Shaak Ti – ‘Star Wars’ Character Spotlight
Shaak Ti is the subject of this week’s _Star Wars_ Character Spotlight, a female Togruta who sat on the Jedi Council during the Clone Wars. Originally created for _Attack of the Clones_ to fill the seat vacated by Yaddle (George Lucas had come to regret his decision to create the character and wanted audiences to forget about her), she played a small role in the film but had a larger role in _The Clone Wars_ animated series.
There was once a debate as to whether her death in Episode III was canon or not. Her death was originally filmed for _Revenge of the Sith_ ’s theatrical cut, but it was removed and included as a deleted scene in the home release. For a while, this was considered canon but has since been retconned.
## **Early life and ascension through the Jedi Order**
Shaak Ti’s life before the events of the Clone Wars has barely been explored. According to reference books, she had a fairly standard life for a Jedi. She was taken from the Togruta homeworld as a youngling and raised in the Jedi Temple on Coruscant, attaining the rank of Jedi Master in the years before the Clone Wars.
Shaak Ti recently appeared in the fourth issue of the _Jedi Knights_ comic series, where she teams up with Qui-Gon Jinn to track a highly intelligent criminal called Phaedra to Nar Shaddaa. They arrest her after saving her life, though she soon escapes prison.
Between the events of _The Phantom Menace_ and _Attack of the Clones_ , she took Yaddle’s seat on the Jedi Council. Reference books _Ultimate Star Wars_ and _The Visual Encyclopedia_ claim this was after Yaddle decided to step down, though _Tales of the Jedi_ seems to suggest this happened after Yaddle mysteriously disappeared shortly after Qui-Gon’s funeral.
In the _Brotherhood_ novel, it is mentioned that Shaak Ti was present with Obi-Wan and Anakin during an incident on Naran-Shiv. We don’t know the nature of the incident, but it’s suggested that Obi-Wan and Anakin’s presence inadvertently complicated matters.
## **Attack of the Clones**
Shaak Ti first appears in _Attack of the Clones_ in the Jedi Council scenes, though she doesn’t have a speaking role. She can also be seen in the Jedi Archives while Obi-Wan is searching for Kamino.
She’s not seen again until the Battle of Geonosis, where she is one of the handful of Jedi left standing and surrounded in the Petraki Arena until Yoda arrives with clone reinforcements. At the beginning of the battle, we see Ti ignite her lightsaber next to Luminara Unduli when the Jedi first reveal themselves.
As the battle expanded beyond the arena, Shaak Ti fought alongside Mace Windu as they led the clones against the droid army, according to the _On the Front Lines_ reference book.
In the days after Geonosis, Shaak Ti was present on the Jedi Council in the _Jedi of the Republic – Mace Windu_ comic as they sanctioned a mission to Hissrich to confirm Separatist activity on the planet.
## **Training clone troopers**
When the war began, Shaak Ti was sent to Kamino to supervise the clone training program on behalf of the Jedi, as a newly appointed General herself. She appeared in multiple episodes of _The Clone Wars_ which chronicled the training of Fives and his squad.
Ti came to be seen as a protector of sorts for the new clones and developed a fondness for them all, which was unfortunately tempered by the Republic’s need to keep churning out new troops at a fast rate. It did contrast greatly with the Kaminoan’s view of the clones however, and she often protested against inhumane testing conditions.
When Lama Su recommended that Fives’ Domino Squad be terminated after failing a training test, Shaak Ti strongly opposed the idea and was ultimately responsible for keeping them alive when the Battle of Kamino commenced. She allowed Domino Squad to retake the test, and they succeeded.
When General Grievous and Asajj Ventress led a Separatist attack on Kamino, Shaak Ti coordinated the Republic defenses and beat the droids back while Anakin and Obi-Wan confronted Grievous and Ventress.
## **The Clone Wars**
Shaak Ti appeared multiple times throughout the Clone Wars, but only in small roles. She was seen attending a council meeting in the _Yoda_ comic, when Yoda and Anakin went on a mission to verify the existence of new Separatist megadroids, and later she attended Obi-Wan’s sham funeral in the animated series.
Ti attended several meetings to ensure Chancellor Palpatine’s safety during Naboo’s Festival of Light, where they suspected the Separatists were organizing an assassination attempt on the Republic leader.
Ti could later be seen when the Jedi Council sent Anakin, Obi-Wan, Ahsoka and Captain Rex to Onderon to assist the rebels’ fight against the Separatists in secret, and can be seen when the Jedi Council order Anakin and Ahsoka to investigate the Jedi Temple bombing in Season 5.
When Admiral Tarkin accused Ahsoka of orchestrating the bombing, Shaak Ti looked at Kit Fisto in shock. She was one of the judges for Ahsoka’s trial, which was about to condemn Ahsoka until Anakin arrived at the last minute with proof that Barriss Offee was the real culprit.
## **Clone conspiracy**
Shaak Ti next appeared in the show’s sixth season. She was back on Kamino and was present when the clone trooper Tup was admitted for surgery after killing a Jedi master on the battlefield.
Ti was present during Tup’s multiple surgeries, but the Kaminoans couldn’t find anything wrong with him, with the Togrutan Jedi unaware that doctor Nala Se was concealing the truth of the clones’ inhibitor chips from her. While Se falsely speculated that Tup had a virus, Ti believed that the clone had been brainwashed by the Separatists, so either way the truth would never be found in their tests.
When Fives discovered that Tup had a tumor on his brain (which concealed the inhibitor chip), Shaak Ti reported the development to the Jedi Council and Palpatine. He demanded that the tumor be brought to the Republic’s medical facility on Coruscant.
Fives believed the Kaminoans were hiding something, but Shaak Ti tried to reassure him of her belief that they should leave things to the medical professionals from now on. Nala Se fiercely protested the decision to bring the sample to Coruscant, as it would be tougher for her to disguise what was really happening, but Ti pulled rank and insisted on Coruscant.
Ti was also aware that Fives had to pass a physical before returning to active duty, unaware that the Kaminoans planned to assassinate him so he could not spread his suspicions about Tup to other clones and Jedi. When Fives escaped Tipoca City, Ti and the clones searched but were unable to find him until they were notified that he was accessing Jango Fett’s template data in the Genetic Records Hall.
Ti eventually found Fives as he held a blaster to Nala Se’s head. He demanded that all clones have their chips removed, claiming that was what caused Tup to kill a Jedi. Ti countered that the chips were in place to prevent overly aggressive behavior, and Fives revealed he had removed his own by himself. Nala Se encouraged Ti to kill him, claiming that he was acting erratically without his chip.
Ti rejected both of their demands and decided to have Fives taken to Coruscant as well for investigation. In a meeting with Palpatine, the Chancellor asked Ti and Se to leave him alone with Fives (so he could shut the clone up once and for all). The Jedi protested but ultimately agreed to exit the room. Then she heard a cry and entered to find a rattled Palpatine claiming Fives had tried to kill him and fled.
Eventually, Fives was found by Anakin and Rex, who felt forced to kill him in self defence as drugs administered earlier by Nala Se continued to fuel his paranoia. Palpatine met with all of them afterwards, claiming Republic doctors had discovered that Fives and Tup had contracted a virus during active duty that had compromised their chips, and that a cure would be administered to all clones in the coming days. Shaak Ti was saddened that it had come to this, but believed the Chancellor’s story.
## **Twilight of the Clone Wars**
Shaak Ti made a couple of small appearances towards the end of the animated series, first in Season 6 once again as the Jedi Council sent Mace Windu on a mission with Jar Jar Binks to Bardotta.
Later that season, Ti and the council ordered Anakin and Obi-Wan to investigate what actually happened to Jedi Master Sifo-Dyas, as they began to increasingly suspect that a Sith Lord had engineered the entire war. The council soon learned that Count Dooku had hired Jango Fett to create the clone army, and that he was the apprentice, not the true Sith Lord.
When Yoda announced that he had heard the voice of long-dead Qui-Gon Jinn, Shaak Ti began entertaining the possibility that the ancient Jedi was beginning to lose his mind. She meditated with the council to get to the bottom of the matter, but learned little before Anakin broke Yoda out of the medbay. She was present when Yoda relayed all that he’d learned on his spiritual sojourn.
She was also supposed to appear in the unfinished _Clone Wars’_ Crystal Crisis arc, where she listened to Obi-Wan and Anakin report on their successful mission destroying a Separatist shipment transporting huge kyber crystals. The episodes are considered canon, despite never airing.
Finally, Shaak Ti was present in all Jedi Council scenes in the _Dark Disciple_ novel, which was originally supposed to be part of the animated series, as the Jedi Council reluctantly ordered Quinlan Vos to assassinate Count Dooku.
## **Revenge of the Sith**
When the Separatists attacked Coruscant in a bid to kidnap Chancellor Palpatine at the end of the war, Shaak Ti was ordered to protect the Chancellor along with Jedi Knight Roron Corobb, according to the _Star Wars Lightsabers_ and _The End of the Clone Wars_ reference books. We see her do this in Genndy Tartakovsky’s Clone Wars cartoon, but that series is no longer strictly canon.
Palpatine initially refused to flee until General Grievous appeared at his apartments with a team of MagnaGuards. Corobb was killed but Shaak Ti fought Grievous admirably, using one of the MagnaGuards’ electrostaffs as well as her own lightsaber. Unfortunately, she lost the fight after being electrocuted by Grievous and knocked unconscious. Grievous escaped with Palpatine.
A deleted scene in _Revenge of the Sith_ shows that originally, Shaak Ti was also captured by Grievous, and was executed by him in front of Obi-Wan and Anakin. This didn’t make sense as she appears in council scenes later in the film.
Shaak Ti survived the Battle of Coruscant and continued to serve on the Jedi Council. She is not present when Anakin is reluctantly accepted onto the council, but is there in a later meeting when Anakin reports that Grievous is hiding on Utapau.
During Order 66, Shaak Ti meditated in the Temple and recorded a message of hope on a holocron to let the Jedi way continue, according to the _Women of the Galaxy_ reference book. The _Galactic Atlas_ reference book then confirms that she was killed at the hands of Darth Vader during the Jedi Purge.
## **Legacy**
Shaak Ti actually popped up in a _Doctor Aphra_ comic set after the events of _The Empire Strikes Back_ , as a deceptive hologram of her and Aayla Secura appeared at a remote Jedi prison that was accessed by Aphra and Luke Skywalker.
## **What next?**
It’s a shame her death comes off-screen instead of the one we see in the deleted scene, but this does at least give us scope to retcon that in an actual story at some point. It seems the one purely canon detail is that Shaak Ti does not survive the events of _Revenge of the Sith_ , regardless of how it actually happens.
Shaak Ti will likely reappear in the _Jedi Knights_ comic series, but there are numerous gaps in her life to tell stories both before and during the Clone Wars, including how she actually died.
Thanks to _Wookieepedia_, which helped me figure out if Shaak Ti’s deleted death scene was canon or not.
##### Josh Atkins
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Josh is a huge Star Wars fan, who has spent far too much time wondering if any Star Wars character could defeat Thanos with all the Infinity Stones.
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Shaak Ti – ‘Star Wars’ Character Spotlight Shaak Ti is the subject of this week’s Star Wars Character Spotlight, a female Togruta who sat on the Jedi The post Shaak Ti – ‘Star Wars’ C...
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