Mother Talzin

"I assume you are The Great Mother."

- Mace Windu

"No. I am a simple witch. Not worth the trouble or attention of the great Jedi Order."

- Mother Talzin

Mother Talzin is a major antagonist in the Star Wars The Clone Wars Series, Season 3-6. She is the leader of the Dathomirian Nightsisters and the leader of the Frangawl Cult. She is voiced by Barbara Goodson.

History
A Dathomirian female, Talzin was a member of the Nightsisters prior to the Clone Wars. While birthing her first daughter, Talzin was struck with a fatal affliction, but was enlightened by the spirits of her culture and survived the incident. She subsequently became a shaman of the Nightsisters and eventually united the various Nightsister covens following the death of Mother Zalem in 31 BBY. Whereas previously, competing Nightsister covens had been ruled by a clan mother and a shaman, Talzin, holding both titles, was able to unite her warring people into a single coven, which thrived into the time of the Clone Wars. Talzin's coven also had a close relationship with a clan of Nightbrothers.

Mother Talzin was forced to take the infant, Asajj Ventress, from her mother and give her to the Siniteen criminal Hal'Sted as payment sometime prior to the Clone Wars in order to protect her clan. Sometime later, Dooku helped Talzin out of some manner of predicament. It is unknown if he was a Jedi Master or a Sith Lord at this stage.

Talzin rarely traveled off-world, but when she learned that one of her witches, Kycina, had given up her infant, whom she dubbed Maul, Talzin took a small group of witches and headed for Orsis to find the Nightbrother. She was told by Meltch Krakko, a Mandalorian instructor from the Orsis Academy where to find him. After subduing Maul, she attempted to convince him to return to his home and face the Nightbrother challenges. Maul refused and said that he only answered to one Master, which Talzin thought was the Falleen headmaster, Trezza. After a brief firefight on an orbital station, Talzin was shot in the thigh, and her witches, along with Maul helped heal her until the Zabrak found Darth Sidious. Sidious told Talzin that the body of a fallen Nightsister was on board and that Maul belonged to him. Talzin and her witches boarded the ship and set off for Dathomir where Talzin was able to heal herself.

At some point during the Clone Wars, Talzin wrote a short chapter, entitled Wild Power, which explained the role of the Nightsisters and their usage of the Dark Side of the Force in the galaxy.

Reuniting with Ventress
During the Clone Wars, Asajj Ventress, having being betrayed by her Sith master, Count Dooku under the orders of Darth Sidious, returned to Dathomir. Talzin prevented the uncertain Nightsisters from killing her, recognising and revealing Ventress as one of them, later recounting how her clan had been forced to give up Ventress. After she and her sisters healed Ventress with a spell, Talzin then promised to help Ventress in her quest to get revenge upon Dooku for betraying her.

The attempt on Dooku's life
Using her magics, Talzin and the Sisters performed a spell to give the three the ability to be invisible to most, as well a special poison dart to Ventress to dull the Count's senses. She also gave them each Jedi Lightsabers to make Dooku believe that the Jedi were attacking him.

Their plan eventually failed, but Talzin reassured her that she had proved Dooku was vulnerable, and there were other ways of exacting revenge against him. She contacted the Count, and offered him a new assassin to replace Ventress. Although somewhat suspicious at first, Dooku agreed. Dooku himself made a journey to Dathomir, with the ulterior motive of enlisting the Nightsisters in his Separatist movement, though Talzin quickly rejected the prospect, opting to remain neutral in the galactic conflict--as well as insisting that she was only aiding Dooku because of his help earlier. She promised him a male Zabrak Nightbrother (while enticing him with the revalation that the new assassin would be linked by blood to the late Sith warrior Darth Maul) and Dooku left the planet. Ventress met with Talzin shortly afterward, and the clan mother asked Ventress to travel to the Nightbrother village to choose the most powerful male warrior she could find, under the pretense of merely selecting a mate.

Ventress returned with a Nightbrother named Savage Opress. Impressed with Savage's physique, Talzin rendered him unconscious. Talzin then led her sisters in a magic incantation and used it to enhance the abilities of Savage Opress, amplifying his rage, and his physical appearance, giving him a far more muscular bulk and lengthening his cranial horns--an additional spell, however, was set in place to ensure Savage would ultimately be loyal to Talzin. As a final test of Savage's strength and loyalty, the now-monstrous Zabrak was ordered to murder his younger brother, Feral, which he did without remorse. Satisfied, Talzin presented Savage with an enchanted blade and afterward, Talzin brought Opress to Dooku via a Separatist shuttle. The Count gladly accepted his new assassin, and Talzin returned to Dathomir.

Later, two Jedi, Anakin Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi travelled to her village, seeking information on Savage due to an attack on a Jedi outpost caused by him. Though Talzin denied it at first, she was eventually persuaded to tell them his locations and the left in search of him. After the Jedi had left, Talzin convinced Ventress to put her plan into action, while Ventress considered that Savage was not yet ready, she left with luck from Talzin.

But the plan failed and Savage returned to her, wounded and exhausted. Telling her of his escape from both Dooku and the Jedi and that he and Ventress had betrayed each other, he stated that he was not yet strong enough. Talzin revealed to him that his brother, Darth Maul, had survived and was living in exile in the Outer Rim and told him to find him to teach him the ways of the Sith. Savage departed, promising that he would return.

Dooku's revenge
When Ventress returned after Opress betrayed her, Talzin accepted her and made her an official Nightsister, although she neglected to inform Ventress that Opress had briefly returned. During their celebration, General Grievous, at the behest of Count Dooku, attacked Dathomir to destroy Talzin, Ventress, and the Nightsisters. During the battle, Talzin used her dark powers to destroy numerous battle droids, but retreated from the front lines early on, so as to ask Daka to raise their Army of the Dead, as well as inflict retribution upon Dooku for ordering the assault. Using a lock of Dooku's hair, Talzin fashioned a Voodoo doll in Dooku's likeness, and used it in conjunction with her magic to torture Dooku to the point of near-death. However, Grievous, ordered by Dooku to destroy Talzin, attacked the inner sanctum of the village, where Talzin and Daka were performing their spells, killing the few guards present and murdering Old Daka. Before she could also be executed, Talzin teleported to safety, but with Daka dead, the undead army also perished, and the Nightsisters were virtually destroyed. In the wake of the massacre, Talzin appeared to Ventress, the only other survivor of Grievous' onslaught, telling her that, although the most recent chapter of Ventress' life had ended, and that she must seek a new path, her destiny would always be tied with that of the Nightsisters. With that, Talzin disappeared, leaving Ventress alone.

The Rebirth and Return of Darth Maul
Sometime later, Savage and Maul returned to Dathomir, Mother Talzin led them to her village, where she removed Maul's spider-like cybernetics and used magicks to create a brand-new pair of cybernetic legs, as well as restore Maul’s sanity and memories. When her work was done, she disappeared once again.

The Dissapeared and the Defeat of Talzin
In 20 BBY, Mother Talzin gained the allegiance of the Frangawl Cult on Bardotta, who worshiped her as "the Great Mother." Under her direction, they abducted the Dagoyan Masters one by one, draining the Living Force within them into a containment sphere.

Talzin later rendezvoused with the cult, who had captured Queen Julia, on Zardossa Stix, she revealed her intention to use a ritual to drain the Living Force from the Queen and absorb it, making her more powerful than the Jedi and Sith combined. However, Jedi Master Mace Windu and Senate Represenative, Jar Jar Binks were hot on their trail and arrived at the temple.

Talzin engaged the Jedi with a lightsaber that she conjured, but her distraction allowed Binks to free Julia, disrupting the ceremony. The Gungan also accidentally destroyed the containment sphere, causing a massive explosion that killed all the cultists. With her plans destroyed, Talzin dissolved into the mist and vanished.

It is unknown what happened to Talzin, but it is likely that she died.