Charal

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Charal was a Nightsister Dark Jedi who turned her back on the order and left Dathomir. The Nightsisters pursued her, and to escape them, she joined a band of Sanyassan Marauders. Their vessel crashed on the uncharted forest moon of Endor, and the Sanyassan warlord set himself up as king. Roughly a century after their arrival, the Marauders were alive due to the species' longevity and Charal due to the powers granted to her by the Force-sensitive crystal on the ring she always wore. It is possible the ring was one of the powerful Force-imbued artifacts the Nightsisters used, or possibly a Sith artifact.

Contents 1 Biography 1.1 Life on Endor 1.2 The Battle for Endor 2 Personality and traits 3 Powers and abilities 4 Behind the scenes 5 Appearances 6 Sources 7 Notes and references

[edit] Biography

[edit] Life on Endor

Charal was a Nightsister of Dathomir. At some stage, she escaped her homeworld, and fled to the forest moon of Endor. While there, she allied herself wity King Terak and his Sanyassan Marauders. Charal resided at Terak's Keep, and styled herself as the Witch-Queen of Endor. To assist her, she made use of a Trandoshan slave named "Lizardman."^[2] Among her possessions was a ring that allowed her to transform into a raven at will.^[2] In 1.5 ABY, she was working on a poultice that would help her divine the future. That year, a spacer approached her, and offered their services. Charal, taking advantage of the assistance, had the spacer ventured into the woods and retrieve the spleen of a healthy Ewok, a sentient species that called Endor home. The spacer later returned with the spleen, which Charal added to her poultice.^[1]

To retrieve the next ingredient, the Witch-Queen dispatched Lizardman, as he had a keen sense of smell for the type of herb required. When he did not return, Charal decided to enlist the spacer once again, this time to retrieve Lizardman. The spacer did so, and returned with Lizardman in tow. Fortunately for Charal, the Trandoshan had the herbs required. For her final ingredient, the Witch-Queen spittle from an Ewok. The spacer assisted her once again, retrieving a whole, live Ewok and returning it to Terak's Keep.^[1]

Pleased, Charal extracted the required spittle from the Ewok, and completed her poultice. With it, she saw a vision of many ships landing on the forest moon, which she planned to steal. She also discovered that a ship had crashed on Endor recently, and that survivors of the crash possessed a comlink—a communication device that would allow her to steal the ships that would be landing in the future. Enlisting the spacer, who she now regarded as a slave, one more time, Charal intended that the comlink be stolen from the survivors of the crash. The spacer ventured out, killed the survivors, and returned with the comlink. The Witch-Queen was overjoyed, and she believed that with the comlink in her possession, she would be able to control the universe. Satisfied, Charal dismissed the spacer, insisting that they follow their own destiny, and in doing so, serve her own.^[1]

[edit] The Battle for Endor

In 3 ABY, Charal accompanied the Marauders during an attack on Bright Tree Village, where a Human family who had crashed on Endor had sought refuge. Terak sought what he called "the Power," which he believed the Towanis to posess, and so during the attack, the Witch-Queen ventured to the location of their spacecraft. Jeremitt Towani was working on the ship at the time, and so Charal had the Marauders beat him, in an attempt to divine the location of the Power. In due course, Terak himself arrived, and began interrogating Jeremitt. The Human claimed ignorance, but Terak strongly believed that the man was the "Guardian of the Power." Terak removed the ship's crystal oscillator, and triumphantly declared to his men that he had the Power. At that moment, Jeremitt lunged for a blaster pistol, and shot down one of the Marauders, before attempting to escape. Terak, satisfied with his find, sent his men after the Human.^[2]

Using her ring, Charal shifted into her raven form, and tracked down Jeremitt, who was hiding with his daughter, Cindel. The Witch-Queen alerted the Marauders to their location, and Cindel ran off into the woods. As Charal gave chase, Jeremitt was killed by the Marauders. The young Human girl was not able to run far, however—the Witch-Queen returned to her normal form, and stopped Cindel in her tracks. With the rest of her family killed, the young girl was held as a captive by Terak's Marauders. She later escaped from their custody, with the aid of the Ewoks. Meanwhile, back at Terak's Keep, Charal attempted to activate the crystal oscillator, to little success. She suggested to Terak that Cindel would have been able to help activate the device, but this remark only incensed the king. He immediately ordered Charal and the Marauders to locate and capture the young Human.^[2]

Transforming into her raven form, Charal set out into the woods. She was able to ascertain that Cindel was staying with another Human living on Endor, Noa Briqualon. The day after she had made her discovery, Charal distanced herself from Briqualon's residence, and began calling Cindel's name, replicating the voice of Catarine Towani, the young girl's mother. As Cindel grew nearer, Charal began singing one of the young girl's favorite songs. To further entice Cindel, the Witch-Queen took on the appearance of a much younger Human, with blond hair and white robes. Nearby, she had a white horse waiting. When Cindel entered her presence, the Witch-Queen had the young girl bring her robe to her. Taking the robe, Charal quickly transformed into her normal self, and seized Cindel. With her new captive in tow, Charal mounted her horse, which was now black, and rode for Terak's Keep.^[2]

When the Imperial scouting party that discovered Endor was captured and imprisoned by the Marauders, Charal tried to arrange her own escape. King Terak learned of this, and imprisoned the Dathomiri witch. Charal used her shapeshifting abilities to turn into a raven and tracked Cindel down, but when Cindel insisted that she did not know anything about "the power", Terak sent her to be imprisoned and seized Charal's ring. Eventually, the ring was destroyed while Terak was wearing it around his neck, unleashing its powers on the Marauder leader and burning him to a crisp. Because of this, Charal was trapped in her animal form of a raven forever.

[edit] Personality and traits

Charal hated the forest moon of Endor, and constantly sought to venture offworld. She was highly derisive of her ally, King Terak, and one day hoped to put an end to her alliance with him. The Witch-Queen also had a very low opinion of her slave, Lizardman, and wished that she possessed a more intelligent assistant. She reacted to any insubordination or lack of respect from what she regarded to be her inferiors with great chagrin.^[1]

Charal had a habit of unconsciously referring to those in her service as "slave" or "servant," although she would immediately correct herself upon doing so. The Witch-Queen also placed a great deal of stock in the power of a standard item such as a comlink, believing it would grant her all manner of power.^[1]

[edit] Powers and abilities

With the use of her ring, Charal had the power to transform into a raven.^[2]

[edit] Behind the scenes

Charal was portrayed by Siân Phillips in Ewoks: The Battle for Endor.

In her young witch form in The Battle for Endor, Charal was portrayed by Marianne Horine.

Charal may be a reference to the Witch of Endor from the Hebrew Bible.

[edit] Appearances

• Star Wars Galaxies: An Empire Divided
• Ewoks: The Battle for Endor (First appearance)
• Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi junior novelization (Indirect mention only)

[edit] Sources

• The Essential Guide to Characters
• The Illustrated Star Wars Universe
• A Guide to the Star Wars Universe
• The Official Star Wars Fact File 10 (END4, The Forest Moon of Endor)
• Castaways of Endor
•  Charal in the Databank
•  Sanyassan Marauder in the Databank
•  Terak in the Databank
• The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia
• Star Wars Galaxies Trading Card Game – Squadrons Over Corellia (Card: Charal)

[edit] Notes and references