Azlin Rell

Azlin Rell was a human male Jedi Knight who served the Jedi Order during the High Republic Era. A naturally humble and self-effacing individual, Rell deeply trusted in the Force and cared about undertaking his duties as a Jedi. He was also a longtime friend of the Wookiee Jedi Arkoff, who had once been his master. He was assigned on a service tour of the Outer Rim Territories and the frontier, accompanied by his astromech droid, C-9. During the tour, Rell went on various missions, once visiting the Relik moons.
In 382 BBY, Rell came to the planet Tiikae to assist a trade outpost threatened by a large herd of migrating grass sharks. Finding the task too large for himself and C-9 to handle, he made a distress call which was answered by Jedi Master Zallah Macri and her Padawan, Kevmo Zink. Together, the group was able to successfully divert the creatures. Afterward, Macri and Zink were sent on a search for a stolen Force artifact called the Rod of Seasons, ending up going to investigate the Path of the Open Hand cult on the planet Dalna as a result, while Rell wrote some reports and made some repairs, before planning to return to the Jedi outpost on the moon Jedha. However, while en route, Rell was asked to search for the pair on Dalna as the Jedi had lost contact with them. Rell's search led him to find only the Master and apprentice's mysteriously calcified remains in the Path's compound.
After reporting his discovery on Coruscant, Rell discovered while researching in the Jedi Archives that the Rod of Seasons was connected to the Echo Stone. Rell eventually joined a party of Jedi sent by and containing members of the Jedi High Council to investigate the Path of the Open Hand on Dalna because of the bodies he found and in the aftermath of the Battle of Jedha. However, the Path attacked them and many other Jedi there, sparking a devastating battle known as the Night of Sorrow. During the battle, Rell encountered Nameless creatures deployed by the Path against the Jedi, and was around them to such a degree that he was driven insane and plagued with hallucinations as a result. Once the battle was over, Rell began creating a journal in a crazed frenzy that contained information about the creatures. He was eventually checked in to the Gravan Monastery sanatorium as a result, his journal eventually hidden away by his friend Arkoff. Rell then disappeared and abandoned the Jedi, falling to the dark side of the Force.
Rell reappeared a century and a half later when Grand Master Yoda went in search of him shortly after the Nihil destroyed Starlight Beacon, hoping that his many years of obsessive research on the Nameless could help the order combat the beasts.
==Biography==
===Jedi Knight===
Azlin Rell was a human male who was once the Jedi Padawan of the Wookiee Jedi Arkoff. Rell achieved the rank of Jedi Knight by 382 BBY,Star Wars: The High Republic Character Encyclopedia dates the events of The High Republic: Path of Deceit to 382 BBY. during the High Republic Era. He was sent on a tour of duty to the Outer Rim Territories, accompanied by his astromech droid, C-9. Two months into the tour, Rell and C-9 visited one of the Relik moons, where the droid found a strangely charged alloy which it used to fashion itself a new arm, which allowed it to detect electromagnetic fields. When Rell pointed out that this made C-9 more sensitive to people approaching than its master was at times, the droid cheekily suggested they call the arm its Jedi hat. Rell spent several years on the frontier.
In 382 BBY, Rell ventured to the planet Tiikae to assist in deflecting a large herd of migrating grass sharks away from a trade outpost. Finding himself unable to complete the task on his own, he sent out a short-range distress call which was received by Jedi Master Zallah Macri and her Padawan, Kevmo Zink, who were operating out of the Port Haileap Jedi outpost and had just completed a rescue mission on the ocean moon of Amloch. They had been due to return to Haileap, but Macri had decided to stay on the moon for one more day, allowing them to hear Rell's call and arrive in time to help the settlement.
===Grass sharks===
While Macri and Zink rode skimboards and diverted the sharks away from the outpost, Rell and C-9 worked on a way to encourage the creatures to take a different route, while the outpost itself was evacuated. Rell and C-9 discovered that the sharks used Tiikae's magnetic field to choose their migration path, and since the last migration five years before, the field had shifted enough that the sharks' new chosen migration path took them too close to the settlement. With his droid's assistance, Rell repeated the trick the two had performed on the Core Worlds planetUltimate Star Wars, New Edition Alderaan to keep flocks of night-lethers away from tall buildings, using a comm beacon to make an artificial signal which would lead the sharks down a different canyon, away from the outpost.
Zink and Macri spent some time rerouting the herd while Rell searched for a solution, and as sunset approached, the Padawan contacted Rell to ask how much longer the operation would take. Rell responded that he and C-9 needed just a few more minutes just as Zink's skimboard failed, causing the Pantoran to leap away from the vehicle, leaving him on the ground near the herd. Macri moved to protect her apprentice by diverting the grass sharks, which shortly moved away of their own accord when Rell and C-9 activated their beacon to reroute them. Zink told Rell that whatever he had done was working, and Macri asked him to come pick up Zink while she tracked the herd to ensure the solution continued to work. Rell acknowledged that he was on his way.
Rell arrived in his shuttle to pick up Zink from the grassland, lowering the ramp for the Padawan to board. Zink made his way to the cockpit to meet Rell in person for the first time, and Rell thanked him for his help. He informed Zink that Macri had messaged him that she would meet them back at the spaceport, where Macri and Zink's starship was located. Sitting in the copilot chair, Zink expressed how impressed he was with how Rell had diverted the herd, asking how it had been done. When Rell explained, Zink briefly thought that the Jedi Knight had changed Tiikae's entire magnetic field. Rell, appearing slightly embarrassed, elaborated on how he and C-9 had reconfigured a comms beacon. Zink was impressed, and C-9 was proud, but Rell demurred that he had simply done his job. Zink insisted that Rell's feat had still been incredible, and Rell mentioned how he had used the trick on Alderaan. As Rell piloted his shuttle to the settlement, Zink asked him what the best thing to eat there was.
===Stew and separation===
After Zink and Macri had showered, they joined Rell in a tavern to eat fish stew. Macri arrived at the table last, and after she ordered a portion of stew, Rell slid her a mug of the local sour tea. After thanking Rell, Macri announced that she and Zink would need to leave immediately after the meal, as they were needed on the planet Hynestia to investigate the theft of the Rod of Seasons, an artifact belonging to the queen, five days prior. Zink asked why the Hynestians wanted Jedi involved, and Macri explained that the stolen object was a Force artifact. Surprised, the Padawan nearly knocked over his own mug of tea, and glanced at Rell after settling himself to see that the Jedi Knight was attempting not to smile at Zink's enthusiasm.
Zink invited Rell to come with them, but Rell politely declined, explaining that he had to finish up some reports and repairs, before returning to the Jedi outpost on the moon Jedha to check in. The activity did not appeal to the enthusiastic Pantoran, who said it was too bad, as he wanted to hear more about what Rell had been doing for the last few years. Rell said he had been doing much the same as Zink had, and the Padawan took a moment to discern if Rell was teasing him before agreeing and raising his mug in a salute.
===In search of the missing===
Macri and Zink's mission took them to the planet Dalna to investigate the Path of the Open Hand, a cult based there which they identified as likely suspects in the case. During the course of their investigation, the Jedi pair discovered that the cult were indeed responsible for the theft, and eventually snuck into the Path's compound to retrieve the stolen Rod of Seasons and other artifacts the cult had taken. However, they were confronted by the Path's leader, the Mother, who unleashed a bizarre creature she named the Leveler on them, which overwhelmed and killed them. In the aftermath, the Path of the Open Hand swiftly abandoned Dalna.
When days had passed with no contact from the stricken master and apprentice, Rell was contacted by Jedi Master Xo Lahru while he was en route to Jedha, the emergency message asking him to stop at Dalna to check in on them. Upon receiving the message, which mentioned the Path of the Open Hand, Rell refreshed himself on what he knew about the cult due to the extensive research he had performed during his time on the frontier. Aware that the Path preached non-interference with the Force, Rell became concerned about the trouble Macri and especially Zink could have gotten into with them.
Rell found that there had been no contact from them in days, and Jinx Pickwick, Ferdan's sheriff, had notified the outpost of the Jedi's abandoned skiff, with some locals wanting to confiscate it. Breaking into the starship, Rell and C-9 downloaded the information on its computer onto a datapad. When Rell spoke to Pickwick, although the sheriff was reluctant to involve herself with the situation, she informed him that the Path had departed Dalna two days before, in a large starship they had been constructing for months. She also told him about Zink's role in assisting members of the cult to survive during recent heavy flooding. Rell then spoke with Lady Jara, the owner of the boarding house where Macri and Zink had stayed, who was quick to blame the Path for their disappearance.
The night of his arrival, Rell ventured to the Path's abandoned compound with C-9. On the way there, the droid took a shortcut through a field of lompop flowers to avoid a section of the road too muddy for it, and Rell let himself be comforted by C-9's mutterings. Upon arriving at the compound, Rell found signs that it had been abandoned quickly, including spilled grain and the remnants of personal belongings. Rell made his way to a locked door leading to the underground caverns which comprised a significant portion of the complex. Steadying himself, Rell reached for the Force but found it to be unusually thin, which unsettled him. Aligning himself with the Force, Rell patted his droid on the dome, before drawing his lightsaber and cutting open the door, kicking it in to enter.
===The horror underground===
Taking out his glow rod, Rell ordered C-9 to stay there and be ready to send an emergency burst back to their ship if anything were to happen, promising to use his comlink to keep in touch. Venturing into the caverns, Rell called out but received no reply. He reached out with his Force senses, but detected very little. Upon reaching an intersection at the bottom of the first staircase, Rell pushed out with the Force again and moved instinctively towards where he sensed an unusual sensation that felt almost like a yearning of sorts. Walking with his eyes shut, Rell went on a twisting route through the tunnels until he nearly stumbled upon hitting a wall that he discovered was not physical, but something mirroring the Force back at him, reflecting his growing dread.
Examining the large chamber he found himself in, Rell saw an odd scatter of what looked like pulverized stone on the floor. Rell knelt down to examine the pile, but flung himself away upon touching what he immediately recognized as a Jedi cloak, not stopping until he reached the wall. Shining his light upon the remains, Rell was horrified to discover the pile was the remains of a Jedi whose body had been calcified and broken into pieces. Rell recognized that the remains were those of Kevmo Zink. Despite his horror, Rell steeled himself and walked past the remains, promising to return, and reached into the Force again, sensing the dread which permeated the room. Taking it step by step, Rell followed the strange Force thread while trying to remain confident, determined to locate Macri's remains while trying to ignore his memories of her and her Padawan.
Rell stopped, reaching out to connect with the Living Force to reassure himself, before pressing on. He found Macri's remains in another chamber with automatic lighting, sensing a hidden door beyond which powerful Force artifacts had formerly been stored. As he knelt beside Macri's remains, which consisted of her robes, belt, boots and utility items in addition to what was left of her body, which had become stone-like just like Zink's, Rell thought about how to collect them for funerary rites, knowing that both of the fallen pair's robes could be brought back to Coruscant. He also realized that both of the lightsabers belonging to the fallen Jedi were missing. Rell was filled with dread over how Macri and Zink had been destroyed, identifying that he was afraid. Through the Force, he felt an overwhelming feeling of fear clinging to their bodies.
===Seeking answers===
Rell went to the Jedi outpost on Elphrona, where he presented his findings about Macri and Zink on Dalna to the outpost's Marshal Jedi Master Rinn, who was also an old friend of Arkoff's. Rinn and Rell then personally took the news to the Jedi High Council at the Jedi Temple on Coruscant. While there, Rell and Jedi archivist Vin visited the Kyber Arch, where the kyber crystals from the lightsabers of deceased Jedi were placed. Though they did not have Macri and Zink's lightsabers and thus could not place their crystals, Vin declared that they would always remember the sacrifice of the two Jedi. Rell did not think remembrance was enough and wished to find answers. He assured Vin he'd be careful but believed that the Jedi sent out into the galaxy looking for answers was not enough and that they also needed to search the past.
In search of records of the adventures of Jedi Master Barnabas Vim, Vin showed Rell to a location in the Jedi Archives where he could look, ensuring him that they would be easy to find due to their relative recency. Rell was concerned about sifting through the sheer quantity of Vim's adventures, but Vin told him he could take all the time he needed. Eventually pulling up an image of three purple stones, Rell suspected that those stones were connected to the Rod of Seasons and thus held the key to answers. The stones were three parts of one crystal called the Echo Stone, a powerful artifact that could amplify the power of the Force. Rell looked through a record of Vim and his Padawan Vix Fonnick's mission to a planet called Angcord in search of the Echo Stone, during which they defeating the Lady of Angcord, who the stone had corrupted by amplifying her dark side powers. Fonnick split the stone into three pieces, which Vim and Fonnick then split up and separated from each other, bringing them to the far corners of the galaxy. Upon seeing the record of this mission, Rell became certain that the stones were the key to answers.
===The Night of Sorrow===
Eventually, Council members Ela Sutan and Gluth Andoi felt that the Force was telling them to go to Dalna personally, and they decided to go and bring Rell and Rinn with them. There, they met up with Jedi Knight Oliviah Zeveron and Padawan Matthea Cathley, who were also investigating the Path. Cathley recognized Rell, as he had visited the archives on Jedha where she was stationed on behalf of Master Lahru. Rell and the others explained why they were there, and then brought the two into their group. As they began to approach the compound gates, hoping to approach in peace and find understanding with the cult, Rell noticed Cathley had gotten into an argument with Zeveron, who Rell had mistaken for Cathley's master, and decided to advise her to keep her head down and avoid pressure. Cathley, who had earnestly wanted to join this mission and had started feeling left out, made it clear that his advice was not helpful. Rell revealed that he had hoped that Rinn would take over the mission and he would not have to come, as he was terrified of going back into the caves.
Once they entered the compound, the group of Jedi were attacked by the Path's enforcer droids, joining other Jedi fighting on other fronts and becoming part of a large scale battle that would be known as the Night of Sorrow. Rell lead them into the caves, where they faced more resistance. He, Cathley, and Andoi were forced to defend Sheriff Jinx Pickwick and one of her deputies, who had joined their party, when they made a wrong turn and were faced with a large group of Path forces. However, Rell, Cathley, and Andoi were quickly overcome with inexplicable fear as a creature approached, the same species of creature Macri and Zink had been killed by, known only as the Nameless. The disorientation and fear caused Rell to drop his lightsaber and thus get shot in the side. As the creature killed Andoi and turned him into a husk, Azlin curled up in a ball on the floor and began to scream. Once the creature left, Cathley comforted Rell and urged him to continue on. Rell refused to go through what they went through again and was terrified by having not been able to feel the Force when the creature was around, but Cathley ignored his cries for her to leave him and instead had him repeat the Guardian's Mantra until he agreed to keep fighting.
As they traveled through the tunnels, Rell and Cathley found three more husks of Jedi who they did not recognize. Rell remained capable, but had stopped muttering the Guardian's Mantra and instead had started muttering that "they" were out there and coming back. They eventually found Zeveron defending a group of Dalnans from the Herald of the Open Hand, Werth Plouth, helping her disarm and knock him against the wall using the Force. After Plouth dodged Zeveron's questions about what was affecting them, Rell forced himself into Plouth's mind to get him to tell them what he had done. Believing what Rell was doing was not the Jedi way, Cathley stopped him by pushing him away with the Force, though Rell, who did not regret what he had done, revealed that it had worked and that he had learned the Path was using a Force artifact called the Rod of Power and that Plouth was thinking of the name Marda Ro.
The Herald lead them all to a room filled with cameras, Rell guarding the door as the others learned that Ro was heading to the Mother's chambers. When they arrived, Rell hanging at the back of the group, they discovered the Mother attacking Ro with the Rod of Power, until she was disarmed by Cathley. Rell called out the Mother for lying when she tried to claim Ro had attacked her. When Plouth noticed that her arms had turned gray, he said her "devil" had been feeding on her, to which Rell demanded to know what they were talking about. Oliviah Zeveron realized that the Mother was her long lost sister Elecia Zeveron, putting together that she had been using the Force despite claiming it was wrong, and thus was being fed on by the Nameless. The Mother reclaimed the Rod of Power and activated it to channel the power of the Nameless nearby, causing Rell to double over and begin muttering that they were coming back to take them away. He once again began screaming and curled into a ball on the floor. Though Cathley and Oliviah recovered, Cathley decided to leave him there while she pursued Ro, who had taken the Rod, hoping that she could help Rell later.
===Madness===
Later during the battle, Rell ran from Path members through the caves until he found his longtime friend and former master, the Wookiee Jedi Arkoff, and Arkoff's former Master, Ravna Abronsa. He tried to warn them that there was something coming that was not the Path, but Abronsa and Arkoff kept focusing on fighting a Harch Path member named Vol Garat, to Rell's dismay. However, Abronsa sensed that they needed to leave and Arkoff pulled her and Rell from the caves shortly before they flooded and exploded. Once they got to the surface, Rell once again fell victim to the unseen force of the Nameless and Abronsa was killed by the creatures. Rell was found by Cathley's master Vildar Mac and his friend Tey Sirrek, who carried him away as he told them that what happened to him was caused by one of the creatures.The High Republic: The Edge of Balance: Precedent
Rell continued to be affected by the creatures after the battle and began hearing a song that used the name Ro had called the Nameless: "Shrii ka rai." Rell was loaded onto a relief shuttle bound for Coruscant when Cathley found him writing. A manic Rell grabbed her shoulder in madness and asked if she could hear voices that he could before telling her that the Herald had not known what the creatures were as Ro had. He warned that there was no balance or center, had Cathley read the song out loud, and warned that the "Shrii ka rai" were coming back and would turn them to dust. Mac and Sirrek suggested she could go with him to help him, but she decided that she wanted to go back to Jedha. He began writing about the Nameless in a journal. 
Consumed by his fear, Rell eventually ran from the Jedi, abandoning the Order,The High Republic: Trail of Shadows 5 and embraced the dark side of the Force. He believed he had no choice but to embrace the dark path, and believed he was doing it for everyone's betterment. Through the dark side, Rell managed to survive well over a century, spending his life studying and attempting to understand the Nameless, but his mind and everything he learned was lost to his fear-induced madness. He also eventually lost or removed his eyes, leaving only empty sockets.
===Return===
Eventually, Rell was found by Grand Master Yoda, who managed to calm Rell's mind for his help in understanding the Nameless. In 230 BBY, he accompanied Yoda to the planet Corellia, covered in robes and bandages that obscured his face from view. After Yoda helped end the Battle of the Corellian Shipyards, Rell went with Yoda to a hideaway on the planet offered up as a safe haven for the Jedi by Alys Ongwa, who had lead the Corellians during the battle. Rell spent the time on Corellia whisper singing the "Shrii ka rai" song to himself and not speaking to anyone, including the Jedi there, or giving any hint to his identity.The High Republic: Midnight Horizon
Three months after the Destruction of Starlight Beacon and the Battle of the Corellian Shipyards, Yoda brought Rell to the Jedi Temple on Coruscant with the intention of presenting him to the Jedi Council. Jedi Knight Reath Silas, who had stayed at the hideaway with the other Jedi after the Battle of the Corellian Shipyards, recognized Rell and suspected he was the same person who had been with Yoda on Corellia, telling fellow Jedi Ady Sun'Zee that he did not like Rell. Yoda told the Council, who could sense the dark side radiating from Rell, that he was the key to answers about the Nameless. After Rell introduced himself, the Council members initially responded with hostility until Yoda assured them that he had been working with Rell for a while and knew he would bring them no harm. Rell explained that he had turned to the dark side for the Jedi, and that they needed him more than he needed them. Yoda explained to the council that they would work to unlock the secrets of the Nameless that Rell learned throughout his life and were now lost within Rell's mind because of his madness, fear, and turn to the dark side.
==Personality and traits==
Azlin Rell was a Force-sensitive human male with tan skin and short-cropped dark hair. Not a naturally fearful person, he trusted in the Force and accepted it as part of him, but he was also careful and cautious. He preferred the company of droids to other people. Rell avoided taking pride in his accomplishments, remaining humble and stating that he had simply been doing his job. Taking credit for being a hero embarrassed him, as he felt that he was simply doing what was required of him and all any Jedi could do. He enjoyed Kevmo Zink's company, finding him easy to laugh with. Rell was serious and did not mind doing reports, leading the enthusiastic Zink to be confused about whether or not the older Jedi was teasing him. He considered a solid research background to be essential to completing missions with satisfactory outcomes, a philosophy which saved him on several occasions.
Rell's first thought upon hearing of missing Jedi was that something terrible had happened to them, a guess which would prove to be correct. He had a gesture of brushing his fingers against his lightsaber to comfort himself, which he performed only when alone. Rell was deeply unsettled by the sensation of the aftermath of the Leveler's birth and subsequent killing of Zink and Zallah Macri, which turned to horror when he discovered they were dead. He took pieces of the pair's robes to be returned to the Jedi for their funerals, and was grieved by their deaths, especially Zink's.
After finding their bodies, Rell began to be more afraid and did not even want to continue investigating what had happened and instead pass off the job to someone else. He also became quite frustrated, but also curious, which lead him to investigate at the Jedi Archives on Coruscant. He did not wish to do more than what was asked of him and advised Matthea Cathley to keep her head down when he heard her arguing for a bigger role in a mission. He also revealed to her that he was terrified to return to the caves where he had found Macri and Zink's bodies.
After coming into contact with the Nameless, Rell was even more overcome by fear and did not want to continue fighting or trying to save lives. He was especially terrified by the prospect that the Force was not with him as he had not been able to feel it when the Nameless were nearby, and struggled with feeling powerless in general. He also started to ignore what the Jedi accepted as right and wrong and aggresively forced himself into Werth Plouth's mind without remorse. The encounter with the Nameless also caused him to continually mutter that they were coming back out of fear. When he descended into madness after being affected by the creatures three times, he became obsessed with the Nameless and the song "Shrii ka rai ka rai" and desperately tried to make Cathley understand the danger the creatures posed.
==Powers and abilities==
Rell could sense the Force around him and align himself with it, in addition to using it to sense things around him. He sensed emotions tied to locations, and upon entering the Mother's former listening room on Dalna, could sense the vault where her stolen artifacts had once been kept. He knew how to pilot starships, and could calibrate communication beacons. He had the power to reach into someone's mind with the Force, a power he used on Werth Plouth, which allowed him to see what the man was thinking.
==Equipment==
Rell was typically accompanied by his personal astromech droid, C-9, and owned a comlink to communicate with it. On his tour of the Outer Rim, Rell travelled in a standard single shuttle. He wielded a lightsaber with a pale blue blade, which he carried in a holster. Rell used a glow rod in dark areas.
==Behind the scenes==
Azlin Rell first appeared by name in the 2022 young-adult novel The High Republic: Path of Deceit, written by Tessa Gratton and Justina Ireland for the Star Wars: The High Republic multimedia project.
==Appearances==
*The High Republic: Path of Deceit 
*The High Republic Adventures: Quest of the Jedi
*The High Republic: Path of Vengeance 
*The High Republic: Midnight Horizon 
*The High Republic: Trail of Shadows 5 
*The High Republic: Shadows of Starlight 1
*The High Republic: Shadows of Starlight 3 
*The High Republic: The Edge of Balance: Precedent 
*The High Republic: The Eye of Darkness 
*The High Republic: Defy the Storm 
*The High Republic: Temptation of the Force 
*The High Republic: Tears of the Nameless 
*The High Republic Adventures – Echoes of Fear 4 
*The High Republic: The Edge of Balance, Vol. 3
*The High Republic Adventures – Dispatches from the Occlusion Zone 3 
*Star Wars (2020) 50 
==Sources==
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*Star Wars: The High Republic Character Encyclopedia
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*Star Wars: The High Republic: The Lightsaber Collection
*Star Wars Encyclopedia: The Comprehensive Guide to the Star Wars Galaxy
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==Notes and references==
Category:Blind individuals
Category:Fallen Jedi
Category:Former Jedi
Category:Humans
Category:Individuals with he/him pronouns
Category:Jedi Knights during the High Republic Era
Category:Males