Tira (Soulcalibur)

"Well, if it isn't 's Secret Love Slave. See you in hell, bitch."

-, to Tira

Tira (nicknamed the Misguided Angel of Death) was a Force-sensitive female Human apprentice of, born and raised on the planet Earth. Tira served Nightmare, embodiment of the cursed sword Soul Edge, until his apparent death. When Vader claimed Soul Edge for himself, Tira and Nightmare were able to find him and pledge their allegiance to him. Tira manipulated others, such as Astaroth, Sophitia Alexandra, and, into becoming servants and eventual sacrifices for Soul Edge, Nightmare and Lord Vader. Vader, in fact, was merely using Tira as a pawn to help him kill his master and planned to kill her in preparation for having his own son  as a Sith apprentice, while at the same time, Tira and Nightmare together secretly plotted to kill Vader and claim the "true" Soul Edge..

Early Years (1574-1591)
Little is known about Tira's past. She was raised as an assassin in the organization "Bird of Passage" where she developed a taste for killing and an enjoyment of the sight of death. However, the "Evil Seed", fragments of the evil sword Soul Edge, began destroying the organization, driving the leader mad and eventually killing him.

Tira therefore attempted a peaceful life with an adopted family, but could still not suppress her desire to kill. When she was scolded for releasing her youngest sister Gertrude's pet bird, she slaughtered her entire family and effectively ended her peaceful life. However, Gertrude would live on as a poltergeist, and would eventually return with a constructed body to take revenge on Tira.

As Nightmare's servant (1591)
Eventually, Tira found out about Soul Edge and its embodiment, Nightmare, and felt that the sword was a kindred spirit due to its great evil, developing a twisted affinity for the sword and its puppet. She met Nightmare and was therefore charged with two tasks: to destroy Soul Edge's antithesis, the spirit sword Soul Calibur, and to locate a new, permanent body for Soul Edge. In order to fulfill these objectives, Nightmare granted her the protection and service of a sentry of unknown black birds, known as "the watchers".

When Siegfried Schtauffen, wielder of Soul Calibur, finally met Nightmare and fought against him, the destruction unleashed by Soul Calibur and Soul Edge scarred Tira's mind, and left her with two personalities, "Jolly Side" and "Gloomy Side" that were extremes of the positive and negative aspects of her original personality, respectively. When Nightmare was subsequently revived, Tira resumed her service to him until he was sealed away by Siegfried, along with Soul Calibur.

During her time as Nightmare's servant, Tira manipulated some of the world's great warriors, such as and Sophitia Alexandra into harvesting souls for Soul Edge and helping the blade in other ways.

As a Sith apprentice (1591 and 4 ABY)
traveled to Tira's homeworld of Earth, thanks to his possession of Soul Edge; it had ended up in his galaxy as a result of Siegfried and Nightmare's last duel. The presence of Soul Edge on the planet revived Nightmare, who was forced to claim subservience to Darth Vader due to his possession of the "true" Soul Edge. He therefore set out with Tira to find the Dark Lord so that the two could pretend to serve him while secretly plotting to kill him when the time came.

Personality and traits
"I can't wait to tear you to pieces!"

- Tira (Jolly Side), taunting a foe before a fight

Tira was highly schizophrenic and bipolar. One of her personalities, "Jolly Side", was an unnaturally happy personality that found great pleasure in killing, violence and evil, while her other personality, "Gloomy Side", was perpetually miserable and seemed to have a great hatred towards everything save for what her current loyalties lied at the time. However, as both personalities were actually extremes of an original, unstable personality, they shared many characteristics, including extreme sadism and undying loyalty towards whatever master Tira had at the time.

Tira wielded a chakram-like "ring blade" name Eiserne Drossel that resembled a large hula hoop with a sharp edge; despite its simplicity, like many other weapons from Earth, the weapon was thought to be just as versatile and potent as a due to the extremely durable and seemingly unbreakable metal it was built from. Eventually, after Tira met, Eiserne Drossel was fitted with a lightsaber blade along its perimeter (as well as the necessary electronics and parts). Her fighting style resembled bizarre, hypnotic dancing, and she would often create what she called "pretty pictures" using in battle.

Tira was often accompanied by a flock of unidentified black birds known as "watchers"; Nightmare would use these birds to somehow relay messages to her in an unknown manner. Under Vader's tutelage, Tira was given a to communicate instead, although Tira insisted that Vader not kill the watchers, as she believed that they were her only friends other than him and Nightmare.

Although Tira often felt a maniacal attraction towards Darth Vader, the Dark Lord himself found her to be very irritating, calling her an "insignificant little imp" at times and often using his signature on her when she annoyed him enough. Nightmare mistreated her as well, preferring Darth Vader as a companion due to his greater power and his ability to allow Nightmare to use the of. This eventually led Tira to betray both her masters and join in a rebellion against them.

Tira sported a bright red, lopsided, revealing outfit, reflecting her personality that was not only destroyed by Soul Edge but also divided in two. Oddly, she did not choose to wear the usual black attire associated with Sith Lords upon becoming Vader's apprentice. She wore her long black hair in carelessly styled, uneven pigtails and a long braid in the back, and also wore equally carelessly-applied eyeshadow and lipstick. Her attire was also somewhat bird-like, in homage to the watchers and the other bird-like elements of her original order, "Bird of Passage"; her clothes were lined with bright green feathers that clashed hideously with the rest of her outfit, and she wore clawed gloves resembling bird's talons.

Tira developed a particular fondness for slaughtering and harvesting their souls, as she shared the same hatred for the Jedi as Vader. In her Jolly Side mode, she would often intentionally annoy them through childish taunting while killing them slowly and painfully.

Behind the scenes
Tira is a character from the Soulcalibur series of video games. Her only appearance in true (albeit non-canon) Star Wars material was in Soulcalibur x Star Wars, although she had already appeared alongside several Star Wars characters in Soulcalibur IV.

Trivia

 * Tira is one of three Soulcalibur characters in Soulcalibur x Star Wars to use Force powers and be able to wield a lightsaber-like weapon, the other two being and Kilik. Although Yoshimitsu can wield a lightsaber-like "energy katana" used by an identical character in the Tekken series, this is in fact his joke weapon and is named "Bootleg Jedi", playing on the abundance of Star Wars elements in the game.
 * Like most other Soulcalibur characters in the game, Tira's default costume in Soulcalibur x Star Wars is directly based on her costume in Soulcalibur IV, save for the weapon, which now has a red lightsaber-like edge and several other lightsaber-like features. However, her alternate costume is based on her green outfit from Soulcalibur III, and the accompanying weapon resembles what it once was before the lightsaber blade was added.