for years as a trophy in Krayt's throne room. Darth Talon was the first to attack, only to be impaled through the abdomen by her own apprentice. As a result, she was utterly incapacitated and unable to prevent Skywalker's escape from Coruscant. Afterward, she was forced to spend much time in a bacta tank in order to recuperate from her near fatal wound.

After recovering, Talon joined Krayt, Nihl's replacement Darth Stryfe and Maladi to Had Abbadon, where Skywalker was spotted. Talon dueled against Skywalker taunting him that he was closer to the dark side than he thought. The duel ended shortly before explosives were detonated by Jariah Syn, leaving her and the other Sith minions unconscious. Shortly after, the man she had pledged her life to, Darth Krayt, was killed by his most trusted servant, Darth Wyyrlok.

Sometime after her recovery, Darth Wyyrlok assigned her to guard Darth Krayt's tomb and to let no one in. However, Darth Nihl, convinced by Darth Maladi, traveled to Korriban to inquire as to Darth Krayt's survival. Talon prevented him from entering the tomb but chose to follow him when Nihl claimed that Krayt himself had summoned him with his mind. However, Krayt's body had vanished and only his armor remained. This shocked both Talon and Nihl.

Sometime later, however, Talon mysteriously disappeared from the Temple. Deep within Korriban's tombs, she had found a very much alive Krayt, who declared that his rebirth had begun. Darth Nihl later found her and attacked her, but Krayt intervened. He then led both Sith deeper into the tombs and showed them that he had been creating a new breed of Sith whose devotion was completely unquestionable. He then used his magnified powers to reach out to everyone in the galaxy that had touched the dark side to tell them that he lived.

In 138 ABY, Talon accompanied Darth Krayt in an attack he orchestrated in revenge for Darth Wyyrlok's betrayal. At first, Krayt, alongside Darth Talon, Darth Nihl and two Sith troopers, was confronted by five Sith allied to Darth Wyyrlok; however, Krayt and his followers quickly cut through them.

Talon was involved in Darth Havok's plan to break his prisoner, Imperial Knight Antares Draco. He created a Force illusion about the day that Havok killed Empress Elliah Fel and nearly died at Draco's hand. As Draco relived the duel, Havok appealed to his guilt and claimed that he had been too weak to save her. Havok then projected another illusion onto Darth Talon, making her appear to be Marasiah Fel. He told Draco that Vao and Krieg had been killed during their escape from Korriban and that Marasiah had been recaptured; Talon planted a kiss on Draco's lips to promote the deception. When Havok threatened to kill her if Draco did not tell him any valuable information, Draco broke down and revealed the existence of a Jedi Hidden Temple on Taivas. Talon left to relay the findings to Darth Krayt as Havok continued to torture Draco.

Krayt was eager to face Cade Skywalker in combat again and bade Talon to present a broken Draco to him as a gift. Talon had Draco frozen in carbonite and brought him to the Wheel, where Skywalker was meeting with Calixte, now an enemy of Krayt after being outed as Fel's spy. Talon infiltrated the Mynock and placed Draco in its cargo hold before briefly dueling Skywalker and fleeing the space station.

After their defeat at Taivas, the allies attacked Coruscant before the Sith could prepare to invade Bastion. A strike team led by Cade Skywalker including Wolf Sazen, Shado Vao, Morrigan Corde, Ganner Krieg, Azlyn Rae, and Sigel Dare infiltrated the Sith Temple on Coruscant. Darth Talon, Darth Stryfe, and other Sith were waiting to defend Darth Krayt. As the fight ensued, Talon engaged Skywalker in a duel. She tried to use the Force to defeat him, but was overpowered. When Skywalker was distracted by his master's death, she took advantage of the opportunity and escaped. Fearing for her master's life, Talon realized that Skywalker was more powerful than before and sought to warn Darth Krayt.

Talon's efforts to protect her master, however, ended in failure. Skywalker and Krayt fought once more as the final battle of the war raged on around them. After the young Jedi succeeded in killing the Dark Lord, the One Sith was left in complete disarray. As the Empire swiftly crumbled without its emperor, thus making way for the rise of the Galactic Federation Triumvirate, Darth Talon and the remaining Sith went into hiding across the galaxy in an effort to ensure that the One Sith would not die with its founder. According to the orders of Darth Nihl, the new Dark Lord, all Sith followers were tasked with infiltrating every planetary government in the galaxy in order to strike back against the Alliance and the Jedi from the shadows.

Like most Sith, Darth Talon was cold and dispassionate, and followed the commands of Darth Krayt without question or hesitation, as shown when she decapitated her Mentor Darth Ruyn at his request. She was unmerciful like most Sith, keeping Elke Vetter alive only for the amount of time needed to extract the location of Marasiah Fel from the grievously wounded Imperial Knight. Devoted to the Rule of One as few, she held little regard for her life, as she told Cade Skywalker during his brief training that she would welcome death when his training was complete if such was the will of Darth Krayt. She also had Sith tattoos that were common in the new Sith Order.

Talon's ability in combat was considerable. She literally and metaphorically "disarmed" Elke Vetter without taking any physical damage. Her skill at fighting was further exemplified by the fact that she was anointed as one of Darth Krayt's two Hands, as aforementioned. On Vendaxa, Darth Talon was able to outfight the two Jedi Shado Vao and Wolf Sazen simultaneously, showing her aptitude at lightsaber combat. Only a last-second move from the nearby Princess Fel prevented Talon from slaying Master Sazen.

She was known to use acrobatic flips and leaps in lightsaber combat, possibly making her a user of Ataru lightsaber combat. As she had often, if not always, fought one-handed, she may have had some application of Makashi. Her talents at fighting, as well as her rank of Hand, put her at a status greater than the majority of the Sith.

Talon was also skilled in Force techniques such as Force lightning, by which she executed Imperial Knight Elke Vetter. She was able to verbally reveal vital information from Vetter by a Force technique where she summoned a cyan circle of light before her adversary. She even manipulated the minds of beasts to aid her in her battle against the Jedi. And she was once able to Force push Shado Vao to the ground with such strength that he was unable to recover for some time. Talon had a Force-bond with Cade Skywalker, a result of being healed by him. Thus, she could sense his feelings with ease. She could also sense Darth Krayt's life force and release him from stasis, which she accomplished with the aid of Force lightning.

Darth Talon was able to shadow a Princess as she was running away from the burning Imperial Mission that was her former hiding spot, indicating her skill at concealment. Whether it was physical, Force-affiliated, or a mixture of both was unknown. If Force-affiliated, this might be indicative of the rare talent of Force concealment.

Talon also appeared to be an able pilot, knowing how to operate starships and a speeder bike.

Darth Talon, like almost all Sith, was armed with a single crimson-bladed lightsaber. It was elongated and notched with crisscrossing grooves. The hilt was constructed of a material that physically did not appear to be metal and instead, like the majority of the One Sith's lightsabers, appeared to be constructed of Yorik coral.

Darth Talon was created by John Ostrander and Jan Duursema as a villain in the Star Wars: Legacy comic series. She was a prominent part of Legacys marketing, with an image of her used as the cover of the series' Issue 0 and as one of three pictures included in the series' February 2006 press release. In 2007 she was featured on a large banner at Dark Horse Comics's booth at Star Wars Celebration IV, and in 2008 she adorned the cover of Legacy 0½, a followup to Issue 0. While initially designing Talon's appearance, Duursema was attempting to create a tattooed and fierce science fiction/fantasy version of a female Pict warrior, intending for her bare skin to invoke a primitive, rather than exploitative, quality.

Talon played a recurring role as a major antagonist throughout Legacys fifty-issue run and its followup miniseries, Star Wars: Legacy—War. A fan-favorite character, she was immortalized as a plastic figure four times: in 2008 as a Wizards of the Coast miniature figurine and a 3¾ inch Hasbro action figure, and in 2010 as a Sideshow Collectibles Premium Format Figure and a Gentle Giant mini bust. She was consistenty popular with Star Wars cosplayers, and in 2009 a "Drawing Darth Talon" page was highlighted on StarWars.com's kids section. Three years later, a piece of artwork by Mark McKenna called "Duel of the Twi'leks" was showcased on the site—featuring Talon dueling prequel-era Jedi Aayla Secura, the art was later made available for sale at Celebration VI. In broader popular culture, Talon's Sideshow Collectibles bust can be seen in the bedroom of Howard Wolowitz in a 2012 episode of The Big Bang Theory, and she was cited as an inspiration by Sariah Gallego, a young girl who became an internet celebrity in 2011 for swearing allegiance to the dark side at Disneyland's Jedi Training Academy.

Talon was set to appear in a Darth Maul-themed video game code-named Battle of the Sith Lords. Her involvement reportedly proposed by George Lucas himself who liked the idea of Maul and Talon being friends who play off of each other and likened her character to '40s actress Lauren Bacall. When the developers noted that the characters can't know each other because of the time divide, Lucas changed the main character's identity into Maul's descendant or clone. In the game, Talon would have allied with Maul's descendant to face Darth Krayt's empire, but the project was canceled by LucasArts in 2011. Game Informer magazine revealed several pieces of concept art for the game in 2014, including an ensemble shot of Maul, Talon, Savage Opress, and the Mandalorian Death Watch. Although Talon's character design was identical to her Legacy appearance, other concept art depicted a suggested redesign of Darth Krayt and an officer of the "New Empire."

George Lucas originally planned to feature the duo of Darth Maul and Darth Talon as the main villains of the Star Wars sequel trilogy, an idea he developed while preparing the films in 2012 before selling Lucasfilm Ltd. to The Walt Disney Company. Talon was written as the aged Maul's apprentice, with Lucas later saying "She was the new Darth Vader, and most of the action was with her." Early story treatments had her corrupting the son of Han Solo and Leia Organa, but after J. J. Abrams started to work on the project, her character later evolved into a "Jedi Killer" that ultimately became the character of Kylo Ren. According to Pablo Hidalgo of the Lucasfilm Story Group, "The Jedi Killer morphed from Talon corrupting the son to becoming the son." Lucasfilm's Creative Art Manager Phil Szostak has called Talon "just one stop of many on the road to Kylo Ren" and presumed that Talon's place in Episode VII's story was not significantly developed, with her originally in consideration because of admiration for her character design, although he admitted he was only involved in the design development and not the story.

Concept art of her can be seen in 2015's The Art of Star Wars: The Force Awakens, which includes an Iain McCaig drawing of Talon wielding dual red lightsabers and standing in the embrace of a mysterious blue-skinned alien nicknamed "Uber". Also included are storyboards of Talon getting harassed in a bar, only for a Jedi Master to save her and then sleep with her, before being murdered by her in his sleep. According to author Paul Duncan, while writing his book The Star Wars Archives: Episodes I–III, 1999–2005, in which Lucas' original plans for the sequel trilogy discussed, one interviewee mentioned singer and actress Rihanna as a possible casting or model for McCaig's art.

In 2021, Talon was added the the sandbox mobile game Star Wars: Galaxy of Heroes as part of celebrations for Lucasfilm's 50th anniversary alongside other Legends characters like Dash Rendar and Starkiller. Due to her typically revealing depictions, she was given a more family-friendly costume due to the target audience of the game. Her updated costume resulted in her chest covered by a sleeveless crop-top, long gloves to her upper arm and armored leggings covering her legs from the waist down. In addition to the visual change, Talon was also given close synergy with the Sith Triumvirate from Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords due to the lack of Krayt or other characters from the One Sith empire.

Talon is the subject of two continuity errors in the Expanded Universe—in Legacys nineteenth issue, she is impaled by Cade Skywalker's lightsaber, which is said to have killed her in The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia. She is alive and well as early as Legacy (2006) 22, however, and Legacy (2006) 23 shows her recovering from the impalement in a bacta tank. Additionally, Legacys second issue has Talon ascend to the rank of Sith Hand in the year 137 ABY, but the sourcebook Jedi vs. Sith: The Essential Guide to the Force incorrectly states that she is already a Hand seven years earlier.

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