The Blue is strong within you, yet you are not blue, and your companions are strangely...colorless. Is that the right word?
—Eldarch Bellinega, to Laera Reyolé
Bellinega T'Ledra was a Sa'ari matriarch who had served as the Eldarch of the Order of the Blue Light for many centuries. Due to the nature of her position, she was responsible for tending to the spiritual needs of the people of T'lessia, and served as the primary point of contact for the Order and the Lawyteret T'lessia, the planetary government. She also trained many lighters during her career, as well as taking Pelenora T'Yelc as her Youngarch, teaching the younger Sa'ari what she would need to know to eventually succeed her.
It was Bellinega who made formal first contact with former Marine captain and Jedi Knight Laera Reyolé and her companion, the Bothan former Republic Intelligence officer Silas Dan'kre upon their arrival. In the months that followed, she taught Reyolé of the Sa'ari people while Reyolé in turn enlightened the Eldarch to the goings-on of the wider galaxy. When the Sa'ari Civil War erupted in the wake of Reyolé's propositioning of a more unified world government, Bellinega helped to ensure that the two "Starborne Ones" escaped into the Great Western Forest where they established a home. When Luke and Ben Skywalker arrived on T'lessia some six months later, they found and met Reyolé and Dan'kre, who informed the two Jedi of the situation.
In the days that followed Reyolé, with the help of the Skywalkers and the lighters Iper T'Royc and Fua T'Ooro, uncovered the duplicity of T'Yelc. Thinking that the Youngarch would try to make a move on the Eldarch in order to take her place, they hastened to the Order's monastery in Tal'adin City in order to protect Bellinega. She would not retreat, however; instead, the party took the advice of HK-47 and took refuge at the house of a relation of T'Royc located within the city. After a false report of Bellinega's kidnapping was broadcast planetwide, the Eldarch agreed to be part of a plan that would prove her safety and exonerate Reyolé and Dan'kre.
After walking the distance to the Foruma Lawyteret, Bellinega addressed the delegates personally; however, the proceedings were interrupted by the arrival of T'Yelc, who invoked the Challenge of Blackness. The resulting duel, which was observed by billions of Sa'ari on their personal viewscreens, saw the death of Pelenora. The dying Bellinega, however, passed on the mantles of Eldarch and Youngarch to Iper and Fua in turn. As a last parting gift before becoming one with "the Blue", she infused Dan'kre with her remaining essence, effectively making him Force-sensitive.
Behind the scenes[]
Bellinega T'Ledra first appeared in the fan fiction novel The Great Leap Forward by Sean "Goodwood" Nash. Like the Sa'ari species as a whole, she was based on the asari from the computer and video games Mass Effect and Mass Effect 2, both of which were developed by BioWare. Bellinega in particular was modeled at least partially on Samara the justicar, who is a type of asari "warrior monk" who joins with Commander Shepard in the second game's storyline.