- "A real antique..."
- ―Han Solo
Vima-Da-Boda was a female Human Jedi Knight of the Sunrider family who survived the Great Jedi Purge and the downfall of the Empire. She spoke in the third person, referring to herself as "Vima."
Vima had an ancient lightsaber that was many millennia old. It was built in 10,000 BBY. It eventually fell into the hands of a Female Jedi Master. This Master gave it to her Padawan, who gave it to Vima-Da-Boda, who in turn gave it to Leia, years later, on Nar Shaddaa. Leia used the lightsaber to slice the hand off of an Imperial Sentinel, before Darth Sidious caused it to explode.
Biography
Jedi Knight
Vima Da-Boda was a descendant of Vima Sunrider, daughter of legendary Jedi Master of ancient times Nomi Sunrider,[1] and served the Force for over a century. She was trained by a male Jedi Master who gave her a 10,000-year-old lightsaber. The Force-sensitivity passed through Vima to her daughter, Neema, and Vima began to train her daughter in the ways of the Jedi. As with many young pupils, Neema grew frustrated by the slow pace of her Jedi education, and sought alternative training. Neema's impatience and lack of knowledge in the ways of the Force opened her to the dark side. The dark side consumed Neema, and she left her mother.[3]
Years later, Vima received a telepathic plea from her daughter, who had become the wife of an Ottethan warlord. Vima rushed to the dungeon to her daughter's aid, but was too late: Neema had been fed to the rancors of Ottethan. Giving in to her rage, Vima sliced the warlord in half with her lightsaber. Her desire for vengeance quenched, Vima realized she was succumbing to the dark side herself. Over time, her ability to sense and use the Force slowly faded away, although it is unclear if this was a result of her fall to the dark side or of another cause.[3]
Hiding
With the onset of the Great Jedi Purge in 19 BBY, Vima went into hiding on Nar Shaddaa. Her weak connection to the Force coupled with Nar Shaddaa's dense population may have been the key to her survival of Order 66 and the subsequent Jedi eradication efforts.[3]
Shortly after the start of the Great Jedi Purge, Vima was found by Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi, who had come to Nar Shaddaa with the infant Luke Skywalker while seeking passage to Tatooine. Vima recognized Kenobi as a fellow Jedi and told him her story. After informing him of the presence of a man and woman on the Smugglers' Moon whom Kenobi believed to be Masters Tholme and T'ra Saa, Vima offered him her lightsaber but Kenobi turned it down.[8]
In 5 BBY Vima ran across Han Solo for the first time and spoke of his future, telling him of Mako Spince's betrayal, his joining a cause and becoming a General and his willingness to give up the smuggler's life for the woman he loved. He brushed her off then as being insane and forgot her by the next morning.[9]
At some point between 3 ABY and 9 ABY, Vima was imprisoned on Kessel for an unknown crime or reason. Vima discovered Kyp Durron, a young Human ripe with nascent Force potential. Even with her dulled connection to the Force, Vima could sense the raw, untapped power within Durron. Using what connection she had, Vima taught Durron what minor skills she could before being removed by Imperial authorities under unknown circumstances.[4]
Re-emergence
Vima-Da-Boda
By 10 ABY, Vima had made her way back to Nar Shaddaa. In that year, she sensed the Force presence of Leia Organa Solo. Detecting what she thought to be a Jedi, Vima explained the tale of her fall and bequeathed to Organa Solo a protective box[7] containing her lightsaber.[3]
After the apparent death of Emperor Palpatine with the destruction of the Eclipse,[10] Organa Solo returned to Nar Shaddaa to get Vima to join her and share her knowledge of the destroyed Jedi Order. Vima, having realized her errors decades earlier, felt unworthy of serving the power she sensed in Organa Solo and the unborn Anakin Solo, but was given little choice after an ambush by the bounty hunter Boba Fett. Han Solo and Chewbacca helped the group escape the clutches of Fett.[11]
En route to New Alderaan, the Millennium Falcon was forced to hide from Fett in the gas cloud home to Empatojayos Brand's Robida Colossus.[12] Upon their arrival, Vima and Brand aided Skywalker in the training of Jem Ysanna, Rayf Ysanna, and Kam Solusar, the first of Skywalker's Jedi students.[13] Shortly thereafter, Vima used her healing skills to rid Skywalker of a poison injected into him by Dark Jedi agents.[14]
After fleeing to Nespis VIII, Leia, who had been hesitant to tap into her Force potential, learned the ways of the Jedi from Vima, including how to shield the newly born Anakin. This skill allowed Organa Solo to save baby Anakin from being possessed by the spirit of Palpatine. Vima, having rekindled her light side spirit in aiding Organa Solo, Skywalker and the New Republic, claimed to be able to feel the flow of the Force once more.[6]
Vima warns Skywalker about a threat to the New Republic
Little is known of the fate of Vima after the defeat of Palpatine on Onderon.[2] For a period of time, she helped instruct new Jedi recruits at Luke Skywalker's Jedi Praxeum on Yavin 4,[15] and in 13 ABY she warned Skywalker about Ennix Devian. By that time, she had ceased referring to herself in the third person.[16] But after that, she seemed to have disappeared.[2]
Behind the scenes
Vima-Da-Boda was voiced by Glynnis Talken in the Dark Empire and Dark Empire II audio dramas.
The epilogue included with Empire's End 2 and the Empire's End trade paperback stated that Vima disappeared on Onderon in 11 ABY during the New Republic celebration over the defeat of Palpatine, as did Star Wars Handbook 3: Dark Empire. However, both A Guide to the Star Wars Universe, Third Edition, Revised and Expanded and the appendix of The New Essential Guide to Characters said Vima served as an instructor at Luke Skywalker's Jedi Praxeum on Yavin 4 in her later years.
Appearances
Vima-Da-Boda
- "Lone Wolf: A Tale of Obi-Wan and Luke" — SkyeWalkers: A Clone Wars Story
- The Hutt Gambit
- Dark Empire audio drama
- Dark Empire 3 (First appearance)
- Dark Empire II audio drama
- Dark Empire II 1 (Mentioned only)
- Dark Empire II 2
- Dark Empire II 4
- Dark Empire II 5
- Dark Empire II 6
- Empire's End 2
- Jedi Search (In flashback(s))
- Dark Apprentice (Mentioned only)
- I, Jedi (and unabridged audiobook) (Mentioned only)
- Children of the Jedi (Mentioned only)
- Crimson Empire III: Empire Lost 1
- Crimson Empire III: Empire Lost 5 (Mentioned only)
Sources
Notes and references
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 The Essential Guide to Characters
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 Star Wars Handbook 3: Dark Empire
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 Dark Empire endnotes
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 Jedi Search
- ↑ Dark Empire Sourcebook
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 Empire's End 2
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 Dark Empire 3
- ↑ "Lone Wolf: A Tale of Obi-Wan and Luke" — SkyeWalkers: A Clone Wars Story
- ↑ The Hutt Gambit
- ↑ Dark Empire 6
- ↑ Dark Empire II 2
- ↑ Dark Empire II 4
- ↑ Dark Empire II 5
- ↑ Dark Empire II 6
- ↑ A Guide to the Star Wars Universe, Third Edition, Revised and Expanded
- ↑ Crimson Empire III: Empire Lost 1
