Vergere

"Everything I tell you is a lie. Every question I ask is a trick. You will find no truth in me."

- Vergere

Vergere is an antiheroine in the New Jedi Order series. She was a Jedi Knight in the waning years of the Old Republic. Prior to the novel Rogue Planet, Vergere discovered the Yuuzhan Vong on the living world of Zonama Sekot. In order to protect the native Ferroans from the extragalactic race, Vergere willingly with them. The prequel-era Jedi never discovered what happened to her, for they had all been exterminated by the time of Vergere's return fifty-four years later.

Upon the former Jedi's first appearance in Agents of Chaos I: Hero's Trial, she was seen as a spy working for the Yuuzhan Vong, a familiar of the priestess Elan. Throughout the series, it was dubious whether Vergere's true loyalties lied with the Jedi or the Yuuzhan Vong. This confusion was resolved in Destiny's Way, when Vergere sacrificed her life to save Jacen Solo, killing many Yuuzhan Vong in the process.

However, in the Legacy of the Force series, it was hinted by Lumiya and the Sith that Vergere was a Sith herself, which has since thrown Vergere's character into further uncertainty.

Before the series
Little is known about Vergere's early life, but it is known that she was born during the Golden Age of the Old Republic. Early in her life, she was placed under the care of Jedi Master Thracia Cho Leem, who instructed her in the ways of the Jedi. Vergere's earliest chronological appearance was in James Luceno's Cloak of Deception as a minor protagonist who helps Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jinn in his efforts against the terrorist movement Nebula Front. During this time, Vergere was involved in heresy against the mainstream Jedi Order, studying in documents the Jedi High Council frowned upon. At some point, shortly after Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace, the rogue Jedi encountered Supreme Chancellor Palpatine, recognizing him to be the alter ego of the Sith Lord Darth Sidious. According to Lumiya seventy years later, Vergere initially considered apprenticing herself to Sidious. However, once she learned the extent of Palpatine's megalomania, she realized her mistake and attempted to assassinate the Chancellor. After the attack failed, Vergere was forced to flee from the Sith Lord's assassins.

Rogue Planet
Tainted by the dark side, Vergere returned to the Jedi Temple. Possibly in an attempt to cleanse herself of Palpatine's influence, Vergere accepted a mission to Zonama Sekot. Once she arrived, she encountered a strange species the native Ferroans referred to as the Far Outsiders. They were the Yuuzhan Vong, an extragalactic race whom Vergere could not feel in the Force. This intriguing notion, coupled with the Yuuzhan Vong's warmongering nature, led Vergere to correctly perceive that the Yuuzhan Vong would be dangerous adversaries. She discovered that the Yuuzhan Vong had been planning an invasion of her native galaxy for years, something the Old Republic and the Jedi Order would not be prepared for. Seeking to delay the invasion, Vergere willingly joined the Yuuzhan Vong and convinced them to leave Zonama Sekot. As she departed, she was forced to destroy her lightsaber, lest she enrage the technophobic race. In hiding her supernatural abilities, Vergere effectively convinced her masters that her powers dwelt from the living world, not the Force. From that point on, Vergere remained under the guise of the familiar of priestesses Falung and (later) Elan.



In the prequel novel Rogue Planet, Vergere's disappearance was noted by her Master, Cho Leem. The human Jedi approached the Jedi Council, fearing for her former Padawan's life. During this novel, Jedi Knight Obi-Wan Kenobi and Jedi Padawan Anakin Skywalker departed to Zonama Sekot to investigate Vergere's disappearance. Though the Jedi managed to deflect the attacks of Old Republic commander Wilhuff Tarkin, they failed to discover what happened to Vergere, besides a vague reference to the "Far Outsiders."

Outbound Flight
Though Vergere does not appear in Timothy Zahn's prequel novel, it is hinted that her disappearance two years earlier was partially the reason for Jedi Master Jorus C'Baoth's organizing his Outbound Flight Project. Later, it is revealed that Senior Captain Thrawn's mission was fairly similar to Vergere's -- to delay the invasion of the Yuuzhan Vong, another factor in Palpatine's reasons for founding the Galactic Empire. Their efforts would later be foiled by Nom Anor.

Agents of Chaos I: Hero's Trial
Vergere returns to the forefront of Star Wars novels in the fourth installment of the series, Agents of Chaos I: Hero's Trial. In the novel, the former Jedi returns to her home galaxy after fifty-four years of living amongst the Yuuzhan Vong. Not much is revealed about her in this novel, where she appears as Elan's familiar and a secondary antagonist. As she takes part in Elan's mission to exterminate Luke Skywalker's New Jedi Order, she appears to be a willing Yuuzhan Vong collaborator. However, following Elan's demise, Vergere seemed to betray the Yuuzhan Vong and delivered a vial of her tears to Han Solo, which cured Jedi Master Mara Jade Skywalker of a wasting disease that had crippled her. Vergere subsequently fled the Millennium Falcon in an escape pod. Though her past as a Jedi Knight was not divulged in this novel, Vergere does display a significant reaction to the name Skywalker.



Edge of Victory II: Rebirth
Given she helped save Jade Skywalker and allowed for the conception of Ben Skywalker to be possible, one would assume that Vergere was a hero, returning to her roots as a Jedi. However, Vergere's appearance in the eighth installment of the series makes one question where who true loyalties lie. After escaping from the Falcon, Vergere returned to the Yuuzhan Vong and placed herself under the service of Warmaster Tsavong Lah, serving as one of his primary agents, along with Executer Nom Anor and Senator Viqi Shesh. Once more, she appears to be a Yuuzhan Vong collaborator.



Star by Star
In the ninth installment of the series, Star by Star, Vergere is depicted as a rival for Nom Anor, given that her knowledge of the known galaxy makes her a useful agent for Warmaster Lah. Often during this novel, Vergere and Anor would compete as Lah's top agent. While Coruscant is captured by the Yuuzhan Vong Empire, Vergere accompanies Nom Anor to Myrkr, where several young Jedi Knights and Padawans are fighting to destroy the savage voxyn. Following the death of Jedi Padawan Anakin Solo, Vergere's life is placed in jeopardy as Jedi Padawan Jaina Solo searches for vengeance. Nevertheless, Vergere escapes, and is next seen shortly after Jedi Padawan Jacen Solo destroys the voxyn queen. Following the death of the queen, Vergere takes Solo captive and rejoins Nom Anor. Her plans with Solo are left inconclusive for the next three books, but from this point, Vergere appears to be an enemy agent -- a notion Solo even believes at this point.

"I am Vergere. What are you?"

- Vergere, to Jacen Solo



Traitor
"Is it what the teacher teaches or what the student learns?"

- Vergere

Vergere's affiliations become clearer in the thirteenth installment of the series, Traitor, where she is featured as one of the primary antagonists, along with Nom Anor. During the novel, Vergere served as Solo's primary jailer, as well as his torturer. At the start of the novel, Vergere rips the young Jedi of the Force, leading his family and allies to believe him deceased. Although Vergere repeatedly tortures her charge, she is not depicted as sadistic. In fact, she frequently divulges that she regrets this, but feels it is necessary for Solo to reach his destiny. At this point in the novel, she convinces Nom Anor and Tsavong Lah that her goal is to convert Solo into the incarnation of the war god Yun-Yammka, so that he might confront his sister Jaina (supposedly the incarnation of Yun-Harla) in combat and kill her, as was tradition for twins in Yuuzhan Vong society. However, once Solo escapes to the underbelly of recently captured Yuuzhan'tar (the new name for Coruscant), Vergere does nothing to prevent him. After she discovered him in the remains of the old Jedi Temple (her former home), she continues Solo's training. She divulges here that she was once a Jedi, and it was here that she met Solo's grandfather, the Jedi who would become Darth Vader. She is shocked to learn of the eldest Skywalker's fate, suggesting that perhaps she is not as villainous as some suspect. During this time, the Fosh began to impress upon the young Padawan that the Force does not merely exist in light and dark aspects, that to speak of the dark side, is to speak of the dark side within each individual person. Shocked by this, Solo flees, but is eventually apprehended by Vergere and Nom Anor. In the end, the Solo Project becomes a failure, when Vergere reveals her true loyalties. As Jedi Knight Ganner Rhysode sacrifices his life in the Well of the World Brain, Vergere and Solo escape aboard Anor's escape vessel. In the final chapter, Vergere deems herself equally Solo's Master and Padawan, terms she deemed as interchangeable.

Destiny's Way
"If you'll let me."

- Vergere's last words

Vergere makes her final appearance in the fourteenth installment of the series, Destiny's Way. In the novel, the former Jedi reveals to Solo her past at last -- both her role as a Jedi Knight and her mission to Zonama Sekot fifty-seven years before. Her description of Zonama Sekot would play a major role in the final novels of the series. Upon her and Solo's arrival to the fallen New Republic capital of Mon Calamari, Vergere is taken into custody by the NRI for her collaboration with the Yuuzhan Vong. During this time, Vergere remained with Solo for several months and met Jedi Master Luke Skywalker, challenging the new Jedi about the Force.



It was this novel that seems to make it clear that Vergere is no longer a villain. After learning about the existence of a bioweapon to exterminate the Yuuzhan Vong race (Alpha Red), Vergere risks her life to destroy it. The head of the NRI, Dif Scaur, takes this to mean that Vergere's true loyalties lie with the Yuuzhan Vong. Though Skywalker and his wife Mara try to convince the New Republic Council that Vergere has always been loyal to the Old Republic and the late Jedi Grand Master Yoda's Order, it does not prevent recently elected Chief of State Cal Omas from launching a man hunt for the former Jedi.

Vergere flees from Mon Calamari and meets up with her apprentice Solo at Kashyyyk, where the Jedi Knight chooses to harbor the fugitive. When Solo tries to rescue his sister at the Battle of Ebaq, Vergere commandeers a starfighter and crashes it into the planet's surface, venting the mining shafts to the vacuum of space. The Yuuzhan Vong were unable to place ooglith masquers over their faces before they died. It can be said that regardless of whether Vergere was a Sith or not, at this point she returned to the light side to save Solo's life.



In the closing chapters of the novel, Solo was visited by Vergere's spirit and pledged to honor her sacrifice by following the Force to achieve his own destiny.

Afterward
Following Vergere's sacrifice, she was mentioned several times after the Skywalkers, Solo, Jedi Knight Saba Sebatyne, and astrophysicist Danni Quee followed the late Jedi's advice to seek out the lost world of Zonama Sekot. Upon finding it, Vergere was one of the several forms in which the planetary consciousness Sekot appeared in during the Force Heretic trilogy and the final novel The Unifying Force. In the end, Vergere's efforts ensured that the Jedi were able to form a peaceful accords between the Yuuzhan Vong and the newly formed Galactic Alliance, the latter of whom were exiled to Zonama Sekot.

Legacy of the Force
"Vergere sacrificed herself so you could assume the Sith mantle she wanted for you."

- Lumiya

Even though Vergere had been dead twelve years, she was mentioned in every novel of the Legacy of the Force series, given that her teachings had a major impact on Solo's eventual transformation into the Sith Lord Darth Caedus. As hinted by the Sith Lady Lumiya, Vergere had been manipulating Solo from the beginning in order to create a new Sith Lord, one who would be more benevolent than the likes of Darth Bane's legacy. Later in the series, the Sith Lords of Darth Krayt's Sith Order implied that Vergere was once one of them, but the Fosh frowned upon Krayt's teachings and later made an alliance with former Emperor's Hand Lumiya. Since then, it has been debatable whether or not Vergere was a hero or a villain.

Trivia

 * It could be said that Vergere is neither a hero nor a villain. The lesson one can take from her character is that nothing is ever that black and white. Like most antiheroes and anti-villains, Vergere lies somewhere in between the two.