Uumay Hawlatha

"We are all made for different tasks, gifted with different talents. Have you found your talent, little tang tang bird?"

―Uumay Hawlatha, to Iskat Akaris^[1]

Uumay Hawlatha was an ancient Bimm Jedi Master who regularly assisted the Jedi Knight Iskat Akaris in her struggles to find clarity through meditation during the waning years of the Galactic Republic.

Biography

Training Iskat

"We serve as we are needed. The Force gives us a path to become our best selves and do the most good, and we must walk that path without looking for other, brighter paths."

―Uumay Hawlatha, to Iskat Akaris^[1]

Hawlatha mentored the young Jedi Iskat Akaris (pictured).

Hawlatha was born sometime before the fall of the Republic. His Force-sensitivity led him to be trained as a Jedi and he attained Mastery at some point. The Bimm became good friends with Master Klefan Opus and, after a serious accident involving the youngling Iskat Akaris and her friend Tika, both Jedi often led the former in meditation sessions. These continued even after Akaris was taken as a Padawan by Opus' former apprentice Sember Vey.^[1]

In 22 BBY,^[2] the Clone Wars began at the First Battle of Geonosis. Vey was killed in action and Akaris was subsequently knighted. However, she was soon removed from the field for her actions on Thule. Sequestered to the Jedi Temple crèche to help raise the younglings, Akaris spent a great deal of her free time with Hawlatha, as he was one of the few senior Jedi to maintain permanent residence there. She spent an hour every morning with him in the Temple gardens, practicing meditation techniques she had first learned from her dead master. Hawlatha often sang in his native Bimmini during these sessions.^[1]

During one of these meetings, Akaris asked Hawlatha how to achieve the serenity that he seemingly had. The Bimm told her to live in the present, stating that only in the now could one find peace. Akaris responded that she often felt that the Force wished her to be out in the field, helping to defend the Republic. Hawlatha pointed out that her current role was important: helping to mold the future generation of Jedi, but Akaris argued that she felt that her talents lay elsewhere, and that the battlefield was the only place where she had felt one with the Force. Hawlatha ended the conversation with the pronouncement that distinguishing between one's own will and that of the Force was difficult, particularly for the young, urging her to be patient before dropping back into a song.^[1]

Akaris' reinstatement

"She is an exemplary student. The little tang tang bird has finally learned to settle. If only all the young Jedi Knights would spend as much time meditating."

―Uumay Hawlatha on Iskat Akaris^[1]

Around 20 BBY,^[3] Hawlatha and Opus spoke to Masters Yoda and Mace Windu on Akaris' behalf. Hawlatha remarked that it was unfortunate that the average Knight did not meditate as much as Akaris; he shared a chuckle with Yoda when the other quipped that the Temple gardens would be crowded if that were not the case. The Bimm and his friend continued to exposit their belief that Akaris had learned patience and was ready to return to the battlefield. Yoda also mentioned the confidence Supreme Chancellor Palpatine had expressed in her, and the two Councilors ultimately assented, sending Akaris on a mission to Olgothon 3. On her way out, she thanked her mentors for their support. After successfully completing the assignment, Akaris returned to Coruscant, spending the next several months meditating with Hawlatha in the mornings and sparring with Opus in the evenings.^[1]

In 19 BBY,^[4] during one of these sessions, Akaris asked the Bimm whether he had ever been to war. After stating that he had never been called upon for combat duty, he admitted that while he would not be glad to fight, he would be willing to do so if needed. Hawlatha pointed out that such was not really his talent, asking if Akaris had found hers. She responded that it would not surprise him that action was her strength, indicating her eagerness to return to the field. Hawlatha laughed, saying that it did not and that her time would come. His statement was prescient, as that very afternoon Akaris was sent to Frong to hunt down General Grievous.^[1]

Hawlatha's former student, Iskat Akaris (pictured), became an Inquisitor.

Legacy

"I will not take orders from those who have never felt this pain, who have never made any real sacrifice or been sent out to die. You, with your slavish devotion to platitudes—you sat in the Temple meditating while the Jedi ordered us about like holochess pieces!"

―Iskat Akaris, to Uumay Hawlatha's friend Klefan Opus^[1]

In the end, Hawlatha's lessons on utilizing personal gifts were partially responsible for Iskat Akaris giving in to her more violent tendencies. She also believed a number of her teachers' pronouncements to be pathetic platitudes. When Order 66 was issued, Akaris gave up Hawlatha and the other Jedi up for dead and turned to the dark side, accepting Darth Sidious' offer to become an Inquisitor, a role in which she would hunt down surviving Jedi.^[1]

Personality and traits

"This is the first war of my lifetime, and I have not been so called. My strengths lie elsewhere, although I would gladly go wherever I was sent."
"Gladly?"
"I would not be glad to go, I suppose, but I would be glad for the chance to do my part and serve the Force."

―Uumay Hawlatha and Iskat Akaris^[1]

Uumay Hawlatha was an ancient Bimm with long, floppy ears and black fur speckled with gray. He was a calm and patient individual, whose consistent goal was inner peace. A friend of Klefan Opus, he preferred to spend his days in the Jedi Temple, sipping tea, singing songs and meditating. These attributes and his vague maxims gave him the appearance of being lazy and enigmatic. However, he strongly believed in the importance of duty, ideally through the use of one's talents, but with a willingness to do set aside one's preferences and do whatever is required. A mentor of Iskat Akaris, he strove to help her find balance and, near the end of the Clone Wars, expressed his faith that she had learned to settle down.^[1]

Powers and abilities

"Live in the now. The past and future are illusions. There is only the current moment. If you can find peace here, you will always know peace."

―Uumay Hawlatha, to Iskat Akaris^[1]

Uumay Hawlatha's serene nature made him adept at meditation and also made him a natural choice for mentoring troubled young Jedi, such as Iskat Akaris.^[1]