Biography
Nomi Sunrider was the wife of Jedi Andur Sunrider. She was aware that she had a strong connection to the force, but didn’t think that she could be a Jedi like her husband. The couple had one child, a daughter named Vima. Nomi’s life took a drastic turn when she was travelling with Andur to the Stenness system, so he could transport some Adegan crystals for use in Lightsaber construction and study under Jedi Master Thon.
Nomi and Andur were stopped at a hyperspace terminal when they were attacked by bounty hunters. The bounty hunters were hired by Bogga the Hutt to recover the Adegan crystals that Andur was transporting. Andur was slain during the fight and Nomi was forced into action. Andur’s ghost appeared to Nomi and urged her to pick up his lightsaber and protect both herself and their daughter. Nomi managed to drive off the bounty hunters and complete the delivery of the crystals to Master Thon in Andur’s place.
Nomi arrived on the planet of Ambria and was looking for Master Thon. She experienced fear and doubt after encountering a lake strong in the Dark Side of the Force, when Master Thon revealed himself through his voice guiding her through the Force. He told her that everything was all right, and that she should not give in to the darkness calling her. Nomi encountered Oss Willum, a student of Master Thon, and what she perceived to be a beast of burden. They were soon attacked by the same group of bounty hunters that attacked Nomi and Andur earlier. It looks like they are going to be defeated when the four legged beast revealed itself to be Jedi Master Thon and drove off the attackers.
Nomi was convinced by Master Thon to study the ways of the force and become a Jedi, like her fallen husband. It was soon discovered that Nomi had the ability of Jedi Battle Meditation, a rare and powerful skill which allowed her to project images in her foes minds and influence the outcomes of battles. Nomi did not quite understand this power and would receive formal training in it much later.
Nomi encountered a stumbling block in her training. She refused to build herself a lightsaber. The Jedi weapon served as a harsh reminder of her husband’s death. Master Thon taught her that the Jedi use the weapon for defense and also taught her about the battle between the Light and Dark sides of the Force. In addition to Master Thon’s teaching, she spend a lot of time learning from a Jedi Holocron. It is revealed that Nomi would become a powerful and important Jedi who would serve as a major player in galactic events.
The pirates attacked Nomi and Master Thon a third time in their attempt to get the Adegan crystals. Master Thon used the opportunity to force Nomi to come to terms with her fear of a lightsaber. He pretended to be defeated and surrendered himself to their attackers. Nomi was forced to use a lightsaber to save her master and defend her daughter. Maser Thon’s deception allowed Nomi to work past her fear of using a lightsaber and come to terms with the fact that it was part of being a Jedi.
Nomi completed her training under Master Thon and learned as much as she could from him. He sent her to the Jedi Library on Ossus. She studied under Jedi Master Vodo-Siosk Baas. He taught her the art of lightsaber construction and she built her own lightsaber from one of the Adegan crystals that she and Andur had transported to Master Thon. Her time on Ossus would be short lived and she would soon be sent on a mission to assist other Jedi on the planet Onderon.
The Freedon Nadd Uprising had broken out on planet Onderon. Nomi and some other Jedi were sent to assist Jedi Master Arca Jeth and his students Ulic and Cay Qel-Droma, and Tott Doneeta with a growing Dark Side threat. Master Arca was captured by King Ommin and it was up to the Jedi to rescue him. Nomi and Ulic Qel-Droma led the attack to rescue Master Arca and were able to defeat King Ommin and drive out the influence of the dead Dark Jedi Freedon Nadd. They took his sarcophagus and hid it on one of Onderon’s moons.
After the Freedon Nadd uprising was resolved, Nomi was able to spend some time with her fellow Jedi on Onderon. During this time she would fall in love with Ulic Qel-Droma. With the feeling being mutual, the two began a romantic relationship. The two were soon sent to deal with the growing Krath threat in the Empress Teta System. They were head of a Republic fleet sent to aid the planet of Koros Major. They last opponent to the Krath that remained in the Empress Teta system. They arrived in the middle of the battle and Nomi quickly realized that the fleet was under attack by Sith illusions. Nomi was able to concentrate and detect the origin of the illusions, the Sith sorceress Aleema Keto. Nomi was able to block the illusions by invading Aleema’s mind. This was not enough to turn the tide of the battle and the Republic fleet was taking heavy losses. Ulic was severely wounded in the battle.
After the Republic defeat oni Koros Major, a Jedi Conclave was held on the planet Deneba. The purpose of the Jedi gathering was to discuss the rising Dark Side threat presented by the Krath. Ulic Qel-Droma presented a dangerous plan that involved infiltrating the Krath from within. Many Jedi Master’s were opposed to Ulic’s plan. The debate was broken short when Krath war droids attacked the Jedi. Nomi’s daughter was taken by a war droid, but luckily was rescued by the Jedi Sylvar. Ulic’s Master, Arca Jeth was killed in the battle. This put any debate over his plan to an end and he went forward with his plan to infiltrate the Krath. Nomi had a lot of misgivings about the mission, mostly due to her romantic relationship with Ulic. She was unable to change his mind and reluctantly helped him prepare for the mission before he departed.
Nomi and Ulic’s brother Cay began to worry about Ulic after many months passed without any updates from their comrade. The Krath were still strong and some even began to worry that Ulic’s plan had back fired and he had allowed himself to fall to the Dark Side and instead of a ruse to infiltrate the Krath and destroy them from within, he really was one of them now. Nomi, Cay, and Tott Doneeta traveled to the Krath capital on Cinnagar and confronted Ulic. They witnessed him killing Satal Keto in anger and were unable to convince him to come back with them. He lashed out at them with Dark Side energy, drove them off and they were forced to go home empty handed. Their worst fears had been realized. Ulic was falling to the Dark Side. He had let his anger at the death of his master get the better of him. Instead of destroying the Krath from within, he was not taking them over to serve his now twisted sense of revenge.
Nomi was heartbroken, but the Jedi returned to Ossus and informed them of what had happened. An attack on the Krath was authorized, but the Masters warned that extracting him against his will would make things worse. He would not return to the Light Side if he did not learn from his mistakes. He needed to find his own way back and could not be forced. Nomi and a Jedi team returned to Cinnagar and battled their way through the Krath palace until they got to Ulic. Nomi pleaded with Ulic to realize what he was doing, and what he was becoming. He refused to leave and argued with her. He even resorted to using the Dark Side against her and drove her away once again. Nomi realized that their mission would not succeed and the Jedi retreated. Very shortly after the Jedi retreat, Ulic would join forces with Dark Lord of the Sith Exar Kun and become his apprentice.
As Ulic and his new Dark Master began to gather and consolidate their forces in preparation for a full fledged war against the Republic, Nomi studied the art of Jedi Battle Meditation under the ancient Jedi Master Odan-Urr. He also taught her an ancient a no longer practiced technique that cuts a force user off from the Force. He told her that it was used in the old days to battle the Sith.
When the Great Sith War broke out, Nomi was on Coruscant and was present when Ulic and his Sith armada attacked the Republic’s capital. Ulic was betrayed by Aleema Keto and she withdrew the Fleet with Ulic on the ground. The combined efforts of Nomi and the other Jedi led to his capture. During his trial, Exar Kun arrived and was able to defeat the combined effort of the Jedi and freed his apprentice. The two fled the planet and continued their war against the Republic.
Master Thon’s former apprentice and Nomi’s former colleague, Oss Wilum, had fallen to the Dark Side and joined the Sith. He led an attack against his old Master and Nomi was present during the attack. Nomi and Master Thon were able to defeat Oss and his fellow attackers. They captured Oss and were able to return him to the Light Side of the Force.
Nomi returned to Ossus and was present during the battle which led to the destruction of the planet due to a Sith created supernova. The battle was initiated as the Jedi were fleeing the planet before the Super Nova reached them. They were organizing an evacuation of all Jedi and as much of the library as they ships would carry. During the battle, which was led by Ulic, Cay confronted his brother. The two engaged in a fierce lightsaber duel. Ulic was stronger in the Force and able to easily overcome his brother, who was holding back because he did not want to kill his own blood. Ulic struck down and killed his brother. Realizing what he had just done, Ulic dropped down to his knees in tears. This was the turning point for him, the lesson he needed to learn that the Master’s said was the only way for him to return to the Light Side of the Force. Nomi was a witness to Ulic killing his brother and became enraged. Ignoring the fact that Ulic was beginning to return to the light, she used what she was taught by Odan-Urr to strip Ulic of his connection to the Force, rendering him powerless.
Ulic led the Jedi to Exar Kun’s base on Yavin 4. Nomi and the entire Jedi order gathered around the planet. They focused their combined force powers on Exar Kun. Nomi and her Jedi Battle Meditation techniques were the focal point for the Jedi and she redirected everything on Exar Kun. He was destroyed by the massive concentration of Light Side energy. The power was so great that a massive wave of energy washed over the planet and destroyed everything. Despite the devastation to the planet, the Jedi were victorious and the war with the Sith was at an end. They could now recoup after their losses in the war.
In the years after the end of the Great Sith War, Nomi rose through the Jedi ranks and became the head of the Jedi Order. 10 years after the events on Endor, she called a Jedi Conclave at Exis Station with the objective of rebuilding the Jedi Order and the Republic, which still had not recovered after the end of the war. There was some unrest during the meeting. The Jedi Sylvar raised the question of Ulic Qel-Droma and how he was allowed to remain free after the war despite his crimes against the Republic. Since he had turned on Exar Kun and made his defeat possible by leading the Jedi to Yavin 4 and had been cut off from the Force and unable to use it, it was deemed that further punishment was not needed. Sylvar was not happy with this and demanded a much greater punishment. Sylvar’s reason for this were that Ulic had turned her mate Crado to the Dark Side and eventually lured him to his death as part of the plan to destroy Ossus. Sylvar did not get what she wanted and left the conclave early.
Nomi’s daughter Vima was now a teenager and not happy with the lack of attention and Jedi training she was getting from her busy mother. She decided to run away to seek someone who could train her to be a Jedi. Since most of the Jedi were at the conclave and would not go against her mother’s wishes, Vima decided that Ulic Qel-Droma had to be the one to train her. Ulic had once been one of the greatest and most powerful Jedi in the galaxy and was a perfect candidate as far as Vima was concerned. She knew that her mother once loved and respected the former Jedi.
Nomi was devastated that her daughter had run away, but was wise enough to give Vima some time to find her own way back. She began to meditate and reflect on the events of her life. While Nomi was somewhat forced into being a Jedi after the death of her husband, Vima was making the choice of her own free will. Nomi had in part not advanced Vima past some initial training because of her busy roles as head of the Jedi Order, but mostly due to the cost Nomi had paid for being a Jedi. She had lost both the men she had loved, her husband Andur and later Ulic Qel-Droma. She had learned that Vima was seeking Ulic and decided that her daughter had began to ponder her daugher’s choice. There was no one better to teach Vima the cost of being a Jedi than Ulic, but was he the right choice to train her given his time as a Sith?
Nomi decided that risks presented by Ulic training Vima were too great and she tracked her daughter down to Rhen Var, where Vima was training with Ulic. Vima did not want to return home and argued with her mother. Ulic knew why Nomi was there and was wise enough to see the reasons why there was concern over him training anyone to be a Jedi. He only wanted what was best for Nomi and Vima, and said that Nomi could take Vima back as an apprentice. Vima pleaded with her mother and showed her just what a great teacher Ulic had been. Nomi slowly began to come around and realize that Ulic was a good teacher for her daughter and taught her how to listen to and trust the Force to guide her in her action.
Shortly after Nomi began to embrace the idea of Ulic training Vima, Sylvar had tracked down Ulic and arrived on Rhen Var. Sylvar attacked Ulic while Nomi and Vima were off discussing what Vima had learned. Ulic was defending himself rather well against Sylvar, despite no longer being able to use the Force. Nomi and Vima arrived to see Ulic refuse to fight Sylvar. His continued actions to defend himself were just fueling Sylvar’s rage and anger and he could see that she was very close to crossing to the Dark Side. He deactivated his lightsaber and refused to defend himself. He hoped that this would force Sylvar to realize what was happening and that her anger towards him and revenge she would get by killing him was not justice. It would lead her down the same dark path he took when trying to avenge Master Arca’s death. Luckily it paid off and Sylvar found herself unable to strike down the defenseless man, no matter how much she hated him. Just as Sylvar restrained herself, Ulic was struck down by a shot from a blaster.
The pilot who had taken Sylvar to Rhen Var saw the opportunity to kill Ulic as a chance to become famous for killing the former Sith. The wound was mortal and Nomi held the dying Ulic in her arms. Everything she had ever felt for him returned. Vima’s love and faith in Ulic was his redemption for all his dark acts and he was now every bit the good man she had once loved. He still possessed the heart of a Jedi even though he was cut off from ever feeling or using the Force ever again. His body vanished into the Force and he died the death of a Jedi Master. Nomi would go on to head the Jedi Order for many years.