The History Of Jedi: Fallen Order's Mysterious Species
As anyone who has played Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order will have experienced, in 14BBY, Cal Kestis, a young Jedi who had survived the Great Jedi Purge, discovered a series of temples built by an ancient people. These temples were located on disparate worlds throughout the galaxy and illustrated the downfall of a once-proud race. But just who were they?
Though little information is known regarding this long-since vanished species, we do know that they were called the Zeffo. They were tall and humanoid in aspect, though with a large, flat-ridged cranium and large deep-set eyes. The wider aspects of their society are still, for the most part, shrouded in mystery, but details revealed in both Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order and the accompanying graphic novel, Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order - Dark Temple give us a small, yet fascinating glimpse into their history…
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The ancient race of the Zeffo originated on the planet of the same name. Located in the Outer Rim, the planet Zeffo is a mountainous world, prone to high winds and large expanses of water. A seemingly wise and benevolent race, the Zeffo were force-sensitive, venerating their spiritual leaders - sages - with the construction of vast, elaborate temples containing statues and relics of their belief system.
The Zeffo’s influence was to spread throughout the galaxy, onto several worlds, including Otontho, Kashyyyk and Bogano, where these temples were constructed in honour of the aforementioned sages, the most notable of which were Eilram, Miktrull and Kujet.
The Sage Eilram was a renowned master of the force (or in the parlance of the Zeffo, the “Life Wind”). The underground temple on Zeffo was a place where students of the Life Wind could train and hone their abilities under his tutelage. Eilram was noted for his great wisdom and was the first Zeffo to establish relationships with several other species, including the Wookiees of Kashyyyk, a planet on which a Zeffo temple was later built. Eilram was said to have fallen in love with Kashyyyk and its many varieties of flora. So enamoured was he that, upon his death, he was placed in a sarcophagus within the halls of the school where he once taught, laid to rest underneath stone roots, a carving of the wroshyr tree - one of the large, ancient plants of Kashyyyk - adorning the enormous dome under which he was interred.
The second of these great sages, Miktrul, was also considered powerful in the Life Wind, though prideful compared to his predecessor. During his time as a sage, Miktrull demanded offerings made to him to be in the form of votive candles, encased in metal. Upon his death, Miktrull’s body was placed in a sarcophagus and suspended in the air at the heart of the temple on Zeffo, surrounded by these candles. Jedi Master Cordova concluded these candles to represent the Astriums - one of the sacred relics that the ancients considered holy - which could be used to open a Zeffo temple on the planet Bogano.
Bogano was considered important in Zeffo culture due to the presence of a rare indigenous species called the Binog, a large amphibious mammal. Master Cordova believed that the importance of this Binog in Zeffo society was a prime motivator in the building of one of their temples on the planet and in making it a site of pilgrimage for their species.
Though initially a peaceful race, the Zeffo became corrupt as time wore on, allowing the influence of the Dark Side of the force to take root. This in turn led to the rise of the third - and most infamous - of the notable sages: Kujet.
Unlike Eilram and Miktrull, the benevolent - though misguided - sages who came before, Kujet was a cruel, ruthless despot, who practised the dark side of the Force. Eschewing Zeffo society and the temple on the homeworld, he instead had his own monument constructed on Dathomir, secluding himself away from the rest of his race. In the years that followed, Kujet waged a campaign to have the Astrium relics destroyed. His followers were sent forth to hunt them down and eradicate them from existence.
In return, his disciples were promised the secrets of the Life Wind and, with them, the power to subjugate. Those who would openly oppose him paid a heavy price. Kujet would go on to massacre innumerable Zeffo in his palace on Dathomir, having them thrown into the pits beneath the throne room from which he ruled.
When Kujet’s end finally came, he was buried within the walls of his palace on Dathomir. Entombed with him was one of the only Astriums to have survived his purge. With his passing, the Zeffo race fell began to fall into decline and the temple of Kujet was quickly abandoned. As their society fell to ruin, the last remaining Zeffo left the galaxy, hoping to atone and find peace in the “great unknown”.
Unfortunately, as of this moment, that is all we know of this once powerful, star-faring race. Later, long after their supposed extinction, Master Cordova, himself intrigued by the Zeffo, hid a Holocron containing the names of notable force-sensitive children within the temple on Bogano in the hopes that the Jedi Order could be restored after the Great Jedi Purge and the fall of the Republic. The planet Zeffo itself, meanwhile, became an archaeological dig site for the newly established Galactic Empire as they searched the galaxy for ancient weapons.
Is there more to the history of the Zeffo? Did they reach the “great unknown” that they were so desperate to reach, or were they doomed to failure? Are there secrets yet to be revealed? There is always a chance we may learn their eventual fate when Star Wars Jedi: Survivor, the sequel to Fallen Order, is released in 2023. Until then, it would appear the ancient Zeffo are to remain shrouded in mystery, their secrets lost to time in that galaxy far, far away…
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