The Mysterious Witches of Dathomir

Long ago, a Jedi named Allya was exiled to the world of Dathomir. It’s unknown who else was there, but clearly others were. Perhaps colonists or others were exiled. The Tho Yor of the Kwa visited there, seeking Force users, so clearly Allya was not the first. She was merely the one to alter the course of the few in the world. The world was wild, with ferocious beasts. But eventually the witches, as they were known, became s society of their own.

The Clans

The Witches are a female dominated society because male force users are rare. In fact, they are so female dominant that men are usually slaves. They justify this by claiming the men need protection. The ability to use the Force allows the witches to tame the wild rancors to aid them as mounts, instead of being their prey. They joined into tribes,such as the Singing Mountain Clan. They used the Force casually, for everything. The men were left to do drudge work, such as capturing wuffa worms to cure and turn into a rope.

The resources of a man who does not wish to be mated to a certain wish are limited, but not unattainable. He might flee to another tribe. The witch would try and retrieve him if she thought the relationship could work. If he clearly had interest in another woman, she would try and sell to him.

Still, it was not true freedom.

The Sisters didn’t have true access to Jedi knowledge until with the help of Luke Skywalker, Princess Leia and Han Solo, they overthrough the nightsisters. Giving over what Yoda had left with them, they would now be welcomed to Luke’s Jedi Academy. In the future, they would assist against the Second Imperium and fight off the Yuuzhan Vong invasion. Eventually a Jedi Praxeum would be created on Dathomir, under Kirana Ti among others.

The Nightsisters

The witches being someone ignorant in what Allya passed down in knowledge, have been known to turn to the Dark side. The use of the dark side tends to take a toll on the body. The women’s faces show signs of bruising. Some Nightsisters cover their faces with tattoos to hide it, or for fashion.

Their world was once a part of the Kwa space. The technology still exists, and the Nightsisters tried to find the Infinity Gate. Their tinkering led to the death of a planet, as well as threatened Coruscant. Quinlan Vos had to infiltrate as a male slave, and stop them. He escaped, with a nightsister named Roslai who he took to face Republic justice.

The witches who became nightsisters grew powerful under a woman named Gethzerion, so much so that Palpatine himself felt threatened. He planted a Imperial prison there, but soon lost control of it. They outnumbered the nearest witches, the Singing Mountain Clan, and even the other farther clans.

The Nightsisters would rise up again under the Second Imperium, but by that time, Dathomir was open to the galaxy.

Due to the Witches, the Republic and the Jedi banned travel to this world. Even the Empire made this choice.

The Chu’unthor, a Jedi ship crashed there. While the Sisters wanted it, they were not given the data within. The Jedi did bargain and allow them to keep a sealed container, but without means to access the knowledge. Yoda was among them and said it was far too dangerous with the Nightsisters still prevalent.

Few Sisters escaped, but at least one made it to Endor with pirates, Charal. And another was the bodyguard of a Black Sun Vigo.

Lore and Continuity the Witches are In.

Though Allya was established as the first Jedi exiled, Dawn of the Jedi suggests there were people there before, possibly lost colonists or it was used as a penal colony already. Some of these were force sensitive.

The first depiction of Nightsisters with tattoos was in Infinitie’s End. Darth Maul comic also depected them this way.

The Singing Mountain Clan allied with Luke Skywalker, Leia Organa and Han Solo to defeat the nightsisters. One of them even (briefly) caught Luke. However, Kirana Ti, one of the sisters was in one of Luke’s first group of Jedi students. Tenenial Djo married the Hapan Prince Isolder, making her daughter, Tenel Ka Djo a Princess of both Hapan and Dathomir. Tenel Ka would also be a Jedi as well as future Queen, and bore a rancor tooth lightsaber.

The Clone Wars video game featured ridable rancors, just as in Courtship of Princess Leia. Republic comics also showed a rancor being ridden.

The TCW tried to alter Dathomir to suggest all the witches were nightsisters. This also included relabeling Asajj Ventress from Rattattaki to Dathomiria, Maul from Iridonian Zabrak to a nightbrother (previously unheard of, there was no sign of zabraks and male force sensitives were rare), and altering the environment to appear primarily reddish. It also had a spaceport there.

Sources on the Witches of Dathomir: