Theni Itaire

**Theni Itaire** is the main character of Star Wars: Ethos, alongside Poe Praetorian.

## Tropes

* Beneath the Mask: The galaxy sees Theni as a slave to the Dark Side and a psychopathic enforcer of the Empire, but Poe soon learns it's a front and that she's nobler than most of the Jedi her faction wiped out. When probed about this by The Ronin, Theni implies an extremely tricky life of hiding her true colors from the whole Empire.
* Black Knight: To the bone; Theni is a mighty Sith, but even she is compassionate and respectful of those who are hostile to the Empire, even relegating Cruel Mercy to when it's required.
* Blood Knight: Downplayed; Theni is fully aware that the Sith Code is Kill or Be Killed.
* Cruel Mercy: Theni refuses to execute her most evil opponents, instead leaving them to pay the price of their crimes for the rest of their lives.
* Dark is Not Evil: To quote The Ronin:
	+ The Ronin: Your choices are those of the Light Side; despite presenting yourself as an emissary of the Dark Side, that's not you Beneath the Mask. Neither is Even Lienn, although his lies are of the most *hideous* sort (Light is Not Good).
* Establishing Character Moment: The first time we see Theni in action is her Jedi Mind Tricking the Jedi Protection League into blasting each other over a conspiracy regarding imposters while her and Poe stealth away, only for her to return and frighten them away by threatening to murder and devour them (Heroic Comedic Sociopath).
* Freaky Fashion, Mild Mind: By far the most Alt-looking Sith fighter, also the most moral.
* Foil: To Even Lienn; both are Force-powered Lightsaber-wielding warriors who soon become a recognized face of their respective order, with a prophecy relating to the Emperor (Lienn his killer, Theni his Dragon). Only Theni has a sense of honor, fighting justly, and patriotism.
* Gentleman Snarker: Theni is ceaselessly dapper and well-mannered, even when throwing trash talk.
* Genius Bruiser: Hence the Nerd Glasses, Theni is wise enough to have successfully hiden her true colors for the overwhelming majority of her life without being exposed, even those unaware of her heroism being taken aback by her not being a Dumb Muscle.
* Good is Not Soft: Downplayed very hard; while a great person who acts as such many times, being a Sith still requires Theni to perform executions and cut down her enemies, not to mention being ruthless and a Manipulative Bastard even when she's avoiding it (What a Senseless Waste of Human Life).
* Guile Hero: It's inevitable, what with Theni consistently Taking a Third Option to avoid unneeded violence and manipulating her opponents (Manipulative Bastard) to get her what *she* desires*.*
* Hidden Depths: The Ronin believes that Theni is far from what you would expect out of a Sith barbarian.
	+ Theni: Of recollections, the most pleasing in your life, prized late in your period. (Haiku, Warrior Poet)
	+ Vette: (*Amazed*) How were you ever a Sith? A Blood Knight?
* Honour Before Reason: Theni alleges that she seeks mighty opponents out of honor and believes that The Laws and Customs of War must be followed.
* Hurting Hero: Weirdly for a Sith, in the few scene when Theni lets her guard down around her allies, she is deeply gloomy and remorseful over her quest for the Goldsaber, with many implications that she can't forgive herself for becoming a Sith warrior and she is wholly disillusioned with the Sith and the Empire in light of their attack on Poe's planet.
* I'm a Humanitarian: Discussed after she threatens to cannibalize the bodies of some villains during her Establishing Character Moment; however, after sending the rest in a panicked frenzy away from her, she informs Poe that it was just a top-grade bluff (Everyone Has Standards).
* Lady of War
* Manipulative Bastard: As guilty as any Sith, albeit because she needs an alternative to violence, which involves more than one instance of tricking people into *thinking* she is going to cannibalize them.
* Noble Demon
* Noble Top Enforcer: Before Theni defects from the Empire.
* Pragmatic Villainy: While not a bad guy (or woman), Theni uses this to justify her acts, wishing to avoid *unneeded* violence (What a Senseless Waste of Human Life).
* Surrounded by Idiots: A major vexation for Theni is the prevalance of dumbasses and crazy killers in the Empire, to the point that when she betrays the Empire to indirectly serve the Rebellion in the resolution, she claims this is her reason for doing so.
* Sympathetic Slave Owner: Theni treats a slave the Empire entrusts to her well, even removing her shock collar.
* Terror Hero: Theni's Sith robes and notoriety fuse to make her one.
* Vegetarian Villain: Averted; while a devout vegan, Theni is on the Light Side despite her allegiance to the Empire.
* Villain Protagonist: Downplayed, Theni is ultimately doing wetwork for the exceptionally evil Emperor and Grand Moff Tarkin at the end of the day... until this is averted when she pulls a Heel-Face Turn on them.
* Whole Character Reference: Theni is ultimately just a Sith version of Robyn Jade.
* Work Hard, Play Hard: Naturally for someone who spends half of the film in Gentlemen's Clubs. In her words:
	+ Theni: The Sith route is almost impossible to go down, so I battle like nobody else, work like nobody else, and shindig like nobody else (Bread, Milk, Eggs, Squick).
* You Gotta Have Blue Hair: Theni has vibrant lime hair, although it's dyed and she's naturally blonde, with some scenes where it's a platinum green shade of sorts.