Lit Nightsisters

I thought The Last Jedi did a good job of showing the classic Nightsisters, in the post-TCW period.

 

Agreed. From what I recall seeing in Episode I storyboards, Mother Talzin and other Nightsisters seem to have been based on early designs for "Sith witches" that were later abandoned, rather than anything the EU thought up for Dathomir.

Then again, Nightsisters probably reinvent themselves as often as the Sith do. In Young Jedi Knights, you already have characters noticing that the new Nightsisters under Tamith Kai are very different from the previous generation, just fifteen years earlier. So it didn't bother me as much as it did others.

 

At any rate, I actually like "The Courtship of Princess Leia." I know few people do, though. And I think Gethzerion is ten times creepier than Talzin. Palpatine didn't even try to kill her, he grounded her! And remember that line: "First I’ll snap your bones, one by one. Do you know how many bones there are in the human body, General Solo? If you do, just triple the number, and you’ll know how many bones you’ll have when I finish with you."

 

Besides the Dathomir spinning off, Sith Witch art also inspired the Terellian Jango Jumper in Lightsaber Lost - or at least, that's what I heard. Possibly when reading the Episode Guide, I'm not sure.

 

Yeah it's one of the things that didn't bother me too much about TCW either. That and the New Mandalorians. New ideologies pop up for the various cultural groups, it's no big difference from modern day. How many government changes have nations went under for the last 200 years? Tons. Same thing here. With the way it's easy to fit in TCW Mandalorians and Traviss Mandalorians and Talzin Nightsisters and Gethzerion Nightsisters, it keeps me thinking on why they even had to scrap the EU.

There's many things wrong with TCW, like Mortis and Darth Maul, so I didn't mind the Nightsisters being different too much. I thought it to be natural since it's a different era and all.

 

I actually like how the Nightsister clans are different between the CW and The Courtship of Princess Leia, not to mention other EU sources or planets. The diversity and evolution shows that different clans and sisters have varying ideology. One of my favorites is Charal, from Ewoks: Battle for Endor, who has little connection to Dathomir. I view the Nightsisters and Nightbrothers in a similar light to the post-Order 66 Jedi, many have been wiped out, but a number still exist throughout the galaxy.

 

Can't go wrong with the original depiction, so Courtship Nightsisters are the best in my opinion, followed shortly after by Zalem's group from the PT Era, that appeared during the Republic comics with Quinlan Vos. I actually didn't mind the zabrak or hybrids coming into the picture, as when you think about it Dathomir's a huge planet, so it makes sense that there could be different groups of Nightsisters, especially at different points in time. What I didn't like was some aspects being retconned, like their inability to ride rancors, as they made them interesting to begin with. Though in later eras, when we see Nightsisters appearing, it brings up the question of where the heck their good counterparts are.

Doesn't matter now of course as the TCW group is the only one that's canon, sadly. I think we're meant to assume that Palpatine and Dooku pretty much wiped them out, so right now they're probably done. Can't say I care all that much, as I didn't really care for them, or their designs, or Asajj and Maul being shoehorned into their story.

 

Puts on my the-closest-we-seems-to-have-to-an-expert-on-the-lesser-Force-traditions hat

Note: All bellow is how I how understood it and I can be mistaken and/or have missed something.

The witches of Dhatomir and the nightsisters have gone through many different incarnations before appearing in tCW: When they were first introduced in the Courtship of Princess Leia (1994) the witches was powerful Force-users who needed to chant and/or gesticulate to work their magic; they seemed to be at an iron age level technological but used piece of scavenged high-tech without problems (even if the items we saw them use were rather simple) or any special reverence. The term nightsister meant a which who was dealing in "dark magic" and seemed to be a synonym with outcast. They were quickly physically marked by their use of the dark side and rancors would not allow them to ride on their back. They had not been organised until mother Gethzerion come along.

Next time they appeared was in the Young Jedi Knight (1995-1998) series were they had been recreated with the help of the "imperial jedi" Brakiss, those new nightsisters were not visibly marked by their use of the dark side, did not need to chant and/or gesticulate to use their magic and could ride rancors - this probably come from adapting Brakiss greater understanding of the Force. They also allow males into their group.
The nightsisters was this time lead by Tamith Kai.


The nightsisters appeared again in the comic Darth Maul (2000) were we have a nightsister, Mighella, who works for the Underlord of Black Sun as his bodyguard and enforcer. She is shown to be able to use Force lightning without chanting or gestures and is the first we see who sports the modern nightsister-look.


The 'sisters were used again in the PT-era in the Republic comic storyline Infinity's End (2000-2001) that takes place on Dathomir. Here we see no other witches then the nightsister, who are organised like a clan (and there seems to be more then one nightsister clan), the only males we see are spacer outsiders. They are able to cast their spells without chanting or gestures and have their hands on technology like Proximity shield, Fire blade, droids, repurposed spaceships and whatever it was that Yongti used as a weapon. They are also shown riding on rancorns and sport a look inspired by Mighella.
B.t.w. there is a very nice shot of a group of 'sisters when Vos meet them for the first time, I have been unable to find a scan of that page and would be glad if somebody posted it.


They were lead by mother Zalem


Later in the Galaxies (2003-2011) MMORPG Dathomir was one of the planets you could visit and you could meet people from the Singing Mountain and Howling Crag clan and the nightsisters who had begun to organize themselves under mother Gethzerion and I understand that it also introduced a some kind of splinter group to Gethzerion's nightsisters called the Spiderclan. I never played Galaxies so I can not really comment on it and how this incarnation was different/the same from earlier.


The nightsisters played a role in the Empire at War: Forces of Corruption (2006) video game. Here they were able to control and ride on rancors and the nightsister group you, as the crimeboss Tyber Zann, dealt with was lead by the energywhip wielding Silri. To my understanding some of the "good" witch clans were mentioned but I don't know if they appeared in the game since I have not played it.


In the Galaxies TCG expansion The Nightsister's Revenge (2009) so did the witches play a prominent role with representatives from both the Singing Mountain clan, Gethzerion's nightsisters, the Spiderclan and the exiled nightsister Kyrisa who was show to use a lightsabre and ride a rancor. They also appeared in the Galactic Hunters (2009) expansion



There is also Charal from Ewoks: Battle for Endor (1985) who was retconed into being a Dathomirian nightsister at some point and we see women from Dathomir dressed like her in the Wildlife of Star Wars: A Field Guide book.

There is also probably some Dathomir/witches representations that I have missed.

What version of the seven dwarfs are you thinking about? Because the hoods that the nightsisters use look nothing like the hoods used by any version of the seven dwarfs I have seen.


EDIT: I would also like to mention that we have thread for discussing the non-jedi/sith traditions http://boards.theforce.net/threads/beyond-the-big-two-lesser-force-traditions-in-the-gffa.50017024/ if you people have any questions regarding them.

 

I'm sure eventually some writer will stumble on the concept and incorporate it into a new movie, novel, comic, etc. I also noticed that the way Clone Wars ended it kind of put everything back in a place where they could either bring back the old canon or go in a new direction. I mean in the last season alone they had Talzin's version of the night sisters/brothers killed off, Mandalore is ripped apart by war and embraces their warrior culture, Black Sun and the criminal underworld is left in a position where Xizor could come and take over, and Maul, Ventress and Ashoka disappear. I wonder if this decision was made when Lucas sold to Disney or if it was part of the plan all along or just a funny coincidence that all that happened as the show was getting cancelled.

 

Actually, Rancors and Nightsisters don't get along. It's sort of in the job description on both sides. Anyone with a rancor is by definition just cranky, not dark.

On one level, I know what you mean - Wolverton's Dathomir is some of the VERY best worldbuilding in the Star Wars franchise.

But at the same time, the concept WAS so cool that it had been repeatedly reimagined by other creatives without a good grounding in the continuity, a long time before TCW got involved (and some of the most important reimagining was done by irreprochable talent like Pat Mills and Ramon Bachs)...

So I just like to remind myself that Dathomir has more than one continent, and all the action from CoPL onwards is set on just one of them...

-- The Imperial Ewok

 

i like the nighsisters. Would like to see them be added to the NU in some way. Gethzerion was very powerful. She owned Luke

 

I hope some version of her remains in the ongoing Star Wars universe. The Biblical reference is just too perfect to lose.

 

When you say that about Dathomiri...

Wasn't that Teneniel Djo, thought?

- The Imperial Ewok

 

Only because the author nerfed Luke´s close quarter skills to facepalming levels. He also gets owned by somebody throwing a buch of stones at him, and his only significant kill was a surprise attack. Wolverton made a point of saying time and again Vader could have crushed Luke if only he had tried, nevermind that´s what he did in ESB, but couldn´t in RotJ. Then Luke pulls off Force self-resurrection and superpiloting out of the blue. Sure, whatever.

But anyway, the thing I remember most about the book is Leia dumping Han for a Brad Pitt Stu on steroids, and how Palpatine was so afraid of the witches so he blockaded the planet, instead of carpetbombing it.

 

It took everything Palpatine had to stop Talzin, so by the time Gethzerion was in power, I'd like to think he thought twice about engaging the Nightsisters in person again.

 

The idea being that Vader was holding back and wasn't trying to obliterate Luke in ROTJ. What would have happened if Vader had used Force Crush?

 

What´s Force Crush? Sounds out of a Kotor game, in which case LS trait boosters were much better.

 

Probably a reference from Kotor 2 yes. I liked Luke in COPL. He saves an otherwise forgettable novel. The worst was the love triangle .

 

Force Crush is just a more advanced version of Force Grip.

 

may be of interest: http://www.starwars.com/news/the-nightsisters-from-dathomir-a-history

 

Interesting read, thanks for posting it. The article also helps to answer a question for fans about whether the Nightsisters are using the Force..."The Nightsisters still live on Dathomir and they still possess mysterious Force skills, now called magicks." Like Ventress, Maul, and Savage - I always believed Talzin was force sensitive as well, especially considering she was the most powerful being from the planet.

 

I recently picked up all the single issues from the "Infinitys End" run - I like the art and the depictions of the Nightsisters in various outfits. I plan on getting the old Maul comics next, for Mighella. Are there any other visual Nightsister depictions in comics?

 

I am in the small camp of those who love Courtship. I really do not like what TCW did to Dathomir.

Where I differ from some people here is that while I feel the Nightsisters are necessary as a mirror for the good Witches, I greatly prefer the good Witches. TCW completely eliminated them, which is the biggest transgression in my mind. They are by far the most interesting piece of the Dathomiri lore to me. I was fascinated with the Witches for several years before I read Courtship, so for me to finally read the book, validate that I really liked how they were portrayed, so it kinda sucked to see TCW just blow that all away with a really... weird... portrayal of Dathomir shortly thereafter. I had actually really been looking forward to seeing it get more mainstream exposure in TCW... and then I saw that it got ruined.