Merrin (Star Wars)

Merrin was a Dathomirian Nightsister who lived on her homeworld of Dathomir during the Imperial Era. A survivor of General Grievous' massacre of the Nightsisters during the Clone Wars, Merrin encountered the Jedi Master Taron Malicos after he crash-landed on Dathomir following the execution of Order 66 in 19 BBY, which called for the extermination of all Jedi. Malicos fell to the dark side of the Force, and wishing to learn the Nightsister's magick, he manipulated Merrin through lies that the Jedi were responsible for her losses and false promises to help her avenge her fallen friends, sisters, and mothers.

When Cal Kestis visited Dathomir in search of the Tomb of Kujet and Malicos asked the former Jedi Padawan to join him, Merrin realized Malicos was deceiving her. She used the Chant of Resurrection to attack both men, but Kestis eventually returned to complete his mission. Although Merrin was reluctant to fight alongside a Jedi, Kestis reassured her that he was on her side by sharing the story of his own grief-stricken past and handing his lightsaber to her. She told him about seeing her people killed by an armored warrior brandishing a lightsaber. Affirming that they were both survivors, Merrin and Kestis worked together to defeat Malicos, and the Nightsister subsequently joined Kestis' crew aboard the Stinger Mantis in their quest to restore the Jedi Order and fight the Galactic Empire.

After several years of evading and battling the Empire, the Mantis crew parted ways over irreconcilable differences. Merrin traveled the galaxy alone, righting wrongs where she could. This led to her becoming involved with the Hidden Path, which sought to save Force-sensitives being hunted by the Empire. She reunited with Kestis during the latter's hunt for hidden world of Tanalorr and rejoined the Mantis crew, hoping the obscure planet could be a refuge for the Path. During this mission, she and Kestis became romantically involved. She and Kestis fought together and succeeded in recovering the Abyss compass necessary to reach Tanalorr, vowing to make the planet a haven for those hunted by the Empire.

Merrin thought of her homeworld and her sisters as simultaneously beautiful, strong, and terrifying; all loveliness had a danger within it, but Dathomir's dark energy was motivating and sustaining. While fighting the Empire, she sometimes had flashbacks to Dathomir, especially to the massacre. She associated the smell of charred remains with home. For a time, she believed the only thing she was meant for was avenging her sisters and her world.

Due to her isolation on Dathomir, Merrin expressed fascination and wonder when visiting other planets. While she was blunt and sometimes seemed indifferent towards others, she was not heartless; for instance, she was concerned for the fate of Force-sensitive children she had never met. Years after leaving Dathomir, she characterized herself as treating people badly and making strange choices when she first left her world. Cal Kestis found her unnerving, in part because her magick drew on the dark side, and even after a few years of friendship, he was not always sure when Merrin was joking. Her sense of humor seemed dark to some other beings, such as when she joked with the incredulous Dritus that she needed one of his arms as a ritual sacrifice to get past the Imperial blockade at Nur. She also demonstrated sadistic tendencies; she ensured Malicos would have a slow death underground and she found it humorous and satisfying to magick Imperials to their deaths.

Merrin related to lessons from the elders about how their magick was like fire and their emotions were the fire's fuel; a fire would burn out for lack of fuel and magick did not spark from deadened emotions. When she first left Dathomir and spent time with the Kestis and the rest of the Stinger Mantis crew, she initially did not feel as empty as she feared she would become, but her anger festered over time and became depression about her inability to sate her need for vengeance. While her new family had opened her up to experiencing love instead of shutting down, it also put her at risk of immense pain and overwhelming emotion that could lead to her own magick burning her.

Merrin had silver hair, brown eyes, and light alabaster skin. Nightsisters like Merrin received tattoos from their mothers to symbolize their bond with their coven; hers were gray markings on her forehead and cheekbones, across the bridge of her nose, beneath her lower lip, and on her fingers. Her skin was tinged green when she blushed. As the Mantis crew traveled together, Merrin retained her accent and continued to favor red and black attire while experimenting with clothing that was not in the traditional style of the Nightsisters. She continued to wear her necklace every day.

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