“ | All my life, I've felt kept and confined. Always having to watch what I say, treating emotion as the enemy. The dark side is my freedom. I'm going to express everything! | „ |
~ Jaesa Willsaam |
Jaesa Willsaam is an antagonist and later deuteragonist in the Sith Warrior storyline in Star Wars: The Old Republic. She was a human Jedi Padawan who started out under the tutelage of Jedi Master Nomen Karr and later the apprentice of Darth Baras, who convinced her to abandon the Jedi Order and join the Sith during the Cold War.
She was voiced by Rachael Leigh Cook.
Biography[]
Early life[]
Jaesa Willsaam was born on Alderaan to Gregor Willsaam and Parvin Willsaam, and spent her early life as a handmaiden to Gesselle Organa of House Organa. Her family was not wealthy, and her parents had hoped to increase their family's lot when it was decided that she would marry an Organa noble. Fate interceded when her Force-sensitivity manifested itself. Recognizing the tremendous opportunity for their child, her parents allowed her to be taken for training by the Jedi.
Jedi Padawan[]
For an unknown length of time, Willsaam was tutored in the ways of the Force by Jedi Master Yonlach on Tatooine. During one of her trials, she faced the sand demon unarmed and walked out unscathed.
But soon Nomen Karr recognized that Willsaam had a unique Force ability, the ability to see and effortlessly determine the true nature of other sentients. In her, Karr saw an opportunity to root out and dismantle the intelligence network of his longtime Sith rival, Darth Baras. At her master's behest, Willsaam was able to identify some of Baras' operatives on Balmorra and Nar Shaddaa.
Her existence and talent, though not her identity, were uncovered by Baras on Dromund Kaas, by torturing the information out of a captured agent of the Republic. Baras quickly assigned his most promising new apprentice to seek out and destroy individuals from Willsaam's past, hoping to draw her out of anonymity.
After two of the spies she had uncovered were silenced by the Sith apprentice, Willsaam began more and more to feel the approach of the dark side. The Sith soon began tracking down people she's been close to. The apprentice first sought out Master Yonlach on Tatooine. Willsaam's old master managed to warn her via their Force bond that the Sith was attempting to draw her out of hiding before he met a painful death. And when she finally felt her own parents' deaths on Alderaan, she decided to take matters into her own hands. She contacted the Sith Warrior to arrange a one-on-one meeting without her Master's knowledge.
Master Karr quickly discovered Willsaam's plan and, after judging it foolish and forbidding her to go through with it, sent Jedi Knights Zylixx and Ulldin to eliminate the Sith threat. The two Knights would prove to be no match for the Sith, and were easily defeated. Karr was finally determined to end the threat to Willsaam's life, and arranged for a duel to the death with Darth Baras on Nal Hutta to resolve their conflict.
In order both to protect himself and to put Karr off-balance, Baras sent his mighty apprentice to the duel in his stead. As Jedi Master and Sith apprentice clashed, the Sith taunted the old Jedi into falling to the dark side in order to further taunt Willsaam.
When her Jedi Master was defeated, Willsaam finally emerged from hiding, sensing that he was being tortured and saw her Master in his twisted state. At first, she considered the possibility that Karr had been hiding this all along, but then accused the Warrior of corrupting her Master. The Warrior encouraged her to use her power on Karr to see the truth. Willsaam complied and despite seeing dark traits within Karr, she refused to believe it. The Warrior continued to taunt her into releasing her anger and battled the Padawan. The Warrior was easily able to defeat the young Jedi. Defeated, Willsaam became convinced that Karr's teachings about the light side being stronger than the dark side were nothing but a lie. Karr reminds her that she hasn't completed her training and promises that when she fully communes with the light side of the Force, no Sith will be her match. Nonetheless, she acknowledges the Warrior's power and was accepted as a Sith apprentice. Her first act was to brutally murder her former master. Though Karr pleaded her not to let the Sith turn her into a murderer, Willsaam coldly retorted that the Jedi hypocritically do likewise to justify their actions, and decapitated Karr.
Apprentice of The Emperor's Wrath[]
Willsaam joined the Sith Warrior as a newly-anointed Sith apprentice when they departed from Nal Hutta. The Warrior was granted the title of Sith Lord for success in hunting her down, and she became a willing agent of both the dark side and the Sith Empire.
Their adventures would take them across the galaxy, as they sought to undermine both the Republic and the Jedi, and worked tirelessly to re-ignite open war between the Republic and the Sith Empire. She demonstrated devotion to her Master, vowing never to follow the Sith traditions involving killing the Master. When her Master was chosen as the Emperor's Wrath, Jaesa became excited, knowing that this would place them closer to the Sith Emperor and ultimate power. Ultimately, Jaesa vowed to stay by her Master's side to help mold future apprentices and offspring.
Eventually, Jaesa became aware that many Sith were leaning towards the light side. With her master's leave, Jaesa used her free time to root out the light side Sith. Eventually, she learned of Lord Cendence, who was tasked by the Dark Council in eliminating light side Sith. However, Jaesa became concerned over Cendence's high kill list. Upon gaining an audience, she quickly realized that Cendence simply killed whomever he wished; very few of his targets were light side Sith. Cendence recognized that Jaesa's power would validate his work. He attempted to convince her to betray her Master but she simply laughed in his face and killed him. Caliqu, the Dark Council's emissary and Cendence's superior, was present at the time and granted Jaesa Cendence's mandate.
Personality[]
As a handmaiden and Jedi pupil, Jaesa was somewhat naive, unintentionally allowing her master to exploit her talents. After the murder of her master and parents at the hands of Baras's apprentice, Jaesa became rattled and attempted to challenge the apprentice. Her fatal flaws were her recklessness and her need to count on someone who was strong and dependable. When the apprentice showed her her master's hypocrisy and bested her in single combat it took little convincing for her to defect and join with the Sith. After her defection, she relished in her dark powers, and gladly served her master in carrying out bloodshed and massacres across the galaxy.
Powers and Abilities[]
Jaesa was adept at wielding a double-bladed lightsaber and demonstrated her ability at using the Soresu form while she was fighting the future Emperor's Wrath.
Jaesa also had a special talent similar to Force sight that allowed her to see the alignment and personality traits of other people.
She also held the power to use Force lightning, unlike her master, and she was quite proficient in telekinesis.