Shaak Ti Bio – The Original Torgruta Jedi

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Brett has lived and breathed Star Wars since He was a small kid. He grew up alongside the prequel films, so he had the closest bond to those compared to the original films. However, he's most passionate about the old republic lore. After all his years of Star Wars fandom, He could name you every planet, animal, and character from all the Star Wars publications.

Description/Overview

Shaak Ti was a Torgruta female born on the planet Shili. It was a planet filled with colorful grasslands that led to the colorful nature of the Torgruta people. Shaak Ti was recognized to be Force-sensitive as a child, so the Jedi Order took her from the planet to train her to become a Jedi.

Not much is known in Canon about her early development, so her story starts after the Battle of Naboo. At this point, she had risen to the rank of Jedi Master, and she was known for being incredibly wise and level-headed.

Shaak Ti took a seat on the Jedi High Council after Master Yaddle stepped down. Yaddle decided to be less involved in the Jedi affairs, and Shaak Ti was the perfect replacement.

Shaak Ti was one of the Jedi that Mace Windu brought with him to Geonosis at the beginning of the Clone War. The war started with Obi-Wan Kenobi, Anakin Skywalker, and Senator Padmè Amidala getting captured. During the execution attempt, Shaak Ti and the rest of the Jedi arrived at the arena to save the day.

The newly built Separatist droid army fought them, and the Jedi were outmatched and outnumbered. Master Yoda flew in with the Republic’s new clone army, and the Battle of Geonosis officially kicked off. This is what started the 3-year-long war in the galaxy.

After this, Shaak Ti became a Jedi General in the Grand Army of the Republic. However, she never took as active a role as many of her Jedi companions did. While the likes of Anakin Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi were constantly sent on war missions across varying worlds, Shaak Ti was assigned the main role of overseeing the creation of more clone troopers on Kamino.

The Republic needed a representative to be present, and Shaak Ti was a perfect candidate thanks to her stern, yet level-headed nature. She batted heads a few times with the Kaminoans that created the clones. They saw them as tools and products while Shaak Ti saw them as people. She was a lot more caring of them, and this often led to conflict between her and their creators.

Shaak Ti often oversaw the final trials that the clones went through before they were declared ready for battle. On one particular occasion, she helped Domino Squad in passing their trials. They failed at first, but Shaak Ti expressed to them the value of teamwork and encouraged them through the whole process.

As Kamino was the prime planet that supplied the Republic army, the Separatists knew that they would have an advantage in the war if the clones weren’t being produced and trained anymore. They planned an attack on Kamino, but the message was intercepted by the Republic, allowing Shaak Ti to plan a defense effort along with the help of Anakin Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi.

The Separatist effort was thwarted thanks to the Jedi and their defensive effort on the planet. The Republic positioned a fleet blockade above the planet, but a few Aqua droids were able to get through along with Assajj Ventress and General Grievous. After the droids were destroyed, Grievous and Ventress escaped. It was after this that the Separatists knew that Kamino was a stronghold that couldn’t be penetrated.

The grand scheme of the Clone War was that all the clones were implanted with inhibitor chips that forced them to enact particular Orders. When Palpatine, a secret Sith Lord and Chancellor of the Republic, was ready to strike from within, he would give the 66^th order that would force the clone troopers to kill their Jedi Generals. As we know, this plan worked out perfectly, and most of the Jedi were wiped out.

However, there was one clone trooper whose chip malfunctioned and forced him to enact the order too early. His name was Tup, and he killed a Jedi named Tiplar out of nowhere. Tup was sent back to Kamino for testing, and Shaak Ti became incredibly involved in the investigation. Although Shaak Ti was usually quite perceptive, this was where she missed the opportunity to stop the Jedi Purge before it happened.

A clone trooper named Fives started secretly looking into Tup’s chip malfunction, and he found out about the whole conspiracy. Unfortunately, Shaak Ti never believed him fully, and Fives ended up being killed on Coruscant by another clone trooper after he tried to get the information out and warn the Jedi. The Jedi Council still looked into it, though. Chancellor Palpatine convinced them that it was a parasite from a planet that the clones were on that affected their minds, driving them to insanity.

Shaak Ti’s final big contribution to the Clone War was during the Battle of Coruscant. The Separatists had planned to attack the capital city of the Republic and capture Chancellor Palpatine. Shaak Ti and a Jedi Knight by the name of Roron Corobb were sent to protect the Chancellor along with a group of clone troopers.

General Grievous arrived to capture the Chancellor, and he easily killed the Jedi Knight as well as all the clone troopers. Shaak Ti was the only survivor, and she was able to hold off Grievous for a while. However, his MagnaGuards outnumbered her, and the Chancellor was captured and taken to a ship above the planet. Grievous didn’t kill Shaak Ti in the battle, but he took her lightsaber to add to his collection.

Eventually, Palpatine revealed himself as the true Dark Lord of the Sith. He converted Anakin Skywalker to the Dark Side and sent a message to all the clone troopers to commence with Order 66. They all turned on their Jedi Generals, and Anakin traveled to the Jedi Temple to kill all the Jedi that he could.

Now going as Darth Vader, Anakin brutally murdered Shaak Ti as she was meditating during the temple invasion. Just before this happened, Shaak Ti recorded a message saying that whoever finds it should continue the legacy of the Jedi even after they were all wiped out.

Key Moments

Shaak Ti is accepted into the Jedi Order. She becomes a Jedi Master before the Clone Wars era.
She is appointed a position on the Jedi High Council after Yaddle steps down to take a less active role in the Order.
Shaak Ti is involved in the Battle of Geonosis. She’s one of the few Jedi to survive the initial arena battle and continue the skirmish on the planet alongside the clone army. She becomes a Jedi General afterward.
Shaak Ti is sent as the Republic’s representative to oversee the training and creation of new clone troopers. She spends most of the Clone War on Kamino seeing out this job.
She is part of an investigation into a malfunctioning inhibitor chip of a clone trooper named, Tup. She is unable to get to the bottom of it and has a conflict with another clone trooper who finds out about Order 66. The other trooper, Fives, gets sent to Coruscant and is eventually killed before revealing the truth about the conspiracy.
She is tasked with protecting Chancellor Palpatine during the Battle of Coruscant. General Grievous traps her and steals her lightsaber. He captures Palpatine afterward.
Shaak Ti is killed in the Jedi Temple by Anakin Skywalker after he turns to the Dark Side.

Shaak Ti Themes

Overseeing the Clone Army Creation

Being present for the creation of all the clones was a massive undertaking. It was arguably one of the most important jobs a Jedi could have during the Clone Wars. Shaak Ti was directly responsible for making sure that the soldiers sent out were capable. Most of the Jedi trusted them with their lives, so Shaak Ti needed to trust them with her life first.

Many people dislike her because of this, though. It’s understandable as Shaak Ti could have prevented Order 66 from happening if she caught onto the secret inhibitor chip plot. It makes you wonder how the Force works. I used to assume that Jedi could just sense anything and everything, making them incredibly powerful as well as discerning.

However, the Force works in mysterious ways, and Shaak Ti wasn’t able to sense that these clones were primarily created to destroy the Jedi Order.

Death Scene Confusion

It’s a running gag in the Star Wars community that Shaak Ti is invincible and that she has died and come back to life multiple times. The reason for this is that there are multiple scenes of her dying across Star Wars media.

There are two deleted scenes of Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith where Shaak Ti is killed. The first is onboard General Grievous’ ship. In this scene, Grievous had captured her as well as Palpatine, and he stabs her through the back with her own lightsaber in front of Anakin Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi.

Her second scene that never made it to the film was when Anakin stormed the Jedi Temple. She sits meditating as Anakin cuts her down mercilessly. Since both scenes never made it to the film, it was established that Shaak Ti survived Order 66 in the Legends continuity. However, it’s been confirmed that Anakin killed her in the temple in Canon.

Canon vs Legends

In Legends, Shaak Ti escaped the Jedi Purge and spent her remaining days on Felucia along with another Jedi named Maris Brood. It was a violent jungle planet that she learned to use to her advantage and survival. She became friendly with the native people, and her Light Side energy kept the Dark Side aura of the planet at bay.

Darth Vader had a secret apprentice named Galen Marek, also known as Starkiller. He was sent by Vader to kill Shaak Ti, as he knew she was on Felucia and it would be a good test for his student. While Shaak Ti proved to be incredibly powerful, Starkiller was able to best her, and she threw herself into a sarlacc pit that they were fighting next to. As her life ended, the Dark Side aura of the planet grew much stronger.

Special Abilities

Shaak Ti was primarily a user of Form II of lightsaber combat. Known as Makashi, it put a heavy focus on dueling, making it an ideal form to use when fighting lightsaber against lightsaber. This is why Shaak Ti was able to survive against General Grievous in one-on-one combat. The Jedi killer had a vicious reputation of easily disposing of Jedi thanks to his knowledge of all seven lightsaber forms. It was only when the MagnaGuards helped that Shaak Ti was defeated. That’s the biggest downfall of Form II – it’s not ideal for multiple targets.

We see Shaak Ti using multiple Force powers during the Clone War. The primary one is telekinesis as she’s often seen lifting and pushing objects. She also frequently uses Force jump.

Her most valuable skill is her teaching ability. She takes many of the clone troopers through training exercises, and she encourages them through the process. We see how discouraged Domino Squad is after failing their trials, and Shaak Ti helps them work as a team to get the job done. While we only see her doing this with a few clones, she was doing it for years on Kamino as new clones were constantly being dispatched.

Key Quotes

“If these cadets can’t get past their shortsighted selfishness, they will never come together. Unity wins wars, gentleman.” – Shaak Ti expresses concerns about Domino Squad as she watches them perform their combat trials.
“A Jedi does not feel concern, Lama Su.” – Shaak Ti sticks to the Jedi way of suppressing her feelings as to not have her emotions work against her.
“Congratulations. You are no longer cadets. You are troopers. May the Force be with you.” – Shaak Ti speaks at the graduation of the clone cadets whose training she oversaw.
“I am not fond of these hyper tests.” – Shaak Ti always has the best interests of the clones at heart, and she feels that the dangerous hyper tests could be damaging.
“I’m sorry, Fives. But this is a matter best left to the medical professionals.” – Shaak Ti believes the inhibitor chip from Tup to be a tumor, and she goes forward with sending it to Coruscant instead of investigating it further along with Fives.
“Be wary. Since he removed his inhibitor chip, Fives may longer be the man you once knew.” – After finding out about the inhibitor chips, Shaak Ti believes them to be a device used to stable aggression in the clone troopers.

FAQs

Question: How Does Shaak Ti Die in Canon?

Answer: Shaak Ti is killed by Anakin Skywalker in the Jedi Temple. After becoming Darth Vader, he storms the temple alongside the 501^st clone trooper legion to kill all the Jedi there. A scene of this was made for the third prequel movie, but it never made the final cut. However, this scene was confirmed to be Canon in a book called Star Wars: Galactic Atlas.

Question: Is Shaak Ti a Twi’lek??

Answer: While she looks very similar to the popular Twi’leks of the Star Wars universe, Shaak Ti is actually from a species known as the Torgruta. Torgruta have two large horns surrounded by three head tails whereas Twi’leks only have two head tails.
They come from a planet called Shili. It’s a vibrantly colored planet, and the Torgruta people have vibrant colors on their skin to camouflage them from native predators.
Other well-known Torgruta in Star Wars are Ahsoka Tano and Governer Roshti.

Question: Is Shaak Ti Related to Ahsoka Tano?

Answer: No. They’re simply part of the same race of people – the Torgruta. Ahsoka’s character design was inspired by Shaak Ti, though. Before Ahsoka was introduced into the universe, Shaak Ti was the only Torgruta character that could be seen in the Star Wars movies.

Question: Was Shaak Ti a Member of the Jedi Council?

Answer: Yes. She took the place of Yaddle shortly before the Clone War. You can see her sitting in Council meetings in Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones. However, she was mostly positioned on Kamino to oversee the training of clone troopers during the war. So, she joined Jedi High Council meetings through a hologram.

Question: Did Shaak Ti Survive Order 66?

Answer: She didn’t survive Order 66 in Canon. Anakin Skywalker killed her when raiding the Jedi Temple. She survived in the Star Wars Legends continuity, though. She escaped from Coruscant and went into hiding on Felucia along with Maris Brood, another surviving Jedi.
She was then killed by Starkiller, a secret apprentice of Darth Vader who he planned on using to overthrow Darth Sidious. It’s your classic Sith tale.

Conclusion

While Shaak Ti may not seem as interesting as the other Jedi due to her not fighting as much, she played a massively important role in the Clone Wars. Without her aid in the clone trooper trials, the units sent to aid the Republic may not have been up-to-scratch.

She had the position to stop Order 66 from happening, but she couldn’t see through the conspiracy as a whole. While it’s unfortunate, we’ll never know if any other Jedi would have been able to in her position. So, we can’t really blame her.

We can learn from her leadership abilities, though, and her faith that the Jedi Order would survive even after the Jedi Purge.

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