19 years ago today, George Lucas brought a classic Star Wars Expanded Universe Force cult to life for the first time. Lucas’ relationship with the Expanded Universe (now dubbed “Legends” by Disney) was always quite complicated. Although he technically had oversight of everything that happened, he didn’t always seem to pay attention to it, and he certainly didn’t mind contradicting it. Still, for all that’s the case, some of Lucas’ best ideas were drawn from Legends; the city-planet of Coruscant was technically created by Timothy Zahn in 1991’s “Heir to the Empire,” for example.
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The Clone Wars became something of a breaking point between Lucas and Legends. Lucas’ version of the Mandalorians is so different to anything seen in Legends (especially the novels by Karen Traviss), and there’s a sense in which Disney’s continuity reboot became inevitable because of the popular animated TV show. All that makes one Lucas decision, 19 years ago today, even more fascinating; because, drawing on Legends, Lucas unveiled a Force cult in The Clone Wars Season 3, episode 12 – one that would come to redefine the franchise.
The Nightsisters Made Their Debut 19 Years Ago Today
The Nightsisters were originally created by the late Dave Wolverton in his 1994 novel The Courtship of Princess Leia, and they’re best described as Force witches. A mysterious cult of dark siders who hail from the planet Dathomir, the Nightsisters are noted for a matriarchal society where men are subjugated, and they wield powerful magicks including illusion, teleportation, and even power over life and death. According to Clone Wars co-creator (and Lucas protege) Dave Filoni, Lucas himself decided he wanted to use the Nightsisters in the TV show, and they deliberately drew on Legends for inspiration.
Filoni initially suggested the Nightsisters don’t really use the Force at all, but rather draw on something subtly different. As time has passed, Star Wars has gradually clarified that they do indeed manipulate the Force, but either an aspect of the Force unknown to the Jedi or through means the Jedi do not understand. The Sith have long coveted Nightsister magicks, with Darth Sidious himself considering their Mother Talzin a potential rival, and many ancient Sith powers have actually been stolen from the Nightsisters. This is one major reason certain dark side powers are considered “unnatural.”
The Nightsisters were introduced through the character of Asajj Ventress, Count Dooku’s Sith assassin, who was revealed to hail from Dathomir. They did indeed become rivals for the Sith, an additional force during the Clone Wars whose power grew as the dark side dominated the galaxy. In the end, Palpatine had them wiped out lest they become a threat to his reign; the Nightsister genocide was one of the most shocking moments in Clone Wars, and it was recently revisited in Tales of the Bounty Hunters.
The Nightsisters Have Become the Key to Star Wars’ Future – & Past
The Nightsisters returned in Ahsoka, with a colony of Nightsisters discovered on the extragalactic planet Peridea. They’re now key to Star Wars’ future, because we know the restored Nightsisters will play a major role in Ahsoka Season 2. There, they present a wonderful alternative to the Sith, a dark side foe for Jedi Knight Ezra Bridger to fight even as Ahsoka and Sabine explore Peridea. But Ahsoka was also notable for a major Nightsister retcon, finally revealing the witches’ canon origin.
According to Ahsoka Season 1, the Nightsisters hail from a distant galaxy, and learned to travel the space whales known as purrgils through the intergalactic void. The Nightsisters were once part of a vast empire, the first ever dark side empire, one that predated both Jedi and Sith alike – and may well be tied to the very origin of the Jedi. This revelation means the Nightsisters now define both Star Wars’ future and its past, particularly exciting given James Mangold is known to be working on a Jedi origin movie of some kind.
It’s staggering to see how far the Nightsisters have come. Introduced in one Legends book back in 1994, they were finally brought to life 19 years ago today, and now they are absolutely crucial to the franchise. We’re about to see the Nightsisters in a way we never have before, with a live-action glimpse of a restored Nightsister culture in alliance with Grand Admiral Thrawn and the Empire. And all this would never have happened in George Lucas hadn’t decided to incorporate them into Star Wars: The Clone Wars.
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