Tholme (Powerstaark)

Tholme was a Jedi Master who served both in the Stark Hyperspace War and the Clone Wars. Tholme was the former Master of Quinlan Vos and assisted Vos in the training of his Padawan Aayla Secura. Tholme was well known for his exceptional skill in stealth and sabotage and was a unique Jedi as he was more of a mastermind than a diplomat or warrior.

Early life
Much of Tholme's early life is a mystery, however he was able to become a Jedi Knight but instead of immediately pursuing standard Jedi activities, Tholme headed to Anzat and on the planet, he sought out the highly acclaimed Anzati master Akku Seii, who proceeded to teach him the Anzati arts. Tholme excelled in his training, picking up the skill to mask his presence entirely in the Force, which allowed him to feign death. In addition to those talents, he became proficient at espionage and stealth, traits that would be put to use many times during his Jedi career.

At some time after his Anzati training was complete, Tholme enlisted Seii again, this time in his hunt for the Anzati Katichak, presumably in the service of the Galactic Republic. He was eventually able to hunt down Katichak, and successfully complete his mission.

Jedi Watchman
Tholme was appointed by the Jedi Council to serve as Jedi Watchman of the Azurbani system, where he would oversee the goings on of the populace, and be on the lookout for potential Jedi. During his time there, he became good friends with the Kiffar Sheyf Kurlin Vos, and maintained a cordial relationship with the Guardians of the sector.

Kurlin's distant cousins, Pethros and Quian Vos, had a Force-sensitive son, Quinlan. For some reason, knowledge of Vos's high midi-chlorian count had evaded Tholme, and by the time he had deemed Vos suitable for Jedi training, he was older than the average candidate. To complicate matters further, Tinté, Kurlin's sister, demanded that he stay on Kiffu and be trained as a Guardian. As a compromise, Kurlin requested that Quinlan stay on Kiffu, but be trained by Tholme. Tholme allowed this, and began to train the boy in the basic Jedi arts.

For several years, Tholme persisted with his instruction of Vos, all the while retaining his Jedi Watchman duties. Tinté, however, was displeased with the compromise, and sought to claim Quinlan for her own purposes. She made a deal with the Anzati who had come to Kiffex in search of the legendary Dark Jedi Volfe Karkko. She encouraged their destructive ways, and allowed their murder of the prisoners stored on the planet. Eventually, they demanded more of Tinté, namely in the form of a blood relative. While Tholme was absent from Kiffu on a mission, she had them murder Pethros and Quian, in the hopes that their deaths would force Tholme and the Jedi to hand over custody of Quinlan to her.

Quinlan's telemetric abilities allowed him to glean memories and visions from objects just by touching them. When Tinté presented Quinlan with the Clan Vos emblem that Quian wore, the young Jedi experienced his mother's death, which sent him into a state of shock. After three days, Tholme arrived to comfort him and bring him back out of his state. Kurlin was disgusted at Tinté's actions, and Tholme convinced him that only orthodox Jedi training would allow Quinlan to master his talents and use them properly. The Sheyf agreed, and Tholme relinquished his Watchman duties before taking the boy to Coruscant for proper training at the Jedi Temple. There, he took Quinlan as his first Padawan. Tholme's Watchman duties were filled by T'ra Saa, a Neti Jedi whom Tholme knew very well. His initial reports on the matter of Quinlan's traumatic experience excluded select details for the boy's own safety.

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The training of Quinlan Vos
When Iaco Stark's actions on the Outer Rim attracted the attention of the Republic, the Jedi were appointed to intervene. On Thyferra, an alazhi processing plant exploded, causing a galaxy-wide bacta shortage. The Trade Federation were one of the few conglomerates that dealt in the substance, and so when Stark's ships began raiding them, they were able to sell it off at greatly inflated prices. Jedi Master Tyvokka, who was in charge of the Stark Jedi operations, suspected that the explosion was part of a ruse to deliberately lower bacta supplies, and turn profits for both Stark and the Federation. He, along with the council, decided to send Jedi to investigate. Tyvokka settled upon Tholme, due to his highly regarded espionage and subterfuge skills. Vos accompanied Tholme to Thyferra, where they began exploring the ruins of the Xucphra Corporation bacta refinery. Judging by the age of the wreckage, Tholme deduced that the explosion was, as Tyvokka had suspected, a Federation/Xucphra ruse. The investigation almost ran to its conclusion without incident, but the two Jedi were forced to do battle with security droids on their way out.

Meanwhile, on Troiken, the Stark Hyperspace War had broken out, and was escalating rapidly. Journeying to a Thyferran city, Tholme eavesdropped on a meeting between Federation head Hask and Xucphra director Adol Bel. It confirmed his and Tyvokka's suspicions about the ruse, but he was attacked by a security droid before he could progress further. With Vos's help, he tried to escape the city, but was pursued by more of Xucphra's droids. The pair eventually found refuge in a sewer, but with their presence known, they found further movements on Thyferra difficult.

They were able to gain passage off the planet on a bacta freighter, but the ship was seized by Stark's forces, and redirected to Troiken. Tholme decided to deny Stark the use of the bacta, and destroyed the craft with explosives. Coincidentally, Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jinn and his apprentice, Obi-Wan Kenobi, were present at the same time, escorting Senator Valorum and Adi Gallia off planet and away from the combat zones. Jinn took Tholme and Vos back to Mount Avos, where Plo Koon and Senator Ranulph Tarkin's Republic Army had taken refuge. Tholme was saddened by the news of Tyvokka's death during the War's opening confrontation, but Vos took the news even harder. He went off, seeking solitude, but stirred the mountain's challat eaters in his explorations. He was only saved thanks to the intervention of young Kenobi. Tholme, along with Jinn and Koon, sealed off the challat eater cave from the rest of the encampment as a safety precaution, and then prepared for the Fourth Battle of Qotile.

Koon understood that the continued fighting would do nothing but whittle down the Republic's numbers, and so prepared to take alternate action. He organized a Jedi meditation circle in the hopes that he would be able to communicate with his niece on Coruscant, Sha Koon. With the aid of Tholme, Vos, Jinn and Kenobi, he was able to, and requested the support he so dearly needed to keep his men alive. As a result, Koon then planned for and executed the Fifth Battle of Qotile. Tholme and Vos infiltrated the Raptor, the flagship of the Stark Commercial Combine, in order to broadcast the patch to the navcomputer virus that had stopped hyperspace travel, and had allowed Stark to execute his plan. Jinn and Kenobi were able to secure the patch from the Combine Headquarters, which allowed Tholme and Vos to execute their part of the mission. In addition, Vos decided to disable the shields of the Raptor, making the space battle easier for the Republic relief force. The battle was won, with Hyperspace travel restored, and Stark's organization stopped once and for all.

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The discovery of Aayla Secura
The Council's next mission for Tholme involved tracking a dealer of interdicted beasts, such as wampas. He deduced that Clan Secura was involved in the illegal activities, and so journeyed to Ryloth with Vos to investigate. While discussing the matter with brothers Pol and Lon Secura, Vos wandered off to investigate a disturbance he had felt from Aayla Secura, Pol and Lon's niece. He discovered the illegal creatures during his wanderings, and saved Aayla, from who he sensed a high degree of Force-sensitivity. Tholme's mission was inadvertently complete, and he tested Aayla's midi-chlorian count at Quinlan's request. Her count was sufficiently high, and she was taken back to Coruscant.

Memory loss and the Anzati of Kiffex
Vos eventually became a Knight, and Tholme sent him off with his blessing. Later, he took Secura as his Padawan learner, and the two roamed the galaxy on missions for the Council. A few years into Aayla's training, both she and Vos were captured and drugged by criminals. The incident resulted in complete amnesia for both. It was later hinted that Vos had discovered the existence of Darth Sidious during his investigations, and that the memory wipe was planned by the Sith Lord to hide this fact. Due to her Twi'lek physiology, Aayla was eventually able to reclaim her memory, but Vos was not so fortunate. The ordeal had left him changed, and despite re-training by both Mace Windu and Sora Bulq, the Council was troubled by the increased darkness in him.

Vos was dispatched by the Council to Kiffex, to investigate a massacre of a security compound, at the insistence of his aunt, Tinté. The Council also warned him of a disturbance in the Force in the system, as reported by Master Saa. Despite their sending Vos alone, the Council had little faith in his abilities to properly execute the mission, and so sent Tholme to watch over him.

As Tholme had suspected, Vos was driven near madness by the memories of the Anzati that he gleaned from objects in the abandoned compound. He had no direct memory of Tholme, but recognized him from the files he had studied. Also at the compound was the Devaronian bounty hunter Vilmarh Grahrk, who had aided Vos immediately after the memory loss incident. The trio set out from the compound to the town of Deadend, where they were attacked by a group of thugs. Despite Vos's memory loss, the two Jedi fought in perfect unison, disarming the guards and making a smooth and relatively unnoticed entry into the locale. In Grahrk's secret lair, Tholme taught Vos more about his past, specifically, Tinté Vos's manipulation of him as a child. Vos, who experienced his mother's death for a second time in his visions, attacked Tholme, who quickly sobered him. The visions escalated Vos's suspicions of Tinté's actions, whether that was Tholme's intent or not.

The Force drew Tholme and Vos to the Black Hole cantina, where they met the blind wandering Jedi Master Zao. Unfortunately, Zao was set upon by thugs, which prompted Tholme and his former Padawan to intervene. Eventually, the bar fight turned into an all-out battle, when a pack of feral Anzati arrived unexpectedly. Even more shocking than the surprise attack was the identity of the Anzati's leader—lost Jedi Aayla Secura. Secura and her Anzati were beaten back and able to escape, but Vos was enraged at the fact that he had been played for a fool by Tholme and the Council. Tholme, attempting to defuse the situation, assured Vos that it was pure coincidence.

Meanwhile, Grahrk had located a stash of vacated speeder bikes, with which the Jedi (and the Devaronian) pursued Secura. During the chase through the Kiffex swamps, Vos's speeder was destroyed, and he was captured by the Anzati. Thankfully, T'ra Saa saved him, and reunited him with Tholme, Zao, and Grahrk. Tholme was pleased to see Saa, a Jedi he had admired, respected, and been good friends with even before her appointment to the role of Watchman of the Azurbani. Back on Coruscant, a Holocron had revealed information about Volfe Karkko, the fallen Jedi who had drawn the Anzati to Kiffex. Karkko, an Anzati himself, had been imprisoned on Kiffex by a team of Jedi Masters, and Tholme correctly deduced that Secura must have reawakened and freed him. Though Saa's mission was to bring Vos back to Coruscant, she understood his need to save Secura, despite Tholme's concerns that Vos's previous experience with Anzati would cloud his judgment. Nevertheless, he continued to follow Vos, and the four Jedi set off for Karkko's temple. Grahrk, however, decided to leave the Jedi, and make his own way offworld.

All the way to the temple, the group was harried by the Anzati on their bathwa mounts. As they got closer, the resistance to their efforts multiplied, until, at the doorway of the ancient structure, the Jedi were swamped with Anzati. Vos was able to escape, however, and entered the temple alone. He was able to sway Secura back to the light, and rekindle her Jedi memories, but Karkko, displeased, intervened and attacked Vos. Tholme sensed that Vos was losing the battle, both with Karkko and the dark side, so he, Saa, and Zao, joined together to strengthen him through the Force. Vos dispatched Karkko with one strike, and rescued the injured Secura. At that moment, the Guardians of Kiffex began their orbital bombardment of the Anzati temple, but the Jedi were saved due to the timely arrival of Grahrk in his ship, the Inferno. Tholme's mission was complete, but Vos, having been influenced by Zao, decided to roam the galaxy, and let the Force guide him. As Secura's training had not been completed at the time of her unfortunate amnesia, Tholme took up the task of training her instead.

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Training Aayla Secura
Most of Secura's training had been completed by Vos, and it was only Tholme's responsibility to "fill the gaps", as it were. The Council dispatched them to Ryloth, to mediate the fallout following the death of Pol Secura. Tholme had Secura disguise herself as a slave girl and infiltrate Ro Fenn's head quarters. Fenn was facing the penalty of exile, due to the fact that he was a part of the Ruling Clan during Pol Secura's death, as per the Ryloth tradition of cleansing an entire Ruling Clan when one member died. Aayla picked up on the fact that Fenn was planning to have Lon's son, Nat Secura, kidnapped in exchange for clemency. As Fenn's agent, none other than Vilmarh Grahrk, left the building, Aayla realized that the kidnapping was imminent and informed Tholme, who was at the Secura estate.

Realizing that time was of the essence, Tholme rushed into Nat's bedroom, only to find two Morgukai warriors, Tsyr and Bok, dragging the boy away. Tholme engaged Tsyr in combat, but was distracted by Bok's interference fire. Taking advantage, Bok incapacitated Tholme, and continued his escape. Despite the best efforts of Secura's guards, the two Nikto stole away into the night. Tholme, though injured, gave chase, and tracked the kidnappers to the Inferno. He stowed away on the craft, and gave orders to Aayla to track him. This proved to be a mistake, when the Inferno's hardwired droid pilot, NT 600, detected Tholme's transmission, and alerted the Morgukai to his presence. Not willing to enter into a fight for fear of injuring the nearby Nat, Tholme surrendered.

Aayla's senses, however, did not guide her to the Inferno's destination, Kintan. Instead, the Force led her to Ord Mantell, where she chanced upon her former master, Quinlan Vos. Understanding that this was not a coincidence, she enlisted Vos's help, and used other methods to discover Tholme's location. Meanwhile, Tholme was being tortured by Kh'aris Fenn, the mastermind of the plan, and his droid, AX/RX. Unable to escape, Tholme endured grievous injury and pain, until he used the Force and his Anzati skills to slip into a near-death coma. To the droid, Tholme was, for all intents and purposes, dead, and his "corpse" was thrown in a cell with young Nat. The young Twi'lek was not only afraid of his fate, but of the fact that he did not have his father's blessing and love. Tholme talked with the boy, and imbued a sense of hope in him, resolving to get him out of his predicament by any means necessary.

After several days, AX/RX received his orders to terminate both Tholme and Nat, as Lon Secura had not given in to the demands of the Fenn Clan. Tholme was, again, severely electrocuted, but was saved by Secura, who, along with Vos, had infiltrated Fenn's compound. One Morgukai was killed by Vos, the other supposedly dispatched by Aayla, allowing Tholme and the boy to safely escape to a nearby ship. Vos and Aayla joined them, and the group blasted away from Kintan. Although Kh'aris escaped retribution on Ryloth, Ro was sentenced to roam the Bright Lands forever.

Upon returning to Coruscant, an unorthodox ceremony was held. The upper echelons of the Jedi Council were apprehensive as to whether or not they should promote Vos to the rank of Jedi Master, but Tholme was able to convince them that he deserved the title. The Jedi Council assembled, and in a small room in the Jedi Temple, two promotions were made. First, Quinlan Vos was bestowed with the title of Jedi Master. Second, Aayla Secura was bestowed with the rank of Jedi Knight. Watching proudly on as his two students progressed along the Jedi path, Tholme and the Jedi looked forward to a brighter future. What would occur, however, was quite the opposite.

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Clone Wars
When Count Dooku declared the formation of the Confederacy of Independent Systems on Raxus Prime two years before the Clone Wars, many of the Jedi acted with apathy, or distanced themselves from the crisis. Not so for Tholme, who set up, with the aid of Vos, a spy network, which he would use to inform the Jedi exclusively. Despite the deep penetration of Tholme's network, he and his cohorts were unable to predict the devastating Battle of Geonosis.

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Confronting Dooku
What Tholme and his agents were able to predict, however, were Dooku's movements. Along with Sora Bulq, Tholme waited on Bakura for the arrival of the Count, and the opportunity to launch his ambush. However, Dooku was more powerful than either Jedi anticipated and though their combined efforts tired out the Sith Lord, Dooku eventually managed to come out o top. Dooku blasted Bulq with Force Lightning knocking him unconscious and the turned on Tholme, stabbing him in the right shoulder and gouging out his left eye. Even gravely injured, Tholme did not give in to temptation, and would not ally with Dooku. In response, Dooku brought the ceiling down on Tholme, crushing his leg and leaving him for dead. In reality, Tholme had slipped into his Anzati "death-trance", to avoid Dooku's attention.

Over the next two days Tholme regained enough strength to begin using the Force to lift the rocks off himself. However his injuries made it difficult for him to use the Force and in the end it was Bulq who saved him by telekinetically lifting the rocks off him and helping him to safety. Despite this, Bulq had actually secretly defected to the Confederacy, and turned to the dark side. His aid of Tholme served only to make him appear innocent in the eyes of the Republic. Tholme received a cybernetic eye to compensate, but refused to have an artificial leg installed, citing that he would rather not be made into something that he was not. Instead, he procured a cane for himself, but his limping disallowed him from taking the rank of Jedi General in the following war.

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Infiltration of the Dark Acolytes
Realizing that the war would be won not on the battlefields, but behind the scenes, Tholme began concocting an elaborate scheme with which to infiltrate Count Dooku's cabal of Dark Acolytes. The tool with which to execute this scheme was Tholme's former Padawan, Quinlan Vos. This choice raised eyebrows on the Council, as they cited Vos's darkness that they had always felt. Nevertheless, Tholme stuck by Vos, and using his spy network, inserted him in an opportune position for infiltration.

Tholme attended the funeral of Cei Vookto on the ravaged plains of Lianna following the battle that had raged there, along with Vos and several other Jedi. He provided Mace Windu with intelligence about a group of Jedi who were conscientious objectors to the war, and refused to return to Coruscant to take up arms. Acting on this, Windu journeyed to Ruul to settle the matter, where he discovered that Sora Bulq had turned to the dark side.

Intelligence gained during Vos's initial penetration into the criminal underworld allowed the Republic to prepare for the impending Battle of Kamino. But in order to gain the trust of the Confederacy and Dooku in particular, Tholme had the Council dispatch Agen Kolar to capture Vos. Kolar truly believed that Vos had been selling secrets to the Confederacy, but Yoda, Mace Windu, and Tholme believed the deception necessary for Vos's defection to appear convincing. Vos was able to escape, but his partner, Khaleen Hentz, was apprehended by Kolar's men.