Torbin

Torbin was a human male who served as a Jedi of the Jedi Order during the High Republic Era. By 148 BBY, he was the Padawan of Jedi Master Indara. That year, he was stationed on the planet Brendok along with his Master, Jedi Knight Sol, and Jedi Master Kelnacca. While searching for a vergence in the Force on the planet, the Jedi discovered a coven of witches lead by Mother Aniseya. Concerned that the witches were training children to use the Force, the four Jedi interrupted a ceremony and requested to test the children they had learned of—the twins Verosha "Osha" and Mae-ho "Mae" Aniseya—to see if they were Force-sensitive. Aniseya initially refused and used the Force to incapacitate Torbin while threatening the other Jedi, but reluctantly agreed after being persuaded by Osha and Indara. 
The next day, Torbin took blood tests from the twins as part of their testing. After receiving the test results and noticing an irregularity, Torbin took a speeder bike to the witches' fortress. After a fire broke out during a skirmish between the Jedi and witches, Torbin was injured and many of the witches were killed.
Sometime later, Torbin completed his Jedi training and eventually attained the rank of Jedi Master. By around 142 BBY, Torbin took took the Barash Vow and entered a silent state of meditation to atone for his role in the incident on Brendok. In 132 BBY, Mae, who had been presumed dead after the fire on Brendok, began targeting the four Jedi who had been stationed there. After killing Indara, Mae tracked Torbin to the Jedi temple on the planet Olega, where her first attempt to kill Torbin failed due to a Force barrier he projected. She later returned with bunta poison and persuaded Torbin to take his own life. Following this, the Jedi, including Sol, continued their investigation into Mae's murders. After Sol was killed by Osha, Jedi Master Vernestra Rwoh covered up the murders, insisting that he had been responsible for the killings of Torbin and the other Jedi who had been stationed on Brendok. 
==Biography==
===The Brendok incident===
====Searching for a Vergence====
The human male Torbin was a Jedi of the Jedi Order during the High Republic Era and was the son of paupers from the planet Bonadan. By 148 BBY, "Revenge / Justice" establishes that Torbin was stationed on Brendok sixteen years before its events, equating to 148 BBY. he was the Padawan of Jedi Master Indara. That year, he was stationed on the planet Brendok along with Indara and the Jedi Sol and Kelnacca. There, the Jedi investigated the life present on the planet, as it was thriving despite being catalogued as lifeless after the Great Hyperspace Disaster of 232 BBY.Star Wars: The High Republic Character Encyclopedia Torbin assisted with the investigation by placing samples into an analyzing device. Seven weeks into the mission, Kelnacca cooked Nuna legs for the group, although Torbin did not want to eat them. When Indara told him he needed to eat, he claimed not to be hungry. Indara warned him not to insult a Wookiee's cooking, to which Torbin responded by complaining about how he already eaten nuna legs often during the mission and that he wanted to return home to the planet Coruscant. As the Jedi ate, Torbin further complained that he did not understand the importance or purpose of their mission. Indara told him to calm himself and she and Sol explained that they were looking for a vergence, a concentration of Force energy centered around a location.
The next day, as the Jedi continued their investigation, Torbin collected more samples to be analyzed. As Indara and Sol watched him, they discussed Torbin's feelings about the mission. Indara noted that he was distracted, and Sol said he was disturbed and unbalanced, to which Indara replied that Sol was confusing Torbin's feelings with his own. She further added that rather than giving Torbin answers to ease his mind, she taught him to seek answers for himself. She then instructed Sol to split up from the group as they continued their search.
====Investigating the witches====
Sol learned of a coven of witches led by Mother Aniseya, and became concerned that they were training children to use the Force, which the witches called the Thread. He spied on the coven, and noticed the twins Verosha "Osha" and Mae-ho "Mae" Aniseya, who often wandered outside of the witch's fortress. After Sol reported this to the other Jedi, Torbin suggested the witches could have been Nightsisters, but Indara disagreed. Indara initially wanted to ask the Jedi Council for guidance, but Sol persuaded her to allow him to show them what he had seen, and the four Jedi rode speeder bikes to the fortress. After they arrived outside the fortress, Kelnacca sliced the controls to enter, and Indara stated she would go in alone. However, Torbin insisted on escorting her, and Sol convinced her that they should stay as a group.
The Jedi then entered the courtyard where the twins' Rite of Ascension ceremony, where they would become witches, was being held. Indara introduced the four Jedi, and stated their concerns about the witches training children against Republic law. The witches refuted Indara's claims, stating that Brendok was not part of the Republic, and that they had no children. As they spoke, Aniseya used a Thread ability to make Torbin experience a vision of himself alone with her in the courtyard. She spoke to him about his desires and offered to help him leave the planet. At the same time, Kelnacca noticed the twins and Indara asked them to come out of the crowd. When Sol suggested that Osha be tested to train as a Jedi, she asked her mother for permission. In the vision, Aniseya ordered Torbin to kneel, causing him to do so outside of it and turning his eyes black. Aniseya threatened the other Jedi, telling them she would not return Torbin to his right mind unless they left. However, Osha and Indara continued to persuade her and she reluctantly agreed to allow her children to be tested and released Torbin. Following this, the Jedi exited the courtyard and returned to their starship.
====Testing the twins====
The next day, Osha and Mae arrived at the site of the Jedi's encampment to be tested. While Mae tried to persuade Osha to fail the test on purpose, Torbin spoke with their other mother, Koril. Before Mae was tested, Torbin took a blood sample from her, and then was present during her test, which she deliberately failed. After she completed her testing, she exited the Jedi's ship, followed by Torbin, who informed Osha they were ready for her. Aboard the ship, Torbin took a blood sample from Osha. When she asked him if all Jedi got a lightsaber, he told her they did, but only after much training. Torbin remained present while Sol and Indara tested Osha, who attempted to fail the test at first, but was persuaded to admit that she did wish to become a Jedi. 
After, Indara told Torbin to run the girls' blood samples. That night, while the Jedi discussed what to do about the twins, Torbin expressed his opinion that the witches were dangerous. When he checked the blood test results, he realized that their symbiotes were the same, an unusual result even for identical twins. When Sol suggested that a vergence could be the cause, Torbin became convinced that the twins were the proof they needed of a vergence and took a speeder bike to the fortress. Indara ordered Sol to stop him, and he pursued Torbin on another speeder bike while Indara and Kelnacca followed in the Jedi's starship. 
====Battle in the fortress====
Outside the fortress, Sol caught up with Torbin, and Torbin informed him that the elevator had been disabled and that he believed the twins were locked inside. Although Sol had been ordered to stop Torbin, he instead worked with him to enter the fortress. He told Torbin not to let the witches inside his head again, and then the two began climbing the fortress wall. Meanwhile, Indara, unable to land the ship, ordered Kelnacca to jump and stop Torbin before he started a conflict. 
Inside the fortress, Sol and Torbin confronted the witches, with Sol asking about their creation. As he noticed many of the witches aiming drawn bows at them, Torbin drew his lightsaber, but Sol calmed him. After Mae entered the courtyard asking for help, Torbin and Koril readied their weapons to attack each other. Aniseya then turned into black smoke, resulting in Sol fatally stabbing her. After Aniseya died, Koril ordered Mae to run, and she began fighting with Spl. While they fought, Torbin used his lightsaber to deflect attacks from the witches, who had begun firing their bows.
As parts of the fortress began to collapse due to a fire previously set by Mae, Koril escaped by turning to black smoke, Torbin stated that he felt the effect's of the witches' power again. Koril then told the Jedi that they should not have brought "him" there, but Torbin responded that his mind was fortified. However, as Kelnacca arrived while being possessed by the witches, Koril clarified she was not referring to Torbin. Kelnacca ignited his lightsaber and engaged Torbin and Sol in a lightsaber duel. He was able to overpower them, and badly injured Torbin's face by slamming him into a wall, nearly killing him and costing him his left eye. Sol was able to free Torbin from Kelnacca's grip and then continued dueling him, eventually disarming him and fighting him in hand-to-hand combat. As Kelnacca attempted to strangle Sol, Indara arrived, freeing him from the witches' spell and also killing the witches in the process. Indara then ordered Sol to rescue the twins from the fire, but he was only able to save Osha, with Mae being presumed dead. Along with Indara, Torbin was present in the Jedi ship's medical bay when Osha awoke from her injuries and Sol told her about the fire.
===Finding absolution===
====The Barash Vow====
At some point after the mission, Torbin attained the rank of Master. By 142 BBY, "Revenge / Justice" establishes that Torbin took the Barash Vow over ten years before its events, equating to around 142 BBY. Torbin took the Barash Vow to atone for his part in the incident on Brendok. As part of his vow, he entered a levitating meditation and did not speak for over ten years. The Barash Vow created an impenetrable barrier around Torbin, which may have been a side effect of the inner journey he took while meditating. 
Sixteen years after the incident on Brendok, in 132 BBY, Mae, now an assassin, began targeting the four Jedi who had been stationed on Brendok, both to seek revenge and to please her master. After killing Indara, Mae found Torbin in the Jedi temple on the planet Olega, where he was still in his levitating state. There, Mae challenged him to attack her, but he remained silent. Mae then attempted to attack him, but he remained unresponsive while his barrier deflected her attacks. After her break in was noticed by other Jedi, she was forced to flee.
====Death====
Mae later returned to the temple, this time with a vial of Bunta poison, which she had obtained from her accomplice, Qimir, who unbeknownst to her, was also her Sith Master. Instead of attacking Torbin, she placed the poison in front of the Jedi. She offered him a choice to either confess his crime to the Jedi High Council, or to drink the poison and receive forgiveness. He finally responded to this, ending his silent meditation, and drinking the poison, killing himself.
After his death, Osha, who was assisting the Jedi in the investigation into her sister, found Torbin's body. After closing his eyes, she picked up the empty vial and smelled it, identifying it as Bunta from her homeworld of Brendok. When other Jedi, including Sol and his Padawan, Jecki Lon, entered the room, they were initially suspicious of Osha, but another Jedi, Yord Fandar, confirmed her innocence. After Sol realized that Torbin had taken the poison willingly, Osha informed the group of the poison's identity. Shortly after, Osha told Sol that Mae was targeting the four Jedi who had been stationed on Brendok.
Later, in the Jedi Temple on Coruscant, Jedi Master Vernestra Rwoh convened a small council to discuss Mae and the Jedi she was targeting. During the meeting, which Sol attended, holograms of Torbin, Kelnacca, and Indara were shown. The holograms of Torbin and Indara, who had already been killed, quickly turned red. A team then traveled to the planet Khofar to extract Kelnacca from his post. There, Lon encountered Mae, and attempted to arrest her for the murders of Torbin and Indara, as well as Kelnacca, who had also been killed, but she was unsuccessful. Sol was later killed by Osha on Brendok after choosing to side with Mae's master. After, Rwoh claimed to a committee of senators that the Jedi sent to Brendok, including Torbin, had started a conflict with the witches that resulted in many causalities, and had conspired to cover it up. She then lied that Sol had been behind the murders of the Jedi to maintain the cover story when the truth threatened to come out. Rwoh told the senators that Sol was now dead after presumably taking his own life, and assured them than an external review of the Order was not necessary.
==Personality and traits==
Torbin was a human male with auburn hair and a beard. The left side of his face, including over one eye, had several scars from his fight with Kelnacca on Brendok. He had light skin and blue eyes, and stood 1.8 meters tall.
In his youth, Torbin was a headstrong student. Working in the field frustrated him, and he longed to return to the serenity of Coruscant. On Brendok, he was distracted and impatient, disobeying Indara when he thought he had found a way to return to Coruscant. However, he could also be protective of his Master, such as when he insisted on escorting her when she tried to enter the Brendok fortress alone. Later, he felt guilty about his actions, taking the Barash Vow to atone and eventually killing himself to seek forgiveness from Mae.
==Powers and abilities==
Torbin was powerful with the Force, able to levitate for an extended period of time while simultaneously projecting a Force barrier. 
==Equipment==
Torbin wielded a yellow-bladed lightsaber. He used a device to analyze samples while assisting in the search for a vergence on Brendok. As a Padawan, Torbin wore brown and gold Jedi robes. During the time he spent taking the Barash Vow, he wore white and gold temple robes.
==Behind the scenes==
Torbin was created for the 2024 Disney+ live-action series The Acolyte, and first appeared in "Revenge / Justice," the second episode of the series, which aired on June 4, 2024. The character was first depicted in a trailer shown exclusively at Celebration Europe on April 7, 2023 and he was identified in his databank entry on March 19, 2024. Torbin was portrayed by Dean-Charles Chapman.
Showrunner Leslye Headland said that Torbin's impatience was because he was struggling from a blind spot that would be relatable to anyone who has "been an eighteen year old who's on a camping trip they don't want to be on." She also said that like Osha and Mae, Torbin suffered from the "worst kind of guilt" caused by mistakes made at a young age, which would be difficult to make amends for. Headland believed that Torbin never made peace with the mistakes he made, and that he was in a trapped state of mind, which she thought went thematically well with Torbin being literally trapped in his mind by Aniseya.
==Appearances==
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==Sources==
==Notes and references==
Category:Barash Vow adherents
Category:Bonadanians
Category:Humans
Category:Individuals with he/him pronouns
Category:Jedi Masters during the High Republic Era
Category:Males