Orem Heb was the finest of teachers, and the best of men. We will live up to his name.
—Caminus Amel
Orem Heb was an Enu Jedi Master who lived before and through the Clone Wars and the Great Jedi Purge. He had several Padawans, most notably Caminus Amel, who would later go on to serve the New Republic. He also guarded a group of eleven younglings (including Niobe Letto and Zeth Amphion) from the Sith until his death in 10 BBY.
History[]
Early life[]
Orem Heb was born to Paatenem Heb and Sete Penere on Deylerax in 67 BBY. He was found by Jedi Master Isoproppo, a Cerean, to be Force-sensitive, and was thus sent to the Jedi Temple. There, he learned the basic Jedi skills of Force manipulation and lightsaber handling. He was noted for his skill with the lightsaber, and even as a young Jedi was seen learning additional styles, beyond the skill level of his comrades. At the age of thirteen, Isoproppo took him in as his Padawan. The two went through a myriad of diverse missions, including resolving a near-war on Onderon, and also destroying notable assassin droid factories.
Jedi Knight[]
Naia Dorn, Orem Heb's first apprentice.
In the year 49 BBY, he became a Jedi Knight, though he still remained in contact with his old Master, and continued with his routine duties, though working on his lightsaber mastery frequently. Five years later, he took on an Apprentice, Naia Dorn. During the events of the Stark Hyperspace War, however, she was lost during the Battle of Qotile, and believed dead.
In the face of this loss, Heb refused to take another Padawan for years, instead training to become a Jedi Weapons Master, skilled in most of the lightsaber forms.
Jedi Master[]
However, a young upstart named Caminus Amel was determined to become the famed Weapon Master's apprentice, even staging fights with massive numbers of remotes to prove his skill to Heb. Impressed, Heb considered taking him on, but remembering his bad experience with Naia, declined. It was not until a battle on Praesitlyn, which Caminus was caught up in on a 'routine' trip, did Orem Heb decide to take him on as an apprentice, after seeing his skill at fighting 'real' opponents.
Orem and Caminus had a good working relationship, fighting together in the Clone Wars, but the elderly Jedi was always cautioning Caminus not to be rash, causing some resentment. After a particularly strong debate in the aftermath of a battle, Orem sent Caminus to oversee a youngling class in order to cool down. However, as anger slowly dissipated from the two, clone troopers barged into the room, opening fire on the Jedi.
On the run[]
The 501st open fire on the younglings.
Not fully understanding what was happening, Orem and Caminus sprung into action, defending the younglings. After taking down squad after squad of clone trooper, he led them to an unoccupied LAAT/i Gunship, and escaped to a local spaceport, where they made themselves scarce in a CR20 troop carrier.
The next years were fraught with danger, as clone troopers, and later stormtroopers, aided by Darth Vader pursued them through the Galaxy, as they attempted to disguise themselves as a mobile school - which was true, to certain extents. As they continued to hide, Orem took it upon himself to train his Padawans further in Force skills and lightsaber combat.
Run-in with Naia Dorn[]
Greetings, ex-Master. You will pay for what you did to me decades ago.
—Naia Dorn confronting Orem Heb
On one trip to Onderon, Orem Heb sensed the presence of his thought-dead apprentice, Naia Dorn. He was overjoyed to see her, but his joy turned to horror as she activated her lightsaber and attacked. After her apparent death in the Stark Hyperspace War, she had grown vengeful at her former Master, and had slowly been tracking him. Count Dooku found her first, and made her a Dark Acolyte. However, she did not meet Heb during the Clone Wars, and became an Emperor's Hand. She thus tracked Heb to their final meeting. After a brief lightsaber battle, it was evident that she would not repent, and Heb struck her down. He cremated her body on Onderon, and left the planet with the rest of his Padawans.
Death[]
Darth Vader confronts the Jedi on Jabiim.
Orem: “But I won't lose.”
―Darth Vader and Orem Heb dueling
This continued until 10 BBY, where they were ambushed upon landing on Jabiim. Seemingly from nowhere, Darth Vader and the 501st emerged from the rain, instantly killing four Padawans. As the two sides clashed, Orem Heb confronted Darth Vader, telling his students to escape. His mastery of Forms II, III and IV were early equal to that of Darth Vader's skill, but he soon found himself being driven into a corner. He then revealed his trump card.
Using Electric Judgment, he targeted Vader's key life support systems, nearly knocking the Sith Lord unconscious. He would have won had Vader not directed his attention to turbolasers firing upon their ship. In that one second of distraction, Vader revived, and swung the lightsaber at Orem. After a protracted battle, during which the six remaining survivors escaped, Orem tired out and was unable to further defend against Vader. He deactivated his saber and was struck down, becoming one with the Force.
Legacy[]
His sacrifice was not in vain. His apprentice, Caminus Amel, led the remainder to Polis Massa, where they joined the Rebel Alliance, and became soldiers in the New Republic. The lessons he taught in the nine-year period were very useful for Luke Skywalker's new Jedi Praxeum, and his students would go on to be senior members of the new Academy. Notably, Zeth Amphion and Niobe Letto would serve the Republic during the Grand Marshal Crisis, amongst many others.
Personality and traits[]
Orem Heb, in his youth, was eager to learn, and would often learn outside the given syllabus by sneaking into the Holocron Storage. When his master, Isoproppo cautioned against being out of his depth, Orem would often ignore him. However, as the years went by, he slowly saw that proper learning took time, and his lifestyle became more relaxed.
After the apparent death of his first Padawan, he became bitter, and withdrew from the outside world to foster his swordsmanship, becoming increasingly antisocial. However, when he decided to open up, and take the brash Caminus Amel as his Padawan, his demeanor improved, though he still was a strict disciplinarian, leading to infrequent conflicts.
Nonetheless, he was still a caring Master, training his Padawans well, and eventually sacrificing himself for them on Jabiim.
Talents[]
Orem Heb was an incredibly skilled swordsman, having mastered Makashi, Soresu and Ataru over the years. Even when he was young, he would attempt to learn Form III while others of his age were still using the basic style against the training remotes. He also appreciated the oft-ignored style of Makashi, and was one of the few Jedi to apply it during the Clone Wars.
He also was one of the rare few to use Electric Judgment, a controversial Force skill. He often preferred to use it to disable droids, saving his lightsaber for more difficult opponents.
Behind the scenes[]
Orem Heb is named after Horemheb, the Egyptian pharaoh. There is nearly no justification for this, besides the fact that it sounded quite cool. That said, his species was changed from Human to Enu, due to their similarities with Ancient Egyptians (see image). He was originally not slated to appear, but as the Grand Marshal Project progressed, it was decided to go further into Niobe, Zeth and Caminus's Master.
Appearances[]
- Wrath of the Marshal (Mentioned only)