- "The Nightsisters are their Sith."
- ―Han Solo, explaining the relationship between Nightsisters and Dathomiri Witches
The Nightsisters were a sect of the Witches of Dathomir who embraced the usage of dark arts within their Force-
driven Magicks; although they used the dark side, their powers and abilities were quite different from the Sith Lords, which caused confusion among Jedi scholars as to who or what they really were. The Nightsisters were originally members of other witch clans who began to utilize the dark side in defiance of the light-sided orthodoxy found in the Book of Law—the governing holy text of the Dathomiri. These witches adopted a shamanistic culture that rejected the notion of "good" and "evil", and instead chose to call upon the twin energies of the Winged Goddess and the Fanged God in order to utilize their Magicks and communicate with the spirit realm. They focused extensively on the art of casting Force illusions through "illusion spells." Witches found guilty of practicing these heretical techniques were banished into Dathomir's wilderness and left for dead. However, in the final decades of the Galactic Republic's reign, the exiled witch Gethzerion used her superior powers to unite the wandering outcasts into a new clan—the Nightsisters.
Religion and Philosophy[]
The Nightsisters, like all other Daughters of Allya, attributed the work of the Force as that of the Spirits a group of supernatural beings that were thought to inhabit a parallel plane to the mundane world. They had special veneration for the "Twin Deities," the Fanged God and the Winged Goddess, whoi were thought to bring balance to the universe.
The nefarious witches used the Force through a series of technique they called Allyan Magic, having developped their own "night spells" by tapping in the dark side. Nightsisters were expert at casting illusions through "illusion spells," and it appeared that, like the Fallanassi, this was an integral part of the way they used the Force.
Due to their constant wielding of dark energies, the first Nightsisters tended to display ruptured blood vessels their bodies, especially around their eyes. Certain Jedi Masters like Yoda also believed it was their power to manipulate weather patterns that made their appearances so rare.
There was no "uniform" for the Nightsisters, and each wore clothing that suited them personally, although most tended towards black robes and cloaks, adorned with tribal jewelry and accessories. Many of them also had unusually pale skin, which was perhaps painted. Nightsisters were known to be able to empower swords and other simple weapons with the Force, making them unbreakable even to the lightsabers worn by the Jedi and the Sith. Although they typically used more primitive weapons such as swords and spears, some Nightsisters did use lightsabers and other variants. Sister Silri used a lightwhip during the Galactic Civil War, and even Gethzerion herself was known to use a red-bladed lightsaber.
Either due to their affinity to the Force and/or their magic practices, the Nightsisters possessed advanced longevity, with some witches known to have lived more than one to several centuries. Those included Zalem, Gethzerion, Baritha Talzin, Daka and Charal.
Society[]
All the witch clans of Dathomir were matriarchal societies. Each coven was a "sisterhood" composed of Sisters under the guidance of the Clan Mother, and the "malelings" were generally disregarded. However, the Nightsisters of a few clans had male warriors, believing them to be beings who were capable of balancing the masculine and feminine energies of the spirit realm. Despite being considered as skilled fighters, these Brothers were still subservient to the Nightsisters, and were kept in isolation.
Most Nightsisters were full-blooded Humans, but some of their covens consisted entirely of Dathomirians, the result of hybridization between Human witches and male Zabrak from Rattatak. However, the Dathomirian racial group was drawn to near-extinction during the Clone Wars, when the General Grievous attacked Dathomir. When heroes of the New Republic visited the planet in 8 ABY, all the Force witches they encountered were Human.