Facts About Joruus C'baoth Only Die-Hard Fans Will Know

Star Wars

Sep 29

The mad clone of a Jedi Master, created by Palpatine to serve the Empire, Joruus C'baoth serves as a secondary antagonist in Timothy Zahn's Thrawn trilogy, a cornerstone of the Expanded Universe. The cloned Joruus is a powerful Force-user, wielding Force Lightning against his foes and conjuring barriers with the Force strong enough to deflect fire from an X-Wing. C'baoth is also gifted in battle meditation, telepathically sending orders from Thrawn to the rest of his fleet and improving the morale and efficiency of the Imperials in combat. While fans of Legends content will be familiar with Joruus C'baoth, those who haven't picked up a copy of Heir to the Empire may not be familiar with the mad clone.

Foundation For Canonical Cloning

Cloning has been a concept in the Star Wars universe since the beginning. Reminiscing about Anakin, Old Ben Kenobi mentions to Luke his service as a Jedi General in the Clone Wars. In early drafts of Empire Strikes Back, Lando was to be a clone who survived the war and created a sanctuary for other veterans at Cloud City. The lore of cloning in Legends was first expanded upon in Heir to the Empire with the introduction of Palpatine's vault on the planet Weyland. Inside this vault was a cloning facility that utilized Spaarti cloning cylinders to rapidly grow clones from tissue samples, similar to the growth acceleration that allowed the clones of Jango Fett to be ready for combat. However, there were several drawbacks to this accelerated growth process including the warping of the subjects mind. This meant that the clone Joruus C'baoth was predisposed to madness even before his exile on Weyland, his combat-induced PTSD, and the constant strain of pursuing Luke Skywalker across the galaxy.

Nearly A Familiar Face

While our knowledge of the Old Republic's Jedi Order has been greatly expanded thanks to the abundant Prequel Era content, at the time of Heir to the Empire's release the Jedi were still a mystery to many readers. We knew what they stood for and that they were the guardians of peace and justice, but the only Jedi we knew were Obi-Wan, Yoda, and Luke. This list was expanded upon with the introduction of C'baoth, giving us a look at a Jedi who was more arrogant, ambitious, and power-hungry than the peaceful and mindful Kenobi and Yoda. However, the mad Force-sensitive Jedi clone was almost not a new face at all, but one Star Wars fans were familiar with even in 1991. Author Timothy Zahn has stated that his original plan was for C'baoth's role to be filled by an insane clone of Obi-Wan Kenobi who had survived the Clone Wars, but Lucasfilm axed that idea, stating that it didn't reflect Lucas' vision for the Clone War.

Mental Mastery

One of the most powerful abilities Force users can hone is the ability to influence the weak-minded, allowing them to avoid scrutiny and achieve their goals without violence. C'baoth takes full advantage of these powers to further his goals of violence and mayhem. His power in the Force allowed him to control the minds of those around him, including the entire crew of Thrawn's flagship, Chimera. The control of the Force needed to command this many minds at once is impressive to say the least, but Joruus C'baoth topped himself when he returned to the vault on Weyland. Here he found soldiers and officers to be used as templates for a new clone army. He was able to take command of the template's minds and, by extension the minds of their clones. This neural network allowed C'baoth to direct the destruction of the creatures Thrawn was using to protect himself from C'baoth's Force abilites.

Wildcard

If there is one being in the galaxy who knows a thing or two about dangerous dark siders, it is Luke Skywalker. While Luke did not believe that Joruus C'baoth was a true Sith or a Dark Jedi, he did believe that he was just as dangerous as his father turned Sith Lord, Darth Vader. This was due to his strength in the Force but also his insanity making him volatile and unstable. This of course was due to the accelerated cloning process making him an unreliable and dangerous ally or adversary.

Current Cannon

The Emporer's vault on Weyland was housed in the hollowed out mountain, Tantiss. This cybernetically enhanced geological formations housed many of the Emperors most closely guarded secrets, including cloning and cloaking tech. This secret base, entombed within the mountain was the epitome of everything the Empire hoped to accomplish, both during the Dark Times and after the Battle of Endor. It seems audiences will be treated to early science programs housed within Mt. Tantiss as it has recently made another appearance in current Star Wars media. The Kaminoan scientist, Nala Se after being removed from Tipoca City by Imperial forces was taken to the newly canonized Mt. Tantiss in the Season 1 finale of The Bad Batch. Exactly that uses the Empire will have for this exiled scientist and what implications this will have for Clone Force 99 remain to be seen.

Source(s): Wookieepedia

Join The Team