Emperor Palpatine may be the primary, overarching villain of Star Wars’ Skywalker Saga, but he’s not the only one who knows how to tap into the power of the Dark Side.
Anyone who watched Star Wars: The Clone Wars knows that Palpatine once had some major rivals in the form of the Nightsisters of Dathomir.
And with the debut of Star Wars: Ahsoka, these so-called “witches” are finally appearing in live-action.
The first two episodes of Ahsoka reveal that Diana Lee’s character Morgan Elsbeth is a member of the witches of Dathomir.
But who are these characters, exactly, and how are they connected to rogue Dark Jedi Baylan Skoll (Ray Stevenson) and Shin Hati (Ivana Sakhno)?Here’s what you need to know as the series gets underway.
Witches in Star Wars: Who Are the Nightsisters? Star Wars is arguably more of a fantasy saga than a strictly science fiction-based franchise.
It already has sword-wielding wizards who can bend the laws of reality to their whim, so why not throw a few witches into the mix? That’s where the Nightsisters come in.
The Nightsisters are a group of powerful sorceresses who dwell on the planet Dathomir. Like Exegol and Malachor, Dathomir is a world with an unusually strong connection to the Force.
The planet is teeming with Dark Side energy, and the Nightsisters achieved incredible power by tapping into that energy.
The Nightsisters don’t interact with the Force in the same way Palpatine and his fellow Sith Lords do. The term “witch” really does apply here.
The Nightsisters draw on the magical ichor that flows through Dathomir and use it to cast spells, allowing them to conjure objects into existence or even reanimate dead bodies.
They rely on totems to augment their magic. And rather than use traditional lightsabers, Nightsister warriors wield bows that fire bolts of pure energy.
Several tribes of Nightsisters once existed on Dathomir, though during the time of the Clone Wars, these factions were unified under a powerful matriarch named Mother Talzin.
Dathomir is also home to a clan of Nightbrothers - male Zabraks who serve the Nightsisters and are sometimes recruited to serve as assassins.
Talzin’s sons Darth Maul and Savage Opress are the most well-known Nightbrothers.