In The Courtship of Princess Leia, it is said that the Nightsisters were created by Gethzerion near the end of the Republic. However, recent retcons from The Clone Wars suggest that the Nightsisters had existed long before that time, as they had bred for years with the Nightbrothers producing their pale complection. Has there been an explanation for this, or does the Nightsosters' history just happen in an extremely short timespan?
She could have founded that particular brand of Nightsisters, one supposes. There are numerous clans of Nightsisters, after all. Two different clans have been involved with the Clone Wars, for example.
Well, there is always the possibility that Gethzerion is just really, really old. A bigger problem is that they are said to be only around a hundred in number, but TCW has a whole city of them, there are a butt load in Galaxies, and they keep popping up in later novels.
The nightsisters from The Clone Wars are the native species to the planet. I assumed that the Nightsisters from the crashed training ship took the name from the locals for their own organization.
I pretty much agree with Zandalor said. i.e. there were presumably already people on Dathomir called the Nightsisters, but then when Gethzerion came along she then transformed said group into what we know them as. Being "British" has meant a lot of different things throughout history, so I basically see it as that sort of thing. In other words, I simply see the word "Nightsisters" as working as either a proper noun or a common noun.
With the new material, I personally would like to think that they make several different clans of Nightsisters with different traditions. So, from what we know so far, I think there should be at least three big Nightsister tribes; the one from Jedi Alliance, Mother Talzin and Gethzerion groups. The first two turned against Sidious and he decided to blockade Dathomir as he did not want Gethzerion to get off world... not a perfect retcon but its what I would like to think.
I prefer this solution over Zandalor and Zors definitely! It preserves canon best. Also, please someone dig up my old spotlight dathomir topic for details on its history even pre-witches and crash. lots of details I once researched are in there short version pulled from all canon Dathomir relevant sources in existance: -human Paecian Empire used Dathomir as prison world for males -NSW has Kaan build a Sith Academy on Dathomir and Iridonia -after NSW Dathomir is forgotten again but still tained with the dark side and full of inhabitants, mostly males dominant though. -Iridonian ship crashes and founds Zabrak colony in the midst of that humanfilled world -centuries later Allya gets exiled here and reforms the planet completely with either her daughters or followers help -some break away and form Nightsister traditions -Chuuntor crashes -one nightsister clan only interbreeds with Zabrak colony for several generations pre-TCW -TCW happens -Ghezerion reforms/unifies the nightsister clans at end of Clone Wars ... and the rest is history as in the books PS: native species to Dathomir are the KWA/KWI... not dathomiri
They may have been mostly wiped out in the Clone Wars/Dark Times, which led the Empire to put a prison and shipyard there. Gethzerion was the most senior survivor, and rebuilt in secret. Not knowing that she was rebuilding, Palpatine cooperated with her, seeing her as one of the many Dark Jedi in his influence. But then you have a major shake up, with Kyrisa attempting a takeover, leading the Imperials to find out that the clan is reborn. The Governor of Dathomir tries to control and use them, but the mix of Tyber Zann freeing some and taking Silri, and Gethzeron's power, cause the Empire to lose control. Zsinj steps in and knocks out all ships on the planet and imposes a quarantine of the planet. For dealing with the situation before it grows to be a threat to him, Palpatine rewards Zsinj with the Brawl, and command of the sector.
Actually Zandalore, that is incorrect. Filoni has confirmed that the Nightsisters in the clone wars are a human/Zabrak hybrid. They are still the descendents of colonists. These are just a different clan from Gethzerion's (notably, it is the same from the Infinity Gate story). It strikes me as likely that the Zabraks are descended from the Sith Academy on Dathomir during the New Sith Wars. I couldn't help but notice that only Dathomir and Iridonia produced Sith Marauders...or that Iridonian tattoos resemble Sith ones.
very well put, Admiral indeed, that I believe too. we might retcon Leeland Chees Iridonian ship that landed on Dathomir to have been before NSW and that is how Kaan found Dathomir maybe Edit: found my not too old Spotlight Dathomir topic for you: http://boards.theforce.net/literature/b10003/31695609/p1/
With the CW series over, and all issues of Son of Dathomir released, I am curious what people think the fate of the Nightsisters will be... I also have another question for the fans out there - what is your favorite Lit material that has Nightsister content? I personally enjoyed Son of Dathomir, Book of Sith, Courtship of Princess Leia, and the Plagueis novel. I am currently reading the Infinity's End comic series as well. Any other favorites or suggestions?
Darth Maul's appearance was so much cooler and more intimidating when they were "Sith tattoos," now that they are just tattoos of his clan and they are quite mundane. Completely changes the dynamic of a character so devoted to Palpatine and the Sith Order that he undergoes days of unending pain covering his body in Sith artwork.
As of the final issue of Son of Dathomir, the Nightsisters and Nightbrothers have been wiped out, save for one survivor from each side, Asajj Ventress and Darth Maul. So unless they join forces and rebuild Dathomir's civilization, the Nightsisters are basically extinct. Gethzerion and her Nightsisters are no longer canon and therefore don't count.
I doubt that the Nightsisters and Nightbrothers were the only inhabitants on Dathomir. Just the two clans were exterminated unless the droids wiped out the entire population.
I tend to agree, two clans likely weren't the only inhabitants of a planet. As for the Nightbrothers, we never see what becomes of Brother Viscus or the other survivors, so I don't consider them dead unless its shown or described. As for the EU Nightsisters, I'm not one that puts any credence into the Disney canonization of stories that don't impact or contradict the movies - so I consider those stories to have happened, especially where Lucas gave his consent.
Considering the size of the attack fleet in Son of Dathomir 4 and how much Sidious wanted to eliminate the Nightsisters, I'd say that's pretty likely. After all the trouble Maul and Talzin caused, Sidious wouldn't let any of them survive to cause problems in the future.
I can see Sidious wiping out an entire planet just to get rid of two clans. Overkill to the highest degree since no one cares about a planet of witches, but if there are any survivors, then he has just made more enemies.
There's more than two clans of Nightsisters. Just as there's more than one order of Jedi Knights. I can easily fit in Sidious killing Talzin's clan and then noting Gethzerion as a threat similar to Talzin and locking her down but not wanting to waste resources with bombarding Dathomir again with there being more important things to do.
I think we are left to assume that the Mother Talzin group of Nightsisters are all dead (save for Ventress) so either the other Nightsister group from the Courtship of Princess Leia is still canon and hanging around on the planet, Someone comes to reform them after the events of TCW, or the night sisters are extinct and will never be mentioned again.
I'm aware of that. I was referring to the nightsisters and nightbrothers that had direct dealings with Palps and Dooku. Most of the population as I knew from the legends days were just witches and the evil ones were nightsisters
I adore the Nightsisters too, but I liked them better when they were rancor-mounting Amazons with feather backpack, hourglass-shaped armor plates, Khepresh-like helmets, and a focus on verbal "magic" and illusions. Not those improbable hybrids who all dress the same (tight-fitting red clothes and hoods stolen from the Seven Dwarves) and create weapons out of the thin air thanks to some kind of green immaterial goo.
