Carmen Conrose

Carmen Conrose was a Twi'lek Jedi Knight who was the master of Tom Norton before and during the Clone Wars before her death at the hands of Sora Bulq.

Early life
Carmen Conrose was born on Ryloth and at the age of two she was discovered by Jedi Master Coleman Trebor who had gone to Ryloth to negotiate a dispute over food and territory. Carmen's parents were both killed in a fight between two Twilek villages and the Twilek's that killed her parents just left the young girl in her ruined house, not caring whether she lived or died. Fortunately Coleman sensed her connection to the Force and rescued her.

Carmen was raised in the Jedi Temple and was a quiet and solitary girl preferring to spend a lot of her time reading about history. She learned about the Valley of the Dark Lords and about the title of Jedi Sentinel; a title she would later take for herself. Carmen was also a talented student and was trained by Yoda and Cin Drallig as a youngling. When she was sixteen Carmen became the Padawan of Jedi Master Saesee Tiin being the only Padawan Tiin ever trained.

Becoming a Jedi Knight
Carmen was trained by Tinn for seven years and became a skilful swordswoman under Tinn's tutelage though she preferred not to fight. The Iktotchi Jedi Master became quite fond of his student though he maintained a formal relationship with her.

After being promoted to Jedi Knight Carmen studied Force Healing which was a power Saesee had little knowledge of and on numerous occasions the Twi'lek proved herself to be a proficient Healer. Carmen felt respect for her former Master despite his serious personality though she thought that Saesee liked flying a bit too much.

Training a Padawan
Two years after her promotion Carmen took her first and only Padawan Tom Norton. Their first mission together was to rescue Senator Orn Free Taa from a group of terrorists. They were accompanied by Sora Bulq who ironically was the very same person who was responsible for Carmen's death. They met Cham Syndulla on Taa's home planet Ryloth and successfully rescued Taa and handed the terrorists over to the Ryloth authorities. Carmen even tried to heal the terrorists after a fight between them and the Jedi when a large number of them were either killed of injured by Sora's use of Vaapad.

At some point during Tom's training he and Carmen were forced to land on Korriban on their way back from a mission because of a malfunction in the hyperdrive. It was here that Carmen displayed her skills at fixing mechanics, managing to get their ship working again within an hour. Tom meanwhile accidentally stumbled upon the Valley of the Dark Lords but sensed a dark presense there. Because he wasn't sure what he was up against he returned to his Master. Tom had a talk with Carmen who told him that she'd read about the Valley of the Dark Lords before becoming Saesee's Padawan.

Battle of Geonosis
Carmen and Tom were later sent on a negotiation mission to Demos IV which was successful thanks to Carmen's skill in Mind Tricks. Almost immediately after that they accompanied Mace Windu and over two hundred other Jedi to Geonosis to rescue Anakin Skywalker, Obi-Wan Kenobi and Padme Amidala from Count Dooku. Carmen's proficiency at Soresu allowed her to survive the battle and her Padawan also made it through alive.

After the battle, Carmen, along with Barriss Offee, T'ra Saa and Nahdar Vebb, set about healing the wounded. Tom tried to help but Carmen told him to get some rest and that she could handle it.

Battle of Falleen and death
About five months after the start of the clone wars Carmen and her Padawan fought together on Falleen and the battle lasted a month. Luminara Unduli and her Padawan Barriss Offee were fighting on a different part of the planet and had promised to come and help Carmen and Tom once they were finished with their area. During the battle Tom noticed a cloaked figure weilding a red lightsaber and cutting down clone troopers. He and his master chased after the figure who led them into the forest away from the main battle so that they could duel without blaster bolts and explosions going all around them.

The cloaked figure ambushed the two Jedi and threw off his cloak revealing the former Jedi Sora Bulq. Mace Windu had warned Carmen about Bulq's turn to the dark side and Carmen had warned Tom. The three of them engaged in a lightsaber duel during which Bulq proved too much for them. The Weequay stabbed Carmen in the chest and turned to deal with her Padawan who attacked him in a fit of rage. Bulq quickly overpowered the angry young Jedi and would have killed him if not for the timely arrival of Luminara and Barriss.

While Bulq ignited his Shoto and duelled the two Mirialans Tom crawled to his master's side ignoring the duel taking place behind him. After a short talk with his dying master Tom watched Carmen's life ebb away. Tom was devistated by her death and started crying over her body.

Meanwhile Bulq, who had been tired out from battling clones and duelling Carmen and Tom, decided it was better to retreat so he caused a distraction by bringing a tree crashing down towards Tom but Luminara telekinetically lifted the tree away while Bulq Force pushed Barriss to the ground and fled.

Personality and traits
Carmen Conrose was a kind and gentle woman who disliked conflict though she was a capable warrior. Carmen was a skilled negotiator and though her Padawan preferred action over words they quickly became close friends. Carmen was even compationate enough to heal people that tried to kill her when she could as proven on Ryloth. Tom considered her to be like his big sister and although Carmen had never taken a Padawan before he felt she was a good teacher and was devistated when she died. She was also known to tell Tom that he enjoyed fighting too much. Despite her dislike of fighting she fought loyally and bravely in the Clone Wars for six months before being killed by Sora Bulq.

Carmen was a perfectionist about some things including her class in the Jedi Order. Though she was officially trained as a Jedi Guardian she preferred to think of herself as a Jedi Sentinel, being the only known Jedi of her time who was a Sentinel. Carmen was humble and never boasted about her abilities, though she was a talented Jedi. She also believed that her Padawan Tom would one day become far more powerful than her, though whether this belief comes true is currently unknown.

Carmen was facinated by history, and was the first Jedi in many centuries to reuse the Jedi Sentinel title and also knew about the Valley of the Dark Lords on Korriban.

Carmen respected her former Master Saesee Tiin and after becoming a Jedi Knight she still saw him occasionally. Her relationship with Tiin was mostly formal but because she was a reasonably talented Jedi Saesee complimented her from time to time. However Carmen felt that Saesee enjoyed flying too much. Carmen herself loathed flying.

Powers and abilities
Though Carmen was peaceful by nature she was a talented swordswoman and was skilled enough to survive the Battle of Geonosis which was impressive considering nearly two hundred other Jedi perished in the battle. Carmen's preferred style was Soresu and her lightsaber skills were quite considerable as she was able to hold her own against Sora Bulq for several minutes, alongside her Padawan, before being killed by the Dark Acolyte. From training under Saesee Tiin, Carmen became skilled at Shii-Cho, using it in her duel with Bulq and during several sparring matches with her Padawan. Despite her skill however, Sora Bulq didn't consider her or her Padawan powerful enough for him to use both his lightsaber and his Shoto, though he didn't defeat Carmen as easily as he thought he would.

In additon to her considerable lightsaber combat skills, Carmen was a skilled healer having studied healing since her promotion to Jedi Knight. She even used this ability on enemies at times as displayed on Ryloth where she successfully healed a majority of the terrorists that hadn't been killed by Sora Bulq. Carmen began teaching Tom to heal wounds but Tom's healing abilities were not nearly as advanced as hers.

Carmen was also a master of Jedi Mind Tricks and sometimes used this power when a negotiation mission was going wrong. She was also able to use Floating Meditation, which she offered to teach to Tom but because Tom disliked meditation he refused.

During her and Tom's brief landing on Korriban, Carmen displayed her skills as a mechanic managing to get their ship working again within an hour.