Morrigan: Phantom Queen & Triple Goddess of War

[image=http://images.wikia.com/starwars/images/a/ab/Morrigan_commdevices.JPG] [image=http://images.wikia.com/starwars/images/a/a1/NynaCalixte.jpg]

Morrigan Corde (the mother of Cade and secret wife of Kol), as we now know, has the dual identity of Nyna Calixte.
The woman who had married and had a kid with Moff Rulf Yage, and then left to be the partner of Grand Moff Morlish Veed.
The woman who was contacted by the Sith, leading to their involvement in the war, and sold out Emperor Fel but ended up saving him.
Who hated Darth Krayt enough to risk her life saving her son from the dark side, but broke up a possible alliance between Admiral Stazi and Emperor Fel, and seems to ignore her daughter.
There are many questions remaining to her true motivations, could there possibly be any more mystery to her?

Yes, there almost definitely is.

As we know, Star Wars often borrows names and general ideas from ancient mythology. There is a popular goddess to the ancient Celts known as MORRIGAN.


Here are some interesting tidbits from http://www.godchecker.com/pantheon/celtic-mythology.php?deity=MORRIGAN&ds=N

MORRIGAN: The Megalithic Mother Goddess and 'The Phantom Queen'.

As a shape-changer she can turn from ravishing beauty to hag, from battle crow to BEAN-NIGHE, all in triple time. This has caused a great deal of confusion to careless mythologists and innocent Godcheckers. Some sources claim there is three of her.

MORRIGAN does have a loving side to her nature, and gave the Irish Hero CUCHULAINN every chance to make love not war.


And here's a clip from Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morrigan

The Morrígan ("terror" or "phantom queen") or Mórrígan ("great queen") (also known as Morrígu, Morríghan, Mor-Ríoghain, sometimes given in the plural as Morrígna) is a figure from Irish mythology who appears to have once been a goddess, although she is not explicitly referred to as such in the texts.

She is associated with sovereignty, prophecy, war and death on the battlefield. She sometimes appears in the form of a carrion crow, flying above the warriors, and in the Ulster cycle she also takes the form of an eel, a wolf and a cow. She is generally considered a war deity comparable with the Germanic Valkyries, although her association with cattle also suggests a role connected with fertility, wealth and the land.

She is often interpreted as a triple goddess, although membership of the triad varies: the most common combination is the Morrígan, the Badb and Macha, but sometimes includes Nemain, Fea, Anann and others.

See also
Banshee


These characteristics fit Morrigan/Nyna very well: her deception, her ambiguity, her association with war and death on the battlefield (especially considering Kol), her many lovers and children. She's associated with transformation, taking on both ugly and beautiful forms, and has been an omen of death. Sometimes even appearing and trying to help the hero she has prophecized or doomed to death.

But who is the THIRD form of Morrigan? Has it even materialized yet? Interesting she's connected to the banshee, a spirit-like figure.

This might not be relevant, but I remember someone (I think Jan) saying before LEGACY came out and we only had some covers that "she can't wait to show us the villain of the story." But the cover with Darth Krayt, Talon, and Nihl had come out a few days before. After it seemed Krayt was a villain I thought it was just a goof, she made a mistake. But now I'm wondering again if Krayt is NOT the main villain, but Morrigan is... and we all know what the Celtic goddess's title "PHANTOM QUEEN" reminds us Star Wars fans of another powerful and deceptive mastermind. Food for thought.


What is the true nature of Cade Skywalker's mother?

 

After the revelation that Corde=Calixte, I immediately wondered why she broke up the meeting between Admiral Stazi and Captain Bovark. While we know that hse wants her lover Veed to assume the throne, it stands to reason that anything that would of hurt Krayt would in turn help her.

Afterall, Corde could of simply killed Jor Torlin and continued after Cade. Her motives for breaking up the GA/Fel alliance have yet to be established.

--Adm. Nick

 

I think it's not really as difficult as all that. While she wants Krayt to die and the Sith to be overthrown, we're also dealing with the fact that neither Admiral Stazi nor Roan Fel will have anything but a noose waiting for them if they manage to actually overthrow the Empire's rule.

Plus, if they DO kill Krayt, then basically it just means they'll be a major terrorist threat for Veed to deal with.

 

Does she really want Veed on the throne? I doubt it - at least so that Veed really has the power.

She is playing some complicated game of thrones and her own children are among the other pawns on the game table. Because of this, my - and it seems, many others - guess is that Nyna/Morrigan is a Banite Dark Lord of Sith. And I wouldn't be surprised, if Marasiah would shown also to be her child.

 

If that happens, I want someone from the GA to be her child as well. That way Corde has a child in all four factions- Empire, Felpire, GA, and NJO.

--Adm. Nick

 

Has anyone wondered what she had planned if Jor Torlin had elected to confirm her identity with Calixte? Pre-recorded message, maybe?

 

Uli, get out of Darth-Ghost's account.

 

Maybe she just has split personalities and each has its own goals and motives.

Or perhaps she doesn't has have an ultimate goal. She doesn't seem the type to ever rule directly....maybe she is like Mandasrica from Majipoor: She sees life as a game to be played until you inevitably lose. And maybe then, a dived and weak galaxy is just more fun?

 

The whole thing confuses me. I just hope she's not force sensitive. She's complex enough without throwing in the revelation, "Oh, and by the way I'm a Sith (or Jedi) too!"

 

I think it's strange how she risks everything to save her son (though she does say she'll kill her son if her becomes a Sith), while only ignoring and using her daughter at the same time, and appears cold and distant to both children. She even says as Nyna that it's a mistake to get too close to people. And if she hates the Sith so much she's willing to kill her son for joining them, why did she make an alliance? Or are those feelings only after Kol's death, or a complete lie to Jariah and Deliah?

Kol probably didn't know the whole story, Roan Fel couldn't read her, Maladi couldn't read her, Veed is clueless, and she's been in the presence of Krayt probably many times yet he seems unable to read her too since they're both still alive. Could Rulf Yage have accidentally discovered one of her secrets, leading to their divorce? There could be something deeper to Rulf's sad disappointment and Gunner's undisciplined anger to her, besides going to Veed and letting in the Sith.

As for her third character, how do we know it's human or even female?!? She was disguised as a Sith pretty well, and I'm sure the spy technology exists for a woman to look like an alien or even a man!

 

I can see them setting her third form up as:
"No, Cade. I am your mother!"

 

Her motivations certainly are complex. If you believe that she truly loved Kol, and still loves Cade, which the evidence supports, then you have to reconcile that with her work with the sith and the overthrow of the Fel Empire. One could argue that she, like others in previous star wars stories, is trying to overcome evil by allying with it until the time is right to overthrow it. Maybe she believed that the Sith were going to invade and conquer no matter what, and by being involved she was able to help Fel escape, and is a position to help her son, and is perhaps positioned to play a role in Krayts eventual overthrow.

Her involvement in Kol' death by the Sith, and Cade's lucky escape from Ossu, are more unclear. Perhaps as she had hoped, Fel's order to leave the jedi academy alone would be sufficient to protect them, but at some point you have to wonder why a mysterious com from Morrigan could not have made its way to Kol to at least warn the jedi that the sith were back and planning something...

It will be interesting to see how her motivations are revealed, and what her true goals are. Personally having her be a Banite sith just doesn't sit right with me, I would like to believe she is sort of like Jango Fett, a simple, albeit powerful, woman trying to make her way in the Galaxy, and trying to decide the least harmful choice out of a lot of bad options.

 

If Morrigan was a DLOTS then she would have used the Force by now.

I also think that she has a genuine affection for Morlish Veed, even if it's not the more "true" love that existed with Kol Skywalker. I tend to think that Morrigan Cade loved Kol Skywalker while Nyna Calixte (to the extent she can love anyone) loves Morlish Veed. I think he feels the same way, even if he's willing to stray.

 

It's still not 100 percent proven that Calixte IS morrigan corde.
most likely yes, but there are a lot of things that lead to the conculusion that they may just be taking on each other's roles.

How could nyna possibly dye her hair blonde, look 10 years younger and have facial tatoos every day just to change her appearance? Its just not realisitc.
Nyna has black hair, morrigan has blonde. Morrigan has an obviously younger face/body and has facial tatoos. Sure Nyna has a nice body for a woman of her age, but its no where near as young and provocative as Corde's. Her facial tatoos could possibly be make up/face paint but I doubt it. Also, Morrigan's eye color is green whereas Nyna's is blue. It could be possible that they are just contacts being swapped back and forth, but I dont know...

Interesting stuff you found though.
Am I the only one who wishes they were two different people?

 

Uli, quit using Darth-Ghost's account without telling me so I can get in on the action!

Ahem.

Morrigan/Calixte is one of my absolute favourite characters now. I love that she's, well, not a "good guy". Nick's confused as to why she disrupted the GA/Fel meet up, but it's clear to me why. She's loyal to the Empire. She was actively trying to engineer the deposal of Fel, even if she wasn't stupid enough to be surprised when Krayt stole power. While her anger - in retrospect - at not being told of the attack on Ossus is now painted in a new light, there is no way we can make her secretly a double-agent, or secretly working for the "good guys". She might hate the Sith - and I also find her very personal hatred of Krayt and what he stands for, and her personal pledge to kill Cade if he's joined up - but this is no longer a binary galaxy, there have been far to many instances when she's worked to further her own agenda and her vision of the Empire at the expense of democracy, or Fel's more compassionate approach.

Unless they manage to pull of another spectacular inversion (which is, of course, possible, though I can't currently see how), she's one of the "bad guys" in many, many ways. And I love it. Even as it makes me feel cold and hollow. Because it ends up an "I am your father," moment in every way. Not only a shocking revelation of parentage, of dual-identities, but also a revelation that the parent you idolised (in Luke's case) or the reader had started to, if not idolise, then at least view as a saviour and hero of a sort (in Cade's case), was actually...not very nice at all.

Which isn't to say I don't find her compelling, interesting and even sympathetic.

I also think there are far too many interesting behavioural quirks to even begin fabricating her entire story.

Though currently my preference is that she not be a Banite Sith. And also, while yes, she ignores Gunner, at least she acknowledges her daughter and her daughter knows where her mother is. We have no idea the lengths she might go to if her daughter were in trouble. I think the assumption she somehow "prefers" Cade is currently unfounded.

To touch on the original post and the triple nature of Morrigan, I'd love it if there were a final twist coming. The Banite Sith thing is certainly possible, though as I've noted currently it wouldn't be my preference as we need more non-FS awesomeness in the SW EU.

Actually I'd really like to see her triple nature as a sort of triple-parent thing. I want Marasiah to be her daughter too. Granted, I think this is...unlikely because I acknowledge it borders on soap operatic. But a part of me thinks, screw it, if you're going to do something, then go the whole hog.

I noted before any of this, that there was a pattern tying Cade, Gunn and Sia together. They were all raised by fathers to follow in those fathers' footsteps as their heirs. Cade and Gunn both had mothers who left them for their jobs, believing they were better off with said fathers. We don't know anything about Sia's mom right now, but barring early death (certainly possible), she might follow a similar path.

I'll admit to viewing this pattern through biased lenses, but my original argument was that perhaps Sia's mom would end up a very interesting/important figure, and that certainly it would be interesting to see who she was in light of (the then assumed separate characters) Morrigan and Calixte.

When you're talking about a triumvirate - then one of the three characters, Sia's mom in this case - can be less important. The pattern spread across three people can support one as...a decorative addition. If I'm right about this pattern, then suddenly it's not a pattern spread between three people, but two. And the "weight" will need to be more equally distributed. Sia's mom will have to "counterbalance" the awesome powerhouse of fascinating characterisation that is Morrigan/Cal

 

Thanks for the background on the Celtic goddess. I was never big on mythology and you're right that many of those characteristics do seem to fit the dual personas incredibly well.



The story is wide open for character development, but the I think the only thing I would have a hard time buying would be that Morrigan/Nyna was, indeed, in cahoots with the Sith, given that the single common denominator between the two characters would appear to be their mutual animosity toward the Sith order.

The vast dichotomy in her attitudes toward her children is probably what confuses/intrigues me the most about her character. Do her attitudes reflect her true feelings or are they just part of the different 'roles'? Can she care for Cade because Morrigan is anonymous, while showing affection for Gunner would compromise her Iceheart-esque Nyna act? Did she only get re-involved in Cade's life because he was captured by the Sith and would she barge in with blasters blazing if Gunner was being similarly threatened? Or does she really just not care one way or the other and only acted to keep Krayt from getting a Skywalker? (However, much as she pulls out that family holo with Kol, I'd be hard pressed to think she has no lingering feelings there.)

I have no guesses - only questions.

 

becca:

You make some excellent points, though for some reason I don't get a sense that Corde/Calixte is loyal to the Empire. She seems ultimately loyal to herself and her own goals. If that happens to fall in line with the Empire, she supports it. By that same token, if she felt her own goals were served by some action taken by the GA or Jedi, I feel that she would support them as well.

The question, at least in my mind, is what exactly is Corde's ultimate goal?

--Adm. Nick

 

Having an Empire is just wrong.

 

The history of government in the Star Wars universe isn't exactly great.

Old Republic- Frequently under attack during KOTOR's era. Then Palpatine comes along as well as the corruption already there.
Empire- More evil, more corruption
New Republic- Eventually falls to corruption and the vong
GFFA- To date, has not had a good leader. (I'll get to Stazi in a moment). Omas was like Valorum with Niathel playing what Palpatine pretended to be and Jacen being what Palpatine was. And again, more corruption. As Legacy 21 and 22 showed with the meeting of the leaders of the GFFA, things aren't much better in its final days.
Fel's empire- Corrupt again, else Veed and Nyna wouldn't have been so easily able to insert Krayt
Krayt's empire- Corrupt as well.


So what suffers the least from corruption? Factions always at war because they are more united in a common goal and focus on the here and now and not on the future. Rebel Alliance, New Rebel Alliance, To some extent Pelleaon's Imperial Remnant, Stazi's GFFA Remnant and Fel's Remnant.

I'm with some of the others in thinking that Morrigan is loyal to no one. The best way for her is probably to keep things in chaos. With Fel on the run and jedi and stazi surviving, Krayt's rule is hardly absolute. He's been undermined by these rebellions for years. Because of this and his health, there is no way he's been able to fully focus on actually ruling the empire. Which allows Morrigan to do what she wants. Things didn't go exactly how she wanted (Likely she wanted the jedi alive to cause more chaos) but for the most part, she's gotten what she wanted. However, had Krayt gotten a Skywalker, it's pretty obvious that things would change. 1) Krayt's health would improve and he'd be able focus on what he's neglected during that time, 2) Darth Vader II running around taking out Jedi survivors and Imperial Knights. If Star Wars has shown anything it's how powerful a Skywalker is. As a sith, Cade is too dangerous to keep alive. But as a drifter doing his own thing, he's helping cause more chaos for Krayt nor is he actually helping Fel or Stazi or the jedi. It's everyone divided and for themselves.

 

The main reason I'd love Corde to be a Banite Sith is that she's pulling a Palpatine, except better! Palps concealed his identity from the Jedi...Corde would be concealing her identity from both Jedi and her fellow Sith.

Throw in the fact that we've never seen a female villain in the Skywalker family tree makes this all very intriguing.

Tying in with Vector, hasn't there also been some speculation that Corde's third identity might be that of Celeste Morne?

 

Brilliant idea Darth-Ghost. Thats why I hang around here, I have the hope some of the Intelligence on the boards is gonna rub off on me. No luck yet though!

If her third hat was that of a Baneite Sith it would be sweet.....Where's John when we need him? I think your onto something.

 

She does spend a lot of time keeping things in chaos, doesn't she? Which begs the $20,000 question: WHY.

 

Not to put too fine a point on it, but I think part of the reason she seems to be "ignoring" Gunner is the fact that the Cordespawn thinks her mother is a Twilek Dancing Girl.

In other words, that Corde doesn't have a relationship with her because her daughter chose her father over her. While Grand Moff Yage doesn't seem to be the most caring guy in the world, he's a politician in CHARGE OF THE ENTIRETY OF THE MILITARY IN THE EMPIRE yet finds time to have dinner with his daughter.

It's not a warm meeting and he's harsh but I actually felt that was one of the few Star Wars family meetings that felt very real and very similar to a lot of real life military men who genuinely love their family. If Gunn Yage is a Cookoo egg, it's going to be rather hard on Moff Yage.

He's a traitor but he's got apparently only his daughter in his life and his work.

 

Another reason: Gunner's mother is Nyna Calixte. Cade's mother is Morrigan Corde. Yeah, they're really the same person, but the Nyna persona is cold, and since there's no reason for her to be so affectionate towards Gunn - that is, Gunn is out there doing her job, not being targetted for assimilation/assassination at the hands of the Sith - she maintains the facade.

 

True, though I don't think we should necessarilly also discount the simple fact that Nyna's personal choices witnessed by Gunn Yage are enough to also have an effect. Nyna grew up with her daughter and her daughter knows that she left her father for a more ambitious (and ruthless AND controllable) man. Cade didn't know his mother *AT ALL* until the rescue at the hands of her.