Lumiya

SW Character
name=Lumiya


caption=
color=Sith
source=
position=Dark Lady of the Sith, Emperor's Hand (former), Darth Vader's apprentice (former)
species=Human
gender=Female
planet=Coruscant
affiliation=Order of the Sith Lords, Rebel Alliance (former), Galactic Empire (former)
portrayer=

Shira Elan Colla Brie (or Lady Lumiya) is a fictional character in the "Star Wars" Expanded Universe.

She is a Force adept and Emperor's Hand [Kevin J. Anderson and Daniel Wallace, "Star Wars: The Essential Chronologu" (2000)] who is trained in rudimentary Sith lore by Darth Vader. After Vader kills Emperor Palpatine and then died in the Battle of Endor (as depicted in "") ["Return of the Jedi" (1983) ] , she inherits the title Dark Lady of the Sith [Daniel Wallace, "Star Wars: The New Essential Guide to Characters" (2002)] . Nearly all of her appearances were in the licensed comics published by Marvel Comics, beginning with issue #56. Later, she appeared in the Legacy of the Force novel series by Del Rey, written by Aaron Allston, Karen Traviss, and Troy Denning.

History

Born on Coruscant [David Michelinie and Walt Simonson, "Star Wars" #63: "The Mind Spider" (1982)] , Brie is trained as an Imperial Intelligence agent, and is dispatched by Vader to infiltrate the Rebel Alliance. She works her way all the way up to Rogue Squadron, where her vivacious beauty and intelligence attracts Luke Skywalker ["Classic Star Wars: A Long Time Ago... Volume 4: Screams in the Void" (2003)] . While serving with the Rebels, Brie works alongside Kyle Katarn on a mission to D'rinba IV to disable the superlaser of Death Star II [Abel G. Peña and Jason Fry, "The Dark Forces Saga" Part 1 (2005)] .

After the Rebel Alliance relocate their base of operations to the planet Arbra, Rogue Squadron is assigned a mission to infiltrate the Imperial Fleet using TIE fighters purchased on the black market. The attack is foiled and during the subsequent battle, the friend/foe recognition equipment of Luke's TIE malfunctioned, and he is unable to determine whether an approaching fighter is an Imperial craft or a member of Rogue Squadron. Using the Force, Luke attempts to sense the other pilot's intent. The Force reveals the pilot of the other craft to be hostile and Luke shoots down the unidentified enemy, who turns out to be his fellow Rogue, Shira Brie. Under a cloud of suspicion and distrust while the Rebellion's leadership investigates the incident, Luke discovers that Brie's putative homeworld Shalyvane is part of a fictitious background, and that her true mission had been to discredit Luke with the resistance so that he would join Vader.

She is thought to have perished in her fighter's crash, but Vader secretly has her damaged body nursed back to life and enhanced with cybernetic parts. He then takes her further under his tutelage, instructing her in the ways of the dark side in addition to her already fearsome skill set. She becomes, like Mara Jade, an Emperor's Hand, but while Brie is training on the fearsome Sith planet Ziost, both Vader and Palpatine perish, leaving the title of "Dark Lady of the Sith" to her. Seething with anger and bent on revenge, Lumiya (as she now called herself) crafts her nearly-unique signature weapon: the "lightwhip", which had been previously invented only three times: by the New Sith Githany in "Jedi vs. Sith", a bounty hunter who dies in "The Phantom Menace", and Jedi Knight Kit Fisto, who used it in a plot to scare the people of a planet into assisting the Republic in the . It is a lightsaber crafted out of Kaiburr crystal and Mandalorian iron, but with the ability to flex and move like a leather whip. Unlike a regular lightsaber that creates a 'blade' from a highly focused arc of energy, the lightwhip works by sending a highly focused electrical current through metallic strands, creating a charge energy aura around the strands similar to a lightsaber blade.

On Herdessa, Lumiya attempts to kidnap Leia Organa Solo, allowing Luke to track her to the planet Kinooine. Initially, Lumiya triumphed over Luke and his companions Dani and Kiro. She reveals that the reason for her success is that Luke's Jedi training prepared him for energy weapons or solid weapons, but not both.

After being rescued by Kiro, Luke constructs a shorter lightsaber, with a synthetic red blade. He confronts Lumiya again and penetrates her cyborg armor, revealing the scarred Shira Brie. invasion fleet.

She later lends military support to the Tof invasion. She trains two apprentices: Flint, who is redeemed by Luke Skywalker, and the treacherous Sovereign Protector Carnor Jax, who is killed by Palpatine loyalist Kir Kanos in "Crimson Empire". She is believed to have taken a new apprentice and disappeared into the mysterious "Cloak of the Sith" region of the galaxy, carrying on the secretive, clandestine tradition of the Sith first begun by Darth Bane.

Legacy of the Force

"Legacy of the Force", a nine-book series by Aaron Allston, Troy Denning and Karen Traviss covers the expanse of time beyond the "New Jedi Order" and includes Lumiya as a major character. The first novel, "Betrayal", was released on May 30, 2006. The last book, "Invincible", was released on May 13, 2008. [ [http://www.starwars.com/community/event/celebration/f20050419/indexp25.html Star Wars: Community | starwars.com at Celebration III ] ]

In "Betrayal", Lumiya reemerges, revealing herself to Luke's nephew, Jacen Solo. She reveals that Vergere, Jacen's mentor in the "New Jedi Order" series, had been a Sith apprentice. She also tells him that she herself could never reach her potential as a Sith, due to her cybernetic implants. Haunted by visions of a galaxy consumed by war (precipitated by Lumiya's execution), Jacen appears to have taken the first steps towards becoming a Sith. Having doubts about Lumiya's sincerity, Jacen asks her to meet him on Coruscant as a test of her loyalites (she claims that she no longer harbors any need for vengeance against Luke and Leia). Hiding her presence in the Force, Jacen brings her before Luke on several occasions; and is convinced by the fact that she feels no hatred towards him. While Luke eventually does sense her, he remains oblivious to the fact that he met her in person and that Jacen is receiving Sith teachings from her.

Lumiya is finally "tricked" by Jacen Solo into coming across Luke Skywalker and Mara Jade Skywalker (who are searching for their son, Ben). Lumiya knows that Jacen had betrayed her, but she is proud of him; She now knows he is strong enough to become a Sith. Fighting with her lightwhip and the aid of the Dark Jedi and former Killik Joiner Alema Rar, Lumiya almost defeats Luke Skywalker while placing suspicions about his son in his mind. However, Luke shoots Lumiya three times with his blaster before she can kill him. Because of a baradium explosive charge strapped to her back set to explode should she die, Lumiya's death is never actually seen or verified. Luke and Mara escape the explosion by just two minutes.

The news of Lumiya's death is relayed to Jacen through Alema Rar. However, Luke says that he would not believe Lumiya is dead until he sees her death personally.

In "Exile", Jacen contacts Lumiya through the Force and confirms that she had survived, though she is in pain and still recovering from blaster wounds which Luke had inflicted upon her. In answer to his apology, Lumiya tells Jacen that she had gone expecting Luke to hurt her, and that she expects he will continue to do so until he kills her or he is brought around to their point of view. She also reiterates her earlier statements that Jacen needs a true Sith apprentice. Realizing that she was right, Jacen consents to allow Lumiya to prepare a trial for his cousin and informal Jedi apprentice, Ben Skywalker.

Unbeknownst to Jacen, Lumiya also undertakes actions which allow for the military forces of Commenor and Bothuwai to circumvent Galactic Alliance vessels monitoring their fleet movements and travel to Corellia to assist in the breaking of the Galactic Alliance's blockade. As a result, the Alliance retreats from the Corellian system; a Corellian Confederacy consisting of Corellia, Bothuwai, Commenor, and several other planetary systems takes over. Her responsibility for these acts is never discovered by Jacen.

Lumiya accompanies Jacen to a meeting on a space station over Gilater VIII purported to be the place where the Confederacy would elect its military leader — a meeting which was in actuality a trap intended to ensare Alliance spies. When it becomes clear that the meeting is a setup, Luke, Mara, Leia, Alema and Han Solo arrive at the scene. As Han and Leia fight Alema while Mara deals with Confederacy security forces, Luke and Lumiya enter into a duel.

While fighting, Lumiya says she could understand Luke's hatred of her; to which Luke replies that he did not hate her, but fights her because her hatred of him had led her to hurt him and his loved ones in the past. Lumiya depowers her lightwhip and offers Luke her hand. Puzzled, Luke deactivates his lightsaber and his shoto and grasps her hand. Before Luke could comment or inquire about her true motives, a ship which had been summoned remotely by Alema Rar crashes into the space station's dome. The resulting depressurization necessitates all present to evacuate the chamber immediately.

In "Sacrifice", Lumiya follows Jacen to Hapes and discovers he was the father of Allana, the heir to the Hapan throne. She believes Jacen is about to sacrifice Allana and, for the first time in years, she weeps at the price he would pay. After Jacen kills Mara, Lumiya decides to sacrifice her life to bring him time to consolidate his hold on the galaxy by making Luke believe she is responsible for his wife's death. Luke tracks her down and duels her, finally ending her reign of terror when he kills her in cold blood. Afterward, Luke discovers Lumiya had not, in fact, murdered Mara — the identity of the real killer, Jacen, remained unknown to him. During Revelation, Jacen reveals that he misses Lumiya.

References

External links

* [http://www.starwars.com/databank/character/lumiya/eu.html Star Wars Databank] entry
*sww|Lumiya