Darth Talon: Hand Of The One Sith
George Lucas seems to have a soft spot for beautiful Twi’lek women for whom, let’s say, a formal attire is not of the uttermost priority. When Lucas saw Aayla Secura on the cover of a Dark Horse comic, he decided to put her in Episode II, Episode III, and later in The Clone Wars. According to Paul Duncan, author of The Star Wars Archives: 1999 – 2005, Lucas’ outline for the sequel trilogy, that he handed over to Disney when selling the company, included Darth Talon as the main antagonist:
“Darth Maul trained a girl, Darth Talon, who was in the comic books, as his apprentice. She was the new Darth Vader, and most of the action was with her. So these were the two main villains of the trilogy.”
Talon was created by John Ostrander and his partner, Jan Duursema, for the Star Wars: Legacy comic series that ran for 50 issues (followed by a six-issue epilogue called Star Wars: Legacy – War) between 2006 and 2011. The story of Legacy took place 137 yeas after the Battle of Yavin and revolved around a new Empire, that was basically the good guys (unless they weren’t) and the One Sith. This was a cult created by the former Jedi, A'Sharad Hett, who called himself Darth Krayt after turning to the dark side. The One Sith did away with the Rule of Two, consisting of many Sith that were organized in a strict hierarchy and absolutely loyal to its leader. One of these Sith was Darth Talon.
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Talon was a Lethan Twi’lek, born with completely red skin, raised and trained on the Sith homeworld of Korriban by fellow Twi’lek Sith, Darth Ruyn. Over time, she had her entire body, including face and lekku, covered with black tattoos. These tattoos were earned in ritual battles and inscribed by Darth Krayt himself. Talon was absolutely loyal to Krayt and when he ordered her to kill her master Ruyn, she didn’t hesitate to decapitate him.
Krayt saw Talon’s potential and made her one of his two Hands (the other one being a Nagi named Darth Nihil), prime enforcers of his will, who reported directly to, and only to, Darth Krayt. One of Talon’s first missions was to capture Princess Marasiah Fel, the daughter of the former Emperor. While trying to kidnap the young woman, she made contact with Cade Skywalker, a descendant of Luke Skywalker and Mara Jade, and one of the main protagonists of Legacy. Cade worked as a smuggler, was strong in the Force, but had no interest in becoming a Jedi.
During the course of Legacy, Skywalker and Talon clashed lightsabers several times, with Cade usually getting the upper hand. With the help of Darth Nihil, Talon was able to capture Skywalker and bring him before Krayt, who wanted to turn him to the dark side. For a short time, Cade became the apprentice to Talon and also her lover. This alliance was short lived however, and the two started fighting each other, with Cade nearly fatally wounding the Twi’lek by stabbing her with his lightsaber. Talon recovered with the help of the dark side and by spending an extended period of time in a bacta tank.
Even through her defeats, Talon remained Krayt’s hand until the very end. Until Skywalker was finally able to kill Krayt, forcing the remaining Sith to go into hiding throughout the galaxy, to infiltrate the governments from the inside and strike again, when the chance arises. Like many characters of the Expanded Universe, Talon’s fate was left open when Lucasfilm declared the stories as "Legends." Considering the timeframe in which Legacy took place, it is doubtful that the Twi’lek would actually be brought back into cannon.
Talon would also have been one of the playable characters in a video game called Battle of the Sith. The game would have taken place during the Legacy era and included a clone of Darth Maul fighting together with Talon against Darth Krayt and other Sith, thus contradicting most of the story of Legacy. Although the game was initially supported by George Lucas, who even brought up the idea to include Talon and Maul’s clone, the project was canceled in 2011, presumably as a side-effect of Disney’s acquisition of Lucasfilm.
As stated above, Lucas included Talon as one of the main villains in his outline for the sequel trilogy. Her role would have been to lure the son of Han and Leia to the dark side. As this implies, the story of Lucas’ sequel trilogy would have taken place much closer to the OT than the Legacy era. This character probably would not have actually been Darth Talon herself, but a different person, just with her look. The book The Art of The Force Awakens includes several concept drawings and story-boards of this Talon. But her character was never developed very far and ultimately turned into Kylo Ren.
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Sources: GameInformer.com